If you go by this blog, it appears I haven’t been up to much as a writer. Au contraire, dear reader. I’ve been doing lots. Unfortunately, it’s the all been the lonely writer stuff.

First off, I have the results (dismal) of my first writing contest. It’s strange. I got really low scores from 2 judges and a really high score from the third. One judge provided a lot of feedback (which is why I entered, really) and practically rewrote the submission. One said everything was cliche and the other said “No cliches here!” So, whatever. I’ll go over the feedback again more carefully and see what I want to take away. What is a dismal failure to one is a best seller to another. Go figure.

Second, I’ve been submitting Another Place on the Planet to literary agents for representation. And so, I’ve received my first official Agent Rejection, placing me in the ranks of every published author ever. But I’m getting my work out there. This rejection was received 5 days after I submitted the query. I have some more out there, expecting the same from them any day month, year now.

Sort of as a result, even though I was thinking about it before, I’m cutting the first chapter from the manuscript. I love the scene, but it does get the story off to a slow start. I can offer it as a freebee or something when the book comes out for real.

I also unpublished my precious on Amazon and Smashwords. I haven’t had  a sale in months, and agents don’t like published stuff. It may already be too late because I’ve been told I should mention self-publication in the query letters. Oh well. the right agent won’t care, I figure. If there is such a person.

I figure I’ll submit to agents until I run out of them or I get Another Place on the Planet and Places Bright and Dark all shined up. Whenever that will be. It’s actually probably a bad one to start with because it’s a mash up of faith and not, women’s fiction with probably too much romance, but not too much growth to be straight romance. Maybe I need to just tell the characters to take a vacation from my head for awhile so I can write something else. Something either acceptable by Christian publishers or regular publishers. Sigh.

I also started copywriting. I’m taking small jobs that only pay a few dollars until I get quicker at it. Speed has never been my forte. Diligence yes. Speed, no.

I’ve learned so much about writing and publishing this past year, and I’ve screwed up the courage to stick my foot into the muddy river that is traditional publishing. It’s said the only people who don’t published are the ones who give up. And I’m certainly willing to keep learning and working on my craft.

I go through short periods of discouragement, but it hasn’t been that long since I started this. I believe I have what it takes. I just need my best work to meet with some luck. I doubt my best work has been created yet.