Note: This is a typed version of the handwritten letter I sent to my email subscribers. If you’d like to see the handwritten version (and the doodles I send along with it), subscribe to Letters from Elise
dear you,
I write this letter from my office chair at my desk. I’m not actually using the desk, obviously. That would be far too proper. I started pencilling stories onto a notebook propped against my knees when I was 12 years old. I’m 30 now. They tell me I’ll regret this posture soon. But here we are.
The Promised Update
PROJECT [REDACTED]: 100% COMPLETE
PROJECT BUG BABIES: 30% COMPLETE
Here’s the news: I finished my draft by the end of July as planned! I celebrated accordingly by going out for treats two days in a row and writing absolutely nothing in between. And then Project Bug Babies arose from the depths of the sea like a nightmarish leviathan and swallowed me entire.
Basically, after sending 85+ letters to 85+ literary agencies over the last year and a half, asking if any of them would represent me to publishers to try and sell my book, one wrote back with “maybe.”
The good news: she loved the book overall!
The catch: Not enough to represent it… Yet.
After meeting with her to discuss her thoughts and feedback, I have embarked on a complete revision of all 94,000 words of the draft she liked, on the off-chance I can turn it into something she (and 1!) LOVES. Yes, this will be the fifth revision I’ve done of this book since I originally wrote it. And luckily, no: I don’t hate it yet.
This has honestly been the most exciting revision project I’ve ever done. Sure, she could read the new draft later this fall and still say “Thanks, but no thanks.” And that would crush my soul a bit. But then I’ll self publish it for whoever wants it and move onto the next book, because apparently this is the only thing I just WANT to do — no matter what.
Unfortunately, what this means for July’s PROJECT [REDACTED] is that it ’s on hold until I complete these revisions. But hey! This agent might be interested in that project too!
Will this carriage turn into a pumpkin after midnight? Or will this fairytale carry on a little longer? Only Time will tell, I’m afraid.
See you in the next one! My hope is that PROJECT BUG BABIES will be 90-100% revised by then.
yours,
elise
P.S., If you’d like to see the handwritten version (and the doodles and tea recommendations I send along with it), subscribe to Letters from Elise :)
