In his blog post today, agent Nathan Brandsford mentioned that he’s been inundated with a record number of queries lately. One of the things to which he’s attributed the volume is NaNoWriMo novels that “have been edited and are now ready for submission.” I had to take a massive pause.
Early March will mark a year since I finished the first draft of this book. Entering mid-January, I’m still furiously at work on edits. I am, at this point, extremely close; for the first time, I have every detail that needs to be changed itemized with specific plans. Once they’re actioned and I make a few final decisions about sequencing, I’ll be ready for submission. That said, even having this much clarity about revisions, I’m still at minimum two months away - which adds up to a full year plus since draft one was finished.
I’ve been told I’m unusually thorough and motivated (read: “obsessive”) to polish the hell out of this thing, but my own pursuit of solidity aside, I find it remarkably hard to believe that anyone who spent thirty days rushing through a fifty-thousand-plus word manuscript would have been through enough editing in a month to turn out a submission-worthy document. Perhaps they have a different standard of quality, or perhaps they’re absolute wunderkinds. I’m uncertain. But what I do know is that I’d never submit anything less than as-perfect-as-possible-before-I-start-to-over-edit-and-kill-it, and I can’t understand anyone who’d be content with less than that.
As I’ve documented, as every writer, agent, editor, and intern on the planet has documented, this industry is a bloodbath. Often, doors slam more than they open (if you can even manage to open them in the first place). If I have once chance, why would I ever, ever jeopardize it when I know the things of which I am capable?
M
