Jitters

I've been feeling more than a little jittery lately.

And, no, it's not from heavy amounts of caffeine, although I'm weaning off of it again after a bad spurt over the winter of needing it in high amounts.

No, these jitters are nerves for writing.

See, I'm in-between projects right now. I've got "Homebody" which I'm still tweaking, even though I'm sending it out to agents. And, I've got "Reprisal" (the new name for "Cora's Song") which I'm contemplating all the changes that need to be made to make it publishable. (Not that it's not now, it's just gotten a little lengthy, and needs a bit of trimming and consolidating and poking to make sure I've got all the holes in the plot tied together well.) And, I've got one more project ready for editing... and two I'd like to be writing.

But, I'm trying to prioritize, and actually get things ready to go rather than writing, writing, writing and never editing, editing, editing.

Sigh.

Hence, the jitters. With the fact that I'm feeling just a little closer to my publishing dreams right now, it's making me twist into a little ball of nerves.

Which does nothing for any other aspect of my life except make me antsy. I mean, surely, the kids can deal without mommy for a while during the day, right? (Not that they do--it just leaves me feeling that way sometimes.) Surely, TMOTH can understand that I've got to get work done (Yeah, not so much.) And the dog... well, the dog and I go on lots of walks these days which is starting to give me time to think about all the changes to be done to "Reprisal". After too many walks where I'm chasing the kids or hollering to my 3yo to hurry up, these near-silent walks with the dog are ones where I'm having to retrain my brain to think about my plots again.

Anyway, maybe, along with fewer amounts of caffeine, I'll be easing the jitters soon.

And, in the meantime, you can check out and see whether my entry over at Miss Snark's First Victim made the agent's cut this month. "Homebody" was entry #1 last week over there, and today, I'll find out whether I won or not.

Until next time,

Operation: Enter a Contest

It's 11:30 PM, and I just realized that yet again I missed blogging today. Ay-yi-yi! What's wrong with me?!

Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with me.

The last two weeks, I've been on THE MISSION.

Yeah, you writers should know what I'm talking about. THE MISSION, which I chose to accept, was to whip my almost-ready novel into shape and submit it to -- GASP! -- a CONTEST.

Gulp!

I'll have you know that today, Monday the 30th, I hit the "upload" button for probably the last time... and it's gone on its way to the great reviewers at the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. (And I'm not lying when I say the reviewers are great--one of judges this year is Donald Maass--THE Donald Maass. You know, the one who has written so many great books on the craft of writing, the one who has his own literary agency?! W-O-W.)

For those who don't know, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest is a fairly big deal. There may be contests bigger. I'm not sure, to be honest. This was the first time I've every thought about sending in any of my work to a contest--and I got pushed into it by a friend from the great state to the south of mine. And, I know I don't have an awesomely-high chance of winning. They're accepting up to 5,000 entries. The first cut takes that number down to 1,000 (I'll know if I make the cut just before my son's BMB next month.) The second goes further still--to 250.

That means I have a 1 in 20 shot to making it through to the 2nd round. If I make it that far--heck, even if I make the first cut--I'll be pleased. Quarterfinals are the top 50--a 1 in 100 shot. Yeah, if I get that far, you can pretty much guarantee my heart will stop. ;)

Anyway, this is starting to digress, and I apologize... it's just I've never really done anything like this before! Sure, I've sent my work in to a handful of agents... sadly, I was ill-prepared, and did it a little too prematurely. Now, I think I may be ready, and I'm getting all jittery about the possibilities and options. Am I really ready? Really??? Do I get this thing out to agents' inboxes, or do I wait and see if I pass the first cut or not?

There are too many questions... Ugh!

Of course, the lateness of this post probably doesn't help... The more I think about it, the more uncertain I become.

Oh well. I'm sure I'll feel different in the morning.

Until next time,

Liberty