I am taking steps to move my writing career forward, even though I am in a season where long hours of work on my two novels just isn’t possible. The characters in Katie Blue and in The Bond of Seven have been very gracious, if not a bit impatient, in allowing me to complete this particular phase of my life before continuing with their stories. I am grateful to them.
Yesterday I registered a domain name for my yet to be developed website. Insidethewriter.com isn’t up and running yet, but it will be soon, thanks to my graphic designer daughter who has offered to think up something cool and edgy and original for me. I also signed up on some freelance sites where I can get my name out there writing articles, editing, and doing other short assignments.
And then we went to Chapters. What better way to spend a rainy Monday afternoon. Of course, everyone in the area who had yesterday off work because of Remembrance Day had the same idea we did. Chapters was packed. We had considered spending an hour or so in the adjoining Starbucks after we made our purchases, but the lineup to order was out the door. Oh well. The cranberry bliss bar will have to wait.
I did make my annual purchase, however. The big, fat, heavy 2013 Writer’s Market is now sitting on my desk staring at me. I flipped through it last night and noticed a few new features, so I am looking forward to examining some of the details.
So, in case you thought I had given up on writing, be assured. My stories are always on my mind and I keep my little notebook handy to jot down ideas or dialogue or interesting plot twists to include. I read other novels with one eye on the story and the other eye on how the writer has used words to portray people and situations in ways I hadn’t thought of. And I write these blog posts. Not great works of literary genius, but good practice nonetheless.
I am confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in me will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (My personalized Philippians 1:6.) And part of the good work God has begun in me is the whole writer thing. When I work with Him, He will be faithful to complete it.
Onward.
Inside the Writer 
Back in 1993, my grandmother bought me my first Writer’s Market book. I sent my story off to 18 different children’s magazines. I heard back from only a few, all rejections—one nicely written, though. I put down my pen, then life picked up, but I know I will one day write again. Since that time, I have talked with so many amateur writers, including a couple that made it big, and they all say the same thing: that they all received tons of rejection letters, but they kept sending it out, and then they published!! So, apparently this is the “rule of the game” of writing…try, try again, and again I say, try! (I think that’s a paraphrased quote from a few famous authors… LOL)
Good for you!