Have a manuscript ready...

I dislike counting the number of times I have missed an opportunity to pitch my work because I did not have a new manuscript ready to pitch.

Therefore, I would like to tell all those lurkers and posters that putting an effort into a ready manuscript is a worthwhile endeavor even if a publisher is not in the wings.

My most recent disappointment was watching an author whose work is quite amateurish win a contest that led to a publishing contract, a contest that I should have been ready to enter. By the time the winning manuscript is ready for publication, I imagine the professional qualities that led to winning will outshine the pieces I found flat. The contestants were a limited number; how I wish I had a manuscript to enter - but I did not.

There are many opportunities for manuscripts ready for publication beyond the ever-disappointing agent/publisher search. I have been entering a writing contest for years whenever I had a new manuscript; I know some of the authors who have succeeded in receiving contracts from that contest.

I have four novels in the works today, not one ready to submit. This week, I am going to polish one so it is ready for the next opportunity. I wish you all the same goal...

Since writing is my hobby, I have a lot of finished manuscripts. I am a freak of nature this way. Or I used to think I was. Then I met Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, Wheel of Time) and found he is the same away.

Zizban,

How many do you have?
I have none.

In my computer, about 50. That's complete. About another 50 in various stages of work. I have I think about twenty or so typewritten ones from days of yore and maybe a half dozen handwritten.

Amazing!
Why not publish them?

Eh, maybe. Publishing isn't really my goal when I write. The ones I think have potential I set aside for further consideration. "Ouroboros" was one of these. I think I have about four or five I could submit and may yet do so.

Why do you write then?

Sorry about Virtual Tales.

Try Publish America--I realize you are a real fan of theirs. At least you'd have a book.

Best of luck!

By the way, you could be open to slander because of your blog.
Has it ever occurred to you to write something flattering about anyone?

No, I'm not open to slander.

I don't know about that. The things you say about a man from Mexico...
It is not hard to figure out who you are talking about.

But did I name names?

Now if someone reads something into my posts that may or may not be there, that's their problem, not mine.

Also, I am hardly obsessed with you.
Your comments about Shelagh are less than stellar. She is my present publisher.

If you don't like this forum, why come here? So you can complain? Strange!

Did I mention you at all? Shelagh? Like I said, if you are reading something that may or may not be there that is your problem.

I was never a member of Author Society. But, hey, why let the truth spoil a good story?

If you have comments about my blog, feel free to ask over there.

No, Chris, I don't have any questions. The past is gone, I don't want to go there. I miss Dick. He got on well with Jeff and was sorry when Jeff's forum was destroyed. Dick found me on the Book Marketing Network on Ning and invited me to join but I didn't take him up on the offer. His message to me is still on my page there:

http://thebookmarketingnetwork.com/profiles/comment/list?attachedToType=User&attachedTo=shelaghwatkins&page=3

I just find it strange to go to a place where you don't seem to like anyone and then blog about it.

I like the people here.
You want us to discuss on your forum, why not here?

Well, so much for having a manuscript ready...

I like DK's original premise. But it's a tough one. I would think that anything good enough to have in your hip pocket on the outside chance that an opportunity will arise would have already been seen by agents and publishers.

Plus, the ease with which you can self-publish now would make it too much of a temptation to let it just stay on hold.

I read that when Irving Berlin died they found a trunk in his apartment with over 1000 unpublished songs. They thought, what a treasure trove, 1000 unpublished Irving Berlin songs. Then they began going through them There was a reason they were unpublished. Berlin knoew better. They weren't very good. But he kept them in a trunk.

Diane you raise a very good point, and I am guilty of having lots of writing on the go but nothing ready. I am a great starter, and a fabulous procrastinator at finishing it seems. I have entered a few things in contests and found the feedback I get from the judges has been very helpful when it comes to polishing my work. Trouble is that I let my full time work take over and then don't allow myself enough time for the creative writing side of me. Time for me to rethink my priorities!

Pam,

Maybe you are all right, your day job is a necessity, so it should take top priority.

Alice, it's a tough row at times, but it is necessary. I've decided that I am going to schedule myself 45 minutes a day to work on my fiction work. That'll help me get there, and meet both goals.

Al Stevens wrote:

I like DK's original premise. But it's a tough one. I would think that anything good enough to have in your hip pocket on the outside chance that an opportunity will arise would have already been seen by agents and publishers.

Agree. I wouldn't do all the work a good manuscript requires, and then keep it in a drawer just to have handy for a contest. Anything in a drawer is there because no one would take it.

Writing is an extremely diifficult way to make a liviing.

Accounting was a snap. Get up, get dressed, get on a bus, head downtown work, take breaks, go home collect pay check every Friday. I would never have made it in the writing world.

My hat goes off to the successful writers.