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Friday Link Pack 02/27/2015

It’s Friday! That means it’s time to share a few links I’ve found over the last few days. Some of these I mention on Twitter, if you’re not already following me there, please do! Have a link I should feature in the upcoming link pack? Click here to email me and let me know! (Include a website so I can link to you as well.) Away we gooooo…

Writing:

Publishers Bypass Literary Agents To Discover Bestseller Talent
With the market currently in flux this isn’t really all that surprising. Just make sure to get a good contract lawyer.

10 Famous Writers’ Houses Worth Visiting
Planning a trip? Mental Floss assembles a top ten list of former abodes of classic authors, from Hemingway’s, to Dickenson’s, to Twain’s. Is it just me or did all these folks have huge houses?

Best-Sellers Initially Rejected
Rejection is apart of every writer’s life, and I mean every writer. Check out this list of enormous hits that were rejected by publishers.

Upcoming Appearances
This week I launched a new section on the site. Interested in meeting me? Want to pick up a signed copy from me directly? Under the “Appearances” tab you’ll find a handy list of the future conventions, readings, and appearances that I’ll be making.

Art:

Mir
This Norwegian firm specializes in the portrayal of “unbuilt architecture” through a technique they call “natural visualisation.” Simply stunning.

Random:

Five Things I Didn’t Get About Making Video Games (Until I Did It)
Before he got into the industry, Anthony Burch was a reviewer of video games. In this article he explains the separation that exists between reviews and actually development. While this piece focuses on games, this article could be written for any creative endeavor. As consumers it’s easy to forget how much time, blood, sweat, and tears go into something creative from games to art to books to music. It’s hard work, even if you hate it.

Why I’m Volunteering to Die on Mars
Fascinating piece from Sonia Van Meter, one of the Mars One 100, about leaving earth and going to live on Mars… permanently.

Yoga Fhtagn
So you’re a newly minted health goth looking for a fresh Lovecraftian take on yoga? Well, look no further, YouTuber Laurie Penny has you covered.

Earth’s Other ‘Moon’ And Its Crazy Orbit
Did you know Earth had another smaller (and drunker) moon? Well it does!

Random Wikipedia Article of the Week:

Wherein I got to Wikipedia and hit Random Article until I find something good/weird/offensive/hilarious/interesting/etc. This weeks entry:

Aerocar
Aerocar International’s Aerocar (often called the Taylor Aerocar) was an American roadable aircraft, designed and built by Moulton Taylor in Longview, Washington, in 1949. Although six examples were built, the Aerocar never entered production.

Lovecraft Story of the Week:

The Disinterment
Things aren’t always what they seem…

Gif of the Week:

Me, everyday.

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Running the Numbers #3

Small update – not much new that I haven’t posted about before – anyway, here’s the numbers for Coal Belly. I keep plodding along – staying busy with other projects while I play the waiting game. I know things are going to get more complex as I start adding in the numbers for The Stars Were Right (which I just finished.)

  • Total Agents Queried: 84
  • Unanswered Queries: 46
  • Query Rejections: 33
  • Partials Requested: 5
  • Outstanding Partials: 1
  • Partials Rejected: 4
  • Fulls Requested: 0
  • Fulls Rejected: 0

Oh! Almost forgot, I also submitted my full Coal Belly manuscript to the Harper Voyager‘s open call for manuscripts, not something they do very often, obviously if something comes of that you’ll be the first to know.

Keep on keepin’ on.

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Pardon me while I take a victory lap…

Boom.

Finished.

Seven months later The Stars Were Right is now a complete rough manuscript at just over 80k words. Right in the sweet spot as planned. Sorry I’ve been heads down, spending most of my time working on my manuscript and avoiding the internet.

It’s a great feeling, but now the hard work begins. First I need to do a secondary pass just to make sure everything is in it’s place plot-wise and along the way I’ll correct any mistakes I happen to stumble across. (I’m sure there are plenty.) Then I have a query to write and a few synopses (in various length, because some agents like short synopsis and some like longer ones.)

I’m pretty stoked, but man there’s a lot to do. I need to write the outline for my next manuscript on top of dealing with all the writing that comes after finishing a manuscript. So much to do, got to focus and stay busy!

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Running the Numbers #2

I’ll try to do these running the numbers posts as long as I have new data to share. For even more up to date info: follow me on twitter. I tweet about a lot of things, often my writing. Not a huge swing in the count this week. I had a new partial request (yay!) and one rejection (boo!) anyway… the numbers as they stand today:

  • Total Agents Queried: 81
  • Unanswered Queries: 51
  • Query Rejections: 30
  • Partials Requested: 4
  • Outstanding Partials: 3
  • Partials Rejected: 1
  • Fulls Requested: 0
  • Fulls Rejected: 0
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Running the Numbers

I figured it might be of interest if I started documenting the numbers surrounding my hunt for representation. I keep all this in a spreadsheet, recording the agent’s name, their business, their email, and the date they were queried. It’s handy and helps me keep track of everything.

So without further ado, the numbers:

  • Total Agents Queried: 81
  • Unanswered Queries: 51
  • Query Rejections: 30
  • Partials Requested: 3

10% positive interest in my manuscript. Not bad. I’ll take it.

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Partials

I have had requests for partials from three different agents over the last few weeks. Huzzah! Hooray! Huge news! Exciting, and overwhelming, and stress inducing, and, and, and, and…

A million thoughts swim though my head: How mistakes are in there I didn’t catch? Should I have paid an editor? What if they hate it? Is 50 pages enough? Did I do enough to hook a reader into wanting more? These sort of things eat at me, makes me doubt myself, and doubt my work, and if I really let it get to me I’d freeze. I’d never finish. I would never have gotten a requests for partials. I’d never be done.

There’s a quote from Voltaire I strive to live by, “perfect is the enemy of done.” It’s 100% true. I could keep working on that sentence, that paragraph, that chapter. I could work it and rework it and then I’d have another sentence, paragraph or chapter to work and rework. it becomes cyclical. I can’t tell you how many times I have written and re-written parts of my manuscript and – if I’m being honest about it – I didn’t improve anything.

Eventually you need to get your work out there. Circulate it, let it be what it is. Not everyone will love it, but if no one sees your creation you’ve robbed them of the chance to love it.

Three partials: I count that as a win.