My poem went to outer space. No, really! Let me tell you about it... This last July, I was checking my faculty email, just to see what the college was planning to do for the upcoming Fall semester, and I stumbled onto a forwarded email, something district wide. It was a call for poets, promising that the winners of the contest would have their poem read in space. (Cool!) I looked at the submission date, decided it was worth a shot and started in drafting a poem... for outer space. After I had a draft, I reached out to the online writing community and found another poet. She reviewed my poem, gave me some ideas for improvement, etc. I made some changes and shared it with another writer friend and got more feedback and after revising for a third, fourth, fifth time, I decided it was time to submit. I followed the instructions, filled in my information, and got my "thank you for your submission" email back within seconds. Fast forward to last week, nearly two months after submitting. I was checking my faculty email again, and got something from a coworker. She told me my poem was beautiful and congrats for winning the contest. Huh? I double-checked, triple-checked my email for something that would tell me that I won. Nothing. I never heard from the contest. Weird. So, I emailed my coworker and asked where she saw the finalists listed. Maybe she was mistaken. She said she saw the announcement from our department chair who shared a link. She shared it with me, too and, sure enough, my poem was among the other finalists on their website! I won the contest I think that (maybe) because I'm not teaching a class right now that my email wasn't included in the announcement she saw from our department chair. But where did he hear about me winning? More importantly, when would my poem be read in space? I went into research mode. I searched the contest page, looked everywhere for an email, and considered "replying back" to my submission confirmation, but it was a "no reply" address, meaning it was an automated response most likely. hmmm...
I never figured out when they read my poem in outer space or see a recording of it, but I learned a lot about the crew. They're called Inspiration4, and they are the first civilian crewed spaceship to orbit the earth, which is cool! Oh, and they raised over 20 million dollars for St. Jude's Hospital. So great! It was a historic launch and even though the contest organizers haven't connected with me (yet), I'm glad my poem is on their website and that it may have been read in outer space! I guess that makes me a galactic poet, don't you think? UPDATE June 2022 Dr. Sian Proctor signed my poem and mailed it back to me. I guess that was her way of proof that she took the poem to outer space with her.
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This interview was originally published on August 30, 2021 on the WTMP website after a four month mentorship with Lori Keckler and Silver Milagro. Tell us a little about yourself. Who are you, what do you write, and what are you working on right now? I’m an ESL teacher, drummer, and writer, and I live in Arizona. I love Middle Grade---reading it and writing it. I mostly gravitate to fantasy, but I like contemporary, too. Right now, I’m playing around with poetry. I’ve published a couple poems in literary magazines, but I also write practice poetry on my website, and just for fun, my current baby-work-in-progress, which I have not finished or shared with my mentors, is an attempt at a book in verse. To learn more, check out my blog: https://kassielamro.weebly.com/ What kind of stories are you interested in exploring in your career as an author?
All of my projects, including the one I worked on with my mentors, explore family relationships, so I imagine my career will include stories that do more of that. I’m also interested in stories about belonging and walking that line between childhood and growing up. What's the best thing about you as an author? I am persistent. You have to be in this industry! I’m also inquisitive---about my characters, world(s), writing process, etc. I’m a discovery-writer, but open to plotting. I’m also open to critique from trusted mentors, critique partners, and beta readers. How have you developed as an author during this mentorship period? Is there anything that you didn't think before about the craft that you think now? It’s challenging to sum up 3-4 months of work in a few sentences, but, generally speaking, I’ve learned a lot about myself and my writing process. Lori and Silver asked good questions about my characters, their motivations, and my thought process behind each scene. They also introduced me to some helpful resources. For example, Story Genius by Lisa Cron had activities that challenged me to think about and identify my story’s “third-rail.” I don’t think I changed my ways of thinking about the craft so much as learned about my preferred styles communicating and receiving feedback from others. If every book is a book baby, then it takes a village to raise a book. Are there any people who stand out to you as people who helped you in your writing journey? I’d have to say my husband, for sure. I’m an extrovert, and writing (if you haven’t noticed) is an introvert activity. So after a long writing session, I often talked his ear off—but in doing that, I talked through plot points, character arcs, and impostor syndrome. I also talked with my good friend Kathy and my college friend Malina, who both brainstormed ideas and supported me in my very slow process. As far as revising and shaping the story, once I had a draft, I’d say my creative writing teacher Josh Rathkamp as well as all of my beta readers, especially a friend from high school, Christa, who amazingly agreed to read my work despite the fact that we hadn’t talked in a long time, made some really important contributions to my writing journey. It was also encouraging for Silver and Lori to pick my book for this mentorship and cheer me on as I continue this crazy journey towards publication. What do you think is the biggest necessity for a group of writing friends? (This answer can be anything from "trust and communication" to "a sweet slack server") A love of the craft, a love of the process, and a love of each other. Any parting words for young writers looking for guidance, or a community? Look, finding a community of writers isn’t that hard, especially today. When I was a kid, I had to beg my neighborhood friends to read my made-up stories under the shade of my parents’ tree, but today, finding a community of writers is literally at your fingertips. You could start by participating in NaNoWriMo, which happens every November, but there are other opportunities via social media and the Internet. Or, you could explore free writer workshops via your public library or local independent bookstores. For example, Bookman’s in Arizona, does a young writers competition every year. I would also encourage you to (when old enough) to take classes at your community college. In every experience, be open, flexible, and giving. Remember that the writing process is a series of trial and error, so don’t be afraid to take risks and be okay with making a few mistakes along the way. Finding your people and learning about the craft is great, but remember that the best way to get better is by reading (a lot!) and writing (a lot!)! What about your own craft, interests, and abilities drew you to your mentee and their work? We were attracted to Kassie Lamro’s novel Until Sundown primarily because of the subject matter—a child dealing with death and grief, a difficult subject that Lamro handled beautifully via a fantastical journey through the afterlife with the aid of zodiacs—a highly creative concept with a subject always needed in the MG space. The strong writing that accompanied the concept made it a solid choice for us. Do you have a message for anyone interested in your mentee's work? Our mentee’s work has a lot of heart and soul. Her MC’s definitions of grief and death are handled delicately and are at a level consistent with middle grade parameters. Her passion for her work radiates on every page. We are looking forward to seeing this story on the bookshelves! So, I'm rewatching one of my all time favorite early 2000s TV shows, The Office, the American version. Look, I don't watch a lot of TV, but when I do, it's the good stuff, okay? Anyway, my husband hasn't watched them in order, and I don't know if you're like me, but when I find out that someone I love hasn't seen something that I really like, I feel an obligation to make sure they follow through. Also, I really enjoy seeing someone experience a story that I love for the first time. So we've spent the last week or more binge watching Season One, Two and now Three every evening after dinner. I think it was right before we started Season Two that my husband came home and said, "So, you know Pam and Angela in the show? They're best friends and have a podcast about The Office." Draw drop. "Really, really?" I asked. "Really. Really," he said. After thinking about it, I remembered someone telling me about it, but I'm not a big podcast listener. I'm trying to be better--- ever since I was a semi-guest on Story Chat Radio, which is also an excellent podcast, especially for writers looking for storytelling techniques from movie watching. Anyway, I really love The Office Ladies podcast, and I'm anxious to catch up. I'm literally two years behind in the podcast.
I won't tell the story as great as the Office Ladies, so check out the podcast episode on "Basketball," but they told their life stories on that bench and became best friends. Afterwards, they are going back to their cars or whatever, and they're skipping and singing. Steve Carell (Michael Scott) is behind them, and when Jenna and Angela see him, they're (I imagine) a little embarrassed that someone saw them being goofy, and the star of the show of all people, but Steve Carell smiles and tells them that no matter what happens with the show (because they didn't know how long The Office would be on the air), this, their friendship is what they will take away from the experience.
When I heard this story, I thought about the various writing experiences I've had, like #PitMad and writing workshops (in-person and virtual), and I want to take this advice from Steve Carell. It's nice to get picked up by an agent (I imagine!) because you did a Twitter Pitch or rocked the showcase at the end of a mentorship. It's great to get good constructive criticism that helps your work get to where it needs to be, but what if those things don't happen? What will you take from these workshops? For me, it's the connections and relationships. I have made some near and dear friends because I joined a writer-thing. Behind the scenes The more I listen to these behind the scenes podcast for The Office, the more I realize and the more I think about the "behind the scenes" to my favorite books. I've talked about this before in other blog posts, but too often as writers, we compare our works in progress to published books that we love, and it's not right. The truth is that the media we enjoy from The Office to Because of Winn-Dixie, has been through a process and there are often hundreds of people involved in making the final product what it is. The Office Ladies often talk about the backstage help, from prop supervisors to hair stylists, to directors and writers and editors to set designers. It's not a one-person show, folks! And that's true for writing and publishing books. We have critique parters, beta readers, sensitive readers, agents, editors, publishers, book designers and more! Collaboration The Office Ladies often talk about the collaboration they had on the set. They had writers acting with them: BJ Novak (Ryan/ the temp), Paul Lieberstein (Toby), Mindy Kaling (Kelly) among others, which allowed the actors to pitch ideas, but the writers also pitched ideas to each other and they had a "candy bag," which was a bag of unused ideas. This hits home to me as a writer because I often feel like my writing journey is a solo journey. It's an introvert activity, but it doesn't have to be lonely, and it's okay to ask for help. I can't tell you how much I love bouncing ideas off my husband and friends! Successful writing is collaborative. Have fun! Some of the best shots for The Office, based on what I've learned from the Office Ladies, come from when they were "seizing the moment," "asking the right question," or when they were simply "having fun!" Some of the best comedic moments (for example the exercise ball that Jim stabs with scissors while Dwight is on it) were accidents, improv, or simply an idea that they didn't know would work or not, but did! This is a huge takeaway for me as a writer because I often get stuck in my own head. Writing is meant to be fun and a discovery process, but that discovery and play doesn't happen unless you try something new, if you do something brave or experiment. If not, you won't know what you're missing. So these are my writer takeaways (so far!) from rewatching The Office and, more specifically, enjoying the Office Ladies podcast. Are you a fan of The Office? Do you like trivia or backstage stuff? Tell me about it in the comments! This post was first published as a guest post on kathyrunstothemovies.wordpress.com.
King Kong has a very different reason for being a protector. King Kong is from Skull Island, a Jurassic Park of sorts in the middle of nowhere. The natives there worshiped Kong, and, as we learn a little more clearly in the Peter Jackson film (2005), Kong has had a number of women offered to him as a thank you for keeping the dangerous creatures of Skull Island at bay. It seems that Kong wants love, (after all, his entire family was killed; we learn about this in Skull Island, 2017), but because love is hard and not everyone “gets you” when you’re a 15-25 foot gorilla, the women given to him are (can we say?) accidentally killed.
It isn’t until Ann Darrow comes to the island that Kong finds his true love. I like to think that he chose her not only because of her feisty nature, but also because of her love of the arts. It’s in Peter Jackson’s film where she connects with him through humor and stands up to him when he takes a joke too far. Kong’s love story is somewhat lessened in the 2017 Skull Island film, much to my chagrin, but it isn’t entirely absent. There is a touching moment between him and the lead female (played by Brie Larson) and (like mentioned), we learn about his family, which he lost in (most likely) a traumatic way. Kong’s motivation for saving the world, then, is more individualistic. He wants to save it for the one that he loves and/or admires, which is why I am drawn to Kong as an anti-hero. Now that you have a good foundation of my opinions of the two contestants, let’s dive into this spoiler-filled review! Story Gap Skull Island (2017) flipped the original classic on its head, literally. If you watch carefully and know what clues to look for, you’ll learn that (according to the 70’s-driven tale) Kong was an ordinary gorilla, probably from the jungles of the Congo. He didn’t originate from Skull Island like in the other films. He was brought there as an experiment. It’s speculated that the storyline changed in order to make Kong taller, which, if you watch Skull Island, is the most defining characteristic of King Kong. He’s big. Really big. Over a 100-feet-tall big! (In Godzilla vs Kong, he’s 300-plus-feet!!) In Godzilla vs Kong, we find King Kong in a sort-of Hunger Games sized stadium. It looks like Skull Island and feels like Skull Island, but it isn’t. You’d think they’d explain how Kong got to be in this giant aquarium or why there’s only one native left, the deaf girl, who attempts to be Kong’s love interest. They don’t explain anything! How did they build a Skull Island in (where are they again?) New York City, and why? How did they get Kong there, and why? What happened to the original Skull island? There is a giant story gap here, bigger than King Kong himself! Deaf girl Okay, okay. I love the idea that King Kong learned sign language. Who wouldn’t want to know what our beloved anti-hero is thinking? But the whole love story (although interesting that it’s a little girl this time!) felt forced to me. A lot of this probably has to do with the lack of backstory mentioned earlier. I admit that I might need to see the movie again and try to pick up on subtle clues, but I’m still unsure about how (apparently) King Kong saved the little girl and why. Even if we can get that through subtle clues, why is this deaf girl allowed in the Hunger Games sized stadium and no one else? Most importantly, why does Kong love this girl? Because she’s the last native of Skull Island? He killed all the other native girls that were given to him in the original films. Why would he like this one? Is she more than just a deaf girl? What’s her personality? What is it that Kong admires in her, and why? Why does he tolerate the girl’s mother so well and doesn’t get jealous of the mom, like he was of Ann Darrow’s boyfriend? Seems to me that Kong isn’t himself. Hmmm… The journey to the center of the earth Going to the center of the earth didn’t make any sense to me. Okay, sure! We need the bad guys to get the glowy super power that fuels (*big spoiler here!*) mechagodzilla, but does Kong really need a magic stick to fight Godzilla? I don’t think so! They made it seem like Kong needed the glowstick to have a chance against Godzilla, which is totally unfair. He’s lived on Skull Island his whole life, fought dinosaurs and skull crawlers alike and always came out on top. He can take Godzilla any day! Glow stick or no glow stick. Putting my bias for King Kong to the side, if I were to imagine the center of the earth, I don’t think it would be a paradise with luscious green trees. Isn’t there a core inside our earth, filled with (I don’t know) molten metal, nearly as hot as the surface of the sun?! How could anything grow down there? For me, the entire journey to the center of the earth was unnecessary--- although, it was very satisfying when Kong crushed the woman in charge of the exposition, not only because she was one of the bad guys, but also because she kept calling Kong a “stupid monkey.” Show the monster My husband’s biggest complaint for the Godzilla (2014) film was that every time we were about to see Godzilla, there would be a building in the way, or he would dive into the water and we’d get a glimpse of his tail. My husband and I were, then, both happy that in Godzilla vs Kong, we got to “see the monsters.” There was no skipping out on seeing Godzilla or Kong in action. No hiding behind buildings or ducking into water or hinting at their heights. If the film got one thing right, it’s that the makers knew to give us the fight scenes--- lots of them!---and they were really awesome! This leads me to my next point. Fight on the ocean The most intense fight scene for me was the one on the ocean. Here we have Kong on a ginormous ship. (He’s 300-plus-feet tall now, remember?) He’s chained, yet (somehow) willing to go out onto the water in order to get to where they’ve dug to the center of the earth. (Don’t worry. The deaf girl convinced him it was okay! *rolls eyes* Okay! Maybe they sedated him, but that doesn’t seem right either.) Here comes Godzilla, swimming at him like a shark! He has felt the presence of another alpha and because there can only be one true alpha, he’s coming for King Kong. Gorillas can’t swim. I’m, also, not a good swimmer, so my heart was pounding, and I had to keep reminding myself to breathe! Kong got in some good punches, but he didn’t have a chance in the water, I’ll give Godzilla that. Kong had to be rescued by people, and, oh, what a humiliation that must have been! I’m a believer in letting heroes fall before they make an important stand. The fight on the ocean (for me) should have been like Buffy’s first fight against the ubervamp in season seven (in Buffy the Vampire Slayer). It wasn’t pretty. It knocked our hero to the ground, but not for long. Heroes (even anti-heroes) always get back up. I say that this moment should have been that fall before the triumph because, here’s the thing: people stepped in way too often for Kong. Just because they saved Kong from the ocean doesn’t mean they have the right to give him pointers or tell him how or who to fight. Kong is a King, remember? He knows how to fight. He knows how to win. He’s not on the ocean anymore. He has the advantage of swinging between buildings and throwing powerful punches. Kong is “crowned” the winner in the second fight, but the victory didn’t feel like Kong’s to me. There were too many people helping out. I wanted them to back off, and I don’t think Godzilla should have won the third fight. Kong should have been able to wrestle him to the ground, shiny-fins or not. Again, I think if people could have let Kong fight on his own, he would have done a lot better. Closing Thoughts I guess I could talk about this movie forever! Before I wrap up, I will say that the human trio tracking Godzilla were fantastic! Their purpose in the film, really, was to expose the makers of mechagodzilla and prove that Godzilla wasn’t attacking cities at random, that he was protecting the planet, but the trio did more than that for me. They made me laugh--- really hard! They had awesome one-liners and added much needed humor in an otherwise too-serious film. All and all, Godzilla vs Kong is worth seeing. Using Kathy’s running metaphor/scale, I’d say it’s worth a fast-walk, but remember who King Kong is and why he does what he does. If he’s supposed to be in love with the deaf girl, that’s fine! But we need to know why her, and we need to see a hint of Kong’s jealous tendencies because that’s what drove him to the top of the Empire State building in the first place. If there’s a reasonable reason for Skull Island being a Hunger Games stadium, I’ll take it, but it better be a good one! I believe writing is a process, which means that, over the years, I've learned to be open to inspiration whenever it comes, that I free write, have discovery drafts, and revise my writing over and over until it shapes itself into what it needs to be, whether or not it's what I envisioned or not.
My creative writing teacher used to say "words are meant to be wasted" meaning that it's okay if you don't say what you want to say the way you want to say it the first time. There are thousands of words! So, don't be afraid of trial and error or playing around. You won't know what works until you see what isn't working. I believe in this process, but that doesn't mean it makes it any easier to revise what I wrote. I like pretty words (or words clumped together in an effective way), and even though I know it's okay to say something badly before I say it well, I always feel like whatever I got on the page is somehow a part of me. I'm a slow drafter, so getting any words on the page takes a lot of energy. Sometimes, then, it takes a bit of coaxing to get myself to rewrite. A few years back, though, I perfected a trick I learned from a fellow writer. I call it the "experiment doc." It's a trick I've grown in confidence so much that I now share it with college students as I coach them through their academic essays. The concept is simple. Let's say you have a piece of writing you know you need to rewrite or revise, but you're having a hard time giving up the words that you worked so hard to get onto the page in the first place. Here's what you do: put that piece of writing in a separate document. Save it as the experiment doc, if you wish, because that's what it is! Now, try something crazy. Flip the ideas on their head. Cut a paragraph or two or three. Do as many changes as you possibly can, but know that you can always go back to the original because this is the experiment doc. You don't have to keep it if you don't like it. But you know what I've found? The experiment doc is almost always a better version than the original I had. Why? Because I stop worrying about it having to be perfect. It's just an experiment. It might not work, and that's okay! Having an experiment doc reminds me to put "play" back into drafting, which is really important to me because it's in the play, the trial and error, that I find what works. Huh. That's pretty much true about my life, too. As you may know, my 2021 goal is to do everything poetry. That means reading it, writing it, and learning all I can about it. It's been almost a full three months since I started, and I thought I'd share what I've learned so far about writing poetry.
Don't over think it Oftentimes, we think of poetry as a certain thing. We have an image of Dr. Seuss, for example, or we think we have to have a rhyme scheme (ABAAB or something!). Yes, those things you're thinking about are examples of poetry, but it's not the only kind! I learned from my creative writing teacher that most contemporary doesn't even rhyme! So once you know that it doesn't have to look a certain way, you have a lot more freedom, I think. Look for examples Over the past month, I've read eleven books with poetry from ten different poets, but I've also scoured the Internet for examples as well. I find that the more I read, the more ideas I get about structure, technique, and ideas for topics! I've seen poets use onomatopoeia, imagery, symbolism, personification, repetition and so much more. I love reading book in verses best because I like how several poems, collectively, can tell a story! (Also because my current work in progress is a book in verse.) You can also read craft books specifically about poetry as well. The two I've read so far are The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo and A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver. (I enjoyed the latter best!) Get specific and get personal I learned this early on (in my creative writing class), but it's something I think about every time I write a poem. I draft and then I think:
Practice play! Lastly, one of the most important lessons I've had in poetry so far is learning to be okay with play. Sure, I might write a crummy poem, but I won't know it's crummy until I write it. Most of the time, after I've written the "crummy" poem, I realize that it isn't that bad at all and/or that if I tweak it or switch a word or two, it gets better. The sky is the limit when it comes to poetry play, though! You can cut lines wherever and however you feel it makes sense. You can write in fragments, in lists, in bullets, in pictures. You can write a series of poems with the same title. you can indent. You can use italics. You can repeat the same phrase or word. You can combine subjects or ideas that aren't usually combined. You can write sounds, purposely forget to capitalize or never put any periods. Play. Play. Play! Practice. Practice. Practice! I still have a lot to learn, but I hope these first few lessons inspire you to learn to poetry or explore the poetry we have in our world. There's a lot! If you want to see my poetry, check out the poetry tab on my website. If you want to see what I'm reading, check out my Instagram posts. Happy poetry-ing!
I've been thinking about this a lot lately.
What expectations do I have for myself when I wake up? What will I do that day? I admit that sometimes I make big plans. Or I think about the goals I have for the month, week or year, like writing and publishing a book, for example. And I think about how I'm falling short. I was on Instagram the other day and another writer talked about setting manageable writing goals for yourself. She's a mom and admits that she has to often sneak small moments to write her book. She's constantly adjusting her goals. Flexibility. Flexibility. That's the key! I think that can apply to all of us, parents or not. It's easy to skip past the "small stuff" that we do and think that we haven't accomplished anything today. But I think if we start the day right--- by recognizing that we can't always control everything that happens--- we can see the small progress we are making each and every day. We can look in the mirror at the end of the day and say, "[Name], [age]. Today... I did the best I could." The last few weeks have been challenging for me to get anything written. Let's just say I've gotten very good at making excuses for myself. (ha ha!) November is right around the corner, though, and I'm all set to participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). This will be my fifth year participating, but I've never completed an entire novel in one month. I'm hoping to change that this year! What is impostor syndrome? Impostor syndrome, from my own understanding, is when you feel like a phony. Artists usually experience it as they're growing in their craft, but it can hit almost anyone learning new skills: parents, nurses, teachers, and even sixth graders learning to do long division. It's that inner critic that tells you you're not good enough or those moments when you feel like giving up because you don't think you can do it. Elizabeth Gilbert talks about impostor syndrome as a society inflicted flaw, which may never go away. Successful giants like Stephen King or Kate DiCamillo are not immune to it, so it's no wonder I feel it every now and then, too. Mine probably stems from my unruly tendency to compare my sloppy drafts to finished products, but it's heightened as I've entered the query trenches, as I've applied for mentoring programs, and (in general) as I feel the weight of my new baby-project, which I hope to write for NaNoWriMo.
Tom Leveen, an Arizonan writer and talented motivational speaker, recently posted the above video. (Check it out!) He asks the question: Why write if you can't guarantee publication? He talks about the various motivations a person can have to write a book. My favorite part of the whole thing is when he talks about failing versus quitting. They are not the same! So what would I do if I knew I would fail?... Would I still write?... Ahh... That is the question, my friend. Will I keep writing--- if I never get my stories published? (Ouch.)
She rambles quite a bit, I know, but I love it! I love that she validates the hard work that goes into writing a book. She says it's even harder than giving birth! ha ha! But most importantly, she say to never give up on your dreams.
What now? So it's time to sit at the set, so to speak. I gotta put the work in. You know write badly! First drafts aren't supposed to be pretty and clean, as much as I'd like them to be. It's time to take my own advice and do the best I can. Why? Because I love stories. Because I still have dreams. If you're planning to do NaNoWriMo this year, I'd love to hear what you're working on. (Maybe we can be buddies!) If you're not doing NaNoWriMo or you're not even a writer, let me know if you've been attacked by impostor syndrome and what you're doing to fight it. It's a battle I have to fight pretty much every day. But it's a battle I hope to win. How about you? I've watched #PitMad come and go for at least three years now. It's a quarterly online competition where you tweet what your story is about and agents "like" or favorite your tweet if they want you to submit to them. Having revised, edited, and incorporated beta reader feedback to said completed draft, I knew this time around would be different! This time, I was eligible to participate. All you need is a completed, polished book draft--- but you need a completed, polished book draft. (It sounds easier than it actually is!) How it went As much as I was hoping something would come from my tweet, I knew that it was unlikely. Most people who participate don't get representation. It happens, sure! But there were over 200,000 tweets by noon. It would be impossible for agents to go through all the tweets! At the end of the day, a friend asked me how my first time was! "It was fun," I said. "It was a great way to dip my toes, so to speak, into the querying world." When he asked if I had any takers, I admitted that I got one "like," but it was from an agent that represents romance novels. ha ha! I I didn't write a romance novel, so I'm not sure why they would think I would be a good fit for them. "But you know what?" I said. "I connected with a lot of wonderful writers... At the very least, I just told the world I wrote a book!" "That's a great way to look at it!" he said. Unexpected support Even though I was optimistic about my experience and was glad I tried, it was still somewhat discouraging not to get something more. Then, the next day, I found this tweet!
But wait! That's not all. Diane Magras sent me a DM and told me not to give up on my book. She gave me names of agents that I should submit to and offered to look at my query. Jaw drop! I sent her my query and she gave me great advice for how to improve it. She wants my book in the world! It was awesome! The road to publication is still long, but at least there are moments of sunshine and support along the way.
As I've sheared before, I finished writing a book! I've revised and edited that puppy--- alone, with mentors and critique partners, and I've sent out two different versions to beta readers. I revised, edited again and again... and it's about as good as I can get it. "When will you publish your book?" a friend asked me recently. Good question!
In short, I'll more easily be able to say, "Buy my book wherever books are sold!" and maybe in several different languages. Getting a literary agent In some cases of traditional publishing, it isn't necessary to have a literary agent. Shonna Slayton, for example, said she queried a small publishing press on her own. Bully for her! I may get to that same point of confidence someday, but most publishing houses don't allow for that sort of thing anyway. They will only listen to pitches from a literary agent. My goal, then, is to get an agent. Again, this is someone in the publishing industry who can guide you through the submission process, answer questions, and even go to bat for you and your book when it comes time to signing a contract with a publishing house. This one step alone (getting a literary agent) can sometimes take ten or more years! The "query trenches" This is a nickname for that stage in your writing career where you are submitting queries (cover letters to your book) to agents and receiving rejections. Everyone gets rejections! It took J.K Rowling over seven years to get Harry Potter published. Stephen King said he got so many rejections that he was able to cover his entire wall/room with rejection slips! These are the giants in the writing industry. If they struggled to get their books into the world, what hope is there for the rest of us? Requests You might hear people talking about whether they got a partial or full request. This basically means that an agent (or someone they queried) is interested in your story. They're not quite ready to represent you, though. They need to see more of your writing, so they ask for part of your book (partial) or the whole thing. Sometimes these requests result in representation. Other times, they lead to an R&R... R&R R&R stands for "revise and resubmit." The agent (person you're querying) will tell you about some specific aspects in your project that need some tweaking. It could be a character that needs to be taken out, some polishing up of your theme or character arch or something else. R&Rs are usually good news, but sometimes you submit again and receive a rejection anyway.
Competitions There are competitions that can help you get seen by an agent faster. For example, #PitMad is a quarterly Twitter Pitch competition. #RevPit is another. I am currently working towards #PitchWars (which sponsors #PitMad). It is a mentorship program. Basically, an author/agented-author works with me and my manuscript in preparation for an agent showcase. As you can imagine, it's extremely competitive to get into such a program. Oftentimes it takes two or three tries to get in. After getting an agent Getting a literary agent doesn't guarantee that you will be published. It's for sure a step in the right direction! But the agent will need to pitch your story, put it on what's called submission, and convince people that your book belongs in the world. This could take anywhere between 2-5 years. Once the publisher agrees to publish your book, though, it only takes about 3 years for the book to be printed and ready for sale. So, when will you publish your book?
Let's just say that I'm in the car, puttering forward. It's gonna be a long drive! I might (literally!) break down, get lost or even pull over to get more snacks, but you know what? I'm not giving up. A friend of mine once told me, that persistence is the most important trait in a writer. I think I have that. |