Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Write, Revise, Repeat.

The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home.
- John Campbell


No matter what else we do, we must keep working.
We must keep believing in possibilities.

Write. Revise. Write. Revise. However many times you must.

And then... send it out there.

Do NOT leave it on a shelf, too fearful to try. Use our wonderful blogging community for strength and support. Read Elana's ebook, From the Query to the Call; stalk and learn from agent blogs; utilize QueryTracker.net... you can't succeed if you don't brave the process
.

At what stage of the process
are you and your story?


I am currently querying my MS, hopeful and with fingers crossed.

43 comments:

Carolyn V. said...

Yay for the query!!! I hope it goes super well Shannon!!! I'm still revising. *mumbling bad things under breath* I can't wait to query. =) Good luck!

Nicole Zoltack said...

A day or so away from querying. Good luck!

Colene Murphy said...

Good luck with your queries! Will keep you on my mind.

I am, hopefully, in the last stages of edits before I start querying myself!

Lindsay said...

Good luck with the querying.
I'm currently in this "I think I'm ready" to query stage, but I'm not sure yet. Maybe I'll ask the magic 8 ball. :)

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

I wish you every success with your writing, I am hoping to get another poetry book published in the new year as it will give me the winter months to prepare.
Loved the post.
Yvonne.

Tracy Loewer said...

I hope you get lots of requests! I've been in the process of final edits since about May...but only because I haven't had the time to put into it. I want this manuscript to be "the one". Now that things are finally settled around here, I should be querying by the end of the month.

PK HREZO said...

Me too. I'm into the fray again and keeping my fingers crossed after my most recent revision.

Best of luck to you! :)

Theresa Milstein said...

Good luck!

Every part of writing is hard. We're brave to write at all. Then editing because we know it's not perfect. And then we swallow our pride to show it to others. We endure feedback to make it better. We repeat this editing process until we think it's done. And then we send it out into the world, wondering if it's good enough. And if nobody takes the manuscript, we have to be strong enough to repeat the process.

I'm querying and writing a rough draft. I'm 8k in.

Jamie Grey said...

Good luck with querying! *fingers crossed*!

I'm currently in the first round of revisions for my WIP. I'm hoping to get it out to my crit partners (once I get a few more) in early November.

Stephanie said...

Great post!!!!!

I have my hands in a little of everything right now. One MS is out in queryland, though it's been two months or so and I've accepted the fact that it's not going anywhere right now.

Soon I will be starting copy edits on my next release. And I am currently writing the sequel to A Bitch Named Karma.

Matthew Delman said...

Currently nowhere near querying, but that's also because I'm so embroiled in other projects that I haven't even looked at my MS since June.

Bad Matthew, yes I know.

Susan R. Mills said...

I just finished an 11 month rewrite on a manuscript. Currently, I'm letting it sit for a month. Then, I hope to query. Good luck with your querying!

Laurel Garver said...

I'm in the "course correction" phase of querying. My query alone has garnered requests, but first pages haven't, so I'm doing some heavy revision on the front end. I hope to be back to querying later this month, or when everyone else is busy NaNo-ing. :-)

Tina Lynn said...

Laurel and I are twins. I'm doing the same. Rewriting the beginning. Good luck! I'll be joining you shortly :D

Terri Tiffany said...

I'm there with you! I pray you hear great news!!

Meredith said...

Good luck with your querying! I'm doing the same--it's so terrifying clicking that send button!

Southpaw said...

Good advice. I'm at the revise, repeat, revise, repeat....

Karen Jones Gowen said...

I'm in awe that you could write so much wisdom in so few words.

Sara {Rhapsody and Chaos} said...

Good luck querying!! God, it's SUCH an exciting and nerve-wracking (and lotsa drinking) time all at once, isn't it?

I just finished a HUGE revision and am jumping back into my fun new WIP :) :)

Cinette said...

Good luck on your querying!
I'm still at the 'should-I-even-bother-finishing-this' stage. But I'll do it anyway, just to be able to tell hubby it's finished;0)

Christine Danek said...

Good luck Shannon. My fingers are crossed for you. I'm still revising/learning. I hope to have everything figured out by the new year then see if I need another revision. Then possibly go to line edits and then go to query. Yikes that's scary.
You can do it. Thanks for the motivation. I was feeling a little like --should I shelf this? I think you made me answer my question. No.

Elana Johnson said...

This is so true! I do think that sometimes a project is so flawed that it can't be fixed. *ducks* Maybe that's just me that does that. I've written enough words to know now which projects those are. I abandon them. I work elements I like, character traits and names into fresh projects.

Because sometimes there is something that is beyond repair. At least for me.

Jessica Ann Hill said...

I'm in the beginning stages of my newest project. I feel pretty confident about this one, and hopefully it turns out as well as I've envisioned. XD

Good luck with your querying!

C. N. Nevets said...

4 to 6 weeks from query. Suddenly a firmer deadline than I'd realized because of some unanticipated support from an established author.

Kimberly Franklin said...

Fingers crossed for you! Dreadfully, I'm still stuck at my beginning. Though, I have to admit, I haven't been working on it as much as I should. I blame the nice weather!

Jill Kemerer said...

My fingers are crossed for you! I'm querying and writing a new book. Good times!

Anonymous said...

Fingers crossed by me, too. I've got a few of those manuscripts sitting on the shelf but my most promising is out there making the rounds. I guess it would be wise to revise the others and send them out,too.

Unknown said...

Good luck with the submissions.
That is exactly the same point I'm at. Submissions out - two "cupcakes" back in but one was cherry flavoured - in that it was a complimentary turn down.

Unknown said...

Well I wish you the best of luck in all your writing Shannon!

I'm in revisions on two novels, pansting on a few others, and getting read to write a novel for NaNo! Counting down the days until November!

Jemi Fraser said...

Good luck with your querying! :)

I'm doing another revision round - getting rid of a major coincidence that's caused me lots of troubles!

Stephanie Thornton said...

I hope the querying is going well for you- I think that's the hardest part of this game.

As you know, I'm revising. AGAIN. It never ends!

Liz @ Cleverly Inked said...

I don't see how you can do it, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat. It all boils down to the love of it.

Golden Eagle said...

Good luck with your query!

I'm still in the writing stage. I haven't finished my MS yet, and I don't think I'll be done with it any time soon . . . maybe not even this year. But I'm not going to stop now!

Heather Kelly said...

Good luck with the querying!! I'm revising and dreaming/brainstorming the next project!!

Heather said...

Thank you so much. I can't tell you how much I needed this encouragement. I have two manuscripts on submission, one in the editing process, and a third in the outlining stage. My fingers are crossed for both of us!

Anonymous said...

Great post. Good luck!

Stina said...

I have two that met that fate, but I'm reworking one of them into a completely different story (YA paranormal to YA suspense) by stealing a subplot.

I'm going to start querying my completed ms tomorrow (if I don't chicken out). :D

Anonymous said...

Good luck, Shannon!

I'm two thirds done with the draft of my latest wip.

Anonymous said...

I love that quote. I'm currently in the midst of a heavy re-write. I'm happy though!

Good luck with submissions!

erica m. chapman said...

Good luck to you!! I'm working on draft 2 of the MS ;o) Great motivational post!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the motivation!

Chantele Sedgwick said...

Thanks for this post! I'm working on my second draft of my MS. :) Good luck querying!!

Rachael Harrie said...

Great motivation post, thanks! And so true about taking a punt and getting your MS out there. I'm in the final revision process with plans to start querying soon. Best of luck with your query :)

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