July Ink and Beyond...

We've booked our winter escape from the future cold!  Muahahahhaaaaa... palm trees here we come, time for grandma to spoil the little one (and us!).  But that's months away.  For now, it's glorious weather here and the only downside is that it's keeping the toddler up late at night which digs into my writing time. And I still have to see that jeweller about doing an internship while I'm out there (didn't want to contact him before we had the dates set firm).

I’ve got just the rest of the month to draft out the rest of Downtrodden and then send it to an agent… I wasn’t intending on sending it out, but a glorious writer I know has suggested I do it (although the deadline is my own and will probably extend into next month).  She is currently working as an intern for said agent.  I dare not get my hopes up – Downtrodden is not the standard novel and it’s not written in third person limited in a single voice; it’s third person limited from many voices in many sections (yes, yes, as I said earlier, it’s not normal – it’s like a miniseries on TV).  Which is why I can’t get my hopes up.  I’ve broken rules…

Yet seeing the end to the draft will mean my celebrating – I started Downtrodden years ago, first as a flash fiction competition submission when I very first started writing seriously in 2008 after finishing (I use ‘finishing’ in the loosest of terms as I didn’t bother going beyond the fiction section as at that time there was no individual course for just fiction, let alone children’s and teen fiction… yet I’ve made my money back and then some, which is the only way to get a ‘pass’, but I’ve never bothered to send in for my certificate, I’m THAT lazy) Writer’s Bureau course.

If said agent isn’t interested, or is just shocked that I’ve send in something so abominable to the written word, I’ll publish it on kindle as a short series of four ‘books’, every other to be a free download – if people like it, then they can buy the next instalment, etc.  At any rate, it will be a fun experiment J

As for the rest of writing, knowonder no longer pays staff writers which is a shame but understandable.  They are, however, still paying general writers, so if anyone other than staff was considering submitting, don’t be put off. I’ll be spending more time of Highlights submissions in the future; it’s such an established magazine, I don’t expect it will have too many cuts (gulp… famous last words?)

The Isabella edit is taking longer than expected (did I say that last time too?) but the finished product will be very nice.  As for Three Women… it will be done on time (really, it will!) but Isabella is taking most of my hours and I’ve not even done anything for Seadrake this month – except pull my work from both high street shops.  I’m putting it all on etsy with sale prices to flush it out before I start on a new line. Onwards and upwards, yada yada…