Then why write it, you ask? Because! It's a baby. It's a toddler fumbling through it's first steps. It's got years to figure out what it wants to do with itself, or how, or why.
"So what I just crapped myself? I'm a diva, Bee-otch!"
I'm using this as an online journal to track this novel-writing journey. So what have I learned about The Journey thus far? It's rough, man. My current WIP is my third completed book idea. This will be the first draft. I'm hoping to finish it by January, so that I have a good working draft by February, in time for the AWP conference. I hope to work through all my nerves and really meet some agents. Then query them and reference our meeting.
"Hey there, my becca is Name, can you book my sell? I mean, sell my book? I mean..."
This is pretty standard procedure and a great way to get an agent's attention. It shows you sought them out (because let's face it, authors have their own slushpile), it shows you did your research and it also shows you're serious about your career. (And let me tell you, as expensive as AWP and a trip to Seattle is for me, I'm PRE-TY FUCKING SERIOUS). After AWP, I hope to query soon. So my nights and evenings are almost consumed by writing. And I'm not just working on my book.
All the drafts. So many drafts.
At the end of the query letter, is a short paragraph about the author. Now, I'm not going to poo-poo my past endeavors; I was a prolific Spoken Word Artist, I've had poems and articles published and I graduated from Sarah Lawrence College where I got to study Creative Writing with the best minds ever. But my fiction accolades are slim to none. Actually, just none. So I've been trying to pump out short stories and submit to lit magazines. I'm not good at short anything. Telling a complete story in under 4k words is putting myself in the driver's seat of a big ol' struggle bus. Still, it's good for me to at least be able to beef up that humble paragraph at the end of a query letter.
This is not necessary. On prior projects, I got requests for my full manuscripts even though I had little credentials. I had written a story that looked like it would sell and looked like it was different. (The story actually sucked but that's a different topic). So, of course, my primary objective is to finish the novel. Publishing is a big-freaking-deal, though, and all of this is in the back of my head. On top of even more things.
"These are my real friends."
I'm always a better writer when I'm reading books, preferably books relevant to my project. But honestly, I like to read anything I can get my hands on. I primarily read African American lit because I love the vibe of the prose. But I'm finding some Fantasy and Science Fiction that 1. demonstrates the prose I love or 2. has been written by a black or black female author 3. contains both one and two. Another things I do when I'm not reading or writing?
Class
Events, events, events.
AWP is a big one but I end up in all sorts of things; readings, lectures, law talks, even! In the Spring, I hope to take a writing course at Gotham Writers' Workshop. At that point, I'll have sent in this project and will be working on another and (hopefully) hearing answers to my query letters. They might be all rejections. I'm prepared and almost expecting that. #jaded
So what is the point of all the exhausting and exhaustive work? Well, if I am never published I will still write. I might as well be good at it.
