A Letter To My Novel

I've been querying again lately, and it's made me feel a bit ... hopeless. So, to cope with my stress, I wrote a letter to my novel. If you are currently feeling similar feelings of frustration and/or disappointment, I suggest doing this to make yourself feel better. Not only was this fun to do, but it also made me realize why I fell in love with my novel in the first place. And because of this, I feel more willing to stick with it. :) Enjoy.


Dear Walking Shadow,

I remember the first time I became aware of your existence. It was in the middle of English class in 10th grade. I barely knew anything about you then; I only caught a glimpse of you in the corner of my mind's eye. However, your mysterious nature intrigued me. At first I thought you were like all my other ideas; you would wander around in my head for a while, and maybe we'd have a brief relationship, but ultimately we would go our separate ways and forget all about each other. But then I found that I couldn't stay away from you. When I wasn't spending time with you, I was thinking about you. I daydreamed about you in class. I couldn't sleep at night. It felt like you were there with me no matter where I went. You were so new and exciting. My friends loved you. Even my parents approved of you. I was starting to think you were The One.

But then, I began to see your flaws. It was inevitable, as it is with all long-term relationships. You were too boring, too clichéd, too long. Yet, I stuck with you and tried to help you deal with your imperfections.

Alas! Then the literary agents came along. They confirmed all my fears about you and more. Our relationship began to fall apart. For months, I didn't even want to look at you. I had relationships with other stories, but they weren't quite the same. At last, I shyly approached you again.

Although you have changed a lot in the past few months, I still feel us becoming more distant from each other. Some days, I admit, I want to give up on you completely.

And so, I have written this letter as a reminder to myself, that on all those miserable days when I think there is no hope for you, I am being a total idiot. Thousands of authors have suffered relationships like ours and somehow managed to make it through. Plus, even if you're not perfect, you've improved quite a bit. I mean, look at you! You've lost more than 70,000 words. You look good.

No matter what stupid things I've said, I still love you and I always will. I can always help you to get better. I'm still in this if you are.

Love,
Brigid