Mostly Gratitude

This post is about 33.3333% surprised elation, 33.3333% look-at-me-gotta-brag and 34.3333% gratitude.

My short story Letting In received an Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest Popular Fiction Awards short story competition. My name will be listed among the winners in the May/June 2013 issue of Writer's Digest or on www.writersdigest.com after that issue has been published.

After submitting several short stories to other competitions and never getting recognition, I was surprised when I got this one. Then again, this short story (starring Aria and Jonas, two of my favorite characters in the current trilogy I'm writing) flowed so fast and easy when I wrote it that I know it was all them...my fingers were the instruments that penned a part of their story. I'm so grateful to have that kind of connection with my characters where they can talk to me and show me their story so I can just describe scenes as they play out in my head. I'm so grateful for these characters, these stories, these alternate realities in my brain. They keep me sane...in the membrane. :)

NaNoWriMo

Or, for me, RevMyNoMo (small revisions to what I currently have and finish writing the rest of my novel month). The written part is just past the half-way point.

The goal: 1494 words/day to finish the first draft of my manuscript Blinded by Sight by month's end. Wish me luck...

Writing High

I'm on such a writing high, I can't persuade myself to come down, which is good right? It's better than hitting a wall and having to coerce myself up and over.

It all started September 11th with Smart Chicks Kick It Tour...a Q&A panel with seven popular YA authors. Being there only fed my thirst for being on the 'signing' side of the table.

Thanks to an awesome novel-writing workshop put on by Erin Shakespear, on September 15th I drove to Cedar City, Utah to glean what I could from amazing authors Lindsey Leavitt, Brodi Ashton, and Emily Wing Smith. Unfortunately, Emily was unwell and couldn't be there. But what I learned from the other two was enough to make me want to rip apart my whole YA manuscript and 'kill my darlings'...I've still got a ways to go before my writing is in the same league as Brodi's and Lindsey's.

Last night I attended Las Vegas Writer's Group (LVWG) and listened to local Lindsey Leavitt (again, but she's hard to get sick of) share her witty words of wisdom about writing for the YA market. I've got HWG Fall Conference in St. George October 12-13 and (fingers crossed) Highlights Foundation week-long workshop in secluded Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania on October 21-27.

I'll be danged if anything keeps me from getting this YA manuscript off the ground and soaring into the clouds by the end of that workshop! Publishing world, here I come!