It’s public accountability time. I said I would get 10 submissions done by January 15 and I’ve done three. I forgot. It’s a process. A time-consuming, angsty process.

I know I have one day left, but tomorrow is not a day I’m going to get any submissions done, so I admit defeat.

BUT–here is what I did accomplish. I created a plan for myself. I researched every possible Canadian publisher who is accepting unsolicited submissions and found all their requirements and figured out where my book fits. This meant studying back lists. It’s a process. The Writers’ Union of Canada has a helpful directory, (cost 10$), but beware: it is already out of date. Everything needs to be cross checked with the publisher websites and some publishers who were accepting unsolicited submissions have stopped. (Hello Anvil Press). Then I tiered my submissions from first choice to last. And so, a submissions strategy was born.

Next, I created my “Master Query Document,” which includes everything I might use in any query, from my bio to a marketing plan, (this means that I also created or spiffed up all of these things, including a marketing plan). I finally have a synopsis that actually works. It goes without saying that I already have a book, but maybe it does not go without saying, so I will say it.

I have a lot of *feelings* about being asked to create a marketing plan. I get it, but honestly, anyone who can guess what is happening in publishing must have a crystal ball at this point. I think what publishers really want to know is: will I work hard to sell this book? The answer is yes.

And then there were other very practical matters. I figured out what happened to my long dormant Submittable Account, went to the office supply store and got paper and envelopes. Some publishers still want a hard copy, and I have to say, I appreciate that. I think a physical stack of paper is somehow more insistent and harder to ignore.

And I have sent in my first three submissions, one via email, one hard copy and one via Submittable. Yay me.

I’ll finish the next seven by the end of this week. I’ll be two days over the deadline, but what’s two days in the lifespan of creating this novel? Barely a dot of an i at this point. And it’s not like anyone is waiting to see it. And isn’t this the crux of the problem? Who cares about this besides me? Maybe you. Thanks for reading, and for giving me a sense of a deadline, even if I did make it myself, and even if I did blow it.