Still At It

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It’s been a while since my last post in March for Vivian Kirkfield’s #50PreciousWords contest. I ended up getting an honorable mention! That’s the second year in a row I’ve gotten on honorable mention. Maybe next year will be the year!

Since March, I stopped working on the adult fantasy. I ended up cutting out the last 20,000 + words, and have written a few hundred more here and there. I wrote, and have since worked on, a flash fiction piece that I’ve submitted to a few places, all ending in rejection, though one was a positive rejection. I’ve also been rejected on a few different picture book manuscripts.

But, that comes with the territory. I’ve only gotten rejections, but that’s bound to change, and can only change if I keep working, and keep submitting.

I restarted The Right to Write by Julia Cameron, got to about a third of the way through, but am taking a pause. Sometimes her writing bothers me- she comes across as full of herself, and I can only take it in small doses. I do like her prompts, though. I do recommend reading the book and doing ALL the prompts as you go!

I’ve been listening to the Book Smitten podcast as they read Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul, discuss the chapters here and there, and follow each assignment as the podcasters write a picture book manuscript. I’ve been doing the same, working on a new manuscript, but have fallen a few episodes behind. It’s amazing how much getting back to teaching can throw my routine into a loop.

I’m still reading A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders with a reading group. The discussions we have each month are extremely valuable! The book focuses on Russian Authors, and a select few short stories by them, but we also work towards translating this to picture books.

I’ve been reading The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker as well, examining her poetic style, and slowly making the attempt to move my poetry into a more formal style- well, any style really. I have yet to examine her short stories as my reading group has been doing with A Swim by our dear friend George (not really, but it’s how we feel!).

What have you been up to lately? Let me know in the comments!