The 2016 Writing to be Read

Well, it’s a new year and time for new beginnings. I know I promised you a new Writing to be Read was coming your way and I haven’t forgotten. No, indeed. But I gave up on re-designing the site myself. I’ve always been technically challenged and the digital world is no different for me, so I’ve recruited someone who knows more about it than I do, and I think she’s done a great job so far. I hope you agree.

My mystery tech is not really a mystery though. She’s my Western State cohort, a talented writer and skilled editor, Robin Conley, and she’s going to guest blog here as well as provide a few regular features, and perhaps share some reviews with Writing to be Read readers. Robin is an amazing woman who took the 365 challenge and wrote a flash fiction piece every day for a year. She is an alpha reader for much of my work and her suggestions do nothing but improve my stories. For that reason, one of the regular features she will offer is Weekly Writing Memo, offering tips on different writing issues that come up during the week. Robin also has her own blog, Author the World, and you can follow the link here, or in the blogroll, to check it out.

I want to thank those of you who have stuck in there, even when this blog seemed to be stagnant. 2016 promises to bring big changes for me, because I’m determined to make those changes happen, and I’ve already started the ball rolling.

I’ve stepped down from being the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner on Examiner.com. While I enjoyed the role, the pay per click column didn’t produce enough to justify the time it took away from paying gigs and my schooling. But because I did enjoy the role, I’ve decided to carry it over here, with book reviews, author profiles and coverage of Colorado literary events. In other words, I will provide the same great content I did as an Examiner, but I will do it here, with some added improvements to pep things up. For example, some of you may be familiar with my red quill logo. The reviews will now have a rating system, but we’re going to dispose of those boring little stars. Reviews on Writing to be Read will each receive from one to five quills. Also, I plan to make the posts here more personable and share what’s happening in my writing world.

For starters, I want to fill you in on what I’ve been up to, and you’ll see why I wasn’t finding time to pop in here, although I should have been. None of this is meant to excuse my absence, just explain it. As my regular followers know, I got my MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in genre fiction last summer, and this year I am seeking a second emphasis in screenwriting. The time is now approaching when I will need to make all that education pay off, so I can pay off all my student loans.

So, I have been busy revising and polishing a lot of the stories I’ve already written, and submitting them like crazy. One member of my writing group referred to me as a “submission machine”. I’ve got my children’s stories out there, as well as several shorts and a couple of flash fiction stories, and I’ve even dug out some of my better poetry and submitted to anthologies. In fact, I recently had one of my poems accepted to be included in the Manifest West Anthology, so I’m thinking that’s pretty cool. And of course, I’m on the lookout for a publisher for my thesis novel, The Great Primordial Battle, the first book in my epic science fantasy series, Playground for the Gods. And, my western novel, Delilah, is in the final stages of revision, so I will have it out there soon, too.

I also self-published a short science fiction story, Last Call, about time travel and new beginnings. It’s kind of an experiment, or maybe a learning experience is a better term. So far it’s taught me that I suck at marketing. But now, at least I know what skills I need to work on. It’s available on Amazon for .99. You can follow the link at the bottom of the page to get there if you’d like. On the positive side, it’s gotten two reviews which have given it a four star rating, so that’s a good thing, right?

So, with all that said, I’m going to turn the next post over to Robin and I hope you all will give her a warm welcome with lots of comments. Remember 2016 is going to be a great year for Writing to be Read, so don’t miss it. If you’re not already a subscriber, just click the “subscribe by email” button on the top right to get notifications of the latest posts. I’ll be glad to add you to the subscribers list. And if you enjoyed this post, or you are excited about the 2016 Writing to be Read, leave a comment and share how 2016 is going to be great for you!