Tuesday, June 11, 2013

MY JOURNEY (THUS FAR)



Hi. It's me. Tracy. I'm the newest Mayhemer, and I'm honored to be one. I really mean that. Absolutely honored. (And you’ve probably figured out by now that I have trouble writing in complete sentences. Oh well. It is creative writing, right?)  

Since the readers of this site are interested in reading and writing middle grade books, I thought I’d introduce myself and tell you how I came to be here. That is, how I came to be talking to you via a decent internet connection and a backlit screen, one that’s probably too bright and wreaking havoc on your eyes about now. 

When I peruse author sites, read blog posts, and attend conferences, my favorite elements are discovering writers’ journeys. For many people, these journeys offer comfort and hope, and they attempt to make sense of an art/business full of waiting*, close calls, and rejections. And waiting.* And then more waiting.*

So, here is a synopsis of how I came to be talking to you through this bright screen. (Where is that brightness button anyway?)

I started writing my first middle grade novel in 2003. It took me forever. And it was awful. I sent my first query to a literary agent in 2008. It might have been earlier; I sent so many queries that I lost track. Plus, you have to factor in the snail mail queries that I neglected to keep record of. I spent hundreds of dollars on postage! (Thank you, email) 

Anyway, the point is, I was an idiot. I had no idea what I was doing. The book (my book!) wasn't even finished. I hadn't revised it one bit. But I was going to land an agent and a book deal, I was sure of that.

After about a year, when no agent or book deal came, I moped with disappointment. I was a teacher and a writer. I read and taught classics and Newbery winners. The best of the best. Well, as it turns out, teaching an award-winning book doesn't exactly give you the ability to write one. 

Not even close. 

In 2012, I self-published my first middle grade book THE COLOR OF BONES. It sold decently, for a selfy. While I was prepping that book for publication, I wrote another middle grade novel and queried it widely. I received many coveted full requests from agents, but no one pulled the trigger. It was too.... quiet... and not saleable.  

Then, this past January, I sent a last query. No, seriously, a LAST query. I had read a blog post on an agency’s website, and the post was about the state of publishing and where it is headed and why it is headed in that direction, and you know what, that post really spoke to me. So, hey, I looked up which agents repped middle grade and fired off a query to one of them. No postage! Didn’t cost me a thing, except my time and effort!

Seriously. This was my LAST query for this particular book. I had exhausted every agent, except this one. 

Three months later, I was driving to school in the morning. While waiting at a red light, I looked down at my phone. An email. I tapped the screen. It was from the agent. I scanned the message and saw the word representation. And then, the stoplight turned green. 

When I arrived safely in the parking lot (that is a lie), I read the entire message. He said that he loved my book, and he wanted to schedule a phone call to discuss representation.   

Over the last decade, while I was being rejected repeatedly, I've done more than write. I've learned, listened, participated, read hundreds of books, and remained professional through the peaks and valleys of living as a writer. What I'm trying to say is, while I was being rejected, I grew as a writer and as a person. And this growth is now paying off.  

In April, I signed with literary agent John Rudolph of Dystel & Goderich, and now I’m revising my middle grade novel, which will go to editors later this year. Shortly after, I applied for Project Mayhem and was eventually invited to join. And that is how I came to be talking to you through this electronic means of communication. 

And now, I want to know how many rejections you've accumulated during your journey?  Who has me beat? Three hundred.... going once... going twice... 

(Don’t be shy. Here at Project Mayhem, we admire bravery and persistence.)

*Waiting = Thinking about new project. Researching. Planning. Outlining. Plotting. Characterizing. Writing. 

**Basically, waiting = anything but waiting! 

32 comments:

  1. Yay! It's always great to hear when persistence leads to success. Thanks for the encouraging story :)

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    1. Thank, T. Drecker. They always go hand in hand.

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  2. Twelve years + over 300 editor rejections + over 75 agent rejections + 4 novel manuscripts + 6 picture book manuscripts = my first sale!

    Keep at it, Tracy, and welcome.

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    1. Thank you for the welcome. Wow, those numbers are staggering. Now THAT is persistence!

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  3. Tracy, your story is so inspiring!! It's those moments of pure happiness after so much abject frustration that keep us going and going! I had my first book rejected by agents over 175 times. It took me over a year to find an agent. My agent sold that book in 6 weeks!

    So glad we have you!!!

    Hilary

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    1. Six weeks? That is pretty quick. Despite agent rejections piling up, we come back for more. We writers are a rare breed.

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  4. Yeah, I seemed to remember that Hilary had a respectable total of rejections...

    I don't have that many rejections--because I was always shy about sending things out and, if I did pluck up the courage, it would only take a couple or three rejections to scurry off with my tail between my legs. I finally got serious when I started blogging in 2010. I sent out around 30 queries before I got an agent. There have been quite a few rejected submissions, however. But the agent gets to see those, and I can carry on my merry way.

    Welcome, Tracy. Thanks for persevering during all those years, and good luck with revision and submission coming up!

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    1. Thanks, Michael G-G. In this business your skin must mutate into a hard outer shell. If not, you are toast.

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  5. Great to have you here, Tracy! And wonderful to meet someone who's been stubbornly sticking to his dream longer and through more rejection than me (trust me, there are so few).

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    1. I've been called stubborn many times, though this time seems to be the only positive context. Thanks for the welcome.

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  6. Hi, Tracy. Welcome to the Mayhem. I had 187 rejections over three years before my first offer from an agent. All 187 stung. Rejection is a part of the business, and like you said, you get better as the time passes. Mostly, I think writers aren't ready when they first query and by the time they get an offer it's because their writing is "there" and not because of anything else. Glad to have you aboard.

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    1. Mike, you're screwed. 187 is the radio call code for homicide.

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    2. Mike - I completely agree about getting better along the way, and I believe that is exactly what happened to me. You either improve or you quit. I chose "improve" as we all have.

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  7. Well, you could say the offering finally killed my querying days...except for the fact that I left that agent and queried again...only a few rejections that time around though.

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  8. Hi, Tracy. Although I didn't keep count and don't want to count now, I think my numbers are somewhere between yours and Mike's....
    :-)

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  9. I haven't kept a count, but I'm sure that if you include novels, non-fiction books, articles, short stories, and picture book submissions I've had about a thousand rejections. But I also now have 18 traditionally published books and six self published ones!B

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    1. Holy Rejection! This is persistence, Chris, and a lot of published books. Thanks for sharing. Right on!

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  10. I haven't kept a count, but I'm sure that if you include novels, non-fiction books, articles, short stories, and picture book submissions I've had about a thousand rejections. But I also now have 18 traditionally published books and six self published ones!B

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  11. I feel like getting published is all about persistence, and you're doing great with that. You have to love writing like you do, and I think that's a mark of a great author.

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    1. I agree, Heather. If you don't love it, then why do it? Cheers!

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  12. "The Journey" stories are by far my favorite author/blogger posts to read, Tracy, and I'm so glad you shared yours with us. I think I can give you a run for your money on querying too early and overall "rejections", but this journey is nothing if not a learning experience, right?! I'm beyond thrilled to have you on board here at PM and can't wait to celebrate the release of your latest MG--I LOVED The Color of Bones!!! :)

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    1. Thanks, Shannon! It is absolutely a learning experience and a painful, yet enlightening, one at that. I am also beyond thrilled to be part of PM. Thanks for the ego boost. :-)

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  13. Tracy, your story sounds so much like mine, though I'm still waiting for my edit notes to come in (Never thought I'd be jealous of authors who get their edit notes faster than me [LOL!]), but I know this takes time.

    I've waited a decade for this book to sell, what's a few more months for edit notes, right?(No sarcasm in that. Promise.)

    Anyway, like you it took about a decade for me to sell my first novel, only I don't (YET...) have an agent, but an author friend of mine (Wicked prolific and hard-working), directed me to one of those increasingly elusive small presses you don't need an agent for, and after a two year "courtship" (By which I mean they read a query letter and three sample chapters as per their guidelines) offered me a contract late last year, and now am furthering my pre

    I certainly don't yet know when it's coming out, but given my author friend's great experiences with this publisher, I know I'm in good hands, that helps a lot.

    I think at least part of the reason
    I'm a bit more anxious than what's normal for new authors is because the day after I got the offer, the Sandy Hook school shooting in CT happened, talk about a mixed emotions Christmas, Charlie Brown...

    First book jitters aside, that enhanced my need, however illogical, to know this book's on track, never mind the fact my book's a middle grade novel, and kids killed on this horrid day were too young to even read my book, kids are kids in those situations.

    Anyway, I may have a team behind me now, but I still need to be part of that team, you know?

    Until presses start printing/converting ebook files, I still have things to do, both for the book itself, and networking contacts and call in what favors I have for the book's promotion.

    It's hard to know what I can do now without certain info. That said, I respect how my publisher's process is, my only concern going forward is having better overall communication about certain things.

    There has to be a balance between stark silence for weeks/months and the author being overly invasive, and I promise I've never done the latter, my editor will attest to that.

    I earned this chance and I'm not doing anything in my conscious power to screw it up.

    Speaking of my editor, her last message to me was that at her publisher, the editor has two co-editors she works with to really go over the manuscript, and that's all I had to know for now. Had I known that after the contract was final and signed, I honestly wouldn't have been so panicked in January-May, in spite of the tragedy in CT. Thankfully my site and slowly drafting my new book helped positively distracted me.

    I imagine my edit notes will be thorough and extensive, but I'm used to that, as almost every beta-reader, whether writer or lay reader always had that laundry list of things for me to consider.

    So, I'm as prepped for that as I can be.

    Though it is nice to have that rare experience of not having that long list of issues every now and then, which doesn't mean it doesn't need more work, it's just nice to not have the laundry list of several pages. Period.

    I can certainly improve my exposure in other ways, and have been doing so, still it'll be nice to tell my small, but strong community on my site so far what year my book's coming out and build from there.

    Oy, rambled again, but congratulations Tracy, I know both selling that novel and being a contributor here on Project Mayhem was HARD WON, I applied last year, too, but at least I've got my site's emerging following behind me.

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    1. Thanks for sharing, Taurean. Appreciate your honesty and thorough response. Keep at it!

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  14. Tracy, to me, you're a teacher who writes, not a writer who teaches. But, having had you teach both my kids, and having read both your books, you can decide which one you are because you do both so well. Those of us who know you can consider ourselves lucky to have been there in the formative years. Here's to future Newbery Awards and cash in the bank!!!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Cherie. Thanks for the shout-outs. To everyone else, Cherie is my outstanding colleague and friend. She introduced me to birds, and without that, I would not have written my WIP.

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  15. Tracy, Thanks for your story. It helps to hear everyone didn't have a "Twilight." I've been writing (seriously) for five years. I'm currently waiting but I'm the closest I've ever been. I'm hoping this is my year...

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, bfav. Best of luck to you this year and beyond!

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  16. Late to this, but welcome, Tracy! Your post struck me because it was very similar to my own. That one last query!

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    1. Thanks for the welcome, Dee. One last shot.... that must be the title of some book...

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  17. You truly exemplify the power of persistence. Congratulations!

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Thanks for adding to the mayhem!