So... Echoes?

It just occurred to me that in spite of posting my introductory post only a couple hours ago, I forgot completely to elaborate on the reasoning behind this. Writers should have blogs, as put forward by Eric of Pimp My Novel. So, that begs the question, doesn't it? Am I writer? Why is my blog called 'Echoes of a Wayward Mind'?

Yes, I'm a writer. Not an author, because that means you have to be published, and, apart from the time I had a short story published in a newspaper when I was fifteen, I am not. So, I'm a writer. This means I've written a (many, several, but only one that's worth much) novel and am concentrating pigheadedly on trying to get it somewhere. The novel's called ECHOES, and it's told from the point of view of a teenage echo** who is struggling to survive and live on her own terms in a world that really and truly and generally despises echoes. It's an urban fantasy, technically young adult, with a mixture of adventure, romance, tragedy and hopefully some humour. It's also quite lyrical, because I love words, though I do try not to use them superfluously. (Yes, I've always wanted to use the word 'superfluously'. I'm sorry. I'll try to be better.)


So, that's why the blog is called what it is. Echoes (pun intended) of a wayward mind. I wasn't trying to be witty or clever. Honest. I also think you'll find, if you stick around long enough, that my mind is very much of the wayward type. I really can't help it. Don't you ever find that you start to talk about something, then wander off on a hopefully scintillating tangent, then eventually come back to your original point an hour later? No? Oh, dear. You'll probably hate me. Sorry again.


More about the novel, story, characters, etc. in due course. For now, a few writing statistics, as I'm aiming to chart the long, painful road to (possible, maybe, unlikely, maybe) publication:


ECHOES word count: approximately 125,000.
Words written today: 0
Words written today on work that's not ECHOES: 2,034. Dissertation chapter. The joys of being a third-year English literature university student.
Number of queries sent out to agents in the last four weeks: 8
Number of replies (so far): 1
Partials requested and sent: 1 
Rejections on partials: 1
Rejections on queries: 0


It doesn't look very good, does it? On the other hand, I think it's encouraging that the one reply I have thus far received to a query asked to see a partial. That must mean something's working. Of course, he then rejected me based on the partial, which means something else isn't working. I've tried working on that since, so fingers crossed. Still waiting to hear from the others. And yes, if you're wondering: rejection is ouch-I've-got-a-paper-cut, ooo-you-cut-my-heart-out-with-a-spoon painful. I sound optimistic and cheery now, but as my boyfriend Steve will testify, in the days following the rejection, I was ready to quit. I haven't.


So that's that, and now it's time for bed...




**echo (n.). Safety net for a loved one. Person stitched from mysterious materials by a Weaver. Designed to look exactly like a real person, their other. Must learn other's life and behave like them in every way. If other dies, the echo must replace them.