As you might have guessed – I’m back from England. I really wish my visit there had to do with me finding an agent but that is not the case. I went there to have fun and celebrate one of my friends (she turned 22). Now that I’m back I’m processing all the feedback I’ve received for Project 2! Luckily, most of my beta readers seem to enjoy my novel so I do not feel I have not wasted my time writing it.
I’ve also complied a list of agents (11 so far) who might be interested in the novel. I’ll keep going until I have around 20. Those 20 will be the first agents I send my query letter to after my tutor in England has read draft 4. Even though I make progress every day (and am expecting a few calls this weekend from beta readers that will provide more feedback) I cannot help but marvel at how slow this process really is. Even when I have sent my query letters away (prob won’t be for another 8 – 12 weeks) it’ll take at least 12 weeks before an agent decides to represent me (if one from the first 20 even wants to. If not it’ll be another 8 weeks.. and then another 8… and another….). Then it’ll take a few months to find a published… Once there it’ll be another year before the book hits the shelves. Meanwhile, I’ll eat noodles scraped off the street!
– F H Hakansson
F. H. Hakansson 
Good luck! I know you can… God Bless!
Thank you, my friend! 😀
Glad to hear you had a safe trip. Best of luck and keep at it.
Thanks! Trust me – I will 🙂
But you’re following your dream, and that is… An amazing feat! Even if you don’t understand that now… *smile*
Yes, I think that once I see my first novel printed on a shelf in a bookstore I’ll be thankful for all I’ve accomplished and done 😀
Enjoy the noodle scraped off the street! 😛 Now where on earth did you get THAT from?!
Wow, it IS a really slow process … but I’m sure there’s something awaiting at the end of that eternity. 🙂
Let’s hope so 😀 Can’t wait until the day I get a call from my future agent saying I have a publishing contract 🙂
Fredrik,
It can be a very long road. And I know you will persevere no matter what. It is always so much easier to keep trying and fight for your book when you truly believe in it. Also, stay open-minded. Beta readers have a way of opening a can of worms and spilling them out all over the place!! In other words, they will undoubtedly find things that either you didn’t think about or that you may disagree with.
Another suggestion, don’t make changes immediately following a critique. Sit on it for a few days and let everything marinate. Then go back and see if those suggestions are applicable.
Good luck in this phase of the game!
Yes, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of things I never thought of, or even considered, while writing the novel. Then there are other things which some of them simply don’t get while reading, which makes it hard because I’m not sure if I should simplify certain things or keep it as it is.
Yes, that is a good advice which I try to follow. I read the comments and ponder them for a bit before deciding what to change. Most of the critique I get, though, regards simple spelling errors and bad sentence structure. I’m always so blind when it comes to polishing my own work.
Have you written it in English? Or your native language?
In English 🙂
I was just wondering; why don’t you go and find a publisher for your poetry. You’re really good at that too 😀
Thank you! :DI was thinking about that actually. I might publish a collection as an ebook that would be free and then put it on amazon. If people enjoyed it they could donate 🙂 But I want it to be a rather large collection – like 100 – 200 poems. SO far I have only published 58 so there’s a long way to go 🙂 If I do publish it I’ll tell you, and hope you download and rate it! (It will be free after all).