Tag: am querying

I Have Got To Get Back Into The Swing Of Things, Creatively

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have drifted for way too long. Time to get some figurative smelling salts and get back to business. I need to read Annie Bot and my books on querying. I need to buy two other books that are my “comp” books for my novel I’m querying right now and I need to throw myself back into very beginning of querying.

My goal is to start all of this before July 4th weekend. That’s the goal, that’s the dream.

I just refuse to keep drifting forever. One of the reasons why I’ve had such trouble getting out of this mental state is my age. I’m old(er) and I just want to drift until the end of my life because I know that I could be nearly 60 before I’m a published author, no matter what.

Anyway. I can’t think like that, right? I need to buckle up and get back to work. I still think something really dramatic is going to happen soon and throw everything out of whack.

What that is, I don’t know.

‘Klara & The Sun’ Is ANOTHER Movie Edging Towards The Premise Of My Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Well, I have another “comp” novel for my novel — Klara & The Sun, which is now going to be a big-time Hollywood movie in October.

It seems like the book and novel are a lot different. The novel — from what I have learned of it on Wikipedia — is a lot more serious than the movie. At least that what it seems like.

Anyway, seeing the promos for the movie adaptation really get my juices flowing to query this novel and to get back to writing in general.

Now Getting Into The Nitty-Gritty Of Preparing To Query

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If Hollywood is any indication, we’re zooming towards a situation where someone writes a screenplay that steals a creative march on me. That, or I sell this novel and it hits the zeitgeist in just the right way and is a big success.

I keep seeing promos for movies that keep edging closer and closer to the premise of my novel and it’s making me a little nervous.

And, yet, I just have to accept that it’s really possible that my fear is going to come true and everyone will just roll their eyes and say, my novel is “just like that popular movie” even though I wrote my novel first.

That just comes with the territory of being a creative person.

And I do have a new novel idea — a comedy — that I may use to shoehorn myself back into writing on a regular basis. I’ve had some real trouble getting back into the writing groove since my novel is done. It’s kind of like creative post-partum depression.

But my need to create is slowly roaring back. So, as such, I suppose I will get back to writing pretty quick.

I’m Really Nervous About Literary Agents Doing ‘Due Diligence’ On Me Going Forward

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Oh boy. I’m something of a kook and it’s going to be…interesting…to see literary agents poke around this blog when they do due diligence on me once I start to query. I just can’t help who I am. I’m a little bit bonkers and I just am not prepared at the moment to do what it necessary to properly hide how kooky I am.

So, come what may, here I am, accept me for who I am or not.

It will be interesting to see what happens. It really will be.

If I was younger, I think literary agents — who are mostly liberal white women as best I can tell — would probably be cool with my kookiness because I would be young and edgy.

But…as a middle aged man, I worry that literary agents simply will not be able to accept what a kook I am.

The Struggle Is Real To Get Back To Creative Work

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Well, I learned what I already figured to be true — about 85% of literary agents are, in fact, women. I learned that reading a book on how to get an agent that I’ve just started.

But the more important issue is how do I get back to writing just in general. I think there are three ways. One is to begin printing out pages from the novel I’ve written so I can edit it. Another is to work on the short story I’m working on. And the third is to work on a dramedy novel I’ve long dreamed about.

Now, one issue about the dramedy novel is it would be a much better screenplay than novel. But, lulz, writing a screenplay is just too sharp a learning curve. I know how to write a novel — or at least, how I write one — so I can dive right in and get going. Whereas to write a screenplay would be a serious, serious pain in the ass that would take too long.

Anyway, I hope to get into this book about getting a literary agent as well. I am still on track to get to querying by Sept of this year. That gives me roughly just over two months to position myself to do that as of this writing.

Now What — Struggling To Figure Out My Next Creative Step

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m slowly, ever so slowly, starting to think again about the issue at hand — querying my novel. But I’m still at a loss as to how exactly to go about it. I have a few novel ideas that I might be able to focus on instead of immediately going to querying is a possibility.

But…I don’t know. I just don’t know.

I also have a few short story ideas that I might work on as well. But…lulz? I still want to try to query by Sept 1st. That’s a real goal. I just need to get into the right mindspace.

I’m slowly, ever so slowly, getting there…but it’s taking a lot longer than I expected.

I’m Really Struggling With The Premise Of My Next Novel

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m working on a short story, but what I really want is a new novel to start working on. I have two strong contenders, but neither one of them is fleshed out enough to actually start working on them.

One is an homage to Stieg Larsson’s stuff that is in the same universe as the series of novels I’ve struggled with for some time. The only problem with it is I’m afraid it’s too complex — even with the help of AI — and I’ll be 60 years old still working on it.

Meanwhile, there’s another one that is much more clear cut. In some ways. In some ways it’s a real pain because I don’t know the plot yet. I just have a general flow of the story. And I *definitely* know how it ends.

But what I should be doing is working on querying the novel I’ve finished. I think what I’m going to do is sit down and read it one last time before I query to fix any last minute screw ups.

I’m really impressed with myself for having written a novel over 100,000 words long — even if that’s too long, in some sense — for a first time novelist’s first submission.

But the whole point of the novel was to just see how far I could get. This is by far the farthest I’ve ever gotten.

I Need To Suck It Up And Participate In A Beta Reader Exchange

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I still have time, but I really need to participate in an Beta Reader exchange. That seems like the only way I can get a Beta Reader to read any of my writing.

This makes me nervous because, lulz, I’m afraid the Beta Readers will think my novel sucks. But I have to accept that as a possibility, given that I definitely need to suck things up and realize that there will be literary agents with real jobs and lives who will be the gauntlet ahead of me.

I just don’t know. I need to get over myself. It will be interesting to see how things work out.

I Have No More Excuses — I Have To Read The ‘Comp’ Novel To My Novel, ‘Annie Bot’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I have finally come to the end of the road when it comes to my unwillingness to read the comp novel to my novel, Annie Bot. I just have no more excuses. If I’m going to query my novel properly, I need to have read Annie Bot.

Now, my novel is very, very different from Annie Bot in some basic ways. It is, as I understand it now, something of a feminist screed against what my novel embraces in a somewhat humorous manner.

But the basic premise of my novel is close enough to Annie Bot that I feel I absolutely, totally, have to read it if I want to query properly. So, lulz, in the next few days, I’m going to force myself to do just that.

I don’t have any more excuses. I’ve actually got a reasonably finished novel on hand, so I can’t use the excuse that reading Annie Bot might discourage me from finishing.

Wish me luck.

Psyching Myself Up To Query

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m definitely in the “now what” phase of things when it comes to this novel. My ability to count on my beta readers is iffy at best and as such I have to just bite the bullet and start the process of preparing to query — even if it means I haven’t had effective beta testing.

But the whole point of this specific novel is just to see how far I can get. It could be that this is going to be a disaster no matter what because I have no idea what I’m doing.

And, yet, at least I will push the edge of my experience with such things a little bit further than I have before. So, the next novel, which I hope to start soon, I will know a little bit more about what is expected of me when it comes to ultimately querying it.

I continue to worry about what literary agents — many who I assume are liberal white women — will think of my social media output. It could be that they will think I’m too big a kook just in general to even consider being my agent. But I am who I am, so, lulz?

Just thinking about querying puts me on edge because it will be me going from the realm of just being a daydreamer who likes to write to actually slamming into the wall known as “The Real World.” People who are normal. People who maybe will take one look at me as part of due diligence and either laugh or run away at what a fucking weirdo I am.

It’s all very possible.

But, if nothing else, it all gives me something to do I suppose.