The working title of my dream, AKA my memoir, is 1,000 Miles: A Memoir on Recovering Family, God, and Dreams from Depression. Below is the schedule I came up with for myself last week to help me push through to completion.
Note: When I made this schedule, I already had a rough draft of my book, so when I say “finish” a section, that means refining the roughness and filling in the gaps.
July 2013
- Finish sections 3 and 4, and revise sections 1 and 2
- Locate a professional editor to edit my book (Yes, even though I have a master’s in English, this is a piece of advice I’ve heard too many times to disregard.)
August 2013
- Finish Sections 5-7
- Ask 10-15 friends/family members to read my manuscript
- By Friday, August 30, Send manuscript to editor, and to ten other readers
September 2013
- Write book proposal/query letter and identify agents/publishers to query
- Hopefully receive manuscript back by end of month
October 2013
- Revise Manuscript based on feedback
- Polish query and book proposal if needed
November 2013
- Query 10-15 agents and/or publishers beginning of month (first round)
December 2013
- Query 10-15 more agents/publishers (second round)
January 2014
- (Baby due!)
- End of month, follow up with first batch of queries
February 2014
- Query 10-15 more agents/publishers (third round)
- End of month, follow up with second batch of queries
You’ll notice I’ve left room for “failure,” by including several rounds of querying agents. Maybe, by God’s grace, I won’t need more than one round. But if I do, I will choose to see it as a learning process, and I will just keep moving forward…until, one day, I either get accepted, or my thirtieth birthday is upon me—at which point I will try another angle, and publish on Amazon (plan B). Blog readers: If you are interested in being one of my manuscript readers after August, please let me know!
Lindsey Gendke 
I would love to read your manuscript!
Thank you! I would love to have you read it. Will get in contact when I have it ready.