Professor Fintail answers student’s questions about Burrowgroves School of Magic and the classes she may have a chance to substitute teach. Here’s your chance to input your ideas and desires for magic school classes and magic craft ideas – check it out. 🙂
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What’s going on with my current writing projects? Here’s my ongoing updates:
What am I up to? Several of these have to do with my writing projects.
This journey of becoming a novelist and writer has been so fascinating. After working on my great big idea, my very unusual novel, on and off for sevearl years, I finally finished and got a book agent (also called a literary agent). This author can’t stop dancing!
From the beginning and throughout the entire process I’ve been studying, learning and practicing the principles of the Law of Attraction – reading all the books by Esther Hicks, the original source of this material. There are also a ton of YouTube videos where you can listen to Esther Hicks answer all kinds of questions. You can also search under Abraham Hicks.
Through these principles I first asked for an original idea for my own novel. The next morning I awoke with the first few sentences in my head. The whole idea was full of magic and I’ve been enchanted with it ever since, even though my work on it was on again – off again, for many years.
At a sci-fi/fantasy conference I took an author’s workshop. When she learned about my idea, she became so excited she offered to write the blurb on the back for me. Her enthusiasm acted as a catalyst and I began writing in earnest. I joined a local writer’s group whose main goal is to get our novels done. In about a year, and with the help of NaNoWriMo virtual camps, I finally finished my novel. Then I spent another whole year plus a few months revising and editing the novel, studying and applying the craft of writing from recommended books like The GMC, My Story Can Beat Up Your Story, and Editor-Proof Your Writing.
A writer friend highly recommend I attend the local annual writer’s conference. We have a big one here in Colorado Springs: The Pike’s Peak Writer’s Conference. It is so popular and fun that even the speakers often ask to come back.
While I was still writing my novel, not quite finished, I went to the writer’s conference one evening to attend “Bar-Con,” where everyone networks around the bar. A writer friend introduced me to my future agent, though I didn’t know it at the time. But I was able to pitch my story to her and she immediately saw the vision of my unique book. She asked for the full manuscript–a miracle in itself! I told her it wasn’t quite done, and she said to take my time, not to worry. Of course, I didn’t expect it to take over a year later!
I completely finished my book, revisions and everything, finally. This year I attended the full 4-day writer’s conference and pitched my story to five agents, receiving five rejections and one literary director and editor who loved it. I sent the full ms to the original agent from last conference, and also queried it out to about 15 agents in the U.S. and the U.K. (my story is set in 1665 London). Then I waited for two months, sending it out to agents here and there.
In August my agent, Natalie Lakosil, told me she loved my book. She arranged a phone call and offered me representation! By now, I’d received enough rejections that I accepted from the original agent who saw the vision.
It was so exciting to get a book agent! Now I’m in the interesting phase of Natalie and I collaborating to make my novel even better with more revisions and edits. I knew going in this would happen somewhere along the line towards publishing, and I’m really enjoying watching my novel get better and better. I’m learning that a good novel is sometimes more about what the author takes out, than what she leaves in. Less can be more, allowing the reader to bring more of themselves and interpretations to the story. 
So what is the big idea, what is my unusual novel? It’s a potions textbook that has accidentally gotten out of Hogwarts and into the muggle world. It looks like an old encyclopedeia, with black and white woodcuts throughout. When you start reading Encyclopedeia Magica: Volume 1 – Alchemy, you discover there is something weird and alive in this book. Without giving it away, let’s just say you will be pulled in to becoming the magical hero of the story, if you wish to take on the challenge, and learn about a young girl who had to dress like a boy and became an alchemist’s apprentice, before the book defeated her. Now it is up to you to save her!
What is the take-away to get a book agent?
Onward and upward, my writing friends!
To clarify, my first novel is technically Middle Grade. I had originally planned it to be YA, but then I met my agent – over a year before she became my agent. She and others since her told me to make my story MG, so I changed it. Here I share my journey to agenthood with ideas and resources on where to find US literary agents for Young Adult (and Middle Grade too).
First, I highly recommend attending your local writer’s conference, or go to the nearest good one you can find. I happen to live in Colorado Springs where we have one of the best conferences every April: Pike’s Peak Writer’s Conference. Denver hosts the Rocky Mountain Writer’s Conference every August, and now Utah has a big one in September. I know the Romance Writers Association hosts their annual conference in a different city each year.
A year ago I didn’t have the money to attend the full conference. So I took the advice of the other writer’s in my writer’s group – at least go to Bar Con. Show up in the evenings when everyone is hanging out at the bar – this is where much of the networking happens. One of my friends was there attending the conference, as well as several of my writing buddies, so when I arrived Saturday night I got to visit with them first.
Before I even came I attracted and intended and prayed that I would meet exactly those I was meant to meet tonight. I’ve been studying the Law of Attraction and everything by Esther Hicks for a little bit now – if you want to land an agent, I highly suggest you read every book by Esther Hicks and listen to the videos on YouTube (search Abraham Hicks). It will change your life.
Now I wouldn’t even have known to go to Bar Con if it weren’t for my writer’s groups. I had been in one writer’s group for a while which met weekly. I made strong connections there. One of those writing buddies later became one of the main leaders of our local conference – he was the one who introduced me to my agent that night at Bar Con, because he knew my story and knew she would be interested.
It was valuable being a part of that writer’s group for a while. Later I switched to another one – its main focus is for us to get our novels done – this was invaluable to helping me actually finish my novel.
When I was at Bar Con that night, I was still writing my novel, it wasn’t done yet. But I mingled and visited with several people. One writer had just gotten published – he highly recommended I get the book My Story Can Beat Up Your Story. He said before that book he couldn’t get published. Then he applied the principles in that book to his novel and he got published. This is the kind of vital information you get from visiting with other writers.
I ran into my old friend from my first writer’s group. He introduced me to an agent, Natalie Lakosil. I chatted with her for a little while, then got to pitch my novel. Right away she asked for the full manuscript – this was a miracle!
“Okay, I will finish it as fast as I can,” I said. She told me to take my time. I’m sure glad she said that, because my novel didn’t get finished until a year and three months later! But the reason it got done at all was because of my writer’s group. I finished writing the novel, then spent a year revising and editing it.
This year I joined another writer’s group which meets weekly for coffee and chatting. I get such valuable information there from other writers I often take notes. One of the writers had just sold a short story using Duotrope. I had never heard of it, so checked it out and tried the free subscription, then joined for $5/month.
Duotrope shows all the current market, contests, agent and editors and what they are looking for. You can submit to paying markets and contests as well as non-paying. It has a Submission Tracker to track who you query or submit to, it is so useful! A great resource to find both global and US literary agents for young adult and other genre novels – it’s all organized and listed right there.
I find it really fun to enter the various writing contests. I also used this platform as my tool for querying out my novel to many agents.
(Note – I do not get any compensation for recommending Duotrope – I’m just passing on valuable information and sharing this wonderful resource. At $5/month, they’re not in it for the money either!)
Of course I sent the full manuscript to Natalie, but queried about 15 agents over the course of a month this past summer. The Submission Tracker shows when you are expected to get a response by.
I also got to attend the full writer’s conference this year – I was awarded a partial scholarship which helped greatly. It was so fun being there for the whole thing. One editor helped me rework my whole first page – it was wonderful. I learned so much from all the classes, connected with a couple of editors, and got to pitch my novel to five agents! Most of them told me my novel was too novel, that publishers wouldn’t want to take a risk on such an unusual idea.
So, two months later, when Natalie emailed me back telling me she absolutely loved my story and wanted to talk to me on the phone, I knew that she got the vision of my novel – she’d seen it right away. By this time I’d received several rejections and was still waiting to hear from many other agents.
Before talking to Natalie on the phone I researched online to see what a standard agent-writer contract looks like. After I had spoken with her last year I researched her and her agency. I knew she was legit since this large writer’s conference only brings in legitimate agents. Be careful who you hand your novel over to. Using platforms like Duotrope and meeting agents at writer’s conferences is a safe way to go.
When she offered me representation, I knew I wanted to go with her. She’d known right away which publishers would be very interested in my unusual novel. She has the confidence to go with it, and loves my idea and my book. I looked over the contract and saw it was the standard one I’d already researched.
When it comes down to it, everything that’s happened with my novel, from its inception to landing an agent, has come from me attracting it successfully and in perfect timing. The more you study and practice the Law of Attraction, the better you’ll get at bringing forth your desire. Practicing these principles also taught me to completely trust all of this to God and relax about it. Then things just began falling into place – it’s awesome to watch.
In the revising process I did study and apply My Story Can Beat Up Your Story, as well as two other highly recommended books: The GMC and Editor-Proof Your Writing. The more you study and hone your craft, the better your novel will be. Attending the conference and going to writer’s groups also vastly improves your writing and changes your novel towards the best – don’t neglect these. These things are what marks a professional writer taking this seriously, from those who just dabble.
All of this applies to US literary agents for young adult as well as for other genres and other literary agents. I even queried agents in England, since my novel takes place in 1665 London.
Which techniques have worked for you? Where are you in the process? Please comment below, we all benefit from each other’s journeys and stories.
I learned that several famous authors received their original ideas by inspiration – from a dream or the like. So, many years ago, I prayed to receive an inspiration for a novel. The next morning I woke up with the first couple of sentences in my head, I saw it clearly: “Alpha, first letter of the Greek alphabet…Hello, my name is Alpha, I am trapped, please help me…”  Alpha reached out to me from the ether and told me of her plight.
So I received a tiny germ of an idea, just the first few sentences (I’m not including it all here since I don’t want to give the story away). The idea fascinated me, captured my imagination, sent a thrill through me. What will happen to Alpha? What happens in my story? What is Alpha’s story? I knew the book was like an old encyclopedeia with alchemical terms, like a Potions Class from Hogwarts. This novel is my answer to a deep desire to attend Hogwarts.
Thus began my journey as I worked on my first novel, on and off, for many years. It required a lot of research, which I love to do. I struggled the most with finding consistent time to make myself work on it – the first challenge of all writers. I was also running a business, then started a second, and raising four teenagers. My auburn hair began to gray.
But I continued working on my novel off and on for several years, spending the bulk of my time doing historical research and learning alchemy myself.
Then I met full-time author Susanne Lambdin at GalaxyFest and attended her writing class. I shared my story idea with her and she became so excited she offered to write the blurb on the back and connect me with her book reviewers and network. Her excitement acted as a catalyst, getting me fired up about my story again and finally figuring out how to work on it consistently.
I started participating in the various NaNoWriMo goals throughout the year (National Novel Writing Month plus their virtual writing camps) and joined a more aggressive local writer’s group. They meet every other Monday night to give feedback on each other’s works, to learn the craft of novel-writing, and to push each other to write at least 2,000 words a week and get our books done. I was encouraged to stop researching and get the writing done – the research can continue alongside the writing. I had been stuck in the research hole for a long time so this was what I needed.
I got serious with my writing and spent a year finishing the novel. Whew – I thought the main work was done. I was wrong. It took me two years of working on it steadily to revise and edit. I learned so much.
Finally in June of 2018, I finished my novel and kept dancing all day. I’m now querying it out and one agent is reading it!
It’s called Encyclopedeia Magica: Volume 1 – Alchemy.
Welcome to my author site! Here you’ll have the latest on my published works plus tips on the writing life and miscellany from my weird mind and journey.
I love historical medieval re-enactment and costuming. I raised four kids, homeschooling them part of the time, making many costumes for them over the years. As they got older I founded two mermaid businesses – it was great fun telling people that I’m a mermaid. Mermaid swimming is the most amazing experience ever. I enjoyed the challenge of creating a costume that can function in water.
I was active in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) in my 20s, then recently got into larping (Live Action Role Play). Costumes + adventure! I participate in both our Middle Earth-style larp (elves, hobbits, dwarves, etc.) and in our post-apocalyptic larp (zombies!). I dream of attending the Hogwarts-inspired larps one day. I lost 20 lbs the summer I started larping – it’s my fitness program.
Through all this time I wrote and published several articles in magazines and volunteered in a historical writing project. I’ve spent the last several years working on my first novel off and on, finally finishing in 2018. I’ve been studying the craft of novel-writing and I love every part of it.
Transitioning to full-time writing is a great adventure. I hope to share with you my journey, my struggles, triumphs and tips. Let’s help each other on this unique writing path – it is unlike any other.
This site is to keep you informed of my own published works and to help each other along the way of making it as a writer. Join our writing community here – we can all use an encouraging word or idea now and again. And share our own progress in our writing projects.
If you ever need a hand or have any questions, feel free to leave them below and I will be more than happy to help you out.
All the best,
Jerilyn Winstead
www.JerilynWinstead.com
www.acoffeecat.com
