I got the edits back on BAD LAND…so now I’ll be working on those and trying to juggle progress on the new WIP (which doesn’t even have a working title, yet). With my day job and my own travel, the girls and all their summer camps and whatnot, and some other logistical gymnastics, this has felt like a very busy summer.
Productive, but not relaxing by any stretch of the imagination.
I did have a wonderful phone call with my agent (follow her @carliebeth) the other morning. Although we were ostensibly talking about edits for BAD LAND, it was also a welcome “pep rally.” Managing expectations and finding success in any professional creative endeavor, particularly writing/publishing, is tough. Damn tough. I deal with it by trying to focus on the process (word counts, schedules, etc.) rather than results, but let’s be honest, some days measuring your professional progress simply by the number of words you’ve written in the morning can be pretty unsatisfying. I’m often asked what an agent actually does for a writer, and although I can’t speak for all of them, I can say what my agent does: in those hard, frustrating moments – when it’s so easy to question the value and quality and worth of what you’re doing – she shines. She reminds me that this is a journey, a long, difficult journey. But more importantly, she reminds me what she saw in my writing in the first place, the growth she’s seen in it since, and all the good things she sees in my future. Beyond the edits and the career planning and the editor submissions (all absolutely necessary and important things), a good agent is a zealous advocate (to borrow a legal term from the defense bar)…for you, for your career, and for your words…
So now I’m in revisions for BAD LAND – and revising is honestly my favorite part of writing. Instead of seeing the suggested changes as previous mistakes, I see them as future chances – chances to make the book stronger and better. From the discussions I’ve had with Carlie, I’m going to have more than enough chances to make BAD LAND better, lol.
Happy 4th of July!
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