134: June Q & A

 

It's our monthly Q&A episode! Topics discussed include:

  • beginner writing exercises 1:00

  • doing research in the writing process 4:11

  • how long to wait before editing your first draft 7:20

  • feeling hopeless after querying for six months 9:26

  • why editing costs so much 14:54

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JUNE Q & A

Welcome to your big creative life, a podcast for writers and creatives that helps you live your best big creative life, whatever that means for you. I'm Katie Wolf, a writer, book editor and creator. Join me every week for tips and discussion on writing, mindset up leveling your life and anything and everything that will help you achieve your big creative dreams. Let's get started.

 

Hello, friends, welcome back to your big creative life. This is our June q&a episode. The last Tuesday of every month is a q&a episode. So if you have a question to submit for next month, you can find a link to do so. In the description of this episode is just a Google forum, you can ask questions about editing, writing, mindset, business, personal whatever you'd like. And I will answer it next month on the podcast on the last Tuesday. We have five questions today.

 

First up, is one from Instagram that I got to put something on my Instagram Stories. Um, the question is I work a lot, what are some beginner exercises that are not very long? So I'm assuming this person means writing exercises, but I'm not totally sure. So I'm gonna answer it as if they're talking about writing exercises, I'm gonna give you my favorite prompt. And then I'm also going to direct you, like, tell you what to do. If you want more examples of things that you can write about. Actually, I'll share two things. So if you want a writing exercise, that's quick, that doesn't take a lot of time, but just sort of like gets your creativity going. One of the best, most fun things you can do is when you are out and you're in you see other people in public, like your people watching, write a story.

 

Imagine that you have to write a story about people that you see, for example, if you're sitting outside at a Starbucks or having a cup of coffee, and you see like a you know, guy in a who's just been working out, he's like, drenched in sweat. He's coming inside, he's in a big hurry. Write a story about his day, like, what do you think this guy is doing? What's his deal? Why is he in a rush? What workout was he just doing? If you see two people at the table next to you who were having a really intense conversation, and it looks like they're arguing, what are they arguing about just give yourself a page or two pages, to write about the people that you see in public. And just imagine the story for them. That can be kind of fun. Because I don't know about you, but I love people watching.

 

The other thing that can be helpful is not necessarily related to creative writing, like fiction, but it is really helpful to just unlock creativity and get words on the page, which is to do morning pages, which is an exercise that Julia Cameron talks about in the book, the artists way. And the idea behind morning pages is it's meant to be done in the morning. But it doesn't have to be any ideas. You write three pages longhand, no computer, you do a pen and paper, three pages, and you just brain dump all of the shit that is in your brain, all the stuff, you're thinking about all the worry that you have. Whatever comes to mind, you just word vomit onto the page and get it all out. This is not to show anyone it's not to. It's not even like an official diary or journal, like your recounting your day, it's just get all the stuff in your head onto the page.

 

And the idea is that when you do this process, it just clears out the cobwebs and clears out all this stuff. So that you can then write creatively. I did an experiment where I did this. And I didn't necessarily find it helpful for writing a book that I was working on. But I did find it helpful for my anxiety so you can try it and see. And then also, if you want other ideas of prompts, like writing prompts, you can just Google easy writing prompts. And there are tons of them, I'm sure that you can find online that are just little quick ideas if you just want to do like 10 minutes of writing or a page or two just to get in the practice of writing creatively, but you don't necessarily want to write something long. That's a great option for you.

 

Next question is related to research, which is really funny because so I have a Google Doc. It's a Google Sheets that's on my Google Drive where I have podcast ideas of different episodes that I can do. And one of the ideas that I had for an episode next month in July was for doing research for novel so stay tuned for that. I can definitely talk more about that in that episode.

 

But my thoughts Oh, let me read the question that probably would be helpful. Hmm. Okay, so this person said research I need to do a lot and I feel like writing sprints don't work for that part. Okay. Writing sprints in the strict sense, don't work for research because you're not trying to like get as much as done as you can quickly and you I don't know, thinking about like how much you can get done when the timer is running. But you can apply the same concept to a research block of time. One of the pitfalls with research that it's something that is very common for writers who have to do a lot of research is that they can get so immersed in the research that they just either lose sight of the story, or they don't actually start writing the story, it's very easy to get stuck in research mode, because especially for people who like doing the research, they like having a detailed outline, they like knowing all the things ahead of time.

 

It can be tempting to be like, Well, no, I have to figure out this thing. Like how would a person handle this and this situation, I need to figure that out before I can start writing, which, if it's something massive, that really affects the plot, then maybe you do, but for most small things you don't, you can absolutely do that later. So you can still apply the same principle of a writing sprint where maybe for you, it depends how immersive how much research, you have to do what it looks like, if it's really intensive, I guess there are all sorts of it just depends. But set a timer for 30 minutes, or do a longer burst of time, do an hour where you are researching and put some priorities to it like what is essential for you to actually know, before you start your book before you continue writing your book, wherever you are, in the process, figure out what's truly essential and what you're actually going to research during that 30 minutes or hour or whatever it is. Even if you do longer, that's fine.

 

But just try to block it off and divided into research time and writing time so that when you're researching, all you're doing is researching. And then when you're writing, all you're doing is writing you're not trying to do both as you go, because that kind of multitasking just is not. It's not good. We're not good multitaskers even though some of us think we are it's not the best way to be productive. So definitely split up what you're doing. But yeah, I would just think about priorities, splitting up your time, and assigning a block of time, to it to research, and also being really honest with yourself and cutting yourself off if needed. And stay tuned for that episode in July, because I'll talk more about research then.

 

Next question, how long do you wait between finishing your first draft and editing? I hate to give this answer, but it depends on the person. And it also depends how you feel after you get done. Some people get done with the first draft and they are so burnt out and exhausted, and they just need a long break before they can get back into the manuscript. Some people are like, I feel so fucking good. Let's go, I cannot wait to edit this book. And that's, that's their mindset. So in that case, for those people, they might only need like a week or two. But I would say that's the minimum. For me, in an ideal world, if I had to give you a time, I would say at least a few weeks is ideal. Because it's going to help you step away from the manuscript feel a little bit refreshed feel like you can look at it slightly more objectively.

 

And yeah, just just have a break from it, which is so important. But if you want to take a longer break, like there's nothing wrong with that, especially if you don't have an external deadline, where you have to get your work to an editor, you have to get it to beta readers, you have to publish it, whatever it is, if there's flexibility, like, take a few months if you need to. I'm someone who's really excited about editing. Once I get done with the first draft, I'm like, so ready to dive in. But I do make myself set it down partially to do what I mentioned earlier, which is to give myself space, make sure I feel refreshed, all that stuff, but also because I want to just acknowledge and celebrate the fact that I finished the first draft of something, which is monumental. It is monumental. And it's very easy for us as writers to just constantly be thinking about what's next.

 

So part of it is just a celebration, too. But yeah, I would say at least a few weeks. But it can be more depending on if you how you're feeling about it. Um, yeah, that's that's what I would say. Okay, next question. I've been clearing for six months and feeling hopeless. I've had only one full request in tons of passes. But still haven't heard from lots of agents on my list. When do I give up? First of all, I just want to say I'm so sorry that you're feeling this way feeling hopeless. I get it querying is really tough. There's a reason that people call the trenches like it's it's rough. So I just want to say I I emphasize empathize with you and I I'm thinking of you, because it really is a rough process. Now, I don't know how many agents you queried initially, it says that you've been querying for six months, which is a decent amount of time, but I don't know how many agents you've queried. And that, to me is really what's more important, because if you only queried, my phone just fell down.

 

Okay, let's try this again, if you have only queried eight, or 10 agents in six months, then my answer is going to be different than if we've queried 90 agents in six months. If you were on the lower end, where you've only queried 810 12, agents keep going, that is a that's a lower number, feel free to be more aggressive with sending your queries out, I always recommend to start with like six to eight, maybe I mean, it varies. And I'm sure I've given different numbers before but like, I don't know, I tend to be a little bit more conservative to start, like maybe I think I this last time, I didn't send out very many on the first batch just because you never know when someone's going to give you feedback. And if your story's not ready, your book is not ready. your query letter isn't working, you don't want to exhaust all your options and send it to everyone on the list.

 

So that's why I recommend being conservative. And then as you start to get answers in, then you can start to send more out. So if you have not queried any very many agents, but it's been six months, I would say keep going. The fact that you have gotten one full request, is, you know, if you've only query eight or 10 agents, like that's a pretty good sign. So I would say like keep going keep querying, yes, it's slow. Yes, it's hard to wait to get responses back from agents, but you might have just gotten agents who take a long time to respond. So keep going. If you are on the higher ends, like let's say you've queried 80 9100 agents, something like that, I'm just throwing out those numbers. But basically, if you've queried a lot of people in six months, then you might have to take a different approach with it. Because the fact that you've if you are on the higher end of agents that you've queried, and you've gotten one full request.

 

I don't know if I'm assuming you haven't heard back from the full request. I'm making lots of assumptions with this question. I'm sorry. But I kind of have to, if you if you haven't heard back, you know, fingers crossed, it could still work out. If that person ultimately passed on the full request, you know, that is a bummer. It really sucks to get the full and then get the past. But anyways, what I'm saying is, if you've queried a lot of agents, but you've gotten only one full request, then I think it's time for you to look at your manuscript. My, I don't think there's a cut off in terms of numbers. But if you have queried a ton of agents and only gotten one request, then to me, that's a sign that there's something that might not be working with your book itself. There's something that might not be working with your sample, maybe your book isn't ready.

 

And of course, I'm making a huge assumption, assumptions and generalizations here. But that that's probably a sign that there's something you can look at to improve your manuscripts sample your query letter your book itself. Yeah, that's, that's what I would say. And really, you know, if you had gotten a ton of full requests, but no offers of representation yet, then it might be more of an indicator about the full book. To me, the fact that you've gotten only one full request at all means maybe there's something you can look at in your sample or your query letter. Because if agents aren't asking to see more pages, it means they're not invested enough to keep reading. So I would I would look at that. In terms of when you give up. I can't answer that every writer's threshold is different. If you have been queering, for a while, in terms of a lot of agents, I would I would pull your manuscript and look at it and see if there's anything you want to adjust before you send it out to more agents.

 

But yeah, it just some people query 50 agents, and if they don't get an agent, they're like, Well, I guess this isn't meant for me. Maybe they try the next book to query. Maybe they take another publishing path. Some people query like 150 agents. So it really there's no right answer. Everyone has a different journey with this. Just know that I'm thinking of you and I'm going to hope for the best and yeah, it it does suck. Some of the best advice that I got in the trenches is just to work on something else, like focus on your next project. keep busy so that you don't obsess and check your email, but I know that's easier said than done. So alright, our final question for this month. Why? He's editing so expensive. I'm not being snarky, it's a genuine question. I can't afford to work with one right now.

 

But want to for my next book? I understand. And I am treating this question as a good in good faith, that you're not being snarky. Editing is expensive. It's definitely an investment. I mean, here's the thing, you could go on Fiverr and find someone who is just started to do this kind of thing and charges like next to nothing. You could do that. I mean, I started on Fiverr. So I don't want to say like, there aren't any good editors on Fiverr. There definitely are some good editors on sites like Fiverr. So you could do that as an option. But I, here's my thing about editing. I feel like if I'm going to invest money in my book, I want to get solid, helpful feedback, corrections, polishing whatever it is that I'm looking for. I've hired an editor in the past. And I decided to pay someone more of like market rates, like like an industry standard price, as opposed to going on Fiverr. Because I wanted someone with experience because I wanted someone who was really going to give me the truth, and be very honest, and really spend a lot of time with my story.

 

And, yeah, I just think, for me, my mindset is if I'm going to spend money and invest into like my bulk and working with an editor, I want to to really make the most of it. The answer to your question, though, of why editing is so expensive is because it takes so long to do. I've talked about this before on the podcast, but I truly didn't understand how much work goes into editing before I started doing it. And so I think a lot of writers on the other side of it just don't just don't know, they just don't know that it takes so long. I do two types of editing, I do copy editing, which is where I fix the grammar, punctuation, subject, verb agreement, verb tense, et cetera. And then a manuscript evaluation, which is a form of developmental editing, but it's a little bit shorter, where you get feedback on characters plot, dialogue, conflict, etc.

 

Both of those types of editing take me a long time to do copy editing generally take slightly longer. I have tried to time myself, I tried early on when I was first starting to edit, but it was all over the place. And it was really hard to keep track of because sometimes I would just do like 30 minutes to editing, and then stop. And then I would forget to track it. And some manuscripts, especially with actually no for both, they really vary the amount of effort and work it takes. I mean, with copy editing, I could make three corrections on a page, or I could make 30 corrections on a single page. So it just depends on the state of the manuscript. And that's also why I offer a range for copy editing that there's a scale of how much it costs. But yeah, it just takes so long.

 

So if you think about it, you're like, wow, it would cost me $1,000. Let's just say to get this manuscript edited. If you break it down by hour, it's actually not that much for the editor to be working on it. And something else you have to remember about editors who are freelancers is that they're not paying taxes, like taxes aren't being taken out automatically. So when someone pays me to work on a manuscript, I have to pay, I have to set aside 30% of that for taxes that I have to pay. I'm in the US. That's just how it works here. I set aside money for federal taxes, I set aside money for state taxes, I'm responsible for my own retirements, I have to save. I also have business expenses, like all of the tools that I use cost money, my email, server costs, money, the podcast, stuff costs, money, the subscriptions that I have my accounting software and my assistant, all those things cost money, their business expenses.

 

So it's not like whatever you're paying the editor, the editor just makes that much. There's there's a lot that comes out of it before we take a paycheck from that. So that's factored into the price as well. Which is why honestly, it breaks my heart when I see editors who are like, this was a long time ago, maybe like a year ago, but I saw someone on Tik Tok, who was like, advertising that they would do a manuscript evaluation for $50. And this person was not new. Like I was like, if my immediate response was like, What the hell? So I looked and I'm like, Well, maybe they're new. Maybe they're scanning some experience. Like I totally understand if that's the case, but this person was not new. And I'm like, why are you charging $50 to? Oh, I just was like, Oh, no. I remember the last project that I worked on on Fiverr was so much work. It was so intense. It was an extremely long manuscript. It's full of stuff that I needed to fix. I was doing copy editing and evaluation, and I broke it down afterwards and looked at what I made per hour. And it was like $1.75. Like it was.

 

It was terrible. So I don't know, I just when I see editors advertising these really low prices, I'm like, you deserve to be paid. Like a market industry standard editors are not in it for the money, like they're not making much money doing this. So anyways, and it's hard again, because I've been on both sides of it. I'm an editor who makes a living from doing this. And I know how much it costs and how much time is goes into it. But then I've also been a writer, who, like doesn't have a ton of extra money lying around to be spending 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of dollars every time I want to work with someone. So anyways, that's my little rant. But yeah, that's kind of some insight into the process. If you are curious about rates, kind of like what is considered industry standard, you can go on the editorial freelancers Association website, they have information about editing, they give you the averages.

 

So okay, if you're looking at copy editing for fiction, what are the averages? If you're looking at line editing? What are the averages? And they'll also I think they also have information on the site about what those different types of editing mean, if you're not sure. But yeah, you can, you can get some estimates and see. And there's, that just gives you more data, like more insight, especially if you're early on in the writing process, and you know, that you want to work with someone down the road. This person said, I can't afford to work with one right now. But once you for my next book, so maybe you can, you know, start budgeting if you if you decide what type of editing you want, and think about like how much it might cost you on average.

 

So alright, that is all of our questions for the month of June. Thank you for listening. And again, if you have a question that you want me to answer, you can submit it on the Google Form that's linked in this podcast episode. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of June and I will talk to you next week. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, the best way to show your support is to leave a review on Spotify or Apple podcasts to help other people discover the show. Don't forget to follow at the Katie Wolf Writes on Instagram, tick tock and YouTube for more content. Thanks again for listening, and I'll see you next week.

Katie Wolf