Is it possible for a writer to make it through April without quoting Eliot?

(The answer is no)

I would argue that, around these Panhandle parts, February is the cruelest month, but I also haven’t published nearly as many works as Eliot, so he gets the win on this one.

What I’m Working On:

I have a shocking bit of good news here: I am on time with my own deadline (that I pretended not to have last newsletter but secretly clutched to my chest like Gollum under the mountain). I spent a bit of time each day in April working on my secret project. I began the month with a mess of half-crazed scribbles in my notebook, and ended it with a fairly strong outline. Act Three has the most handwavery, but that’s pretty typical for me (I don’t always know what pieces I’ll have to work with by the end of the novel until I’ve written them). I’m going to spend a bit more time today and tomorrow figuring out the world and one of the character’s motivations, and then I’ll start drafting in May. Here we go again!

The timing on this is great because my agent plans to send the Thief story out on submission on May 1st (we delayed a bit because some of the editors were out of the office). And I love having a new novel idea to keep my mind occupied while I wait.

What does it mean to be out on submission, you ask? Well, I shall tell you. My agent compiled a list of editors at the various imprints that she’s worked with in the past or that she thinks would like this story, and she sent it my way. I only had a few suggestions for changes (for the most part, I leave these decisions in her hands because that’s the reason I have an agent. She knows more about who is buying what than I do!). She’ll send the manuscript off to those editors, and then we’ll wait to hear back.

How long do you wait, you ask? Well, that completely depends. I heard an editor recently say that she receives between 1 and 6 manuscript submissions a day. Imagine trying to work your way through that kind of a pile, especially if you want to give feedback or a good reason for why you passed. Here is one agent’s numbers on how long it took for some of her clients’ books to sell:

When she says including revision, she’s referring to an R&R (revise and resubmit). In that instance, an editor may love a story, but ask the author if she’s willing to do revisions before they try to acquire it.

Because it takes a lot of work for editors to buy a manuscript! They have to convince their editorial team, the marketing department, the financial department, and the executives that this book is worth acquiring. So they really have to love it and be willing to champion it to others before they can commit.

AND, even if Thief sells right away, I might be required to sit on the news until the publishing house makes an official announcement, and that could be months after the deal is signed! So, if I go dark on this for a bit, that may be why. If—and when—I’m able to announce the news, you’ll hear all the juicy details here first.

What I’m Reading:

I started off the month with Leif Enger’s newest book: I Cheerfully Refuse as well as listening to How to Be a Tudor on audiobook. Ruth Goodman is one of those people I would love to sit next to at a dinner party, mainly so I could make one offhand and wildly incorrect comment about 16th-century living and then have the joy of listening to her explain the detailed research she’s done that disproves my theory. I always appreciate listening to experts in a niche subject talk—even if it’s not a subject I have ever given a second thought to—because you can hear the love they have for their field, and that love is contagious.

After that, I reread Cannery Row since I assigned it to my students, and I was struck by all kinds of things I missed the first time around. What an incredible series of vignettes, what absolute mastery of ending a paragraph with surprise and/or humor. Looking forward to chatting about it at the Camperdown residency in June.

I jumped over into Middle Grade after that and read Lauren Wolk’s newest offering: My Own Lightning. Wolk is one of my favorite middle grade writers, and her stories never fail to delight. Lastly, I tiptoed through Dark Waters by Katherine Arden which was quite creepy. I’m perpetually trying to strike the right chord when it comes to writing scary or fraught scenes for middle graders, and this one was definitely on the scarier side (but a lot of fun. Terrifying and fun!)

A Writing Tip:

Near the end of outlining my upcoming project, I got stuck. I couldn’t decide what a character should do next. It puzzled me for about a day and a half, and I kept poring over my notes and staring at the outline until my eyes crossed. Has this happened to you before? Here’s what you should do:

Shut your notebooks and pull out a completely blank page. Write down the scene that happened right before you got stuck. Then, write out three possible paths your character could take, and what would happen if she did each one. Ignore your inner editor and let yourself wander down paths that seem like “a bad idea” to see where they might lead. Try to think of over-the-top solutions to your character’s problems, or solutions that would require her to do something really different and exciting. And then, once you have three, dig deep for one more.

Look at what you have, and pick the one that you’re most excited about. The most unexpected or risky or wild. Because if you’re not excited to write it, a reader won’t be excited to read it.

That’s all for now! See you in May.

Christine