Twanna A. Hines @ FUNKYBROWNCHICK.com | sex. dating. relationships.

Book Update: Rough 1st Draft Is Done

No Manly Monday today. Sorry. I need to hijack today’s post because a couple of you asked questions about my book, and I want to update you on its status … apologies in advance for the random blabber; this post has absolutely NO form … Okay, so, basically, there are (at least) two ways to sell a book. You can either: (1) write a proposal or (2) write the whole damn book. A proposal is like a business plan. You craft a 20 – 30 page document that says: “Okay, here’s what I plan to write, and here’s why I think people will buy it.” Tack on a couple sample chapters. Give it to an agent who, in turn, shops it around a couple publishing houses. Voila book deal! :) Actually, it’s a bit more complex than that, but it’s definitely less time consuming than the other option: write the whole damn thing.

Biggest benefit to the proposal route? If your book idea sucks and no one wants to buy it, you haven’t “wasted” a lot of time working on the project. On the other hand, if the idea is great, you get your advance faster and you don’t have to wait the entire year (or more) when the book is finished.

Biggest benefit to pounding the whole thing out? Your advance is likely to be bigger because they’re paying for a full project instead of a “proposed” project. Plus, at the end of the day — if you want to “sell” a book — you’ve gotta “write” it anyway, so you might as well just do it.

I spent 1/2 of last year figuring out what my book should be about. Once I got that nailed down, I had to work on a lot of emotional baggage. Self-doubt pissed all over my fucking book. I told myself, “This is the longest thing I’ve ever written. I don’t even know how I’ll finish it.” As I wrote chapters, I repeatedly said, “This chapter is never going to get done.” Throwing negativity at the project wasn’t helping, but I was being honest. Partly, maybe I was afraid of finishing  … “What if no one likes my typescript and I can’t get it published?” or “What if it gets published and no one buys the book.” or “What if it gets published and people buy it, but family members, ex-boyfriends and others I mention in my book all start to hate me for the things I’ve revealed.”

[sigh]

Nothing else to add to that besides a big long sigh, I guess. Whatever. Anyway. I’m working through it.

I’ve now written 11 of my book’s 11 chapters. It’s still not “done.” Some bits are in better shape than others — the most recently finished three chapters still need a lot of work. Like, A LOT. I’m going to spend the next couple of months (maybe more) editing, revising, restructuring the whole thing. After that, I’ll begin pitching agents. So, that’s the scoop. As more news rolls in, I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, on a completely different note … As I mentioned on Twitter last night, I’ve kept a written journal since I was in sixth grade. Every now and then, I revisit old entries to remember who I was in grade school, junior high, college or whatever. It’s a lot like flipping through a high school yearbook (”Oh, I remember him … “) Anyway. Thought I’d snap a quick picture of a funny entry from August 1991. My handwriting was much neater then.

C’est tout. My fingers are tired of typing. :( I spent A LOT of time working on the book this weekend.

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