WRITING

I am PUMPED. I joined a writer's guild on-line to improve my writing skills and gain some experience for the possible future attempt at having my book published (current update: I've written 130 pages, and it's looking like it'll be around 280-300 pages when I'm all finished).

So this particular group has a writing contest every week where you submit a short story, essay or poem between 150-750 words long. It's split up into four writing levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Masters. If you've never been published, haven't entered contests, or haven't experienced the professional arena, you enter in at the Beginner level to start. To progress, you have to place in the top three of your level in any given week. So I entered for the first time this week, and tonight, out of 51 entries for my level...I found out that my story ranked third place!! I was SO excited. It was like an affirmation that I can actually write, that it's not all in my head. And after only one time of entering, I get to move up to the Intermediate level. I was beside myself when I saw my name and the title of my story posted; I almost wet my pants.

This particular guild and contest are really awesome because other members read your story and write comments and feedback. And since I placed, all they have to do is click on a link to see my story, rather than sort through a big generic stack. Sweet Mama!

The weekly contest is taking a break over the holidays, but will start up again in January. I'm excited to see how that goes :)

In the meantime, I'll keep punching out my book - the entire plot is up in my head and outlined on paper. It's just a matter of writing it all out and editing it to my satisfaction. When I'm finished (which I hope to be by the summer, maybe sooner, but doubtful with taking care of my boys - the definite priority), I'm planning on building a portfolio and getting the book copyrighted, then submitting the first few chapters to different literary agents. Whoa, Nelly! We'll see...