Selling My Soul (In a Good Way) is a weekly journal
about my efforts to get a debut novel published.
My home office window faces east. With rare exceptions, I “arrive” for work around four in the morning. This means, in whatever season we’re moving through, I start writing—or start procrastinating—when it’s still dark outside. It also means, again in whatever season, that I experience the rising sun, of my backyard first being unseen, then shifting to a monochromatic mood, and soon becoming a vibrant display of colors. The roses tease with red. Bright and busy hummingbirds rediscover the feeder hanging in front of my window. The excesses of greens—of trees and bushes and grass and weeds and plants and more—appear with casual abundance.
Daybreak uplifts me.
When my younger body and less cranky knees allowed me to run, even the crummiest of the morning jaunts around the neighborhood came with one prize: I had started and accomplished a “task” on that day. Likewise with my eastern view: every day begins in the dark, but greets the light. On my bad writing days—those waves of procrastination or where every sentence seems worse than the last—I still get to witness a day’s new beginning.
Every writer is different. When they write. How they write. Where they write. (Hey, every person is different). Annie Dillard could spend hours on a singular sentence. I recall reading (though where is now forgotten) that Earle Stanley Gardner of Perry Mason fame moved from one assistant pounding away at a typewriter to the next assistant also at a typewriter as he dictated different novels. Maybe my memory is flawed, but Perry Mason’s creator did write 80 (80!) tales about his beloved fictional lawyer.
When do you write? How do you revise? When are you finished with a story?
Writer’s will have similar answers, different answers, or be cagey about any answer.
Of course, the question could be more generic, applying to all of us.
- What’s the best time of day for you?
- Do you work best with others or alone?
- What gives you a sense of purpose and a spirit of joy?
On these days of waiting and wondering and worrying about trying to find a “home” for my novel (FINDING JOHN MUIR), I’m glad for each day’s coming dawn. It kindles a dollop of hope. The emerging light is a literal new day. And maybe, just maybe, today will bring . . .
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I sent out to queries to Agent #24, Agent #25, and Agent #26. Today, I got a rejection from Agent #7. It was form-letter-type rejection. I had already assumed a rejection since I was long past that agent’s “timeline” for a response.
On Monday, I received a rejection—a semi-personal one—from Agent #22:
Dear Larry,
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to review FINDING JOHN MUIR and for your patience as I took the time to review your material.
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that spark of enthusiasm that I need in order to request more here.
For whatever reason, I just didn’t connect with this as much as I would have liked to but as you know, this business is very subjective and you may very well find the right reader to connect with this down the line.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn more about you and your work. I wish you best of luck on your writing journey.
Best,
Agent #22
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“A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.” ― Stephen King