The bird has been booted from the nest

Calla Lily · Sep 26, 2005

This might ramble...

I sent the revised, scrubbed, polished, spiffed-up first 3 chapters, synopsis and requisite Killer Cover Letter to an agent today!

(For all you women who have kids, I swear the rest of this day has mimicked mild postpartum depression. It's really weird.)

This was the 4th revision to the book, based on kind and critical advice. Got rid of the cliched bits, fixed my dreadful tendency to switch POV, ended each chapter with something that makes you want to continue, made The First 50 Words grab the reader by throat and shake him/her.

Please pray for me. I do believe that this is *not* meant to languish in a drawer. There are things I say in my fiction that might (if it isn't full-of-myself) make someone think about Jesus.

Thus begins the requisite 6-8 week wait...

- the Lily

(And I celebrated by splurging $19 for a Denver & the Mile High Orchestra concert ticket -- 3rd row, just a nudge left of center -- for this Saturday. Wah-hoo!)

Robin Bayne · Sep 26, 2005

Good for you!!! :Clap:

Betty W01 · Jan 13, 2006

You go, girl!

And while you wait, here's a though to ponder: sometimes the things we write and send out where only meant to be seen by the editor who ends up rejecting it.

Calla Lily · Jan 13, 2006

Betty W01 said:
You go, girl!

And while you wait, here's a though to ponder: sometimes the things we write and send out where only meant to be seen by the editor who ends up rejecting it.

You betcha. Because that's just what happened about a month after I mailed it out. didn't even make it past the HS/college screener, because the male agent's "name" was signed with several loops and one of those underneath flourishes with two short lines bisecting it.

However, never say die! Tuesday (no mail Monday, MLK Day) it's going out to First Fiction and a month later it'll go to the Genesis Contest (formerly Noble Theme).

Lily :idea:

Ivonia · Jan 14, 2006

Good luck with your story! I myself have been struggling to revamp my early chapters (my chapter 1 is 70 pages, but my chapter 2 is only half that /cry), and it's taking a lot of brainstorming to work it out.

Hope your story gets accepted in any case

SeanDSchaffer · Jan 19, 2006

Congratulations, Lily. I wish you all the best with your work.

ldumont999 · Jan 21, 2006

Go Girl

I think we need more writers who plant Jesus seeds in the minds and hearts of the unsaved. Not every Christian is meant to write books for the choir. You are in my prayers.

Calla Lily · Jan 24, 2006

Shoulda happened on a Monday

Ya gotta laugh:

In my email this morning was a message sent from the agency I submitted to last week. Oh, well. I sighed and clicked on it. this is what it read:

Dear [Lily]: Thank you for submitting a query for [romantic-type title]. However, we will not be requesting further materials...etc., etc.

Um...I submitted a proposal (letter/synopsis/3 chapters) and I couldn't write romance on a bet! I write thrillers.

20+ years in business has taught me the truth of "less is more": I sent a reply stating simply that I'd sent a proposal for my book title, and that another writer had sent the query cited above.

The cynical broad in me says that the other writer got my rejection and I got hers. The optimist in me hopes that the mistake will guilt them into taking another look at my work. Hey, ya gotta dream!

I'll let you know what they say.

And this naturally doesn't count as a rejection for my pledge fraction! My work wasn't rejected in said email. :tongue

InspiredWriter · Mar 7, 2006

It seems to me that I would much rather receive someone else's rejection! Hah! At least their mess-up was good for a laugh! And who knows, maybe they will give your work the second look it deserves.

Keep at it!!

Elizabeth M. Thompson
www.Writers-Block.info

Calla Lily · Mar 8, 2006

The revised sig below says it all...

Off to hit the Cadbury mini-eggs...

InspiredWriter · Mar 13, 2006

So, who have you sent your manuscript to now? Please tell me that you have submitted it somewhere. If not, get to it!

(Feel free to nudge me as necessary, too!)

Never give up,

Elizabeth M. Thompson, Editor
www.Writers-Block.info

Calla Lily · Mar 14, 2006

InspiredWriter said:
So, who have you sent your manuscript to now? Please tell me that you have submitted it somewhere. If not, get to it!

(Feel free to nudge me as necessary, too!)

Never give up,

I sent it to the Genesis Contest (oy, that was expensive, as I belong to a different writers group [CWFI]). I have hopes, which are proof of my eternal optimism.

I was caught up in the incredible time-drain of my 10YO in the HS play (The Music Man, and they took 8 5th-graders as River City Kids). But that's over. I've barely cracked Sally Stuart's 2006 guide. That's my next task, and then I'll start submitting.

So...you too have submitted...right? [taps foot and gives best mom-look]

InspiredWriter · Mar 14, 2006

Okay, I submit!

I have submitted several articles over the past few weeks. Two were accepted by "Focus on Your Child," I am waiting for responses to the others. I have also been very busy working on www.Writers-Block.info a website for Christian writers. I have conducted two interviews of successful authors and reviewed several books.

I am working on two book proposals, both non-fiction on the topic of grief. It is slow-going at the moment. I am thinking about taking a two-night writing retreat to a bed and breakfast about 20 miles from home so I can complete them. (I have three children, two who are young enough to be constant interruptions.) I am checking into the costs. It has to be a very productive time in order to justify the expense. It seems like a luxury, but maybe necessary!

Thanks for the nudge, I look forward to more mutual-prodding!

(or should I say, "spurring each other on to good works")

Calla Lily · Mar 15, 2006

InspiredWriter said:
I am thinking about taking a two-night writing retreat to a bed and breakfast about 20 miles from home so I can complete them. (I have three children, two who are young enough to be constant interruptions.) I am checking into the costs. It has to be a very productive time in order to justify the expense. It seems like a luxury, but maybe necessary!

Mine are 10 and 14. Not at the annoying stage like when they were little. But time-consuming. Esp. when they keep wanting to teach me variations of the card game "Mauii", which is all the rage at school. There a LOT of variations.

I did some serious research into Sandy Cove's 2-day Writer's Retreat last October. The DH doesn't "get" why it's difficult to write at home. Hmmm...laundry, dishes, cooking, kids' activities, 2 cats... Anyway, I couldn't justify the cost or the 7-hour drive, and bagged it. Now I just stay up late way too much, for the quiet. Although the DH and kids watch the Fox Soccer channel. All the time. And I can usually tune that out and write.

The bird has been booted from the nest

Calla Lily

On hiatus

Robin Bayne

~writes for Him~

Betty W01

Empress of Cyberworld

Calla Lily

On hiatus

Ivonia

Zodiac Fleet Commander

SeanDSchaffer

ldumont999

Calla Lily

On hiatus

InspiredWriter

Calla Lily

On hiatus

InspiredWriter

Calla Lily

On hiatus

InspiredWriter

Calla Lily

On hiatus