The Second Book

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Goodness! Having the boys at home for their summer vacation is draining every ounce of energy from my mind. I meant to blog more often, but whenever I get a break, I just want to sleep or lie on the sofa and stare at the ceiling. Three year olds are loud, energetic, and attention suckers. I do hope you'll forgive me if my blogs seem a bit detached. Two more weeks to go...which means a month to go for Uni. Yup, that's right: I'm leaving a well paid job to go back to University in hope of pursuing my dream of becoming an author.

Since I've already had a two week break from the querying and writing, I've been re-thinking things a little. When the boys go to kindergarten again, I'll have two weeks until Uni starts (majoring in English this time, already have a bachelor's in marketing and administration). I could do what I was doing two weeks before the boys had their vacation: sit at the computer and read articles etc. and keep dreaming, or I could start writing the second book of the series. I think I'll go with the latter.

I'm both curious to see how the second book unravels, and I also think it's important to start writing it so that a) I can say that I'm already well on my way with the second book if I do get an agent interested, b) writing is fun and it's important to use the little time I have left to cram in as much writing as I can (I wrote the first manuscript in a month, so I should be able to get at least half of the book done in two weeks), and c) if I can't get a deal, I will feel more optimistic about e-publishing, because I've already started on the second book.

There's one other thing I haven't considered much, and that is to query publishers. There are many writers who query publishers first and then find an agent if they find an interested publisher. The other way would be more ideal, since the agent can negotiate the deal, but I think it would probably be easier to find an agent if you already have a contract ready to be signed from a publisher. Once I'm back at Uni, I'll probably spend some time compiling a list of publishers -- ones who consider unsolicited material. There's the problem, really, and the main reason writers try to get an agent first: not all publishers will consider manuscripts if the writers have no agent. This has put some unfair shift of work on the agents. Now it is they who have to sieve through the query letters, which seems more logical work for the publishers.

Anyway, as soon as the boys are back at kindergarten, I'll sit down and draft the second book. I already have readers related to me who are waiting for the continuum.