Where have all the deadlines gone?
In the two years, seven months, and 21 days I’ve been working on my novel I learned to excel at the art of deadlines. Write 1,000 words a day, revise pages 76-89 by Friday, and do not even THINK about going to the bar until Chapter 15 is done. After all, weren’t we taught in class to keep our eyes on the page, set small goals and achieve them? Personally, I found the idea of finishing the novel too overwhelming to think about, once you peak behind that curtain and set eyes on the little wizard (or me in my bathrobe at 3pm) the horror cannot be ignored.
I kept my nose firmly to the grindstone: research Masquerade Balls in 1811, chart out the characters, chart out the costumes, chart out the food?? Fix the ending, fix the epilogue, change the maid’s name to something more French…I did it all, and then one day I looked up from my desk and I was finished.
Now every writer knows that no novel, short story, poem, letter to your mother for her birthday, is ever truly finished. There is always more tweaking to be done, more feedback to obtain, and certainly there is a better word out there than “sultry,” I must get the thesaurus out right away…
But obsessive-compulsiveness aside, the novel was done, finished, ended, complete, terminated (oops, still thumbing through the thesaurus). I had set my very last deadline and reached it; I printed out all 386 pages, sat down at the kitchen table and gazed upon them.
For two whole days I was elated, I had finished my book! And then a writing day came along and there I was at my desk, twirling a half ground pencil around my ever anxious fingers. Now what? Edit more? Start something new? Take up tennis? No, it was worse than that…now I had to sell it.
Where do I start? I had been focused for so long on just finishing the novel that I couldn’t conceive of doing anything else, and that’s when it hit me: the same tools I had used to write the novel, I would need to sell it.
First and foremost, research. What is my market? How do I find an agent? How do I write a query letter? Conferences are a good place to start. In 2008 I attended the RWA Chicago-North Spring Fling and received a large list of agents in my genre, along with attending several workshops on the writing business that have been immensely helpful. (Don’t forget: StoryStudio has a couple publishing seminars coming up in February and March!) Publisher’s Marketplace and The Association of Author’s Representatives are also invaluable tools for finding agents that are looking to sell your book, and Nelson Literary Agency has excellent info about writing great query letters on the FAQ section of their website.
Secondly, don’t lose your creativity: Have fun with it! I created a website ((http://www.jenniferanncoffeen.com) to have something extra to send to agents, and I do my best to add something fresh and unique to each agent query I send out. Check out the agent’s bio or blog to find out more about them. Do you have something in common? Perhaps a favorite book or love of fine cheeses?
And third, keep setting deadlines (Thank God!): Following the advice of other StoryStudio writers I now split my writing days in half. The mornings are spent writing away on my next book while the afternoons belong to marketing. I set firm goals for myself and keep a list of what needs to be done next.
I am (slowly) learning to take selling my book just as seriously as writing the book. It worked the first time right? And who know, maybe one day I’ll look up and my book will be--gasp!-- sold.
