Why Can't I Submit??

     I have come face to face with my submission weaknesses in the past two days. Last night I attended a "gathering" at the LDStorymakers Conference in Provo, Utah. I told a lady that I had a middle grade novel I've been working on for three and a half years. I even told her about the request I received for the first fifty pages of said novel last October at the Write Here in Ephraim Conference. She asked, "So, you've sent it in then?" I hung my head and said, "No. I'm REALLY close to having it ready. I'm going to Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers in a month and I'm getting it work-shopped. After that I'll send it in." I felt my whole body go red as I watched her mouth drop open. "Send it in!" she said, "It's never going to be perfect."
     I find myself doing this often. I write a story and keep re-writing until it's "perfect" or I submit it to one agent--if I'm lucky--and then move on to the next. I've heard the latter approach is a great way to do things, since it gives you experience with writing and gives you a whole bunch of titles to present to a future agent. However, I realize that if I never submit I will never be getting a chance to present a whole list of titles to an agent.
    These are the phrases that I use to excuse myself. Do these sound familiar?
         I'd much rather write than do the work it takes to find an agent.
         If I'm researching I'm not writing and I need to write.
         I'll figure it out later.
         I don't have the time to do this.
    Well, today I decided I was going to crack down on myself and make this querying thing HAPPEN! I sat down and opened Querytracker,net to see my past submissions. Seven submissions (not many) which happened THREE YEARS AGO! I can't even believe that it has been that long since I submitted anything. So I thought to myself, I need to submit--today. I have over twenty picture book manuscripts. At least three are ready for submission. SUBMIT TODAY!
    I clicked on a link to a submission form for the Andrea Brown Literacy Agency and read:
First Name [Yep, I know that, For sure and for certain.]
Last Name [I'm on a roll. This is easy.]
Email Address [Can do!]
Biography [Wait, what do I know about myself? What applies? How long should this be? Whole life story or a one sentence synopsis on my life? And publishing credit? NONE--because I never submit anything! I'm sure I wrote one of these once. I'll find that later. Moving on. . . ]
Website Address if you have one [None. . . but that's all right. I don't need one. Right. Next question.]
Blog Address if you have one [Yep! Got me one of those! Wait. . . how long has it been since I've updated it? Umm. . . WAY TOO LONG. I can fix that though.]
Twitter Handle if you have one [Well... I guess that's the same answer as the Blog address question.]
Have you previously published other books? Yes/No [No, but I'm sure they won't hold that against me.]
Have you ever been represented by a literary agent before? Yes/No [Nopers.]
If this query was a referral, who referred you? [I wish. Next question.]
Title, Genre, Word Count [FINALLY, some questions I can answer!]
Query Letter [Do I seriously need to write a letter for a book that has only 500 words? What else can I say about it? I guess I've got to work on this. ]
First ten pages of your book [Since it's only two pages, I guess that counts?]
Pitch one sentence pitch for your book [Yikes, I haven't even thought about that.]
Similar Books [You mean I've got to read other books before I can do this? I just want to submit my book! Aww. . . forget it. Where's my next project?]

   When I hit the end of the form and that last thought hit me I realized that this is what has been stopping me. Every time. I'm not tackling the problems head on. I say it's too hard and get back to what I know best. But I've decided that I'm changing my ways. I've identified my struggles and have created a plan on how to improve. Here it is:

Submissions--What’s Holding me Back?

And how I’m going to overcome these

Research:

1. Who is accepting books (easy: Querytracker.net,
SCBWI: The Book, and Publishers Marketplace)

2. What books do the publishing houses I'd like to
submit to currently have published? (a little more
complicated. I need to look at a publishers website
every day and make a list of books they've
published.)

3. I need to read more picture books

a. I need to go to the library at least once
a week and check out new picture books from
the lists I've created from the above--include
on lists which agent represented each book.

b. I need to look at books that may reflect my
own and see if what I've written already exists (bad)
or is similar to something already out there (good).

Marketing:

1. I need to get my blog back up and running. Even if
I'm not submitting I need to get this started.
My blog will reflect the research I'm doing each week
to get to the point of submission.

2. I need to start my Twitter handle going again--similar
content.

Memberships:

I need to update my SCBWI profile if I want to have any
clout with the Children's marketplace.

Manuscripts:

I need to polish my manuscripts one last time to make
sure they are ready for submission. I have three
stories that I think are ready and my Middle Grade is
ALMOST there. I will certainly submit all of these
by year end.

Query Letter:

1. I need to write a one sentence book synopsis that
is catchy and explains the main concept of the
story.

2. I need to write a biography about myself and include
my SCBWI membership as my "credential"
since that's all I've got right now.

Wish me luck! For those of you struggling with the same thing. I'd love it if you'd join me on this journey. It's going to be amazing and hopefully we'll see some results. As my Mary Kay upline, Martha Kay Raile, always says, "You're 200% more likely to get what you want if you just ask for it." Well, here we go!

(Note: I've updated my SCBWI membership! Wahoo! Can't wait to get "The Book.")