- Joined
- Feb 23, 2011
- Messages
- 1,628
- Reaction score
- 321
- Location
- The Music City
- Website
- lionsandlambssaga.wordpress.com
Greetings to all of you. My name is Roger and obviously I'm new to AW. I found this magical place while on my search for an agent. Funny how you stumble across unexpected nooks and crannies when you're not even looking for them.
Unfortunately, I'm not a newbie to life. I started out on a cotton farm in Arkansas, graduated from Arkansas State, and have worked in IT since. I worked for computer stores, owned my own custom software business for several years, became unemployed, lost most of everything in the great economic meltdown (including most of my sanity), found work in Tennesse, and love it here. Now, I'm an aspiring YA novelist, imagine that. (Due to loss of 90% sanity, maybe?) Anyway...
I've always loved writing. I did a lot of it in my early days. Never got paid for publishing anything. Just a couple of little articles in local publications that no one has heard from since. That's okay. Then life happened and I got distracted. I've spent several years (and still doing so) raising teenagers. (Probably responsible for 75% loss of sanity.)
A little over a year ago, I got this idea that refused to go away so I sat down one Saturday morning and started typing. One day I actually wrote the final line of the story and wiped my brow. I had paid no attention to length so I was a bit surprised when I did a word count and it came out to be 290,000 words. OMG! After much work, I trimmed it down to 207,000. Still OMG! Did some soul searching (and research) and decided to break the story into two books. Worked out well actually. Since then, I've written another 62,000 word novel so I thought maybe I should consider publication.
I sent out some queries and have gotten the usual rejections but I'm undaunted. I look forward to reading this forum and gleaning as much information I can about submitting work. I've already read tons of material about composing a query and I believe I have a good one but I my opinion is rather tainted. I'd like to find someone to read my query and give feedback. I like criticism, so don't be shy. There's nothing better than good honest opinions. (Did I say that out loud?)
Unfortunately, I'm not a newbie to life. I started out on a cotton farm in Arkansas, graduated from Arkansas State, and have worked in IT since. I worked for computer stores, owned my own custom software business for several years, became unemployed, lost most of everything in the great economic meltdown (including most of my sanity), found work in Tennesse, and love it here. Now, I'm an aspiring YA novelist, imagine that. (Due to loss of 90% sanity, maybe?) Anyway...
I've always loved writing. I did a lot of it in my early days. Never got paid for publishing anything. Just a couple of little articles in local publications that no one has heard from since. That's okay. Then life happened and I got distracted. I've spent several years (and still doing so) raising teenagers. (Probably responsible for 75% loss of sanity.)
A little over a year ago, I got this idea that refused to go away so I sat down one Saturday morning and started typing. One day I actually wrote the final line of the story and wiped my brow. I had paid no attention to length so I was a bit surprised when I did a word count and it came out to be 290,000 words. OMG! After much work, I trimmed it down to 207,000. Still OMG! Did some soul searching (and research) and decided to break the story into two books. Worked out well actually. Since then, I've written another 62,000 word novel so I thought maybe I should consider publication.
I sent out some queries and have gotten the usual rejections but I'm undaunted. I look forward to reading this forum and gleaning as much information I can about submitting work. I've already read tons of material about composing a query and I believe I have a good one but I my opinion is rather tainted. I'd like to find someone to read my query and give feedback. I like criticism, so don't be shy. There's nothing better than good honest opinions. (Did I say that out loud?)
