Doing The Write Thing!

Still Spring Here!!!

2009-05-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have been extremely lax about writing in this blog...sigh. What can I say...well I have been writing and also taking another online course...how I love learning :>). I'm taking another of Laura Salas' poetry courses, this on on rhyming poetry for children. We haven't got to the metering part yet, and boy I can hardly wait because that is so my weakness and I do need to get it!

I have also sent out numerous intro packages to educational publishers and have heard from a number of them...no jobs yet, though! But they are keeping my information on file and will contact when they have something that matches my knowledge and abilities. Yeh! I see that as positive for now.

I have revised a number of my poems and submitted them to magazines. I have also submitted a non-fiction picture book...still waiting...suppose I will be for some time :>)

So you see I have been busy building my writing career...time to go and build some more. I do hope to get back to the weekly writing in this blog.

Yesterday~Summer. Today~Spring

2009-04-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

So, since I have decided to reduce my blogging time I have definately focused more on actual writing. Although, this week my time was somewhat limited as my husband had a major setback and I spent a lot of time in the hospital with him, when I wasn't being mom to the boys...sigh. So I got no writing (other than personal journaling) done, but here's what I did the rest of the week, not including today.

On Wednesday, I spent an hour finishing up my last assignment for Anastasia Suen's nonfiction course. I have learned a lot in her course and will definitely consider taking another of her courses. I also spent almost three hours preparing introductory packages for educational publishers.

On Thursday, I only managed to get an hour and a half in...thirty minutes was spent researching for nonfiction publishers for a nonfiction trade book, and the other hour was again preparing and mailing a couple of introductory packages to educational publishers.

Friday was pretty much the same as Thursday...90 minutes split between introductory packages and trade publishers research.

Saturday I got up early and managed to get 3 hours in before taking kids to soccer and picking up my husband for the day. I now have 10 introductory packages in the mail, and I spent two hours on my poetry chapbook, which has been a long time in the writing.

So all in all, I am pleased with the my writing pursuit this week and I feel like I accomplished a lot toward my writing goals.

Hopefully, next week will bring the same sense of accomplishment :>)

Sort of Sunny...definately spring!

2009-03-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

Since last Friday I have been deligently trying to use my slimtimer to keep track of the time spent on various projects and writing tasks. There were times when I forgot to turn it off...low and behold I had been working on a writing project for 27 hours...I only wish!! then there were the times I forgot to turn it on...oh well!!

For starters, I have spent 4.8 hours on my poetry blog, and even then I missed my favourite 15 words or less yesterday...oh well, there is always next week...

I spent just under an hour on preparing for Anastasia Suen's non-fiction assignment...somehow I don't think that included reading the five books...must have forgotten to set the timer...

For my introductory package to be sent to education publishers I spent 1.3 hours, and that included sending out two packages...W...hoooo!!!! Now I have to wait, while preparing more packages of course. And that leads into my time spent researching publishers...1.2 hours so far!

Well that's about it for this week...other than a few other little tidbits like, submitting a non-fiction trade piece, reading comments for Laura's class and other piddly things.

A bientot! See you soon (in French)...

Sunny and Cool Spring Day

2009-03-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

Through Laura Salas' non-fiction course I now know about slimtimer, and I love it. I can keep track of all my writing work whether it be blogging, spending time on a course, and just plain writing. What slimtimer has done for me is keep me on track. I no longer waffle between projects or spend time being indecisive about what to work on. I just make a decision and do it...how can you not love that :>) ?

Over the past week I have been working on my clips to send with my first intro packet to an educational publisher. Thought about and stated my goals for my jump into the educational writing world.

I have worked on the assignment for Anastasia Suen's online class. This included reading biographies and looking at how the characters were portrayed.

I tweaked Anastasia's critique of my Assignment #15 and began working on a cover letter to send the manuscript to a few trade publishers as suggested by Anastasia.

So all in all, fairly busy given that it's March break :>)

A Sunny Spring Day

2009-03-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

Whoooops...I see it's been a while, actually a long while. I have been busy writing though...my kind of busy that is.

I have written a poem and an article almost ready for submission to Once Upon A Time magazine. Audrey the editor of the magazine needs articles to fill her awesome magazine all about children's writing, so I set to it. I wrote this short verse about helping her...

The Write Thing To Do!

I need to write
For Audrey~
She needs the help
From all her readers
To survive,
To keep her magazine
Coming to each and
Everyone of us,
Let us help, because
It’s the write thing to do!

So if you're a children's writer and happen upon this post feel free to help her out. Submission guidelines can be found at http://www.onceuponatimemag.com/submssn.html

I have also rewrote and edited my assignment submission for my course with Anastasia Suen. that took some doing as I changed the POV (point of view) and then had to make sure the assignment fit into 32 pages of a book, as it was intially written as a magazine article.

I have also been working on my homework for Laura's non-fiction course...editing my cover letter, my sample article and learning more about researching for children's non-fiction, making bibliography's using online tools.

And, I have been posting on my poetry blog on a more regular basis....(big smile)

So you see I have been doing writing in between my family moments which are many...clap, clap, clap (that's for myself...a little pat on the back)

Sunny and Cold Day

2009-03-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

I went away for the weekend with my eldest to a soccer tournament with high hopes of some time to write, but alas...no!

Today I spent about 30 minutes on my homework for Laura Salas' non-fiction course.

Then I spent another 20 minutes or so on a piece for Anastasia Suen's course homework.

When I got home I wrote a poem for Monday's Poetry Stretch and posted it on my poetry blog. It was a fun poem to write and took me about 30 minutes to do.

A Spring-Like Day--Yeh!

2009-02-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

Okay, I haven't written in my blog since Sunday...but I have been writing, and that's what this blog is intended for. To keep me writing, and it's working....so far.

Over the past few days I have submitted my assignment to Anastasia Suen for my non-fiction course. I have posted my cover letter for Laura Salas' non-fiction course. I have further edited two of the articles I am sending as clips. I have read 5 non-fiction books. And I have worked a bit more on my article for Once Upon a Time...a bit being the operative word!

So you see I have done quite a bit given I have a life in between all that. I am proud...Yeh!!!!

My goal for tomorrow:

1. Post an article for critiqueing in Laura's class.
2. Write in my poetry blog...I'm lacking there...
3. Get something ready for my next assignment with Anastasia.

A sunny, snowy day!

2009-02-22T12:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend I have worked on my cover letter, which is now done!!! I have also written a couple of poems as a submission to Once Upon A Time magazine. And I started an article for submission too.

And yes I continued to edit my clip which I am to post for homework this week...so all in all considering I've had a very busy weekend, I have managed to get some writing in...Yeh!!!

Oh yes, and I wrote in my poetry blog for Weekend Wordsmith...

My goals for tomorrow are to post my homework, and finish working on my article...

2009-02-19T17:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, so two out of three ain't bad given the busyness of my day.

I did get my cover letter down to one page. Editing it was like editing one of my stories when I have to chop some words and sentences I think are so important. But when I do chop a bit here and there and then re-read it...lovely...so much better. Amazing how that happens...luckily it does :>)

And I did write a 15 words or less poem on my poetry blog. So tomorrow I'll have to work on editing my story...the one I did not get done today. Plus I want to work on a writing article for Once Upon a Time, a magazine for children's writers.

So I'll see what I actually get done......

A Snowy Day

2009-02-18T17:36:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I haven't been great about posting these last few days...sometimes life just gets in the way. Actually, I have been doing a bit of writing, I just haven't time to post about it.

So over the past few days I continue to work on my cover letter and the samples I will be submitting to some education publishers. This afternoon I spent an hour editing a couple of pieces I found hidden in my computer, which I had forgotten about. It's kind of like that twenty dollar bill you find in your ski jacket from last season...

One of the pieces I've edited is a short non-fiction piece for young children about music. The second piece is what is sometimes called faction ( a combination of non-fiction and fiction) which I've written for 10-12 year old children about leeches.

I'm going to begin including my goals for the next writing day at the end of my posts. I'm hoping that this will keep more focused and on track... so for tomorrow I plan to:

1. finish editing my piece for 10-12 yr olds
2. clean up my cover letter to fit onto one page.
3. Blog on my poetry blog and here too.

I think that's all I'll have time for...busy day ahead.

Another Rainy Day!

2009-02-13T13:46:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I didn't get as much done as I wanted, but because I knew I would have to be accountable to myself here, I sat down and did some.

So I worked on my cover letter for my homework for Laura Salas' non-fiction course. And that took some time as I'm supposed to keep it to a page, which I thought would be easy....but it's not! So I had to decide what to edit out. I still have some editing to do...but I'll save that for the weekend.

I also gathered some information on one of the other poems I'm writing for my chapbook.

So that was about it for yesterday...better than nothing...oh yes and I participated in 15 Words or Less and wrote a short poem on my poetry blog.

Another Rainy Day (in the middle of winter!!)

2009-02-11T13:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I wrote a poem titled Aphasia on my poetry blog, read over my lesson for my writing course, followed by starting work on a rough draft of a cover letter...lots of fun there

Then I decided to write one of my chapbook poems in the form of a Kyrielle, and wrote out a rough draft...it needs quite a bit more work. Needs to be more concrete...too many little words...but at least I got something down on paper...

So that was about it for my writing day...

A Rainy Day

2009-02-11T05:25:00.000-08:00

For lack of finding a better title for each day, I decided to give a current weather forecast.

Okay, so onto my writing of yesterday...I did some research for my non-fiction writing course with Laura Salas. My homework was to to find the publishers I wanted to approach and the corresponding editors names. Not an easy task I may add...but, I was successful.

I also did some brainstorming for one of my poems for my chapbook...today I hope to determine the type of poem I will write, and begin with the rough draft....so not to big a writing day, but I did do some...Yeh!!!

My First Post (original title, eh!)

2009-02-10T04:29:00.000-08:00

The purpose of this blog is to keep track of my daily writing schedule. I've always liked to read how other writers fill their days, so I thought sharing this would be fun for others who like to see how I'll fill my writing day.

Be forwarned, I'm not a full time writer, YET! But I wanted to get started on blogging my daily writing schedule to keep me accountable, and to make me do it, even if it's just for 15 minutes.

So, starting with yesterday, I worked on my homework assignment for Laura Salas' non-fiction writing course. I did research on educational publishers and to whom I might want to send introductory packages. I have picked three; Rosen Publishing, Heinemann Raintree, and McGraw Hill Ryerson.

My plan for today, now that the kids are home (ice day!) from school is to see if I can find editors names for these three companies and work on my chapbook.

Talk to you tomorrow!