Third place winner

I am so excited right now I could do cartwheels (except for the fact that in my decrepit mid-30s state I can’t actually do cartwheels anymore without endangering myself LOL). Literary agent, Ms Mary Kole posted the third place winners in her query competition (there are two – it was a quality field) and yours truly just happens to be one of them. You can read my query for yourself over at the Kidlit website. And for my prize, Mary is going to critique not just the first 5 pages of Operation Raspberry as advertised, but because she likes my concept so much, the first 10! I decided I had to let go and let God on this one and perhaps, just perhaps, the timing is right. Ahhhh, what a lovely start to my day. Happy writing!

Blood, sweat and words

I’ve wanted to be a writer my whole life. For most of that time, the title ‘writer’ was like a precious, sparkling trinket placed high upon the shelf, always out of reach of my grubby and clumsy hands and protected from my inquisitiveness. I wasn’t tall enough to reach the shelf and somehow felt that even if I could reach it, I wasn’t really supposed to touch. It was reserved for special people. Being a writer was a grown-up person’s business, a serious business for the cultured and sophisticated. I’ve since learned that being a writer is not necessarily that at all. It is sparkly and shiny and precious, but it’s also unbreakable and accessible by anyone with passion, sophisticated or not. But there is something else I have discovered about being a writer that, I have to be honest, surprised me more than a little. It’s plain hard work.

She who asks not…

I took the plunge this week.  After reading Australian author, Libby Gleeson’s books on writing and publishing for the children’s market, I decided I needed an agent.  I am very interested in the business side of writing, but ultimately I figure getting an agent can’t hurt.  After all, I’m not exactly about to go to a gathering of literary agents overseas and try and sell my manuscripts.  It’s in their best interests to get my stuff out there, and as far as I’m concerned the more published I am, the better.  Making the decision was the easy part; getting an agent is proving to be a little more problematic.