Being a writer involves a lot of WAITING. In fact, there is nothing speedy about this profession. Writing a regular-length novel, at it’s quickest, can take a month — but that’s only when you have the biting flame of NaNoWriMo under your ass. For me, a novel can take anywhere from a month to 9 months to complete, first draft only.
And then once the novel is done, it has to sit for awhile. You know, congeal. Gestate. Like a jello mold made of words and character arcs. The novel has to abide in the recesses of the mind for awhile, mostly for a writer’s own sanity, where it can set but still jiggle when poked. It allows us to gain some distance from the project, think about other ideas, and get a clear head about all that shit we just wrote.
After it’s rested like an elegant jello mold or a fine mass of Italian dough, edits and revisions can begin. Those can take anywhere from a couple months to six months, depending on how many beta readers and critique partners are involved in your project, and what sort of emergencies crop up in their lives (or your own).
And then the query letter has to happen. And the SYNOPSIS. Good lord, the query letter and synopsis combo. When I sit down to write a query letter, I often wish I could set fire to most things in my environs. Most of all the query letter. Watching it burn would provide a deep satisfaction. (I should find some old query letters and burn them — my therapist might agree this is a good idea.)
And then? AND THEN?! You send the novel, the query letter, and the godforsaken synopsis out to a publisher.
AND YOU WAIT MORE.
Sometimes, up to four months. If the answer is NO, then you have to wait MORE months, for a NEW publisher to decide.
Talk about the lengthiest process EVER. And this is just for ONE project. Remember, rinse and repeat for all other novels! Unless you happen to land your dream publisher/agent on the first go around, which then means you can save some time down the road waiting for that Yes/No response.
I’ve been suffering anxiously, agonizingly, through this process with my second novel for what FEELS LIKE A MILLENNIUM. Really, I began querying this novel in September of last year.
And as of today, April 2015, I am pleased to announce my baby has a HOME.
My 2nd novel, A New York Minute, will be contracted with The Wild Rose Press. It’s official, and it’s real, and by god, the time is finally here! The waiting game is officially over…(until the next one begins, that is!)
Hopefully, we’ll see this novel out by the end of the year, or very early next. More details to come!
