Author of Middle Grade novels about friendship, family, and figuring out where you fit in.

Monday, April 15, 2013

What Is (And Isn't) New

Ah, looks like it's blogging time again, friends. I know, I take lengthy and unpredictable breaks here and there. I thought I'd write a "catch up" post, to let y'all know what's been going on, and then in the comments, I'd like to hear what's new with you.

What's New:

- As you can tell, I'm not doing the A to Z Challenge this year. Boo. I had a blast with it last year, between the challenge of coming up with posts and the excitement of meeting all new friends and reading their letter posts. I've been around to a few A to Z participants this month, and I like what I'm reading.

- I've finished the fourth draft of my latest MS, after incorporating suggestions from 4 critique partners. Now I'm getting ready to send it to 2 more readers (I really want to make sure the plot is working) and then around June/July... it's GO time!

- This is a topic for a longer blog post, but I've decided to submit exclusively to small presses. It's not a last resort; I'm skipping querying agents entirely. I've taken the past several months to reconsider what I want as a writer, not what's expected of me or what's drilled into my head via the blogging hive mind, and publishing with a small press seems to be a great fit for me. But more on that in another post, friends.

What's Not New:

- I'm still chronically ill, but you could have guessed that by the "chronically" part. I've been doing my best to balance productivity and rest -- making sure I don't over-do it, but still managing to cross off a few things on my To-Do list each day.

- I suck at blogging. (Yup, that's definitely not new.) But I'm doing my best to keep up with you guys, especially those who link blog posts on Twitter. I'll try to be around this week to visit and return comments. I appreciate when you guys stop by - it makes my day.

What's new -- or not new -- with you?

3 comments:

Tonja Drecker said...

Congrats on getting so far with your MS. And I'll cross my fingers for you during those submissions!

Tiana Smith said...

I've thought of going the small press route. I'm still working on edits for my current MS, but it's something that's been bouncing around in the back of my mind. Good luck!

Misha Gerrick said...

Congrats on finishing your newest draft.

Submitting to small presses is a good idea, I think. I ended up signing with one before getting back answers from all the agents I'd queried.

And Etopia's terms are really good. At least, those on my contract were.

And yep, that's the (oldish) new for me. I sold my book in a two book deal back in March. :-)

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