Submitting the Novel

On the Writing Front:

I don’t know if it’s an adrenaline rush or a hot flash. Some people get an adrenaline rush from base jumping, high diving, driving very fast, or running away from angry police officers. I’ve only done one of those, none of them today, and no, I’m not going to tell you which one. Today I submitted Smuggler’s Justice to Snow Books – the folks who brought us the Burton and Swinburne books that I adore. Just a few days ago I submitted Smuggler’s Justice to TOR UK during their open submission period. That’s three publishers to which I’ve submitted ‘my baby’. Considering I went straight to self-publishing for my first two books, I think that’s commendable bravery.

For me, it honestly takes less bravery to submit to a publisher than it does to submit to an agent. I have no idea why that would be. I’ve quite deliberately decided not to go to two writer’s conferences that I could, with some stretching, afford to go to simply because three-quarters of the point of these gatherings seems to be gaining the attention of an agent. I don’t know why, but agents terrify me. That, and they want, what, 15% of what little I might earn in royalties?  Nuh-uh. Money is my money… if I ever get any.

In other writing matters, I’ve been ogling male models on facebook (Milly is a bad influence!) and thinking of who might fit the bill for Eddie Williams in F.A.E.: Bitten , the first book in the F.A.E. series. Please note that I’m completely remiss in not looking for Mahrial DiSilva, but I’m fairly unrepentant. Eye candy is a good thing.  Of course, that led to an internal debate as to the suitability of David Faustino or Seth Green for Sophocles. My casting efforts are wavering! Terrible stuff.

I’ve sent off interview questions to the redoubtable Seumas Gallacher, and I’m waiting to hear back from him. In his defense, there were rather a lot of questions! I plan on posting that interview from my “virtual kitchen” as soon as possible. Seumas is a hoot!

On the Editing Front:

I’m still working on Denna Holm’s Soul of a Warrior. I’m loving the book, I just want to make sure I’ve got 99% of the typos along with the broad sweeps that way there are fewer passes back and forth – no sense harassing the author, right? She might be busy writing the next book… Seriously, Denna, I hope you’re writing the next book because I want it. I’m also working with the charming author of Pet Shop (still a working title, it may change) on somewhat more radical changes to expand the plot and the length of the book.

Other hobbies:

As if I didn’t have enough already, right? I’ve actually recorded a couple of songs to start putting together a CD of songs for Little Man to listen to at bedtime when I have to work. ‘What’ll I Do’ and ‘Amazing Grace’ are up on Soundcloud if anyone’s actually curious. I got Avid and a really good microphone and I have quite a list of songs (with lyrics all printed out) that Little Man loves. He’s a little freaked out by the ‘two Mommies’ effect of ‘Amazing Grace’, mind you, but so far he likes the music quite a bit.

On the home front:

Himself’s blood pressure is down quite nicely now, so I’m not constantly worried about that. Teenager is ‘enjoying being single’. Yeah, like I’m enjoying being fat. I think, like my lamentable circumference, he finds changing his status to be too much work. He did join that MeetMe thing, which posts on his facebook timeline – and therefore I get to see the girls he’s attempting to flirt with. Strange, but at least he’s doing something in the direction of not becoming the Forever Alone meme. Little Man is in terrible distress. Very Best Friend didn’t go to the farm with him on Wednesday, and didn’t come to school at all today. Why two days, and not even full days, of being separated from his Very Best Friend (who may or may not be his ‘Princess’ eventually) would be such an enormous deal I’m not sure – he manages the weekends all right, after all. Of course, she’s got the ‘flu, poor dear, so it may be that he heard someone say she’s sick and he’s worried about her.  Personally, I’m a bit worried because there’s a monster storm headed for New England and it’s supposed to be getting particularly nasty at just about the time I need to be commuting to work. sigh It’s a good thing I have good snow tires, but I’m still going to have to leave early.

My Nerves are Shot

I e-filed my copyright forms and e-submitted Smuggler’s Justice through http://www.copyright.gov/eco and I submitted it to a publisher. So, yeah, my nerves are completely shot. I didn’t do the logical thing and submit to a publisher who generally publishes science fiction, oh no, I took a leap and submitted to a publisher that might be interested in the underlying social commentary. I figured that if they actually read the slush pile (hey, no guarantees there, I know they’ve got mountains to go through, I’m not kidding myself, just hopeful!) then someone might decide they really, really like political intrigue and government cover-ups, even if it is in a science-fiction setting. I particularly think that could be the case if you take the longer view of the series as a whole dealing with lots of different aspects of governmental corruption and the kind of places that slippery slopes can lead.  That said – it’s going to be ‘8 –  12 weeks’ before they get back to me; if  they get back to me at all.

So, while my nerves are seriously shot and I’m trying not to actually shake, I’m not going to hold my breath and I’m very likely to simultaneously submit to other publishers who are more likely to actually want science fiction… lots of gadgetry, FTL travel, odd civilizations, thinly disguised social / political commentary and all. Who knows? Maybe the first folks I contacted will jump on it and be completely thrilled about it, maybe they’ll turn me down, but the point is that this time I didn’t chicken out. This time I actually submitted my manuscript somewhere, and for me that makes all the difference.

I still haven’t decided which agent, if any, to query. I admit that having an agent might be helpful in getting the books sold, but I’m really not sure how well I’d “work” with an agent. Do you remember grades from early elementary school: S for Satisfactory, N for Needs Improvement, and U for Unsatisfactory? I do. I also remember getting a U in ‘works and plays well with others’ every semester for years. You wouldn’t think so now, since I’ve managed to get along quite well with any number of people I’ve worked with, but I do worry that tendency might crop up in working with an agent. I don’t really know why that worry is lurking in the back of my mind. I’m sure agents are perfectly reasonable human beings. Maybe it’s worrying that I’m not an entirely reasonable human being!

That said, I also was a ‘good girl’ and I finished the first round of edits on Wendy S. Russo’s January Black today. In re-reading it, I have to say that it’s still awesome and I still had to blow my nose and clean my glasses (tears tend to leave mineral traces when they dry) and boo-hoo a bit. I sincerely love the way Ms. Russo works to bring the concepts of liberty and freedom into her work…. And of course, I do love me a governmental cover-up, a conspiracy, and a lot of research to uncover them. The characters are endearing and I love that Matty tries so hard to be a gentleman. I think it’s a much more realistic depiction of what goes on in a boy’s mind when he’s a ‘good kid’ at heart than you generally see in YA fiction. I also love that he’s a brat! Okay, okay, no spoilers even though I would absolutely love to rave on and on.

On the home front, my little boy had to stay home from school today because he had one really long seizure and four little ‘after shock’ seizures that wiped him out. Poor lamb wound up sleeping until nearly noon. My big boy has a job interview tomorrow and, yes, I’m really hoping that he gets the job. It would give him something to do besides mope around telling me that there aren’t any jobs not getting snatched up by mid-career grownups who need work to pay the bills. I still think it’s sad that he got upstaged for a job at McD’s by an accountant.

Bullying Chapter Four

In 1999 I published In One Year’s Time (still available on Amazon   http://tinyurl.com/6tpss8s ) and in 2000 I published Blackstone Gate (also still available on Amazon  http://tinyurl.com/6nwoqqf  ). Since then I’ve had an urban fantasy series, and a science-fiction (almost space opera) series ‘cooking’ in the back of my mind.

I haven’t written anything novel-length since 2000. That’s a long hiatus. It’s not that I haven’t been writing, but I keep tripping over the first chapter. I get done and then go back and beat the poor thing to death with a red pen. I decided that this time I was going to just write. Three chapters later and I was feeling pretty good about it. Of course, I knew what would happen if I went back and edited it myself; I’d eviscerate it.

I tweeted a few times about some concepts and Jane (@Writing4Rent – you should follow her!) liked what she read well enough that she volunteered to give it a read through.  I figured that a stranger had no iron in the fire and would have a better point of view, so I sent along the first 3 chapters. Naturally, as a stereotypically neurotic writer I was sure that they were absolute crap at that point! Jane carefully read what I sent and made comments that were exceptionally helpful.  It’s hard to find someone who reads with an eye to the larger plot and the smaller details, so I was thrilled. With her notes and suggestions in hand  I managed to edit the first three chapters without throwing the whole works out. That’s not to say that’s the last edit those chapters will get. I’ll almost certainly go back and tweak them to mesh with the rest of the book, and I’ll put in foreshadowing once I finally decide what’s going to happen. *grin*

Now I’m faced with the next big hurdle, chapter four. I’m not the kind of writer who uses an outline. I tried once, but then it ‘felt’ like I’d written it so I got bored and didn’t write it. I seem to work best if I haven’t got the foggiest idea what’s going to happen in the chapter after the one I’m writing. Unfortunately, I don’t seem to have much idea of what I want to have happening in the chapter I’m writing now.  I’ll probably write twenty pages in order to get ten to twelve that are useable. The rest of the day’s writing will just have to be spent bullying chapter four into existence.