Erin Lodes

Help. Someone send help. And chocolate. And alcohol. And the biggest mountain of nachos the world has ever seen.

I am querying.

Insert string of expletives here.

I knew the mechanics of querying. Get all your ducks — query letter (or two), two-page and five-page synopsis, the freaking book itself all formatted nicely — in a row and then start researching agents you can send them to. I knew that you needed to research each agent and not send queries at random and follow ALL of the submission guidelines. I am good at the mechanics of querying (well, after writing all the materials you need to query with anyway).

I’ve decided to keep eight queries in circulation at all times. I know people vary on this and I could be persuaded to send out more, but for now, eight is good. I am using Query Tracker, which is helpful (and free). I have a separate spreadsheet of my own that keeps track of a ton of things like what in the agent’s preferences made me choose them, what exactly I sent to them, when I sent it, how I sent it, when I should expect to hear back, links to their agency websites, and more. It is extensive. It is color-coded. It is good.

What is NOT good, is the waiting.

I know querying is measured in months and not days but holy sweet whoever or whatever anyone prays to, I am not holding up well under the waiting. I got a few polite form rejections within a day of submission and I think those quick responses spoiled me. Because it isn’t the norm. And now I am back to waiting.

Waiting, waiting, waiting is my life now.

My heart trying to escape out of my throat each time my phone buzzes because IT COULD BE AN EMAIL FROM AN AGENT, and trying not to go back in and review my novel because I know what I need to be doing is working on the next one.

And I have things to keep me busy. I have a day job. I have three more ideas for novels I need to explore. I have a list of non-novel related things I need to do that is forever-long because I’ve been pushing all of that to the side while getting this freaking thing ready to go. I have a TBR list full of amazing books that I want to disappear inside. I have TV shows and movies I want to watch. I have family. And a puppy. And friends.

And I thought I knew what I was getting into but somehow I didn’t comprehend the difficulty I would face in getting my brain to focus on anything but constantly refreshing my inbox. But I have to do something other than slowly spiral down into the frenetic panic of waiting.

So, I’m making a list. Something physical I can check off. Trying to save my sanity. Wish me luck. And good luck to all of you other querying writers out there. I’m going to go have some nachos. Right after I check my inbox one more time…

How I Published My Novel is going to be an ongoing blog series detailing how I get this freaking thing published. I know, I know, you could probably tell that from the title… I’ve gotten to this point (and am still getting help from) the amazing John Adamus, who is my writing coach.

If you haven’t already, check out Part One of How I Finished My Novel, and start from the beginning of this story.