A year ago, I took a class on pitching manuscripts to agents. I learned a great deal about the process of finding an agent and am quite grateful I took the class. I also learned that I had written several books…
I spent a few months tightening a manuscript that I considered the beginning of the bunch. When I tried to write up a pitch for it, I realized that the premise of that book was not as inherently interesting like Ari, my Raven girl who cleans up dead bodies from battlefields. With a goal of landing an agent and then a publisher, I need to lead with my most interesting and pitchable story. If I am liked and well received, pitching other books will come more easily. So I shelved that other manuscript as a possible prequel and have been focusing again on Ari, my Raven, ever since.
I’ve rewritten and expanded Ari out of her 1st-person, blog voice and into what I’d consider book prose. Though the manuscript fits into the narrative of Travel Log of a Raven, I’ve expanded and recreated the story in this new manuscript which I’m calling Breath of the Meige. Though my previous work on this website complements this new material, Breath of the Meige is fresh and paints a much richer picture. I am quite proud to show it off.
I’ve spent the last few months ironing out the kinks and details of Ari’s story in Breath of the Meige. The entire editing process seemed to go painstakingly slow for me. Only able to work on weekends, I found I could only edit a single chapter per night. But all that effort has paid off, and I am feeling confident with the material I have.
With four more weekends to go, I’m attending the San Francisco Writers Conference in February to pitch Breath of the Meige to agents. If I don’t find any interested agents, I will search the MS Wishlist to find an agent whose wish fits the profile of my manuscript. Either way, I’m moving forward and excited to see what this new year brings. 2020 feels good to me.
I’ve attached an image I designed for my business card. Yes, every millimeter of it has to do with the story of Breath of the Meige. The final design will be colored, though I do like the affect the yellow lighting had on the image…
P.S. Though I like the numbers of 2020, the idea of a metal rat seems rather daunting.
