You Don't Feel Like Getting Published

So, you've completed your novel, your work. You've enjoyed it, you've liked writing it. Now, people might encourage you to begin to send queries, but you don't feel ready. You want to rest, feel proud for a while of what you've finished. If your lifelong wish hasn't been to get published, that you don't feel an urge to spur you on to send queries, then don't. You do what you want with your writing career. If you don't want to get published now, then don't try. Maybe you'll want to get published later, maybe never. 

You decide if you want to try now, later, or never. The career belongs to you. If I may suggest, read your work a few times, savour and cherish the words, think, "I made that." Sit down and read in your closet, nestled by clothes and musty air, sit down in your balcony and read, sit down on the grass and read. Play and rest, take a vacation. Turn to schoolwork, live an easy life. You have all of the time in the world. If you're still a kid, then there are years ahead of writing and publishing. Who knows? Don't rush yourself if you don't want to. Keep in mind that you decide what you want to do with your life.

The Next Step: Publishing

Publishing is a hard thing. There are thousands of authors and thousands of manuscripts out there in slush piles, desperate editors and agents sifting through queries, flipping through sample chapters, typing quickly, "thank you for considering us, but I don't believe your material is for me." But the publishing world isn't all that dark, there's always light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe you'll find somebody who will fall in love with your work, maybe you'll find somebody who is willing to help you. Here are a few main roles in the publishing business. Literary agents. A literary agent will represent you, handle the publicity, try to advertise your book, negotiate with editors about money, maybe help you polish your manuscript to perfection before sending it to an editor. Be careful, though. There are plenty of authors who are desperate for a literary agent, and when finally one accepts his or her manuscript, they immediately say yes. Observe an agent's background. Before being an agent, did they have anything to do with publishing? Were they editors or agents somewhere else? Were they librarians? Before saying yes to any literary agent, google their name along with scam or vanity. If there are several negative comments from people who have had experience with this literary agency, don't send a submission or accept their offer. A good website that tells you about good literary agents is Preditors and Editors. There's information about contests, editors, publishing houses, and more. Here is a list of some literary agencies I can trust. Folio Literary Management Adams Literary Ethan Ellenberg  Janklow and Nesbit Associates Laura Rennert Scott Waxman Dystel and Goderich Now, a literary agent isn't absolutely necessary. If you find a good agent, then you should say yes, but don't spend too much on literary agents. If more than 15 literary agents say no, then give it up and go straight to editors. But be prepared for a long wait - most literary agents agents answer in 3 weeks or more. Some answer in more than 8 weeks, so be patient. While you wait for their answers, it's a good idea to review your work again and email some authors or friends and family members to critique and view your work. Your school librarian is a good idea too. But be warned - literary agents will take a percentage of the money you get. If an editor says yes, then the agent will take some of the money you get, the way you pay for their services. Some will take 15%, others will take 25%, others will take 50%, or half of the money. Here is a link to a list that has an extensive number of literary agencies. http://www.literaryrambles.com/ There are also a few ways to learn some more, join other people, and get help. CANSCAIP, a Canadian organization for young writers which has a manuscript editing service. I think being a member of CANSCAIP would be around 45 CAD dollars, but I'm not sure. Here's the link to CANSCAIP. http://www.canscaip.org/ Another Canadian group would be the Society of Children's Book Writers. The fee to be a member is 85 dollars. Here is the link.  Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators You can also go to your local library and perhaps begin to talk with the librarians, who should have good information about publishing. Writer's Digest could also help, and it has a bunch of writing contests, which can help you. If you win any contests, then it will help you, for you will have recognition. If you won a contest at Writer's Digest, it could help you a lot, because it is an important magazine. However, contests can be just games and for fun. We're still kids, and publishing can make us grow up early, so don't forget to play, have fun, and still act like a kid. Now, getting back to the subject, befriending an editor assistant can help you too. Editor assistants can help convince a stubborn editor to help publish work. Agents also have assistants, so you can contact them too. However, editor and agent assistants will not always show their emails, so you can look in LinkedIn (if you have an account, or you can borrow your parent's), and see their contact information. Here are some editor assistants. Rachel Stout, assistant to Jane Dystel at Dystel and Goderich Literary Agency. Here is the link to the page, if it can help you. www.dystel.com I'm afraid I don't know many assistants, but I know that HarperCollins and Random House has quite a few as well.

Synonyms

Said Replied=responded, answered Mad=enraged, furious, angry, infuriated Happy=blissful, joyful, joyous, delighted, thrilled, cheerful, merry, bright Sad=sorrowful, melancholy, blue, depressed, mournful, grievous, stricken, forlorn, despaired, doleful, downcast, heavyhearted, somber... Frustrated=irritated, piqued, edgy Looked=gazed, scrutinized, surveyed, regarded, watched Saw Old=ancient Big=large, giant, gigantic, humongous. Smelly=reeking, stenches\stenched Stinky=reeking, stenches\stenched Shiny (this word is not necessarily a common word)=gleaming Hard=tough Cloudy=foggy, clouded Cried=wept, sobbed, blubbered, bawled, wailed, sniffed, snivelled Mocked, jeered, made fun of, scoffed, scorned, sneered, taunted Sparkled, glimmered, tinseled, glittered, gleamed, shone. Callused, coarsen, rough, knotted, gnarled. Poor, humble, submissive, unwealthy, underpriviliged, unfortunate. Embellished, adorned, decorated, garnished, ornately decorated. Stately, noble, proud, dignified, gallant, gracious. Walked=strode, paced, hiked, strolled. Succulent, sublime, mouthwatering, flavoursome. Rapid, speedy, quick. Ran=jogged, sprinted, galloped. Flamed, blazed, sparked. Yelled=screamed, shrieked, bellowed, shouted. Smug, proud, self-satisfied If you know more words, then look at Contact Me and Info, send me an email through the email I provided, and I'll include your words in the list.

Similies

As busy as a tree overpopulated with leaves.

Melting like butter in the sun.

Beautiful as Heaven.

Beautiful as the prettiest dream.

As red a woman's painted lips.

As graceful as a dancer.

As graceful as a cat.

As swift as a horse.

As white as the inside of an almond.

Adorned as a King's throne.

Like the largest pearls\swelling the largest pearls\as round a pearl

Roaring like a current.

Jagged as a mountain. 

Rolling like a hill.

Sloping like a hill.

Lush as the greenest grass.

Stately as a goddess.

Her\his chest swelled like the proudest warrior.

Clinked like two goblets.

Shattered like breaking glass.

Fluffy as cotton candy.

Fluffy as a cloud.

Fluffy as a puppy.

Sleek as a cat.

Handsome as a marble statue.

Beautiful as Aphrodite.

Shining like the sun.

Glittering like a diamond.

Glimmering like a star.

So muscled it looked like he\she had boulders under his\her skin.

Blushed like the cheek of a girl.

Kid Writers

Note: This comes from an old blog of mine, that is almost the same as this one. If this will console and comfort you, then here's a list of kids who have written incredible stories. You're not the only one. Kids have made it before. Pamela Whitlock and Katherine Hull. They wrote a book as teens and a few months later, I think, it was named a classic.  Gordon Korman. He wrote This Can't be Happening at MacDonald Hall in grade 8. Now he is successful and well-known in the publishing world. Susan Eloise Hinton. Anne Frank. Her story is a tearful one, but her diary was incredibly written and was published after her death.  Nancy Yi Fan. An immigrant from China, Nancy wrote her first book, Swordbird at age 13. She began it when she was eleven years old and completed it at 13. She is now at Harvard University. You. Look at Contact Me and Info, and send me an email through the email I provided. I'll include you in the list.

Improving a Sentence

Note: This post comes directly from an old blog of mine, that is almost the same thing as this one.

As I said in 'Strong Words', words form sentences, and sentences form paragraphs. Words must be strong and powerful, to be able to paint a picture in your mind or to make a sentence sound wonderful. Here is a choppy, Dick-and-Jane event, and here is the reworded event.

Before: "Matthew went to the supermarket. He ran. The day was grey. He bought 2 apples, and 3 oranges. He didn't like the smell of oranges. He walked into a puddle and his shoes got wet , his socks got squishy with water. He was mad. When he got home, he was really mad. He yelled at his sister."

After: "Matthew sprinted to the supermarket, the foggy, clouded sky frowning at him from above. As soon as he stepped inside, he rushed to the fruit stalls and bought 2 ripe red apples, and 3 swelling oranges, anxious to finish the task, for he wanted to get home and play. He wrinkled his nose and made a bitter, sour face, for he didn't like the odor of the oranges. He paid the cashier and jogged home, accidentally walking into a filthy puddle. After that, his shoes were drenched in brown water, and his socks were damp and soaked. He was already irritated, and when he got home, was furious and impatient to find that his sister had stolen half of his allowance to buy a present."

See how I added an event at the end, and added some descriptive words and a few transitions so the day would run smoothly. In Before, the sentences were all chopped up and were short. If you add a few commas and a few words, the sentence will be longer, and better. However, longer doesn't always mean better, so bear that in mind. In Before, it said, "he yelled at his sister." We don't know what the sister did to provoke him, so I added why she had angered him and his reaction. In Before, the event did hold a few descriptive words such as 'grey, smell, squishy, mad, and yelled.' Before used 2 of the senses, smell and feel. After had more descriptive words, the transitions were better, and the events were completed. My After may also need some rewording and fixing. Feel free to rewrite After, send it to me through email (Look at the Contact Me and Info page and send me an email through the email I provided) I'll post your edited, better version. 

Rewording a Sentence

Sentences demand a lot to be good ones. You have to have good grammar, good words, using commas when you should, and so forth. Here is a sentence and under is the reworded sentence.

The streetlights where yellow, the road was hard, and the cars were grey with dust.

Reworded

The black streetlights emitted a glowing yellow light, lighting up the gravel, hard road, where cars flecked and coated with dust sped by.

I made the description connect, all three objects connect and form one description instead of 3. 

If you have a better way to reword it, send me an email (Look at the Contact me and Info page and send me an email through the email I provided) I'll post your reworded sentence.

The Piccolina Tails

Here's a blog that I really love. I love the writing in it and it's really great for hamster owners. The Piccolina Tails is a great blog for hamster owners, with adventures, the day's stories, and facts about Piccolina the hamster. Piccolina's owner narrates her adventures, gives tips and advice on how to care for a hamster. Photos, facts, links, and all sorts of exciting things are posted almost daily. Stay tuned for every day's story.
thepiccolinatails.com