News!

We have some news!

Last week was the source of some good news... and some bad news...

But, we like good news here. So, I'll just share the good news today. The bad news... it can wait. Besides, it's not horrible, life-altering news, it's just the kind we don't like very well. ;)

Ahem.

As many of you know, I decided to join the Team PYP challenge back in July. (Sadly, I've learned that Mrs. Woychik will not be continuing Team PYP into next year, and has shortened this year from a full year to 9 months... :( ) Anyway. I've been working on my myriad of projects for this and other duties, and I'm starting to see some success.

A week or so ago, in Miss Snark's First Victim Secret Agent contest, the Secret Agent told me she'd probably read beyond the first 250 words if my story were in her slush. (Pssst! It is! I submitted to her during the contest, not knowing it was her!) So, that was encouraging.

But, the best news of all came on St. Patrick's Day.

Now, I'm not superstitious or anything... and while I'm Irish, let's just say my roots to Colonial America are fresher than those that lead to the Emerald Isle.

But, St. Patrick's Day evening, I'm doing what every young writer does incessantly--checking their e-mail. I didn't think I'd have anything, but lo-and-behold, there's something new in my inbox. (I keep a separate e-mail account for all things writerly, just so I don't lose things of importance.)

I click on it.

It opens up, slowly. (Yeah, thinking about leaving Yahoo! after all the issues I'm having, but I digress.)

"We would be pleased to include your story "Family Reunions Are Murder" in OMDB!"

How about them apples?! OMDB! is short for "Over My Dead Body!" and is an online magazine for, you guessed it, murder-related stories. I don't know when I'll be published--yet!--but I'm sure it'll be relatively soon. I'll be sure to let everyone know when it's up. :)

Until next time,

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,