Monthly Archives: December 2011
2011 and Other Goal Oriented Fiascos: A Recap
As 2011 comes to a close, I, like many others, take some time to reflect on the past year while planning for the one coming up. What did I accomplish this year? What goals did I set and not achieve? What kept me from reaching those goals?
Depending on how you approach it, this time of reflection can be either a boon to your confidence, or a slap in your face. It’s all in how you approach it. Almost any negative, if looked it in a different light, can be a positive.
Generally speaking, I am not a “the glass is half full” sorta gal, so sometimes I have to work really hard to find that positive hidden beneath the dingy negatives.
I didn’t set a large number of goals for 2011, but I did have a few — some that went well, others not so much. But even those “failures” were learning experiences. You can never lose if you are learning something, right?
For example, I wrote an erotic short for a submission call, expecting to have it accepted with no issues. To my shock, it was rejected. The story didn’t fit the publishers Happily Ever After requirement, so not for them.
Definitely not what I expected, but rather than wallow in the rejection, I took the opportunity to try self publishing. This is something I never would have considered if the story had been accepted. I created a cover, and managed to get the story posted and available for sale on Smashwords and other online retailer sites (iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobi, etc.). But because it wasnt, I was able to get an idea of what self marketing is all about. Self publishing the story didn’t and will never get me rich, but I did manage to make $3.00 in sales in the past couple of months and that is $3.00 I would not have gotten had the story been published as I had originally intended. Now would I have a work of fiction out there with only my name on it as the author. All mine. No anthology, no busting a gut trying to get my name associated with the work like usually happens when you are part of an anthology of tales. Pretty cool to my thinking. Plus, I can say I’ve done it. That in itself is quite a positive for me.
So this experience I mark as a success, despite the shades of rejection sprinkled on it. One door closes, another opens.
This year also marks the launch of this blog/review site. A place for my writing and musings, as well as a place to share some of the great books I have had the pleasure of reading this year. I have a small set of loyal followers and posters and I have also managed to earn 200 twitter followers in the six months since it launched. I’ve also developed working relationships with a few smaller publishers for reviewing ARCs and such. Looking forward to seeing how that shakes out in the coming year.
Another success in my book. 🙂
What about you? What goals did you set for yourself in 2011? Did you reach them? What goals are you setting for next year?
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Merry Christmas to everyone who happens upon this blog. May the coming year bring you nothing but joy (and publishing deals :P)
All the best,
Rebecca Hart
Six Sentence Sunday: The Pirate and the Selkie #sixsunday
I’ve managed to get myself back on the wagon with the Six Sentence Sunday postings after a few weeks off due to my preparations and participation in Miss Snark’s Agent Auction. In keeping with the theme I had previously established of posting snipits from my first novel length story, The Pirate and the Selkie.
I hope you enjoy it 🙂
“See?” Daniel watched her [Ellie’s] stiff form through a fringe of lashes. Is she jealous? Heat fluttered through his belly.
Nelson waved a dismissive hand. “You get used to her after a time.”
Be sure to click the banner at the top and visit with the other participants. Your comments are always welcome 🙂 Happy Sunday!
Six Sentence Sunday: The Start of Something Naughty for Felt Tips #sixsunday
For this week’s post, I decided to go with a little something I have been working on for the upcoming erotica anthology, Felt Tips, being edited by one of my favorite ever smut peddlers, Tiffany Reisz. You can find out more about this (all profit donated to charity) anthology here: http://tiffanyreisz.com/storytime
Onto the Sunday Six. Enjoy 🙂
He wore no ring, but that could be because he spent his day with his hands inside those filthy, nasty copiers. Kathy would probably have gotten his entire life story by now.
She [Kara] reached for the notebook and pen again. Speaking of…the copier guy will be here today. The beast upstairs is acting up again. Squee!
Be sure to click on the banner at the top of this post and visit with the other participants in this weeks Six Sentence Sunday. Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment. 🙂
Where the Heck are the Reviews?
Let me start with a quick apology to anyone that is waiting on a review they had requested. With the November Nano madness, I didn’t get much reading done last month. But, I am back to a rather normal existence, or at least as normal as it gets for me, so the reviews will start coming again. Just to give you all an idea of what is to come, here is a list of upcoming reviews:
Midnight Seduction and Midnight Seduction (Man Love Edition) – (anthologies)
Knockout: A Passionate Police Romance
Santa’s Naughty List (anthology)
Becoming: The Life and Musings of a Girl Poet (poetry)
Dragon’s Teeth
Now I just gotta get reading 🙂
Daily Frights: 366 Days of Dark Flash Fiction Now Available
Daily Frights 2012
by Daily Flash Publications, an Imprint of Pill Hill Press
Baker’s Dozen Auction Results and Other Nonsense
Everything happens for a reason. Now, more than ever, I truly believe that to be the case.
As many of you know, I was selected as a finalist in this year’s Miss Snark’s Baker’s Dozen Agent Auction for my novel The Call of the Sea (currently querying).
I was over the moon excited about making the final 25 for the adult fiction category and couldn’t wait to see how the whole thing worked. (Well, I know how it was supposed to work – agents read your logline and first 250 words and decide if they want to read more).
As the day of the auction approached, I started to think about what the whole thing could potentially mean to my budding writing career. I could land an agent. This is serious stuff. The more I considered that, the more bothered I became. The agent I had spent a solid year stalking on twitter and Facebook, the one I had decided before I even sent out my first short for possible publication would be the perfect agent for me, wasn’t participating in the auction. I began wondering how I could go forward with this auction and not even query the one agent I really wanted to rep me. An agent that reps all the types of writing I do – fantasy, romance, some erotica, and even YA (in case Call of the Sea would make a stronger YA story than adult romance). Too perfect — how do I just ignore that?
Well, I’m not one for patience or for snubbing my nose at potential destiny, so I decided not to sit back and wait, but rather query this “perfect” agent prior to the auction and at least give her the option of first refusal. If she said no, I still had the auction.
That query earned me a request for a partial (the first 30 pages of my manuscript) from said dream agent. The high I hit when I read that request — I can’t even describe it.
The morning after I got that amazing email, the auction took place. The result of that?
Nobody wanted to read more. My entry sat on the blog for 24 hours and not a single bid. At the time, I was quite devastated and even a bit embarrassed. To think my work, writing I thought was quite good, didn’t even get a nibble is quite a blow to a writer’s already rather fragile ego (at leat this ones). What did my dream agent see that these 16 agents didn’t?
This is where the old monster, self-doubt, creeps in. I began to second guess myself and my story. Had my dram agent only asked for the partial because I had stalked her for a year — like a sympathy request? Did the minor tweaks I made to the logline and query blurb between the auction submissions and the time I queries the agent made that much of a difference?
It took me a bit of time, but I did manage to convince myself that any agent worth a salt wouldn’t waste their time requesting something they didn’t have a genuine interest in. That despite stalking and flattery, they still have a career at stake, and who would risk their reputation by repping something that sucked. I could be wrong, I guess.
Either way, I got a partial request from my first choice agent on my first ever query letter — that is something I will never forget! I don’t care how or why it happened, but I believe it all does for a good reason. Sometimes it’s better to not to look to deep into the whys behind some life’s events.
It will be a while before I hear back from the requesting agent, most likely a month or so. I am hoping for the best, but no matter which way things go, I am sure it will be because that is what was meant to happen.
That isnt going to stop me from dreaming big, though.
🙂
Daily Flash 2012: 366 Days of Flash Fiction Now Available
That’s right. After what feels like a long wait, Pill Hill Press has announced the release of Daily Flash 2012: 366 Days of Flash Fiction (Leap Year Edition). The book is currently available in print format, with ebook versions to release in the coming weeks.
I managed to grab an awesome pic of the cover.
The collection features my short story, Parades (on June 23rd). Pick up your copy at the Pill Hill Press Bookshop or at Amazon now.
If you do grab a copy, please stop back and tell me what you think.
~Rebecca
Bex Book Nook 