Letters home from the querying trenches by a weary writer, describing the travails of flogging a manuscript.
Essays:
Tools in the Trench
A Brief Rant About Editing
Wabbit Hunting
Commercial Enough?
Too Good to be True?
Silent Rejection
A Sharp Left
Did the Rabbit Die?
Sanity Saver?
We Create Our Rejections
Writers and the Bird
Inventing Quicksand
A Question of Style
120
Comparable
5 Things
Tappity
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Newest Post
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In the Trenches: Generality
Not a long entry today, a bit of bookkeeping.
The last few days here have seen progress on several fronts, but none of it really exciting. These are building and set-up days. Days dedicated to strategy, preparation and maintenance.
The editing on Book 2 is coming along. I spent yesterday AM gathering together all the scattered files associated with two other novels I have in the works. I’ll be moving out of the gross edits on book 2, hopefully late March / early April. Then it will be more of the polishing and note taking before calling it ready to go. There is plenty to write, three novels to pick from. All a different flavor, so there is always a project that appeals when I sit down to write.
One interesting note is the question of the snake count today. We are expecting highs over 65 today and that means our tiny feline will be outside snake wrangling.
A friend kindly pointed out that the species of garter snake I was seeing never did get much bigger around than I was seeing. Phew. Good. But, they could get over 3 feet in length.
Seriously? That happens and I quit.
Shudder. Back to something less icky, like querying.
Blog Posts
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In the Trenches: Catching-up
Help! It seems I have fallen arears in the required reading for my genre. Thus, I need a little guidance on what to read. So, let me hear it. What fantasy novel would you recommend from the last decade?
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In the Trenches: Follies
The temptation to link to some YouTube videos of Scots music (ok, and some Irish) is very strong today. But, on to querying.
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In the Trenches: Tappity
In the Trenches: TappityOh bother, I’m just whinging about the necessity to fight my way through technology in order to get my work done.
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In the Trenches: 5 Things
In the Trenches: 5 Things – I am pursuing a way to better define my time. Something simple, yet flexible. So, ask yourself, ‘how is house cleaning like writing?’ Experiment time: I’ve applied a resource for one, to the other.
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In the Trenches: Ogniem i Mieczem
In the Trenches: Ogniem i Mieczem – Using an incomparable film as one of my comparables is rather cheeky.
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In the Trenches: Comparable
In the Trenches: Comparable – Scouring the world’s libraries for just that book to not compare yours to.
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In the Trenches: MSWL Crisis
In the Trenches: MSWL Crisis – I ran head first into MSWL day and knee-deep into a crisis of conscience.
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In the Trenches: Less Waiting. More Querying.
In the Trenches: Less Waiting. More Querying. – Good decision, bad decision? I don’t know. But, at least, it is a decision.
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In the Trenches: Monday, Again?
Too much looking at screens over the weekend. I have got to remember, walk away from the screens. That is what weekends are for. But, no.
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In the Trenches: Aha!
In the Trenches: Aha!Chill the champagne. I think I have finally cracked the troublesome scene in Chapter 6.
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In the Trenches: Traction?
In the Trenches: Traction?Runnin’ on Ice. Slip, Slip, Sliding Away. Long Time Gone. The playlist for this morning’s motivation.
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In the Trenches: Research Today
In the Trenches: Research TodayRemember, change your spots for no one. And on that note I am off to nap. Too much screen time today.
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In the Trenches: About Style
It seems the only area of my life where I consider style is in my writing. So, is there a market out there for my style?
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In the Trenches: Flow
In the Trenches: FlowJust can’t seem to get the hang of chapter 6 in book 2. It insists on doing its own thing.
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In the Trenches: Re-Thinking
In the Trenches: Re-thinking After a bit more exploration, I need to revise my initial opinion of the QueryTracker timeline feature.
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In the Trenches: Question, Information Overload
In the Trenches: Question, Information OverloadWhat is your method for keeping your sanity among all the bits and scraps of information you generate as a writer?
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In the Trenches: Pro-cras-tin-a-tion
In the Trenches: Pro-cras-tin-a-tion The fine art of laying about as personified by writers and their cats.
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In the Trenches: HOLD ON!
In the Trenches: HOLD ON! Well, that’s an interesting thought. I’ve just been doing a bit of navel gazing and came up with a surprising thought.
