Is to change her mind. And so I have. I had great intentions of finishing a new story for the Desire pitch, and I believe the road to hell is paved with them, is it not?
Instead, today I decided that killing myself in the next 2 week (12 days really) is idiotic. It's summer for goodness sake. So, I'm going to pitch a book that's already in the can (that's movie talk for done) and save myself the stress. On a good note, the novel I was planning to finish I got through chapter 5. I like the characters and where it's going. I will definitely finish it, just not between now and June 30th. You're probably wondering why I didn't pitch this story in the first place. It's mostly because I wasn't sure if it had enough POW BAM for something as one in a lifetime as a Desire pitch, but it's a solid book with great characters and an emotional punch. And it has conflict too. Both internal and external. Yes, that's right, I've been learning my craft. No more rejection letters with "not enough conflict to sustain our readers" on it. Or, at least I hope not.
In other great news this week, Bending to Blackmail took second in the 2008 Spring Into Romance contest. Not bad for a little book whose finaling ration was 5/1 last year. I haven't made any major changes on it either.
I have entered 2 new stories in recent contests and can't wait to get feedback on them. One is a long contemporary, a departure from my Desire wannabes. The other is the book I wanted to pitch to Desire. I'm always curious to see how new stuff does. Oh, and I made some changes to a book that finaled a couple times last year, upping the conflict in an attempt to have a more well rounded book. The first two contests gave me identical feedback and I'm hoping a couple little paragraph switches may have solved the problem.
How is your contest hunt going? And are there any you enter every year because you've done well or the feedback has been helpful?
Today's goal: New logline for Desire pitch
Yesterday's accomplishments: Sorted through my travel photos
What I'm grateful for: Doing well in contests
Quote: "Too much of a good thing is wonderful." -Mae West (1892 - 1980)
