Post-Holiday Deflation Cure

The holiday frenzy is over.  You've gotten all the gifts you are going to get and are now, unfortunately, paying for them.  And you're deflating like a balloon someone forgot to tie off.

But wait!  It's not too late to get something for yourself.  Something you can curl up with and read.  Something that will let you read not one, but thousands of good books!

A Sony e-Book Reader!

That's right--The Wild Rose Press has got another contest running, just click on the contest link to find out how to enter. This one runs from Jan through March.  And, of course, I'm one of the sponsors so if you decide you'd like to use the purchase of my Regency romantic mystery, I Bid One American, to enter, now is the time to go for it!  I was pleased to discover that Book Utopia considered I Bid One American one of the best books for 2008, which brought me great pleasure.

And just in case anyone wants a small taste to whet their interest, here is an excerpt from I Bid One American...

     Miss Haywood flushed and took another sip of tea, choking when she swallowed too quickly.

     "It's amazing what rubbish they print," Nathaniel said. "You obviously have more sense than to believe what you read."

     "So you two did meet in the garden," Lady Victoria interrupted.

     His grin widened.

     Miss Haywood frowned at him and caught his gaze. She shook her head very so slightly. "We met on the terrace," she corrected.

     Apparently she didn't want the Archers to know Nathaniel had dragged her off into the bushes. And that suited him. She needn't have worried about him admitting that to her guardian. No one had been compromised.  There was no earthly reason to discuss it.

     "Well, nevvy? What of it?" Archer asked. "Garden or terrace?"

     "Terrace, certainly," Nathaniel replied smoothly.

     "Miss Haywood was instructing me on the identification of moths." He tried to recapture Miss Haywood's gaze to reassure her, but she resisted him. "It was all very correct."

     "Yes. And you were very polite, too, as I recall. It quite impressed me at the time," Miss Haywood said. "Exceedingly polite."

     He stared at her. Her sky blue eyes twinkled roguishly above a pert nose lightly dusted with freckles. One long red curl twined over her shoulder, making her mannish scarf anything but masculine. His eyes drifted lower to the slight curve of her chest, remembering what Harnet said about women with slender builds….

     Harnet could say what he wanted, Miss Haywood looked very much like trouble to Nathaniel.

There now, that's enough of that.  Back to blogging.

I do have a tip.  It's one of those things that applies to more than just writing--it really applies to any endeavor.  And it's one of those things that just seems like common sense.  But it is also extraordinarily hard to remember when you are in the throes of whatever you are in the throes of.

Always have more than one iron in the fire.

That is to say, when possible, always have multiple submissions going, and/or multiple projects you are working on.  It's not just because it increases your chances, but because of the psychological benefits, too.

If you have several submissions going, with several manuscripts submitted and/or at various stages, than the failure (rejection) of any one item isn't as devastating.  Because you have other chances to make it.

I'm the first to admit that while this sounds easy, it is not.  It's not that easy to write, edit, and polish multiple manuscripts (or projects) to the point where you can be squirting them out in parallel.  Or have one manuscript accepted for publication, another undergoing the submission process, and another being polished, but the more you can do that, the less any one failure will bite.

Sure, failures will bite.  Don't get me wrong.  But it will bite less if there are other prospects.

And like I said, this is true with just about any endeavor you care to mention.  Including the lottery.  Well, maybe not the lottery.  I'm told having more tickets in no way increases your chance to win since it is random.  But I find that hard to believe.

So get out there and pursue whatever makes you happy, and do it in large enough numbers to win a few successes, too!