As the year comes to a close and we usher in a new year of 2025, I wanted to reflect on the last 12 months and as someone who is in a constant state of tunnel vision when it comes to recognising my achievements and milestones. This blog post is a way to visually see how much I’ve moved towards my goals.
I started January 2024 with one goal and that was to finish writing my debut novel and begin the editing stages. Initially, this was suppose to happen at the end of 2023, but I faced the dreaded writer’s block and the dwindling lack of energy as December rolled into view. Therefore I gave myself a little extension to finish writing in January. I’d left myself the hardest challenge and that was how to end a book I’d spent a year writing and plotting that would be satisfactory and give these character I’d fallen in love with an ending that wouldn’t leave anyone dangling off a cliff face or in some sort of turmoil. By the end of February – another self given extension – I’d finally completed my novel. As I stared down at the words THE END a sense of pride and shock washed over me, I’d achieved the one thing I thought was impossible. I finished writing a book from start to finish with plot twists, emotionally complicated characters and a world that was rich in adventure. Little did I know, writing was actually the easy part of this grand plan to write and publish a book.
March rolls around and I begin the lengthy editing process. One that at moments I enjoyed and others I loathed, the constant typos and errors that appeared to be multiplying on every page. During this time, I began unknotting those pesky plot holes which were more like caverns at times. The constant remembering and checking small details, such as which side of a character’s face held a scar or birth mark, which had me flipping frantically through my notebooks. Note to self: your handwriting is atrocious. This process took several months, it wasn’t until May that I was able to send my manuscript to the harshest critic I know, my mum. She has been avoiding all spoilers or any talk of plot points and characters from the very start, which has been eating away at me for months. The need to confess every plot twist and character flaw that I’ve been creating has been tortuous. But this was all for a good cause, my mum was able to read the manuscript with fresh eyes and she devoured the book within a week. I was secretly standing in doorways and spying on her when she had my sacred manuscript in hand catching a glimpse of every eyebrow raise and snigger. All good signs in my opinion. The verdict was better than I could have imagined – the last year I’d spent working on this story wasn’t in vain. This was the push that I needed to work on a few more plot holes and issues that had risen from this initial reading.
By August, I was staring at a completed manuscript. It was a strange feeling to have something completely absorb my focus for such a long time to then be completed. I was almost hollow that the process of creating something was complete. As I jumped over each hurdle that I believed to be more challenging than the last, I was ready to query. Before I’d even finished writing or even started editing, the querying process haunted me. I dreaded the moment that I would have to dive into the querying trenches and come face to face with inevitable rejection. Rejection is something that I have learnt is seen as a sort of initiation to becoming a writer – once you’ve experienced it you’re in the metaphorical club. Querying was something that I spent hours researching and gathering all the tips and tricks to help understand the process that has up to this point been shrouded in mystery. I began constructing what I hope will be my golden ticket – well golden email to a literary agent. In all honesty, writing the first draft of my query was a lot more challenging than I’d imagined. I was constantly in turmoil when choosing my comp titles and trying to ascertain where my story fitted in the current market. I knew that my book had several themes, pirates and an adventurous and rebellious noble and a threat to the world my main characters held dear, but actually pinning these themes down that translated to the market was soon becoming the bane of my querying life. Eventually, I managed to narrow down my comps and re-drafted my initial query letter a fair few times. I re-wrote my synopsis several times that concisely plotted the main events. I felt confident that I’d ticked all the boxes that a query letter needed from the metadata of the word count, the genre, the audience and the comps to a succinct blurb.
By the end of August I’d tentatively submitted my first handful of query letters. It was at this point I was naive, despite my extensive research that querying takes months and even years, I was hopeful that every agent I queried would fall in love with my book as much as I have. Alas, that has not been the case. As much as social media likes to create a false image that as soon as the sample chapters and query lands in the agent’s inbox, the writer becomes a hot topic with agents and publishers fighting for a book deal in a matter of days of querying. I was rudely awakened to the fact that querying might be a slow burn. During this time, I began entering writing competitions with my opening chapter and synopsis and was unfortunately unsuccessful. However, each time I entered a competition I was honing in my themes, my genre, and plot to the point that I have a a succinct submission pack just waiting for the right agent.
Let’s skip to September through to December where I was experiencing a steady stream of rejections or no responses. This is really disheartening and I’m continually questioning why my opening chapters or my story isn’t engaging enough to receive a full request from an agent. During this time, I began working on a new writing project that is still in the early stages of development but follows a cosy fantasy vibe with daft humour and a blooming romance that I plan to hopefully finish the first draft in early 2025. As hard as it is, I’m learning to be patient and to have faith that my story is worth telling and it is worth the fight to be published as I truly believe there are reader who will fall in love with these characters, world and story that I’ve created. While I haven’t reached my goal yet of finding the right agent who will champion my work, I know that it is a matter of time and I need to see where this journey takes me as often the case in life, not everything follows the same path as others and wonderful things can happen when you least expect it.
For 2025, I want to continue my querying journey but not stress at the stats and the request rates and just keep working hard on finding the right agent to help represent my work and continue writing no matter what. Overall, this year has been about learning patience and determination that I will achieve my goals, but they may take a little longer than 12 months to achieve. I’ve also learnt that while social media is a valuable resource, it is also toxic in creating false images that is often used to gloat. As much as 2024 hasn’t moved in a way that I initially hoped in terms of querying, I am still very proud of having a completed manuscript and taking those initial steps to achieving my dream of publishing. It is always about recognising the small milestones and achievements that make up the big goals.
The Pitch:
A girl makes a dangerous deal to save her father and becomes embroiled in a century old power struggle. Inspired by the magic and adventure of Pirates of the Caribbean this YA adventure blends rich world building, emotional depth and high stakes adventure perfect for fans of Tricia Levenseller’s DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING, Rachel Greenlaw’s COMPASS AND BLADE, Stephanie Garber’s ONCE UPON A BROKEN HEART and Cassandra Clare.
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Amy is a writer and reviewer and is currently querying literary agents with her Pirates of the Caribbean inspired debut fantasy novel. For more content click here to read book reviews, short stories and updates on Amy’s writing journey.
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