Drawing from the Well
Queries Sent: 1
Total Queries: 27
Rejections: 5
Scenes Mapped: 0
Total Scenes: 289
No scenes written yesterday, but I took the evening to relax and play some WoW after spending time with my family to help discharge from last week and recharge for this week. Today, I’m feeling quite calm and ready to attack all my goals both personal, professional, and creative.
Filling the Well
1984: 89%
Bloodwitch: 17%
The Raven Boys: 69%
No progress made here, but it was a busy, wonderful day yesterday AND I sent a query so I’m taking my victories where I can. I don’t have the flow back in check yet, but at least I still have a full well to work with for the production mentioned above.
Polishing the Well
Happy Memorial Day to all of you out there. For my non-U.S. readers, today is a national holiday celebrating those who served our country in the military and gave the ultimate sacrifice of their lives for it. I am grateful and humbled by such heroic acts.
For my U.S. readers, be careful of wishing LIVING active and veteran military personnel a Happy Memorial Day and thanking them for their sacrifice since Memorial Day is for the dead. Veteran’s Day later this year is for the living.
Today we’re going to get some shopping done for summer trips so that we’re prepared and then likely relax and prepare for the next week, which is, coincidentally, my kids last week of school for the year.
Well Chat
The Importance of Giving Something Away
This blog is based off yesterday’s Sermon from Highland Park Church in Lakeland, FL.
Yesterday’s sermon inspired me. The power behind the couple preaching was palpable. Their words were relatable and resonant. Their insights were undeniable.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and re-preach to you. The podcast link is above and I sincerely encourage you to go listen to it. What I am going to do is repeat the last thing said in this sermon and apply it to writing.
Huh? Yeah. It was that powerful to me to be universally applicable.
This is the Jordan River in Israel. Its source is Mount Hermon bridging Syria and Lebanon. It stretches 156 miles through the Sea of Galilee into the Dead Sea. The seas here are the important part of the story.
The Sea of Galilee is an important Biblical location but it is still an important economic location in the region to this day. The sea is vibrant and alive teeming with fish and pocked with boats every single day. Life is rich both above and below the surface and without it, life in Israel and Syria would be very different.
Ride the lower course of the Jordan south through the Jordan valley and you arrive at the Dead Sea. This sea, contrary to its northern cousin, is thick and lifeless. The sea is filled with poisonous chemicals that kill anything that tries to survive within it and these chemicals cannot escape. That is how the Dead Sea got its name.
The question is why these two seas, fed by the same river, are so different. As the title of this blog suggests, it is not because of what they receive. Their source is the same pristine area atop Mount Hermon. So what’s different?
Their release. Water flows THROUGH the Sea of Galilee, leaving it and traveling on further south. Nothing leaves the Dead Sea. The only way water gets out is through evaporation and thus anything that traveled down the river with that water is left behind. That’s right, those would be the noxious chemicals that kill life. It’s because the sea never releases its water to the next source, nothing flows through it, and the sea remains dead.
This is applicable to your writing. Most agents and many publishers will not want to represent your book if you have already self-published it or even posted it on WattPad. I’m not suggesting going that way unless that is your chosen path i.e. don’t do both. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give things away for free. I’ve seen many successful preorder campaigns where the author has offered post cards, pins, bookmarks, and more. Giving away free copies of your book is also a great way to give to your reading community to drum up interest. That’s all leading up to release, though. What can you do in the meantime if you’re not giving your story away?
Give away branches that don’t make it into the novel. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know about my practice of anecdote-writing to learn a character. Post that on WattPad and share it on your social media. Hand-draw your own versions of your characters or a map of your world and post it on DeviantArt or, again, social media. Give your readers a taste while you’re trying to get an agent or publisher to swallow the whole thing.
And once you’re published, keep it up. Give away pieces, fragments, and swag. Releasing these pieces of your work open you up to receive greater blessings through their loyalty and them coming for your real product: your book. So get after it and don’t be afraid to put something out there. Your newfound fans will love you for it.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG