My Goals for 2009 - Submit … Submit … Submit!

I woke up this morning to world draped in white ...no, not snow thank goodness, but very dense fog. I can’t even see the end of my driveway!!

So while I tried to ignore the white soup gathering outside my picture window, I pulled up my computer files and began to sort through my WIP's trying to decide which ones to begin writing query letters for and where to submit them. I have been keeping a running list of agents and editors, updating it as changes in the industry occur and have a pretty good idea of which editors I would like to submit to. I may even query an agent or two.

Before the New Year arrived I wanted to take stock of where I was in my writing, and where I am headed. I pushed myself hard during 2008 and will ease back a little during the first quarter of 2009, but my nature is not to sit back and rest for long.

So what will 2009 bring, as I begin the process of submitting my finished manuscripts to editors and agents? Besides, that is, having a stomach that is constantly tied up in knots and legs that feel like they are made out of gruel.

First, I want to finish the in-depth revision of my MG,(TMON) Ned and make sure that the query and synopsis sparkle before sending it out. I'm even thinking about entering it in PEN New England's Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award come February.

Next, I want to concentrate on my series of historical 4 biographies that deal with this area of Vermont. It's going to take up a major portion of my time but it is something that keeps pulling at me and I can no longer ignore it. I’m not exactly sure how it will all be tied together, but have an idea that I have been playing around with. I have never written creative nonfiction before but feel that it will lend itself better to this project than a straight biography would.

I’ve written the draft of the first book but it reads more like a book report than a children’s story. So I have been reading what few biographies that our local library has on their shelves, which isn’t that many and are on subjects that are worlds apart from what I will be writing about. Anyone have any suggestions of biographies to read?

Somewhere down the line I want to begin major revisions of Footprints in the Snow and possibly expand it to MG length. Right now it’s at 6326 words and is based on an actual event. However, I’m having a hard time stepping away from what I know to be true and adding in more fictional aspects to the story. It’s not a memoir, but still Point A goes to Point B, with the result of Point C. My problem is filling in and expanding everything in-between those points with fiction. If anyone has any sage advice I’d really appreciate it. I like my MC, as she’s a girl after my own heart; feisty and gutsy, even though she often acts before thinking things through, and usually drags her younger brother along on her hair-raising adventures. Humm ...how much of it is autobiographical you ask? Hah...I’ll never tell!

The Adventures of Patches is also on tap to be revised. A few of the members in my critique groups have said that I should also expand this to MG length. But I’m not sure that it will lend itself to the MG audience, as I think the subject matter seems to be a little young for an MG, but I’ll see how it goes.

I also want to revise, Follow and Wind, which cynthea said she liked the voice of during one of her Red Light, Green Light contests. And even though it didn't win a ‘free-tique,’ it was nice to hear that someone liked my MC's voice. I have never written anything from the male perspective before and am getting a kick out of stepping into his shoes.

And finally, I want to revise a few of the manuscripts that I began during this year’s JONOWRIMO 1.5. Most of them are only in what I call their ‘sloppy copy’ stage, but a few of them have undergone a second and third draft which means that they are getting close to being ready to submit to my critique groups. I usually do not send anything out to be critiqued until the manuscript has gone through at least 3, sometimes 4, complete revisions.

I guess that about does it for my 2009 writing goals. It’s nowhere near as ambitious as this past year was, but I am leaving myself plenty of room for revisions to be made on the material that will be sent out during the first quarter of this coming year. My knees are shaking and my stomach is doing back flips just thinking about sending my work out into the wild blue yonder. *GULP*

I hope everyone has a very productive 2009!

Taking Stock - A Review of 2008

I thought I would do a quick review of this past year before I posted my goals for the New Year.

When I first began writing in earnest, more than five years ago, I really didn't have any goals beyond learning what I could do to improve my writing skills as well as learn a bit about the publishing industry and how it worked. But a funny thing happened along the way ... the writing bug bit big time (lol, say that fast 4 times in a row!)

This year I pushed myself, and pushed myself hard, in order to write as much as possible and build up a large backlog of manuscripts before beginning the submission process. I believe it was Jane Yolen who said that for a new writer tying to break into print they should have enough manuscripts written so that they could have 12 manuscripts in circulation at all times.

I think I’ve met that goal, and then some, as I have a total of ... now don’t faint ... 48 manuscripts written, revised, sent out to be critiqued, and revised once again ... and again ... and again. Humm ... I wonder ... do you suppose I should get a life?

As of this morning, my total word count for the year 2008 is 63,438 words. Not bad for an old broad! It’s true that they are not all spit-polished to a shine and ready to be sent out into the world, but 36 of them have made the rounds of my critique groups, time and time again and are as ready as they will ever be.

2009 will be my year for, *GULP * submitting to agents and publishers!!


Prose

1. Finished revisions for AATTM (5431 words) Anya

2. Finished revisions for NTDPT (937 words) Needles

3. Finished revisions for HHBAT (558 words) Hope Hangs by a Thread

4. Finished revisions for TBLS (798 words) Snowdrop

5. Finished revisions for TRC (1255 words) Rainbow C

6. Finished revisions for HTFB (1119 words) Turtle

7. Finished revisions for DKATPOG (1515 words) Dan K

8. Finished revisions for NDATFT ( 899 words) Nana DuPuy

9. Finished revisions for WETKTN (924 words) Evergreen

10. Finished revisions for GSSTS (1572 words) Grandmother S

11. Finished revisions for TJOT (1467 words) Journey of Three

12. Finished revisions for TRK (2348 words) Raspberry K

13. Finished revisions for craft article ARBAON ( 1328 words) A Rose by Any Other Name

14. Finished revisions for craft article TMOMTS ( 814 words) The Making of Mopus

15. Completed the draft of my first MG novel, TMON (19,529 words) Ned

16. Began in depth revisions for TMON Ned

17. Began in depth revisions for FITS (4814 words) Footprints in the Snow

18. Began in depth revisions for TAOP (2434 words ) Patches

19. Began revisions for FAW (1786 words ) Follow And Wind

20. Began revisions for HRLHT (619 words) Rabbit

21. Began revisions for NTWB (764 Words) Nodin

22. Began revisions for TDTSARF (801 words ) Sun and Rain Fought

23. Began work on SAG ( 1896 words) Speckles and Giggles

24. Began writing TSWE (1330 words) Never-ending S

25. Began writing TTE (1606 words) Talking E

26 Continued researching my 4 part non-fiction series-TIMOTPV The Iron Men

27. Completed the first draft of the first book for #26 FLCFFBTIM (2310 words) Frank L Cone

Poetry

28. Finished revising OWTN ( 189 words) One With the Night

29. Finished revising TC (247 words) The Circle

30. Finished revising GSITNOP (425 words) Gone, Sold in the Name of Progress

31. Finished revising FEIS (252 words) Forever Etched in Sorrow

32. Finished revising INOTW (187 words) I’m Not of This World

33. Finished revising TG (185 words) The Gardener

34. Finished revising ACE (239 words) A Close Encounter

35. Finished revising MAD (370 words) Mushrooms at Daybreak

36. Finished revising TKOO (315 words) The Kingdom of One

37. Finished revising BP (118 words) Blue Promises

38. Finished revising S (589 words) Scattered

39. Finished revising SE (123 words) Scholastic Ecstasy

40. Finished revising AWL (377 words) A Writer’s Lament

41. Finished revising TMIOM (172 words) The Me Inside of Me

42, Finished writing B (70 words) Betrayal

43. Finished writing TAN (723 words) Then And Now

44. Finished writing MAL (44 words) Minus A Label

45. Finished writing LTTW (23 words) Listen to the Whiteness

46. Finished writing SF (6 words) Snow Falls

47. Finished writing L (12 words) Lies

48. Finished writing P (13 words) Propaganda