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’m swaying in the hammock in our living room to distract myself from awaiting judgement. Querying truly must be the author’s purgatory. For the people-pleaser in me, it’s a most exquisite agony. For the imposter syndrome, just a delay on inevitable disappointment. For the childlike hopefulness, an extended held breath. It’s increasingly difficult not to tie my worth and “worthiness” in the publishing world to this one book idea resting in a stranger’s hands
I’ve been putting off this month’s letter in the hopes that I would at least have an answer to share with you, but alas! You are stuck here in limbo with me. The good news is, I’ve been brainstorming three new book ideas while I wait, so whatever the answer is, there will nevertheless be more stories to come.
The three project genres include:
- YA fantasy about a girl on the hunt for the family she lost.
- Adult fantasy about mushrooms and magic, not necessarily in that order.
- YA dystopian about a kid and a bot and not much else because that’s all I’ve got so far.
Let me know which direction intrigues you the most! That most certainly will not determine which one I focus on, but it would be fun to hear your subjective preference based on nothing but a sentence and a quick doodle.
In other (related) news, my podcast co-host and I will be kicking off Granny Wri Mo on November 1ˢᵗ, where a coerce other writers into writing every day for the month of November with us. Join if you dare!
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 :)
