Journals
My journals are meant for me to reflect on my progress with my novels and see just how far I have come, as well as to help me figure out what challenges await me in the future.
Journal #1 - Getting Started
"While my senior project is currently progressing at a good rate, I am somewhat nervous when I consider the publishing process and all that that entails. I am a naturally shy person, and I know that going through the publishing process will force me out of my natural comfort zones. I will have to maintain steady communications with others, ask for advice, accept criticism of my book, and market myself and my book if it does get accepted for publication. However, I am willing and ready to confront my fears. I want to create a project that I am proud of and get my book published. I have been working on writing this book for the past year and a half; I want my efforts to be fully recognized and to have an actual, physical book. Overall, I’m excited to see where my project will take me and to learn more about the world of publishing".
Journal #3 - First 8 Hours of Fieldwork
"I started to look up publication companies that I might submit my book to. The search process turned out to be far more complicated than I had anticipated. Some companies only accept agented manuscripts, or books that are pitched to them by a literary agent. Since I can’t afford a literary agent, I had to look up companies that would accept unagented manuscripts, or books that are submitted to them by writers without an agent . . . the companies I was considering submitting my book to needed to have a focus on young adult literature (my intended audience), to be accepting mystery thrillers (the genre of my book), and to accept books that are 110,000 words or longer (the length of my book currently)".