Writing for the Love

At the moment, life, in a word, is insanity. Yet I'm determined to talk about the FWA Conference, however briefly. It was over a month ago now, and I'll probably start to forget some of the great details if I wait much longer. This was my fourth time attending, first time staying at the hotel. I was so happy to be sharing a room with my dear friend and fellow critique group member, Rachel. No driving back and forth. The sessions were awesome. The ones that stood out: Backstory led by Julie Compton and Jamie Morris. Julie was a keynote speaker for the conference. POV Part II led by Rebecca Melvin. I had done Part I two years ago when I first met Rebecca. Side note: she's a publisher with Double Edge Press who is currently reviewing Sprinter ! Agents/Publishers Panel facilitated by Vic DiGenti. This open mic Q & A is excellent every year. They revealed many current trends of publishing and what agents/publishers look for. The highlight was Benjami...

After the FWA Conference, there is so much that I'm eager to share. Unfortunately, life hasn't paused to allow me to take much breath since the conference ended. The day after, I immediately returned to the day job. I wish I could have spent the day processing the wealth of information I received at the conference, but such is the life of a writer with a day job. Sadly, we discovered a leak in our bathroom that has led to unplanned house renovations of three bedrooms and our hallway. Luckily, I have an extremely handy hubby who is doing most of the work himself. I've also done two half marathons since the conference. That has taken up lots of time due to training. The training did pay off, and I did well at both races and had an awesome time. I'll be posting about the conference soon, but wanted to take a moment to announce that My Wheels , the FWA collection that just came out with my latest short story publication, is now available for purchase onlin...

I'm very excited for the upcoming FWA Conference. It starts this Friday, and I'm carpooling and rooming with my dear friend, Rachel. She and I met at the conference last year, and she ended up joining my critique group shortly after. One of the other reasons I'm excited is that I made it into the FWA short story collection for the third year in a row. PTL! My science fiction short story, "The Wheels Must Turn," will appear in FWA Collection #4  My Wheels . The book debuts at the conference, and I get to join the other fifty-nine authors in a group book signing. The story is about a young narrator who comes to grips with the death of her father aboard a spaceship. This is my fourth year attending the FWA Conference. It's strange, I know, that I won First Place in the Royal Palm Literary Awards at last year's conference in the Unpublished Fantasy novel category...and I'm still re-editing Livinity . I received a rejection from an agent a few mont...

As this is a review about a running book, I thought it fitting to include on both my writing blog and my running blog . I’m actively submitting my novel, Sprinter , to agents and publishers. In the meantime, besides working on other writing, I’m searching for books similar to mine because that is a question often asked in the submission guidelines: which books are similar to yours? When I found The Lola Papers , I thought it might be somewhat similar to my book. In some ways it is, as both main characters are female, runners, and pursuing running goals while taking note of how much running parallels life. In other ways, not so much. My book is fiction, Lola is non-fiction. But I enjoyed every minute I spent reading it. Lola is a runner’s journey from sporadic and half-hearted running to serious racing. Her coach, Mr. Speedy Pants, provides the wisdom and insight of a seasoned and studly runner who isn’t ashamed of his own awesomeness. Following our main character throu...

I don't love writing in our home office. I'm not sure exactly what it is. I feel sort of closed in. My desk, the one I've had since college, is not terribly writer-friendly. It has this shelf down low so that I can't scoot my chair all the way forward and my back ends up hurting after a while. Therefore, I'm jumping for joy at the new writing space my husband has created for me. It was his idea to take the kitchenette area and turn it into my own haven for writing.  Lance is exhausted from helping his daddy  We bought shelves and a new chair from Ikea. We bought a desk from Staples. And hubby basically put everything together. I did little except encourage and thank and help with menial things like lifting heavy stuff with him.  Shelves done, now the desk  Getting things arranged.  Yes, that's a picture of Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice that my cousin bought me from the Jane Austen museum I don't know what i...

I'm happy to announce that my short story, "The Wheels Must Turn," made it into this year's FWA Collection #4- My Wheels . Praise the Lord! This is the third year in a row that I've gotten a story into the colletion and I'm still excited about it. Publication doesn't really get old. The sci-fi story is about a young narrator coming to grips with the death of her father. On to other topics that have been on my mind. For some reason, I can't seem to write about my writing more than once a month. I'm not sure if it matters or not. I write on my running blog, The Anti-Running Runner , more. I write on my fiction novels and short stories WAY more. Which is probably the reason why. I listen to podcasts a lot (another reason why?), and I was introduced to The Roundtable Podcast from the guys over at The Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine . If you are a writer, published or not, I highly recommend adding Roundtable to your iTunes subscriptions (it...

If I do nothing, the most predictable thing will happen. Nothing. I can write in my journals, at my computer, create stories and novels all day long. But only when I send them out into the world will anything happen with them. Otherwise, they are just for me. It makes me happy to write, and maybe that is enough. I don't have to have validation through other people to be satisfied about my writing. However, my goal has always been to write books that other people can read. I've got a start. I have two short stories published in FWA collections. I have my first paid short story publication coming out in March 2013. I have two completed novels, and lots of completed short stories. I realize that I have been letting the rejections come in without sending the stories back out as quickly. It's hitting me how behind I am in the submitting process. I believe it takes hard work to be a published writer. Technically, I am a published wr...

"Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any oath, but let your "Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation." James 5:12 NRSV In the submitting process, I think of yes as acceptance and no as rejection. Perhaps this verse doesn't exactly apply to that. I was thinking about the idea that each time I submit a piece, all I need is a yes. Yet that's not true. I need rejections as much as I need my one fabulous acceptance. The yes I received is the perfect example. In the last post, I detailed how the initial rejection turned into the acceptance. If the editor had said "Yes" the first time around, the piece would not have been as tight and strong as it became after I made edits from his suggestions. His "No" not only gave me incentive to try again, but it made me realize that the story needed more editing. I find it a blessing that he told me specifics, because he was right. ...

I'm happy to report an acceptance from a paying market! "A Black Gaping Hole" will appear in Aoife's Kiss , a science fiction and fantasy magazine, in March 2013. The science fiction story follows Lt. Erin Waite and her team into the depths of an alien-made cave where they encounter something unexpected. I want to share what happened in the process of receiving this acceptance as it might encourage others. I have received so many rejections before this that I kept wondering if or when I would get an acceptance. As a writer pursuing publication, I know it can take a long time. Persistence is key. When I first submitted a story to Aoife's Kiss, I received a rejection from the editor with the reasons why (!) and an encouraging word about how the writing was "verrry good." What a boost, even in the midst of rejection. I was determined to try again with that magazine because of the candor and kindness of the editor. As many writers know, it's not o...

"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return..." Luke 12: 35-36 So much about the publication process (rather, attempting to get into the publication process) is about waiting. Even while waiting, I want to be persistent. If I simply wait for answers from the agent on my novel (or a literary magazine on a short story) before moving forward with either the same story (sequel, for example) or other stories, I could make myself go crazy. Why haven't they replied to my email? Did they even get the manuscript? How long should I wait before querying to make sure they haven't forgotten me or misplaced my email? Instead of focusing on those thoughts, and they can plague me at times, I am working on other stories. Yes, I work full time and have animals at home to take care of and books to read and plenty of other things to keep me distracted. But writing other pieces and submitting ...