Full Cirlce

Recently I turned twenty four and today I realised it has been a decade since my first job... yikes.
What made me realise this? Well today I felt like that young boy delivering newspapers. This was because I leafleted houses to try and introduce people to my book.

The adventure began with the idea of leafleting a month or two ago, and thanks to my parents buying me a printer I was able to make leaflets up to hopefully point people in the direction of my website.

The original plan for today was to hand out leaflets in Glasgow as I knew it would be busy, and it was. It was also raining a lot and once I started I realised this made it pointless to leaflet, as they got wet, and people were too busy getting to their next destination to get out the rain to take one.

I knew it was inefficient to stand there and decided to go home and leaflet houses. This I realised would be more productive for a few reasons.

I started leafleting houses and had the thought that this is exactly what I was doing ten years ago with my first job as a paper boy. I laughed to myself and  find it strange how things often come full circle. Another reason I thought of this circular idea was because the place I leafleted turned out to be a big circle, with houses on both sides of the street. This made it easy to leaflet.

It was a difficult day though as the weather had me soaked through in about half an hour and after 3 or so hours I had lost feeling in most of my body, but I am glad I have done what I did for many reasons (One being the character building such work provides and another the gratitude you feel for warmth).

I really hope people who got the leaflet take a look at the link to my website, and I really hope they like the story.

I look forward to doing more leafleting in the future and let's hope the weathers a bit better next time. For now it's time to enjoy some food and to be extra grateful for the shelter and warmth I am lucky to have.

Website and Marketing

Website

So I have a website!!! :) It's simple but I'm so proud of it. It is www.thechroniclesofelementary.com and on there is the book in pdf and soon to be kindle file. It is a free download, but I have done this so there is no risk of having to pay money for something you may not enjoy. I have requested for people to be pay for it if they read the whole book and like it, this is a risk but it gives people choice, and I like that.

Marketing

So now I have to spread the word that this exists and have a few ways of doing this so will give an update if they go well or not.

Conclusion

I'm just so excited to start promoting again and seeing what happens.

Another Rejection

Another Rejection

In all honesty I'm tired, so tired and exhausted. I'm trying so hard to make this work, but I just can't get the break I need. Below is the rejection from the agent I was in touch with, and I am so thankful for her time. She has given some advice and I will take it on board and see what I can do to improve my work, again. 

  There are other plans in motion. Some which will be implemented in the new year and obviously the new book I have started writing will give me more opportunities to show my work. I love how a couple of blogs ago I said I would start this new story in the new year, and well... I'm 20,000 words in to it. The plot is not as simple as I thought it was going to be but it's going to be a great story so I'm excited for when that is constructed. Yet it will be put on hold for now.

  Despite this I'm still pumped and excited for all I am doing and when the time comes this is all going to be worth it.

Email from agent.

Hi Steven,

I’m so sorry about the delay and especially given that this isn’t going to be one for me. You’ve a wonderful idea here but I wasn’t as gripped as I should be, which is an absolute must in this very difficult market. I think the book might benefit from a little more world-building and elements of curiosity to entice the reader in.

You’re a talented writer so I do hope another agent will want to take you on. I wish you every success and thank you again for giving me the chance to read your work, and for your patience.

With best wishes,

I replied and she sent the following back.

I’m sorry I can’t be of more use, or give more editorial feedback. It’s all very subjective and I think there’s every chance you’ll be snapped up. I do hope so.

With very best wishes,

I'm so grateful for her words but wish she could have helped move things forward for me. She has done what she felt was best so cannot fault her in anyway for that. As I have said before I am just so grateful to her for the chance. 

Ultimately there is so much work for me to do and an infinite amount of opportunities to succeed so this is only more experience to help me on my adventure.

An Agent Update

An Agent Update

I emailed Susan Armstrong on December the 1st to see if she had a chance to read more of my work. She emailed the next day and said she should be able to give me a response by the 12th.
I'm really excited to hear her views, and thankful for the time she is giving my work. I will update when I get her email and hopefully she wants to read more.

Exciting Time and Fresh Ideas

I made a statement in my last blog update that there was nothing 'I' could do to improve my story, I was wrong. I think the statement should have been more along the lines of, "please don't let me have to go through it again, let it be finished."
However I have been going through it again and have been able to make improvements.

Exciting Times

The reason I have been going through it again is because an agent read the first chapter and liked it so asked for the first five chapter. This all came about for the following reasons.
 I originally emailed this agent to ask if I could email her my work instead of sending it by post. This was because on her webpage she asked for unique fantasy and I thought, why no just contact her directly.
  She replied and was very nice and polite, but said to send it the traditional way. I thanked her and sent it off.
  I got a rejection.
  However I noticed it was from one of the general readers agencies have to help agents prioritise their clients, and the readers would hand high quality work to the agents.
  I was disappointed as felt my work was what this agent wanted. I decided to email her again and say I felt  a bit discouraged that it didn't make it to her. She was incredibly nice about this and could have easily said she only accepted it if it came through from one of the readers, but she didn't, and said she would read a chapter.
  I sent it off and got an email at the beginning of this week asking to read the first five chapters.

This is very promising and I am excited to hear what she thinks of the story. When she asked to read the first chapter I quickly read through it and made improvements. Then when she asked for five chapters I could not stop smiling with excitement. I read through the chapters again, made improvements, and sent it to her.
 She emailed today and thanked me for sending it through. Now I just sit back and pray she sees its potential and asks for the whole story. If she does I am going to have an interesting time trying to speed improve the other twenty chapters. I may just have to be honest and tell her I'm giving them a once over and will get them to her asap.
What an amazing feeling it is to be at this point. It's amazing to think that one persons choice effects your whole future, but even if she says it's not for her I still have so many options. I will obviously be disappointed but never discouraged.

Fresh Ideas

Why will I not be discouraged?
  Well I have a number of ideas for books that I have put aside for when the time is right to write them. I am incredibly fortunate for the flow of ideas that seem to never stop, and recently an idea came in to my mind for a one book story that is very very exciting.
  I have a 3,000 word outline of this story and because it is simpler, and only one book, I know an agent will be more likely to take it on as it will require less faith on their part.
  It is such an exciting, simple and unique story and I cannot wait to write it and show it to people. However patience is the bane of my existence and I will sit on it for now and maybe start in January 2012 if this doesn't work out.

I will keep the blog updated when things happen and thanks so much for reading.

The Wait (round two)

There is nothing more I can do to improve my first book. FACT! and it is a satisfying and nerve racking thought. So much work has been done to make it better. I have re-written it to make it an easier read and I  have had two very talented friends read it and edit it. Many thanks to Cheryl White and Andy McDonald.

With all that done it is the best it can be and yesterday I sent it off to agents again and have to sit back and wait. For anyone that knows me I am not a patient person so this wait is actually the hardest part of the whole process (writing  the book is easy in comparison). Ultimately I just want an answer, whether yes or no, but waiting for that is a pain for me. However I do have plenty to keep me busy so hopefully the time will go by quickly. I just hope some agents like the changes and see what an awesome story it is and I will update as I receive word from them.

Passing By Time As It Passes Me By

I reflect on the month that has gone by and it feels like only a day has occurred. I always look on time as being measured because of variables and changes, which without there would be nothing to measure time against. The fact is plenty of things have changed in this month but it still feels like no time has passed at all (something that needs further reflection I think).

This month has been one that has required me to be patient as the edit of the first three chapters of the re-write is still ongoing by my friend and as much as I just want to get the agent hunt under way I have to learn that people work on different time scales than I do. I need to see that waiting this month and having it edited is better than sending it off a month ago and not having it edited. Many thanks to Anders for taking time out of his schedule to work on it.

To keep myself busy I have written some poetry, done some art work and continued typing up book two from the hand written copy I did back in 2010 (summer).

Despite time going by so fast the writing has taken a slower pace than I would like but I still love how a single moment can feel like forever, and forever can feel like a single moment. It is just best to let it all go and work hard at achieving the goal and then just enjoying life until things can move forward (Things will happen when they happen).

Who knows what the next month will bring but I will update when it feels right to do so.