Just so I can have a fresh pair of eyes for this stuff I have been slaving over for two years. Right now it all looks like so much gobbledygook garbage to me. Don’t tell me to put it away and come back in a few weeks (or months). I’ve done that three times. So far, in the course of about 4 days, I’ve had two requests from agents for the full manuscript and one request for a partial (first 3 chapters). The partial came back practically by return e-mail, so I have been feverishly working all night to somehow “beef up” the beginning. I sent it off in the wee hours to the second full requester (sp?), then took another look and decided I had completely ruined the original and it now makes no sense whatsoever.
Yet another reason to want to switch identities. I think Zoo Cage Cleaner or perhaps Counselor of Troubled Teenagers might be preferable occupations at this point.
Zoe,
Thats a much better suggestion than Le Ds. I was about to hint at the same. If you want to, y can email the two openings (more! if y like). You sound as though youre experiencing a Knee jerk reaction', interlude. All these bouts of frenetic activity, seem to indicate something of the kind. That said, I dont think there`d be any point posting them in open forum, for fear you received too many disparate/conflicting opinions, which could serve only to confuse you even more. Plan of Action
a)Take Dee up on her offer.
b)Take the Ethicist out for a sexy dinner[size=50](obviously, you get him to take you)[/size] after which…
c)You re-evaluate the two openings, in a calm, collected, and sated manner.
Now! Take deep breath, breathe in 1…2…3…4, hold it there 1…2…3…
Vic
oops! sorry!..breathe out
Zoe, I think I gave you this advice previously: you are way too close to the material. Give it to someone who is a writer/editor and see what they say. Now, that takes someone who is talented and generous, and alas, those two qualities are rarely found in the same person. If you don’t have a friend who will do it for free (or a nice dinner), perhaps you need a book doctor. They advertise in PW, E&W, and other major trade publications. Often they are excellent professionals now laid off from the much depressed publishing houses (Oops, don’t mean to depress you.) But don’t try to do this yourself. If you have an agent, that person should be willing to read a draft and say something. If he/she doesn’t have the time or the will, you need a new agent. Onward, upward, you CAN do it! --D
You are all extremely kind and helpful, and I feel much more like staying in my own skin this morning. This is why I love this board. Dee and vic have made some great suggestions, and my husband pointed out that if getting two agents to request the full book so quickly was making me this depressed, I should probably reserve a bed at the local asylum now, just in case I get an offer of publication.
I always thought writers were basically nuts, and now I know why.
Needless to say, your husband is wise. Experience has taught me that revising can reach a point where striving for the best is the enemy of the good. There’s a bell-shaped curve: you can make things better only so far, and then further change can make them worse. The trick is to know when to stop.
Another trick is to be able to detect those times when editors/readers/critics of any kind seek apparently minor changes but are really looking for something completely different (which however they can’t properly describe). Again, you have to know how to recognise such un-useful friends and back your own vision.
Neither of these judgements is best made in the middle of the night…
So far, in the course of about 4 days, I’ve had two requests from agents for the full manuscript and one request for a partial (first 3 chapters). The partial came back practically by return e-mail, so I have been feverishly working all night to somehow “beef up” the beginning. I sent it off in the wee hours to the second full requester (sp?), then took another look and decided I had completely ruined the original and it now makes no sense whatsoever.
D x[size=50]kiss[/size]x[size=50]kiss[/size]x[size=50]kiss[/size]x
This is why I love this board. Dee and vic have made some great suggestions, and my husband pointed out that if getting two agents to request the full book so quickly was making me this depressed, I should probably reserve a bed at the local asylum now, just in case I get an offer of publication.
