My Current Manuscript

“Hey, Sue, wot up?”

Well, you’re not exactly saying it in those words, but I’m catching some curiosity about what I’m currently writing. Thank you so much for that! Your support gives me courage and energy, two very important commodities.

As I have explained in various posts, emails and author lectures, the market for novels set in prehistoric times is very soft. That means I don’t have a publisher interested in my next prehistoric.  Unfortunately – and fortunately – I love to write.  Specifically, I love to write novels, so I’m venturing into a new-to-me genre, which is a combination of romance (not X-rated) and mystery.

Last year, I completed my first attempt at this genre, sent it to an agent and received some very valuable advice about how to make the manuscript more readable and more marketable. Since February I have been working on those suggested changes. They are extensive and require quite a bit of new material, and I have absolutely loved doing this rewrite!  I am now within a few weeks of completion. After, I will chart the plot and make sure I’ve woven in all the loose ends. Then I’ll do another quick reread and, if the manuscript meets my expectations, I’ll resubmit.

Then I’ll be working on another manuscript in the same genre AND working on my patience.  Agents are incredibly busy people and a reading often takes a long time. No writer wants to bother an agent so much that he or she turns you down, not because your manuscript is lacking, but because you appear to be a spoiled brat: Read mine!  Read mine!  Read mine!  So . . . here’s to patience and UNbratiness!

How do you deal with the waiting times in your lives? I could use some pointers!

Blessings!

Sue