Fortunate Finds

Now, back to my Pilgrimage…

I mentioned in Whimsy and Whiskey Part 2 that I’d discovered some helpful resources. They were things I found along the way that then brought my querying to a halt – at least until I could say, Ok, I am educated on this matter now. Because apparently, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing!

The first thing I found was a literary agent on Instagram, Carly Watters, who runs a very active, extremely helpful, and incredibly generous account. It was through her that I discovered a very specific book, a book I never could have imagined existed! It’s the Guide To How To Hook An Agent. Ta-Da! To quote the book that’s been most helpful, I had spent the summer querying as “someone taking a punt, not fully committed to their craft and almost hoping for an agent to do them a favour by investing a bit of faith.” – Guide To How To Hook An Agent by James Rennoldson

When I ran across that accusation…it burned…bad enough that just now, I flipped right to the page so I could quote it, and I remembered pretty much exactly where it was in the paragraph. A memorable line. But, this book revived my confidence. Reading through most every part of it made me feel much more prepared for the journey ahead. I also found another friend, Guide to Writing for Children and YA. I would go back and forth, reading from each book, gaining information I just didn’t have from life thus far.

And back to Carly, she advertised a Zoom seminar, Querying 101, and the timing could not have been better! I decided to invest my time and my money in that event. It was WELL worth it. She had so much real-world advice and her presentation was very clear, I even photographed her slides and created a folder on my phone called Querying 101 for future reference. Another hot tip from Carly was how we need to find strong comparable books to our own – something fresh in the market, no older than five years. Agents are going to ask for that…and they are! Totally makes sense! So I began Googling and ferociously reserving titles from our local library system. Ultimately, I highly recommend anyone trying to do anything at all in the writing world to go give her a follow.

Another thing I did, in an act of BECOMING an author: I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. I’m excited because they announced me as a new member this week and I get to go to one of their local events soon and have real-world interaction with other writers. Whether they are becoming or already are – I can’t wait to meet them!

Then, a few weeks ago, I made some DRASTIC but really fun changes to my story. I was in a place to begin taking action again. And last Wednesday, I joined Twitter and began building my #WritingCommunity, leading to my start at querying again. #amquerying

So, it would seem that the sum of everything above gets you caught up on my journey so far. Hooray!