"Even the greats don't nail it on the first try." ~ Emily Temple
Each year in November, hundreds of thousands of ordinary, everyday people across the world take a challenge to write 50,000 words of fiction in thirty days. It's called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I've done this challenge many times. Since I know how effective it is in helping writers complete a very rough first draft, I often suggest NaNoWriMo in my classes and newsletter.
Each year in December, a fraction of those same people send their unedited or barely revised 50,000 words, the same words they just wrote in November, to agents and editors.
Here are six reasons why you do not want to do that:
1. They will hate you forever.
2. They will hate you forever.
3. They will hate you forever.
4. They will hate you forever.
5. They will hate you forever.
6. They will hate you forever.
Last month my husband and I attended a Veterans Day luncheon at the local senior center. A friend of Ed's who happens to be a retired editor, greeted me by saying, "I hate your newsletter!"
Um. Thanks.
He didn't hate my newsletter. What he hated was receiving submissions that weren't ready for an editor's eyes. I had to agree with him. I don't know if any of those submissions were written during NaNoWriMo, but the point remains - YOUR WORK MUST BE REVISED.
Please. I beg you. If you participated in NaNoWriMo this year, don't let the excitement (mania?) of November (or any writing spree for that matter) lull you into believing your work is ready to go out right away. Let your manuscript rest. Then, in January (or August), bring it out again. Revise, revise, revise. Have other people read it. Then revise again before submitting it anywhere.
You get one shot with an agent or editor. Don't waste it. Labels: agents, December, Ed, editing, editors, fiction, NaNoWriMo, newsletter, November, Revision, submissions, Veterans day, Write Now Newsletter