No resolutions...

Sorry, I know it's been a long time since I've written a blog entry.  I guess you really don't realize how quickly time flies by until you have a baby.  Christmas crept up on me, and before I knew it the new year was over.  However, for as fast as time is going by, I haven't had much progress in terms of writing.

I got a rejection letter from Curiosity Quills.  I have to admit that I was a little disappointed.  I really thought that "Blood Rain" would be a good fit with them, but I still haven't given up on that book.  My test readers assure me that it's a very good book, and I trust their judgement.  I'm running out of agents and publishers for it, though, so I think it is time to either finish the third book of that series or move on to a different project altogether.  My readers are eagerly awaiting the third book, but I don't have it entirely planned out yet.  I like to at least have an entire outline done before I start writing.  I have so many unfinished books, some of which I think are even better than "Blood Rain" that I had to put down for that very reason.  I had a rough idea of what to write for "Blood God," so I got started, but then I hit a snag that I'm hoping will work it's way out.

Sadly, the Dark Crystal contest judging was postponed for a few months.  I have a novel outlined for it just in case by an act of God I win, but I'm not going to start concentrating on it until I know for sure.  Just being a finalist would really help me along the way in my writing career.  Winning would be living a dream.  Be praying for me folks.  I'll need all the help I can get.  From what I understand, there were about five hundred entries.

I'm currently revisiting a few of my old books.  I'm debating about writing a short story just as a writing exercise, something to give my creativity a workout.  (Plus, it couldn't hurt to get into another anthology.)  To be honest, I'm feeling a little down on myself right now.  I think its because I'm so ready to have something published.  It's a start of another year, and I've been doing this for at least seven years now, possibly more if I count the time before I started submitting my work.  I want to succeed.  I want to follow my dream if nothing more than to show my little girl that if you put your mind to something and work very hard you can accomplish anything.  In order to do that, I need to get over this funk I'm in and start writing again.

For once, I don't have any resolutions for the new year.  I lost the ten pounds of baby weight the doctor told me to lose, I've  had a healthy baby and I work to make sure she's healthy and happy without needing a resolution to do it.  I intend to continue to write, but I'm not so arrogant that I'll make it a resolution to get published.  That's not in my power.  At some point I'll write a story that fits with a publisher, but resolving to do that would be kind of silly since that's a two way street.  I think this year that I won't make a resolution so this time I won't break any.  I'm just going to do what I always do; take things one day at a time, work hard everyday, and write on what I feel like at the time.

Well, I guess that's about it for now.  I'll try to post a writing sample for you sometime in the near future, once I've got an introduction for my next book ready.  In the meantime, keep reading, writing, and above all, living life to the fullest.  (Something that having a baby has taught me is that writing is good, it's great, but life goes by while you're telling your stories.  Make sure your own is also worth telling.)