No News Is...Just No News!

So, I've been keeping myself pretty busy lately, but every once in awhile, someone will ask me if I've heard back from the agent who has an exclusive on my book yet.

Of course, I will update right away when I do hear something. That being the case, the fact that I haven't posted anything about it is neither good nor bad, it simply just is :)

When I sent out my first round of queries awhile back, I waited on pins and needles after someone requested material. I was literally nauseous every time I saw an email from an agent because I was so worried about what they were going to say.

I can't say I don't know what has happened between then and now, because I do, but this time around is a completely different experience. I want it just as badly...if not more, but that desire is manifesting itself differently in terms of the energy.  The only way to really articulate it is to say that where before I had the nausea and anxiety, which were negative energy, now I am just excited and somehow strangely calm about all of it, which is a much more positive energy.

I believe that my book is going to land in the right hands and if this agent is reading it and liking it, that is wonderful!  If, on the other hand, she is reading it and not enjoying it, I doubt she'd be very excited about pitching it to publishers, first of all, and second of all, me getting nauseous about it isn't going to make her change her mind.

...and that is sort of where I'm at.  So...for those of you who had been asking if I'd heard back yet, there is your (long-winded) answer... BUT I promise you that I will post news as soon as I have any! :)

Writing and...Chocolate Cake?

Writing a book is a funny thing. It sounds so easy, yet when you actually sit down to do it, it's really not very easy at all. 

I thought it was going to be a very simple task. I thought, "I have plenty to say, I'm creative and I've always been a good writer...or at least everyone (teachers, etc.) always told me so. This should be a piece of cake." Well, if it was a piece of cake, it was one of those giant pieces of cake that you see on TV (for those of you who know the slices of cake at Claim Jumper, think of it as one of those) where it seems delicious at first and then you realize you have too much of a good thing and even though it's all good and enjoyable, you're not sure you'll be able to finish it because it actually becomes too difficult. Imagine that...eating cake becoming an impossible task?

That's what it starts to feel like, though. Think of it this way. You have a HUGE piece of chocolate cake...I'm talking enormous... and you're sitting there and you  have to finish it all. Well, maybe about halfway through, you get full, or you wish you could eat vanilla instead. That's what happens when you're writing. You have good characters, a good plot, a good story going and then a few months in, you might get stuck, you get bored with them or you think of something else that is pulling at you MUCH stronger and it doesn't fit into the current storyline, yet you can't just abandon the one you're working on for fear that the two will get tangled or one will become contaminated with hints of the other...so you're stuck. 

Is writing still the greatest thing in the world? In my opinion, there is probably no other way I'd rather be spending my time....so don't get me wrong...in fact, as much as I love food (I'm Italian, it's in my DNA), I'd even pick writing over eating, so that says a lot about it. I'm just saying that everyone hits that wall where you're devouring something you love and it is such a huge task that it actually becomes so tedious, you wonder how that piece of chocolate cake could have ever looked inviting in the first place. 

For those of you who are chocolate fans. This is what it feels like when you sit down to write a book..imagine putting this in front of yourself and not being able to stray until you finish the whole thing. It seems like a good idea....at first :)