Geranium Cat put me on her must-have list!
Daruma Doll from Blogadilla
The nice thing about having a mini-career is that everything’s new and exciting. I’m still at the stage where every passing mention means a lot to me, and I think I’ve met every single one of my fans, either by email or in person. Of course, I *hope* there are hundreds out there whom I will meet in the New Year.
Last year I had mini-versions of the standard writer’s experiences, to wit:
- Someone I met in another context turned out to be a fan
- I had lunch with fans at a convention and discussed the books
- I received a piece of fan art
- I got several good reviews and a few bad ones
- I self-published for the first time, with Smashwords
- And the usual submissions, rejections, and places-that-make-you-wait-YEARS-for-any-response.
For the new year, I hope to add more of the same; I’ll finish revisions of the third Osyth novel, work on the fourth, and I have a non-Osyth novel awaiting my agent’s attention. I also want to get back to writing the short pieces, hopefully mastering the craft of writing real short stories instead of novellas.
If I were going to fill in a Daruma doll this year, my goal would be to write and submit at least four real short stories. For most professional writers that would be a laughably small goal. But I have a mini-career, in the interstices of my day job, so I will be modest.
