Welcome back friends! It's been too long! When we last spoke, I mentioned that I was in the middle of plotting my next project and that I'd sent my proposal off to an agent. Well, the wait is over, and I do have some exciting news....I've decided to do my dishes tomorrow. *Crowd Cheers*
What? Not the news you expected?...Oh, right! The Proposal! I do have news on that too, though it's a little less exciting. While I didn't get an outright rejection, it does seem as though I still have a little ways to go before I'm ready to fly. And you know, that's okay. This agent was kind enough to provide me with feedback and ask some follow-up questions that I'm still digging through, and I'm trying to take it in stride.
Even so, I found myself lying awake last night thinking about the way this all began. When I started, I was only writing to fill time. I never had any intention of finishing my book. I never had any intention of trying to publish it. I gave it a half-hearted effort at best, and unbelievably, a dream took root.
So, as I lay awake, wondering what to do next, wondering whether I should start my next book, in the same world, in a series that might have no real audience, or if I should put the Empire City Series on the back burner and try something a little more safe-I was reminded that you can't fuel dreams with half your heart.
Letting go of something I've put so much time and energy into is the easy thing to do. It's easy to just start something new. To throw ideas at the wall until something sticks, while sweeping everything else into the trash. But if I want a fighting chance at my dream, it's going to take a whole-hearted effort.
Any-who, that's where I'm at today. I've finished plotting my next book and I'm just about ready to start writing. I'm excited, I'm encouraged, and I'm still giving it my all.
On an unrelated note, if anybody needs a reminder what my kid looks like, here she is living her best life and a small excerpt near the end of my first book.
“This is why you don’t break the rules,” I said aloud. If I had been smart, I would have left that morning at Matthew’s. I would have left Everett behind and never looked back. If I hadn’t decided to trust him he wouldn’t be locked up in the penthouse right now, or dead. A voice in my mind reminded me that there was still a choice to be made.
Leave him, Charlene. He’s a dead man anyway.
m I sat on the stoop, the cold seeping into my legs until I found the strength to stand. The skies were almost entirely blocked by the city skyscrapers, but I had learned long ago to use them for direction. I pointed myself north and started walking. I walked until I reached the subway. The gilded subway door closed behind me and I spun to examine my reflection. My hair, though still done up from last night, had started falling and the waves were broken up into softer tendrils. My makeup was long gone and my lipstick had faded away to reveal my naturally pink lips. I wasn’t Charlene anymore. There were no more rules.
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