Welcome back again everyone!
I know I always say this but, it really has been a hot minute since I last posted. My lack of posting mainly had to do with WordPress not letting me post. And me having to type on my tablet, which by the way is very time consuming!
I hope all of you as well; mentally, spiritually and with any luck financially! Can you believe it the holidays are almost upon us! Speaking of which, my mom came into a little extra cash this year; I didn’t know she was going to share but she did. And the for the first time in years we’re finally going to have a nice Christmas! A while back I did pick up some bow-tie and necktie for Alexander, and mom told my brother one was for Smokey, so I begrudgingly had to give one up. Which sucks since pet costumes or outfits aren’t cheap….and he makes more than me. It’s like if you liked it so much why not buy your pet something nice just because.
Which brings up a question has there every been a time you got something for yourself and someone else either helped themselves to your stuff (like clothes, shoes, jewelry, movies/games etc) or better yet; did someone lie on you and tell someone that you bought someone else something when you didn’t?
I believe I may have mentioned this in my last post….I was working on editing my book to get it ready to send in to literary agents. Let me tell you, the process of looking up literary agents is very long. Or rather, finding the agent was the easy part but the writing of the Query (which for those of you who don’t know, it’s basically a book proposal – some people say its only suppose to have 500 words other say you can use the whole page. You are basically selling your book to the agent. the first few sentences is “why did you pick that agent” it’s not the time nor the place to give any information or demographics on you. If your agent picks you, they will ask for that later. And rest of it is giving the summary of the book(s). From what I had noticed, if you chose to do snail mail, the agent is going to want a sample of your work; which is understandable just a few pages. Which I think is much better than the email that only wants to Query without the sample. Sometimes I just don’t think the synopsis is a great indicator if a book will be good or not. I’ve ready plenty of synopsis’s in a store from a book I thought would be good until I either got the book home or read a few pages in the store and realize I was wasting my time and money.
I also noticed certain agents like to use different terms to basically say the same thing. I came across a term “terse query”, it means a basic one page,” get to the point” query. Which is what a query is suppose to be anyway. I was so peeved I had spent five minutes looking up what the hell a terse query was. Needless to say, I didn’t apply with her. There was a lot of reading that went into looking over the agent’s profile to see what genres they work with. the listing the books etc. There was only a few that had specified that they liked working with new authors. And then there was some where their profile was almost blank. I wasn’t sure if i should take that as a red flag or take that as a good thing (in a sense that they might be open to working with new people). I also noticed some discrepancy in some profiles, on the outside it would say they participate with a specific genre or they were accepting queries and then I would click into the profile and that genre would not be mentioned or the would say “not accepting queries a this time.”
There are a few things I don’t like about writing.
- Writer’s block. Especially, when it’s in the middle of a story or after a very interesting introductory.
- The spelling and grammar check on long works. Going over that autobiography was so time consuming! I remembered thinking to myself “see that right there! that’s why I don’t have it in me to write a novel, I can only do short stories.”
- The Query. I visited several sites and was still somewhat confused. some sites were more helpful than others. Finally I did google images so I could get a template idea. Once I did that and I got the first query done I saved it as a template. It made apply to agents SO MUCH EASIER! all I had to do was change the agent’s name and pull out a sentence or two from their profile so make it more personal and show I had actually read their profile, after all, you have to be care about who you decide to send your work to.
- Choosing the agent. For me it felt more like a silent interview. And I needed to pick the person I felt would honestly do my books justice. I did pick twelve people to send my work to (still waiting back on eleven responses). I am very proud of myself; last weekend was so time consuming by the time Sunday night came I was so mad, I didn’t get a weekend; I spent it working.
- Feeling shy/awkward to tell everyone about this project I’ve been working on, I don’t want to jinx myself. I even bought books to help with my writing. Mom asked why I don’t take a writing class-I don’t have the cash for that besides, reading the book is cheaper and easier. I found a few that have great example. A lot of the stuff they talk about I actually do in my stories I just never knew the technical name.
I mentioned above I am currently waiting to hear back from eleven agents because; one did get back to me on Friday. Unfortunately, my work didn’t grab her, but she was very nice and encouraging. I like that line of “don’t get discourage; I’m just one opinion in a company, it’s possible had your request gone to someone else, they would have like it. When it comes to an agent; you want to get one who is just as passionate about your work as you are so they can do a good job and sell your books to publishers…” All I could think was, that is the nicest rejection letter I have ever received.
Also on Friday, we had the company lunch. Don’t get me wrong it’s not a bad event, I just didn’t want to go. To be in such a close setting for about 2 hours with no place to escape to. I knew the side effects of my disability might become more apparent. I had saw my doctor on December 1. He increased my medication from 300mg a day to 900mg. Now one of the main side effects to my medication is : memory loss/ trouble retaining information. I was having memory issues prior but since being on the medication it has gotten worse and more frequent like every day…frequent. There were a lot of “huh” moments and not knowing at all what is going on. Naturally, someone would make an off collar comment about me being “bored” and tuning people out. It’s not me doing that I just can’t…focus. I could be in the middle of a conversation with you and then suddenly stop talking mid sentence and not have a clue what we were talking about. Thankfully, I made it through the lunch everyone wanted to know about my “happy pops” they are alcohol infused lollipops. They sound good because they are that good. Everyone liked their Christmas cards (I only do humorous ones).
Back in November I did enter a contest with a coworker for a free lunch from a radio station, we won! but would you believe she made it sound like the whole idea was hers? the idea was mine but since the company computer wouldn’t let me on to the site and my phone kept freezing. She offered to enter in for me. once she did that my phone finally unfroze and I was able to enter. She took all the credit. and the coworkers gave her praise; for thinking of them when she did not. Not once did she correct them and say “no not me, WE won.” But that’s okay, I see her crystal clear; I won’t make the same mistake twice.
For me 2017 has been the year of change and getting the kick in the ass I needed. Finally i decided to pursue my writing career. After all the stories I like making, it makes sense to share them with the world; I find the writing process to be very therapeutic for me. If the whole “Agent-publisher” thing doesn’t work out for me. Then I’ll go into self-publishing. I am at that point where I am ready to try a different avenue in the career field, particularly with something that makes me happy. The whole working and stressing myself out for a job…just for a paycheck and not a hefty one at that, isn’t working for me anymore. Thirty is around corner and I’m just sitting here with a thought “what the hell have I been doing all this time?” I’m working my ass off with nothing to show for it. It took a lot for me to let the therapist thing go. Perhaps, I’ll revisit that career path later on. But for right now, I’d rather have career where I set my own hours, I could travel (writers need to experience things to have something write about!) And deadlines… for the most part and most importantly, I want to do something I am passionate about. I was passionate about psychology, but after that cluster fuck of a downhill since 2012 I know I don’t have it in me to counsel someone or to pursue that path.
So far I have two books that are typed up, just waiting on an agent to “pick me” I have the third book written it just needs to be type. I have already started jotting down synopsis’s for the stories for fourth book all I need to do is find sometime to sit down and write it all out. I’m over the office politics and drama, phone calls and charts. I’m still hoping some extra money comes my way….but I’m not holding my breath on it. I decided to stop reading my horoscope and numerology so much. My solution isn’t written in the stars…it’s a blank piece of paper that I get to fill with anything I want to place on it. As reassuring it is, it’s also daunting. I wish I knew a writer who could point me in the right direction….
Speaking of directions, I am wondering if any of my readers have ever watch the children’s show “Happy Ever After : Fairy Tales For Children” it comes on HBO. Well the reason I ask is, I was wondering why there isn’t a concept for an adult show. The producers could use short stories from a writer each chapter could be an episode. That could have different actors playing the characters or they could use the same actors. I think it would be nice if they used unknown actors to give the actors coming out a chance to shine. It would also be great publicity for book writer as well. Naturally, if it’s going to be a show a screen writer would have to be brought on board.