Special Post: I took the Plunge

I did it! It took a lot of self-pep-talking and quite a lot of nerve. But I did it. I submitted my novel, Shadowed Stones, to Shadow Mountain. I have kind of been plastering the news all over the place - but I can't help it. I just fulfilled a childhood dream and I am like happy and nervous and stunned and excited all at once.

I want to thanks my critique partners: Jennie, Terron, Christina, Roseanne, and Alexander who are helping me continue to improve my novel and my writing.

A special thanks to Jennie for getting me writing again.

And another special thanks to Roseanne for giving me the push to get my novel out there.

Since I am basking in the happiness of achievement - I would love to hear from all of you about your achievements. Nothing makes a day like today better like hearing of others success.

Shadowed Stones Query Letter

So I just had a break through on the query letter for Shadowed Stones. At least it feels like a break through to me. Here is what I have so far:

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Fate has set Lyni on a course that will bring her face to face with her darkest fear - the lose of her human will.

Lyni's father takes her to the hall of his master - the dark wizard Feldon. There Feldon learns of her powerful magical abilities by invading her mind. Desperate to control her Feldon slowly begins to wear down her resistance. Eventually Lyni succumbs. Unable to resist his commands Feldon uses Lyni as a weapon in his campaign for power. Until Lyni breaks free of his control and flees.

Lyni remains hidden and save for many years. Then Garren, the second son of the King, finds her. Together they embark on a quest to bring and end to Feldon's reign. Lyni must overcome her own self doubt and fear if she is ever to be free of Feldon's shadow.

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What do you think? Too dramatic? Would you read it? Please feel free to be brutally honest with me.

A Late Update

Sorry this post is so late. I have two very good reasons for the delay.

1. I was waiting to see if I won the short story contest I won over at Splintered Lands. The winners were supposed to be announced today.
2. I was having issues connecting to the internet with my laptop.

Here is a quick update on where I am with my goals.

I am about 80% finished with reading Tarranau

I wrote my first query letter for Shadowed Stones, discarded it a wrote a second. I am giving it time to simmer before I go back to it. I plan to work on the outline next. Check out the tab above "From Pen to Published" for updates on my journey toward publication.

I have started cracking down and working Three of Ivory. I downloaded a program that looks to be really cool for creating maps. If it turns out I like it I will post and let you know about it.

I finally decided which old favorite I want to read. I decided on The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. The first book is called The Book of Three. Now I just have to go dig it out of a box in the basement.

Stay tuned for tomorrow post where I will reveal the story behind getting engaged to my husband two weeks after our first date!

How about you? How are your goals going?

More to Come

This is just a quick post to let you know that I am still here and still working on my projects.

The progress has not been great. I did finish my entry for the Splintered Lands contest and now I am anxiously awaiting the entry deadline date (August 15th). Then I can start anxiously awaiting word :)

Since my productivity has been so low I have decided to setup goals for each of my projects (Shadowed Stones and Three of Ivory) as well as for reading (which I sorely miss).

Tonight I am going to settle on these goals and then post them so that you can all help me stick to it. I would be open to any advice on how to set and keep goals for writing and reading!

How about you? How are your projects coming? Do you use goals to keep yourself on track?

P.S. News flash - just received my first blog award from my good blog friend Krista M. So check out my Saturday post to read all about it!

And the finalists are....

So I have compiled a list of publishers. I found most of these on Amazon. My little brother also suggested a few. They all accept unagented submissions. Next step - research the books they publish and learn more about the company in general.

Here are the publishers:

• Tor Books (a.k.a Palgrave Macmillan)
• Daw
• Shadow Mountain
• Baen
• PYR

Also, I have added a tab above called "From Penned to Published" where I plan to keep a log of my efforts to get published. I hope this will be helpful to others.

You may be saying to yourself - "Wait, that is a very short list." - I know. This is my first effort so I wanted to focus in on and do a few submissions to get the feel of things.

Question: Do you know of any publishers or sources for finding publishers?

Where to from here?

For the past few months I have been iching to start my next writing project. I told myself I had too finish my novel first. Now it is "finished" and I can start something else.

Yeah!

Wait. I am having the hardest time finding my next project. Don't get me wrong, I have hundreds of ideas, it is just hard to find the right one to work on.

I think I have it narrowed down to 2 possible projects. Let's call them TCOM and TOI. (Don't want to give the working titles away just yet ;)

They are both fantasy and both ideas that have been floating around in my head since highschool. My plan is to spend one week each on developing the ideas further and see where I stand.

This up coming week I am going to work on TOI and report back on how it went.

Do you think it is bad to work on two novels at once? And how do you choose what to write next?