Getting Published Is HARD WORK!

After spending the last three hours scoping out the same webpage I've had bookmarked for over a year, and reading and re-reading everything two agents had to say about trying to get published, I can honestly say I've never felt so overwhelmed. :-/

I am not a nervous person, naturally, but nine months ago a publishing agent replied to an inquiry I had sent to her about what they asked for before reading a manuscript, and it was still sitting in my inbox with the same answer: "We require a query letter before accepting any submissions. You can find examples of them at our website. Hope this helps!"

I looked it over. Then again. And again. One more time. But tonight was the first time I actually felt positive about writing the letter. It took me several hours to create a letter that I thought fit my personality and explained my first YA novel well enough in six sentences well enough to catch their attention. I have no one to read it to, being as I'm all alone over here in Phoenix (the desert really is a lonely and desolate land), and my significant other has no interest in reading nor writing, so it would have been a waste of time to read it to him and expect an educated opinion. Instead I read it out loud, to myself, and found that I actually could edit my own work by doing just that! I found several sentences that might not make sense to someone else, and corrected it. I didn't want to overdo it, and didn't want to stress too much over it, because it is supposed to show my personality and the talent of my writing. It shouldn't be too polished, because I'm not polished at all. Well, except for my toes.

After reading it one last time, I took a deep breath and posted it in an email to the agent, and sent it off. No turning back now. Of course, tomorrow is Friday (or rather today, since I'm still up at 1:42 AM), so I probably will not hear anything until Monday. I can rest easily this weekend, but starting Monday, my armpits will start to sweat, and not just from this 110 degree weather we're having.

Hopefully I catch more readers soon. I still have yet to perfect my navigation of blogger.com and I'm lost when it comes to finding other blogs (HELP!). Maybe they'll just have to find me.

Happy Friday to everyone!