An Introduction

Last summer I did a very bold thing. I quit a very nice job to focus on writing full-time. After working in Corporate America for twelve years and writing on the side seriously for the past six, I decided to switch my priorities. I kicked it off by attending a month-long writers’ retreat in France. I started my MFA in Creative Writing in September, finished my first semester in December, and in January decided not to go back. All I really want to do is write. So without a pesky job or piles of homework, I have plenty of time to do just that. My current goal is to write 2,000 words a day. Some days are better than others.

I have had a few short stories published and completed my first novel last year. I sent queries to 62 agents. Fifty-two rejected it. Ten requested partials and of those ten partials only one requested a full manuscript, but that agent is suspect. It’s a tough business. Right now I’m working on my second novel, and I’m 22,000 words in.

My goal now is to take my business and marketing background (a few wrong turns from my technical writing and training career) and apply it to writing. Treat it like a business. Goals, plans, consistent output, market research, networking. And I’m totally my own boss, so that’s pretty cool.

I offer this blog as a way to share my full-time plunge into creative writing. I’ve learned a lot about the publishing industry, writing queries and handling rejections from fellow bloggers. I hope I can offer a community, an online Fiction City, for writers to hang out and chat about the business of creative writing. We’re all in it together.