Realization

I just realized that I only posted once on this blog last year.

Once.

Man, that's awful.

One Blink & Over 6 Months Have Gone By

Well, I'm sure there aren't a whole lot of people who stop here these days. Can't say I blame you. You're probably wondering if ol' KMC gave up his dreams of becoming a published writer and just shuffled off with the rest of the working stiffs whose dreams have fallen by the way-side.

Didn't happen. Won't happen, I'm happy to say.

A lot has happened last year. The birth of my son, a big job change, working to get myself into better shape. All these things have been positive experiences, but sadly something had to take a bit of a hit and that something was my writing.

In our last episode, I mentioned that I was going to try and self-publish a picture book with an illustrator just for fun. Well, that has kind of fallen apart and in all actuality, it might be for the best. Despite the urging I received from my few visitors, I was determined to make it work. However, my illustrator turned out to be kind of flaky. Seems I have horrible luck working with the drawing-types.

The other thing that turned me off to the whole idea is that I really fell in love with my story. I originally wrote it as kind of a 'throw-away' piece that I didn't have as much passion for as my 2 novels. Well, a rewrite or two later and I realized I should shop it around.

So that's what I'm doing.

Currently, it's in the hands of my sister-in-law who works for a publishing company here in Minnesota. She read my 'throw-away' piece and likes it so much, she's going to pass it onto a co-worker who is interested in it and is also the person who can get something like that published.

So, just like that, doors are opening. I'm not going to hold my breath, but I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.

I've also written a handful of other short pieces that I'm hoping to send out and do something with. I'm not sure what's up with me this year already, but I've been kicking my production back into high-gear. I even woke up around 12:45am (waking my wife up in the process) and had to jot down an idea I had before it was gone. Haven't done that in a looooong time.

Since it's somewhat slow here today at work, I might get started on it.

And no, I haven't forgotten about my 2 full-length novels or the 3rd one that's stuck on 'pause.' I feel guilty working on my #3 without having some query letters or manuscripts for my #1 out there. Besides...my query letter is absolute toilet water. It's amazing how many of the 'golden rules' I've broken with a simple one-page letter. I'm going to do my best to have a completely beautiful letter written within the next month or so. Heck, I'm even going to a query letter-writing workshop in a little less than a month.

Also, as if I wasn't doing enough to kick myself in the pants, I'm going to be attending a two-day festival at our local writing center, The Loft. It's in April and I'm hoping to have a bunch of stuff nicely polished and ready to go by then. There should be plenty of opportunities to network there and since I tend to be one of the only guys at these children's literature festivals, I'll stick out like a sore thumb.

Anyway. I've felt guilty for the last few months, but I'm feeling like I'm back in the saddle. I truly think that my stuff hasn't had much of a chance, mostly due to my procrastination and because of other big things happening. You know, like raising my kid.

My little guy turned 11 months old yesterday!

Stay tuned. This year is the start of something big.

I might actually get to live up to my blog's title.