10 Million Miles Per Hour

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:48:30 +0100

    Well, it looks like the project that I'm going to be helping to work on with my boyfriend and his uncle is taking off. I feel like I should be zooming through space crashing my way through stars and what not. It makes me terribly nervous but there's nothing I can do about that.
    On an agent's block who I watch for publishing tips on Twitter (as she often hands them out, very useful!) she asked about rumors and other things about the publishing and writing business that made us angry, scared, etc. Honestly I couldn't think of any rumors, still haven't. In fact the only that scares me about this whole crazy world of trying to get published is the Query letter. Why? It's fairly simple, not all agents/agencies tell us what they're looking for. (What type of story/genre, what they're looking for in a query, etc.) Specifically though my trouble is with the Query letter. There is no standard format that agents like to see, I understand, everyone likes things how they like them and it'd be surprising if they all liked them the same way.
    It's not the rejection or the waiting for a response. Its trying to figure out how an agent likes their query, it's like a mystery box waiting there in the dungeon. It might have some really awesome treasure (gold, jewels, magical items), or it might be a mimic and want to try to eat you when you go to open it. Don't get me wrong, I find agents fascinating, scary but fascinating. Some agents whose sites I go to (or agencies), want you to leave a lot of your story a mystery not telling the end, others that I've noticed prefer you tell them the end. Some what it to heavily focus on the story and have only one paragraph telling the details of word count, genre, and anything pertinent about yourself. Some want in-depth information about you and only minuscule details about your book (although the last one there, I can't find the site anymore oddly).
    All that said, I'm not terribly great at writing business letters and that makes me nervous. I haven't sent my query yet, not because I'm afraid of the rejection but because I'm afraid that the agent(s) I send it to will think I'm an awful writer whose story must be equally awful simply because I cannot write the most awesome business letter ever.
    I'm going to send my Query letter to my family again have them edit it for readability, business quality and most importantly grammar/spelling. The last however I'm certain is fine. Then I suppose I'll send it. I expect a rejection, because if I expect it I won't be saddened by it, and if I don't get a rejection I'll be surprised. People are always saying that you get hundreds of rejections until you find the right agent. Maybe I'll find the right agent the first time, but I'm not thinking there is no way to be rejected what so ever.
    I've entered two writing contests on Gaiaonline, these aren't for real money or anything physical, just for Gaia gold and items. It's a good way to keep up my writing skills and be forced to finish. I might go all super-crazy during November and actually write three novels at once, who knows.

August at 85 degrees

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:17:58 +0100

    As some of you may be aware I've been helping to paint my house this month. This month should have been perfect for it, kind of overcast weather, cool. Somehow Western Washington has moved it's positioning however into some form of boiling pot. Yesterday it was 85 degrees, for some that may not be much, but here it's very strange. That said, it makes it difficult to be creative for me, I tend to work best in much colder weather. Even at two in the morning it was hot in our house, unfortunate because the breaking of the new day (two-four in the morning) tend to be my better writing hours.

    Today I'm going to go get free BBQ at my Credit Union, they're celebrating 70-years of service this month, they're very nice and have excellent food. I am also going to go see my boyfriend's uncle today and we're going to work on a project that he's trying to get started, it's exciting and scary. I don't like to crawl out of my hidden spot under the bed under the ground in a sealed cave (metaphorically speaking) but I force myself to do so, for fun and excitement. I'd prefer this kind to the stress-excitement of anger and people who inflict such feelings on me.

    I also intend to come up with my plot for Labor Day weekend and I'll be writing like a mad-woman. The representative that I spoke with and asked about typical word counts and acceptable word counts, said that in the 3daynovel contest the novel usually are around 40k words. So I'm going to shoot for 70-100k in three days. Why? Because I'm relatively sure that if I set my mind to it I can. Also, during last year's Nanowrimo I wrote almost 20k in one day and that was only about four hours of the day writing, and then I wanted to go hang out with my friends. So I don't think it's overly ambitious of me to want to complete a 100k novel that I will begin and end in three days. Amusingly enough, I am going to be house sitting (and dog sitting) for my father starting September 3rd and lasting three weeks. I'm very apprehensive about this for many reasons, but I told him I would and I won't back out. Mostly I'm freaked out about house sitting because I'll have to stay there, and make sure that Lily (the dog) is okay and doesn't do anything detrimental to herself. That said I know very little about dogs. Luckily my father will show me everything I need to do/watch out for and give me a list, which is good and relieves a lot of the panic. I'm also not sure how much internet access I'll have, it depends on the state of his computer and all that.

    My three cats are now free from their room, which means that I'll have to be going soon before they too wish to play with my computer. Their fascination must stem from my own. All of our (my boyfriend's and mine) cats are rescued/found cats. The most recent being "Saint Over Still Waters," who was less than two-months old when we found her during the flooding that was going on around where we live, she's now about eight months old. Our middle cat "Shiva" nicknamed "Longtail," or "Pumpkin" for her orange-white coloration, was found outside a McDonalds/Cheveron, and was black with all the grease, none of the employees had called any animal shelters about her despite her having lived there for several months. She was approximately five months and is now five or six years old and very cantankerous. Then we have "Nathaniel," or "Nat" who is the old man of the group. He's probably around 11-13 years old is black with grey-ish stripes and brown undertones and still is playful as a kitten when the mood arises. I got him from a shelter who said the owners had beaten him a lot and left him at a rest stop, he's a very lovey cat. They all have their own personality quirks that make them humorous, special, interesting and sometimes the most annoying creatures in the universe, but I love them, they're my "kids," as I don't really want the responsibility or trouble of actual kids.

what-is-going-on-with-cynthia

10 Million Miles Per Hour

August at 85 degrees