Well the short answer is….LOTS! If ever there was a person who became more productive based on productivity, that person is me. I think the easiest way to break it all down is to start at the beginning of the mayhem.
The Agent Part…
Over the summer many things came to fruition. I got an agent, lost said agent, and wrote two books. You may not know (if you are not in the author world) that getting an agent is kind of like hitting the lottery. This happened to me without even trying, and so I felt extra lucky (or anxious). However, as the saying goes, “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is,” my luck soon ran out. I had a funny feeling about all of this agent business from the moment he called and never fully allowed myself to trust that it would go anywhere. And it didn’t. Maybe it was my manifestation, maybe the guy was just a prick, maybe it was as he said it was, one will never know. The agent eventually told me that most publishers would never pick me up because I am self published and my sales at Barnes and Nobles and Target would be too low for them to make good projections on future orders and books. Totally understandable, but also questionable into why he even picked me up in the first place knowing all of this prior.
Here comes the good part…I wrote. I wrote, and wrote and wrote like there was a fire lit under my you-know-what and only writing could get it out. I knew that having an agent may be a once in a lifetime opportunity. I completed and submitted two books. The first one is a picture book. This is the one that the agent gave me all of the run around about being “self-published” and the other giant loads of BS. The title is (drum roll please) “Our Hearts”. It goes along perfectly with my other two books and is a rhyming love letter about how parents feel their children’s pain, love, joy, you name it. It is spectacular and beautiful and something every parent and child will want to read.
The second book I completed may be my favorite yet (side note, the agent refused to even look at this one as the “margins for middle-grade chapter books are too low”). This is a chapter book about a boy who hates school and ends up becoming the principal. He quickly realizes how terrible it is to be an adult and his life is forever changed. Coming out at the end of this year, I am truly thrilled and toying with the name “The Principal’s Realm”. It will be a sequel.
The whole agent thing sucked for about :30. I quickly realized that because of him I wrote two books, and in a vert short amount of time. I have already self published two books, and there is nothing stopping me from self-publishing two more. I didn’t need him, but he was helpful in motivating me.
There are absolutely no shortcuts. I sure wish there was, and was real close to maybe even having one, but shortcuts just do not exist If you want success, you have to work your tail off. Bad things happen, but great things may be hiding behind them.
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