Ups and Downs
If you stay in this business we call writing long enough, you will soon discover that it has more ups and downs than a roller coaster. Some are thrilling as you achieve heights you never thought you could and others are disheartening, causing you to plunge into despair when it appears things will never work out for you.
Just last week (as evidenced in my last post), I was contemplating getting off the wild ride and going back to a tamer one wherein I wrote only for myself and forgot about trying to become a successful author. But then I rode the coaster to another swell as I received some encouraging news: My entry into the YA section of the Amazon Breakthrough Novelist Award, "The Goode Girl," made the first cut. Now this may not seem like a big deal at first because there's still a long way to go in this competition, but for me, it is a big deal. This is the third (or is it the fourth now?) time I have entered this contest and this is the only time that I made the first cut (wherein they whittle down 5,000 entrants to just 1,000). For the first time, I am an actual contender. Sure, I might not make it through the next cut, but that doesn't matter as much to me now because l just by making this one, more people are going to read my writing. And that's what this is all about, after all: Getting people to read your writing.
So, now I must play the waiting game again until March 23rd when the 500 finalists from each category are announced, at which point the public will get the chance to download and rate the entries. Up and down, flow and ebb. Such is the life of the writer.
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2 Moonbeams (comments):
Margay,
Don't you dare think about quitting! You're too good for that! Besides, I want to read more of the Jane Austen Society Pages and I want to see more of Dante!
Now, I'm not sure you're aware of it (or maybe you are) but I posted my review of your book to Goodreads and I will be posting it to this site on Saturday.
I will be giving you a great review, and not just because you are member of this blog, but because you deserve it!
You have writing in your blood, you just have to keep working at it until you find the right area.
The title The Goode Girl intrigues me because my mother used to know a woman who once had the last name of Goode.
Carrie, thank you! You are so sweet. I'm so glad I have people like you there to encourage me when I get down about my prospects.
Just a little fyi: I got the name Goode from a teacher my daughter had in grade school; she was a great lady and really fulfilled the name Goode.
Margay
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