I do really well with women at cocktail parties — at least for the first fourteen seconds. For the first fourteen seconds, I am a star. Women love me. And I love them loving me. I love seeing their expression when I tell them I’m a writer. Their enthusiasm leaves me enthusiastic. It also makes me wish it was true. Because as I’ve learned from the 15th second onwards, I’m not truly a writer until I am published. The typical conversation goes something like this:
- She: So what do you do?
- Me: I’m a writer.
- She (leaning in): Ahhh. What do you write?
- Me (inhaling her scent): Humor.
- She (smiling): Oh! Wow. That’s great! So, where can I see your stuff? Do you have a column or something?
This marks fourteen seconds and is usually the point where things go bad. I know this because it is at this point that she starts to lean away.
- Me: Uhhh, no.
- She: Oh. You write freelance?
- Me: Uhhh, no.
Pause
- Me (continued): I do have a blog.
- She: Sorry?
- Me: A blog.
- She: A blog?
- Me: Yeah. You know, a blog. I blog about my experiences moving back to Canada and my attempts to build an audience.
- She (smiling again, but a different kind of smile): Oh.
- Me: Except, I, uhhh, don’t really blog anymore. I’ve kind of given it up. I maybe blog once a month. It wasn’t really the right forum for me.
- She: Oh, did you get your book published?
- Me: Uhh. No.
And so on …
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Regular readers of my irregular blog will know that I’ve experimented with many different strategies to promote my writing. Whether it was promotional bookmarks, magazine submission, stand-up comedy, book readings, videos or even this blog, I’ve kept really busy. Strangely enough, the one thing I didn’t do was actually submit the manuscript to anybody.
The truth is, I was hoping that I could build my audience from the ground up and that a publisher would eventually come to me; I didn’t want to be lumped in with all the other unsolicited submissions. I did have limited success in that one prominent publisher did ask to see my stuff, but aside from that it’s been very quiet.
By December 2007, I decided I was going to have to start the querying process. I then had a nasty surprise. You see, as I prepared my proposal, I realized that I no longer actually liked my book. In fact, I disliked it! I’d been spending so much time working on everything else, that I hadn’t even looked at the manuscript in months. And when I started to re-read it, I realized it left a lot to be desired. This left me in a quandary. I couldn’t market a book I no longer believed in.
But, I didn’t want to fix it either.
But, I couldn’t walk away.
So, I started to (reluctantly) edit it. It was a slow process……………….
Until I joined a writers group. Getting feedback and spending time with other local writers inspired me. I actually started to enjoy reworking the book. I’m now about halfway through the revision and gaining momentum. At the rate I’m going, I’ll have the whole book finished within a few weeks.
Which brings me to the here and now. You see, agents never needed to see the whole book. They didn’t want to see the whole book. The way the publishing industry works, most agents only want to see a query letter, a couple of chapters and maybe a proposal.
So after months of procrastination, the submission process has finally begun. Whatever demons or mental blocks were stopping me have suddenly passed. I’m ready to move on — to whatever happens next.
