Sunday, June 3, 2012

What's Next

May was full of excitement.  I was a contestant (thank you Brenda Drake!) in The Writer's Voice. 

What was the outcome of The Writer's Voice?

Eight agents looked over the queries and first 250 words of the 44 contestants' stories.  They 'voted' for the stories they wanted to look into further.

There were a lot of votes.  A lot of 'partials' and/or 'fulls' sent to agents.  And who knows, maybe a bunch of agented writers when the whole thing is said and done. (For those who are interested, in this contest a partial meant the first 50 pages of your book, a full the entire story.)

I received one 'vote', and sent a partial to an agent - Andrea Somberg at the Harvey Klinger Agency. 

While I have no idea what Ms. Somberg thinks of my story - yet, I do know that it was an amazing experience to send it.  To know that someone who represents books to publishers has part of my story is humbling, strange, and incredible.  No matter the outcome.

And more importantly, I was introduced to dozens of other writers.  I found the writing community to be supportive and helpful.  I had a coach who worked with me to improve my query and to polish my first chapter.  I gained confidence.  I told everyone on my Facebook and some friends at work that I write - something I had never done before. I came out of the contest excited to query my story, and with a plan to continue writing while I do.

So what's next for me?

Well, I have a list of agents who I will query.  I'll do that a little at a time.  I expect rejections, but who knows, maybe I'll get the 'yes' I'm looking for.

And in the meantime, I'm writing.  Camp NaNo is going on in June, and I plan to write 50,000 words this month.

With that said, I'd better get writing!