Writing Update

For the past few months I have been furiously working on rewrites and edits for my work-in-progress. I've finally finished - phew - and need to take some time away from it before I look once again with fresh eyes.

I did something sort of impulsive yesterday and sent a query letter to an agent who is looking for exactly what I'm writing. It's impulsive because, though I've finished my updates, there is still much more to be done: send it to friends to read, incorporate their suggestions and changes, work on polishing my query letter, research agents. But I just found this one quote from an agent that literally said, "If you're working on a book about a mermaid, query me ASAP." So I did.

I've also started to brainstorm for a new story. When you finish an old project and send out queries, you're supposed to start working on a new project to take your mind off the wait (it can take anywhere from an hour to a year to hear back from an agent, three months is considered an acceptable time frame.) and get excited for something new in case the current project doesn't end up going anywhere. I've got two ideas: one of which is a dystopian, which is a very hot genre right now. And the other which is more of a chick-lit (but geared toward the teenage crowd). I'm leaning towards the chick-lit, especially after spending so long (about a year, now) working on a fantasy novel, it would be nice to ground myself in something more realistic.

I've also been reading a ton, nothing that's made a big enough impression on me for me to mention here but I am on the library waiting list for this book about killer unicorns, which I'm very interested in since it's sort of a darker re-imagining of a fantasy creature in line with what I'm writing (my mermaids aren't killers, but they also aren't pleasant French sailors. Image via Wayne Pate).

Comments

[Franny]

I wish you great success with your novel. Mermaids are totally under represented in the fantasy world. I want to read your book!

[rifferaff]

franny, thanks for the vote of confidence!