jeradarklighter

Now that I’m a few months out from having a first draft of my novel complete, I’m actually starting to give thought to how on earth I am going to get this thing published… I realized that honestly I knew next to nothing about the process, so it was time to start getting educated.

First I started looking around on the Internet. The info I found was confusing and conflicting. Some sites said you HAD to have a finished draft; others said you needed a proposal and a synopsis rather than anything actually written. Some said you should submit directly to publishers; others said that an agent was best.

Based on what I read, I decided that it was time to look into getting an agent. Thus, I picked up the Writer’s Market 2006 Guide to Literary Agents. I quickly surmised from the text that it was only NONFICTION books that needed a proposal, and for FICTION you needed a finished draft before an agent could help.

I did find about 30 agents that sounded like they might be interested in my work, so I bookmarked their web sites and marked those pages to come back to later.

I am primarily concerned with finishing this first draft. However, while I do, I also want to ensure that I have a good understanding of my niche in the market.

This weekend, I started reading fantasy books that sound promising to see if their readers might possibly like my book. If I enjoy a book, I write a brief and sincere note to the author letting them know how much I liked it and why. I don’t really expect responses, but you never know… a friendly gesture could open doors later. I have a feeling that I am going to need to forge every connection that is humanly possible in order to get this done… and presently, I am starting from ground zero. I know no one, but I intend to change that!

If you have any suggestions for connecting with authors/agents/publishers, please let me know. I’d really appreciate it.

Well, the first step in having a homey house is having a reasonably clean house. I’m an inordinately messy person by nature and habit, and it’s ridiculous. But I feel like I’m starting to chip away at these bad habits a bit at a time, and slowly the house is improving. The “public” area of the house is now generally maintained at a somewhat acceptable level of cleanliness. I’m working on the master bedroom next, and after that the extra bedroom upstairs that is currently a storage (and disaster) area… the garage (another disaster) will just have to wait till later.

I also have plans to put out a vegetable garden this month… we shall see about that.

After that, I have many pictures that need to be framed, and I need to paint some more rooms and actually get around to sewing all the curtains and such that I always said I would. But, one small step at a time.

My husband is a lovely human being who works a lot. I’m very proud of him, and very thankful that he has a wonderful job… because it means I get to stay home and write my novel, and supplement our income as I can (through design work, writing my novel and hopefully some Internet businesses).

However, he is tired and stressed. He needs a vacation, badly.

I hope I can publish this novel of mine and then keep him at home with me to work on Internet businesses and books and what-not together. But for the moment, all that I can hope for is a long weekend away somewhere.

And I need to find a way to finance it… I want to do this for him. He deserves it.