So this week went off the rails a bit. I felt like I did a lot of churning and not so much doing.
Last Friday I heard back from my teacher Aish and she was open to reading my second draft. On Saturday she turned in a full set of comments/edits to me and they were stellar. I fully recognized how amazing it is to have this kind of feedback but boy is it a lot to wade through as well.
One thing she said to me was “what is the point of this story”.
This is one of those comments that I think will stick with me for the rest of my writing life. It is brutally honest and painful, but it is necessary. I wrote a 2500 word article and clearly I did not communicate a point to the story. I’ve basically been stuck on this for an entire week now. She also suggested that I add a couple more sections and perspectives so it feels a bit like I’m going back to the drawing board. All this, I know is needed. I know in my heart it’s what will make my piece amazing. But crossing this void and getting to the other side feels so far away, like a chasm I don’t know how to avoid falling into. I then asked one of my readers what she thought the point of my story was and her explanation came back completely different than what I was trying to communicate. That’s how you know there’s still so much work left to do.
The other thing is the cold email pitching.
I had a conversation with a friend who said it takes about 18 months to get a new client for a firm - and this is a huge firm. Same thing according to my husband who said takes years to get people’s attention. It’s all just smile and dial. So of course, here I am, a nobody, screaming into the void. Aish said to pitch magazines once a week and follow up the following week. So this week I sent out another pitch. This time to National Review. I was concerned a bit about reaching out to them because they are quite right leaning but honestly I won’t hear back so it’s ok. It’s just tossing chits into the pond and hoping it will eventually become overwhelmed that someone will pay attention to me. Anyway I think it would be interesting to venture into the right leaning publication space. Get out of my own echo chamber a bit. The pitching process is brutal and I think I gave myself a brain aneurysm just trying to fully internalize what it’s going to take.
I have continued reading Courtney Maum’s book about before and after the book deal and it's too real. TOO REAL. But so good and so necessary. I must pace myself because taking it all in at once is honestly too daunting. I shouldn’t bite off more than I can chew. Next week my book proposal class starts and I’m currently trying to coordinate an editing meeting with some of my former classmates. And I found a really good Substack called “Agents and Books” which I may subscribe to about the process of finding an agent. Oh, and speaking of biting off more than I can chew, I did something insane. I signed up for NaNoWriMo. Yea, I think I’m taking on too much but I have to have faith in myself! I think NaNoWriMo will really help me get Book People down on paper. I also did the math. I just have to write 1000 words a week for 50 weeks in 2022 and I can finish Book People. Then, I can take 2023 - mid 2025 before our next trip to have it edited and published. It’s aggressive but I have to just keep telling myself that I can do it. I wish I had started all of this earlier - but I sadly can’t go backwards in time. I have to just accept that this is my timeline and that there’s no such thing as being “too late” when it comes to how your life unfolds.
Between consulting work and setting up my new computer (and I’m still not done), the week just got away from me. I went to a taping of the View and saw a friend from out of town and dealt with home maintenance and an echo of a cold (which I hope I slept off). Life is constant and unrelenting, my soul is feels on fire. I will work on making more progress next week.