You should never write when you're under the heavy influence of either anger or depression. But my two fans won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't update them on the Atlanta conference that I just got back from. So, which negative emotion is coursing through my veins? Read and find out.
Disclaimer: The bit about the conference is towards the end. Not that you should skip to the end, but I don't want you to feel I'm burying the lede.
First up we have the Alabama Book Festival. To be honest, it felt like an off year. Even the food vendors were lacking. Which is a shame because I was really looking forward to a hot dog. Usually, it's an all-day affair for me, a holy day even. But, this year, I didn't show up until late in the morning (which is actually good because it was also Record Store Day). The first event I wanted to do was a poetry workshop. I was glad I decided to go because it was well worth attending. After that though, I should have left. There were no interesting guests and the book store was almost entirely travel, history, or true crime related. Even Christian literature had trouble showing up that particular Saturday. The next event of note was the comic book panel with the creators of Tuskegee Heirs. It was a good panel, but the lack of food had me more than a little tired. Then a massive wasp came into the room and everyone was super alert. I wanted to stay for an indie publishing workshop at the end of the day, but I just didn't have the energy. So I left with no new books in hand. On the bright side, my to-read shelf is still only slightly overflowing.
I spoke last month about entering a short story contest, but that ended in failure. Well, at least sort of. I just decided to not enter because it turns out it had an entry fee. Unless the fee is something small to cover the use of a third party form service, the fees are usually bullshit. At least my work on the short story wasn't a waste of time because I will enter it into the Writers of the Future contest after I give it one last go through.
Speaking of Hubbardville, I'm getting an honorable mention for my first quarter entry. I know it's just one small step above a rejection, but it's a start. I should probably shop the story around. If you're reading this and know someone meaningful that publishes urban fantasy, comment below.
Now, the main event. The Atlanta Writer's Conference. Truth, I'm not totally sure I want to talk about it. It's still too early to say if anything will come out of it, but I have serious doubts. The highlight is that an editor really liked my sample, but she doesn't take unagented manuscripts. I could probably do an entire post on what is wrong with that, but I'll leave it be as it will not solve anything. The good news, I have a lead if I get an agent. The bad news is that I'm not likely to get an agent any time soon. Later this month I am sending two query letters to agents I met at the conference, so not all is lost. If anything, I learned that I should be more picky about who I pitch to instead of just throwing at everyone with their mitt out. Especially if I have to pay a butt load of money just to get in the room.
Plus side, I reacquainted myself with a couple of cool guys who are in the same boat as me. Or the same peas in the same pod. Which ever cliché suits you.
I could go further into detail about the conference, but I won't waste the time. My life, at least currently, isn't a zero sum game. In fact, it's going pretty well. We're moving into a bigger house later this year. My wife is super hot. Will probably start having kids by year's end. My friends are better than your friends. It just feels the lack of progress on my writing tips the scales into the negative. I know it's not true, that my life is awesome. Well, at least better than most. What am I feeling? Hopeful. It's just mixed with being angry and depressed. You know, how being alive is supposed to feel like.
Last note, I'm going on my honeymoon at the end of May, so it's unlikely I will do a blog entry at the beginning of June. If anything important happens, I'll be sure to like you know. If not, I'll catch you in July. I might do one before I leave, but, if you don't hear from me by May 31st, I'm too busy drinking German beer and trying to impregnate my wife.
Comment below if that was TMI.
Showing posts with label Atlanta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atlanta. Show all posts
Monday, May 6, 2019
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Progress with a Side of Failure
Pitmad was a failure. I'll just start off there. It's also probably my last attempt to follow through with that event. I've found that it's heavily skewed towards YA, which shouldn't be that much of a surprise since the event takes place on Twitter. I personally wasn't expecting much, but what bothered me was that I saw people with really good pitches gain almost no traction because their stuff was adult. It's also a breeding ground for "publishing" companies that don't do much better than if you just put it out there yourself. If their only releases are anthologies with a book cover that is just a stock photo overlaid with some text, they aren't a real publishing firm. I know this sounds like a rant (because it kind of is), but the whole thing left me sour. If you couldn't tell.
In better news, I turned in the samples for the writing conference. I suppose I should get used to deadlines if I want to succeed in this writing thing. I won't know what the editors think until the conference in May, but I think I've put my best foot forward. I'm not likely to do another blog entry until after the event, so I should be able to at least give my first impressions of how things went next time you hear from me.
I should really keep notes on what happened during the month so I can reflect more easily. All of this is just off the top of my head and that's not a good way to maintain a blog. I know I'm screaming into the void, but that's no reason to be terrible at it.
After I turned in the sample, I resumed editing my first book. It's mostly just small changes, but it has to be done. I'm also re-working a short story for a contest. The contest isn't science fiction-centric, but I'll try anyway. If anything, if I get rejected, I can always try the Writers of the Future contest. Speaking of which, they still haven't announced the winners for the first quarter. There's a whole heap of drama around that, but I won't get into it. I just hate refreshing my email for rejection letters.
And then there's poetry. I entered a random piece of work in a contest of its own. Didn't win. Not that I'm surprised. My poetry is trash. It's slowly getting to the point of readability, but it's not there yet. A good friend of mine introduced me to a poetry/spoken word weekly event, but there is no way I'm reading my garbage in there. I might try to do some spoken word stuff. I have a few pieces I could dust off. But it'll have to wait until after the conference. Everything is waiting until after the conference.
I know I said last month that I needed to get started on my newer projects. No real progress was made on that front. I just don't have the time while things that could actually be published within a year take precedent. My goal for Thermal Kings is to have the narrative, setting, and outline fully planned out by the end of October. I should probably work on that first thing after the conference. After I get the short story turned in, I need to work on my actual pitch for the agents/editors. Talking to people has never been my strong suit, which might explain why I write.
End of line.
In better news, I turned in the samples for the writing conference. I suppose I should get used to deadlines if I want to succeed in this writing thing. I won't know what the editors think until the conference in May, but I think I've put my best foot forward. I'm not likely to do another blog entry until after the event, so I should be able to at least give my first impressions of how things went next time you hear from me.
I should really keep notes on what happened during the month so I can reflect more easily. All of this is just off the top of my head and that's not a good way to maintain a blog. I know I'm screaming into the void, but that's no reason to be terrible at it.
After I turned in the sample, I resumed editing my first book. It's mostly just small changes, but it has to be done. I'm also re-working a short story for a contest. The contest isn't science fiction-centric, but I'll try anyway. If anything, if I get rejected, I can always try the Writers of the Future contest. Speaking of which, they still haven't announced the winners for the first quarter. There's a whole heap of drama around that, but I won't get into it. I just hate refreshing my email for rejection letters.
And then there's poetry. I entered a random piece of work in a contest of its own. Didn't win. Not that I'm surprised. My poetry is trash. It's slowly getting to the point of readability, but it's not there yet. A good friend of mine introduced me to a poetry/spoken word weekly event, but there is no way I'm reading my garbage in there. I might try to do some spoken word stuff. I have a few pieces I could dust off. But it'll have to wait until after the conference. Everything is waiting until after the conference.
I know I said last month that I needed to get started on my newer projects. No real progress was made on that front. I just don't have the time while things that could actually be published within a year take precedent. My goal for Thermal Kings is to have the narrative, setting, and outline fully planned out by the end of October. I should probably work on that first thing after the conference. After I get the short story turned in, I need to work on my actual pitch for the agents/editors. Talking to people has never been my strong suit, which might explain why I write.
End of line.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
So Many Frying Pans, So Little Fire
Did I get stuff done during the month of February? Kind of. The number one thing on my to-do list, at least as far as writing is concerned, is the writing sample for the conference in May. The due date is April 3rd and it's not 100% just yet. The query letter is in a good place, but the synopsis needs to be completely redone. There is also the first nineteen pages in which contains the first two and a half scenes. I did the first scene this past week for reasons I'll get to in a moment.
The first Pitmad event of 2019 is next week. For those who don't know, Pitmad is a writing event on Twitter where you use a single tweet to pitch your completed book. Agents use the hashtags to keep an eye out for tweets that interest them. Considering most people can't get a solid argument down in 280 characters, I don't understand how you properly convey an entire novel in that length, but it might be a good opportunity to hook up with an agent. I've already written the tweet I'm going to use, and it should be good enough to spark something. After an agent likes the tweet, I send them a query letter and/or a sample of my book. I'll probably never hear from them again, but who the fuck knows. Side note, I might do a separate blog entry if it's eventful enough to warrant it.
As part of the writing conference, an editor went through the sample before I send it off to the big wigs. Basically, the feedback was to completely redo the query letter and synopsis plus some notes to help the flow of my novel. The reason I did the first scene was there's going to be a meeting, unrelated to the conference, on the first page of my novel on April 6th. Since it's on the far side of Atlanta, I'm not a 100% sure that I'm going, but I needed to send my first page by today (March 3rd). Honestly, the editor's notes weren't super helpful. He had a bunch of stuff he wanted to take out, but doing so would have made my novel tone deaf. After editing that first scene, I might have used about 40% of his notes. That's a failing grade in most schools. Still, I shouldn't complain about anything that makes my novel at least a little bit better.
The new book(s) are on hold until I get that conference package ready to go. I also plan to start sending out queries again once it's finished. Most agents ask for the things that are in my sample, so I can't query until it's done. Once the package is done, and I start querying again, I'm still going to work on editing my first book. As for my third book project, tentatively titled "Thermal Kings", I will continue to write and rewrite that first chapter. I will also plot out the book and hope to have the entire thing planned out by NaNoWriMo. I'm not getting married this year, so I shouldn't have anything holding me back from doing it this year.
Poetry. Fucking poetry. It's gotten better but still isn't good enough for human consumption. I might have said that last month, but it's the truth. I still need a good rhythming rule. It's a process. I plan to release the entire thing once I get a few hundred poems done. I can't guarantee it'll be worth reading though.
Starting this coming month I really need to get back into my newer projects. It's been a while since I've actually worked on them. I've been stuck in editor mode for too long. Once I get the synopsis done, the rest of the package should be easy peasy. Colony Earth is going on hold until Variant War's next round of edits is done, but I'm really itching to get back into it. So that leaves Thermal Kings as the project in which I will actually write something. Here's to having something to report by the end of March.
End of line.
The first Pitmad event of 2019 is next week. For those who don't know, Pitmad is a writing event on Twitter where you use a single tweet to pitch your completed book. Agents use the hashtags to keep an eye out for tweets that interest them. Considering most people can't get a solid argument down in 280 characters, I don't understand how you properly convey an entire novel in that length, but it might be a good opportunity to hook up with an agent. I've already written the tweet I'm going to use, and it should be good enough to spark something. After an agent likes the tweet, I send them a query letter and/or a sample of my book. I'll probably never hear from them again, but who the fuck knows. Side note, I might do a separate blog entry if it's eventful enough to warrant it.
As part of the writing conference, an editor went through the sample before I send it off to the big wigs. Basically, the feedback was to completely redo the query letter and synopsis plus some notes to help the flow of my novel. The reason I did the first scene was there's going to be a meeting, unrelated to the conference, on the first page of my novel on April 6th. Since it's on the far side of Atlanta, I'm not a 100% sure that I'm going, but I needed to send my first page by today (March 3rd). Honestly, the editor's notes weren't super helpful. He had a bunch of stuff he wanted to take out, but doing so would have made my novel tone deaf. After editing that first scene, I might have used about 40% of his notes. That's a failing grade in most schools. Still, I shouldn't complain about anything that makes my novel at least a little bit better.
The new book(s) are on hold until I get that conference package ready to go. I also plan to start sending out queries again once it's finished. Most agents ask for the things that are in my sample, so I can't query until it's done. Once the package is done, and I start querying again, I'm still going to work on editing my first book. As for my third book project, tentatively titled "Thermal Kings", I will continue to write and rewrite that first chapter. I will also plot out the book and hope to have the entire thing planned out by NaNoWriMo. I'm not getting married this year, so I shouldn't have anything holding me back from doing it this year.
Poetry. Fucking poetry. It's gotten better but still isn't good enough for human consumption. I might have said that last month, but it's the truth. I still need a good rhythming rule. It's a process. I plan to release the entire thing once I get a few hundred poems done. I can't guarantee it'll be worth reading though.
Starting this coming month I really need to get back into my newer projects. It's been a while since I've actually worked on them. I've been stuck in editor mode for too long. Once I get the synopsis done, the rest of the package should be easy peasy. Colony Earth is going on hold until Variant War's next round of edits is done, but I'm really itching to get back into it. So that leaves Thermal Kings as the project in which I will actually write something. Here's to having something to report by the end of March.
End of line.
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