Writing Update

As I was perusing through my old blog posts I realized its been quite some time since I actually talked about my writing. I've written plenty of Gossip Time Book Reviews and had a pretty steady round of Forever Waiting Writers Series interviews, even posted videos of me skating, but pretty much I've been talking about other people's writings and evading the topic of my own.
Deep breath...here goes:

1. Conferences create lightbulb moments
Late February I attended an SCBWI conference in Atlanta, GA and I had the awesome opportunity to hear Kristen Daly-Renz, editor at Balzer + Bray, speak. I had been struggling with the beginning of ANOMALY for awhile, but what she said, it was like I was on this road battered by a storm with giant fallen trees blocking my path, and she literally cleared all those trees with her words. Yeah, pretty amazing.

2. Embarking on Query Road
Late March I wrote this optimistic post about how I was packing up my metaphorical car with just me and my manuscript, ANOMALY, safely buckled into the passenger seat, and we were heading out on Query Road. We dropped off 13 queries. Out of those I received two no responses, ten rejections, and one partial request. We keep telling ourselves that it's a subjective road trip. But no matter how you look at it, sometimes rejection stings.

3. Conferences create opportunities
When you go to SCBWI conferences often editors at publishing houses are open to submission from conference attendees. Not all, but some are. On Friday the 13th, I received an email from an editor that I had submitted to months ago and had pretty much written off as a rejection. She said she'd be happy to read my full manuscript.

4. Now I'm on the ship Forever Waiting
I'd say I'm handling the waiting fairly well. As recommended by many, I've started writing a new novel about a figure skater. Sometimes it feels cliché, a figure skater writing a novel about a figure skater. It has its ups and downs, but over all I think it's a positive creative output versus checking my email a million times a day. Now, I only check it about half a million times.
I've started reading more. Currently in the middle of THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green. Let's just say I will be definitely gossiping about this one. I'm also reading quite a few manuscripts from pre-published writers. That's also been quite fun.

Care to share what's going on with your writing/reading journey?