Since “hope is on the horizon” for me (as my writing group put it) I’d like to spread the good vibes. Here are some great links and opportunities:

• This one’s a little short notice (sorry!) but the Kenyon Review is running their annual short story contest through Feb 28th. Final judge is Louise Erdrich, and grand prize is publication AND a scholarship to their 2010 writing workshop. I went to the workshop in 2009 and loved it.
• My friend Mary just started a new blog called Out of Texas (“and into the rest of the world!” – hehe, so cute). Unfortunately the shiny fun newness of it is making me want a Tumblr too. Because, you know, I don’t have enough social media outlets. o_O MUST RESIST.
• The fantabulous Kiersten White and Natalie Whipple participated in a round-table with two other writers, and the resulting discussion CHARMED MY PANTS OFF. (Not literally. Or at least not that I’m admitting to.) It also introduced me to Sean Ferrell, a friendly, funny guy whose book Numb sounds awesome.
• Sigriddaughter’s 7th Glass Woman contest is seeking short fiction and creative nonfiction submissions from female writers. I actually know, via WritingForums.com, the woman who won last year. I had even critiqued her piece there! We’re not BFF or anything, but it was totally cool (and a little surreal) to read her piece and realize I already knew it. It also makes the possibility of winning seem more real/attainable, you know?
• And last but definitely not least, Writer Unboxed is looking for an unpublished writer to contribute monthly. WU is a great resource for writers of all genres, and features a rotating panel of authors, from YA writer Kathleen Bolton, to NYTimes Bestseller Allison Winn Scotch, to podcast-to-book deal extraordinaire J.C. Hutchins. Click here for details on how to apply, and yes, I’ll be tossing my hat into the ring.

Okay, now back to my regularly scheduled work/writing/Olympics-watching mayhem. (PS: How awesome was Yu-Na Kim last night?! And Mirai is just adorable. I can’t wait to see the free skate programs tonight.)

WIP update: I’ve written Chapter 1 and have been wrestling Chapter 2 for days. Yesterday I finally got him in a headlock, and today he’s going down for the count! Then it’s on to Chapter 3…

Things that are happening:

1. LOVING Erin Danehy’s young adult steampunk-ish fantasy manuscript. I don’t want to jinx it with any crazy predictions, but it’s good, y’all. Really good. Definitely shelf-worthy, if you catch my drift.
2. Querying, and thus rejection. Yes, I got my first rejection from an agent today. I was disappointed because she seems like a great agent, but I didn’t take it personally or anything. I just turned around and sent 3 more queries out. That makes a total of 10, which I think is a good “resting place” for now.
3. Drinking Airborne. Yesterday my lymph nodes started to feel swollen and uncomfortable, so I think I might be battling a cold or something. No fun.
4. Itching to write! (Note: This is a totally different kind of disease, which I never try to fight.) Last night I took the prologue and first chapter of my young adult supernatural manuscript to my writing group, and they were extremely complimentary and encouraging. It’s such a great feeling, that high you get when you realize that something you’ve written has really pleased people. But! I already put that book aside to work on a different book. And then I put that book aside to work on this new one. And this new one is still in the planning stages! So: I want to write, but it’s not time yet. Boo. Hopefully this weekend I can scratch the itch…

Things that are not happening:

1. Planning the new book. I mean, it was happening, but I hit a snag. Last night as I was falling asleep, I thought of a huge problem with my new world, and I have yet to solve it. Grr.
2. Thinking of good blog ideas. Obviously. I keep wanting to talk about the progress I’m making on my new book, but oh yeah, see #1 above. Sigh. Instead I may post the last of the short pieces that I wrote at the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, since I haven’t managed to place it into any magazines for publication.
3. Your face.

First, thanks to everyone for your wonderful and supportive comments about the stories/scenes I recently posted! I’m so glad I put them out there, even though I was hesitant because they’re so rough. I have a tendency to blog about writing in general, as opposed to my writing specifically, but reading Kiersten and Natalie’s blogs made me realize that I should probably open up a bit. Because it’s fun to share (like secrets at a slumber party!) and your responses are so encouraging.

To that end, I have a confession to make: I’ve started a new book. I’m excited about it, so if you think it sounds stupid, please don’t tell me.

In a nutshell:

A twenty-something couple seeking adventure in order to revive their stale relationship gets more than they bargained for when they are whisked away to a strange and possibly dangerous other world.

Think Alice in Wonderland meets Princess Bride meets Spirited Away meets real life. Or something like that. I’m only 2,200 words in right now, but I’ve hit my word goal every day this week, so I’m feeling pretty good. I’m also going to employ alpha readers on this project, and it’s the first time I’ve ever had alphas (well, besides my thesis adviser Hilary Masters) so I’ll talk more about that next week.

In other news, my friend J—- (I’ll fill her name in later if she gives me permission) has started blogging flash fiction once a week at 52 Tales. J—- is awesome, and a very talented writer! (We met at the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop.) Most of her current tales are about Austen Clark, a California lawyer who ran away to Micronesia for some mysterious reason involving a sawed off shotgun. There’s humor and adventure and even (I’m anticipating) a little romance. It’s like LOST, but without plane wrecks or polar bears or time travel or crazy conspiracies! In other words, not very much like LOST at all, except that it’s set on a cool island and is fabulous. Check it out.

Another friend, Mandy, recently blogged about how everyone’s pressuring her to get a backup plan. See, she recently quit her job to do freelance writing full-time, and apparently a lot of people think she’s going to fall on her @$$. What I love about Mandy is that she’s bold, so her response to those people was a big fat SO WHAT?

I don’t want to make a back up plan. I don’t want it to become THE plan as soon as things get tough and I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I want to struggle (a little). I want there to be times where I realize I need to hunker down and crank out some work if I want to pay my student loan. I want to make myself nauseous from the procrastination I’m doing to myself, and I want there to be days when I’m up until 4am finishing up work because I sat around all day reading blogs.

If I have complete security and comfort, which so many of us see as a level of “achievement,” like we’ve all suddenly reached our goals and can sit and be there and stay there, what am I going to get out of it besides the cash? What’s going to teach me, tempt me, freak me out, or make me squirm in discomfort? I know in the end we all want that feeling, but thinking of the day where I sit back and say “yep, this is it. This is where I’m at and how it’s going to be for the rest of like, ever…” makes me realize how I’m not ready to be there.

See? Bold. And brilliant. And totally going to rock the freelance thing.

Me, on the other hand… I compromised. I quit my job to write, but I got a safety net (a part-time job). Granted, it lets me spend a lot more time writing without making me a charity case, but sometimes I wish I were as fearless as Mandy.

(And sometimes I think I still will be… If 2010 isn’t the year, I think I’m going to have some tough decisions to make.)

So. Snow. We’re supposedly getting a lot of it in Cincinnati today. This is Not Good. Normally it would be Okay, but today I need to fly to Houston for my almost-sister’s wedding. Snow+Roads and Snow+Planes both = Bad, apparently. Bad=Not Good.

Sigh.

In an attempt not to think (i.e., stress) about the snow, I’m going to work on a little story for Natalie’s contest. As much as I love her, I wasn’t sure I was going to participate, until Sonja brought up that I could think of both Natalie and Nathan’s contests as writing exercises and then post them here, like I did for my Kenyon Review workshop pieces. Since “exercises” are much less scary than “contest entries,” that’s what I’m going to do!

First up, my entry to Nathan’s contest:

Dear Diary,

Two minutes never felt so long.

While I sit on the toilet to wait (with the lid down, of course) I can’t help thinking of all the ways my life could be ended by a mere mathematical symbol. In two minutes, I’ll either see a plus or a minus. Suddenly tomorrow’s calculus test doesn’t seem so intimidating…

Read the rest of “Plus or minus” here.

Also, I recently had the honor of guest blogging on the Guide to Literary Agents website. My post “New Adult – What Is It?” went live yesterday, if you care to check that out. And greetings to any new readers who came here via there! New Readers=Fabulous.

One of the things Geeta (my Kenyon Review Writing Workshop instructor) asked us to do was to write down 10 memories by the end of the week. This was to help us let go of reality so we could focus on our fiction. Get it out of our system, you know? Well, I actually only wrote 3 (sorry!) but I was surprised by what came out. I’m not brave enough to post them in full — because they are real, and there are people who might be hurt or offended by what’s in them — but I think I can safely share the first sentences.

1. I remember hiding in the bathroom at my best friend’s house, age 7 or 8, because I had made her upset and knew her father would be mad at me.
2. I remember the first time we fogged up the car windows.
3. I remember bringing the fat girl to the frat party.

These weren’t necessarily the first images or moments that came to mind, but they were the first memories that were full-bodied enough, interesting enough, meaningful enough, for me to want to put into words.

Anyone want to share 3 of their memories? First sentences are good enough for me, but I think you might be pleasantly surprised if you take the time to write them out for yourself. (And no, you don’t have to start with “I remember.” I just found that a helpful jump-start.)