I’m a native Californian, so the whole thing—the city, the taxis, and the fact that I’ll be pitching to actual editors—is a bit daunting.

Earlier this year, I said I wanted to go big with my writing.  This meant a lot of things—like making and keeping strict writing appointments, setting up a writing space at home, buying a professional printer, and investing in writing activities—so the Pitch and Shop workshop was definitely part of the plan for 2009.

I am way excited too.  I can’t wait to meet all the other writers and to see what an editor thinks of my first Sicily Dunn novel, Hot Lotus.  I depart tomorrow and return next week, so more to come!!

            I’ve found it helps to allow myself to write especially crappy drafts on days I’m not feeling well.  The main thing is getting the words out and making some forward progress.  It’s also funny how my characters tend to have aches and pains when I’m not feeling well myself.  Oy vey.

1. A daily writing practice; and
2. Regular attendance at writers’ conferences.

I’ll go into the above two items in more detail in future posts.  Suffice it to say here that a funny thing happened to me as I worked away at #2.  It was quite apparent, at most conferences I attended, that there was a great divide between the real, famous writers and the struggling students who wanted to become the famous writers. 

The famous writers generously talked about the niceties of craft and discipline.  Some even went into how they got an agent.  But I never heard, probably because we didn’t have enough time, about the daily grind, the million tiny steps it took for these writers to make it.  And as I got more and more enmeshed in matters of research, and building my own personal writing community, and progressing in a way that made sense for me, the idea of this blog started to grow.

Here I’ll talk about my adventures on the way to becoming a published author.  And why should you read this?  Because I’m just like you.  I’m motivated, I’m talented, and I’m resourceful.  But I’m also shy.  I have bad hair days.  And I’ve had more than one workshop group tell me my style is “distant.”  So I have a long way to go.  I’d like to share that journey with you.

I’ve got a lot planned for the next few months as I pursue this dream.  I’ll go to conferences.  I’ll do almost anything in the name of research.  I’ll enter contests and try to get an agent.  In three days I’ll begin my second go-round at the fabulous National Novel Writing Month, which is one of the resources that kickstarted all of this for me.

Come join me, will you?  This is going to be an unforgettable ride.