Ah, squiders. I am so tired. Why? No one knows, but it’s just as well that Nano collapsed and I’m not trying to fit in 50000 words.
(Also have had a couple of nights where I’ve woken up in the middle with existential dread. That’s fun.)
I did finally write a draft of the query letter. I spent like two hours pulling my hair out and writing the most convoluted sentences known to man one day, and the next day I sat down and wrote a complete letter in about 15 minutes.
Not perfect, not anywhere close, but it exists now, and it’s always easier to edit something that exists than create things from scratch, or some such.
I also updated the synopsis and finished out my chapter list, which is a tool I’ve been using for critique so people can keep track of what happened in earlier chapters, and I figured if someone wants a longer synopsis, it’ll work for that as well.
I’ve got the query/synopsis up for critique on one of my Discord servers, where we’re having an interesting discussion about some of the metadata wording.
But now that the query is done(ish), I do find myself kind of twiddling my thumbs. The query (and probably the synopsis) will take a few iterations. And then I need to make a list of agents to query. At this point, I’m wondering if I should just wait until January to actually query because I’ve heard it said that things shut down across the holidays, but I will double check that before I make any decisions.
I think…I think it’s time to move on to a new project. I can still spend some time on the submission materials. Rework the query here. Make the agent list there. And then I’m not just sitting around waiting for feedback and going insane.
Next on my list is the revision for Rings Among the Stars, my scifi horror novella from a few years ago. I’d like to get going on this anyway, so I can run it through the winter critique marathon (and have something to give my in-person critique group come December). Part of me is like, oh no, not another revision, I spent the last year and a half on a revision, but this one won’t be as intense for any number of reasons, including but not limited to:
- It’s 30K and not 120K
- I wrote it recently when I knew what I was doing and am not trying to fix pacing and other issues introduced twenty years ago when I wrote the first draft
- SPACE ZOMBIES
- Single viewpoint
- Horror is great for traumatic times
Step 1 will be looking at the feedback I got last time it went through the critique marathon and putting that onto the paper copy I printed out God knows how long ago. Then my own readthrough and notes, which will help me establish what if any major revisions are necessary, and put together a general editorial plan.
So that’s the plan for the next few weeks. Around making agent list and reworking the query.
Happy Tuesday, squiders.
