Blogger: Rachel Kent
Location: Books & Such main office; Santa Rosa, Calif.
Thank you all for participating in the blog this week! I’ve really enjoyed your comments. Today I’d like to extend yesterday’s conversation just a little bit. I believe it’s important to celebrate the little successes along the way to our goals. Could you please tell us about a time when your writing brought you satisfaction?
Thanks! Happy Friday!
Oh, an easy Friday question. I like that. After working on a novel for 6 years I submitted the opening to the Genesis contest for historical and won. But there was something far more satisfying than that. As a result of the contest, for the first time ever, I submitted my manuscript to an industry professional for review.
Working up the guts to let someone else take a look was a HUMONGOUS milestone for me. No matter what, having finally taken that step, I am changed forever. Definitely the highlight of 2010.
I’ve had a few things that have brought me satisfaction. I had someone who wrote me an email stating how encouraging one of my blog articles was about unemployment. That made me smile. The second one was when a crit partner read one of my MS and emailed me a few days later telling me that my character was still on her mind because she impacted her so greatly. I love that.
Thanks for a great week of blog posts, Rachel. Have a great weekend.
The first time I typed the last word of my ms was huge. Even though that version of the story needed so much work and is long-gone now, I can remember thinking – wow. I just finished a book.
Getting any sort of positive feedback about my work from industry professionals always has me walking on clouds for days. Until this year, my writing had always been a very solitary, private sort of thing, so it’s the weirdest, best feeling to share with others who enjoy it even just a little. I imagine it will be very satisfying when my children are old enough to read my work, since they have had to sacrifice some time with mom in order to allow me to pursue this path. My oldest son (who is almost 10) was reading my weapons charts over my shoulder the other day. He was fascinated and surprised by the fact that mom’s book has warriors, swords, and the like. His comment? “Any dragons?” Nope. “Oh. Well, warriors are still pretty cool.” Hopefully one day he’ll enjoy the story. 🙂
Thanks for the series this week, Rachel! It’s been a fun one. And happy three years at Books & Such! Wishing you many more happy years of agenting. 🙂
While my Big Goal is book publication, this year I had my first fiction piece in a major national kid’s magazine. The coolest part was when my 10 y.o. read it and saw that the characters were all named after his friends… and HE was the first person narrator. *grin*
Here’s wishing you success on your big and little agenting goals, and many more years of loving your job!
Since I have not published anything yet my biggest satisfaction was not awe inspiring to anyone else but me, really. When I finished my first book last month I almost cried I was so happy that I had actually done it. I had committed to my dream and saw it through.
Here’s my most satisfying time:
My daughter told me one day that she was starting Twilight for the fourth time. I had not given her my latest novel because I thought it would be too hard for her to read. But I couldn’t have her reading Twilight for a fourth time. So I handed her my Kindle with my unpublished novel and told her if it got too hard for her to read, she could stop. She just needed to tell me which page she stopped on.
She read it and told me she loved it. She reported on which parts made her laugh then said she cried at the end.
I asked her if she cried or just misted, because I’d watched my sister as she was reading the last few chapters and she was misting but she wasn’t blubbering by any means. My daughter said, “I bawled. I’ve never cried over a book before, Mom.”
I said, “Why did you cry? Didn’t you hear your aunt and me talking about it? Didn’t you know there was a happy ending?”
She said, “I cried first because I was so sad, and then I cried again, because I was so happy.”
I felt very rich that day.
Happy three years, Rachel.
Salena, what a precious moment!! I’d love it if my daughters found something to laugh and/or cry over in my work.
My most satisfying moment was the day I got the galleys for my devotional gift book. They weren’t perfect; there were things that needed tweaking, but what a rush to know that it was actually going to happen. I am going to be a published author. Whee!
These posts have been great to read 🙂 Great idea Rachel… and happy 3 years!
I have to say when I got an email from an agent who had read my first three chapters and said they were quite good and wanted to show my proposal to an editor. I felt like my years of hard work now had some validation. Can’t wait to hear from the editor now…