Thursday, May 7, 2015

2015 Writing Intentions Progress, May Days, and BEA

Hi all

Sorry for the long absence, but a lot of things have been going on, both non-writing and writing related.

Here's a summary of my writing related activities:

First, just a quick update on my writing intentions for this year. So far, I'm on track! In March, I only submitted one story, and it's one that I've submitted before, but I did a bit of editing on it and sent it out. It got rejected recently, but that's OK. Rejections are a sign of activity for a writer. In April, I sent out an application for the Boston Public Library's Children's Writer-in- Residence Program, which is a program designed to give both financial support and an office space to emerging writers who are currently working on a children's book. Last year, I applied using my middle grade novel Oliver and the Underlings as my proposed book. This year, I entered using The Vanilla Wafer Chronicles. The selected winner will be announced in July. Keeping my fingers, toes, etc. crossed!

Second, I am currently participating in the May Days challenge which a bunch of my writer friends are participating in. The goal is to just get people writing every day for the month of May. I saw that the original concept for the group was to write at least 2 pages a day, so I'm making that my goal, since I tend to work better with concrete goals such as that. So far, I've only written 10 pages of a new novel I'm working on based on a novelette I had previously written. But it's 10 pages more than I had at the beginning of the month.

Finally, I have decided to attend Book Expo America (BEA) 2015. I've mentioned it before, but for those who don't know, BEA is basically the largest book trade fair in the United States. I'm going there because, despite me not wanting to go because I STILL have books from past BEAs I haven't read or reviewed yet, I get to meet some amazing authors and other publishing professionals, hear what's going on in the publishing world, get inspired, and, of course, get an opportunity to get some ARCs of some amazing books by some amazing authors. This year it's being held in New York City from May 27th to May 29th. I also heard next year it's moving to Chicago, which is another reason I've decided to make the trip this year. I doubt I'll have the opportunity to travel to Chicago once it moves. I'll still continue to do my best to review all the books I've gotten there. Keep an eye on George's Backlogged Book Reviews on my blog.

That's all the news that's fit to print for now. More to come. Thanks for following!