Knock on Wood

Have you ever, in a moment of weakness, wished for a non life-threatening injury that would knock you off your feet, just for a little while, so you could have some time to yourself to write?

Take it from me...DON'T!

I verbalized that very wish to a colleague at work the other day, only half-kidding. That same night I had a gall bladder attack--a first for me. Wow, was it painful. And after some research I found that the most effective cure for gall stones...have them surgically removed. I'll have to go to the doctor to determine if that is required, but the thought of that scares the stuffing out of me, even if it would net me some quiet time.

Was someone listening up above and decided to either a) grant me my wish or b) show me that wishing for injury is a very bad thing? Who knows. But one thing is for sure...I'll never forget to knock wood after such a statement again.

Pitching Away

Yesterday I emailed my pitch off to Donna Alward's Perfect Pitch contest over at eHarlequin. The winner will be lucky enough to have Donna as a mentor for a year. What a great opportunity!

I quickly discovered that writing a good pitch is not as easy as I'd imagined. But Winnie Grigg's eHarlequin workshop was such a big help (for anyone struggling, I'd highly suggest heading over and reading the workshop notes). With so few words to get across the main characters and conflicts, every word is precious. So I agonized over each one. Endlessly. Needless to say, I was very happy to get it to a place in which I was happy with it and finally hit the send button. Yay!

Donna, being the incredibly thoughtful author that she is, is not going to keep us in suspense for long. She'll be announcing the winner by Monday or Tuesday.

I'm crossing my fingers, toes, legs, arms...

Hope

I had a dream last night that an editor called to tell me how well written my ms was and how much he liked it. Is this a sign??? I'm choosing to take it that way.

I pulled out my dusty ms yesterday (OK it's a computer file that can't get dusty, but you get the idea) and lo and behold, as I started reading what I'd last written, I discovered that it isn't half bad. It's funny because when I was writing it, I was sure it was complete and utter crap. I guess time does heal all wounds.

So with a renewed faith in my writing ability and a dream to give me hope, I carry on.