New Look!

So after a couple days with the bookcase background, I decided I really like it!  So it's staying.  I tweaked the layout a bit and some of the font colors, but I think I'm satisfied with the new look.  The book theme is very fitting.  And I even updated my blog description.  Maybe I'll do some jello-inspired posts some time.  I'll have to tie back in to my writing, of course.  As Elana so wisely tells us, our blog posts should be relevant!  I'm following her posts about building a better blog, so hopefully you'll be seeing more frequent, more interesting posts from me this year!

Stay tuned....  Next week we'll have another Aspiring Author Profile, this time from Maxwell Cynn.  Who's that, you ask?  You'll find out.  Although if you do a little (very easy) sleuthing around my blog, you may find recognize the name!

Please Pardon Our Appearance

.... I got all excited about the new Template Creator and accidentally applied a new template.  Now I have to figure out where my old template is.  Or create a brand spanking, totally awesome, very cool new one.  Which will take lots of trial and error.  So you may see various colors, pictures, layouts and designs until I find just the right one.  :-)

Divine Dirt Quarterly 2.1

The second issue of DDQ is live!  And yours truly (that's me!) has a poem there.  Click here to read Unsuspecting Bodies.  Thanks to Kate Dixon, poetry editor, for finding me worthy.

Quick shout out to Finnegan Flawnt, whose short story Taciturn is also in this issue, and whom I've read over at Fictionaut.  And who undoubtedly has the coolest name ever.

I haven't had a chance to read the rest of the issue, so I don't have any favorites to share with you just yet.

Focus

Bye-bye, Authonomy.  I'll be taking down my books and deleting my Authonomy account.  It's getting a bit ridiculous over there.  Maybe after a bit, it will settle down again and regain some semblance of order, but I can't wait around for that.  I keep getting distracted by all the petty arguments - some shocking, some hilarious - in the forums, the begging for backings, the spam messages.  I did meet some awesome people there, and got some good feedback, but I think it's run its course for me.  I have to focus on other things.  My life, for instance haha.  And writing.  Editing.  Submitting.

So my last sort of cryptic post was about me looking for a new job.  I was thisclose, but the job fell through.  I'm looking to cut back to a part time job to make more time for writing.  I had something lined up, a part time assistant manager position, but then the store manager stepped down a week after interviewing me and took the position herself.  Go figure.  So I'm still looking.  Meanwhile, I'm still doing the 40 hour a week gig and trying to fit in the writing stuff around that.

I had my first short story published in Divine Dirt Quarterly a few months ago, and I have a poem forthcoming with them.  I also finished an erotic short story that I'll be submitting this weekend to Oysters&Chocolate for their print anthology.  Keep your fingers crossed for me on that one.  I also have another short story I want to polish and find the right venue for, plus a couple ideas for more erotic short stories.  Hopefully I can acquire some more publishing credits to put in my query letters, once I start querying again.  Sorry's Not Enough is simmering on the back burner, awaiting some major revisions.  I want to up the pace on Confessions of a Non-Believer and get that finished and out to agents.  Then I can delve right into my erotica series.

It's time to focus.  Quitting Authonomy cold-turkey is the first of many steps to do that.