Get a Clue
- by Cece
WOW! So I’m over at NAS today talking the writing process and I sat down to count…
I’m currently working on what will be my fifth Kensington manuscript…but like my *gulp* fifTEENTH manuscript (not all of them finished, one I rewrote, 2 twenty five page proposals, lots and lots of words).
It takes so much ENERGY to get published, all that writing and angsting and stamp-licking. It lingers like bad mayo.
I also remember thinking before I sold, “man I want an agent so all I have to do is write.” Three agents later, I can tell you this–you NEVER get to just write. Why? Because, baby, the buck stops with YOU! As much as I tortured myself before I sold, I think I did more damage AFTER (firing #2 agent didn’t help but oh well).
Since then, I’ve accepted certain truths…namely I’m not going to sell everything I write. It’s harder to stay published than it is to get published. Relax. Stay alert. Don’t pay too much attention to that box. But give it it’s due…it’s probably there for a reason. I’m just not sure what that reason was. Especially since I feel like my first NY sale was WAY outside the box–maybe because it was erotica, I dunno….but I’m blessed with an editor who lets me (literally) get away with murder (hello…hitman hero!) and an agent who’s shopping a multiple first person futuristic urban fantasy with a hero who used to be a well…let’s just say he never killed anyone?
So really, what is the box and what makes a sale? I have no freaking clue….sorry Raine
ETA Check out Bettie’s post on bad girl heroines. Methinks Bettie’s not much of one for boxes either.
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