Missing For A Month

More than a month ago I got sick and wound up in the hospital. Then I came home for a long convalescence. Here’s the part where I tell you all about it: whine, whine, babble, babble, whine. Whew! Aren’t you glad that’s over?

Now I have to catch up with my life which has been spinning along without me. The women of mystery have posted lots of thought provoking ideas. Normally, I would have posted responses, but *sigh* I was convalescing, so I decided to do a bit of a ramble touching the last few bogs.

Miss Snark. How can we survive without her? Although, unlike the daring Laura, I never sent in a question, I would read avidly and sometimes after reading I would feel like a hysteria victim who had just been slapped back to normal. So, to you, Miss Snark, I say: “Thanks, I needed that.”

Nan and I are in the same place, literally. We have both had stories picked up for the Sinc Tri-State Anthology. A first for each of us. We have received documents and directions that indicate this is real. (The tax form is the big clue.) Like Nan I am grateful to be doing this in the midst of a group of more experienced writers so I can just tag along.

I applaud Nan’s connecting the dots method of querying. I had just begun to set up queries when I got sick, so I have to start again. I also have to kill a story I was submitting but I missed the deadline. My second novel is lying around somewhere. I have to get back to that and so on and so on.

Elaine, I think that trying to time the readers taste is like trying to time the stock market. It cannot be done effectively. No one ever hits the exact peak, and there is sooooo much room in between. My advice would be to work on the book you are enjoying the most right now. Writing is supposed to have an element of pleasure for the writer. Go find yours!

Laura’s success guilt post is fascinating. She is absolutely a person who rejoices with others in their success and minimizes their less stellar performances. But the issue of jealousy is an interesting one. I have been fortunate enough to get nothing but the strongest support from the published writers I have met along the way. When I am a published writer, I would hope to “pay it forward” and help those coming along in the ways that I’ve been helped. I hope that the jealousy Laura describes never touches my life. I’m not given to envy, nor do I wish to be envied. And if I turn into a big ole published blowhard, well, I just hope that Miss Snark rises from the blog graveyard to give me a big ole smack, so once again I can say: “Thanks, I needed that.”

It's great to be back. Terrie