By Finishing a novel is the weirdest thing in the world. At least for me. At least now it is.
I shall explain (in my own way which will likely only make sense to me but you’ve already started reading so you might as well commit and finish the whole thing… NO ONE LIKES A QUITTER!).
There is something bittersweet about typing “The End” on your work in progress. For some reason I didn’t really feel it when I finished “During,” my horror novel. Maybe it was because of how long I had spent working on it and how many breaks I took during the process.
Something about “A Song For Echo” has me feeling some kind of way and I’m finding it hard to write something new. I have several novels planned out and even some in progress but every time I sit down to work on them, I can only think of Echo and Owen.
If you hadn’t read “The Sneaky Return of the Not-So Prolific Blogger,” allow me to catch you up.
Echo and Owen are the main characters of my latest novel, a trip into the world of young adult literature. “A Song For Echo” is a modern, queer, retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
The Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice tells the tragic love story of Orpheus, a gifted musician and son of Apollo, and Eurydice, a nymph. Their joyous wedding is cut short when Eurydice is bitten by a snake and dies. Overwhelmed by grief, Orpheus ventures into the Underworld to retrieve her. With his enchanting music, he persuades Hades to allow Eurydice to return to the living, with the condition that he must not look back until they reach the surface. In a moment of doubt, Orpheus glances back, breaking the pact and losing Eurydice forever.
My retelling does remove the journey to the underworld but traces of it still exist as Owen (the Orpheus of our story) copes with the loss of Echo (Eurydice).
The journey of writing “A Song For Echo” was nothing short of magical. It was one of those experiences where the words flowed effortlessly, and the characters practically leaped off the page. Where “During” took me two years to write, “A Song For Echo” was done in about three months. As a writer, you know these moments are rare and beautiful. But they also come with a double-edged sword – they make it incredibly hard to let go.
I really thought that when I typed the final words, I’d be able to move on to other projects and take the literary world by storm. But here I am, over a month later, and I haven’t been able to write a damn thing. Which I guess is a blessing for my followers here because, when I can’t write, I write.
I’d like to pretend that my writer’s block, as it were, was coming from the anxiety of waiting to hear back from agents and publishers about the book but that excuse is running thin. I queried 2 agents and 2 publishers and as of sitting down to write this post, I’ve heard back from one of each.
The agent was a very confusing “pass.” I say confusing because their feedback was conflicting because they managed to contradict themselves one sentence after another. I will admit that I completely spiraled after receiving it but after re-reading it a few times I realized that they really had no idea what they were talking about. Not in an egotistical “how dare they turn me down” kind of way but in a “have you read a book before” kind of way.
The rejection from the publisher did hurt as well but not as hard. I hard picked a relatively new publisher that is currently working primarily in young adult horror. “A Song For Echo” clearly isn’t horror but I decided to take a chance because the publisher did mention on their website that they would be branching out. A part of me thought I would be the book they’d branch out with, but it wasn’t the right time. I did get a very nice “rejection” email though and, while it sucks, I’m not as upset.
I guess I just need time. I didn’t exactly dive right back into writing after finishing “During” but I’ve never struggled this hard to go back into it.
I’ve also been driving myself insane knowing I haven’t been the best blogger as of late so the double edge sword exists.
I guess we all get to suffer together.
Avoiding Neverland 