Vacation, Queries, and Sequels

If there's one thing I've learned in the last few days, it's that everyone has a book inside them. I went to Barnes and Noble to pick up the requisite 2013 Writer's Market and had to endure listening to an entire synopsis of the cashier's as-yet-published book. While I'm usually all yay for those people, it just made me worry (also, she went on for about ten to fifteen minutes, and all I wanted was my book and a chai latte, and then to put some pajamas on. Sigh.). Now that I'm finished, is that what I have to do? 

The answer is...yes. Yes it is.

I'm starting query letters this week. It's a bit daunting to think about, but it's the next logical step, right? I figure inundating the emails and regular mailboxes of literary agents would be my best bet. I'll treat them like the cashier treated me, but they have the luxury of reading about my book in their offices with chai lattes already waiting for them. This should be interesting, as I usually suck at formal letters of all kinds. But isn't everything a process and that's how we learn? I'm hoping so.

But it's been about a month since I finished the first manuscript of AYLB, and I'm beginning to get the itch again. I know that I should start on the sequel (because wouldn't that be smart?), but I can't do it. Not yet. I'm one of those people who read a book in a day and then have to wait forever for the sequel, and I sit there the entire time thinking to myself, c'mon, people, just write it and get it out already, gah! But now I understand. As much as I love my characters and where they're going, I think to myself, oh, no, not these people again. So I think I'm going to take the summer off from Amory and the rest of the gang, and instead concentrate on another story that seems to be tugging at me. It was one that I originally started this blog for, and something about it is calling me.

Three months without Amory, without thinking about where those characters are going to go and what they're going to do. A mini-vacation from them. While getting a tan. I don't see one bad thing about that.

Finished!...?

I finished editing last week. The moment I finished, I wanted to get on this thing and trumpet about all my hard work. But then I realized that while I made the corrections on the printed manuscript, I had to transfer all of those to the actual digital manuscript and add all the scenes that I felt necessary (which were a lot, and many of the notes I don't remember). So while my completely wonderful and lovely boyfriend played video games most of Saturday (as per my request), I revised and edited and reread my entire manuscript. I have to say...I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's surprising because I've never really liked anything I write, even essays from high school and college. So I'm taking this as a good sign and moving forward without looking back.

Now I'm at a crossroads, though. I started the process to turn this thing into a Kindle book, but then my boyfriend asked me, "What happened to showing it to someone?" It made me pause. What did happen to showing someone? Now that this is all finished and I'm happy with what I have, why not send it out to publishers? Well, yes, there's the crippling idea of rejection, but if that's it, why shouldn't I? It's strange to think that, if someone did take a chance on me, by this time next year, I would be working on the sequel and that I'd be doing something I love to publish and not just to let it sit there on my bookshelf for the rest of my life. Even writing that is getting me excited!

So, we shall see. If, in a few months, nothing is biting, then maybe I'll just throw it up on Kindle. Either way, I guess, it'll be out there soon. That sound so defeatist. My book will be out in the public soon! Yay!

There. That's a better note to end on.

Promoting My Book...And Myself

I'm a little more than halfway through editing and then a small thought wormed its way inside my head. After I finish with all this, change what needs to be changed, and then put it up for sale...what then? I guess I always had that fantasy where I would put my book out there and people would scramble for it, and then it would sell just from word of mouth. Of course, I was about nine when I had that fantasy, and I haven't really thought about promotion since I started writing for real. Now, the question is all I can think about, and I have no idea what to do. There's the normal route of sending it out to publishers and praying that you hear back from them. Then there's the shameless self-promotion on other websites and anywhere else you can think of. The problem with those choices are that I hate being like...

Don't get me wrong: I love talking about myself. Well, I love talking in general. But I hate talking about myself when I have to talk about something that I've done. I'm more of a, oh, what, me? Of course I know everything about Harry Potter! You know, the important stuff. But whenever someone asks me what my book is about, I suddenly get all, oh, well, you know, there's this thing and she has to do this other thing and then...you know, things happen. I sabotage myself and I can only hope that people will pick up my book out of sheer pity for the simple girl who doesn't know what her own book is about.

But, luckily, I don't have to worry about that for another...18 days? Are you serious? Who's decision was it to make May so short!? Sigh. I should go pretend to work on my story while I soak up as much air conditioning as possible before I have to turn on the hair dryer. I hate warm weather.

Chugging through...

I've been editing for about a week or so now, and my only thought each time I pick up the manuscript is, why are there so many gosh darn chapters?? I'm on chapter nine of thirty-one, and just when it seems like I'm getting a lot done, it's like...wow, only three pages? Way to go, Bree. Awesome. I think I'm going to blame the inundation of junk the world has given us. TV! Kindle! Books! Shoes! It's ridiculous.

So, I thought of those infinite words of wisdom whenever you read a fitness blog or anything that has to do with exercise. They say that if you want to stay steady with what you're doing, you should have a workout buddy. That's supposed to keep you going because you already promised someone that you would do whatever, and then the guilt will consume you if you skip out on even one workout. (This is why I don't exercise. Guilt and I aren't good friends.) But, if I can't have a workout buddy, I do have a blog. And here's my already guilt-ridden promise: I will be done editing this manuscript by the end of May.

I know what you're thinking: end of May? Um, it's only May 3. Well, yeah, I'm aware of that, but I'm also aware of who I am. I've got a few things to do in May and one big graduation to prepare for in June, so the added stress of buckling down and finishing editing in two weeks...Nope. Not going to happen. So now it's out there and I can't back down from that. No matter what life throws at me, it'll be done.

Now that I've said that, I'm off to finish the latest Vampire Diaries and get through another hundred pages of NOS4A2 before I have to get ready for that pesky thing called work. Don't worry...I'll stick to my word, even with all that.