Words About Writing

The more I edit this second book, the more I realize my first book is not ready for publication.  So I'm backing off from the query process. I threw a question (to query or not) into the cybernet and a response caught my mind: "Perfect your work. Don't burn bridges."  Am I to understand that by querying early, the fact that my name has been submitted and rejected before is a "burned bridge" for an agent or agency? That's a scary thought! So my earlier goal to step up the writing has been underlined. Double underlined. Write, write, write. Edit. Perfect the writing. Get this one actually ready for querying, and THEN query. Yay! That makes me happy because writing and editing is a lot more fun than querying.

I'm resetting my goals. Writing comes first. It's been very easy as an unpublished writer to set the writing aside, especially now that I have a business to take my time. But I think I need to ease back from that. Here's the thing. The business is good; it's supposed to solidify retirement, but it's not "my" thing. I supported it financially, and now have many things to do with it. I've been working very hard to do my part and show that I'm invested. I don't know that my efforts are as well-received as I thought. I know what I've been doing would be helpful in the long-run, so I won't totally stop, but ... I can slow down. My writing. That is my goal. That's for me. That could be my retirement plan. But I need to focus more on the day-to-day of it. The improvement of style. The writing. The editing. The querying. Get myself in place for my own future. Work for the business can fill in gaps in my day, if needed. Little side projects