Tam's January (and such)

Holidays always screw me up, mentally and emotionally, but I survived okay. I made a friend in our local writing group and we've been meeting up every week or so for breakfast or something, which is nice. She's working on her novel's query package and our conversations mostly center around that.

The blues have been bad though. Crippling. A lot is isolation and talking with Susan about her book helps, but...

Honestly, I've been depressed since July. I haven't written any new fiction at all, in part because of the writers group. They meet Saturday (short pieces and full novels) and Wednesday (short pieces only) and I had a few chapters of a women's fiction thing (it's not even violent or gory!) up for critique at the last Wed meeting I attended. Only two - out of ten - people read them: the group organizer and a guy who always wants to pick my brain about getting published (and he had nothing to say except he didn't read that kind of fiction but it seemed pretty good).

This wasn't the first time my stuff's been blown off. Most of the Wed group write life stories or memories of when they were newlyweds or other 'creative non-fiction', so maybe they just don't like fiction, I dunno. I'd always consistently critiqued them. Between life, Bill and Laura's work schedules, the munchkin, and my own depression, writing (let alone attending Wednesday meetings) is often difficult to do, and if no one except Meredith is gonna even read it, what's the point of going?

The Saturday group is better, so that's the only one I go to now, the one time I month that I can, but I'm not writing, therefore I'm not submitting. Everyone else is, but not me.

My agent refused to represent the Lars graphic novel because of its ultra-violent content and Ghoulie's perpetually on hold due to the artist backing out. Between those two walls, I feel like the graphic novel path's been closed to me. I've contacted comic artist groups, a buddy hooked me up with a comic artist who knows lots of other comic artists, and my hairdresser has tried to get her BFF's college-aged, artistic son to contact me about it. I'm even offering to pay cash for story spreads to submit to major comic publishers (most writers want free art for no-money-up-front royalty splits after the sale) with the intent to sell us as a team, in addition to their full royalty split. I just want to see samples of their work and if it'll fit, work out a price for three spreads. No one's expressed interest yet, which is confusing since I'm offering to PAY. I've had several of my Dubric readers read it and they've all loved it. I don't know what else to do to get it out there since comic publishers won't look at scripts without an artist on board.

Sigh. So until I find an artist willing to make sample pages and take my money, everything graphic novel related is stuck.

MORGAN'S RUN has been at its last possible publisher stop since mid May. I really wish they'd make a decision so I can move forward. Somehow. My agent nudges them and they tell her soon, but it's still sitting there, possibly unread.

SPORE has reverted back to me and, with its year and a half as a Samhain title, it sold a whopping 306 copies. I purchased 85 of those for bookfairs and SFF conventions.  One of my Iowa writer buddies wants to release it for me in print, digital, and audio. He and my agent have been dickering out the details. Hopefully something there will be decided soon. There's another SPORE thing in the works I'm not allowed to talk about publicly, but I can talk about it privately. Trying not to get my hopes up.

I was planning on asking for the rights back for the Dubric books so I can get audio going and maybe write a graphic novel (not that I could find an artist, ha ha) and put them out myself or through my local friend, but Bantam decided out of the blue to do a BookBub special on Ghosts. It sold more in 10 days than my entire annual threshold amount. I have to wait two more years for the sales average to drop low enough for me to ask for the rights back. Whee. So THAT'S all on hold.

I guess that's about it. Nothing here's moving except my five year old granddaughter, who moves quite a lot. Laura's home much of tomorrow and I hope I get to sew.

{{hugs}}