Happy weekend! Wow, yesterday was magical. I sent a writing retreat client’s query letter to literary agents. This writer is ready, having crafted a beautiful tale. She perfected her book proposal, including several fabulous blurbs, and had it professionally edited. She’s done her inner and outer work, getting ready to be ready for the realization of her heart’s desire.
Agents sent me enthusiastic requests to see her proposal and samples (chapters) within minutes. I was so excited after hitting “send” to them, my love letter attached, that I emailed her afterward and said: “IT’S YOUR TIME.” Which got me thinking.
Like all of us, she’d hoped it was “her time” plenty of times. All those instances she was in the grind, the messy middle, the part where she thought she’d NEVER finish. Or the times she believed she was done only to hear from friends or beta readers or early agent pitches—or me, ugh—that she was not, in fact, ready.
Here’s the thing. If you think about it, isn’t it ALWAYS your time? It’s your time to dream. To craft, study, tinker. To wander away and then back toward your stories.
Eventually, sometimes early, sometimes not, it’s time to pitch. It might even once again be time to revise. (I know. Heaven help our writerly hearts—several NYT bestselling authors like Mary Karr, Rosie Walsh, and Laura Munson have nearly unbelievable stories about this in Beautiful Writers.) But there will come a time when it’s time to say yes to their yes. To sign the contract and THEN deliver.
There are too many timely steps to count between here and there (your book’s pub date), but I find peace in this reframe—that it’s always your time—and hope you do too.
Write on.
xo
PS. Thoughts on this topic? Wisdom to share? As always, I’ve posted this graphic on social, and I’d love to hear what you’re thinking over on my IG, Twitter, or FB feeds.
