Oh Yeah...Still At It

Greetings friends, fellow struggling writers, random people that hit the 'next blog' button and ended up here...

For the record, I'm still very much in the game. I haven't worked on my 3rd book much in the last month or so, but I'm keeping busy regardless. I'm actually going to have my 1st book professionally critiqued this month, so hopefully I'll be one step closer to getting myself on the right track.

Baby steps...you know?

Short of that, I'm on the hunt for a new job and quite frankly, that's been consuming my time. My sanity at my current place of employment is diminishing, so I've decided in order to keep my head together and actually WANT to get up in the morning, I'd best find some different work. Couple of irons in the fire. We'll see how they pan out.

But Kingsley...we're not here for your personal life or to hear about your excuses for not writing. What HAVE you been writing, you wily rascal, you?

Well, there's a contest I'm entering 3 things into. Basically, you have to write a bedtime story in 300 words or less. Impossible, right? Well, no. I was a bit hesitant since I tend to write A LOT when I get going, but I had a good idea and went with it. After many painful read-throughs, I was able to trim (gulp!) 200 words from the story and still make it work.

Then I found out I could enter 2 more.

For laughs, I did. The results? Well...we'll see come March. I've got to post-mark the suckers today, but from the 'pseudo reviews' I've gotten so far, they're pretty damn good.

Huh. Who would've thought that I could write picture-book length material?

There's a part of me that almost hopes I don't win. That way, I can try pitching them to publishing houses that do shorter picture-type books.

So what happens if you win this contest?

Well, it's not like I'll get a publishing deal. I'll get a $200 gift certificate to the chain of bookstores that's sponsoring the contest. Not too shabby. The big prize, though, is being publishing along with the other winners in a book that will be available nationally. Kind of cool and definitely something to put on a bio or a writer's resume.

So there you are.

That's great KMC. What about the 3rd book? Have you abandoned it?

Absolutely not. I may have mentioned this before, but here's the thing: I've got 2 books completed. One is a little further along editing wise than the other. In my opinion, they're great books. Engaging, quick-paced, not condescending to the kiddies, etc... The thing is, they're not published. In fact, I don't think enough people have read them for me to justify spending all of my time writing the 3rd one. So, it's going to take me a little longer than I'd hoped.

Trust me, if I had the time (without a kid due in February, not being an on-call firefighter, no holidays, etc) I'd multi-task like it was nobody's business. As it stands, I just can't do it. Not yet anyway.

So, sit tight. I ain't out of the game just yet. I think 2005 is going to be the year I make big strides.

I can feel it.