The One After Chemistry

I finally finished chemistry. I got a B and was glad to get it. I finished in May, and still didn't get around to blogging until now. And in this time between, I have come to realize something. Using my own name, there is very little that I am not too timid and far too afraid of offending people (or having them think me totally uncool) to write my honest opinions about. And I realized I needed to stop wasting time trying to overcome these fears, or trying to find really neutral things to write about. Because most really neutral things are really boring, and I've been trying to overcome these fears all my life. I realized what I really needed to do, if I wanted to talk about things that matter to me, is to blog under a pseudonym. I will still try to occasionally make entries here, because they assure me that it helps one's writing career to have a blog site.

And while I'm here, I might as well note that I've started another novel. It's something of a sequel to Arden's Act, which I'm still shopping around. I wanted to do a Civil War romance novel, but do it from the Northern perspective. I'm going to set it in Michigan.

And while I'm on the subject of my writing, I did recently publish my little middle school book, Confessions of a Mixed-Up Weasel Hater, as an e-book, both for Kindle and Nook. I've sold a grand total of 3 e-copies, one to myself, because I wanted to see how bad the e-file was. Messed up all my paragraph indentations, and for this I apologize. While publicizing this event, however, I apparently sold a few more hard copies...

And while I'm on the subject of Kindles, I got one. Now I carry temptation with me daily.

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.