Request and Rejection

How can I have such extremes in the span of just four days? I'm tellin' you, this business is both brutal and exhilerating!

My book query blitz resulted in success...already. I don't want to go into a lot of detail yet. Just know that when a writer sends a query letter, the point is to get an agent or publisher to ask to see more. That has happened. I am beyond excited about getting "Huey and the Summer Snowball" into the hands of those who can help me get it on the publishing road. While still basking in the joy of this new road, I stumbled across quite disappointing news.

I was on the website for the Pacific Northwest Writer's Association looking for something else, when a bar to the side caught my eye. It said, "2008 Literary Contest Finalists Announced." I had expected an email or letter in the mail early next week, but it seems they'd already made an announcement. I clicked on the link and scanned down. I didn't place. Of six places in my category, I didn't place. My entry was for my memoir and I really thought I'd be a finalist. Disappointing? Definitely.

I haven't really had a chance to process it yet. Admittedly, I am a thinker, an over-thinker actually. So right now, I'm not letting myself go there. All I can say is that finalist or not, each participant receives a critique from two people in the industry. My hope is that this will give me a good idea of what direction to take with this book. The book is complicated for many reasons. And as a writer friend reminded me over at Absolute Write, "Everything happens for a reason." Right now, that reason is a mystery.

Just for fun, and to help me focus on the positive, I think I'll post a paragraph or two from each of my books sometime in the next week or so. Until then, Write Now-because it's later than you think. ~Karen

June Goals

Last month I really worked almost solely on my children's book, Huey and the Summer Snowball. It was quite a struggle but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say that the version I thought was so ready for publication, was not. So instead of simply finding agents and publishers to send it to and sending it out, I spent much of the month working on it. I did manage to get it out to twelve places-publishers, agents, and magazines. That was last month.

So what do I do now? I love writing books but haven't had any publishing success with it YET. I love freelancing and I'm building a successful career. Combining the two is difficult. In fact, it's far more difficult than I could have imagined. So I'm going to practice what I believe. What is that, you might ask? I believe that you CAN have it all. You just can't have it all at the same time. Working on my book for a month really reinforced this belief. But now that one of my books is in good shape to send out there into the publishing world, I can go back to working at freelancing. Many of the agents and publishers had online guidelines which said the wait is 3-6 months for a response. In the meantime, I'll keep freelancing. And I'll continue to send my book to more publishers. Hopefully in September, October, and November, I'll have great news to share here on Write Now! Happy Goal Setting! ~Karen