Submitting.
It amazes me how every agent and publisher differ on how they want your materials. Some want a synopsis, some don’t, some want only the first 3 pages (really? What can you glean about my book in 3 pages?), some want the 1st chapter, and some the 1st 3 chapters. The only thing they all agree on is the query letter.
Don’t get me started on the issue of Comps (comparable books on the market to mine). Trying to research that stressed me out more than the query letter.
Waiting.
Now comes the hard part; waiting the possible 3 to 4 months, or longer, it could take for them to get back with me. And most likely either with a rejection email or no response at all to indicate a rejection. UGH.
Toughening up.
I never realized when I started this journey to become an author it would be so discouraging or I would take such a painful hit to my self-confidence. Not that I had a lot to begin with in this arena. Give me a dog that needs a blood draw or a dental and I’m your gal. Or figuring out the ins and outs of a new software. Pick me! Pick me!
Learning Curve.
As I look back over my career, each new challenge I’ve accepted had a learning curve. Some steeper than others. This upward incline is just steep enough sometimes I’m afraid I will never clear the top. Or I envision I’m just about to see the peek, only to stub my big toe on a bump in the road and go tumbling head over ass back down the slope, my skin flayed open by the unforgiving rocky terrain.
If there's one thing you should know about me, it's I refuse to give up. It’s not in my nature. And as much as I’m not enjoying the left hook to my jaw or the sucker punch to my solar plexus that has me gasping for air, it does NOT overshadow the joy of the writing experience.
So onward and upward. And like my mother always told me, “Pick up your feet.”