Happy New Year, one and all! As those who usually hear from me at Christmas time know, I don’t send out my Christmas cards until after Christmas, believing that’s when you’re supposed to send them, during the Christmas season—although I’ve been known to stretch that until February a time or two—once I get caught up in writing personal notes to friends and family.
Up until Christmas, however, I celebrate Advent, a time of waiting and reflection. It really paid off this year, because I finally began to understand the gift of Jesus and what that means in terms of my faith. I still need to do some reflecting on that, but I’m a whole lot closer than before to understanding the true ‘reason for the season’ and for that I am feeling very blessed and grateful.
But now, today, it’s time to look back on 2009 and see how far I’ve come in other areas. I was probably supposed to do that yesterday, and focus on goals today, but yesterday I was tearing through my closets and the boxes in the garage looking for my missing manuscript (no luck yet), and I honestly haven’t thought about concrete goals yet for this year.
So I’ll backtrack and bring myself up to date, and maybe once that’s done, I can focus on the future :). Seems to be the story of my life, always trying to catch up to myself :(.
This time last year I was looking forward to the Florida Romance Writers Cruise with Your Muse conference, about which I blogged several times. The highlight of that trip was staying with Wild Rose Press author Dayana Knight for a few days, and meeting Maggie Toussaint and Mona Risk, fellow Roses and friends from The Bookspa.
Oh, and bunking with Rhonda the night before the cruise and going out to dinner afterward. One of those pink Mary Kay cars was in the parking lot, and we took a picture of Rhonda standing in front of it, and she went and told RJ “Look what I bought on the company credit card!”
Just joking, of course. But talk about a woman who has goals. I really need to get going on mine.
In March, I queried an agent on Letters To Laura, and she declined that, but asked me if I had anything else to submit. I said I was thinking about writing a book about women’s health issues, PMDD in particular, and she thought that was a great idea.
So I started researching, and came up with some really interesting information. Found out why I’d been so exhausted for the past few years. Through trial and error, and using myself as a guinea pig, over the next six months I figured out what was wrong with me and how to correct it…at least in my case. Unfortunately, the symptoms of PMDD are as individual as the women who experience them. That’s part of the problem, and why it’s such a hard diagnosis and treatment plan to nail down.
April brought good news, in that Louis was moved three hours closer and released from administrative custody so I could actually sit next to him and talk to him for the first time in 15 months. But by then my health had taken a major nosedive, and I was knee-deep in trying to find out how to stop feeling so tired and miserable all the time. I began seeing this doctor and that doctor, getting all sorts of lab tests done, and trying this medication, remedy, supplement, eating plan, and exercise regimen, all in the name of research and good health. One by one possible causes for my exhaustion were eliminated.
In May I met the agent at the Pennwriters conference in Pittsburgh, one of the best conferences I have ever attended. It was awesome, from beginning to end. Just can’t say enough good things about it. I meant to blog about it, about how inspirational it was, in particular Tim Esaias’s keynote speech, and the weeks just got away from me as car troubles developed and we rolled into summer and I needed to work on my health and health book. When the agent asked me, “How soon can you get it to me?” I had reluctantly told her I would have my proposal to her at the end of the summer. With all I had going on in my life, I didn’t see how I could realistically get it to her any sooner.
In July, after a year of planning and saving, I took off to Washington, DC for the Romance Writers of America’s annual conference, a conference I hadn’t attended in 16 years. I had a wonderful time meeting my fellow Rose and roommate, Jodi Henley, and re-connecting with friends I’d hung out with back when I went to the RWA conferences regularly. Shared breakfast with a woman I met in the registration line in Boston in 1988. Spent quiet time in the room of my first critique partner. Had dinner with two Pennwriters I’ve known for over 20 years. Had another dinner and a wonderful evening of chatting with a fellow Wild Rose author I’d met in New Jersey just a couple of years ago, when Thin Ice won the Golden Leaf award. Drank more coffee than I can ever remember drinking, and then spent a few days resting and relaxing with friends from high school to recover. In all, I was gone eight days, and blogged about that, as well.
By then, summer was in full swing. My son was trying out for the golf team, and me being me, I didn’t think beyond making the team. To me that was the end goal. It never occurred to me that once he did make it, he’d be doing something golf related every single day for two more months. That was a lot of running around. I was taking him somewhere most every day. I’ve never been more grateful for the ability to work from home. Even Louis had to take a back seat as to when we could visit, based on my son’s golf schedule.
But I got my proposal sent to the agent at the end of summer, as promised. And all the while—except for that serious relapse into bad eating and sleeping habits on the trip to DC—road trip food and a strange bed every night--my health is finally getting better. But I continue to see doctors and such for research purposes. I don’t want an answer that’s “good enough.” I want the best possible answer I can find. And what I’m finding out is fascinating—at least to me :).
A few weeks later, the agent called—yes, called!—and asked for More. She liked the proposal, but wanted to see more of it. She wanted an exact blueprint of how the book would be laid out. By now I had even more research to include, and I spent the next two months drafting a 70-page proposal for my book on PMDD. Part of what took so long was in order to write a summary of each chapter for the proposal, I’d have to first write the chapter, then summarize it. The other part was I hadn’t yet learned how to put “me” first. After much reflection, I realized that I was always more than willing to help someone else achieve their goals and dreams, but when it came to my own…well, those could wait.
Not any more. I’ve waited more than twenty years to get this writing career off the ground. I’m done waiting, thank you. I sent the proposal off just before Thanksgiving. In the end the agent declined, but gave me excellent feedback and suggestions for where to send it next. In the meantime, she’s interested in seeing an inspirational romantic suspense I’ve been putting together, mostly in my mind. Just before Christmas, I put together a synopsis, and I now have two chapters written. I think it’s a natural direction for me to go in, writing faith-based romances, and look forward to giving it my best. Several of my writer buddies have been encouraging me to do this for years. The first one will be dedicated to them.
So in 2009 I learned a lot about myself in terms of faith, health, personal growth, relationships, writing abilities and skills, and basically just standing on my own two feet, whether it be on a cruise ship, in a hotel, on the subway, or on the highway. (I was so proud of myself, not getting lost once in eight days of travel.) I look forward to continuing that growth and development in 2010, spending more time on myself and my faith and my career, and to the resulting success in both my efforts to get healthy and to find happy homes for my fiction and non-fiction.
**FWL will be back next week. I promise. The holidays have wreaked havoc on my posting schedule.
Up until Christmas, however, I celebrate Advent, a time of waiting and reflection. It really paid off this year, because I finally began to understand the gift of Jesus and what that means in terms of my faith. I still need to do some reflecting on that, but I’m a whole lot closer than before to understanding the true ‘reason for the season’ and for that I am feeling very blessed and grateful.
But now, today, it’s time to look back on 2009 and see how far I’ve come in other areas. I was probably supposed to do that yesterday, and focus on goals today, but yesterday I was tearing through my closets and the boxes in the garage looking for my missing manuscript (no luck yet), and I honestly haven’t thought about concrete goals yet for this year.
So I’ll backtrack and bring myself up to date, and maybe once that’s done, I can focus on the future :). Seems to be the story of my life, always trying to catch up to myself :(.
This time last year I was looking forward to the Florida Romance Writers Cruise with Your Muse conference, about which I blogged several times. The highlight of that trip was staying with Wild Rose Press author Dayana Knight for a few days, and meeting Maggie Toussaint and Mona Risk, fellow Roses and friends from The Bookspa.
Oh, and bunking with Rhonda the night before the cruise and going out to dinner afterward. One of those pink Mary Kay cars was in the parking lot, and we took a picture of Rhonda standing in front of it, and she went and told RJ “Look what I bought on the company credit card!”
Just joking, of course. But talk about a woman who has goals. I really need to get going on mine.
In March, I queried an agent on Letters To Laura, and she declined that, but asked me if I had anything else to submit. I said I was thinking about writing a book about women’s health issues, PMDD in particular, and she thought that was a great idea.
So I started researching, and came up with some really interesting information. Found out why I’d been so exhausted for the past few years. Through trial and error, and using myself as a guinea pig, over the next six months I figured out what was wrong with me and how to correct it…at least in my case. Unfortunately, the symptoms of PMDD are as individual as the women who experience them. That’s part of the problem, and why it’s such a hard diagnosis and treatment plan to nail down.
April brought good news, in that Louis was moved three hours closer and released from administrative custody so I could actually sit next to him and talk to him for the first time in 15 months. But by then my health had taken a major nosedive, and I was knee-deep in trying to find out how to stop feeling so tired and miserable all the time. I began seeing this doctor and that doctor, getting all sorts of lab tests done, and trying this medication, remedy, supplement, eating plan, and exercise regimen, all in the name of research and good health. One by one possible causes for my exhaustion were eliminated.
In May I met the agent at the Pennwriters conference in Pittsburgh, one of the best conferences I have ever attended. It was awesome, from beginning to end. Just can’t say enough good things about it. I meant to blog about it, about how inspirational it was, in particular Tim Esaias’s keynote speech, and the weeks just got away from me as car troubles developed and we rolled into summer and I needed to work on my health and health book. When the agent asked me, “How soon can you get it to me?” I had reluctantly told her I would have my proposal to her at the end of the summer. With all I had going on in my life, I didn’t see how I could realistically get it to her any sooner.
In July, after a year of planning and saving, I took off to Washington, DC for the Romance Writers of America’s annual conference, a conference I hadn’t attended in 16 years. I had a wonderful time meeting my fellow Rose and roommate, Jodi Henley, and re-connecting with friends I’d hung out with back when I went to the RWA conferences regularly. Shared breakfast with a woman I met in the registration line in Boston in 1988. Spent quiet time in the room of my first critique partner. Had dinner with two Pennwriters I’ve known for over 20 years. Had another dinner and a wonderful evening of chatting with a fellow Wild Rose author I’d met in New Jersey just a couple of years ago, when Thin Ice won the Golden Leaf award. Drank more coffee than I can ever remember drinking, and then spent a few days resting and relaxing with friends from high school to recover. In all, I was gone eight days, and blogged about that, as well.
By then, summer was in full swing. My son was trying out for the golf team, and me being me, I didn’t think beyond making the team. To me that was the end goal. It never occurred to me that once he did make it, he’d be doing something golf related every single day for two more months. That was a lot of running around. I was taking him somewhere most every day. I’ve never been more grateful for the ability to work from home. Even Louis had to take a back seat as to when we could visit, based on my son’s golf schedule.
But I got my proposal sent to the agent at the end of summer, as promised. And all the while—except for that serious relapse into bad eating and sleeping habits on the trip to DC—road trip food and a strange bed every night--my health is finally getting better. But I continue to see doctors and such for research purposes. I don’t want an answer that’s “good enough.” I want the best possible answer I can find. And what I’m finding out is fascinating—at least to me :).
A few weeks later, the agent called—yes, called!—and asked for More. She liked the proposal, but wanted to see more of it. She wanted an exact blueprint of how the book would be laid out. By now I had even more research to include, and I spent the next two months drafting a 70-page proposal for my book on PMDD. Part of what took so long was in order to write a summary of each chapter for the proposal, I’d have to first write the chapter, then summarize it. The other part was I hadn’t yet learned how to put “me” first. After much reflection, I realized that I was always more than willing to help someone else achieve their goals and dreams, but when it came to my own…well, those could wait.
Not any more. I’ve waited more than twenty years to get this writing career off the ground. I’m done waiting, thank you. I sent the proposal off just before Thanksgiving. In the end the agent declined, but gave me excellent feedback and suggestions for where to send it next. In the meantime, she’s interested in seeing an inspirational romantic suspense I’ve been putting together, mostly in my mind. Just before Christmas, I put together a synopsis, and I now have two chapters written. I think it’s a natural direction for me to go in, writing faith-based romances, and look forward to giving it my best. Several of my writer buddies have been encouraging me to do this for years. The first one will be dedicated to them.
So in 2009 I learned a lot about myself in terms of faith, health, personal growth, relationships, writing abilities and skills, and basically just standing on my own two feet, whether it be on a cruise ship, in a hotel, on the subway, or on the highway. (I was so proud of myself, not getting lost once in eight days of travel.) I look forward to continuing that growth and development in 2010, spending more time on myself and my faith and my career, and to the resulting success in both my efforts to get healthy and to find happy homes for my fiction and non-fiction.
**FWL will be back next week. I promise. The holidays have wreaked havoc on my posting schedule.
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2 comments:
Liana, I enjoyed reading your post where you summarized your goals, struggles and achievements of last year. I am glad that you found your niche and will write inspirational suspense.
I haven't written any goals for this coming year. For a change I don't know what I want and this makes me very confused. The only thing I know for sure is that I will learn to make time for myself.
Liana, this agent obviously recognises an intelligent, informed and exceptional writer. Go for it. And GOOD LUCK!
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