Hey Blogland. As of this writing, it’s Sunday night, post-Super Bowl. I spent the day lounging and eating tacos so I can’t really complain. Now there’s the steady hum-thrum of the washing machine as I prep for the work week. But there’s much more to think about than just laundry, so let’s get into it.
Last Week
- Draft Tavi synopsis
- Spend three hours with Victoria
- Finish reading The Last Graduate
How'd I Do?
- Draft Tavi synopsis
- Mostly? I have, like, a paragraph to go. It’s SO close.
- Mostly? I have, like, a paragraph to go. It’s SO close.
- Spend three hours with Victoria
- Hahahahahahaha no.
- Finish reading The Last Graduate
- I have about 130 pages left. I’m hopeful that, if I get this blog post done and update my planner for the week in a timely fashion, I *might* be able to finish it tonight.
Weekly Word Count: 1,022
It was a busy week. I spent an hour with Victoria and got through a bit that was feeling pretty soggy. I’m back on some solid ground with it again and am hopeful moving forward. Also, I officially crossed the 20k word mark, so that’s exciting! My local library hosted a virtual writing workshop on Magical Realism, which was nice. It wasn’t necessarily geared for folks at my stage in their writing career — we talked a lot about idea generation, which is not something I need help with — but it was nice to see some familiar faces and spend the day with my local writing community.
But what I spent the most amount of time on was my Agent List. It’s something I’ve dreaded do, mainly because it requires the use of a spreadsheet, and it is incredibly tedious. BUT, I got it (mostly) done. As of this writing I have a list of 145 agents who are accepting/actively seeking manuscripts like mine. I’ve labeled them by how good a fit I think they’d be, and the majority of them are “General” fits. I’ve got about 10 “Great” fits, 25-ish “Good” fits, and another 10 “Loose” fits. I’m still going through and adding agents that are currently closed, but generally like books like mine, in case they’re open by the time I actually get around to querying.
That’s a really weird, terrifying thought. I am going to be querying agents this year. Like. Soon. In a couple of months. That doesn’t seem real.
Anyway, that’s where a lot of my brain time went this week. I also spent time a fair chunk of time reading and scrolling through twitter. So, you know, I was real productive!
What's Next?
- Send Query + Synopsis to Mentor
- I joined Willamette Writers’ Author Cohort program last November, and part of that program included getting paired up with a mentor whose career is similar to the one you want, and isn’t too far ahead of yours. My mentor is delightful and somewhat demented because she actually enjoys writing synopses. Which is lucky for me, because she’s going to look over what I’ve got and give me feedback! Hurray! Now I just have to finish the cursed thing and send it to her…
- Spend at least 2 hours with Victoria
- Man. This has been a struggle, and yet if I make it into the chair, I’m guaranteed at least 1,000 words. So why can’t I find the chair more consistently? Hopefully I can make it happen this week.
- Read The Secret Skin by Wendy N. Wagner
- I’m hoping this novella is as delightful and demented as its author!
And that’s where I’m at. Things are rolling along, maybe even a little too quickly. But, I’m feeling good about my projects and what work I have to do. I think the remainder of February is going to be fairly uncomplicated. It’s March that is going to ratchet back up. I’ll be getting Tavi feedback from my beta readers in March. And I’ve been stewing on a few things and have some tweaks I know I need to make. They feel bigger in my head, but when I really think about the work required to implement them, it’s pretty straightforward. But, I have the whole month, including a week off for Spring Break, to make it happen and get this book as good as I can make it.
And then it’s raining Agents in April, y’all! Which is totally exciting and not remotely terrifying. It’s great! Totally fine. Yep.
That’s it for goals! I’ll be back next week with more of them, barring any sort of good news or meltdowns I feel the need to communicate.
Until then, Bloggarts.
BZ
