Which 3?

So my editing of BTL is progressing. I am now "happy" with the first seven chapters - only another 35 to go. Anyway, I am going through my list of agents/publishers that are going to get first crack at this epic and I see that one of them wants "three sample chapters." Is that the first three, the last three or a mixture of the two. My inclination would be to send the first three but I don't know if that's write. I'm trying to make sure that I send everyone exactly what it is that they require.
Just out of interest. Those of you who have had books published, how many times was the book rejected before it was accepted. That of course will have no bearing on the length of time that I will have to spend trying to find someone to take my book on, I know that. I am just curious.

update on more

Okay, so it's morning now and I've ha a chance to look through the bits of paper with ideas etc written on them that i found in a carrier bag that was stuffed under the bed. It was a mixed bunch. There were a couple of good starts to stories, one in particular that I liked. Sadly they aren't complete because I guess that I didn't know where I was going with them. Something to think about though. Some of the other bits are worth a thought or two. There are however a couple of things that are probably only good for the B file. That is B for Bin.
Oh well.

More!!!

When I get an idea pop into my head (as long as it is day time because when it happens at night I rely on remembering it in the morning - bad move) I have the habit of writing whatever the idea is down on a piece of paper and stuffing it in a pocket or similar recepticle. I have dozens, nay hundreds of bits of paper all over the place. This morning a carrier bag caught my eye and when I pulled it from where it had been stuffed under the bed I discovered that there are about another 20 pieces of paper with this and that written on them. Some are ideas some are partial stories and it looks like there might be a complete story in there.
Note to self - sort them out.
Advise on how to be more organised would be more than gratefully received.

A new plan

Okay, so the wait is over. Eight weeks have gone by and I can once again turn my eye to my novel, which I did this morning.
I was looking at it with a relatively fresh pair of eyes.
Imagine my horror then when I realised that I really wasn't happy with the first three chapters. I have always thought that they were perfect before but not today. I wondered if it was because I was reading it from a computer screen that it just didn't seem to flow properly.
I was so dejected.
But maybe it's because I know the story so well having gone through it about 5 times in the last couple of years.
Anyway, I've had a chance to think about it this afternoon and I have decided that i need to look at one chapter at a time. Like I said I pretty much know what is coming so I don't so much have to worry about plot but I do make to sure that it flows.
I am happy to report that I am now much happier with chapter one. There wasn't much to change to make it work better just the occasional "and" to "but" or similar. I took out the odd unnecessary sentence.
I don't know if it's the right plan but at least it is one.

Me by any other name.

I was reading Olivia Ryan's news about how she's been able to come out of the closet so to speak and declare that she is indeed Sheila Norton. I am happy to know both of them.
Anyhoo Olivia/Sheila got me thinking about pseudonyms.
Someone else asked me recently if I thought that they should write under their own name and I said that I thought that they should if for no other reason than to avoid confusion when an editor wants to send you a cheque (or other form of payment.)
As some of you know I have been known to write erotic fiction under a not very well hidden pseudonym which Himself chose for me. The reason I do that is just in case my mum ever came across one of them. I don't mind the world at large to know but not my mum.
Having said that, I have seen editions of magazines that I actually have work in sitting on the table in front of my family members and they have never asked if it's me. I think that they probably think that it's someone who shares my name. Like I said in one of my very first posts, writing for publication is not something that someone from my back ground did - in the eyes of my extended family anyway. How little they know me.
I once wrote a children's book which I still dream of getting published one day under a different name. I had the notion that there would be a whole series of them and I wanted them to be published in my grandmother's name.
Maybe one day.
Oh and just one mor ething. To the person that asked me about pseudonyms the other day, thank you. It made me feel great that someone actually asked my opinion on something writing connected.

Thank you editor

I proposed an article to a magazine last week and they replied very quickly saying that they were interested in it but that it would need adapting because they had recently changed they way that they were dealing with such pieces, The editor sent me three recent copies of the magazine to study so that I could adapt my article and asked me to resubmit around Christmas because they thought that it would be more suitable to a summer edition. Of course I am more than happy to do that and am studying the magazines so that I can hopefully get it right next time.
I'm sure I don't need to tell you how excited I was that the editor took the time to do this for me.

I week to go

I have just one week left of my self imposed non touching of BTL. I haven't even opened a single page of it for seven weeks and now there is just one to go. To be honest I haven't even thought about it for about 6 weeks so hopefully by the time that I do read it again it will be with a fresh pair of eyes.
If there's not too much final tweaking to be done then I might even have it off to agents etc by the end of August. My plan for it was to have it off to agents/publishers by the end of the year so I've got a bit to play with.
But not much. Can you believe it's the middle of July already? There'll be Christmas cards in the shops in few weeks.

Where have you all gone?

I hope someone can help.
I noticed the other day that the pictures of my followers have disappeared from my blog and I don't know where they have gone. More importantly, I don't know how to get them back.
Can anyone help?
Okay now I'm confused. I've just visited s couple of blogs and their followers pictures are missing too.
Is this computer on the blink now?

Elementary mathematics

There's a hec of a row going on over at womag's blog about one thing and another and one of the things is that "names" get published more than the rest of us.
That started me thinking.
The full time writers that I know say that being a "name" doesn't guarantee doesn't guarantee that every story they submit will be accepted. I believe them. I mean after all even the books that they write aren't right all the time. However I'm sure that their strike rate is better than mine. God help them if it's not because if they only get the % of work submitted/accepted (currently about 5% of submissions accepted) that I do they must write a million words a year.
I commented on womag's blog that maybe the reason that they appear more regularly in mags than the rest of us mortals is not only that they write/submit more but also because they have more experience their stories are better.
I think that the lesson to us all is that if we want to be published more, we submit more. If we are to submit more we must write more.
It's a simple equation
writing = submissions = possible publication. Even if you don't get to publication straight away at least it will be experience.

Batteries recharged

I haven't written anything as such other than the shopping list for two weeks now. As I was taking a break from the day job I thought that I'd take a break from the second job as well. Tonight I am feeling ready to get back to both
Watch this space.
On the different note of things already written, I did receive a contributers copy of a magazine the other day which is always nice and I have a story due for publication tomorrow. Yay!

Another kick required

Are there ever times when you could kick yourself? Well I had one of those moments today.
Last night I had an idea which just popped into my head. However I am blowed if I can remember what the idea was. I know that I should have written it down and normally I was but I was so tired last night and it was so hot that I didn't. Well I'm regretting that decision now.
Maybe yesterday was just one of those days because when I was talking to Himself and Number 2 son I said "I think," I couldn't get any further. in the space of two words I had forgotten what it was that I thought.
Is there any hope for me?

Does anyone know?

Does anyone know if "Woman's World" magazine in the USA still accept fiction submissions? I've had stories in magazines and books in Europe and Australia but I'm keen to break another continent. Sadly there aren't many magazines in the US that take fiction anymore or at least not many that I can find. I read in a recent copy of Writers Magazine that WW did accept fiction but when I checked out their website there was no mention of it.

Not a lot...

...to report as I don't think that I'v actually done any writing this week. Himself and I are on two weeks holiday from the day job and have basically just been taking time to be together (Big "Aaagghh" here would be appropriate.) Not being much of a sun worshipper we never go away to exotic places during our two weeks off. Instead we stay at home and enjoy lazy get ups, lots of coffee breaks and the occasional chore that we've been putting off.Actually this year we have started quite a major task in that we are decorating the living room. No need to rush these things though. So what if it's only half finished after the first week - that leaves the second week to finish the rest. Who needs to be able to sit on a sofa? Not me. The project was held up by the day that I insisted we go shopping for accessories and cam back with two cushions and yesterday when we went to visit Knaresbrough wich is a place that I used to see when I passed through it on the train when I used to travel more for my day job. It was great. Just as pretty close up as it is from a distance and very relaxing. Life moves very slowly there which was fine by me beause I wasn't moving too quickly myself yesterday (or any day.) I even got my backside nipped by a total stranger which Himself thought was hilarious as did Number 2 Son when I told him. The "stranger" was a big black sofa of a dog that must have been able to smell my own dog on my trousers, decided that she liked the smell him and thought she'd take a nibble. I felt sorry for the owner because she was clearly mortified. I just thought it was funny and gave the offending creature a bit of a fuss. She said she was embarrassed but hey - my dog embarrasses me most days.
So that's what I've been up to this week and I would imagine that there will be more of the same next week.
Sounds like the coffee pot has finished so I bid you all adieu and will retire to my bed again.
It's a hard life.

A close shave

A word of warning to everyone out there.
Some of you may remember a few weeks ago when I apolgised to anyone who had received a very odd email from my personal email address. It was an email that I had never seen before and certainly hadn't sent. It was around that time that I lost all of my contacts in my address book. Himself worked in the computer business for over 30 years and always keeps our security up to date but just to be sure he gave it a thorough once over and I didn't think any more about it.
Then just the other day I was doing some online banking and noticed that the log in page was slightly different. It asked for slightly more information than it had done before. I had reached the website just as I have always done before but that little difference set my radar off.
And thank goodness it did.
I got son number 2 to try and log in on his computer and it was how it had been before. It didn't ask for the extra information.
I don't have a lot of money but what I have I have worked for and it is mine. However I was told when I reported it to the bank that had I put in that small piece of extra information I would more than likely have lost it all.
I know that this has absoloutly nothing to do with writing but I'm telling everyone that I know so that they are warned.

Confused

I've just checked my emails and got very excited when I saw one from the publisher that I sent my Topsy project to with the name of my book in the subject line.
I'm sure you can all guess what I thought.
Sadly no.
However she did say some lovely things about my writing. Unfortunately she said that they could not take it because they are currently only publishing for the professional market and as my book is aimed at the general public they felt that they would not be "able to do justice to the books potential." She said that she would be returning the material so that I could send it to another publisher which she urged me to do.
I know that I should be upset and maybe I am a bit but I'm not sure.

Still Alive and Kicking

An overactive firewall has caused havoc with the internet connection this week so I haven't been in cyber land much. However, I am happy to report that I am alive and kicking though I'm sure non of you thought that I wasn't.
Not much has happened on the writing front or any front come to that.
I had a story rejected the other day (boo!) by a magazine that has had two more of my stories since October. I queried them about a month ago but still haven't had a reply. The story that they rejected came back in a few days so I'm not sure what's happened to the other two. If they are still under consideration I would have thought that they could have dropped me a quick email. Who knows?
Also, Roxanne started a new story this week. She hasn't written anything for a while but the urge came over her this week. It's still in the early stages but I'll let you know how it goes.
I have just completed week three of leaving BTL alone - only another five to go. This week I'm probably going to start working on the final list of lucky agents who are going to get the chance to take it on. How many do you think that I should send it out to? Does six sound about right? And do I mention in my covering letter that I have sent it to others?
Oh there was something else that I did earlier in the week. I worked on the first part of NRIMH. I'm going to work on that some more this morning. That was the good thing about not having a reliable internet connection. At least it meant that I had to do some writing.

Almost but not quite

At the beginning of the year one of the things that I wanted to do was to submit "more than 29 pieces of work." Saying 30 seemed too rigid. Well I am happy to report that I have just submitted number 29 so I am almost there but not quite. Of those 29 pieces of work.
1 was accepted (Yay!)
11 were rejected (Boo!)
17 are still out there (Fingers crossed.)
Just wanted to keep you updated.

We are worthy

There is a very thought provoking post on Angel's blog about self worth.
I have to hold my hands up and say I'm as guilty as anyone of thinking that for one reason or another that I'm not worthy of any number of things. Why do we do that to ourselves?
When Himself and I took out special trip last year I found the most gorgeous notebook in a shop and my lovely husband wanted to buy it for me but I wouldn't let him. I said that I would never use it and I probably wouldn't. It was such a beautiful thing that it deserved beautiful writing and I didn't think no hang on I know that my handwriting would not do it justice.
Come to think of it I already have a beautiful notebook that's been sitting in a drawer for years. It has an angel on the front and the word "dreams." Does anyone else find the picture on the front of my book and the postee of the post that inspired this spooky. I think that I am meant to get that book out (I think I know which drawer it's in) and write in it. I won't beat myself up that my handwriting isn't beautiful as long as the thoughts are.
Angel also challenged us to come up with 10 positive things about ourselves which I am going to give that a go. Right here, right now.
1. I have hung onto the man of my dreams for nearly 30 years (Oh my God! how can it be that long?)
2. I have raised 2 strong, healthy independent young men.
3. I always say hello to the foreign bloke who I pass on the way to work. he plays the same tune over and over on the accordion and almost everybody ignores him.
4. I let my beautiful dog go when the time was right for her even though it broke my heart.
5. I make a wicked sponge cake.
6. When we all had to organise a fundraising "fun day" two weeks ago the one I organised beat the target we were given by 90% and was at least double that of any other in the area. (Sorry - that sounds like a boast but hey what's wrong with that? I worked bloomin' hard and I came up with a great idea so yes well done me.)
7. I held it together during the dark time a couple of years ago.
8. I passed my "speech" exam with distinction. I know that one might be hard to believe for anyone who has heard me speak but I swear it's true.
9. I can iron a shirt in less than a minute.
10. My Yorkshire Puddings always rise.
Good grief that was harder than I thought it would be. I know some of them are a bit feeble but it's all I can come up with.

A busy morning

Its been all go this morning.
After I'd unburdened my soul to you all earlier about why I do this I set about some writing projects. You may recall that I'm not allowed to touch BTL for another 7weeks (self imposed leave alone period) so I had to turn my attention to other stuff.
Those of you that have been coming over for a while may remember what I used to call my Topsy project which I initially wrote just for me as therapy during a very dark time in my life a couple of years ago. Well I have decided that it is no longer just for me and I have put together a proposal which I am going to send to a publisher in the morning.
Also (oh yes there's more) I have set in motion my next book. Well set in motion might be the wrong term because there's about 10,000 in longhand on bits of paper but I decided that this is the one that I am going to concentrate on. It's actually what I have always referred to as book number 3 but after a conversation with my friend I have promoted it. This book just like the last one will be referred to by the letters that make up it's working title - so it is NRIMH.
Any guesses?
I have to stop all that now though as there are Yorkshire Puddings waiting to be mixed. It doesn't matter that the sun is melting the tarmac outside - it's Sunday and my men like a roast.

Why?

I came across something the other day that said when you set out to do something you should ask yourself why you are doing it. It said that you had to be specific about your answers and above all they had to be honest. So while I was walking the dog along the riverbank this morning (what a glorious morning it was too) I asked myself a question or three and tried to answer them honestly.
1. Why do I write stories and articles?
Because I enjoy the process - particularly the fiction. I fnd that it relaxes me and well yeah, I enjoy it.
2. Why do I try to get the things I write published?
Because when I get an email or letter from an editor saying that they want to publish what I've written it feels great. Of course the downside of that is the times that something is rejected but hey, if youo want the good you've got to risk the bad.
3. Why do I want to get paid for what I write?
While it is true that as a rule I don't submit to places that won't pay me for what I write the first story that I ever had published was for a charity anthology so if it's for a good cause that I believe in then I'm there. There's nothing wrong with submitting to non paying markets. Indeed I wasn't paid for what I have on the fiftybeans website. That was something that I wanted to do and if that's what anyone alse wants to do then good luck to them. The reason that I want to get paid for what I write? Okay well as I'm being honest (remember it said that you have to be honest) I want to be paid because it means that I can buy treats and not feel guilty about spending the housekeeping. It means that we might be able to pay the mortgage off a bit sooner. And while that might not be very noble it is true. Also though, if I get paid for what I write that validates what I write in the eyes of those that never believed in me.
Gosh that last sentence might have been a bit too honest but you can't take things back once they've been said.
Please feel free to ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly. If you wanted you could do that here because I'd love to know the answers.