Did you accomplish everything you wanted to this summer? We technically have a few weeks until the end of the season, but as August closes, many of us come to the end of a significant chunk of time we spend reading, writing, and relaxing with our families.
This summer was incredible for me for several reasons–the top being that I attended my first RWA Conference! I finaled in my first writing contest: the Orange Rose Contest for Unpublished Writers with my YA time slip romance, STARCHILD. I took road trips, caught up with family, and read, read, read.
I also completed another manuscript and began revising it with my critique group. The new baby’s working title is BENEATH US. This YA paranormal is as strange as anything else I’ve written (no vampires, werewolves, or “normal” paranormal here), but I’m going to hold off on specific details for now. I used Scrivener to reverse engineer BENEATH US, strengthen, and rewrite it. I’m feeling very good about it now. 🙂
During the conference, I connected with new writers, have been communicating with some of them online, and have been checking out their social media. I learned from YA and adult romance author Marty Mayberry about Pitch Wars which I plan on participating in during their next run. She’s a Pitch Wars mentor and it seems like an incredible program! Contemporary romance author Aly Grady clued me in about Pitch Madness which begins on September 10th. This is a twitter pitch session which lasts the entire day. I’m getting my 140 character pitches ready for that now. So excited!
How about you? How did your summer go? What are you up to now?
Michelle Joyce Bond
michellejoycebond.com 
Congrats on the manuscript! That’s wonderful. I haven’t made as much headway in the second draft of my WIP as I wanted to this summer, but I’m in the process of getting ready for my second book’s release in the fall, so that steals some time away from the current WIP. But I’m heading to Scrivener right now to work on it! Let’s hope I don’t get distracted…
That new book is Eating Bull, right? I just looked up the summary. Sounds like a cool thriller!
Yes, thank you. My publisher is doing the copy edit now. We’re anticipating an early November release. Better get my bookmarks ordered…
Good luck!!
Thanks!
I’m up to the third word in a new poem…but hanging in. 🙂
You’re really prolific. 🙂
Time just flies by during the summer. You seemed to have had a productive one. I wish I gotten more done.
I feel like I accomplished a lot of different/new things this summer, but there are summers where I’m completely focused on one task (drafting or revising usually), and even though I wrote X amount of words, it doesn’t feel like I got as much done. Sometimes though, it’s important just to take time for yourself. 🙂
Mhm. Relaxation is necessary. The summer is a nice time to recharge, especially since school saps so much energy out of me. I’m just sad that it’s almost over.