Submitting - or I don't wanna

After “the end” has been written and the book polished beyond all measure, the next step is actually submitting it. And this part of the process is where I get clammy hands and my inner 2 year old says “I don’t wanna”.

Submitting means drafting the perfect cover letter, which, not unlike a cover letter for a job, has to get the attention of the editor/agent in .234 seconds and make them not through your hard work in the round file (or more common these days, hit the delete button). There are whole books on the submission process and how to write the perfect cover letter and I own exactly none of them.

There are workshops given and conferences devoted to the submission process and guess how many I’ve attended? That’s right, none.

Mostly it was because I was still figuring out how to write – how to put in GMC (Goal, Motivation, Conflict) in my work, create the perfect character, show not tell, etc. But now that I actually have things completed – things that are nearing the end of the editing process, I don’t have that excuse any more.

See if I want to sell my work, see it in that space on the bookshelf or featured on that website, I have to submit the thing. And I’m going to have to get rejected – probably more times than I want to think about. In order to do that, I have to learn how to properly submit a body of work to a publisher and/or agent.

Even if I don’t wanna.