My Writing World Status: Insecurities, the Submission Process and Too Much Ice Cream...

So I thought I would do a post to catch you up on where I am in the submission process – how I am feeling about it all…and answer the question I get asked often now - when is your book getting published?

My last round of submissions went out earlier this week (minus a few folks, whom she still has out other submissions by other authors with and they can only submit one at a time to editors).

Quick recap -

Late summer/early fall of last year, I signed with my Literary Agent, Rebecca Angus at Golden Wheat Literary (read about that here). We revised my first novel, The Halves of Us – a few times, ­ until she thought it was ready to go out on submission to editors/publishers.

We sent out the first round of submissions in November.

One rejection and one full request later, January came around and we sent out the second wave of submissions.

Two full requests later, we hit March and did the last round of submissions.

During this time frame my thoughts have ranged from this story is kickass to I should drown this manuscript and myself in a bottle of wine and pretend it never happened.

I kept myself busy throughout this submission time frame by participating in my first NaNoWriMo (read about that here) which allowed me to get halfway through book three of The Halves of Us trilogy. And then I set it to the side for some clarity, while going back and forth between two of my WIPs (occasionally taking break from those to write down first chapters to potential stories from dreams I have had – and if you keep up with my Facebook – you know how crazy those can get –ha!).

Throughout this I have basically tried not think about the whole submission process – but anxiously thought about every little part of the entire process the whole time.

A few nights ago I finally reached the peak of my anxious craziness when I had a dream that my manuscript caught on fire, and I poured water on it but then a lot of the words were erased or disappeared…

And I freaked out because apparently it was the only freaking copy of my manuscript. My anxiety and fear grew and the overwhelming dread I had about being an ultimate failure in the publishing world started to get to me.

After talking with Rebecca and a dear writer friend of mine, I calmed down, ­ hashed out my thoughts, prayed a little, drank a bunch of wine and ate chocolate ice cream.

Needless to say, my bad thoughts have faded (though not completely diminished, I'm human) – but my stomach doesn’t feel so great. :P I'll cut back on the ice cream!

I wondered if other authors out there ever felt this fear I was feeling during this in between process, and took to Twitter to converse with my writer friends there and read a bunch of Writer’s Digest articles.

I found that this fear is relatively normal. Your book baby is going out into the world and you love it so very, very much – and you just want others to adore it as much as you! This fear doesn’t really go away after you get an agent – you just have someone by your side who cheers and pushes you (lovingly) onward.

Luckily, I have very supportive friends and family, and an agent who is the best person ever (literally, she’s that awesome, y’all. Rebecca gets me – and I am happy to call her my agent and friend).

So when is my book getting published?

I don’t know specifics, but one day. :]

Most people assume you can write a book and automatically just publish it or you get an agent and all of a sudden your book will appear on a shelf in stores worldwide. While there are options that are a lot faster in getting your book out to readers, I went the traditional route in seeking an agent.

Rebecca sent out my proposal to prospective publishers and editors in November  – this is the submission phase. If any of those individuals are interested, they may request the full manuscript. This is a waiting period, as they have many manuscripts to read among their many other job duties.

Sometimes they make an offer – sometimes they pass.

If they do make an offer, then there is negotiations on the contract – which also can take time.

Then comes the round of edits, working with a team on advertisement/social media, and planning a publishing date - usually a year (sometimes longer) from the actual signing of the contract. The publishing world takes time.

And that's okay - I have plenty of wine.

Hopefully, sometime this year I will be able to tell you I have signed a contract and get to share my book with so many readers - for now I will continue on with my writing and editing. Those of you out there stuck in the in between part - stay strong, we got this!

(SIDE NOTE: By no way am I requesting you stop asking me about my book – just now you can ask how my submission process is going! ; ] )