Getting it out there...

There's an old philosophy aspiring novelists should live by - don't give up on getting your book published until you've been rejected 100 times.

100 is a bit ambitious - but great writers like J.K. Rowling and Frederick Forsyth had to deal with several rejections before their bestsellers found homes. Why shouldn't the rest of us?

Anyway, I haven't even sent 'Bootleg Boys' out to a single agent.

I guess I've been scared of rejection.

Which I shouldn't be. After all, if Rowling got rejected, I shouldn't feel too bad about it. Besides, I've had some really good feedback about 'Bootleg Boys.' I read it myself recently and noticed the things that made it considerably better than my first attempt at a full length novel, 'Adventure Eddy.'

'Bootleg Boys' is character-driven - the actions and motivations of the characters drive the story. 'Adventure Eddy,' by comparison, was all plot and no heart. When I suffered from writer's block with 'Adventure Eddy,' it was because I couldn't think of a way to convince my characters to do what the plot required of them.

It was the opposite problem with 'Bootleg Boys.' Plot went out of the window as the book neared completion because Eddy, Lucy and his friends had needs, drives and desires of their own and didn't want to do what my plot plan expected them to. It was in letting them drive the story that I 'found my feet' and wrote something better that what had come before.

I might have found my feet writing 'Bootleg Boys,' but I haven't found a publisher.

But I shall!

Today, I've sent out 'Bootleg Boys' to an agent. I flirted with email submissions before, but this time I'm sending it out in printed format to real agents. Seeing my submission in print somehow makes the whole experience more tangible.

It's not going to be easy. Conservative estimates suggest that fewer than 1 in 500 first-time submissions get accepted by an agent (and even fewer ultimately go on to be published.)

But unless I put my work out there and risk rejection, I'll never know whether my destiny was to be an action/adventure novelist or a half-wit hack.

I know I can write. It's what I get paid to do each and every day. Surely somebody will see my ability eventually...

Eventually is the right word. Submitting novels is a TOUGH and LONG process. There are hundreds of agents out there, but most frown on 'multiple submissions.' Sending your book off to more than one of them at a time is an industry no-no. Considering that it takes them between four weeks and three months to get back to budding writers, the 'one at a time' routine is frustrating and time-consuming and means just a few rejections can add months to the time frame of getting your book in print.

But I've also learned that agents expect their authors to play ball - so not following their guidelines will most likely inspire a rejection even before they've considered your writing. Therefore, I'm going to do the 'right thing,' even if it's a long, slow process.

Because, like with my diet, as long as I'm making progress, that's the main thing...