"Go down deep enough into anything and you will find mathematics." ~Dean Schlicter
I was surprised recently during a conversation with my left-brained friend, Maureen. I was complaining about the daunting task of sending query letters.
"It's overwhelming," I said. "I get freaked out. And the rejections are so depressing."
"Do you have a goal?" she asked.
Although the word "goal" set my teeth on edge, I admitted that I wanted to send one hundred query letters by the end of July.
"How's it coming?" she asked.
I explained that I'd sent out twenty. "Some days I can't send any," I said. "Other days I send three or four."
In response, she asked something that seemed so contradictory, so absurd, I laughed.
"Have you done the math?"
"The math?" I asked, certain she didn't understand me, or the creative process. Right-brained people like me don't do math. Besides, what did math have to do with asking agents if they would represent my book?
Exasperated I said, "What's math got to do with it?" Then, only joking a little, I added, "I'm a lawyer. We pay accountants to do math for us."
She chuckled, "Well, if you figured out how many query letters per day you needed to send in order to meet your goal, it might take some of the drama out of the process."
Drama? Yes. Drama.
She added, "It would quantify things. Make them more mechanical. Less emotional."
"Quantify," I repeated. Then it dawned one me that quantifying a project was exactly what I did each November during National Novel Writing Month. We each have the goal of writing 50,000 words in thirty days, but none of us can think about that. Instead we each focus on the daily goal of 1,667 words. Every day we meet that goal and by the end of the month we've each written 50,000 words.
This is why it's helpful to have left-brained friends. Maureen's solution had never occurred to me. She is creative as well, but her first instinct was to apply structure to what seemed to me to be a very messy problem. Structure made it manageable.
Our conversation happened in the middle of June. I had 80 more letters to send and there were 32 week days left until the end of July. (80 ÷ 32 = 2.5 per day) Therefore, if I sent three query letters each week day, I'd finish before the end of July.
I've followed Maureen's advice and I'm well on my way to my goal. As an added bonus, focusing on the mechanics of sending letters and on the number of letters sent instead of the emotional prospect of receiving a rejection, has toned down the drama.
Keep those left-brained people around. We need them!Labels: agents, Dean Schlicter, drama, math, Maureen, NaNoWriMo, queries, Twentysixpointfreakingtwo