📅 Thought for today:

‘My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: When you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip.’

— Elmore Leonard

#thoughtfortoday #writing #writer #author #creative #habit #process #determination

Later this month I will sit in a Zoom room with a group of aspiring authors, all of us pitching our books to literary agents.

To give the collected agents the chance to review our work, we have all submitted approx. 10,000 words from our books, with a cover letter, biography, book outline and sample chapters.

I submitted mine well ahead of the deadline, which is next Monday, and tried really hard not to over-edit.

Having a book coach helps, as I am hobbled by an emotional connection to my work and a blindness to the parts my readers will skip.

I have also been reminded, by several people, that it is quite likely that I will come away from the event at the end of September without an agent, and that I should keep writing as if that is the case. Finish the book and self-publish is route one.

My daily writing habit, across all journals and platforms, is creeping up towards 2,000 words a day – habit makes habits grow.

Subjecting my work to review by peers has been “not too painful” because they are reviewing for credibility (it is non-fiction) and it is important that I do not present a false impression or inaccurate view of my work.

Subjecting my work to readers who don’t know me, who will freely express their opinions of the book, me, and the profession in general, is somewhat daunting and I fully expect to have to develop resilience in a whole new way!