The Great Outdoors of Withdrawl

I leave in 12 hours for a 3-day camping trip. Wish me luck in not having internet withdrawl. Oh, how lovely the techno generation is...

But I've packed The Vampire Lestat and all 3 Twilight books, PLUS I still have this thesis to work on.

Speaking of, I just finished the anxiety chapter. It needs more auxillary detail, but I don't even want to look at it right now. However, it does mean that I only have one chapter until this monster that is Part I is FINISHED. *rejoices* (And hopefully at 150 pages too. XD)

And the redone query letter is almost finished. I apparently just needed to tweak it and add a bit more plot detail as I'd left it a bit too ambiguous. Hopefully I'll get those sent off before the Breaking Dawn release party on Friday.

Additionally, I still need to email the eBay seller about the still MIA holsters for my costume. Also, I was told by the manager of the campus bookstore that the new books would FINALLY be listed "next week"--hopefully while I'm gone so that I can come home to some good news.

Making plans

I have one goal for tomorrow. Break out the envelopes and stamps. I'm going to go through, edit my query letter, and send out another batch of them. I believe there's quite a few people left on my list.

And I wonder if there's protocol for resubmitting a query? I should look that up.

Plans for Kumoricon '08 have changed a bit. I'm doing only two cosplays instead of 3, but the second is actually shaping into something. Especially now that I have a new sewing machine. Hopefully it'll turn out. *crosses fingers*

Additionally, I now have plans to save money and take a trip down to Dallas next May for A-Kon, which will be rather spectacular. My goal is to save a minimum of $500 for the trip, as I've figured out basic cost (Likely $150 for the plane, another $150 for the two nights in the hotel, and $30 for the pre-registration). EXCITEMENT!

And the book is going MUCH slower, which is not pleasing. I don't know if my drive is running out, if the characters aren't working for me anymore, or if the thing has been flawed from the beginning. I need to kick my ass into gear though. I wanted to have 90% of it done by the time I moved back to Portland, and I'm almost to something like 33%. Not anywhere close. Grr. But at least I can send it to my prof. once Part I is finished. Three more chapters, Kaitlyn. You can do this!

Yet more queries...

I reviewed my query letters, and realized the count is at 5 flat rejections or "this isn't for me" responses (1 online query), and one letter I never got a response for.

I'll be sending out #'s 7, 8, and 9 tomorrow.

I just hope "urban fantasy" is a real genre. I don't know what else I can concieve to call this project. I've tried gothic, and fantasy, but someone told me that Jim Butcher was considered "urban fantasy," and since it's a bit of a similar environment...

Wish them luck?

Rejection and Excitement

So far, 3/6 of my agent responses have been direct declines. It's been all "The work isn't my type," which means that it's definitely a lack of research/miscommmunication on my part. I think I'm marketing the book as horror when I should go with supernatural/dark fantasy. In the last letter I sent off, I changed the genre, so we'll see if that makes a difference.

I thought I'd be taking the rejection harder though.

I suppose it's a good thing that I'm not though, eh?

I need to get writing done tonight too, as tomorrow CRISIS CORE comes out, and I just don't think that I'll have much time left in my day. Hahaha.

Fangirlish excitement, oh gods.

By the way: Neon Genesis Evangelion is funny stuff. Especially easy to make fun of, and the stagnant moments of pseudo art...oh man. It's enjoyable just for its quirks alone. I'm almost happy that I need to use it for my thesis.

Slow, but steady....

No news on my literary agent queries yet. Meep. It's only been about a week and a half though, so next week may be the beginning of the responses. Oh dear.

I'm starting a new short story for my Creative Writing class that's meant to accompany "The King of Nothingness" on a very basic level. So far the idea is "The Queen of Death," but I may come up with a better and more ambiguous name. I'll need to go through my playlists first, as those ALWAYS help. But I believe that it has to be done by Sunday, so I need to come up with something soon.

And I have my first Peace Rally tomorrow, which may cut down significantly on my time.

Either way, this weekend will likely be quite awesome.