A year ago, I posted my first Progress Report. In it, I wondered where I would be a year later, how far I would have traveled on the road to publication.
Well. I’m happy to report that I’ve learned a lot I may not have that publishing contract yet, but I’m happy with where I am.
Here are 8 things I know now:
1) Querying is HARD. I don’t know what I expected. I know what I hoped - that an agent would instantly fall in love with my work and it’d be off to submission - but I never realized how hard it is to hype your own work and to wait, and wait, and wait for a response that may never come. It’s exhausting. And can be depressing. The best thing I did during my months of querying was to stay busy. I started a new book, worked out, hung around on social media, made new friends, drank coffee, volunteered… anything to feed my soul and keep up momentum during the interminable waiting.
2) My cat is more popular than I am. Want more likes on your social? Post a random picture of your cat sleeping on his own foot. Alternately, watch your perfectly-crafted post get swallowed up unnoticed by the Twilight Algorithm. It’s a humbling lesson to learn.
3) Never edit a manuscript and paint a bedroom at the same time; they are two sides of the same process. You go over and over and over the same spot, touching up mistakes, refining your work. And just when you think you’re done, you find another glaring error just to your left and the whole process starts again.
4) It’s hard to read someone else’s book while writing your own. My reading life has taken the biggest hit over the year. I find that I cannot concentrate on other books - I compare, contrast, am jealous of, incredulous over, or intimidated by published authors. I’m working on it, but still, I miss reading.
5) “Balance” is fluid. I’m a planner by nature, and finding time to write defies planning. Sometimes I write in the mornings, and run errands in the afternoon. Sometimes I reverse the two. Last summer, I set three small tasks per day and shoehorned them in whenever possible. Over the holidays, I set vague weekly goals and gave myself permission to slack. Occasionally, I’ll drop one of the tasks (a month off from writing here, a break from social media, a gym hiatus). I’m learning to go with my gut - if it feels balanced, I go with it, regardless of what my planner says.
6) Speaking of planning, I have to set boundaries on my social media time. (How do other people post all day? Do they have staff? If nothing else, I want to be successful enough to hire someone to post my social media.) I can lose a whole day on Instagram if I’m not careful. It is difficult to put limits on my kids’ screen times when I’m on my eighth hour of refining a post. “This is different,” I tell them. “I’m not enjoying this.” They nod and go back to Snapping each other pictures of their eyebrows.
7) Every stage of writing is simultaneously my most and least favorite.
8) Deadlines are a form of time travel. Want to make a day, a week, a month speed by? Make a schedule and try sticking to it. For example, today is January 14th…
Wait, It’s February 1st? Oh, $&#!, I have a blog post to write.
What lessons have you learned this past year? Drop me a line and we’ll celebrate (or commiserate) together!
xoxo y’all!
January Successes:
Writing: Edited 100+ pages in round 2 of revisions to WELCOME TO BLOOMS.
Participated in a week-long “Grabbing the Reader” workshop featuring peer-to-peer critiques of the first 500 words of our manuscripts.
Education: Took a webinar entitled “Surprise and Delight Your Reader on Every Page”
Researched flower shop business models, start up costs and flower arranging basics as part of round 2 edits.
Marketing:
Followers: Instagram: 869 Twitter: 492 Goodreads: 87
Participated in (most days) of the January #WriterFriendsChallenge on Instagram.
Books read in January: 5
THE COLLECTIVE by Alison Gaylin
THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE by V.E. Schwab
HEARTBURN by Nora Ephron
TRISTAN STRONG DESTROYS THE WORLD by Kwame Mbalia
THE DUKE AND I by Julia Quinn
2022 total: 5/52
February Goals:
Writing: Participate in the Women’s Fiction Writers annual Work Our WIPs (Works in Progress) month, with the goal of finishing Round 2 of edits of WELCOME TO BLOOMS
Querying: Send out final round of queries for SOMETHING BETTER
Marketing: Take part in February’s #WriterFriendsChallenge
Remember to post on Twitter and Goodreads occasionally (hey, gotta start small)
To Read: This is an exciting month - two of my good writing friends from the IG writing community have releases coming out. If you like quirky characters, pop culture references, and sarcastic-but-sweet romances, please check out the following:
KISSES AND STONES by D. Allyson Howlett
NIGHTINGALE and HELL’S BELLS by Jennifer Brasington-Crowley