Pearls of Wisdom and Foolish Mutterings

Why, hello there!

Sooo, it's been a while. I have been working on "building a platform" to give my book some credibility when I query agents. Let me tell you, it has been a full-time job. But, I'm happy to report that it is beginning to pay off. I have submitted story after story to magazine after magazine, e-zine after e-zine; I have entered contest after contest; and I have read everything I can find on building a platform as a step toward getting published. I'm very well-versed on this subject now, thanks to all my research.

I got an email on Thursday night from one of the e-zines I submitted to that they have accepted one of the short stories I submitted for publication. It will appear in one of the fall issues (not sure which one yet, but they said they will notify me of the exact one soon.) I also uploaded my novel on to authonomy.com and have been tirelessly monitoring its progress and networking like crazy to get my novel to rise up in the ratings. So far, it has gone from number 3786 when submitted to number 1384 since June 25th. The goal is to get you novel into the top 5 (which is the HarperCollins review shelf) and keep it there for a certain amount of time in hopes of it being selected by HarperCollins for an editor review.

I also went on that much-ballyhooed white-water rafting trip that I impulsively bid on at an auction last year and won. I HAD A BLAST! It was in Idaho on the Salmon River - five days, four nights - class 3 and class 4 rapids - camping at night - the whole nine yards. The company we went with - Action Whitewater Adventures - is first class, all the way. I can't say enough good about them. It was a wonderful vacation and I'm so glad we did it. The group we went with was very interesting and Charles and I had a great time getting to know everyone. Oddly, there were five doctors in our group - a kidney doctor, a PCP with Kaiser, and 3 internists (is that the correct term? I think it is.) There were people from New York, Washington, Colorado, California and Pennsylvania (and of course, Texas!) The youngest person in our group was 10 years and the oldest one was a 73-year-old retired high school English teacher.

I'm ready to go on another trip now. It was way out of my comfort zone and I had such a great time. Just goes to show you, you never know!

So, that's where I've been. Now I need to go read and comment and try to catch up with everyone.