Quick Check-In on 2015 Writing Intentions and Other Goings-On

Hi all

First, just a quick check-in on my intentions for the year.

For the month of January, I managed to submit a total of one short story, which means I'm well on my way of fulfilling my goals for the year (one story submitted per month, one book submitted for the year).

I did submit that story TWICE though. The first time it was rejected. The nice thing is, the first rejection came with some great feedback, which I find to be a major improvement and a good indication that my writing is finally making people notice. I'd rather have some great personal rejections any day than the ol' "Sorry, this piece is not right for our publication." Usually when I receive that, either one of two things have happened. Either I've targeted an incorrect market for my story (which is probably the more likely scenario), or the story is so bad that it doesn't even warrant a response. Being a more optimistic person regarding my writing, I always assume it's the first option and try to do a better job at targeting a new market for the piece.

I've also been working on improving my query for Oliver and the Underlings. I'll have more news about what I've been doing on that front soon. I've also been working on another book idea that started out life as as novelette, was restarted for NaNoWriMo 2014 (which I didn't get too far with), and is now being re-rewritten. I hope to have that book finished halfway through this year so I can use the other half to possibly polish it up and get it sent out to agents.

I hope you all are busy working on your own writing goals/intentions for this year. Feel free to let me know about your own progress and ups and downs in the comments.