On Edge

Rejection #1

2006-11-20T21:08:00.000-05:00

Well, that was fast. The letter is a quasi-form, I think, saying they don't think it would be profitable, but hey, they've been wrong before, good luck, etc.

Weirdly, I enclosed a return Priority Mail envelope, and they sent it back FedEx. O.o I think that actually costs more....

I'll take a crack at Baen next, I suppose.

It's off.

2006-10-24T23:53:00.000-04:00

I mailed it today. Now I'm working on book #2, currently titled Smoke-Filled Rooms. So far, 328 words. Obviously much work is yet to do be done.

I think this weekend will be devoted to that, and I really need to work on the ice-dance mystery as well. Especially the "mystery" part. It's really hard to come up with a crime that amateur detectives can solve that isn't screamingly obvious....

Cover Letters....Blah.

2006-10-24T00:33:00.000-04:00

Well, it's in an envelope, with a cover letter. After browsing far too many sites for advice, I settled on the hook/synopsis style, and hopefully it doesn't sound too lame. I need to hire someone to write cover letters for me. I did include the little mini-bio at the end, which is more "I've sold something before, I have an outline and a start on a second book with these characters, and I'm working on other projects--so not a one-shot vanity publish type."

It's going to DAW. They take unsoliciteds, and they publish a lot more titles per year than Baen, including new writers, so I figure the odds are slightly more in my favor. In terms of agents, I have Jabberwocky's entry in WM dog-eared, as if they represent Charlaine Harris and Tanya Huff, they are probably not going to think I'm exceptionally nuts.

Oh, look, a manuscript...

2006-10-22T21:53:00.000-04:00

I now have, printed out, a manuscript. It's just over 100,000 words. (111,893 to be precise.) Now comes the hard part: writing the cover letter.

I despise writing cover letters. I'm sure I've been dumped into reject piles for jobs because my cover-letter-writing skills are utterly lacking. So for the moment, I'm avoiding it. Partially because I have to drive to Dover tomorrow so I know I don't want to get stuck at the PO for too long fussing about postage rates and packaging. I can write the letter tomorrow night. I'm just going to send it to Daw, I think, as they're taking unsoliciteds at the moment. I'll worry about agenting later.

Is it a good thing to mention that you already have part of a sequel written? This is very obviously meant as the start of something, so I'm hoping that it's a positive. A way of saying "I'm not a vanity writer, I'm not just looking to say 'ooh, look at me, I have a published book' and then off to something else.

And so it begins....

2006-10-15T19:26:00.000-04:00

I thought I should create a 'serious' blog, seeing as how I'm trying to be a 'serious' writer and all. So, if there are any exciting updates, I will post them here. Right now, I am trying to format a manuscript into something a publisher or agent would want to see.

Fun, games, and mundane stuff may be found at The Waning Moon at Dawn.