Helpful Information

I feel so grateful that my friend Rachel has interned at big (as well as small) publishing companies, and for her insight into the publishing business. After all, it is a business right? And that means they'll have some rules.

What are these rules? I've come to realize that finding that out is rather difficult if you don't know where to look! What genre is big? How many words is acceptable? How should your manuscript look before you send it in? What is the protocol for slush? Should I try to find an agent? Does it really matter if I have one or not? How often should I ship out my manuscript? How many trees do I have to kill to get published?

There are a ton! I could keep going but I think my brain might just explode.

Thanks to her, I have a few blogs that might just interest the starving author!

http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/

This blog is amazing. Period. You can do searches and really find ANY questions you might have on the subject of publishing! I have it bookmarked as a favorite and am definitely going to utilize this fantastic resource! If you're serious about publishing, I highly recommend it! ( http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-long-is-your-book.html here is a specific link from this blog regarding word count! a MUST READ!)

http://trac-changes.blogspot.com/

This is a blog my friend Rachel has created. It has some good insights into the questions, "What should I write?" and many others that you might be thinking!


That out of the way, you might be wondering "Where are you in your journey towards publishing?"

The past few days have been incredibly difficult to be in the writing mood. I sit in front of my computer and wonder, "What now?" and I still wait for one of these days five chapters of amazing content to just POOF onto my document magically. Why can't a fantasy novel have magical chapters that show up? It certainly would make things easier!

I've realized that the reason it's gotten so much harder to write is that I just hit the climax of a very, VERY tense scene that even had me nervous for my characters! (I know, crazy right? After all, I KNOW what's going to happen to them! I shouldn't be nervous! but I was!) Now I'm stuck in the "aftermath" stage and it's no where near as exciting as the previous scenes. People who have tried writing before know and love these stages. And in this case "love" means "hate with a passion that rivals the nine levels of Dante's hell."

In fact, I've been writing a chapter for the majority of the day that I know is going to get cut once I start editing. It's terrible, I'll be the first to admit it! Absolutely terrible. But I need to keep going. That's what editing is for!

I am at 42,000 words and know that soon I'll be out of this awkward transition phase. It's like going through a terrible break up...you need to keep facing him down until he realizes that you're going to keep beating on him until you're friends again.

Right?

Ok, maybe not.

I've also been working on my synopsis. It is probably more difficult than writing the actual novel, but I've been told that it's something I need to be able to write in my sleep! So...here it is:

"Raena is on the run from the government because of her abilities as an Emotional - a human who can Sense others Emotions. For years she has stayed well hidden until a mysterious man, Soren, comes into her life and sends her into a downward spiral of misfortune. After being capture by the Magister Raena must find a way to escape and find Soren who is the only person in the world with the knowledge that can cure her from an unknown poison slowly killing her. But that is not the only issue. While she fights for her life, Raena and Soren's twin, Aeniel, must also find a way to end the Tyrannical reign of the Magister and stop a war decades old."

Anyways, back to writing I go!

Until next time!
-Katie