Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.
- Napoleon

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Crossing My Fingers

I just put the finishing touches on the publisher submission packet. It goes out tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and sending positive vibes along with it. (I'm not superstitious, but it can't hurt, can it?)

Just a reminder to all the hopefuls like me out there. Pay attention to submission guidelines. Please please please. Don't do what I did, and hope you remembered them right before you hit print, either. Or you could end up with 16 wasted pages printed at ink-sucking quality before you realize what you missed and have to stop the print job. Frack. Lucky for me, I found my snafu before I sent the damn thing out. And this particular publisher even says to follow their guidelines to the letter. Some places may make allowances for boneheads, but when someone tells you very specifically how they want to your submission to look, make damn sure it looks that way. Wouldn't it suck if you wrote truly amazing prose and got shit-canned because you weren't paying attention?

Don't throw yourself under a bus. Follow directions. It can only help, and when you're breaking into the show, you can use all the help you can get. (I know I can anyway.)

7 comments:

Zinnia Cyclamen said...

Good advice - and very, very, very best of luck.

Shannon said...

ooo, I'm nervous for you..lol Sending more positive vibes your way!

Janimé said...

Picture Janimé crossing her fingers and toes for ya! :-)

Travis Erwin said...

I've made that very same mistake.

Or even worse, find a typo in line at the PO.

B.E. Sanderson said...

Thanks for the luck, everyone.

Shhh, Shannon. I'm trying not to wake my inner paranoid. ;o)

Got it pictured, Janime. (And still in wonder at how you get the little tilde over your e without jumping through a million hoops.)

Been there done that, too, Travis. Ack.

Graeme K Talboys said...

Wise words. Good luck.

Erica Ridley said...

Yay for sending it out! That's half the battle. Seriously. I know lots of people whose requests are so old the requesters probably don't even work there anymore. So proud!!!