by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I haven’t finished the first draft of my first novel, but it’s my nature to think a few steps ahead and, as such, I find myself thinking about how tough it’s going to be to query a literary agent in the fall of 2023.
My biggest fear is, of course, that I’m such a kook — and have been so conspicuous in my drunk kookiness online — that it won’t matter how good the actual novel is. Any literary agent worth their salt will take one look at what a drunk, eccentric kook I am and they won’t go any further than that.
That’s my fear.
My fear is, I suppose, that I have more of a screenwriter’s personality than a novelist personality. All I know is, if the novel I’m working on is anywhere near as successful as I believe it should be, I’m going to be a real public figure character. I’m going to be like Thomas Wolfe and dress funny and generally be as interesting as possible to the general public.
But that is really being delusional.
I have to gird my loins for a lot and I mean A LOT of failure once I start to test out the waters of getting real people with real money and careers to take my little dream seriously.
I just have to believe in myself. I haven’t even finished the first draft yet. But once I finish the SECOND draft…then the whole dynamic of this project will change in a pretty dramatic fashion.
