Kyle Kerr

And So It Ends…

09/5/07 | Genius Mode, Maui, My Writings | 0 Comments

...or should I say begins?  The Maui Writers Retreat and MW Conference are officially over, but now the work truly begins.

I’ll start off with the great news, and you can decide if you want to read more or not.  An agent requested my novel…!  The bad news?  It’s not finished… *smacks self on forehead*

Okay, here’s the deal… I “finished” the book about two years ago, and it’s sat since then.  Recently, I picked it up again and decided to fix all of the things that bothered me about the original draft.  A whole restructuring was going to happen, things were to be rewritten or cut, and everything was to be updated.  That’s definitely still the case, but after talking it over (a LOT) during the retreat with my teacher (Gary Braver) and my fellow students, I decided to rework the ending of the novel.  So, the book is no longer as complete as it once was.  I’m not simply updating anymore, but writing brand new scenes.

That being said, I told the agent I could have it done in two months.  Oy.  I will get it done in two months or die in the process, whichever comes first (hopefully the former!).

BUT, that also being said, the agent sounded genuinely intrigued by the work.  A couple of the other retreat students (who stayed for the conference as well) and I noticed that a lot of people were having what looked like successes with various agents and editors.  However, we realized something else.  Those people were only asked to send the first 3 chapters, or the first fifty pages, or the first chapter and the synopsis, things like that.  These are very general submission guidelines for any agency, things they tell everyone to send them for consideration.  Few people seemed to be getting much more than that.

So, how do I know that the agent I talked to is actually interested in the work and not just trying to placate me?  She asked me to send her the whole book.  That’s the difference, and something I am very proud to be able to say for myself.  Oh, I got one of the above requests, too, but it only takes one person to take special interest to get your foot in the door.  And I’m proud to say that most of my Retreat ʻOhana (that’s Hawiian for ‘family’) have had similar successes.  Hoʻomaikaʻi ʻana, ʻōlelo hoʻomaikaʻi!  (I don’t really know if that means ‘congratulations’ or not, but the dictionary website told me it was!)

I don’t want this entry to be insanely long, so I’m not going to talk about everything I WANT to talk about in just one post.  So, I’m going to talk about my week and a half on Maui over the next few entries, and I’ll go into further detail about my experiences during the retreat, and even share some really important information I picked up along the way.

The bottom line, though… would I ever come to Maui again?  Absolutely.  It was the best investment I’ve ever made, and I can’t wait to be back next year (which I will).

One note before the end of this post… You’ll notice that I have ONCE AGAIN changed the name of my book.  It started out as A Life, Less Living, but I decided to change it once the overhaul began.  It became A Song of Sad Lamentation.  Guys, my group absolutely HATED that title!  I could have died laughing (and not even to keep from crying… I thought it was really funny!)… They said it sounded too sad, and real life is sad enough.  No one would ever pick up a book that said it was going to be sad right in the title!  Two people in the group (I say two because they literally blurted out the title at exactly the same time) suggested Simon’s Song… which—erm—I hated.  Did not like it at all…!  (Sorry Carol and Charles!) So, after a lot of soul searching, I have finally come up with a title I think fits perfectly with the plot of the book, and has a double meaning to me as well (which I love doing).  The new title of my book is:

Until next…

Kyle W. Kerr