Those December Goals

I already announced my goals for the coming year, but how did I do on those year end goals?

1) I decided to hold out on sending my partials until January because I wanted to incorporate some great suggestions given by contest judges into the first two chapters. I did send one of my partials out today, though.

2) I applied for PRO membership in Romance Writers of America and got my acceptance email today.

3) On the contests for Katie Rose, I decided to skip the first one because it had a January 3rd deadline. With all the other things I had to do, I didn't want to add more stress around the holidays, but I do plan to enter the second contest. It has a deadline of January 31st. Much more doable, and I've already started to get that entry ready.

4) I looked over and made some notes on my sci-fi romance outline, but had to put it aside again to revise my short story. I plan to get back to the sci-fi romance after the New Year holiday.

So, although I didn't accomplish everything I wanted to do, I got a great deal done in a very busy month.

Now, I'm ready for the New Year!

Happy New Year!

I want to start the new year off right by announcing my writing goals for 2008.

I ended 2007 on a happy note by selling my vampire romance short story, Eternity Waits, to The Wild Rose Press. It's been quite a while since I've sold anything, so I hope to continue my good fortune into the new year.

1) My biggest goal of 2008 is to write more.
I've joined HHRW's Historical Hearts Writing Challenge loop and plan to set both weekly and monthly writing goals and try my best to accomplish them.

2) Make more time to read both in and outside of my chosen genre.

3) Mail out partials to my first choice publishers for my new Civil War romance.

4) Do some cutting on my time travel romance and try to find a publisher willing to look at it.

5) Step up my promotion efforts in advance of my short story's release by The Wild Rose Press.

6) Enter my Civil War romance in as many contests as I can afford.

7) Complete the outline for my sci-fi romance and finish the first draft by the end of 2008.

So, those are my goals for the new year.

Next, I'll post my goals for January.

Contest!

Hop on over to my group blog for a chance to win a Twelve Days of Christmas gift basket.

I also have a new blog up on Christmas during the Civil War. Leave a comment and you'll have a chance to win.

Details at: http://www.slipintosomthingvictorian.com

Merry Christmas!

I didn't get any writing done today and I'm winding down for the coming holidays. I spent today, after my workout, cleaning the house, baking and making my Christmas fudge. And now I'm exhausted.

We still have to put up our tree. We'll do that Sunday, then all that's left is Christmas dinner. I've got the presents under control, already packed in their gift bags. I stopped doing wrapping paper two years ago.

I hope everyone has a joyous and peace filled Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Rethinking Contests

I just received my latest contest entry in the mail today. I already knew I hadn't finalled, but am always curious to see how the judges scored my work and what they had to say.

And the results were typical. One judge gave me high scores, although she did find a few things to nitpick about. The other judge gave me a lot of low scores and had written all over the entry.

So, I decided to look over the high scoring entry first. She really liked the characters and story--as least what she could see of it from the first two chapters. And the few things she had problems with, I could agree with. I decided I would make a few changes before sending it out again.

Then I decided I had to look at the low scoring entry to see what she had to say.

To my surprise, although she'd given me some very low scores, she also gave me some very high ones. She also liked the characters and story, and made some very valid comments that I decided I also wanted to use.

The result was a very positive contest experience. This was the first contest I'd entered this story in and, although my critique partners loved it, I didn't know what kind of remarks I'd get from others.

I've decided to hold off sending the partials of this story out for another month, so I can take my time and go over those first two chapters again. I think this will give me a much better chance of getting requests for the full.

I'll also hold off on entering this in any other contests until I've made the changes. And these are changes I think are necessary to improve the mechanics of this story.

When I send this out again, I want it in the best shape it can possibly be. And after this experience, I really do want to enter this in future contests.

New Blog on Religion and the Civil War

Just did a new history blog on Slip Into Something Victorian.

Click the link and check it out.

Fantastic News!!!

I got the email last night! The Wild Rose Press sent a contract for my short vampire story, Etenity Waits, set during the American Civil War.

This story had been sitting in a drawer for four years. I'd written it for the vampire magazine, Dreams of Decadence. But they sent it back unread because they were overstocked.

I tried a few other magazines, but they rejected it also, saying it wasn't right for their publication. So, I stuck it in a drawer and forgot about it.

I only pulled it out again because I was taking a workshop on paranmoral romance. The instructor wanted us to send in examples of paranormal creatures. I immediately thought of my vampire and sent two scenes from the story as part of my assignment.

The instructor liked the characters and encouraged me to send it somewhere. So, I revised it and sent it to my critique group, then to The Wild Rose Press, because they publish short stories.

Now, I'm a Wild Rose author and couldn't be more proud.

Ready To Start On Something New

I've got the partials of Katie Rose printed out. Just have to put dates on my query/cover letters, reprint them and send the packages out.

I've grown tired of doing edits and proofreading stories I've already written. I'd like to take some time away from those projects and start working on something new.

I have my sci-fi romance that I've been stalling on. It's still in the very early outline stage. I may take what's left of this month between holiday activties to work on that.

If I can finish the outline, I can start writing brand new pages in the new year.