I still need to print it out and deliver it to a dear friend, who is also a literary agent, who will be reading/commenting on it, but just to have gotten to the point of having a completed draft of a proposal is huge for me. For those of you who may not know, a nonfiction book proposal typically includes summaries of all the chapters. You have to know how your story is going to end, and that’s what had me stuck for the longest time. I would get to a certain point about 1/3 of the way through, and just not know what to say next — even though I had/have lots of material.
Then, last summer, I decided to stop trying to write the whole thing and focus on putting together a proposal, which also includes lots of info/ideas about my writing credentials and how to market and promote the book. Being forced to complete an outline and then the chapter summaries pushed me to nail down the story, something I had obviously been resisting. Well, more on this later… I’m going to have a glass of wine to ring in 2019, and then I’ll be up early tomorrow to print the document, which comes in at 105 pages! (It includes the first 3 chapters.)
Happy 2019, y’all!