Offline Time

I made my first short story submission on Friday, got my first rejection this morning. As nervous as I was about submitting, the rejection didn't bother me at all. I think part of me was expecting it. Now that's out of the way and I can submit to the next market on my list.

I took myself offline yesterday afternoon and got a ton of writing done. I've just about got enough written for a book proposal. I think I'll write the rest of the week so I'll have a better sense of where the story's going, then revise the first 60 or so pages and send to my agent next week. Then I'll write the rest of the book while I'm on a roll because I'm planning to publish it anyway, whether or not the publisher wants it.

Then I'll need to decide what to write next. Probably book 4 in the Fairy Tale series, but I've found myself going back to an idea I had a few years ago for a fantasy "cozy" mystery series. Those tend to do very well for independent publishers because there's usually the ongoing romance plot line that slowly builds from book to book, but then the stories are mostly standalone. I've got a lot of the situation and characters developed and even have a concept for a first book, but I would need to do some work to get it going. I don't know how many series I can sustain at one time. If I were more diligent about writing, I could probably do it because I write fast when I'm actually writing.

Which means more time offline.

It might be cool enough today for patio writing, which is always pretty efficient time because I'm away from just about all distractions.