My goal for June was to finish the first round of revisions on novel #2 to get it out to beta readers by July 1st. Some are teachers, so I wanted them to have the summer months to be able to finish it. Well, as you probably guessed by the title and today’s date, I finished an entire week early, and it is in their hands! Hopefully this is what they look like now.
It felt good to get off my list, but it wasn’t like I was going to stop and rest. That is very un-Tammy like. What if I got out of the habit and couldn’t get back in? What helped me tremendously was an offer from Bookends Literary Agency.
In return for a donation (for a cause I wanted to support anyway), they are giving away a query critique. For non-publishing people, queries are the letters aspiring authors like me send to agents to get representation. Since I didn’t get any bites during my #PITMad attempt, I figured why not get some feedback from an agency I planned to query anyway.
In order to get the critique, though, the letter has to be submitted to them by the 30th. Having that external deadline is really helping me. While my mind really wants to start working on novel #3, this is a keeping my brain away from the bright shiny things.
I know that querying is going to be a long road, with lots of silence and very little positive feedback. I’m okay with that. This is the path I want to take. I hope to be of the right mindset to enjoy the scenery as I follow it.
Grown Up, Now What? 