I've been doing a little research on literary agents, and completely terrifying myself in the process.
Marketing, marketing, marketing! Apparently you can't just have a good story and the writing skills to tell it, you have to be able to sell the story.
I hate marketing.
I can't sum my story up in one sentence; that's craziness.
I don't have a platform; I'm not even sure what the hell that is.
I'm not going to go into Barne's and Noble and try and schmooze the owner.
I'm not going to self publish; that is a losing proposition almost every time.
Ergo: I'm never going to get published.
Now, on to more pressing and realistic concerns, such as the fact that we are still homeless hotel dwellers. The realtor's office isn't open yet, so Keith and I are just sitting around, waiting. And drinking coffee, in my case. Probably too much coffee.
Ok, it looks like the house will be ours. In which case, you won't hear from me for a while, not until we get internet at the new house.
Back to less pressing concerns (because its so much easier to stress about things that don't really matter in the long run).
I want to finish this darn story already and start sending it out. I want to get rejected, I want feedback, I want to know how the whole process works, so I can make a better story and send that one out.
It's so intimidating to hear story after story of authors who have fallen short. Who am I to think I could succeed? How laughable is that? It's ridiculous.
I can't see my story clearly anymore at all, so I can't reassure myself by telling myself that I am actually a good writer. Besides, good writers are thick on the ground; good writers are a dime a dozen. They fail to get published all the time.
However, I did read that an author must absolutely love and be passionate about their own work. If they don't love it, odds are no one else will either. So, that's good.
And I don't care what the odds are. I have years to figure this whole thing out. Somewhere out there, at some point in time, there is a literary agent or publishing house that will be willing to take a chance on me. I don't care if it is Harlequin Romance.
