I've belonged to Livejournal for awhile and enjoyed collecting friends, but never posted. 

I wondered about that.  I'm talkative and a writer.  Yet I've never used this tool.  But times are changing for me.  A year is ending, a new one is about to begin.  I've a brand new website under works, several short story sales to report and a respectable contest placing to celebrate.

So...here I am.

Day 1
It's only appropriate that its December 1st and it's snowing outside my window.  The first snow of the year.

I filled a bowl with birdseed and placed it on the steps outside my back door.  My tortured kitty has sat glued to the cold windowpane all morning staring at the flutter of birds that boldly dipped in and out of the bowl, less than a foot away from her.  This afternoon, after getting my critique piece and the content for the website emailed, I plan to find a birdfeeder that can be hung up in the back yard.

Now, on to my current state of writing affairs for 2007:

• Sold 1 short story to Cat Tales, a new magazine coming out of Weird Tales (from The Wild Side Press), to be released soon
• Sold 3 short stories to The Wild Rose Press, of those, 2 are now available and 1 is coming soon
• Another short story is also under consideration with TWRP.
• Two new fantasy shorts are circulating among pro fantasy publishers (my short term goal is to gain SFFWA membership).
• Came in 2nd with the On The Far Side Contest in the fantasy novel category
• Had several requests for partials and fulls from novel publishers

All in all, 2007 was an awesome year.  In addition to the above, I took some incredible courses that I believe are propelling me forward in my writing career.  These are:

• Personal Branding Course (by Jenn Stark) - highly recommended for coming up with a concise, catchy slogan to market what you write...very useful for websites and query letters

• Got High Concept (by Lori Wilde) - again highly recommended for coming up with a sharp, concrete 25 word pitch for current wip.  I then applied the principle and came up with a high concept pitch for every book and short story I'm marketing.  Oh, and my request rates shot up as a result to such a degree, I've stopped sending stuff out for the fall/winter.  The workload in trying to proof full manuscripts became so overwhelming, it consumed all of my time.  Who knew I had so many books to market?  I should clean under the bed more often.  Besides, I'm at the tail end of a new book that I need to finish before I start marketing again.  It also allows time for responses to come back.  Just because the pitch was great doesn't mean the book will perfectly fit the publisher's needs.  I've had one rejection aleady, but they asked me to send something else.  (shakes head...where were these people the last several years?)
  

• Shoot To The Next Level (by Lori Wilde) - an advanced writing class that totally lived up to its title
  

• Self-Editing Workshop (by Layla Chase and Shayla Kersten) - this is a basic grammar refresher, and despite writing and learning for years, I found this one utterly priceless, though it was the cheapest course I've ever signed up for.
  

Well, that's more than enough for the Day 1.  I've got some editing and writing to get back to.


Shereen