The last six months have been a strange mix of writing for fun and writing that feels like work. I sold my first piece of short fiction BREATH, which led to several weeks spent in working with a professional editor. By the way, if you ever want to know the truth about what your writing weaknesses are, a good editor will have no problem in telling you.
With any publication there comes marketing, which for me included conducting several interviews and also being interviewed. It also involved creating author accounts on Amazon and Goodreads. As fun at it is, all these things take up valuable time.
The success of my first story kicked off a crazy desire to try again, so I spent several weeks writing and polishing a steampunk story to submit. Having never written steampunk before, this was a huge learning experience for me. I had fun writing it, but in the end it was rejected. Disheartening? Yes. Life shaking? No. I know where I went wrong, and now I have a story that with a bit more work, I can brush it and try again.
Fast forward to the last few weeks, I’ve decided to enter the first chapter of my book-in-progress in the LDStorymakers Writing Conference first chapter contest. I swear I’ve rewritten this opening chapter at least five times. This time, I finally feel like I have the right characterisations and the right tone. Hopefully the judges will agree.
Next on the docket – a contest entry for one of my writing chapters. I have the choice of short story, flash fiction, first chapter, or poetry. The due date is next week, so I better get hopping!
Want to read what I’ve been working on? Check out these links:
- Toll of Another Bell, a Xchyler Publishing fantasy anthology
- My Interview over at Ever On Word with Danielle Shipley
- My Interview at Scott Tarbet’s Blog
- My Interview with Ben Ireland
- My interview of Scott Tarbet
- My interview of Neils Knudsen
Breath has the distinction of being the first short story I’ve ever published. It tells of Fauna, the Guardian of Souls, who has discovered a vast emptiness in her life and is emotionally paralyzed until she can find a way to fill it. She seeks a solution from her brother Terran, the Guardian of Earth, who is reluctant to tell her because of its great cost. In the end he relents, changing history forever.
Jodi L. Milner, Author 