If we were having a coffee, I’d tell you why I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog lately. It’s definitely not because I’ve been sitting here in my pyjama pants, eating chocolate, playing on social media.
Quite the reverse, despite all outward appearances. I’ve been productive. I have been working as a freelance proofreader since the start of March. I’ve always had a few odd jobs editing or blog writing but now I’ve got regular gigs, proofreading and as a virtual assistant.
Are you kidding me? I’m over the moon to be able to work in a writing-related job. From home. And get paid actual money. Not paid in guest posts, promotion or beta reading. Actual money.
Now, this is only ten hours work a week. But it has changed things around here a bit.
I only have a grand total of 25 hours available, while the kids are at school. Taking off the work, that leaves fifteen a week, or 3 hours a day. Let’s take off one a day for walking the dog. And maybe half an hour a day for housework. What are we down to? One and a half hours a day for writing, eating and blogging! I know, I know, I should forget the housework get up earlier.
The kids have coped well with the change. ‘Mummy’s working’ means it’s time to jump on my knee, ask for homework help and/or sing loud songs. (Help)
Something else big has been happening behind the scenes too.
At the start of 2019, I submitted lots of flash fiction stories. This year is going to be my year, I thought, tapping out some little tales. I’ll get my name out there before I finish my novel.
I was rejected nine times before the end of February. Nice rejections, that are thoughtful and hopeful, but still. Rejected.
Then one cool Saturday morning, I got an email from an American publisher. It must be a hoax, I thought. My strange little Linguistics flash fiction piece, that was published in Flash Frontier, was nominated and accepted for the Best Small Fictions 2019 anthology.
This is, without a doubt, the biggest thing to happen to me as a writer! Someone had liked my work enough to send it in. My very first publishing contract arrived, and I had no idea about the legalities. I quickly consulted a friend, who confirmed that yes, it was a good contract. And so I signed on the dotted line.
Then I waited – for over a month – to tell you all. That wasn’t easy! It is so exciting to know that my name will actually appear in print very soon.
So, at the moment, I feel like I can do this. Behind every little success in writing, hides a lot of unnoticed hard work, hand-wringing, awkward self promotion and sleepless nights. But right now, Eleanor Oliphant IS completely fine.
How are things going in your blogging / writing?
I’m so excited for you! That is absolutely huge–the proofreading gig, of course, but especially the publication! Best Small Fictions is so impressive. Well done! My writing life has been the usual ups and downs lately. I learned Sunday that a short story of mine will be published at Barren Magazine, which is cool. And then I got a rejection from an agent who had requested the first 3 chapters of my novel MS. Ah well. Win some… Guess I need to get back on the querying train. I hope you will let us know when Best Small Fictions is in print and we can all go out and buy it! (And keep writing those flash pieces!)
This is SOOOOO exciting! Congratulations! It’s also inspiring to know that it IS possible to make even a little bit of money freelancing AND to get published. Good for you.
Congrats on the short story. I recently attended a writers’ conference and pitched to an agent and she requested my first 3 chapters and a query. While she ended up rejecting it, she told me she enjoyed my writing and suggested I query other agents at the agency so … as positive a rejection as one can hope for??? Good luck with your future querying!
Hi Stacey, that is awesome news! We have to have such tough skins as writers hey. It just feels so _personal_ though!
Thanks!
That means a lot, thank you. I’m going between feeling really great and feeling like an imposter. It is all such a big learning curve! Great work on the story – make sure you send me the link when it’s published. And even getting asked for the first 3 chapters is amazing! I’m sure you will have some luck soon – you are a great writer, from what I’ve read of yours. 🙂🙂