A Nyte's Tale

I am giving anyone reading this post fair warning…stop reading now if you don’t want to join my pity party. Another stressful week gone by, another short story turned down by Glimmer Train. I was so hopeful for it to be published. It had been in review for 65 days, and I had researched on the internet that they would probably give the results for the winners in one week (Nov. 30th). I was so close, or so I thought. I didn’t even get an email notification. Nope, I just happened to check my account today and saw the dreaded “Completed” word next to my submission, which meant they would not be publishing my story. This story was the first short story I had ever written and submitted to any publication. My second short story was rejected last week. I have to say that I feel pretty down tonight about this whole writing business. I hate to admit that I am actually so disappointed about it, I feel like I don’t want to write anymore. Yeah, right. Give me a few days of moping around, ...

“ The person who does not read good books has no advantage over the person who cannot read them .” - Mark Twain I am trying to stay upbeat tonight, but failing miserably. One of my two short stories that I submitted to a well known magazine was not picked for publication. I must say, I feel absolutely disappointed and I may have shed a tear or two hundred. I am still hopeful…crossing my fingers…praying every night…knocking on wood…etc. etc., that my first story, submitted back in September, will be accepted. The story that did not get accepted was submitted Oct. 15th, and my first story was submitted Sept. 15th. From what I have been told and researched on the net, the longer the story is “in process” the better. Here is the latest information about my manuscript. Four more e-queries have been sent, and three have come back rejected. I received some replies back in less than one minute of hitting the send button, thanks to the agent’s handy dandy “auto reply”. Those disappo...

"Never be afraid to sit awhile and think." - Lorraine Hansbury I was lazy this weekend and didn’t post anything new to my blog. Instead, I did my duty for all those in the book industry by going to Barnes & Noble and buying 3 books. One of the many blogs I like to read is called Editorial Ass. Moonie’s take on “C[r]ash Flow (Or What Went wrong in October in Book Publishing)” was an eye opener. If you would like to read her post for yourself, you can check out her blog on editorialass.blogspot.com. I agree with her suggestion that if each person would go out and buy just one book over the weekend, it would help the publishing industry tremendously. I have my own personal reasons for wanting to strengthen the publishing industry, and they are entirely selfish. I want my book published. There, I said it. With the industry being in a slump, it causes agents to shut the door on new writers because they are a risky investment. Agents hold onto their clients that have previousl...

Trying something new. Snapshot into my life at the moment... Watching the Presidential election and listening to Uncle Kracker's "Rescue", while laying on the floor thinking of how to fix my query letter so it will grab someone’s attention. Cat sitting on the floor next to me, waiting to be loved (i.e., petted into purring). Lovely daughter sitting on the couch, bored from the election coverage, listening to her ipod for entertainment. Awesome son, totally uninterested in elections, playing his video games. (Both kids have picked who they want to win, but they just don’t want to watch as each state turn in results.) Husband…always up to something interesting, but takes too much of my focused energy to figure out what it is. (Thank you for your support and…”Love ya babe!”)

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween. I regret to say that my pumpkin carving took a back seat to my writing this year, although I did manage to work on a few pumpkins. I sculpted what my son called “a really cool dragon” onto one pumpkin using my Dremel for the first time and I have to admit it turned out pretty darn good. My son loves dragons, which I am certain, you will soon understand from future posts that will eventually end up on this blog. I regret that I failed to get a picture before the pumpkin wilted away in the last lingering days of a summer, that wasn’t quite ready to end. So to include a picture for him, I am posting a picture of last year's pumpkin which was...you guessed it; a dragon. My talented daughter carved her own pumpkin and did a splendid job! I have posted pictures of her pumpkin from this year and her Dracula pumpkin from last year. She is showing definite signs of becoming a talented artist, just like my son is showing signs of becoming an ex...