Starving for Writing

Well, I haven't had time to work on NaNoWriMo, so I guess I'm out of luck as it is well past the 15th. But, much worse than that is that I haven't been working on my first novel. It's been over a week now, and except for editing a piece for my writer's group, I haven't touched it. I'm so hungry I could faint. I need to get my priorities in order!

Freelancing and NaNoWriMo

Had to work for many hours on my freelance project today - an eBook first draft. It cut into my NaNo time rather drastically. I still managed to get 2363 words down. So far, I'm not liking this book as much as my other two, or the one I wrote outside of NaNo. C'est La Vie. Such is life. I'm trying to stay ahead with my word count so that when my freelance work does come home to roost, I won't get behind. My total word count so far is 11,446. My last scene was pretty good. I liked it pretty well. I think I'm just terribly out of fiction practice. I'm going to try the word count widget again.

Publishers and Agents

Wow, this can be so confusing. I've been reading about them for some time this morning and I still don't really know that much. It does appear that most if not all of the major publishing houses won't accept a submission unless it's through an agent. There are alot of other publishers who will, but it's hard to know much about them, even if they have great websites. They certainly paint a bleak picture for first time authors.

And then there's that pesky Platform business popping up again. How does a fiction writer really get the kind of followers you need to qualify as a "platform"? I admit that I'm a bit lost when it comes to that whole concept. I mean, between freelancing and writing, I don't have a lot of time for playing around on the social networks. But I guess I'd better find it if I want to sell my book. The problem is, you can't print excerpts because some publishers don't go for that, so how do you get people interested in your book?

I was amazed at how much the agents took. They really take a bite out of whatever royalties you get, unless that percentage is just for the advance, but I doubt it. Yeouch!