Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Wisdom and My Bookshelf

I'm not sure if you are familiar with Willow Tree figurines or not, but I love them.

I only have one, and it is one I bought at a yard sale last year.

She sits on my bookshelf across from my computer desk. I look at her for inspiration.

This one is called Wisdom.
It is a young lady reading a book.
Sorry the picture came out a little blurry.


I'm hoping that along with her and the books on the shelves beneath her, I will gain the wisdom I need to write the perfect story.




Saturday, February 21, 2009

I Am Not Alone

I just posted about my latest rejection letter.

Well, I am not alone. After a little internet research, I found out the following:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach received 18 rejections.

Chicken Soup for the Soul received a total of 140 rejections.

Dubliners by James Joyce received 22 rejections.

Carrie by Stephen King received 30 rejections.
He then threw it in the trash.
His wife, Tabitha, fished it out.
He sent his story around again and it was eventually published.

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell received 38 rejections.

A Wrinkle In Time received 29 rejections.

Dr Seuss books received 15 rejections.

Looks like I'm in pretty good company, so I think I'll keep mailing my stories out.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Another Rejection

Oh, well.

Another rejection to add to my collection.

Run, Betty, Run does not meet Pelican Publishing's needs at this time.

It was a very quick turn around, it makes you wonder if they even looked at it.

We put hours and hours into writing a story and spend hours and hours trying to find the right publisher to send it to, only to get rejected. . . again.

So why do we continue to write, you ask.

I continue to write because I love it and hope some day to get the right story to the right publisher. I love putting words down on paper and creating stories.

Why do you write?

Thursday, February 19, 2009

I've Been Critiqued!

There is a wonderful writing sight called So You Wanna Be Published. I visit it on a daily basis.

It is Mary Demuth's sight and she has many helpful articles. One of her weekly postings is Free Critique Per Week and Pitch To Me section.

A few weeks ago I got brave and submitted the first paragraph of my middle grade historical fiction to be critiqued.

She critiqued it this morning. She was kind, but gave me some valuable suggestions.

If you have a first paragraph you want critiqued or just want to visit a very good writing sight go on over and visit. You won't be sorry.

Go down the page a little ways and you will see where she asked for paragraph submissions to be critiqued.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Trip to the Post Office

I took a trip to the post office.

I mailed Run, Betty, Run to Pelican Publishing today!

This is the first trip to a publisher for this children's picture book.
I retrieved it from my computer, did a little cutting and editing, and sent it on it's journey.

Run, Betty, Run is about the heroine, Betty Zane. Every West Virginia school child knows about her, but I thought she deserved a little national attention. There are enough books out there about George Washington, Lincoln, Franklin etc., so I wrote about a lesser known Revolutionary War heroine. Now let's hope Pelican likes the idea, too.

And I sent my article out to Good Old Days magazine.

It is about my trips as a child to the old family cemetery with my grandma.
After editing it over and over again, I got it to where I was satisfied with it.

Two down, and lots more to go!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Free Downloads!

If you like to read Harlequin books, they are celebrating 60 years!

Go to Harlequin .

As their gift to you, they are offering free downloads of 16 of their books.

Some of the titles sound interesting.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Writing Magazine Articles

I am currently writing a story to be submitted to a magazine. I've never submitted to a magazine before, but my sister told me about this one and I thought I'd give it a try.

The magazine is Good Old Days .

Good Old Days is a bimonthly publication which tells the real stories of the people who lived and grew up in "the good old days" (about 1935 - 1965) Their preferred word length is 500 - 1500 words. And, since they consider the 1960s the good old days, I can write about my childhood memories.

Their sight is very informative. It gives submission guidelines and stories from previous magazines.

Payment generally ranges from $20 to $100.

When first starting out, getting published can mean more than the money earned. Being published gives you experience and looks good in your inquiry or cover letters to editors.

So if you are old enough to remember the "good old days" and have a memory waiting to be told, give it a try and submit.