Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year! I hope your holiday season was restful and rejuvenating. January is one of my very favorite months. Not only because my daughter was born this month—18 years ago today, in fact…
Happy Happy Birthday, Princess Danielle!
Hooray for you!! I hope this year is everything you dream it will be.
But also because it’s a month where we wipe the slate clean and begin again. I don’t want to make this post about New Years resolutions because yanno, everyone else has done that already. Instead I’d rather just focus on some positive things set for 2016.
For those of you who missed it, yesterday marked my first guest post on another blog. OMG, it was both terrifying and exciting at the same time! Author Michelle Hauck, host of Michelle4Laughs.com was sweet enough to ask me to share my story of signing with my agent. Many of you have already read the post, but in case you missed it, here’s the link on her site: http://www.michelle4laughs.com/2016/01/getting-call-with-jackie-yeager.html
As you can see from the tab on the right, I’ve added manuscript, query, and synopsis editing services to the freelance work I do. I’ve considered making this move for a long while now. One of the reasons I hesitated was that early in my writing career, I was told to never pay an editor- it’s just not necessary. Once you sign with an agent or grab the attention of a publisher, you’ll work with an editor and they will help to make your manuscript sparkle. And to some extent, I agree. However, some writers could really use a fresh eye to look at their work before submitting to an agent.
If you’re one of the lucky writers who has really strong critique partners (who have been through the submission process before and have at least received several requests), then most likely you’re on the right track. However, after receiving editing requests from readers of this blog over the last year, I realized that many of you don’t, or haven’t been able to get past the rejection phase. (I’ve been there, and it can be soooo frustrating!) I now realize that many of my blog readers are looking for an extra hand—a leg up as they ready their work for submission, someone to bring their writing to the next level.
So, I’ve decided to take on critiquing/ editing of manuscripts, query letters, and the dreaded synopsis in addition to the business freelance writing work I do. I’ve begun work with three amazing writers already and the experience has been fantastic. Helping other writers to bring their writing to the next level just may be my new favorite thing in the world to do!
I’m currently adding writers for January. Click here for more detailed information. My email address is listed. I’d love to hear from you even if you’re not sure how I can help you. I’d be happy to customize my editing/ critiquing to fit your needs.
In terms of the blog, here’s what coming up in the next few months. I’m planning to share some success stories with you. Reading stories of other writers finally getting the call, finally signing with a literary agent, finally getting a book deal have kept me inspired to keep writing all these years. Publishing is a tough business. It’s good to hear when other writers just like us find a way to get their book babies out into the world!
I’ll also be posting on topics very close to my heart—or rather my world right now…
What it’s like to be out on submission to publishers.
Not much has been written on this and I’m not sure why. I mean, what the big secret? Loads of information can be found about what it’s like to be querying, but not so much can be found about what it’s like to be out on submission. So I plan to let you know what it is like for me. But before that, I’ll also touch on…
What happens after a writer signs with a literary agent—but before they actually go out on sub.
That time can be different for everyone, but I can give you a peek into the way it has been for me. I may even ask some of my writing friends (you know who you are!) to share their insights as well. Our stories are all so different, but somehow the same, ya know??
For the immediate future, when I’m not hanging out at this site, or working on my freelance projects, I’ll be in full draft mode. I’m writing Book 2—the middle grade sequel to the manuscript that grabbed my agent’s attention. It’s been fantastically fun to jump back into the world of my five favorite kids—crazy to see what adventures I can dream up for them. I’ll post about my progress on that periodically.
As far as when I’ll be posting, I’ve decided to stick with my once a week schedule, but the days I post may change week to week. (And I may post more often if I have something worthwhile to say!) The pressure of getting a post up on the site every Wednesday by 8:00am has gotten to me. I’d rather post early in the week if I can, and post later if I need to.
So what about all of you? What will you be working on in the next few months? A draft? A revision? A sequel? Something completely new? Tell us about it. I was a cheerleader in my former life so I have my pomp poms ready!
Thanks for checking in, my friends. I wish for you this…that 2016 will fill you with all the ideas, all the words, all the amazing stories, and all the writing adventures you can dream of. Just remember, it takes courage to follow your dreams, so I wish you all the courage too. 🙂
swirl and spark 