Published 2.0

This blog post is just going to be a general update of what’s happening in my life because I’m self-centered.

First of all, if you haven’t seen on my facebook page, the big news is that I’ve been published! One of the short stories I wrote was accepted for publication in Bacopa Literary Review. I really want to send a passive-aggressive copy to a professor I had who told me that comedy isn’t real literature. Maybe when she opens up the package, the book will compliment her courage to state such stupid opinions out loud.

The story that got published is “The Write of Shame” which I believe I’ve posted on this blog before, when I first received the news that it had been accepted. If you’re interested in reading it, the blog post that includes the story is titled, “Published!” whereas this one is “Published 2.0” You can also purchase a copy of the book here for $12.50, probably plus shipping.

The second piece of news is a downer. I also recently received a rejection email from the agent that I really, really hoped would want to represent me. He was the agent who requested my full manuscript and the one that I had the most hopes for.

Really bummed about that, but writers are like very shy sharks. If we stop writing, we lose all inspiration and our creativity dies. So I’ve got to just keep swimming … er, writing.

Which brings me to my third announcement: I’m participating in nanowrimo. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s National Novel Writing Month. Basically, you try to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. That divides out to be a little under 1700 words per day. The point is to motivate yourself to sit down and actually write your novel. No editing or fine tuning.

Which is what needs to be done anyway, because the first draft of a novel always sucks. Think of the first draft as the dry wall skeleton of a house, where you can kind of see where the walls are going to be and which room is going to be which. It’s not all that pretty and no one could actually live in it, but it has to be done before you can put in the plumbing and electricity and roof and other housey-house stuff that houses need. (I’m clearly not a construction worker. I don’t even know why I decided to hurl myself down this metaphor.)

I have over 10,000 words done right now, and so far that’s been keeping my mind off of the agent rejection. I plan to power through writing this novel, and then I’ll figure out where to go from there. Maybe I’ll work on editing it or maybe I’ll go back and work more on Snap Decision. Or maybe my newly published short story will lead to me being discovered, and I’ll get an agent and make six billion dollars.

I’ll put that on my Christmas list to Santa Claus. It’s not too much to ask, is it?