99 and Counting AND a contest

My first blog post was on September 14, 2007--not a very awe-inspiring first post.  But there it is.  Most of my followers, though, have arrived in the last 12 months.  My intentional blogging really started this past year.

I started the blog to keep a record, for myself, of my writing journey.  My writing has evolved since then, as has the blog.  And the focus of my writing has changed too.  I've gone from writing short stories for my daughter, to picture book manuscripts.  Then I moved to writing nonfiction and Young Adult.  My writing career has come full circle as I've recently had some professional interest in a picture book manuscript I wrote several years ago (check back soon for something official).

I want to celebrate my followers.  I'm almost at 100--which seems like an incredible milestone.  I want to pay it forward.  I've had so much support and encouragement from the blogging community.  I loved Amie Borst's recent 150 followers celebration.  Her energy and enthusiasm is contagious!

Here's what I have to offer:

1. An ARC of Holly Cupala's TELL ME A SECRET
2. An autographed copy of Stacy DeKeyser's JUMP THE CRACKS
3. My own TAURUS VIRGO & CAPRICORN: ALL ABOUT THE EARTH SIGNS (autographed, of course)

And for anyone who wants it: a critique of your query letter--I'm not an expert, but have had some interest from my own YA query letter, so I like to think I might have something helpful to offer.  Leave the text and your email address in the comments.  Or if you'd rather not leave it publicly--let me know and we can exchange email info.

The Rules:

You have to be a follower (new or old!).  And please put your preferred order of prizes in the comments.  Contest closes at midnight on Friday, February 18, 2011.

Tweet, Facebook, or Blog -- and please put each link in a separate comment box for an additional entry.  I don't know how to use the fancy points system.  I'll use simple random number generator, so each entry needs to be in a separate box.

And thank you to everyone for the support and community I've found through my blog!

Accountability

Sounds like one of the trainings I coordinate for corporate clients at work. It is also important to people who freelance, or work from home, or write novels...

I have a job in real life. But as a writer who has written for the educational market and published a hand full of nonfiction books, I consider my writing a real part-time job.

It can feel very solitary. And it is hard for me to self-motivate sometimes. That's usually when I call or email my critique group, or arrange to go sit in a coffee shop next to my sister, or reach out through the internet to other writers. 

It's important to be accountable to yourself, whether you're writing a newspaper article, your first novel, or a work for hire assignment. What are your writing goals? What do you want to be "when you grow up?" Are you hoping to be a full-time writer? Or are you content writing for yourself or your children?

After myself, I feel accountable to my writing group. I trust them--we consider the successes of each other as successes for ourselves. I feel accountable to my spouse and child--after all, the time I spend writing is often time I spend away from them.  I'm accountable to my editor. Thinking those to whom I'm accountable sometimes helps me pull myself off the couch or away from twitter to get back to the work of writing.

Who are you accountable to?  And does it help?

To Facebook or Not to Facebook

As an aspiring author--even though I've published a few non fiction Work-for-Hire books, I still consider myself aspiring--I struggle with how much promotion I need or want to do.

Over the weekend, during a conversation with my sister and mother, I decided to start my own "fan" page on Facebook. This will allow me to keep my own personal page separate from a more public persona. 

I've also taken the leap into Twitter. 

I'm not required to promote my work-for-hire books, but why wouldn't I want to?  I love making connections with fellow writers/authors, and it would so cool to connect to readers. 

Please feel free to "like" my Facebook page icon on the left hand sidebar.  I'd love to get comments from others who have taken the leap.

Interesting Week or How to Ignore the Distractions

It's been an interesting week.  One and a half snow days threw my schedule off completely.

But here are some of the writing-related things I did this week:

I wrote about 200 new words on a fiction WIP (not a ton, I know, but still)
I started an outline for a nonfiction work for hire project
I communicated with my new editor for same nonfiction project
I received a contract for a picture book manuscript (squee!)
I talked to an agent (not about representation, but it was a great convo)

So I just realized I had interaction with an editor, an agent, and a publisher--all in the last three days.  Hmm.  Not at all what I expected at the beginning of the week.  The three interactions were all really different--but all of them were generous with their time and genuinely cool people.  While I can't talk details, all three are sort of milling around in my brain competing for energy.

And distracting me from the actual work I should be doing.  Writing.  But in a good way.

OK, so the title of this post sort of suggests I'm going to explain how to ignore the distractions.  Honestly I have no idea.

How do you tune out the distractions?