Another Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday - my (ouch) 43rd. But I don't feel 43, which is good. I received several nice cards/wishes/gifts from family and friends and my family & friends are giving me a party Friday night. I really have been blessed in so many ways.

As far as writing goes, a lot of things happened during the past year:

I had some articles published in a couple of local newspapers and one magazine.

I've been asked to teach a future DC Writers Way workshop.

I was accepted to Clarion (East) where I met and lived with seventeen wonderful new writers and seven established ones.

I'm still getting rejection letters from markets, but most of them include hand-written notes (some of them even saying "send more"), which is a big step forward. (Hey, at least the notes don't say "Try using verbs in your next story.")

I've established a schedule and process for reading and studying stories on a regular basis.

I know that I'm getting closer to becoming a good writer. I can see progress. My First Reader (Cindy) can see it and my writers' group P.O.E. can see it. Now it's just a matter of sticking with it and working on it everyday.

I think it was Ray Bradbury who said you've got to write about 1,000,000 words before you produce anything good. I figure I've written about half that, so if I've climbed the mountain, maybe I'm on the way down. (Or maybe I'm just halfway up the mountain and the hardest part is yet to come?)

But anyway, the journey is terrific.

Now Playing = Now Here is Nowhere - Secret Machines (birthday present - Thanks Bob and Em!)