Yikes – Two Months without Posting

I would be ashamed of myself, except the main reason for my absence is that I was writing/revising/reading toward a better manuscript. No excuse, you say? You’re probably right. But I’m still on the blog-learning curve. I find that my more automatic go-to spot for communicating re book stuff is my Yours In Books Facebook page (click on the “Facebook” button in right margin). It’s quick, noninvasive, and ties directly/efficiently to my Twitter feed. Writing the lengthier blog posts not only takes a different mindset, it assumes one’s readers want to spend more than ten seconds with your topic. I try not to be presumptuous. Too often. Yet I must get better about presuming, lest my non-Facebook/Twitter followers decide I was a figment of their imagination after all. So, here’s an update, and thank you for your patience!

The greatly improved manuscript for Great Wharf is now in three others’ sets of hands: a good friend with a critical eye; a fiction editor with a critical eye; a selection of #PitchWar mentors (click here for contest description)with critical eyes. In the latter, my current pitch and first five pages are competing for the selected mentors’ attention with upward, I estimate, of 50 other aspiring novelists. Some mentors have reported about 30; one has reported 2,000 (really). It is highly doubtful my work will compete successfully at this stage, but I’m in the game!

By having the material in different hands for critiquing this month, I have freed myself to start writing something new (and get my holiday cards out!). I have an idea too, but daren’t share it with you just yet. Suffice it to say that while I’m working hard with Great Wharf to enter the authorial portals (can that be a term?) of traditional publication, my new work will test the waters of Kindle Singles. Very different product; very different timeline; very different royalty terms.

In the meantime, happy December days to you all. Are you creating during this month?