How do you measure a year?
For me, I measure a year in the strands of events. Those are the spider web of changing matter that marks the forward movement of time. Becoming serious about publication has helped me to appreciate these events, and to examine the interconnected web closely.
What am I talking about? Well, beyond the insanity that has been this month, many good things have happened. I have learned about myself as a writer - I am still a young (speaking amount-of-novels-written-wise) writer, and I am following the same patterns that most young writers fall into. This has brought to my attention exactly how much I DON'T know, and how much I do. It has awakened me to some of the areas I need to work on within my work. This isn't to say that I write a bunch of garbage, but that the story I write has quite a bit of coal on the outside before you can get to the diamond within. My goal is to learn to make that layer of coal smaller.
I discovered this about myself by getting a sample edit from an editing company. They turned out to be less experienced (they had been editing for 20 years, but had never been a professional anywhere in the industry either as an Agent or a House) and more expensive than I liked. So I decided that I needed a mentor. An author, agent, or editor who was in the industry, or had been in it, who could show me the ropes, so to speak. This isn't easy - you can't just go up to someone and say "Will you be my mentor, mister?". Mentors-for-hire didn't sound like a good idea to me either, so I avoided that entirely.
Writing, being a solitary sport, played against ones-self and without a net, is not simply art - it needs skill. Skills are something I have taught myself since I was a kid (the reason I am a programmer without ever having stepped on to a college campus), and at this point I decided I would teach myself what I needed. This quickly turned into a block wall - I don't know what it is that I don't know. In the words of some old Chinese guy - "wise men know what it is that they don't know."
Then, while perusing the Florida Writers Association site for 2006 conference details, I found information about a service in my area that did coaching and editing, and even, if you are deemed good enough, submitting. The coaching caught my eye. I checked out the person who offered the services. She had been an acquisitions editor at Cader books AND with Tor, as well as another large non-fiction house I haven't read much of. I checked her out, and she is indeed true to her word - she really was all those things. And from what I can see, I can afford at least her advice on the book. Hell, her advice on the book alone is worth twice its weight in gold.
For those who don't know, and Acquisitions Editor is responsible for getting through the slush pile and finding manuscripts that will make money for the house. They also edit the book with the author to make it the best it can be before it goes to print. This person is the one you want to impress when you are trying to get published. To have one tell me if my book is salable, and how to make it so if its not, is extremely valuable. To put it in the words of my favorite character from Afterlife, Zig - "Dude, sweet!"
Also, I have been posting and writing to another Agents' blog (who just so happens to be coming to the conference here in November) and they have been responding to them, and, AGREEING with them. This tells me that I am learning - I am catching on. The mystery of the industry is slowly fading. For me, this is nothing but a good thing. An educated author is a successful author.
Who knows where these strands in the cobweb of atoms and molecules will take me next?
What am I talking about? Well, beyond the insanity that has been this month, many good things have happened. I have learned about myself as a writer - I am still a young (speaking amount-of-novels-written-wise) writer, and I am following the same patterns that most young writers fall into. This has brought to my attention exactly how much I DON'T know, and how much I do. It has awakened me to some of the areas I need to work on within my work. This isn't to say that I write a bunch of garbage, but that the story I write has quite a bit of coal on the outside before you can get to the diamond within. My goal is to learn to make that layer of coal smaller.
I discovered this about myself by getting a sample edit from an editing company. They turned out to be less experienced (they had been editing for 20 years, but had never been a professional anywhere in the industry either as an Agent or a House) and more expensive than I liked. So I decided that I needed a mentor. An author, agent, or editor who was in the industry, or had been in it, who could show me the ropes, so to speak. This isn't easy - you can't just go up to someone and say "Will you be my mentor, mister?". Mentors-for-hire didn't sound like a good idea to me either, so I avoided that entirely.
Writing, being a solitary sport, played against ones-self and without a net, is not simply art - it needs skill. Skills are something I have taught myself since I was a kid (the reason I am a programmer without ever having stepped on to a college campus), and at this point I decided I would teach myself what I needed. This quickly turned into a block wall - I don't know what it is that I don't know. In the words of some old Chinese guy - "wise men know what it is that they don't know."
Then, while perusing the Florida Writers Association site for 2006 conference details, I found information about a service in my area that did coaching and editing, and even, if you are deemed good enough, submitting. The coaching caught my eye. I checked out the person who offered the services. She had been an acquisitions editor at Cader books AND with Tor, as well as another large non-fiction house I haven't read much of. I checked her out, and she is indeed true to her word - she really was all those things. And from what I can see, I can afford at least her advice on the book. Hell, her advice on the book alone is worth twice its weight in gold.
For those who don't know, and Acquisitions Editor is responsible for getting through the slush pile and finding manuscripts that will make money for the house. They also edit the book with the author to make it the best it can be before it goes to print. This person is the one you want to impress when you are trying to get published. To have one tell me if my book is salable, and how to make it so if its not, is extremely valuable. To put it in the words of my favorite character from Afterlife, Zig - "Dude, sweet!"
Also, I have been posting and writing to another Agents' blog (who just so happens to be coming to the conference here in November) and they have been responding to them, and, AGREEING with them. This tells me that I am learning - I am catching on. The mystery of the industry is slowly fading. For me, this is nothing but a good thing. An educated author is a successful author.
Who knows where these strands in the cobweb of atoms and molecules will take me next?
posted by DanStrohschein at 4:42 AM
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