What I'm Looking For

"And I still haven't found what I'm looking for." - U2

Those of you who have been reading my blog since its start last year are familiar with my struggle to break into the writing business, but for any new readers out there, let me fill you in. I finished my first novel, Secrets, about two years ago and have been trying (off and on) to get a literary agent and move toward publication ever since. I'm still trying. I won't quit because I know this is what I am meant to do - I can feel it in my soul. In between my work as a nanny and homeschool teacher, real life, and trying to get an agent, I have written three more books in the "Willow Ryan" series and am ready to start a new unrelated novel whenever I work up the motivation to turn my pages and pages of notes into something worthy of being on the shelves of Barnes & Noble.

Caught up? Good. Today I decided to try something different to get my book noticed and maybe, just maybe, break into the literary world with a bang (or even just a knock on the door that is met with an answer). I have been toying with the idea of entering a contest sponsored by the UK magazine for women writers, Mslexia, for several weeks now, and I finally took the plunge. For only 25 British pounds (about $40), I submitted the first 5,000 words of my novel with fingers crossed, a prayer floating up to Heaven, and a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's so hard to just put your work out there like that and it makes me a little nervous. As for the prayer, I didn't ask God to let me win the contest. That just wouldn't be the right. What I prayed for is to get something out of this experience, even if it's just that I learn that taking a chance on something might not be so bad, because at least I'm doing something other that what I've been doing - querying agents, getting depressed, rewriting, getting depressed, obsessing over unimportant details... and did I say getting depressed? The only thing that's saved my sanity for the last couple of years is my ability to write. Ironic isn't it? So, it's time for me to try something different. Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This is me trying my hardest not to be insane. I have said before that my life has been spent toeing the line between genius and insanity, and I would like to avoid falling into the deep end of the crazy pool if at all possible.

So what is it that I am looking for with this contest? Winning hasn't even entered my mind as a possibility (totally glass half empty here), but I am really hoping to be shortlisted. If that happens, I would probably pass out from the shock, and then as soon as I came to, send out my full manuscript. That would be such an honor and would give a (relatively) new writer a huge sense of valedation, which we can all use every now and then. Maybe my novel will even be noticed by someone in the business. That would be amazing! I believe in my writing, even with all of the negativity that constantly pollutes my brain, so I should in turn believe that I have a shot at standing out in the Mslexia contest, right? I hope so.

Contest Results Continued...

"It's a beautiful day/ Don't let it get away/ It's a beautiful day." -
"Beautiful Day" by U2

Yes, it's still a beautiful day! It occured to me after I had posted the last message about the Twitter Pitch Contest results (still smiling about third place!) that I should tell you what my entry was. I had to give a pitch in under 140 characters (like a Twitter message, hence the title of the contest), as well as the first three lines of my novel, Secrets. Here's what I submitted:

Pitch: Seventeen, pregnant, and on her own. An unwanted crisis or an unexpected blessing?

Three Sentences: Willow had known for two months. Two long months of going to school, hanging out in the quad at lunch, and working afternoons at the Dairy Queen, pretending everything was fine. She danced at the prom and marched across the football field at graduation with the rest of the class of 1986.

Just thought you might like to see what my entry was. Sorry I forgot to include it earlier!

Query Letter

"Deliver the letter/ The sooner the better."

As promised, here is a sample of my query letter where I describe the basic plot of my novel, "Willow Ryan". A query letter is sent out by an author to potential literary agents, in the hope that they will see the brilliance of your work and offer you a contract on the spot. Sounds too good to be true, right? Right... Anyway, here it is:

What would you do if you were seventeen, pregnant, and could not tell a soul? That is the position that Willow Ryan finds herself in during the summer of 1986. Unable to disclose her secret, and unwilling to give up her baby, this small town girl moves away from her Indiana home and creates a new life for herself in Santa Elena, CA. After arriving in the quaint coastal town, Willow gets a job at a boutique owned by a quirky former Southern belle named Peggy, who has a knack for finding trouble in the most unlikely places. Willow’s new neighbor, a friendly surfer dude named Denny, quickly becomes a trusted confidant, but could there be something more to their relationship than Willow sees?

Okay, what do you think? I feel that this paragraph does a pretty good job in explaining the storyline, and hopefully leaves the reader wanting more. There are more technical details of the query that I didn't include here, but that's the gist of it. What do you think? Any comments? Bring 'em on!

The Waiting

"The waiting is the hardest part/ Every day you get one more yard/ You take it on faith, you take it to the heart/ The waiting is the hardest part."

You are so right, Tom Petty. I just emailed an agent with the requested first chapter of my novel. I have to have faith that "Willow Ryan" will one day be published, but the waiting really is the hardest part. True, I am more impatient than most people, but still. I could hear back from this agent tomorrow, or it could be two months from now. Either way, I pray it's good news.

I am still in the same place with my third novel, "Surprises: Willow Ryan Book 3", having written absolutely nothing for a couple of weeks now. How terrible! Life just keeps getting in my way, and I can think of nothing better than to hide out for a few weeks, in complete peace and solitude, and write until my imagination runs out of words. I have this fantasy of how it would be to get to write for a living, and that's part of it. I'm not a hermit though, far from it. It's just that there are days (weeks, months, years) when I don't get anything done that I feel like I need to do, and "I wanna leave this world for awhile". Hey, another Tom Petty quote! Can you tell I'm a fan?

I will end this post with the hope that next week proves to be more creative, inspirational, and fulfilling than the last, for me and all of you. Until tomorrow...