Word Counts and

Current tuneage: Getaway Car - The Jenkins

Happy Friday!! Well, this week has gone by surprisingly fast. I've FINALLY finished my short story and have almost finished editing it. There are a few contests I'd like to enter it in and one of them that I just found has a 10/27 deadline! The other has a Dec. 1st deadline and a word count limit. That's what I seem to be struggling with right now. I really like the story the way it is. Could I cut it down to 1500 words? (it's currently at around 2200) Probably. But I'm trying to decide if it's worth it just to be able to send it into this contest. Or if I just write another one that's under 1500 words. Such a dilemma.

On another note, I sent in my final follow up query letter. This particular agency has had my novel (1st) since the end of March and they are the only ones that haven't responded. It's a little sad to think this is the last chance for that novel (at least for now). I'll assume that it's either not good enough for publishing or needs some serious work before it will be ready. Either way, I think it's time to move on. There are a lot more story ideas brewing around in my head and I don't have the time or emotional capacity to get hung up on one story. On a similar note, I was reading an agent's blog a few weeks ago and she mentioned how she never likes to hear that it's a writer's first novel. She knows how rare it is for those to get published and it's not typically until a 4th or 5th novel that the writer has figured out the formula well enough to make a really great book (or at least one that's going to be able to sell).

Check out the link to that blog post here: http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-much-to-tell.html#links

So with that in mind, I'll keep writing, not holding my breath and being patient while I get better at writing. I have all the time in the world...

In the meantime, I'll keep writing!

TGIF!!