Friday, July 17, 2009

Stoked

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything from the four queries or the one partial I have out. So I've just been waiting, waiting, and waiting. It's not all bad though, because I have plenty of ideas that keep me too busy to check my email every 4 minutes.

But this is where I'm conflicted. I have too many ideas, and I'm really excited about all of them for different reasons. It was almost impossible to choose. And then, just as I felt I had made up my mind, this new idea pops into my head.

And, oh man, this is a good one. Lately I've been trying to come up with an original idea for a dystopian world, because I really want to immerse myself in the world building that goes along with that. (I love fantasy world building. It's like being omnipotent. Or the Dungeon Master.)

And now I have a great idea for a new, dark world! I'm really excited. I have the whole story outlined, and right now I'm diving deeper into my characters' pasts and motivations. I'm also going to try a new writing approach with this one. When I write it, I'm going to focus on THE STORY, and not THE WRITING.

Which I tried to do with Untouched, but in reality I put a lot of emphasis on the eloquence of the writing, and the flow and the pace. Maybe this time I'll learn how to turn off my inner editor and ignore the horrible prose for the time being.

I'm calling the new WiP "Blood Ties" for now, but I'm not sold on the name. It will probably (hopefully) change soon. Blood Ties is already at 4K words.

Oh, and it's not about vampires, by the way.

It's about magic.


Ooooohhh...

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Lazy Saturday

I got my first query rejection the other day. So far I have only gotten one other rejection, on a partial.

Stats:
Queries: 7 sent- 2 partial requests, 1 rejection, 4 pending
Partials: 2 sent- 1 rejection, 1 pending

Soooo I'm waiting for responses from 1 partial, and 4 queries. And throughout this process, Querytracker.net has been my best friend. Seriously, this is a fantastic tool for querying- it records what agencies you've sent queries/partials/fulls to, what the response was, and is just generally fabulous for organizational purposes.

I plan on sending out more queries this week. (Query widely and don't give up, right?) I'm just taking things a bit slow, I want to make sure I'm sending out my best work, and if I get more partial rejections and no full requests, then I'll know something isn't working there and I'll have to fix it. We shall see.

My question for you: Do you have a dream agent? You know, the one you would say absolutely yes to if they ever offered rep? And if so, would you query them first because they're your first choice? Or would you wait to query them until after being rejected by others and fixing any problems to make sure they are getting your absolute best? Just curious...

Hope your weekend is going well!
-Kat

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Something's Working

Soooo, five minutes and six seconds past four o'clock today, the time and date read:

04:05:06 07/08/09

Pretty cool, huh? Yeah. It is.

Anyhoo, not much else to say except that I got another partial request yesterday.

Stats
Queries: 5 sent, 2 requests, 0 rejections
Partials: 2 sent, 1 rejection

So it looks like my query is working, it hasn't been rejected yet and has garnered two partial requests, both the following day after querying! But one agent who requested a partial already decided to pass- I'm hoping that my partial wasn't dreadful, and that it just did not fit their list.

GAH! OH GOD, WHAT IF MY PARTIAL IS DREADFUL??????

Guess now comes the hard part... waiting. And waiting. Then perhaps a bit more waiting.

Sigh.

My question for you: What stage of the writing/publishing process are you all on? Writing, Rewriting, Editing, Querying, etc?

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

All's Quiet

Everything seems rather quiet lately. Especially here- it's been, what, two weeks since I posted? Ugh. Well, because I know you're all hanging on the edge of your seats wondering what I've been up to, I will share.

1. Finished final revisions on Untouched, and started sending out queries. I got one request for a partial, but then later that partial was rejected. No query rejections, yet, so at least something there is working.

Stats:

Queries: 5 sent, 1 request, 0 rejections
Partials: 1 requested, 1 rejected :(


2. I'm trying to work on a new story. I don't want to jump into the sequel to Untouched, because I kinda need a break from all the death and drama. I have a couple ideas, but I'm torn over which one I like best. I don't like flopping back and forth between manuscripts, but that's what I've been doing lately.

The positives of working with multiple mss at the same time are that I get to explore many different worlds, characters and relationships as each story idea is very very different; I can work on whatever genre/voice I am in the mood to, instead of just being stuck with the same one; and if I get stuck or blocked on one WIP, I have several others I can work on until I figure out the problem.

But I've always been a one WIP kind of girl. I mean, I have tons of WIPs (If having an outline and a first chapter qualifies it as a WIP) but I like only working on one at a time. I can develop the individual voice a little better, I know my main character a little better- my character and voice stands out more, because it's not being blended with other characters or other voices.

Right now I'm juggling a couple WIPs, and I hope to make a decision and commit soon. Working on them all at the same time is confusing, because they are all so different.


BURN- a literary suspense, the MC is male, and it is told in first person present tense.

A man helps a woman who strongly resembles his deceased wife escape from her crazed boyfriend while trying to track down his wife's killer.

***

'TIL SUNRISE- a YA commercial fiction, the MC is female, told in third person past tense.

A recently dumped, heartbroken girl picks up a hitchhiker she thinks is her ex- but turns out to be another boy who takes her on a crazy adventure.

***

KAI OF CHAOS- a YA fantasy, with two MCs- male and female, told in third person past tense.

With the help of a half-mad semi-psychic girl, a boy possessed by a demon of chaos embarks on an adventure to rid the monster from his body


3. Sooo, yeah, not much else is going on for me. Time to go find something to eat. Then close my eyes and randomly select a WIP to work on. Then check my email obsessively 800 times. Then maybe write something. Yeah. Good plan.


Later, gators
Kat