I sent an email out to the 30 (THIRTY!!!!) friends and family members who read some or all of my book and helped me rework it and encouraged me to finish the bastard. I'm so overwhelmed with gratitude. I had NO idea what I was getting into years ago when I was like, "Maybe it would be cool to write a book." Idiot child. Thirty-five year-old idiot child. Anyway, it's certainly taken a village to get the manuscript and me to this point.
So...what point are we at? In the past few months I've changed the title (now "GOOD WOMAN" was previously "Live, Fully-Dressed Girls") and rewritten most of it, including making the beginning more urgent and exciting. Between that and a solid query letter, it's getting some attention from literary agents. I have now sent it out to 25 agents. Of those, I've received NO's from 5 and "ooh, let me read more's" from 3. The rest so far are crickets. That's normal.
It's typical that authors send their best draft effort out to 100 agents or more before getting one who wants to represent them. Should that happen, there will likely be more revisions with the agent and THEN she will pitch the book to editors at publishing houses- if one of them wants to buy it (or, you know, many of them want it and it starts a whole bidding war and I end up a millionaire being interviewed by Oprah), then there will be another round of edits and THEN they'll be pushing it out into online and physical bookstores. SO, most optimistically, there's probably another year before GOOD WOMAN will see the light of day...and likely the title and much of the book will be totally different after it's passed through all those industry hands.
SO! Meanwhile, what am I doing? I am continuing to write blogs and personal essays- publishing everything here on this site. I am SO grateful for those subscribers who are helping to fund this dream. I'm also starting to do more copywriting and freelancing--know any businesses who need blog posts or email campaigns written? I got it! Also, I'm available for writing Christmas letters, bios, obituaries, whatever else you need.
AND I've started on the next book. I'll share more about it with my subscribers when it starts to take shape...and if you're one of those 30 (THIRTY!!) people who helped me write the first one, you know you're stuck for life with me and I'll be asking for help with the next one, too. THANK YOU AGAIN FROM THE BOTTOM AND MIDDLE PARTS OF MY HEART for all that you've done to support me.
AND I'm now co-hosting the podcast "What Won't She Say" with Sonya Mastick. It's already fun and we just got started! First episode up now, all about moi. In the future, we'll be emailing other cool ladies about their thoughts and lives. I dig it, and think you will, too.
Also, my bewbs are finally pretty much totally healed. I'm wearing nary a BandAid on the bad side. The scars are brutal, like Frankentitty, but it's on the underside of the cliff and who cares. I never aimed to be nude model, I just wanted not to have back pain. So, that's where I am with that, and I was able to frolic across Hawaii!
If you're not already following me on social media- I'm on Instagram, FB, and Twitter at @sarahzwriter. The more followers I have the more legit I'll look to people in the publishing industry.
Thanks and hope you are well!!
Sarah