New Year New Resolve

And I'm not talking about the hang over cure, which I could probably do with getting some in just in case.

Like a lot of people at this time of year I have made a number of resolutions. I'm not going to go on about weight loss, though yes that's one, but I am going to tell you about my writing resolutions.  I made six:

1. Enter at least one writing competition a month
2. Get a second book on-line
3. Read each Writing Magazine (hereafter referred to as WM) issue fully
4. Complete one romance novel this year (separate from and in addition to all other work)
5. Write / update my blog at least weekly.

Okay, before you start screaming, I know that's only five and I said there were six, but I'll tell you about 6 later.

So far resolution 1 is achieved for this month.  I submitted an entry to a WM for a competition where the opening line was given.  I'm nearly there with a submission I have to make by post and I've found a couple more competitions I want to work on.

Have come across another competition for female authors which is a bit sexist, but since it's in my favour I'm considering entering all the same.  I'm not sure if I should go for the "noir moderne" I've done, or a fluffier, more romantic, feminine piece.  Not going to enter two pieces as the fee is quite high. Need to think about that one.

I've nearly finished this months WM. I'm making reasonable progress on the romance and this update gets my blog done for the week.  All good news so far.
Resolution 2 may be the hardest one to keep.  I really want to do this but negatives from previous experience are leading to self doubt.  If I could afford editorial services I'd go that route and worry less, but on a temping contract that's about to run out I need to be highly cautious when it comes to expenditure right now.  Either that or I need to be a lot less cautious about my writing talent.

Finally to resolution 6. This one was to re-write a series I’ve started about a character called Autumn Raine, a private investigator bumbling around Swansea.  When I made the resolutions, I thought that this would be relatively easy.  But since making that decision so few days ago, I’ve wondered if it even works.  The stories are all written in first person, which is not my usual thing, generally I write third person. But three literary agents have rejected the manuscript saying that it was telling not showing, hence the re-write.  But now I’ve been thinking that I could blog it instead.  Want to look more into the mechanics of that, be certain that I can in fact do the conversion before I try it.  So while, I will re-write it, it may not be the book I originally intended.  Best laid plans and all that.

Well now that I’ve done this, I need to go and get on with work on other resolutions.

Ta-ta for now.