The Home Stretch (Kind of)

To Do List

One of my personal goals is to have my novel ready and out for submission before my little girl makes her debut on or around August 24th.  I know that my life is about to get a whole lot more complicated which will leave me little time for myself.  But the task has seemed daunting, especially since I had barely looked at my manuscript in six months.  So, how do I handle this monumental undertaking?

Luckily, I have a wonderful friend and fellow writer that I spent time with on Friday.  It had been way too long since I'd seen her due to both of our hectic jobs and hopefully, we'll not let so much time pass between visits in the future.

Besides being a fantastic person to hang out with, she always provides sound, rational writing advice that clears my head and sends me in the right direction.  It also gives me confidence and calms my fears.  For that, I am so grateful!  Thank you, Carly!

Her advice:  create a schedule of deadlines for myself.  I have just over 7 weeks until my due date and have broken each week down into what needs to be accomplished to attain my overall goal of submission.  I have actually made my plan based on six weeks to give me (and Baby Wilson) a little leeway.

Suddenly a task that seemed overwhelming seems achievable - but not without the help of Carly, who has also kindly offered to help with final revisions along with my attendance at two more writing group meetings through my SCBWI chapter.

Can I do this?  Absolutely!

Will I get an agent and eventually sell my novel?  Who knows!  But I will not give up this dream of mine.  I have to try.  And if not this book, then maybe my next one (which I will finally be able to start once this novel gets sent off!)

*On a side note, I have revised most of the novel and have only the ending to finish revising at this point.*

Here's my schedule:

Week 1 – ending 7/13:

Finish revisions and send to Carly

Week 2 – ending 7/21:

1^st Draft of query letter

Send to Carly for feedback

Synopsis revisions for feedback

Week 3 – ending 7/28:

Revisions based on Carly’s feedback

2^nd Draft query letter

Synopsis

Bring synopsis and query to critique group for feedback

Week 4 – ending 8/3

Novel Revisions

Query Revision

Synopsis Revision

Research agents

Compile list of agents (already started, but continue to build)

Week 5 – ending 8/10

Novel Revisions

Finish revisions and put in submission form

List of 5 to 10 agents and criteria for 1^st round of submissions

Attend critique group for final feedback

Week 6 – ending 8/17

Send out submissions

Let me know, am I missing a step?  

*Oh, and another "thank you" to Carly for lending me Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript by Chuck Sambuchino and the editors of Writer's Digest.  It's invaluable!*