{"id":717,"date":"2018-12-11T11:49:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-11T16:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victoriafeistner.com\/?p=717"},"modified":"2019-03-11T19:56:41","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T23:56:41","slug":"walking-uphill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victoriafeistner.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/11\/walking-uphill\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking Uphill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

#PitMad was last Thursday. I had intended since late September to have Blackout Odyssey<\/em> ready to go for Dec. 6th, which meant not only rewrites and consolidation of beta-feedback, but writing a solid query letter, synopsis, and tweets, all of which needed to be workshopped themselves if I was going to put my best foot forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

October ended up being… interestingly busy (I wrote a novella! In a week!).  I sent out my final queries for both Ashes <\/em>and Creampuffs<\/em>, cramming like 10 queries into that final week so that they’d be off my plate when November started. November, of course, was NaNoWriMo, complete with a stretch-goal of 75,000 words (I wrote 75K! In a month!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, December 1st, my brain was literally dribbling out my ears so I had a relaxing, internet-free day of watching UK murder villages on the couch with my cutie, and Sunday, December 2nd I woke up with a migraine (as a result of said brain-dribble) and spent the entire day in bed with a pillow over my head except for one very memorable panic attack where I realized about 2pm that it’s December now and I haven’t got my #PitMad stuff ready and oh shiiiiit that’s THIS THURSDAY<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday, December 2nd, I took a whooooole lotta Advil and got to work. And promptly got waylaid by a bunch of other frustrations. The whole week was like that, really: lots of sinus Advil, frustrations, and attempting to do pomodoros. BUT I put on my big-girl space-pirate boots, got everything together (even if I wasn’t 100% happy with my synopsis) and was ready to take on #PitMad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’ve known for a while that my stories…. eh, they are not what you’d call “hook-y”.  They don’t have big stakes or romance. They are about ordinary nerds trying to do the best they can in tough situations (and often failing!). But Blackout Odyssey<\/em> is different<\/em>. It’s fun<\/strong>. It’s got a snappy elevator pitch (“genderbent retelling of the Odyssey set in the 2003 Blackout”) and stakes (there is a hussy across the hall making a play for Mallory’s boyfriend if she doesn’t get home in time to stop it) and humour and romance and weird magical-realism and haunted versions of local landmarks and Russians playing practical jokes. I knew from June–the first #PitMad–that it would be a much<\/em> easier sell than my other two manuscripts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But things are never that straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got lots of retweets from friends and other #PitMad participants, some of whom messaged me to tell me that they’d LOVE to read B.O.O. Bunch of new followers. A lot of hits on this here blag (if you’re back again this week–welcome!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And zero interest from agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road to publishing is very rarely a straight line; I know that. I know I’m also doing my approach on Challenge Mode, what with my lack of short story credits and outlining skills and insistence on avoiding the three-act structure and any fucking Hero’s Journey bullshit. I have voluntarily filled my backpack with rocks and stared up at the hill and said “I’M GOING TO DO IT ANYWAY”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And occasionally I stop on the side of the brambly trail and look around and wonder what I’m doing and if it’s worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come January I’ll be querying B.O.O. properly, 2+ queries a week, queryometer<\/a>, all of it. Because I still think it’s a good read, and because I am ornery like that. I AM GOING TO DO IT ANYWAY. But December is cold and dark and I hate Christmas possibly almost as much as I hate the Hero’s Journey, so this week’s ramble is A BIT OF A MOAN deal with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In other updates: I am up to 143 rejections for 2018, so it looks like I should make my stretch goal of 150.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fletcher & Cooper<\/em>…. has stalled somewhat. Last week I was in panicked query-writing mode and that used up all my energy… plus I think my creative carafe just needs time to refill after writing 75K in a month (DID I MENTION I WROTE 75K IN A FREAKIN’ MONTH BECAUSE I DID IN FACT DO THAT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BUT all is not lost because Sunday I started writing again…. on a prequel to F&C. Which is not, you know, super <\/em>helpful; although it is helping me flesh out one of the characters and fill in some gaps in the world-building. So it will make F&C stronger overall, whenever I get back into it. Which I will<\/em> do.  Like querying and submitting, I just have to keep my butt in my chair until it’s done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoping to do another 5K Friday this week either on F&C proper or to finish up the prequel novelette. There will be accompanying twooting on the twitters because I <\/em>enjoy enjoy my threads (especially the parts where I must consider which Hiddles gifs to use) and at this point in the hike, it’s all about finding what distracts from the blisters and keeps one moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Feel free to send <\/a>soundtrack and gif suggestions, or your own methods for keepin’ on keepin’ on when the gloom hangs a bit heavy.) Going to pick myself up out of the brambles now and get back on the trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See you on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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