Balancing Act

It’s 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, and I just watched the sun rise from a perfectly named lookout known as Inspiration Point nestled deep in the Texas hill country. Waking ravens welcome the dawn with distant croaks that echo through the cliffside, while hungry turkey vultures use the early-morning thermals to hang glide above the Guadalupe River in search of food. I came to Mo Ranch, located in Hunt, Texas, in need of a short break from the balancing act that has become my life back in the city.

I was first introduced to this sanctuary in the hills as a middle-schooler more than 20 years ago when our class from Trinity Episcopal in Victoria visited for a weekend retreat. The Presbyterian ranch sits on 500 acres of some of the most scenic land in Texas, offering the perfect weekend getaway to reconnect with both the great outdoors and the “Great I Am.”

But there’s also another reason why I chose to return, and that’s to defeat an old nemesis dating back to the seventh grade. Let me explain. In addition to hiking trails, water activities and bird watching, Mo Ranch also features a challenging ropes course located on one of the highest points on the property.

The ropes course consists of different “elements,” or a combination of cables, poles and ropes designed to test a person’s metal.  One element in particular, the “Mo Pole,” requires you to scale a 25-foot high pole, balance yourself on top and leap seven feet through the air, grabbing hold of a trapeze dangling in front of you. 

My first attempt 20 years ago ended in a mighty failure. I was a chubby, insecure 12-year-old kid then with little physical or mental strength. I remember scaling the pole like one of those old-school telephone service workers by climbing the staples on either side until I reached the top. It was a wet and cold morning, and I was literally on edge despite knowing that my safety harness would save me if I fell.

The certified instructor holding the opposite end of the rope did his best to encourage me with positive affirmations as my wobbly legs and shaky confidence hung in the balance. I closed my eyes long enough to gain my composure, took a deep breath and jumped as far as my legs would allow. Flying through the air, I felt less like Superman and more like a lame duck. I extended my arms, reached for the trapeze and, to my disappointment, slowly felt the bar slip through my fingertips.

I have thought about that fall many times over the past 20 years. Right now, in fact, my life feels similar to how it did as a seventh grader, struggling to keep it together atop that shaky pole. It’s like I’m swaying in the wind all over again, balancing my days between my career in the mortgage industry, my responsibilities to Impossible Possibilities, the education nonprofit I cofounded with my twin brother, and all the work that goes into launching a book.

If writing Maven’s story was the equivalent of me climbing the pole, then the publishing process is trusting that I’m strong enough to hold onto the trapeze—my dream—and not let go. This is why I decided to come back to Mo Ranch and confront my old fears.

You see, my confidence was recently shaken after I started the query letter process at the end of August. A query is a one-page letter that writers send to literary agents hoping to pique their interest so that they request a copy of your completed manuscript.

Anxious to begin, I sent letters to a dozen agents who are currently taking on new young-adult, fantasy fiction writers as clients. About half of the agents responded with positive comments but also said the book was not the right fit for them. After waiting a month with no response from the others, I went back to the proverbial drawing board and hired an editor to review my query letter and offer feedback on the best way to make it stand out from the hundreds of others that an agent receives in any given week.

I received the edits back yesterday and plan to implement his suggestions when I return to the city. In addition, I also decided to add a synopsis that breaks down the full narrative of my book. Writing a synopsis is easier said than done as I’m sure most writers will attest, but some agents require you to submit one as part of the submission package so there was no way around it. Just imagine condensing the plotline of a 250-page book down to two pages, and maybe you can understand the difficulty of such a task.

To increase my odds at securing representation, I even went as far as to request the assistance of a second editor to copyedit the book and ensure that any rough ends are polished before I resume the query letter process. I also made plans to attend a writer’s conference in November that specializes in various aspects of the publishing process, ranging from best marketing practices to one-one-one meetings with literary agents in attendance.

I realized long ago that in the “Mo Pole” of life, there are no shortcuts when climbing to the top. My confidence may have been shaken over the past month, but the early setbacks are simply forcing me to work harder and build my strength for the inevitable jump to come. In the meantime, I’ll continue to keep the faith and remind myself that there is an invisible harness keeping me from falling.

Follow me on Instagram at @Joshua_Maven or @HonchotheVan, on Twitter @MaventheRaven or Facebook at Facebook/TheLastImperial.