Build-a-Book Report #3

The work on my two new books goes on...

Last Wednesday I discovered that an agency that has long interested me has opened its doors to new clients again, so I took time out from my book-writing to study what to look for in an agent, what questions to ask them, and what to expect from them. This agency fit the bill well for my type of writing, so I drew up a query letter (letter of inquiry) pitching my Bible overview book specifically and my other unpublished books in general, including those I am now working on. Most agents want to develop their writers as a whole--the reason I needed to list all my works. I have been wanting a good agent for so long, having tinkered with a few that for various reasons didn't look good or didn't work out. So, Lord, it's up to you now.

As the week went on, I managed to pull together an outline for the second book, the one about America's Struggle for Its Soul, digging through the numerous clippings I regularly collect almost daily and plunk into my resource files. I ended up with thirty-six chapters, but that's not a final number--just an initial thrust. Some of them won't be worth developing, some won't make a good chapter, and some will be deemed along the way to belong elsewhere. In my resource files I discovered about three other outlines of chapter contents from earlier attempts to start this project, some of them with a better development than my present one. Thus began the tedious task of sifting through all of them to find my best ideas to date. This is one of the hardest parts of writing---knowing what to throw out, what to move to another project, and what to toss. "Finding my focus," I guess you would call it. It's like pulling sandburs out of your sox, one at a time--slow, trying, and tedious. I'm struggling with it daily and may be for some time.

Thanks for staying with me. Do you have any questions on what I've said so far or any other questions on the writing process? Please don't hesitate to e-mail me at marghouk@juno.com.

Your friendly but frustrated (gritting my teeth) writer,
Margaret