Romanticizing Reality

Well, I'm at the point now where I have finally written my synopsis to my liking (thanks to a late, unforgiving night last night...toped off with a sick child. Two hours of sleep. It doesn't feel too great). It still isn't in it's perfected, tweeked state, but the flow and the content is finally where it needs to be. I'm still in kind of a dilema because it's pretty long. It's still within average and acceptable length to editors and agents, but it's pushing the limit, and shorter and more concise is always better in these cases. However, with a story like November Rain , that isn't plot-driven but more character-driven with a slowly unfolding plot, it's difficult to write it short and concise, yet still entice someone into believing it's a beautiful story. In staying true to it's theme, I feel as though I included everything that should be included (prose and content alike) to illustrate the proper feel of the story. And that...

Just finished my revision! Yay! (This picture seemed fitting somehow, seeing how it's titled November Rain ). I feel like celebrating somehow. Maybe I'll eat some ice-cream tonight. Wait. I always do that. Maybe I'll wait to do some celebrating once I get everything else done too, like my synopsis and letter (still dreading it). And even more celebrating when an agent actually takes my stuff into consideration (I'm crossing my fingers). And then even more when it sells to an editor (it may be a dream, but it's possible!). And then the ultimate celebration can come when it's actually published. For now, this is just a tiny step in the beginning, leading to every other step that takes me to the top. That paragraph was incredibly pointless, I know. Anyway, I am so extremely satisfied with the finished project. Overwhelmingly so. I sure hope I'm not just in a dreamlike stage, thinking it's better than it really is, because I can honestly say I am very proud ...

I'm working on my last revision before my manuscript is ready for any agents who might request it (I can only hope, right?)--meaning, after all the times I've revised it, this has been the most engrossing, the most time consuming, and my eyes have been more "critical" than ever before. Having that attitude, it's amazed me how much I have found that hasn't sounded right (grammatically and otherwise). I've ended up changing much more than I initially thought. My intent going into this revision was to make it as absolutely perfect as possible, to view it as a critical outsider, nitpicky and looking for any reason it might fail. Something I've learned is to trust your gut. It's taken a while for me to learn that and even to recognize my "gut" when I feel it, but I think I've got it down and know now that when something doesn't sound right, it's probably because it isn't. So I looked back on all my past revisions and recalled ...

Just got done reading Pat Walsh's 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published & 14 Reasons Why It Just Might (longest title in history, right?). I found the information harsh and abrasive, but above all, extremely helpful. In order for a writer to take themselves seriously on the road to authorhood, I think it's necessary to view all the brutal sides of the publishing industry (including all the annoying, knit-picky reasons you most likely will be rejected--because you almost always will). Throughout the book I recoiled at his "jerk" attitude towards writers (even through my giggles at his humor), but his points were very valid and it made me want to strive harder at putting in all the effort necessary to make myself stand out in the "slush-pile" against all the thousands and thousands of submissions agents and editors receive every year. The book had a strange way of making the less-worthy writers feel like crap, but the dedicated writers feel lik...