You probably thought I was going to report that I'd "finally" gotten myself an agent. Nope. Not even close. I can't bring myself to experience the whole query letter debacle again until I've really finished these revisions, and stocked the wine rack. I'm not bitter, I like watching the whole story unfold. But every time I think its unfolded for the last time, something else changes. Its like my manuscript is a fitted sheet. No matter what I do to it, its never gonna fold quite right. I can hold it up, turn it around for all of eternity, say things to it that makes the dog look at me funny, but at the end of the day, its still a freaking circle meant for a square. Will it ever look perfect? Well, not in the linen closet it won't. So, I'm staying the course to finish this story before I die. Even a fitted sheet looks perfect every now and then right? At least until my husband drops unidentified crumbs on the bed. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've vacuumed a man's chest. Just saying.
What I really wanted to say was that I "Finally" read The Hunger Games. Holy Lord, what was I waiting for? Pk, if you're reading this, get on that like yesterday. Amazing. I could not put it down. Seriously, I was up till two thirty last night reading it then ran out this morning just to buy Peeta pockets at the store. That's a lie, I did no such thing. It did make me wonder about finality though. Not in the life and death sense. That's depressing and I choose to believe that one day, I will become a vampire who can survive on sweet tea and Mexican food instead of blood. I will live forever and I'll never have to worry about gaining weight or feeling so much animosity towards those jogging Barbie's at the park. But it made me wonder when other authors realize that they are truly done. Ready for the agent, the book deal kind of done. Do we ever really get there with ourselves? Somehow I doubt it. We are our own worst critics I'm sure. So, how do you know when its time?
BTW: You have to go check out a brand new blog called Butterfly Pages. Let's welcome Madame Butterfly and show her some writerly lurve. Thanks guys.
Oh, isn't it amazing? I stayed up until 2am reading it, with my husband groaning beside me and pulling the pillows over his head in a pointed fashion. Then, the next night, he stayed up until 2am.
ReplyDeleteAs for how you know it's time... I'll let you know when I know!
You know it's "time" when your characters stop making suggestions for improvements.
ReplyDeleteSo true! Loved Hunger Games- and glad you did too. And you are right- we are our own worst critics and I don't know if we'll ever know if we're truly done or not. We just take the leap, and pray ;p Then (hopefully after some great suggestions from the agents) we go back and fix it, or we get a book deal because it IS perfect. I think every author feels like that with every book. Especially the big ones- think of what JK has to live up to if she comes out with another series.
ReplyDeleteYou have a great sense of humor, thanks for the laugh! I don't know how you know when it's ready...that's an age old question. I think you have to go with your gut. And even when you get an agent, you'll probably end up changing like crazy some more.
ReplyDelete"That's depressing and I choose to believe that one day, I will become a vampire who can survive on sweet tea and Mexican food instead of blood."
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up, TC. I love reading your blog posts. :) Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your question though. I guess when it feels right?
Followed you over from twitter and now I;m following you here as well. I swear I'm not a stalker :)
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I think we are our own worst critics. We are. How can we not doubt ourselves when it seems the entire system continually feeds into that? I don't know.
I do think at some point we have to decide we've edited enough, it's time to try. And then we do just that--we try. Out go the query letters. Out go the partial requests (hopefully). And if no requests come our way, we then edit some more. There's always going to be editing. Even published books on the shelf could be edited some more. It's never going to be perfect. Never. The best we can hope for is to come close enough.
I loved Hunger Games. Read it in 2 days. Loved it.
Another book i've ignored too long. I'll get to it soon I swear. I don't have an answer from experience (because I'm not done yet). I laughed out loud at work reading this post though. Funny.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't read this book! I really must get on that.
ReplyDeleteIt is true; we are our own worst critics, and yes wine is the key to successfully surviving query hell LOL!
ReplyDeleteHunger Games was amazing. Have you started the second one in the series yet? It is just as good, maybe better!
Thanks for the follow! I enjoyed HG too, except I wasn't totally happy with the last book. anyway, it is hard to know when we're done and ready to query! And the query process is not fun - until you sign with an agent. Someday! Nice to meet you.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED the Hunger games books. I ripped through all of them in a week LOL!
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