I'm in the waiting game in the querying process. Three months into it. I have three fulls out and a bunch of pieces of conflicting feedback from agents/publishing professionals. It's been torturous! I've come to realize that I'm not at the point of a full revision until I get a critical mass of opinions that align in a certain direction. So recently (and this is kinda cheesy, I realize), I've imagined pushing this novel out to sea for a bit. I'm visualizing it floating around out there and if an agent grabs it as is as a message in a bottle, awesome! If not, I'll come back to it in a few more months. Honestly, this has been SO freeing. Since doing this, I've had a floodgate of creativity -- a new novel, a screenplay, and a few business ideas. I'm going to start on the second novel after I have a solid outline/do some research. Super excited about it, especially the fact that it feels less "heavy" given how much emotion is tied up in my first manuscript. My mentor, who has published several very successful books, said that she could really only get unblocked after she "let go" of the first book she was querying, gave it some space, and started working on something that was less fraught. Once she did that, everything started happening for her. So, gonna try that! We will see! And thank you so much for writing this column and demystifying all that goes into publishing a debut. Such a great service you are offering for fellow writers trying to make it in this wild game.
I LOVE this image. I am going to use this too. The manuscript is out there, doing its thing, like a child starting kindergarten or something. Conflicting feedback can be so confusing. I wonder, has anything resonated with you?
I know 3 months seems like a long time, but it's not!!!! And getting personalized "nos" is a really good sign! GOOD LUCK!
Thanks so much! I love the kindergarten analogy. We will see... I'm not entirely sure which feedback has "resonated" yet. When I've gotten it I've been like yes yes yes, okay I'll do that! But then I get something else and I'm like, no, that's wrong, I need to do this entirely different thing! I think I really just need a chunk of time to sit with all the feedback before I can get back in there. But if a lot of people start saying the same thing I know it's something I have to pay attention to. Parsing feedback is so hard. That would be a great future post for this newsletter, actually!
I am currently in the anxious waiting on queries and fulls part. I have had a full out for... 6 months now. I think I am finally getting my head around the time scales here and slowing down my expectations. And yes, I am writing a new thing which is very exciting and I love very much and I will be happy to query (in... a year? after edits and waiting and beta reads and more edits? lol) if this current MS does not get me an agent. Since I am still in the early days here there seems to be less pressure on "when" from people I talk to. Sometimes they ask and I am like... nope, not yet. And then I say "publishing is really slow." Having writer friends helps because they understand. I did have a very kind gentleman who helped me with some research on my current WIP say "let me know when the book is out." And in my head I was like... um, 5 years from now? LOL.
"slowing down my expectations"--- that is such a good way to put it. I should have said that I expected everything to happen faster for me, too, before I began. Maybe that is part of the anxiety, the reality being so different from the expectation.
Publishing is very slow! I think I say that daily, often to myself :)
"CeCe and the editor went back and forth on terms until March. A few months after that, I heard that the first draft of the contract arrived, but I didn’t read it. The final draft, the one I actually read and signed, didn’t come until October 2023. That’s ten months! " I feel this. I went through it. Just. Keep. Writing. xo
Thank you for your honesty and vulnerability. I feel all of this! I once waited from April to October for a contract and "vault of anxiety" is the perfect way to describe it.
I wish you all the best and can't wait to read your novel!
I’m anxious that I’ll get stuck in the hamster wheel of never knowing if it’s time to stop revising THIS novel and finish the second one and start all the others I have ideas for.
I just completed my first draft of my first novel after starting it ten years ago and feel a lot of the same anxiety. Everybody - with sweet and pure intentions - tells me I've done the hardest part and I say.... Weeeellllllllll. I know I need to calm down and handle revisions with the same care and patience that I used to work on my first draft but I am so scared of the stretch of time that's ahead of me.
Thank you for sharing your journey so openly and vulnerably. 🤓📚🥰
Thank you for shedding light on this! There is a lot of anxiety that writers go through and since writing can be such a lonely journey in general, it's nice knowing we're not alone in these feelings. I haven't started the querying process yet but I've heard that writing a new book helps with the anxiety because even if the first book falls through, you've got something else you're working on that you might be even more excited about.
I'm still querying. I don't know if tjis book will sell. Like you, the only thing is to keep writing. I'm on another manuscript in between querying this one.
Thanks for sharing this journey! You are SO close! I’m still revising and it feels endless. I get the questions from friends about when it will be done, why is it taking so long…?!?! Because it just does!
More than feeling anxious, I find this so encouraging! Encouraging in that, after many months of writing my first novel, and not nearly finished, a time may come when friends and family do more than simply humor me and begin to ask how it's coming along. It felt like I reached a personal milestone when I first announced my intentions. I hit a second milestone, one of self-accountability, when I began posting updates on Substack. Yep, I came out in public as a novelist! No turning back now. So I look forward to those texts where people ask (Kids, are you listening?), "How's the novel going?"
Thanks so much for your posts. I know that I am one of many who are encouraged, and anxious, to hear how you are doing.
Thank you!!! Hahah I love this take so much. There is definitely something to the idea of accountability and being vocal and direct about your intentions. Good for you!
My mom was SHOCKED that my novel won't publish until this November, even though I signed the contract at the end of last August. I used to work as a managing editor at a big publisher, so I nerded out and over-explained the whole process to her ("there's the editor's review, and the first revision, then copyediting, then it has to be typeset, and proofread, and after the cover is designed the book has to be bound and shipped from overseas etc. etc. but if there's an issue with the paper supply that could cause a delay...") She was really surprised but said that it made sense once I explained it all to her. I think publishing is just very mysterious to outsiders (like so many industries I suppose!).
Thank you so much! Pramika was an intern at P.S. Literary who read an early draft of my book when I was querying and recently saw that I had sold it and reached out over Instagram, and I'm so happy she did :)
I'm in the waiting game in the querying process. Three months into it. I have three fulls out and a bunch of pieces of conflicting feedback from agents/publishing professionals. It's been torturous! I've come to realize that I'm not at the point of a full revision until I get a critical mass of opinions that align in a certain direction. So recently (and this is kinda cheesy, I realize), I've imagined pushing this novel out to sea for a bit. I'm visualizing it floating around out there and if an agent grabs it as is as a message in a bottle, awesome! If not, I'll come back to it in a few more months. Honestly, this has been SO freeing. Since doing this, I've had a floodgate of creativity -- a new novel, a screenplay, and a few business ideas. I'm going to start on the second novel after I have a solid outline/do some research. Super excited about it, especially the fact that it feels less "heavy" given how much emotion is tied up in my first manuscript. My mentor, who has published several very successful books, said that she could really only get unblocked after she "let go" of the first book she was querying, gave it some space, and started working on something that was less fraught. Once she did that, everything started happening for her. So, gonna try that! We will see! And thank you so much for writing this column and demystifying all that goes into publishing a debut. Such a great service you are offering for fellow writers trying to make it in this wild game.
I LOVE this image. I am going to use this too. The manuscript is out there, doing its thing, like a child starting kindergarten or something. Conflicting feedback can be so confusing. I wonder, has anything resonated with you?
I know 3 months seems like a long time, but it's not!!!! And getting personalized "nos" is a really good sign! GOOD LUCK!
Thanks so much! I love the kindergarten analogy. We will see... I'm not entirely sure which feedback has "resonated" yet. When I've gotten it I've been like yes yes yes, okay I'll do that! But then I get something else and I'm like, no, that's wrong, I need to do this entirely different thing! I think I really just need a chunk of time to sit with all the feedback before I can get back in there. But if a lot of people start saying the same thing I know it's something I have to pay attention to. Parsing feedback is so hard. That would be a great future post for this newsletter, actually!
SUCH A GREAT IDEA! yes and thank you!
I am currently in the anxious waiting on queries and fulls part. I have had a full out for... 6 months now. I think I am finally getting my head around the time scales here and slowing down my expectations. And yes, I am writing a new thing which is very exciting and I love very much and I will be happy to query (in... a year? after edits and waiting and beta reads and more edits? lol) if this current MS does not get me an agent. Since I am still in the early days here there seems to be less pressure on "when" from people I talk to. Sometimes they ask and I am like... nope, not yet. And then I say "publishing is really slow." Having writer friends helps because they understand. I did have a very kind gentleman who helped me with some research on my current WIP say "let me know when the book is out." And in my head I was like... um, 5 years from now? LOL.
"slowing down my expectations"--- that is such a good way to put it. I should have said that I expected everything to happen faster for me, too, before I began. Maybe that is part of the anxiety, the reality being so different from the expectation.
Publishing is very slow! I think I say that daily, often to myself :)
"CeCe and the editor went back and forth on terms until March. A few months after that, I heard that the first draft of the contract arrived, but I didn’t read it. The final draft, the one I actually read and signed, didn’t come until October 2023. That’s ten months! " I feel this. I went through it. Just. Keep. Writing. xo
Thanks for giving us newbies some real expectations on time! I am just finishing up my draft -- and then the hard part starts.
It’s ALL hard! Congrats on finishing your draft!!!
I am currently waiting for an edit letter which I know won't come until mid March so am distracting myself with the second draft of a new thing!
Hi Laura,
Thank you for your honesty and vulnerability. I feel all of this! I once waited from April to October for a contract and "vault of anxiety" is the perfect way to describe it.
I wish you all the best and can't wait to read your novel!
Oh the agony of waiting!!
I’m anxious that I’ll get stuck in the hamster wheel of never knowing if it’s time to stop revising THIS novel and finish the second one and start all the others I have ideas for.
Oh yes! I do this too!!!
I just completed my first draft of my first novel after starting it ten years ago and feel a lot of the same anxiety. Everybody - with sweet and pure intentions - tells me I've done the hardest part and I say.... Weeeellllllllll. I know I need to calm down and handle revisions with the same care and patience that I used to work on my first draft but I am so scared of the stretch of time that's ahead of me.
Thank you for sharing your journey so openly and vulnerably. 🤓📚🥰
Pumping the brakes is so hard, especially when you’ve been working on it for so long. Rushing is always a mistake though. Stay strong!
Thank you for shedding light on this! There is a lot of anxiety that writers go through and since writing can be such a lonely journey in general, it's nice knowing we're not alone in these feelings. I haven't started the querying process yet but I've heard that writing a new book helps with the anxiety because even if the first book falls through, you've got something else you're working on that you might be even more excited about.
Exactly! And you'll have to write that second book no matter what:)
I'm still querying. I don't know if tjis book will sell. Like you, the only thing is to keep writing. I'm on another manuscript in between querying this one.
🤞🏽
Thanks for sharing this journey! You are SO close! I’m still revising and it feels endless. I get the questions from friends about when it will be done, why is it taking so long…?!?! Because it just does!
Because it does! Haha, stealing that!
More than feeling anxious, I find this so encouraging! Encouraging in that, after many months of writing my first novel, and not nearly finished, a time may come when friends and family do more than simply humor me and begin to ask how it's coming along. It felt like I reached a personal milestone when I first announced my intentions. I hit a second milestone, one of self-accountability, when I began posting updates on Substack. Yep, I came out in public as a novelist! No turning back now. So I look forward to those texts where people ask (Kids, are you listening?), "How's the novel going?"
Thanks so much for your posts. I know that I am one of many who are encouraged, and anxious, to hear how you are doing.
Thank you!!! Hahah I love this take so much. There is definitely something to the idea of accountability and being vocal and direct about your intentions. Good for you!
My mom was SHOCKED that my novel won't publish until this November, even though I signed the contract at the end of last August. I used to work as a managing editor at a big publisher, so I nerded out and over-explained the whole process to her ("there's the editor's review, and the first revision, then copyediting, then it has to be typeset, and proofread, and after the cover is designed the book has to be bound and shipped from overseas etc. etc. but if there's an issue with the paper supply that could cause a delay...") She was really surprised but said that it made sense once I explained it all to her. I think publishing is just very mysterious to outsiders (like so many industries I suppose!).
lol, YES, the surprised / confused faces of our loved ones after our nerd-rants! I over explain too. Maybe that's why I started this substack---hmmmm.
Great column! I was happy to restack. Who’s Pramika?
Thank you so much! Pramika was an intern at P.S. Literary who read an early draft of my book when I was querying and recently saw that I had sold it and reached out over Instagram, and I'm so happy she did :)
Mine took 5 months (back in lockdown, 2021) and even then ppl were telling me that was a looooooog time!
Thank u Laura for your words of wisdom and hope, and mostly, Congratulations! You blog provides unwavering courage for us in the trenches❤️