The stress of the submission process

Birthday flowers from my eldest son in my writing room and yes, those are tomato plants behind!

 The last few weeks have seen me finally complete the first proper draft of The Island. It now sits marinating on my laptop! It will need a lot of editing, but at least I have a better ending and have added a significant amount of content.

Before I finished the draft, I met with a friend who I'd not seen in ages (she's actually my proofreader) and she asked about all those short stories I wrote and thought a collection would be a good idea. We had a good chat about some of those stories, and in fact, I do have a list of potential stories for a collection. It's just that I've never got round to doing anything about them. I am now reading through some again, editing and getting them proofread. I'm working on the idea of a theme, but the list isn't complete as I sort them and work out which work best together.

The other thorn in my side is Tinsel Street, which I sent out on submission last year and again earlier this year. I have received no replies, so decided to revamp my submission package and have another bash. Now anyone who submits novels knows what a pain it is writing a synopsis and cover letter. I could have written half a novel in the time it's taken to do this (okay, that's a slight exaggeration). There are guidelines online, and right ways to put them together, though some conflict.  It's stressful and never seems completely right. So I sought feedback from friends.

Last Sunday I also I met up with some people from the London Writers' Support Group and gave them my cover letter to look over. They were really helpful, and I came home and put in their suggestions and took things out. I also tweaked the synopsis again! While at the meeting, I also managed to run a 6,000 word story through ProWriting Aid and edit while we each worked on our own project for an hour. I'd been putting it off, as it's so long, so I was pleased with myself. I have to admit this is a good group to be part of. We are all very different and tackling different things, and they are all much younger than me, but we are all writers and support one another.

Researching agents and Indie Publishers, who have windows open/accepting submissions/are the right fit and accept submissions from writers and not just agents, takes hours. But over two days I sent out several submissions, adapting the letter each time. I am not expecting to hear from anyone for a while, though having said that I did hear from one who told me they couldn't offer traditional publishing but might consider a contributing package, meaning I would have to fork out money of up to 75% of the cost. That makes me suspicious. They are asking me to respond, but if I don't want to take their offer, they will delete my manuscript. They say they are part of a larger well-known publishing company, but that company have their own website. I will need to look more into this, but I want to try submitting to others before I consider going with a hybrid publisher, plus do my own research into different ones. It is too soon when I have had no response from anyone else I sent to last week. Responses can take months. But I have started the ball rolling. One needs to be in the right frame of mind to send out submissions on mass, and I have to admit I felt good, even though I know my chances are slim. 

I have sent out a few subs to poetry magazines as well. Now I have a slight lull as I have a busy week coming up away from writing, though I'm sure I can sneak in some time on the laptop!

Until next time, happy reading and writing.