There is no feeling like the feeling of completing a draft. It is exhilarating, it is fulfilling, it is accomplishment. It is a milestone that few writers reach. And when you get there, you deserve to celebrate.
The thing is, it doesn’t end there.
After you finish the draft and celebrate, maybe go out and party with some friends (or maybe just stay home, dance, and read a book you’ve been dying to read), you still have a few critical milestones standing between you and the reader. I passed the next one: rewriting and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting…
After having the draft of This Cursed Flame (my fantasy novel set mostly in my own version of a djinn Realm, following one very shy and quiet genie who just might be the key to saving all the Realms) completed for a couple of years and editing and revising in the meantime, I finally worked up the nerve to submit my very first query to a publisher that accepts queries from unagented authors. This was the critical part, since I decided to move forward without an agent for the time being.
I did my research, I met with my writer friend Dara Lyons (who you can learn more about here), I composed my query letter, and I sent it off into cyber space.
That was a few weeks ago. And still not a word.
I don’t expect to have my work picked up right away. But waiting can be torture.
So what about you? Have any of you gone through the direct-to-publisher querying process? How long did you wait before moving on, and how did it go for you?
Selina J. Eckert 