Following my own advice is harder to swallow than dishing it out.

I haven't been posting for quite some time now. I know, huge disappointment (actually, I am disappointed in myself). I didn't quit writing, but I haven't finished anything I have started in the last few months either. I have read a few good books, which is always helpful in improving my writing, but life has been throwing me some real hard knocks lately and I've had to focus and prioritize to maintain a good, healthy balance.

If you have nothing good to say, don't say anything at all. I live and teach my kids this, but with writing, you want anything at all from a potential agent, publisher, reader - you can learn from this type of negativity, if you can get it. Over the past summer, one agent who was patient with me after requesting my manuscript (I hadn't read or worked on it in quite some time and it needed fresh eyes and a lot of work), passed on my book. Happens all the time, I know, and it won't be my first rejection or the last. After that, I sent a query letter out to several agents and received several form rejection letters. I decided I needed to write a better query letter and really work on polishing up my book. What I really wanted was someone, anyone in the business to give me some advice, feedback anything - good or bad.

There was one agent that had also waited patiently for my book. I knew this agent was swamped, and when I did hear back that they wanted us to work on my book together, clean up some parts, basically improve it, but it had good flow, there were some major hiccups in my life. I got consumed in my day-to-day activities and writing got put on the back burner. After no further communication with this agent and no response to my email, I believed the agent wasn't really interested. WRONG! This agent contacted me, asked what happened and said we need to plan to work together every week on this project.

Now I am super-motivated and it isn't that I didn't believe in myself and/or my writing, but I have to remember to make time for myself and the things I love, reading and writing, even amidst life's turmoil, hence, follow my own advice (if you know me, this will make complete sense to you as you get tired of hearing it from me everyday).