Sheila Rambles

I knew it had been a while since I'd updated this blog.  I hadn't realized it had been two years . 2013 was the year of The Unpleasantness and after I signed off here I devoted my time to recovering from The Unpleasantness.  My recovery was such that I wasn't able to write much during it but once it was over I was able to devote my time to finishing and revising The Two Kinds of Magic .  It's made the rounds of all the agents I was able to find on AgentQuery.com and gotten either silence or polite refusals.  I've gotten more direct feedback from the writers' groups I attend, as well as a few people who have read the thing all the way though, and it's been overwhelmingly positive.  Even my sister, who didn't like my first novel, had good things to say about it.  So my ego isn't quite as squashed as it might be. I've sent it to a few publishers that take direct submissions and I think I'll be sending it to a few more before I resort to self...

I spent my Memorial Day at home because I decided to start working on this nifty idea I had for a sort of instruction book on different free writing techniques I use. I think I may have gone and drafted the thing. It's more of a pamphlet than a book, but it's out of my head and in a Scrivener binder, so I can figure out what to do with it from there. May add to it a bit, but the main methods I use are in there so far (including the odd names I have for them like "Sub-C Session", "Catbook" and "Clicktappity.") If nothing gets done on the novel between now and the end of the day, this may serve as my Excuse Note.