Already

I am already having to apologize for being a lazy blogger. I am experiencing one of those dark Sundays of the soul. Sometimes I have difficult Sundays, knowing Monday is coming and I have to go back to work. I'm grateful for my job. But what started out as the cushiest nursing job I'd ever experienced has turned into a situation where I feel like I am always rushed and that the powers that be are trying to get as much work out of me as humanly possible. Of course, Lisa would ask right now if I wanted to order a cake for my pity party. Yes, chocolate with ice cream.

I also have writing deadlines that I don't feel like meeting. Just feeling generally recalcitrant. Which, Lisa assures me, sounds like "something they give to people with bad bones." Lazy bones, maybe. Am also gearing up for some decisions, and to write something fairly personal in the next blog or two.

First Post

I just got back from the Writers' League of Texas conference, and boy, are my arms tired.

Not really. Just felt like I should say that. The conference agents seemed to think it a good idea for every aspiring writer to have a blog, so I am obeying orders. Obviously, I wouldn't if I didn't agree. I certainly don't see any harm in posting links to my various writings--the more attention the better, I always say. Although I do admit that I have resisted the whole blog thing for a long time. Mostly because I felt people used blogging as a way to say they were published when they really weren't. Or to harangue others about their politics. I even felt the word itself--"blog"--was an example of exclusionary jargon. Another way for some people to be cool and make others look uncool. Granted, an odd concern for someone approaching her forty-seventh birthday, but I've never claimed to be mature.

I am not writing here to be controversial. I am lucky enough to have friends and relatives of nearly all political and religious persuasions, and I don't really want to offend any of them. I'm sure if I say even a fraction of the things I'm feeling every day, though, I'll manage to do it anyway.

Having said that, I'll jump abruptly back to the conference. I love going to writers' conferences, and this one is always good. I met several agents who are either going to allow me to submit a sample of my historical romance (more historical than stereotypical romance), Arden's Act, or gave me suggestions about where else to send it. I went with the aim of learning more about pitching a novel, about writing query letters, and writing synopses. It's not that I think I know all the rest, it's just that I feel like I really SUCK at pitching, queries, and synopses. I came away feeling encouraged overall. All of the examples the agents gave of bad writing had me feeling like I'm ahead of the game. I came away feeling like reasonable success is just a matter of time, just a matter of finding the right agent who finds my stuff interesting enough to sell.