The Dark Lands Book 2 Week 3

July 18th, 2009 by 801red

Received my first rejection from an agent, which didn’t break my heart. It was an agent I picked based on a sale report in Locus Magazine. They had an easy online submission and I figured what the heck. What got rejected was my query letter and two pages of manuscript.

It does make me wonder how any books get published at all. Not that I am saying that mine should, but two pages of manuscript. Seems kind of silly. I am still waiting to hear from the other agent which will be this week. She is a pretty big agent and I am expecting a second rejection.

Neither rejections will bother me because I sent the queries out on a lark. I am waiting for notes from a friend who is reading my first book. Had an interesting conversation on the phone and have been mulling several of the items we talked about all week. When I get the notes I am going to put book two aside for a little bit and tighten up book one.

After I have that rewrite done I am going to be seeking two more readers who would be willing to give me some constructive notes on their read through. I think that I am going to go through my Twitter account to find them. I am hoping to find someone who doesn’t really know me but enjoys talking with me on Twitter. After that I will make one more pass through on my novel and begin to seriously look for an agent. A published writer that I talk to now and again has suggested that while looking for an agent I should also be sending to publishers who still have a slush pile. Get the book out there.

The truth is that lots (and I mean lots) of good books never find a publisher. I have been thinking about what I am going to do if my book ends up in this category. I think that I am going to create a web site and release it as a serial.

I am not sure that it is at a publishable state yet. At the same time, I don’t think it is that far off. Nobody has disliked it. Some have loved it and some have had some suggestions that they felt would make it better. The editing process has become as interesting as the writing process was.

Book two has reached 20,000 words and is starting to feel like it is going to come in longer than the 80,000 word goal I set. The first book was 82,0000 words and I am sure this one is going to come in longer. I haven’t written enough books yet to completely gage how long a story will come in. I am happy with my progress but I have a story line that I am not completely sure how I am going to handle. I know where it is going but I think that it might be significantly longer than I thought. I don’t know if that means I cut it off sooner and wrap it into book three or if I just make this book much longer. I have been thinking about that one a lot lately.

I admit to being proud of myself on this whole process. I think that what I am doing is good. When I am done I will have written a trilogy. Even if it isn’t published I will have done something most people will never do. I do not plan on giving up. I have a couple decades worth of ideas rattling around in my head. This process can only make me better.

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