June, the month to hit submit.

I have given myself this month to be the one where I actually commit and hit that submit button. I have to admit to you all it is a daunting thing. For those of you not in the know about the writing/publishing process it starts like this. (Hopefully after the book is done) You begin with a query letter. With those six scary words you start on the path. Yet to a writer who has just finished a 90k+ book those six words can be the start of some of the hardest writing you might ever do. I have done a total of five rewrites on my query letter. That is, five FULL rewrites. It doesn't count the twenty or so touch ups or minor changes to each draft. I have sent this query out to be read by a good friend in the business only to take the feedback and write it again, and again. Once again I have sent it out for what I hope is the last time. Forgiving a touch of polish since every ones opinion will be different. This should be the last time. All I need do after that is copy it to the body of an email, type in the correct address. Tweak it to that person's specifications and hit send. In theory that sounds very, very easy. Yet hitting that one last button can be one of the most important things you do as a writer.

Recently I had the privilege of having some one on one time with a former agent. She told me something that is practically unheard of in the writing world. When she was in the submissions stage she only had to submit to an agent once and was picked up the first time. Those words shocked me at first so I of course asked the all mighty, how? She informed me that it was the research into what agent was best for her book. That is the key here. You have to know the agent you are submitting to. The Internet is a wealth of information and anyone willing to take the time can usually learn a lot about people. That goes just as well for agents. Even more so perhaps. Agents don't want to have their time wasted anymore then anyone else does. So if you even do a little research you can find their tastes, or what they don't like. Either can be invaluable to a writer. I have researched dozen of agents. Many I rejected right away, others I put in a folder for later. In the end I have come up with three. Should all three find my story to be not their tastes I will of course continue down the list. I know my story is good. I know it is not perfect. Perfect is a lofty goal for a new writer like myself. However in the end there is an agent out there who is looking for exactly what I have written. I just need to hit submit.