www.markmunson.com

One word – perseverance.  Fifteen query submissions, fifteen rejections.  But sometimes success hides just beneath the grimy surface of that failure.  I received my first semi-personalized rejection letter a couple weeks back.  I believe the quote from the agent was ‘your work has merit’.  Unfortunately, the manuscript was not the right fit for the agency.  A cause for celebration?  Yes!  When you’re wandering the desert, dying of thirst, even the smallest oasis – a few drops of water to quench dessicated lips – can be a godsend, motivation to keep inching ahead across the scorching dunes for that next, perhaps larger pool of water.  Having now beta tested the manuscript with many folks of various ages, I feel confident in the story.  A colleague’s 11 year old daughter, a voracious reader of young adult fiction, told her mom it was the best story she has ever read.  Now if that doesn’t give one inspiration to continue, nothing will.

I’ve learned three things on this literary endeavor: (1) writing a book is an adventure and if you don’t enjoy the journey, then you should’ve never embarked on it (2) if even a few souls enjoy my story, mission accomplished (3) trust your instincts and be patient; like Kevin Costner said, “If you build it, they will come.”  One way or another, I will get my manuscript in the hands of as many readers as I can.

Just finished reading Suzanne Collins’ vision of the future, The Hunger Games.  I enjoyed it very much, in as much as you can enjoy reading about a future where children are pitted against one another, to the death, in a gladatorial setting and cheered on by adults devoid of compassion.  Equal parts The Lottery, Lord of the Flies and The Running Man, the story remains quite engaging throughout even though it is mostly written in a first person narrative.  I look forward to the the next two books in the series.  A refreshing and clever slant on a dystopian world without vampires, werewolves or zombies.  Not quite a grim as The Road by Cormac McCarthy, another depressing read, but pretty bleak.  I look forward to seeing how it translates to the screen - my bet is that it won’t, but we’ll see.

Five years in the writing of book one (whew), The Doppleplotter Conspiracy, over 150 versions/rewrites, three rounds of editing, creation of my website, and now the real work begins!  Who would’ve guessed writing a book would be the easy part?  Query letters, honing a synopsis and researching literary agents – this is where the probabilities start to vanish toward zero.  First rejection letter received; not unanticipated, but painful all the same.  Perserverence, patience and a lotta luck.  You have two to three paragraphs to capture the excitement of an agent who is filtering through thousands of letters a month (the infamous slush pile).  Nevertheless, my intention remains the same – find an agent, publish via classical means (paper vs. ebook), and hopefully, one day, see my book on a shelf somewhere, assuming printed books still exist by the time I reach my goal.  Book two, Urq, a first draft, is written.  I’ll soon begin refining the story.  Amazing how much faster the second round went.  It’s been a long, steep learing curve, but I can honestly say, the ride has been exciting.  For all those aspiring authors, I leave you with a quote from Winston Churchill: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”