Cannons to Cruising

In Which I Disappear to Revise Two Books in Two Months

Sat down to write this blog post today, and I realized I missed posting in both February AND March. Whoops! I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without an update! Trust that all of my spare time has been spent writing, just not on here.

February—I focused on making the revisions my agent wanted to see before the book goes on submission. It was hugely challenging but incredibly satisfying. Their suggestions definitely improved the story, but it was my first time doing an overhaul like that and it felt like my brain had been wrung out like a washcloth by the end. Hence, no February post. Fingers crossed they like the changes and that I nailed it on round one, but I’m also aware we might have to go back and forth a few times. I’m new at this! Trying to be okay with the fact that I might not get a gold star right away. I emailed the manuscript in early March and jumped straight into editing my NaNoWriMo book while I waited for them to get back to me.

March—Cleaned up my 77,000-word YA contemporary suspense sailing novel and got it in good enough shape to send to beta readers. I had a blast with this book, and I’m dying to get reader feedback regarding all the red herrings, who-dun-it theories, and shocking moments. It took about three weeks to edit, and I just sent it off to friends yesterday. For the first time in eight weeks, I have…nothing on the docket?!

Except the lingering guilt that I’ve neglected my blog! After not posting for two months, you would think that I would have something more exciting than this to share, but it’s mostly been me at my keyboard, mumbling to myself. Oh wait, I guess you could count my dermatitis flare up as something out of the ordinary, but nobody wants to see me with diaper rash cream on my face (If you have any tips regarding this, PLEASE share I am desperate it’s been weeks and it isn’t clearing up).

You CAN be on the lookout for boat updates soon, though. Yep, we lasted 2 whole years without a boat before we caved and bought a DINGHY! It’s so cute and has a little electric motor so we can buzz around Puget Sound this summer. Once the registration goes through, we’ll be taking her out as much as weather allows. The kids are beside themselves. Taking name suggestions at this time. So far the contenders are:

Never Again
Once More With Feeling
Fooky Fooky (my son cannot say his ‘s’, so anything spooky he declares ‘fooky’)
Next Chapter
Scout (my daughter SWEARS this won’t be confusing)

Love,

Taylor

How I Got My Agent

I’ve been waiting a decade to make this post. I HAVE A LITERARY AGENT! I am loudly and proudly screaming it from the rooftops—Taylor Hobbs is represented by Michaela Whatnall of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret Literary Agency.

It all started with a cold query in early October. I found Michaela’s Manuscript Wish List page and hoped my book, What I Would Do for You, might be a good fit. The bio stated that they have a soft spot for heartfelt contemporary YA fiction, sibling stories, and diverse voices. However, QueryTracker (the site that everyone uses to submit queries/track data) did not help my confidence—this agent requests additional material from about 2% of their queries. My sister was like, “Oh, the Harvard of literary agents.” Thanks, Calley. I figured I’d be part of the 98% rejection stats, but I might as well start the query process of my 7th book with getting rejections from my dream agents, right?

To my shock, Michaela requested the full manuscript ten days later. My thought was, “At least I know my pitch/concept is working!” Not, “They’re going to love it and sign me!” I’ve had many full requests across all my manuscripts over the years. It is a great confidence boost but I know it ultimately doesn’t go anywhere. Honestly, I was just flattered to make it past the form rejection.

I submitted the manuscript and tried not to get my hopes up. I joked with my Pen Parentis writers accountability group that I was going to manifest an agent in 2024. Well, everyone manifested their butts off because ten days into the new year I got the email that Michaela wanted to set up a phone call and chat about the book.

We talked for an hour and half! I knew within ten minutes that Mike was the right agent for me and the book. They get the heart and soul of it, and we just meshed on all the revision ideas. It was like talking to an old friend. I know they are going to push me to be the best writer I can be, for What I Would Do For You and my future books. I am thrilled about this partnership and can’t wait for what’s to come in my career!

I have so much gratitude toward everyone who has been cheering me on all these years. Thank you for continuing to believe in me and talking me off the ledge of self-doubt countless times. Thank you for reading truly terrible first drafts and listening to half-formed plot rambles. Thank you for seeing the value in art and stories and helping me hold onto myself. You know who you are. I love you guys.

Love,

Taylor

Happy New Year!

2024 is off like a rocket. I finished the first draft of my 8^th book last week and had a VERY exciting phone call about my 7^th book that I’ll divulge more details about later. But back to finishing the book!

My YA thriller ended up being 77,264 words long, which was close to my target word count. The working title is GYBE. For a book that was just ‘vibes’ in October, it only took ten weeks to become a fully-fledged novel by January. Ha, Gybe-vibes. I think my average pace of six months per book is realistic long-term, although I would love to reach the point where I complete a project every four months and do three per year. However, I don’t know if that will be possible until fall of 2025, when my youngest will start kindergarten. So, for now, I’m just enjoying the brain dump that happens once I’m done with a draft and letting the plot threads leak out of my ears.

I’m putting the draft aside for a couple weeks so it will be fresh when I start to revise. I’ve been focusing on some of my New Year’s goals instead. I like the word ‘goals’ instead of ‘resolutions’. ‘Resolution’ seems very constrictive and almost punitive, like one misstep and you’ve failed your resolution. Might as well throw in the towel for 2024! My goal for this year is to meditate more. My hope is that meditation will lead to improvements in other areas of my life—patience, creativity, and lessening anxiety. Instead of a bunch of small, individual goals, I’ve gathered them all up into one action: meditate! Efficient, no? I think it’s working so far (thanks, HeadSpace app!). I manifested the crap out of the first 2 weeks this year 😉

People ask how I celebrate being done with a draft. It is very nerdy and not at all exciting for anyone who isn’t me. Usually, I say, “Woohoo!” then I double-space the whole manuscript. I draft in single-space format, so after I type ‘The End’, I get to watch the manuscript page number multiply. I look forward to this moment for months (don’t judge me). Then celebrations might involve a cocktail at the end of the day while Conor cooks a nice dinner. Then it’s back to life as usual. Here I am, doing laundry and watching my kids bounce off the walls post-draft. The reality of being a parent writer!

Love,

Taylor

Winner, Winner!

I did it! I completed NaNoWriMo this year and wrote 50,000 words during the month of November. Were they amazing? No. Were they passable? Also no. Were they completed? Yes.

That’s the funny thing about writing. I don’t always enjoy it, it’s like pulling teeth some days. But I always enjoy having written. Something about delayed gratification, I guess. I am well on my way to finishing my 3^rd book just this year, and that is way more than I ever expected at the beginning of 2023. Ending the year by winning NaNo is the cherry on top, and I’m trying to ride the momentum train as long as I can. I also got a t-shirt because I am normally terrible at celebrating accomplishments. Conor was like, “Are you excited you’re done?” and I replied, “Well, I still have 30k left to write before the draft is done, so kind of?” I’m a pro at moving the goalposts.

I’ve never written a thriller before, so I knew this book was going to be challenging. Since NaNo ended, I’ve added another 12,000 words to the draft, with about 20,000 words left before the rough draft is finished. Holding a thriller plot in my hands is like scooping up dry sand at the beach. I’m barely hanging on and trying not to lose the pieces escaping through my fingers. If at the end I haven’t lost too much of it, I’ll consider the rough draft to be a success.

This project has three 1^st-person POV, each with a different/distinct voice, everyone has a secret, everyone in the story must have motive for the crime committed, everyone knows different things at different times and I have to reveal it all at the correct pacing for the genre. There is a past mystery to solve, and a current timeline I’m also working with. The two need to tie together. Oh, and each character needs a complete and satisfying story arc.

There are 76 tabs open in my brain at any given time. Christmas. Celebrations. Correspondence. Family. Gifts. A 6-year-old’s unicorn birthday party to plan.

So yes, I bought a t-shirt.

Love,

Taylor

Halfway Through!

I’m halfway through NaNoWriMo, which means I am staying on track to actually complete it this year! I almost feel like making a post about it is jinxing myself, but the words are coming pretty easy for this book, which is definitely a surprise.

I think it’s due to three things:

A supportive partner. Hands down. I am dropping balls left and right with regular life and he’s there to catch them. Last night he was in the middle of asking me about something and goes, “Never mind. I just realized we should just discuss this once November is done.” I only have so much brainpower, and right now it’s fueling the creative side, not the logistical side. He gets it.

2. A habit established over the summer in my mad scramble to finish WHAT I WOULD DO FOR YOU before the PNWA conference. That project was 7 weeks straight of writing every day. NaNo is only 4 weeks long. The word count is higher per day, yes, but I had lots of practice to get my brain in shape for November in the months leading up to it. I just keep telling myself, only a few weeks left! I’m not finishing a whole book, just 50,000 words of one. It feels manageable.

3. I don’t feel as much pressure to get this story perfect. I’m able to have more fun with it as I go. As the years go on and I write more books, each one feels less precious. I know that’s a weird thing to admit, but it’s kind of freeing. I don’t agonize over my drafts for a decade. I’m not sinking years and years of effort into one project. My fountain of ideas is endless, and I can see a project through from beginning to end by simply sticking to a process. It’s not my life’s work. It’s a YA thriller that can be comped to Netflix’s Outer Banks. Don’t get me wrong, I love all my books, but it’s easier to separate my emotions from it compared to back when I thought finishing my first book was equal to climbing a mountain.

The confusing thing about NaNo is that even though I’m at the 50% mark, I’m only about 30% of the way through my entire book. I had a moment of panic yesterday when I thought my pacing was completely off before remembering that NaNo is only getting me 50,000/80,000 words. My story beats are where they’re supposed to be, thankfully.

To sum up the NaNo experience so far, I’ll leave you with this quote from EL Doctorow—“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

Now it’s time to get my 1,667 words done for the day.

Love,

Taylor

I present this stunning visual representation of my first draft. Please note the crash helmet.

Book #8 and NaNoWriMo

It’s almost here! National Novel Writing Month, the one time per year that writers emerge from their caves of introversion and try to network with other writers. It pushes us so far out of our comfort zones that we spend the next 11 months recuperating. I’ve used NaNo in the past to make some wonderful writer friends at each place we’ve lived, because it really is the ONLY time to try to find us. If you’ve ever wanted to write a book, it is super easy to sign up at nanowrimo.org and find your people. There are forums by genre, experience, and location.

Last year, I went to a library meetup, gathered my courage, and invited two other writer moms to create the Port Orchard Writing Club. We’ve actually made it a whole year with (nearly) monthly meetups. We also attended two huge writing conferences, AWP and PNWA. It is honestly so lovely to talk writing with other people who ‘get it’—the frustrations, carving out time, and the breakthroughs.

I told myself I would take break after finishing WHAT I WOULD DO FOR YOU. But…surprise surprise…I had an idea for book #8. While I won’t be sprinting through and trying to draft 50k words in November, I am going to use this month to plan and outline a YA thriller. I want to incorporate my sailing and liveaboard experience and bring a book to life with this unique perspective. I’ve never attempted a mystery or thriller, so I need to pay more attention to the structure of the genre. My plan is to read 4-5 YA thrillers over the next two weeks to get my head in the game, then I’ll attempt to put fingers to keyboard and outline this new baby.

In other news, I’ve brushed off my resume and am starting to search for some contract or volunteer copy/content/edit jobs to build my portfolio. I’m not quite ready to go into detail about this yet, but I feel like now that the kids have settled in school and I have more time/control of my day, I might be branching out. Weirdly, this feels more vulnerable than querying. Hopefully I won’t get firehosed with rejection on all sides!

Love,

Taylor

PNWA

This entire summer was a sprint, and now the finish line has come and gone. Was it worth it? YES. Do I have an agent yet? TBD. My pitch got some great feedback at a few workshops, and a lot of people were really excited by my story. I presented myself and my project as well as I possibly could during my in-person pitch session (The bar was low for this; I was just hoping not to burst into tears from being overwhelmed!) I got requests for more material from 3/3 agents (2 partial requests, 1 full manuscript request), but I’ve also sent some email queries this week to cover all my bases. Mostly, I’m just super proud of myself that I set this crazy goal back in June and actually freaking DID IT.

What absolutely floored me, though, was the response this weekend from so many amazing people in my life. I received videos, messages, and phone calls asking for updates and sending me love this entire month. You guys have so much faith in me, and I am beyond lucky to have a support system like this. Writing is an isolating career, one where I keep the door shut most of the time. I am usually stuck in my own head with self-doubt and criticism. A lot of it centers on not feeling ‘good enough’, especially to attend a conference like PNWA where there is so much talent. Your little messages kept me going, and I was able to make a few new writer friends and get the most out of the seminars.

One of the biggest eye-opening courses was the one on turning novels into screenplays. I’d never given much thought to presenting stories through a different medium, but I think this might be a goal of mine for the future. My takeaway from this weekend was that there is no one path to storytelling success, and I should be open to other options besides strictly novels. I had never written a short story before becoming the Pen Parentis Fellow because I always thought I just wanted to write books. Turns out, I didn’t give myself enough credit!

So for the next few weeks, I’m in the waiting phase while agents assess my work. I promised myself I’d take a little break before starting my next project, but I’m already turning ideas around in my brain while doing the school drop off and pick up routine. This next one might need to marinate for a while, but maybe I’ll be ready for NaNoWriMo this year?

Love,

Tay

Pen Parentis Fellowship

When I started drafting book #7 at the end of June, I did so to try and finish in time to attend the PNWA conference. However, nobody else knew that I quietly submitted a short story back in April to a literary organization that supports parent writers, Pen Parentis, for the chance to win a very prestigious fellowship. The odds of winning were miniscule, one in hundreds of submissions. I told myself that was fine, that writing my very first short story was prize enough in itself. This short story is what got the wheels turning to conceptualize my current novel.

As I worked away all summer on this novel, a tiny voice wondered what if. What if I actually won? What if I could go into the conference in September with not only a new book to pitch, but also with an award-winning short story of the same topic? The 1/1,000 shot I could take the momentum from that and run with it kept me to my summer deadline. In case luck met opportunity, I wanted to set myself up for as many advantages as possible.

Y’all. I got a call THE DAY AFTER I finished the first draft of my novel (70,000 words) informing me that I am the 2024 Pen Parentis Fellow.

I will pitch my book in front of an agent panel in ten days. I’ve been trying to get an agent for almost ten years. Is this the final sprint?

Love,

Taylor

Aspirational, Insane, or Both?

I had a vision for how the summer was going to go—leisurely beach days with the kids, parks, hiking, visits to Seattle, drinks on the back porch, yoga…somewhere in there I was going to start pre-writing my next book. I wanted to take my time with this one and get it right, maybe start it in the fall when the kids go back to school, edit over the holidays, pitch it in January.

Turns out, that was just a bunch of excuses not to start because I was afraid.

The PNWA Writer’s Conference is coming up at the end of September, and I’m attempting the impossible—planning, drafting, editing, and pitching a project within a 3.5-month period. This is insane, I’m well aware. I’ve never written an entire book on such a short timeline, but when I found out there would be a live agent pitch even there, I had to try.

I could submit my two other completed books, Hedge Dancer, or Catch Me When I Fly, but of course I need to do this the hard way. Here’s the thing—the concept for this book got me really really close to landing an agent about six years ago. The first iteration straddled the line between YA and Adult, so I yanked it apart, rewrote it, and aged it up to Adult to pitch it again. Close a second time, but still a no.

I put it aside and focused on other projects. I’ve written four books since then, but this one has always been in the back of my mind. The story I needed to tell but I was too afraid to try again, because to do it right I needed to burn it down to the ground. The only part that’s the same in the book this time around is the concept, which is about a girl and her disabled older sister. The rest is completely fresh, and it’s actually shaping into something I’m really proud of.

My draft is 26,000 words so far, which is a little over 1/3 of the way. I need to write 1,000 words every morning to stay on track to finish in time. The draft will be done by end of August, I’ll edit over two weeks in September, then work on my pitch materials right before the conference. When I make the deadline, I’ll have written and pitched two entire books this year, which is pretty cool.

This book, What I Would Do for You, is lucky #7, and by doing the hard choice, maybe it’s the key to the greatest reward. No matter what happens in September, I’m confident that pulling the trigger on this book is the right call. Currently running on coffee and ice cream (yes, at 9am. Don’t judge me), procrastinating on my draft to write this rambling 500-word post, and reminding myself I can do hard things. 9 more weeks and it will be done!

Love,

Taylor

What the Hoh?

In the last two weeks, we have become a camping family.

I didn’t grow up in a camping family. In the infamous words of my mother, “Why would I take all my regular work to a less convenient place?” I, too, never understood the appeal of getting all the gear, packing, planning, and meal prep just to sleep on the ground and pee in the woods. Then you pack it all back up and come home to five loads of laundry that all smell like smoke. What a vacation.

Conor grew up in a camping family and has many fond memories of boy scout trips and hiking in Philmont. This is why the boat was the perfect middle ground—we could travel and adventure, but all our stuff came with us. Since moving back to the PNW, Conor has embraced the hiking and outdoor lifestyle again. He wants to recreate experiences with the kids and, you know, ensure their survival during an apocalypse. Considering the fact that I am unable to light a fire and lack even a basic internal sense of direction, I told him that if the zombies come to just leave me where I fall. However, he insisted it is not too late for me and blah blah something about “formative memories for the children”. Hence, our back-to-back camping weekends.

This was the car for three adults and two children:

Three adults? Our wonderful friend Corri came with us on what was admittedly an ambitious first camping trip. When she was visiting us back in December, after one whiskey too many, Corri booked a single night at a campsite in the Hoh Rainforest for Memorial Day weekend. Corri lives in Florida.

Logistics aside, we were bound and determined to pull this off. By this, I mean a 4-hour car ride to the Olympic National Park, a 2-hour wait outside the Hoh rainforest, screaming kids who refused to go to bed until 10pm, and a vomit incident on the way home the next day. But damn, if it wasn’t the most magical place I have ever seen. Full-on fairytale. And suddenly, I started to ‘get it’.

I thought it might have been a fluke, so I went into Conor’s birthday camping trip the next weekend with hopeful trepidation. A sunny, gorgeous visit to Dash Point with my bestie Kelly and her fiancée Arlyne, where the kids played at the beach and in the woods, where they went to bed at a reasonable hour, and where we spent the rest of the evening laughing and drinking by the fire under the stars.

Not that it was completely smooth sailing (heh). After all, there are no vacations with kids, only trips. But I think these trips are more important than I realized.

Love,

Taylor