They numbers are in, and I just received a rejection from the last agent I was waiting to hear back from on my full manuscript. Bummer.
Overall, I think that the numbers say I’m getting good at writing queries (about 10 out of 24 agents responded wanting a partial or a full), and roughly half of those said they liked my opening chapters enough to request a full, so I consider that pretty darn good. I’m improving. But for whatever reason, my dear sleeping beauty story will have to go back to bed and sleep some more, because it must have just not been the right project for the right person at the right time.
So, I’m letting that book bury itself under the covers, while I continue plugging away at my next fairy-tale re-imagining. Like I’ve said before, this one is coming slower. I feel like I now have the burden of knowledge, the burden of knowing my own writing weaknesses and pitfalls, so instead of just churning out page after page and then going back to fix things like I did with my first 2-3 books, I write a chapter and instantly can see weak places or things that need cleaned up, and I’m spending more time editing as I go. For some reason, I can’t help it.
I don’t know if that’s good, or better, than the ‘churn-it-out’ method I’ve done before, but this is how it’s coming out, so I’m going with it.
This story is a bit darker than my last ones, a bit more sad, a bit more introspective, and while there’s romance, the romance relationship isn’t the main point of transformation in the story.
I’m feeling good about it though, and hoping to possibly get it wrapped up by early 2017. Stay tuned!