In the movie version of my writing life, submitting my novel to various literacy agencies would no doubt be full of angst, as evidenced by lots of coffee swilling, swearing, and a montage of me tossing crumpled query letters over and over again into an over flowing waste basket. *cue jittery acid jazz as accompaniment*

Luckily, the real life version is much less stressful and, frankly, more FUN. *cue I’m Walking On Sunshine*

I’m really excited to find a home for my novel. (See my post: 4 Ways to Mentally Prepare For Querying Your Novel)

Finishing my novel was like crossing the line at a marathon. Searching for representation is like browsing the booths after the hard run. It’s the equivalent of nibbling samples of protein bars, drinking cool water, and enjoying the feel of warm sun on my face. I’m shopping around, looking at items of interest, searching for people who I know share my love of writing.

That’s all good.

I’ll admit that I balked a bit at the shift from creative writer to query writer. It seemed intimidating. But I studied examples and I went to a workshop and I got the hang of it and, guess what? I think I wrote a pretty good query letter!

Then came the submission guideline that required a one page synopsis.

Oh ho! A new writing challenge!

Ok, there was a little bit of hand wringing on my part to start. But I did as before: studied examples and looked for advice (like this site or this one) (Thank you, internet!)

Then I tried to write the thing, using those suggestions. NO MORE THAN 3 CHARACTERS MENTIONED BY NAME!  MAIN PLOT ONLY! NO SUB PLOTS!

I gave it a try and first draft took up 2 pages. Can I put the font size to 3 I wondered? NO. NO. Can’t. They need to be able to read it with normal vision, not a microscope.

Tried again.

It felt, briefly, like an impossible task. Like trying to fit into size 0 jeans. Never gonna happen. Not in my world.

Luckily, writing is not the same as one’s genetic predisposition, eating habits and biology. I CAN make my writing fit size 0 jeans, or in this case, one page.

It required some ruthlessness. And a rather reckless use of the EDIT/DELETE functions.

But I did it.

Time for a happy dance!