2008 In Review

Since tomorrow night I will most likely be away from the computer, I thought that I would do the year in review thing tonight. First, a wee bit of background on myself.

I am 39 years of age, but I'm pushing 40 hard. I have always enjoyed writing fiction and can recall a story I crafted in the 4th grade titled The Haunted Mountain. It was about two campers encountering Bigfoot and was my first story written purely for fun. Similar projects in subsequent grades garnered me odd looks from classmates who thought I was batshit insane for willingly writing so much (and it wasn't even for school!). However it wasn't until the 8th grade (1983) that I realized that I wanted to be a full time writer when I grew up. Flash forward 13 years and I decided the time had come to start submitting stories to professional markets. Amazingly enough, I sold the very first thing I ever submitted and got paid a whopping 60 bucks. I had expected a tidal wave of rejections. Well after that first sale, I got them. I welcomed them because it meant I was a writer and was at least trying. Then some bad personal shit happened. I won't go into details, but my writing "career" was derailed. I stopped writing, partly because I believed that I hadn't lived and/or experienced enough of life in order to write about certain things.

Years went by. About four years ago I decided the time had come to make another stab at writing. I submitted a few things, got rejected and then got interested in another kind of writing (film reviewing) which took up the next four years. Finally, this past summer I decided it was time to get my ass into gear and get serious about writing fiction. I was approaching 40 and that sure as hell was old enough to have experienced life. Damn, but have I experienced some crazy shit. Anyway, after finishing up several other projects so as to not be distracted once I started, I began writing and submitting again in late October of 2008. So in essence, I'm like a newbie again. So with that long-winded spiel in mind, here are my end of year stats:

Submissions: 15
Rejections: 3
Acceptances: 2
Waiting to hear: 10

I'm sure the rejections will begin to pile up as the new year progresses, but that is just the name of the game. The only goal I have for 2009 at this point is to just write, submit and hopefully get accepted a time or twelve. The novels I have stewing in me can wait another year or two. I need to practice, learn and hone my craft first.

Finally, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!