Reasons for The Return of the Happy:
- Got my critique partner back! She was MIA for half a year, being a mom and a student and a new-job-go-getter and a NINJA. But she's back. YAY.
- Time to just let myself step back and examine my wants and my goals without putting pressure on myself to produce
- New craft books. I know, I am the worlds biggest nerd, but I love craft books. I love learning how other people build their stories, keep track of what, come up with new twists and all that. The one I'm still working on is amazing. Unlike the proliferation of beginner screenwriting books out there, this one is definitely next level and I'm learning a heap. Will give a review when I've finished it and know what I absorbed.
- Success stories of friends who, while also aiming for publication with Harlequin, are finding success with other publishing houses.
- Got to the six months mark Monday on my submitted full manuscript with the London office of HQN, sent an email to check status. It's just an email to check status, but it still feels like some kind of forward momentum.
- I think part of my malaise had to do with the fall. I always get blue when the leaves fall and the air goes cold, but January feels *new* and full of possibilities, and that always reinvigorates me.
- Starting a second blog with another writing buddy, details to be announced later. For it, I get to draw turtles. I love turtles. That is all.
Glad to hear you got your mojo back. What a great way to start the new year, right?
ReplyDeleteTotally. I'm glad that it HAPPENS almost every year. I can't remember a January when I haven't felt energized about *some* project or another. Usually it's the whole... I'm gonna exercise ALL THE TIME project *ahem*
DeleteYay to seeing you post again! And double yay to getting your enthusiasm back! Hoping to see you around eHarlequin or other challenges soon! (I'm doing the Ruby winter challenge which you might find fun--http://www.rsswwf.com )
ReplyDeleteAnnabeth
Thank ya, ma'am. I have been lurking at Harl, but not jumping in with both feet and 10-toes-a-postin'. I'm not ready to write yet, I'm still trying to figure out what is wrong with my story... but I read a freaking amazing craft book this week(and I'm gonna review that sucker over the next couple days) and had so many story-related ah-hah moments I almost hyperventilated.
DeleteHi! Glad your back. I picked you up at New Voices (or is that a dirty word?) and liked your insight. Sad when your book (e-wife?) was cut. Wanted to read the next and next chapter. Taking some inspiration from you to start writing again
ReplyDeleteThanks and keep going!
Jo
Thank you, Jo. Yep, eWife is mine, but New Voices isn't really a dirty word for me. It was the conflicting messages I got from the experience, but I suppose we all live and learn. My outside the box is too far out of the box, and I think if I hadn't gleefully given myself over to the freedom that is outside that box, the whole thing wouldn't have hit me so hard. I let my ADHD muse drink a whole bottle of corn syrup and run in circles for a couple months. And now... I'm off the high-fructose go-go juice and trying to get at least one leg back into the box. We'll see how that turns out. It might just be that Harlequin, while a publisher I love to read, isn't *MY* publisher. But, they're not the only game in town. They're not even the only mass market paperback category romance publisher in town soon. Read in Publisher's Weekly the other day that Entangled Publishing has contracted with a paper pub to put their own category romances into stores, and I think that contributed to my regaining the happy. Hope is a fragile thing, she needs kid gloves sometimes.
DeleteBest of luck to you with your writing and I appreciate the support. It's nice to be remembered!