Monday, July 29, 2019
Ciao!
Well, it’s been about a year to the day since I last posted. I have done a lot of traveling and received some major good news. I was named a 2019 McKnight Foundation Fellowship in Writing recipient. I’m still overwhelmed that I was one of four chosen from a pool of almost 150. It’s basically a grant that will allow me to spend more time writing and less fretting about my design jobby-job (which is good because things are sloooooow on that front).
I have polished my novel with a wonderful copy editor, and if you look at past posts know that I’m ready to query. Wait, what? Aren’t you already querying? You talked about one of your top agents opening for submissions and all that. True, but fear is one of my hobgoblins and it’s took ahold of me something fierce. So, I started a second novel so that I could take my mind off my first. It’s about halfway done. I will begin looking for an agent when my summer break—I really took a summer break and went to NYC, Seattle, Chicago, and will wind it up over Labor Day in LA—is over. I have tweaked the type of agent I need because it seems my novel is a “soft-boiled” mystery. It will probably get bunched in with the cozies, but that means I need an agent who is mystery-friendly. But who also might be interested in my short story collection and second novel…
A wonderful thing about my fellowship is that it comes with a travel stipend, so I’ll be attending a writing conference in Cozumel in January. Not just any conference, but with the author of the first book that I read and said to myself “I wish I could claim that as my own writing.” So, I’m super excited.
I have three and a half more stories to go before my collection is complete. I’m going to work on my second novel, which I printed out in its current state. And if you’re reading this, follow me on Twitter @MizGolightly—I’m a lot of fun there!
More news as it happens. Thanks for stopping by!