ST

Some progress. :-)

28,250 / 100,000 (28.2%)

~A

Onward . . .

Well, ranting and grumbling the other night made me feel a lot better. And today I'm doing something about it. I'm researching more on agents and the publishing business. I'm also revising my Agents list (to query to). At least I'm thankful the latest "R" didn't take three months (or three years!) to appear. So . . .

It's onward I go, to submit my work again this week.

Wish me luck.

~A

MLE - Rejected

Well, I didn't have to wait long at all for this one, a mere three weeks, garnished with (drum roll, please . . .) another form rejection letter that specifically laid out exactly what they wanted like I didn't bother to read their guidelines. I even got my submission back, in *pristine* order. Makes me wonder if some actually read my story or synopsis or just my cover letter. :-/

Okay, off to do more research about what pub accepts shorter stories.

~A

ST

Curse you page 101, an your inevitable betrayal!!

Needless to say, I found an inconsistency and had to back up several pages. :-p Not happy about it, BUT at least I did catch the problem.

25,250 / 100,000 (25.3%)

~A

ST

Feeling a bit better today, but still under the weather.

25,500 / 100,000 (25.5%)

~A

Back To Work

Well, after a nice long holiday weekend I have the flu. Blahhhhhhh... I'm full of Dayquil and going to try to stay on my writing schedule and get some pages done. Keeping my fingers crossed for at least 5 more pages.

~A

Plotting Not Plodding

Another one of my online, month-long workshops began today, one of my favorites, Plotting For Un-Dummies. I LOVE teaching this class! There are so many possibilities and directions for my students to go with their writing. I always have fun, and I think I learn as much from those taking my classes as they do from me (at least, I hope so ;-)).

Lots of work to do, especially since I'm almost 1/4-way through editing ST. I'm going to enjoy it.

21,250 / 100,000 (21.3%)

~A

ST

16,250 / 100,000 (16.3%)

Busy, busy, busy . . .

~A

More fun

Find me on MySpace and be my friend!

~A

ST

Re-editting and final polish due to a request for a full:

12,250 / 100,000 (12.3%)

~A

MLE -- Finished

23,876 / 23,000 (103.8%)

And . . .

Thanks so much "M" for the kick in the butt you left on my doorstep, your thoughtfulness is VERY much appreciated. ;-)

~A

A Day In The Life

My dad always told me when I was growing up, "If you work hard, you'll get somewhere in life and achieve whatever you want." I've believed this for so long, even though it never seemed to happen. I've worked many years for two major corporations before deciding to be a SAHWM (Stay At Home Working Mom), and I just don't know any more. My dad's advise may have worked for him, but it's never worked for me, no matter how hard I've tried (and believe me, I've really, really spent a LOT of time on the trying part!).

It takes a solid, string foundation for a building to stand firm on and folks can be confident in. One corner cracks, and it can tumbles into rubble and dust. People can be the same way. We go through life learning and spending time perfecting our knowledge in our chosen field. We spend obscene amounts of money on a good education, hocking everything to get ahead. Then we take entry-level positions in hopes to rise through our achievements. Fortunately, most of the time, this strategy works, and we don't have to start all over.

But Fate has a nasty way of intervening. It's nice to get positive feedback (hell, even just feedback!), even when it accompanies a rejection letter from a publisher. You learn, you adapt, you modify, you move on. Sometimes, though, the ladder of success seems impossibly tall and unachievable, especially when you never get a nibble. So, why keep on trying to get published? Am I stupid of something??

I've been told I'm a great writer by critiquers and judges. I've even placed and won writing contests with several different stories. I also have a folder full of rejection letters and a few form rejections (those skewed copies with a list of what's wrong with a submission that an over-worked editorial assistant quickly checks off and sends back in your SASE). The vast majority of the time mine have been plain-Jane vanilla rejections, I don't even get the letter with that list, and I have NO IDEA WHY I've been rejected or what I can do to fix the problem to make a story more salable.

Frustration makes it more and more difficult to concentrate on writing. I feel like my Muse has deserted or perhaps is laughing at me for even trying to have a career. Maybe I should just be content with being a stay at home mom. I dunno right now.

I have two scenes left to complete MLE, and I can't seem to get those last few pages out of my head and into the computer. Oh, the story's done, just not written down. And right now I'm wondering why the hell I bother when I don't even get nibbles. BTW, my very first rejection letter was back in 1986. Why do I try so hard?????

Nope, no rejection this month (yet). I just feel like a frustrated failure. Me, a writer? Damn right. I wrote this, didn't I?

Okay, I have laundry to go fold.

~A

MLE - revised goal

I have to add a few additional pages to my goal, because I've already ran over my original. New goal is 22,000 words for this story.

~A

20,363 / 22,000 (92.6%)

MLE - synopsis

Made nice progress today with 10 more pages. Last line written:

An eeriness crept over her. Someone had obviously not taken time to put things right, and it hadn’t been Adam.

~A

16,641 / 20,000 (83.2%)

MLE -- synopsis

Completed!! Now to relax and have pizza and beer before starting on the final scene edits tomorrow. ;-)

~A

MLE -- synopsis

Feeling a lot better today about getting this done. :-)

~A

556 / 750 (74.1%)

MLE - synopsis

Getting back on track. Don't know why I'm having trouble with this. I usually love writing synopsis.

~A

Remember Summer Camp?

My son's been working on being "good" this week, so he gets to go to summer camp again next week. And I get more writing time. Now I really have a reason to finish MLE's synopsis. YEA! ;-)

~A

DH’s Home - with FISH

What else can I say? Yummy! :-)

~A

The MARLIN

My DH's charter (Sea Hunter) just docked, and they're tired and safely back on Terra Firma. And . . . he caught a MARLIN!!! Those monsters fight like the devil, are extremely difficult to land, and the other guys got video of my DH fighting it for close to eight hours straight! I can't wait to see it and the pictures. Of course since Marlin are endangered game fish, all the guys could do was haul in aboard, take lots of photos, tag it, and release it back in to the ocean. But what a vacation.

Now, about my get away . . .

~A

Fishing BIG

My DH just left on his fishing trip in the Gulf, and I've got my fingers crossed for a great catch. Every year he brings home fish we freeze and eat all year until the next time he goes fishing. Tuna and Dolphin are the primary catch, and sometimes they bring in Amber Jack (my fav!), Barracuda, Snapper, and lots of others I don't recall the names of right now. He gets a vacation, and I get time to write. And check the animal shelter again for Py.

~A

Workshopping

I just completed teaching two more plotting workshops. One was a three-month and one a six-month long commitment. Lots of fun and I enjoyed it, but also lots of work. Bottom line, I'm happy with the outcome. My next teaching dates are in September for the Carolina Romance Writers, and then Dec. for the From The Heart Romance Writers chapter.

~A

Happy 4th of July!

My DH started his vacation yesterday, and I made my goal of $200 extra for him to take fishing. Since it a holiday, we're lounging around in the cool house and gonna take in some fireworks later.

~A

Finding Home

I checked the guidelines, and I think Red Sage would be a great place for me to send MLE and MOTS. I still need to complete both synopsis' and edit a couple of scenes, but I can do all that this month. I also emailed one of RS's authors who's in my online writing chapter about how she got everything on the required "one page only" synopsis. I'm hoping to her back soon.

Fingers crossed.

~A