The Year of the Book Continues

Well, there's hope for The Year of The Book yet. I had almost given up. The first three months of this year compared with the first three months of last were pretty dismal. I was a great deal more creative and found more time to write. More than that, the urge was there. I've had to do a lot of work this year just to get a weak flame burning.

I know part of it is because I didn't have a plan. Not like last year's. Every month I set out goals and steps to reach them and I have yet to do that for this year, other than give it its title. So serious planning is on my agenda for the next week.

To kick things off, thanks to the encouragement of my writing buddies at workshop today, I scheduled an appointment with a literary agent at this year's OWFI conference. You can picture me shivering in my shoes here. I know I have work to do, things to prepare, a pitch to iron out, and stuff I'm not even aware of yet I'm sure. All before the end of next month. Boy did that ever creep up on me fast.

My first choice for an agent specializes in both picture books and young adult work. Sounds right up my alley at least in terms of age. I'm in the process of trying to find what they've represented in the past to see if I'm hitting the genre right, but it's hard to find them. The books they listed with Writer's Market aren't in my library except for one. There is an article coming out in the 5/05 issue of Writer that was written by the two agents who run this agency. They listed that on their website as a source to check in order to determine what they're looking for. We'll see....

At any rate, onward and upward. Last year was a bookends year--the start and the end were the best creatively. Perhaps this will be a better-late-than-never year. I have the prelims to do on my next NaNo attempt and this to iron out. I feel wind beneath my wings.

Thanks as always to my writing buddies!! Couldn't do it without you!