Posts Tagged ‘completed’
I doubt this will be my last post of the year (I certainly hope not!), but I thought it was as good a time as any to look back at what I’ve done this year.
That’s right: I was catching up on my Word Count Countdown spreadsheet and realized just how much I’ve gotten accomplished since Jan. 17.
- 185,287 words written
- Wrote one complete series-length manuscript (during NaNoWriMo), finished up one that started the year 1/3 finished, expanded and edited two others; and wrote about 1/3 of my second single title
- Sent out countless query letters and got a few nibbles; haven’t landed an agent yet, though.
- Finaled in the FCRW Beacon contest (waiting to hear on the final results).
- Prepped two Golden Heart entries (one in single title contemporary, one in series contemporary)
- Started — and finished — NaNoWriMo
- Volunteered to judge the GH (am waiting for a judging packet now)
I feel like I’m finally on my way. And I owe it all to the encouragement of my NARWA sisters, the gals at the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood and, of course, Jennifer Ashley, the speaker who somehow lit a fire under my butt at the January NARWA meeting.
Thanks, guys. May we meet on bookstore shelves!
During our last NARWA carpool, we were chatting away when my friends decided I was organized.
My first thought? “Yeah, right.” I believe I said something like, “You wouldn’t say that if you saw my desk at work.”
That’s true. My desk is one of the messiest in the newsroom, with piles and piles of stuff. My bedroom is the same way: stuff everywhere. Of course, I do know right where to find most things, so I guess you could call it “organized chaos.”
And yes, I am that girl — the one who has an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of her word count progress.
I have to use that silly program somehow, since I paid an arm and a leg for it in my Office package. I bought it for the Word, but refuse to have TWO unused programs. Since I have no idea how to set up Entourage, Excel it is. I’ve even figured out how to create cool charts to show my progress.
Hmm. If that makes me organized, I’m guilty as charged. Especially now that I’m focusing on treating writing like my day job so it’ll become my day job, I’ve been keeping track.
And I have been busy: Since deciding last year to enter the Golden Heart, I’ve …
- Revised Brad & Erin’s story and sent out several queries on it. (Received one nibble, which resulted in a rejection.)
- Entered it in the Golden Heart, where it received solidly average scores.
- Taken part in my first NaNoWriMo, writing about 25,000 words.
- Finished the first draft of my first single-title length novel.
- Edited it into a second draft, written a synopsis and query and submitted it to a handful of agents. (Two wanted to see more.)
- Expanded Cassie and Dustin’s story to the proper length for category romance, editing and revising as I went along.
- Done the same for Bree and Mike’s story.
- Written about two-thirds of Meg and Matt, finishing a first draft.
- Crafted the dreaded query and synopsis for Meg and Matt.
- Started a second single-title story, a sequel to the first.
Wow, I have been busy. Four series manuscripts and one single-title … Now all I need to do is find someone who’s interested in publishing one — or all — of them.
Let the organizing continue! 😉
Sadly, not much writing has happened since Wednesday (and that writing didn’t count toward my Word Count Countdown, because it wasn’t actually writing on any of my WIPs).
This type of limbo is much more fun!
I’m at a certain point: Finished MS but no query or synopsis — and since our NARWA meeting next Saturday is on the dreaded synopsis, I’m kind of trying to hold out before working on one of those.
The query and synopsis on “Blind Date Bride” are mostly finished, but I’m still a little scared to send that one out there. I did get a rave review from one of my NARWA sisters, who described it as “delicious.”
With a review like that, why am I not sure? It’s probably plain old fear of rejection — again. I’ve already gotten tons of rejections on Brad & Erin’s story, so why would I expect this one to do better?
Well, it was written much later. Brad & Erin’s MS was my first, and even though I’ve edited it so much that parts hardly resemble the original draft, it could be that it’s just not good enough. Pat said she can tell a huge difference between that one and “Blind Date Bride,” that my writing has grown and changed.
So maybe it’s time to bite the bullet, finish the query/synopsis and send it out there. It’ll immediately expand my agent pool, since this one’s a single title instead of category.
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