Hey-ho, squiders! It’s been below freezing here for days, which has been…interesting. And cold. Very cold. My oldest doesn’t believe in the cold, so this has been an interesting experience for him.
I have been working on my submission material. I’ve done two different query versions since we last talked (did one, got feedback, made changes, now am waiting for feedback again) and reworked my synopsis (though not a lot, since I only got feedback from one person and I’m not sure how useful some of it is).
And on we go. We iterate both until they’re ready to go.
(I am still using placeholders on the comps. I do need to work on that.)
Is the query getting better? Hopefully!
Instead of just posting on my Discord server (which is publishing focused and has several agented and traditionally–and indie–published authors) like I did last time, I’m having the former TDP people look at it first. I mean, I posted the first version on Discord in, what? October? November? And then I didn’t do anything for two months cuz I got overwhelmed by the feedback. Having the TDP people look at first is helping, because we have a relationship and I trust them, and I know they’ve got my back and will take another look if I show up with a new version three days later.
Current plan is to see if my TDP people note anything major, then to email it (and the synopsis) to my in-person critique group, and then probably post on the Discord as well. Just not sure if I should do it after the critique group meeting or not. (On one hand, I could gather a lot of feedback and make changes all at once. On the other, I could iterate the comments from the in-person group into a new query for the Discord server.)
I haven’t started my agent list yet, but I did ask people what they used to make their list, and I think I’ll need to get a Publishers Marketplace subscription for a month or two. Bit pricey, but oh well. It is what it is.
In non-submission news, I’m ready to start my revision planning for my scifi horror novella. Got my notebook, and the next step is to read through the manuscript and write down everything that’s not working (and also anywhere that’s working really well). I already know I need some major worldbuilding and character work (like–the main character’s parents are dead, but what happened to them? How old was she? These are key background questions that I apparently never bothered with. Them dying when she’s like six makes for a very different upbringing than if they died when she was 20). After we identify what’s wrong, we can get to fixing it (and streamlining the worldbuilding).
So, you know, actually making progress! Finally!
I hope you’re making progress too, squiders, and I’ll see you soon!
(Oh, in theory kitcampbellbooks.com is back up. If it’s doing something weird, try refreshing it or clearing your cache for it.)
