In It to Win It

So, the power cord to my Chromebook mysteriously broke in two.  I'm sure I know where fault lies for this lovely inconvenience, but the culprit is too damned cute for me to be angry with him.  After a failed attempt to replace it with a universal plug, I had to go to Best Buy to exchange the $50 cord for the $85 HP cord.  I'm happy that the new one works, but a bit bitter that it was so expensive to replace.

I found out today that my query and first 250 of the MS have made the cut to be a contender in this year's Query Kombat.  I swear, it's a thing.  The top 32 queries get read by agents. Real agents.  I haven't made it that far yet. I'm in the first round of 64 kombatants though. Happy I made the cut and am in the running to be seen by an agent.  Voting starts on Sunday.  I'm nervous, and can't wait to see if I get any helpful feedback.

So, fingers crossed, yet again.  Maybe all of these contest eliminations will help thicken my skin.  Then, maybe, the rejections won't hurt so much when I begin querying in earnest.

Back in the Saddle

So, I signed up for an online writing course.  I'm hoping the weekly assignments get some creativity running through my tired brain. So far, I have snippets of short stories, but nothing truly promising.  The important thing is, I'm writing.  True, it's not very good, but it's more than a blank page, which is all I'm asking for at this point.

I've been looking into writing conferences, and feel like I am drowning under the weight of so many expensive options.  Who knew they would charge writers (who are notoriously broke, by the way) so much money for a week devoted to their craft.  I get that editors and agents need to be compensated for their time, but I don't have a thousand dollars laying around to spend on the possibility that I might write something of any worth.  It is only a week after all.  Can a group of strangers really give enough valuable feedback in a week to help me hone my craft?  A small part of me also worries that I will pay all of that money just to find out that my writing will never make the cut.  Time to put on my big girl panties and go for it, right? (Thanks for hanging in for my little pep talk.)

I think that if I want to stick with this writing thing, which I love, that I need to get real.  I need to make time to devote to writing.  I need to stop waiting for opportunity to come to me.  Time to go out there and grab the resources available to those who actually look for them.  I begins with this free online course. I hope to register for at least a writer's workshop, if not a full-fledged conference by this fall.  Fingers, get ready to pinch some pennies.

Let's Just Dust This Off

So, I managed to get my stuff together and enter Amazon's ABNA Contest this year.  Miracle of miracles, I made it to the quarter final round.  What does that get me, exactly? It might not seem like much, but it landed me my first professional review of the completed MS. Yes, I let someone else read the whole thing.  A someone from Publisher's Weekly, no less. My review was lukewarm.  It looks like the MS still needs some polishing.  Apparently, it lacks resolution.  I'm going to let it sit for at least a month before I decide exactly how to tackle that obstacle.

In the meantime, I have to muster up the resolve to write something new.  I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit discouraged.  Apparently, blah reviews have an uncanny ability to drain all creative energy from your brain.  Who knew?

It explains the resurrection of this blog though.

My new mantra is: I will find time to write.  I won't lose focus, even with the king of distraction running about the house.  I just have to decide which hours to claim for myself.  Realistically, it can only happen while he's asleep.  He already gets up as soon as there's a hint of sunlight peeking through the window, so I'm pretty sure there are a lot of long nights in my future.  Here's hoping they turn out to be productive.