WisCon 35 wrapped up last weekend and the highlight of the weekend was that I made my self-imposed deadline. More or less. Two years ago, I set WisCon as the deadline for finishing the rewrite of my novel. I made that deadline (luckily, I hadn't specified which WisCon) even though I bought a house and moved in between. The rewrite was extensive and based on feedback from my writer's group and other readers. The story is sharper, more focused even as I managed to expand it in a way that makes it seem (to me, at least) a more fulfilling story.
Having finished the rewrite, it's time to begin the agent search. In other words, the business side of writing. I haven't had that much success with that side of things to date. I've had one short story sold to one webzine in the last couple of years, and that's it. To be fair, for most of the last 4 years I've been focused on the novel, but having finished that major creative project, now I have to focus on the business, the selling side that goes with the creation if I want to do anything more than enjoy the process of writing in and of itself.
Pursuant to the advice I learned at some of the panels at WisCon last weekend, I've started this blog and I've begun to examine markets, agents, and strategies for the business, both for the novel just finished and the short stories now and to come. I'm not the first to go through this process (at least one other member of my writing group has searched for [and found] an agent) but this is my journey. Now I have something to talk about.
Congratulations on finishing the draft. And welcome to blog world. I wish more fiction writers had blogs. It was a point I was making when I visited Iowa back in March. Scientists blog, nurses blog, lawyers blog, but I've come across very few fiction writers who do. The good news for you is that most of the ones who do are science fiction writers so you should meet some interesting people through your blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Lance. Thanks for stopping by and the kind words of encouragement. I know of a few fantasy writers who blog, but one of the best, Justine Larbalestier, had to stop last year due to health issues (hand). http://justinelarbalestier.com/ There was a great discussion there (and I don't mean the Unicorns vs Zombies controversy) on the "whitewashing" of the cover of her book "Liar." Very interesting stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm hopeful that I'll have something to add to the "conversation" in the blogosphere. Navigating publishing and the publishing industry is one of those Sisyphean tasks that is universal even as it is unique to the individual.