The Beginning of a Writing Journey

Seven years ago today

Seven years ago yesterday, I finished my first novel. To be exact, I finished the first draft of my first novel, which was then revised so many times over the years that it’s not the book I originally wrote. Coincidentally, it’s the book I hope to self-publish by the end of the summer, Gaia’s Hands.

After that first novel

I thought I’d quit writing after I wrote that novel, because I had fulfilled one of those Big Audacious Goals that I thought I’d never fulfill, being a short-story person by nature. But I wrote six and a half more novels — the half novel being 50k of a book that needs another half.

So far, only one book, The Kringle Conspiracy, has been published. My family likes it and it’s helped me get quite a few newsletter readers in the past few weeks. That book was almost 40 years in the making, coming from a vignette I wrote in a high school creative writing class.

There will be (hopefully) two other books to be (self-) published soon: the aforementioned Gaia’s Hands and the second Kringle book, Kringle in the Night.

Where to from here?

Obviously, I’m probably going to keep writing, although I haven’t written a novel since — checks watch — last November. I’d like to start writing a new novel soon, even though I’ve been advised to stick with short stories for a while. Getting things published is also important to me right now.

For you

Do you have ideas for a novel? Dreams of writing a novel? Write them here!

What I’ve Learned from Failure

I didn’t have to deal with failure in my childhood (except for those crushes that were never requited). I wasn’t quite a child genius, but I was gifted. I managed to get to college almost entirely on scholarships including a National Merit Scholarship. I got on the honor roll despite the most perfunctory study habits.

I came to failure late and hard. Particularly in submitting my writing, particularly novels. I have received enough rejection to paper my room.

What I have learned about rejection:

Don’t take it personally. If I have given my best, after reading guides on how to write, writing, editing, beta-reading, revising, and the like, it’s probably that my writing doesn’t fit the agent’s list or the journal’s theme I have learned, for example, that my poetry is not High Concept, as it doesn’t get published in high concept journals. This doesn’t surprise me because my Ph.D. is not in English/Creative Writing. My short stories are also not High Concept, being firmly lodged in the category of fantasy, romantic fantasy, and space opera. There are some places I’m more likely to get published in than others.
See what you can learn from it. I have had to grow as a writer by asking myself, “What is the takeaway from this?” I had to get rid of my perfunctory habits once I realized that one didn’t turn in one’s first draft (in my defense, it had very few grammatical or spelling errors). I read a lot of material on writing because of rejection.
Try again. Always try again.

On the Verge of Querying Again.

I have minor corrections to do on Whose Hearts are Mountains today, and then I will query the last 30 agents. Wish me luck.

I don’t know what I’m going to do if these last 30 come up empty. Yes, I do. I’m going to query Prodigies (the improved version) in a few months, and start the cycle again.

I feel like a glutton for punishment. But at this point, I have documents as good as I can make them, and I can’t not share them.

Nothing more to say today, but: here’s a cat.

Me-Me, aka “Brussels Sprout”

Some Days It’s Hard

It’s Sunday morning here in Maryville, on a dark morning following a torrential thunderstorm, with more rain on the way. I’m listening to classical music and drinking entirely too much coffee, followed by a good dose of King’s Oolong Tea 913, which I received from a friend of mine who’s currently back in China. No need to go out; just a long amount of time to do something.

Or nothing. Right now, I want to do nothing.

I took a break from writing yesterday, mostly because I didn’t feel well, but in part because my projects are as follows:

Gaia’s Hands, which is frustrating me because I can’t get a handle for improving it (this vastly rewritten and rewritten story)
A short story about one of the characters in Prodigies, which starts with a whole family dying in a bombing and gets more depressing from there.

Not much to grab onto, is there?

My worry if I take another break is that I will quit writing, because, frankly, it’s easier not to write. Part of the reason I write this blog is to force myself to be productive, to take the hard path, the path I really want to see myself walk down.

So we’ll see what I want to write today.

Thanks for listening!

So here I am, sitting at my desk with the dregs of the flu, looking at snow showers in the forecast on Sunday, and hope still springs eternal — I’ve decided to submit another book to Kindle Scout for voting on/potential publishing.

The name of this book is Voyageurs, and it is still under review, with the hope that this time it will get picked up. If this doesn’t work, I will put one of those books (probably Gaia’s Hands) on self-publishing, so I can say I accomplished my goal and get on with my life.

Voyageurs is the one about time travel, ecological catastrophe, and the outer edges of megalomania. It also has an edgy relationship and a lot of coffee.

I’ll let you know the address tomorrow. Please consider looking at it and voting!