Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I Know Is Their Names! (or Internet Stalking as Pseudo-Useful Stalling)

Tip of the Day: Memorize the last lines in Charlton Heston for some examples of FABulous writing. Nothin' says award-winning like: "Soylent Green is people!"

Some days I need to remind myself of this.


NO -- not what people look like after they are processed into soylent green.

What I need to remind myself is: "Editors is people!" As unbelievable as it might seem, us kidlit writers are not that different from kidlit editors.

But, even knowing that....

As if my spring fever writing laziness wasn't already bad enough, now I know the names of the first round of editors who are reading my book! Ack! Gah! Bah! Names mean ACTUAL PEOPLE have the book! Not just some amorphous "editors" at some "publishing houses" even if they ARE just humans like me.

Welcome to the freaky mind of the Recently Repped whose fab agent has sent out her first subs.

Yes, I am THRILLED with the info, but also more anxious and nervous -- though in a good way. I mean really, it IS all good, but the thoughts and possibilities going through my head right now are huge. All along my writing journey these past three years or so, it's been The Possibilities that have kept me going -- now they just seem closer and more tangible than ever.

When I got my sub list, my writing productivity dropped and my email quotient soared. So did my Googling efforts as I looked up the books these editors bought and the conferences they attended and the interviews they did -- as if that would make a difference in whether or not they want to buy my book.

And hello Deena, you got an agent so you WOULDN'T be spending all this time online researching agents, but alas, my curiosity and the ease of Google as opposed to the difficulty of writing the last two chaps of my novel have made me give in to the stalling. The good news is my agent did free me of the time I would've used to discover which agents at which pub houses to sub to, so really I AM saving time.

Maybe now instead of refreshing my email every few minutes, I need to open my novel's Word document and interject thoughts of "Editors is people!" and remember that I, too, is.

What about you people and your people? Do they like Soylent Green?

Deena, Miss Recently Repped

9 comments:

Ghost Girl (aka, Mary Ann) said...

LOL! Holy Crazy Cow--I know what you mean about being glued to the email. Hello, my name is Ghost, and I'm addicted to email...

Good luck, Deena! May your ms go to auction and get a huge advance...and record NYT bestseller sales!

Kate Fall said...

God, I love that movie. And also how much Futurama stole from it.

I can't even imagine your state of mind right now. It's like the closer you get, the more your mind must wonder "Is this it??" I hope we help you through the craziness.

DeenaML said...

I just got Omega Man from Blockbuster -- after watching/reading I AM LEGEND I had to see this version. Hopefully Charlton won't disappoint! :) And will help distract me from email tonight.....

Kristina Springer said...

Never heard of this movie!! :-) I must be missing out huh?

And ahhhhhhh!!!! I know it is so hard to just wait once the editor gets the book! Can't wait for the next part when you sell!!

Emily Marshall said...

Deena, I have no idea what this movie is. But hang in there. I can't even imagine how hard of a wait this one has to be. But your amazing powers of patience you've been learning all throughout this process should hopefully kick in soon. Here's to a quick sale.

Emily Marshall said...

Deena, I have no idea what this movie is. But hang in there. I can't even imagine how hard of a wait this one has to be. But your amazing powers of patience you've been learning all throughout this process should hopefully kick in soon. Here's to a quick sale.

Rhonda Helms said...

ROFL--I love how this movie is spoofed in other movies and shows! Drop Dead Gorgeous did it, too (the girls are talent show contestants, and one of the girls did a recitation from this movie as her talent, ROFL).

Yeah, it's funny how you initially see editors as these intimidating people. You feel like they have so much power over your career in their hands, and that's hard!

For me, talking to my editor one-on-one has helped burst that "scary" bubble--I couldn't have asked for a friendlier, smarter person to work with!

Ghost Girl (aka, Mary Ann) said...

I loved Drop Dead Gorgeous, too, Rhonda! You all must be awfully young. Soylent Green is a classic! But I must say...it makes me worry about you, Deena! LOL.

DeenaML said...

Hee hee -- I heard the "Soylent green is PEOPLE" quote before even seeing the movie -- and then how could I not?

PS -- this post and quote was inspired by catching Mr. Heston in his FAB portrayal of Moses on Easter Sunday. :)