I was reading Cece‘s post today and like all good blog posts it got me thinking. As we head into 2005 and prepare to do away with the *thisclose* club, I have to say that I agree 100% with Cece and also this blog comment by Suzanne McMinn.

I believe the market is changing. Did you look at the first sales section of the RWR? It’s HUGE. And I guarantee that some of those stories are ones that wouldn’t sell not too long ago. My first sale was a Regency-set pirate romantica. Think I could have sold it a year ago? I have my doubts. I was told Regency was overdone, pirates died in the ’80′s, and romantica was still coming into the mainstream. Sapphire’s Worth features a courtesan for a heroine and the opening sentence has her in the arms of a man who is not the hero. But the full has been solicited. Gothics are back, westerns are trying, vampires conquered 2004. Things are changing and editors are actively searching for something “different”. Writing to the market is a mistake IMHO.

So in 2005, I’m hoping and praying that more writers write the books they want to write. I honestly, truly believe that the story you’ll sell is the one you think you won’t.

At Cece‘s request, we’ll be starting the WORD a Month Challenge. (Similar to the “official unofficial WORD Challenge” in November.)

To get the info and SIGN UP (hint hint) go here. January’s WORD starts on Saturday.

How much of your day is spent online? How much of your writing time is eaten up by it? I find that hours of my day can be sucked into the net, if I’m not careful. E-mails, blog surfing, following up on business things, paying bills, checking balances… it all adds up to online drag time.

Anyone tried regulating their online time? Perhaps confining it to certain hours or certain lengths of time? Or even certain days?

Last night I forced myself to go to sleep early. And when I woke up at the butt crack of dawn (Actually it was still dark outside ) I forced myself to stay in bed and go back to sleep.

I feel so much better, I can’t even tell you. That’s the first decent night’s sleep I’ve had since getting THE CALL!! (I guess getting an agent really does soothe the mind.)

One of my Christmas gifts arrived today. FrontPage 2003. The version of FrontPage I’m presently using is 2000.

But Laurie has been blogging about Dreamweaver. I wonder if I should try that? Any suggestions? I’m not a webdesigner by any means. Cut and paste is about the extent of my talent and I don’t really need to do anything besides minor updates. In fact, FrontPage 2000 was getting the job done just fine.

Still, I’m all for making the job as simple as possible.

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OXNARD CA
1100 PM PST TUE DEC 28 2004
CAC037-290730-
LOS ANGELES CA-
1100 PM PST TUE DEC 28 2004
A TORNADO WARNING CONTINUES UNTIL 1130 PM PST FOR SOUTHWESTERN LOS
ANGELES COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA INCLUDING PALOS VERDES…SAN
PEDRO…ROLLING HILLS…TORRANCE…CARSON AND INGLEWOOD.
AT 1055 PM…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THE
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A LIKELY TORNADO RIGHT OVER SAN PEDRO. THE
STORM IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR TORRANCE BY 1110 PM PST…AND
INGLEWOOD BY 1120 PM PST
WHEN A TORNADO WARNING IS ISSUED BASED ON DOPPLER RADAR…IT MEANS
THAT STRONG ROTATION HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE STORM. A TORNADO MAY
ALREADY BE ON THE GROUND…OR IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP SHORTLY.

Are the chupacabras coming next?

Aspiring writers sit at home writing and waiting for THE CALL. This CALL is supposed to signify the attainment of a dream, a new start, the beginning of a career. But over the last few weeks I’ve heard from a few published authors on listservs who have fulfilled their contracts and are now… back to square one. They’re getting rejections, they’re researcing the market, they’re not feeling any further ahead then they were when they started. Whose fault is this? Or is it no one’s fault?

Should your agent be actively keeping your work out there? Should they keep the sales going or is that your job as the writer? How does this work? *scratching head* These are things I’ll be asking-my-agent-to-be.

I’ve heard a few people say that the secret is an editor who loves you, who approaches you for projects, who keeps the work flowing your way. Is that the secret? Or is it our job to be more proactive? Or perhaps it’s nothing we can control at all.