In between changing diapers, nursing, pumping milk, and contact naps—as well as making time to eat, shower, wash my face, brush my teeth (and spend a few hours weeping or whatever else postpartum has in store for us)—I did manage to fulfill a writing goal, one I did not think would happen so soon into my mat leave: I polished off a query letter I’d been working on in the last weeks of my pregnancy.
It was a clumsy effort at times, dictating into my phone, typing one-handed on the laptop as I held Nora in my other arm, but I got it done.
I had met up for a coffee with my TWS mentor Kevin Chong back in April to get his advice. The idea is that if you want to try and go for one of the “big five,” you need an agent as large trade publishers don’t take un-agented submissions. The alternative is pitching straight to indie publishers, which may be what I do down the line—but Kevin said, go for it, go for the agent.
While the current draft is still with beta readers this month and I didn’t want to be jumping the gun by sending it out too early, when I saw that a top-pick agent was open to submissions, I knew I had to act. I didn’t want to miss her window. Agents who get a high volume of submissions often only open for submissions periodically and often for only limited durations.
Anyway, by no means am I certain the first query will get a bite, but I am proud of myself for getting this far. I got such a high from hitting that send button! The exercise of putting together a synopsis and query letter for my book was also so insightful. I’ve tried many a time to do this over the years but it never felt as easy as it did this time around and I think a large reason why that is is that I finally know what my book is about! (LOL)
Anyway, my manuscript is still a solid 20K words over the common limit for what most publishers are looking for. Not many (any?) tend to want to put that kind of page count investment into a new author. But I’ll let others be the judge of that… it’s a big story. It’s not a beach read. My gut tells me it needs the room…
BREAKING NEWS!
My paid subscribers will get an exclusive look at my query letter this week, which also includes the current working title for my memoir :) It’s not something I want to just plaster all over the interwebs, ya know? But if you’re really curious and not already coughing up a monthly or annual fee to read my exclusive content, this might be the time to consider signing up for a paid subscription! All “proceeds” go toward reader fees for contests and publications or toward charitable donations to support organizations that support the literary arts in Canada.
xx
Vish