Change is in the Wind

So much going on in the writing world. I hear the Writer's Digest conference in New York last week was jammed packed with over fifty agents looking for new work and new ideas. Sharpen those pencils, um, plug up the pc, and get going. Almost aged myself; although, I still like the feel of a pencil in my hand when I'm toying with plots and casting for new ideas in circles of circles or tracking a story from inciting incident to resolution. It seems so much more personal.

As you can see from our blog page,

cj and I have been busy creating a new look and so has my granddaughter. cj and I plan to share writing tips we've found helpful along the way. Gerunds have been a problem for me, since like most Southerners, I speak in gerundese, but writing it is another thing altogether and screams NOVICE to agents and editors. cj keeps me on track as she critiques my work.

Hope you like our work and will come back to join us. We love to get comments and will have some guest writers this year.

Mahala

Off and Running

Happy New Year!  May 2011 be the banner year you publish a novel, an essay, a short story, win a contest!

My goals for this year include outlining a new book of composite short stories.  AFDOC was born of short stories I wrote.  I didn't use all of them by any stretch of the imagination, and I've wanted to do this composite compilation for quite a while, so I'm studying and reading and preparing to move forward with the idea.

A second goal is to write 200 short stories - yep I said 200.  Got the idea from another writer who wrote 400, sent out 200 to magazines, and got 27 published.  Small return?  No way!  In the writing world that's a huge return in one year.  I've chosen a select few magazines to study back issues along with their current issues and am writing every day.  Too often, right now, no huge and wonderful ideas have come to mind, so I'm pulling old files and ideas and moving forward, albeit slowly   Will I make 200?  Won't if I don't try.

Here's looking at you - Mahala