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NaNo Tracking
Saturday, November 2nd, 2019 01:12 pmSince I can't track what I'm doing on the website....
Nov. 1 (Friday) - Day Job day.
Nov. 2 - Querying 2 hrs 45 minutes. Mostly organizational; tweaked QUERY1 to include 2nd story sale (!!!), fine-tuned spreadsheet, sorted agent data from HoM efforts & various notes. Ready to research and go next time.
Nov. 3 - Day Job day. Bonus 30 minutes querying at a write-in at a cat cafe (astonishing that I did any at all). Not off to a great start: first agent I picked, who I've been looking forward to querying for ages, closed three months ago. *headdesk* Hope this is not a sign of things to come.
Nov. 4 - Querying 3 hrs. Researched the snot out of second agent on list (far more than necessary, really), then discovered that not only don't I have the various 5-page, 10-page, etc. chunks pre-made, I only barely have a submission-format version of the whole novel. Also, there's a bit I've tripped over before that I kept telling myself would be fine if I read it in context, that... isn't. Wondering if I need to do a fresh review pass on the whole MS before starting to shop it around.
Nov. 5 - Querying 2 hrs. Actually managed to send a query! And found another agent who's closed. Housemate convinced me last night that the bit wasn't an issue, so that's good. Now have 5-page and 10-page samples ready when needed.
Nov. 6 - Day Job day.
Nov. 7 - Querying 2 hrs 15 minutes. Found another agent closed to queries. Picked an agency & spent much time researching to determine best agent there to query, and did so. Went to very cold! write-in after writers group; didn't get any additional querying done, but did do some badly-needed computer maintenance.
Nov. 8 - Querying 2 hrs 15 minutes. That seems to be about what I need to research & query one agent. Yes, that's a long time; don't seem to be able to speed it up and still feel I'm doing due dilligence.
Nov. 9 - Day Job day. Bonus 2 hours querying, much of which was fighting with software & the printer to get a snail-mail query package looking decent. Time is approximate because I paused the timer and forgot to unpause it.
Nov. 10 - Querying 3.5 hours. Which sounds great, but all I ended up doing was crossing off a couple of agencies that had been at the top of my list. Bad fit by genre, bad fit by personality, etc. And this is important work that needs to be done, but damn it's discouraging to put in that much time with no queries sent to show for it.
Nov. 11 - Day Job day. I had meant to log some bonus querying time by taking a snail query to the post office, but after fishtailing through eight inches of churned slush on a main road, I decided it could wait, and so could anything else that didn't involve heading straight home.
Nov. 12 - Querying 1 hr 45 minutes. Actually sent something! which I feel pretty good about. Will try to do more later, and/or count the post office trip; now to finish shoveling the driveway so said trip can happen.
Nov. 13 - Day Job day.
Nov. 14 - Spent 45 minutes round-trip taking snail query to post office. Meant to do more, but other errands ate my morning, and the evening just... didn't happen.
Nov. 15 - Day Job day.
Nov. 16 - Spent 2 hours waffling back and forth between two agents (or neither) at same agency, only to discover that both require a synopsis, which I haven't written for Kitchen Sink. Frustratingly unproductive.
Nov. 17 - 3 hours, in which I crossed off a bad-fit agent, and then spent another couple hours waffling back and forth before crossing off another. I swear, I'm not trying to be insanely picky. But I do think that "only query people you're excited to work with" is good advice, and... I'm not. Hopefully next time.
Nov. 18 - Querying 3 hours 30 minutes. Much better than yesterday; a couple of agents I'd be excited to work with and that are open to queries!
Nov. 19 - Querying 3 hours. No queries sent, but I feel better than usual about that because my research ended up steering me clear of an agency with some very dubious practices. Sheesh!
Nov. 20 - Day Job day.
Nov. 21 - Querying 2 hours. Crossed off more agents.
Nov. 22 - Querying 3 hours 15 minutes. Crossed off some more, then found a brand new agent I like the sound of. Query sent! Also prepped more samples of varying lengths.
Nov. 23 - Day Job day.
Nov. 24-29 - Lost five days to the emergency trip to Canada and attendant housemate feeding & maintenance. Nov. 26 was a Day Job day.
Nov. 30 - Querying 2 hours 45 minutes, bringing me in at a total of 40 hours 15 minutes -- fifteen minutes over quota!!
Nov. 1 (Friday) - Day Job day.
Nov. 2 - Querying 2 hrs 45 minutes. Mostly organizational; tweaked QUERY1 to include 2nd story sale (!!!), fine-tuned spreadsheet, sorted agent data from HoM efforts & various notes. Ready to research and go next time.
Nov. 3 - Day Job day. Bonus 30 minutes querying at a write-in at a cat cafe (astonishing that I did any at all). Not off to a great start: first agent I picked, who I've been looking forward to querying for ages, closed three months ago. *headdesk* Hope this is not a sign of things to come.
Nov. 4 - Querying 3 hrs. Researched the snot out of second agent on list (far more than necessary, really), then discovered that not only don't I have the various 5-page, 10-page, etc. chunks pre-made, I only barely have a submission-format version of the whole novel. Also, there's a bit I've tripped over before that I kept telling myself would be fine if I read it in context, that... isn't. Wondering if I need to do a fresh review pass on the whole MS before starting to shop it around.
Nov. 5 - Querying 2 hrs. Actually managed to send a query! And found another agent who's closed. Housemate convinced me last night that the bit wasn't an issue, so that's good. Now have 5-page and 10-page samples ready when needed.
Nov. 6 - Day Job day.
Nov. 7 - Querying 2 hrs 15 minutes. Found another agent closed to queries. Picked an agency & spent much time researching to determine best agent there to query, and did so. Went to very cold! write-in after writers group; didn't get any additional querying done, but did do some badly-needed computer maintenance.
Nov. 8 - Querying 2 hrs 15 minutes. That seems to be about what I need to research & query one agent. Yes, that's a long time; don't seem to be able to speed it up and still feel I'm doing due dilligence.
Nov. 9 - Day Job day. Bonus 2 hours querying, much of which was fighting with software & the printer to get a snail-mail query package looking decent. Time is approximate because I paused the timer and forgot to unpause it.
Nov. 10 - Querying 3.5 hours. Which sounds great, but all I ended up doing was crossing off a couple of agencies that had been at the top of my list. Bad fit by genre, bad fit by personality, etc. And this is important work that needs to be done, but damn it's discouraging to put in that much time with no queries sent to show for it.
Nov. 11 - Day Job day. I had meant to log some bonus querying time by taking a snail query to the post office, but after fishtailing through eight inches of churned slush on a main road, I decided it could wait, and so could anything else that didn't involve heading straight home.
Nov. 12 - Querying 1 hr 45 minutes. Actually sent something! which I feel pretty good about. Will try to do more later, and/or count the post office trip; now to finish shoveling the driveway so said trip can happen.
Nov. 13 - Day Job day.
Nov. 14 - Spent 45 minutes round-trip taking snail query to post office. Meant to do more, but other errands ate my morning, and the evening just... didn't happen.
Nov. 15 - Day Job day.
Nov. 16 - Spent 2 hours waffling back and forth between two agents (or neither) at same agency, only to discover that both require a synopsis, which I haven't written for Kitchen Sink. Frustratingly unproductive.
Nov. 17 - 3 hours, in which I crossed off a bad-fit agent, and then spent another couple hours waffling back and forth before crossing off another. I swear, I'm not trying to be insanely picky. But I do think that "only query people you're excited to work with" is good advice, and... I'm not. Hopefully next time.
Nov. 18 - Querying 3 hours 30 minutes. Much better than yesterday; a couple of agents I'd be excited to work with and that are open to queries!
Nov. 19 - Querying 3 hours. No queries sent, but I feel better than usual about that because my research ended up steering me clear of an agency with some very dubious practices. Sheesh!
Nov. 20 - Day Job day.
Nov. 21 - Querying 2 hours. Crossed off more agents.
Nov. 22 - Querying 3 hours 15 minutes. Crossed off some more, then found a brand new agent I like the sound of. Query sent! Also prepped more samples of varying lengths.
Nov. 23 - Day Job day.
Nov. 24-29 - Lost five days to the emergency trip to Canada and attendant housemate feeding & maintenance. Nov. 26 was a Day Job day.
Nov. 30 - Querying 2 hours 45 minutes, bringing me in at a total of 40 hours 15 minutes -- fifteen minutes over quota!!
