Monday, June 4, 2012

Resurrecting the Old WIP

I'd heard that when you're querying one project you should start working on another. Now I understand why. You need a distraction. Otherwise you'll be hitting refresh on your email every 5 seconds. That email ain't comin' for a long time because those agents are busy (and this week they're at BEA), many of them a month or two behind on their query inbox. This is a s...l...o...w process with a lot of turbulence, that's for SURE. I'd almost queried once upon a time (2009/2010) but I'm very very very happy I refrained because that book was so not query-ready, and deep down, I knew that. But I've gotta say, I'm glad to finally be in the query waters with this book.

I pulled out the WIP I'd put on the back burner last year when I started the one I'm querying now. I'd already written 20k words on it, and reading back through, I find that I still really do like the story and I'm excited to be working on it again. Emphasis on work. I'm a much stronger writer now than I was when I started drafting this WIP, and it's also in past tense so as I'm going through line by line to make it sound more like me, I've got tense to deal with. It's actually been a fun exercise this past week, watching something old become new and prettier. Breathing new life and a stronger voice into my characters, especially the male POV now that I'm learning how to better portray him.

 So what do you work on when you're querying? Something new? Something old? How do you distract yourself from email refresh madness?

Posted by Kristin Rae at Monday, June 04, 2012

4 comments:

  1. Creepy Query GirlJune 4, 2012 at 11:14 AM

    Yes yes yes. Once a project is ready to query, I'm usually too 'invested' in it to start something completely new so working on an old project helps. So does reading (and reading and reading) and critiquing other people's work. And blogging:)

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  2. Colene MurphyJune 4, 2012 at 2:36 PM

    Yep. Totes agree. Working on one on the side now whenever I start to panic or stress, I open it up and go somewhere else. It's perfectly wonderful to have that fun distraction! (and a pleasant reminder that we're here for the writing.) Good luck!

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  3. MeredithJune 4, 2012 at 2:45 PM

    I love working on old or new projects in breaks between revisions on my current WiP. It helps me focus on something else and come back to the WiP with fresh eyes. And I definitely need to do it while querying to keep from going crazy!

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  4. DL HammonsJune 10, 2012 at 3:29 PM

    I debated about pulling out an old project, but then I got enticed by a shiny new idea. I'm still outlining right now, but the writing is just on the horizon! :)

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