I felt a little guilty titling this post the usual “Weekday Warrioring” with all these nanoers around putting in real words and real time. Honestly, I barely have a moment for writing work beyond studying for finals right now.
I did talk to my agent recently, though, so I have that to report. I was fortunate enough to receive a thoughtful and well-articulated assessment of both of my projects from Agent Dan. He provided the guidance I needed without being wishy-washy or leaving me wondering. (Thank goodness.) So, together we’ve now decided on the direction I should go and which project I should focus my energy on. It’s a huge relief to feel like I can delve into a project with all of my energy now and to have heard from a professional the reasons why.
Again, if I haven’t said this enough, I am a firm believer in using your agent as a resource as well as for the professional guidance that he or she is there for. As writers, we see our own work and maybe that of a few of our friends. But your agent really knows what he’s talking about. They are there to be honest and you really can’t put a price on that . We don’t just have agents to make a deal. It’s for all the little steps in between, too.
So, in sum, I recognize I can’t get a ton done before December 16 (the end of finals), but I do hope to have every little plot point figured out, to the nth degree–if possible. I already have a 10 page synopsis, but I want to try to make the plot–in synopsis form–as tightly woven and exciting as possible prior to jumping back into the writing.
Looooots of work in front of me. But also lots of excitement.
How goes it for y’all?
7 Comments
November 19, 2009 at 4:13 am
Well Miss Craig, I’m glad to hear you got some direction from your agent. I know you were struggling with that! I can sympathize with you about feeling guilty, with all these crazy nanoers running around. My writing has been limited to the weekends so I feel like I’m absolutely crawling. I did just tip over the 50K mark in my WIP though, so I’m all excited about that.
Is it okay to ask which project you’re focusing on now?
-Mandy
November 19, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Best of luck.
Agents are great for career advice, but don’t forget to trust your gut. It got you this far, it’ll carry you through.
(Wintergirls is a fantastic book, btw…)
November 19, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Hi Jamie, this post was helpful. It’s good to remember that most writers do have people they show their work to at some stage or another…though Joyce Carol Oates has such an interesting article in the latest issue of Narrative magazine about how solitary her writing is. I guess there are merits to both approaches — one thing I like about writing just for myself is the sense of absolute freedom…but once the editing process begins it’s definitely great to have someone else read and say what they liked/ didn’t like/ or just plain didn’t understand.
I bet the sense of confidence builds a lot after the first work gets published.
Also; it’s fun to have someone you trust to bounce off initial ideas with, before the thing becomes a thing.
anyway, hope you’re well.
November 19, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Whoops! It shows my head was someplace else — I meant to say “Chandler” – sorry about writing a different name.
You can include that in the ‘whoops’ writing moments you are always collecting.
November 19, 2009 at 8:20 pm
dan rocks! so do you
November 21, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Good luck – work hard!
Lisa
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