Dear Internet,

Harlequin announced the short list for their #romanceincludesyou contest and I did not make the cut. Sure, I felt a pang I wasn’t on the shortlist, but I had promised myself when I submitted that the simple act of submitting to a major contest was enough.

And it was. It is.

This does not deter me from submitting to other contests. I believe in my work and my stories, and I’ll find a way to get them out into the world regardless of if I indie publish or attempt to find a traditional publisher.

I’ve been away from Going Crazy for months and I’m anxious to get back. I’ve missed them something awful.

I had the pleasure of checking Love on the Lakefront to a patron the other day. The book is shelved in the New Fiction bay at the library. A patron picked it up and was reading the back when I sidled up to her and pointed to my name and that I was in the anthology. She got very excited and said, “Oh! A real author!” If I could blush, I blushed. I keep checking the bay to see if she brought it back. I just checked Michigan’s statewide interlibrary loan website and the book is not showing up which is not true as my library has a copy! Boo! Hurry up and update MeL!

This past Thursday, I went to the local Shut Up & Write meeting and worked on my novel. I haven’t written shit since the last time I went to SUAW which was back on July 11! What I was grateful for was I was able to crank out another 500 words this past week and end chapter one. I decided to do dual POV so Jamie’s chapter two.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I am heading to an all-day writing retreat here in N. Michigan. I met the host via SUAW (he’s the facilitator for N. Michigan SUAW) and he added me to his mailing list. We start mid-morning and work until mid-afternoon with a one-hour break for lunch. I was going to ditch and do nothing, but I pulled up my droopy panties and I’m going. I’ve got my lunch box pulled out and the ice packs in the freezer. I have a plan! And that plan is to work on my novel. I’m also allocating some time for research. My main female character owned a body shop called Ladies’ Who Wrench and she drives a early 1970s Skylark. Jamie, on the other hand, is rebuilding a 1956 Thunderbird. I choose these two particular cars because they are easy to find the bodies and parts because they are not so many that they lose their appeal.

Mr. Lisa and I talked about how I have three jobs (writing, library, and NGI), I needed to start scheduling my time better. The priority has been NGI > library > writing. With NGI picking up, and my hours at the library shortening, writing needs to start becoming more than a once-a-month thing.

It just has to.

What Ms. Scarlet wrote about recently:

Ms. Scarlet has been busy and has not written a blog post in some time.

Submission update

78 submissions, including 63 rejections, 8 acceptances, 1 withdrawal, and 6 outstanding.

Publication

• Chapbook: commercial breaks: a journey into bipolar mania

• Anthology: anodyne magazine vol. 1 (“you self-medicate with cookies”)

• Anthology: Love on the Lakefront: Romantic Tales from the Great Lakes (“Love in the Time of Cherry Season”)

lisa x