Believe in something larger than yourself.
-
Romance Writer U. The ultimate planning guide to polish your writing skills and get you published. What you need to know, what books you should read, etc. Read More (Adobe Acrobat 7.0)
Don't wander too far from your
hopes and dreams, for they will
keep you warm during your hardships.
Elena Luz Gomez
-
How fast do you write? 5 pages a week? 20? More? If you don't know, take a few weeks to find out. Be realistic. Find your average, comfortable writing pace. How long is your story? Check publisher guidelines. Many of these are available on-line or by request through the mail. Divide the number of pages (or words if it's an article) by your average writing pace. This is how long it will take you to complete this project from the very beginning. Log in your pages every week. Soon you'll have a completed story! Try Our Worksheet (Adobe Acrobat 7.0)
Encourage your dreams to go in
only positive directions - don't
dwell on the bad ones.
Elena Luz Gomez
-
Hooking an Agent. There are many writing careers that don't require an agent. You can write for Harlequin or Silhouette without one. If you do decide you need an agent, ideally, you want to choose someone who likes the kind of stories you want to write/sell, has experience and contacts in this field, and has happy clients. Hint: Choosing an agent in Bakersfield when you want to sell to a publisher in New York is probably counterproductive. If you're not normally a tough cookie, you might want to consider...
They need more teeth than you have - it's a bad mix if you're more aggressive than your agent
However, they don't need to have so many teeth that you're intimidated to work with them
If they don't have the teeth, are they with an agency that's got the power to make things happen?
How involved do you want them to be with your work and vice-versa? Some agents want to serve almost as a critique partner; at the other end of the spectrum, some agents only skim a submission prior to sending it out.
-
Publishing Your Work. Ask yourself this: Do I have a completed manuscript? Is my story within two months worth of completion if it is the only project I work on? If the answer to either question is yes, you are ready to submit. If not, don't despair! You're still ahead of the game if you plan. Look at your work critically. How would you describe the story? Is it light-hearted? Funny? A thriller? Sexy? If possible, as someone who is an avid reader or a published author to listen to your story outline or read your synopsis. The big question is, where would this story best fit?