Glimmers of Hope on the Horizon

And like spring, my mood is poking out of the cold, barren winter and feeling a bit more hopeful and renewed. I've started journaling--three pages a day, rain or shine, sick or well, handwritten in a notebook. This is just to make sure that I don't go a single day without writing.

I've also just about finished my first submission story to a popular fantasy anthology (yay, me!). Since this anthology accepts multiple submissions (submit one, if it gets rejected, submit another, etc.), I am planning on writing another piece as a backup. In the wonderful circumstance that the first piece sells, then I have another to try to market elsewhere. Win-win.

I'm not sure where this journey is taking me, but at least I'm back on the path again rather than cowering in a ditch on the side of the road.

Coming in from the Rain

It's been over a month since I've posted. I've been going through some really rough times with the writing--mainly the negative self-talk that results in sleeping on the couch while the Disney Channel drones in the background instead of being creative. I haven't been getting much written, but I now know the theme songs to both Hannah Montana and Phineas and Ferb. Yay!

In the past few days, though, I've managed to start writing again seriously. A friend suggested I submit a story to the latest issue of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress, and I discovered that I actually still enjoy writing short stories. I've got 3000 solid words on my story so far, and I actually think I can get it done in time.

I also found a WONDERFUL site called Archetype Writing. This is one of the best resources I've found in a while, especially when it comes to dealing with my writers block and depression.

So, my friends, I have been down, but I am not out. Allons-y!

Long Dark Catnap of the Soul

Somewhere along the line, I decided it would be a good idea to pursue a career in the arts during the worst financial times since The Great Depression.

Is this really the action of a stable mind?

Back in the 90s, the world was made of money and I couldn't write a novel to save my life. Now, I've got one and a half completed. Trouble is, half the world is now bankrupt, and the other half is in serious trouble.

My timing sucks.

On the other hand, I have a complete novel and email query letters cost nothing. I lose nothing by continuing to try to sell this novel.

If only I could wring myself enough out of this funk to think the other one is worth the effort of completing.....

It's been a while.

Snow and poverty and a Saints Superbowl have pretty much kept me busy in the last few weeks. However, I am still writing, submitting, and Living the Dream. :) Okay, at least on weeknights and weekends.

Sometimes it's difficult to keep up momentum, especially when you're doing it alone. Or at least, when it feels like you're doing it alone. My partner is a very good writer who does not write, so while she is great at encouraging me and helping me work out Escher-like tangles in my plot, she does not have that writer drive in her.

There are days when I wish I had an entire room full of writers to sit and bitch with, especially when my prose seems so terribly lame and my characters 2-D and my plot...well, just stupid. There are times i wish I had a room full of people just as neurotic as I am, where we could all commisserate on the absolute masochism of our chosen dreams.

On the other hand, sometimes it's really great to have a girlfriend who just says, you're great, you can do it, and NO you can't skip writing to watch your Netflix movie. Sometimes, that's a really wonderful thing to have.

Now, I'm going to log off the internet (having dutifully sent out the three chapters an agent requested) and get back to Fairville. Poor Mo--I left her in a bit of a pickle, and I guess I ought to just go move things along. Namaste, my peeps.

Progress on Fairville!

My partner Fey has taken it upon herself to not let me be a slug. She's given me an ultimatum of no less than 1000 words per day (not much, if I can get myself to the computer). Anyhow, thanks to her dauntless efforts, I have now broken the 25K mark on Fairville. Since your average women's fiction novel is about 90K, that puts me almost 30% of the way there. AND I'm having fun with it. (Ghost story, chick story, set in a reasonable facscimile of the parish where I grew up--who wouldn't have fun?)

Snow is my friend

Since this pile of white mush decided to cover my state, I have gotten several thousand words written on Fairville, sent out one partial, and sent two more queries on All the Back Roads Home.

I've also eaten half a large mushroom and onion pan pizza (no cheese, please), five breadsticks, and goodness knows how much of Fey's cranberry double-chocolate sweet bread.

So. January brings succes and weight gain. I can live with that.

New Year, Same Gig.

There is nothing like sending out query letters to turn a confident woman into a bundle of nerves. I'm always sure I could have done it better, written it smarter--oh, GAWD, did I forget the attachment? Was I supposed to include an attachment? Did I spell my own name right?

'Tis true, dear Reader, that I proofread these queries before I send them out.

Just like Aunt Mildred turns off the stove before leaving on vacation, then worries for the first 500 miles that she forgot to.

Well, writing is not for the weak of mind or spirit.