So much has happened since my last post. Every time I wanted to write, something stopped me. My poor old horse was wrongly diagnosed by the vet and came within days of being put down - thankfully he's alive and kicking now, I injured my neck and had to take weeks off work and just recently one of my lovely hens died. To add to that I had terrible problems with Blogger not allowing me to comment on my own or anyone else's post. That is fixed now. It really was a pain as I like to reply and make comments when fellow bloggers have made the effort to say something.
I have tried during these times to get some writing done but I admit some of these things have felt like major hurdles. I just can't get motivated if I am feeling upset. I know most writers say it's important to write every day no matter what but I have to feel inspired to sit down and get any writing done.
Despite this, I have sent out a lot of work. My novel is with a few agents and I have sent my non-fiction idea plus a children's story to several publishers.
In the meantime I am also working through a freelance Journalism course which I am really enjoying. I signed up because I wanted to branch out into writing about other subjects than chickens and this course is certainly stretching me. I had to come up with a celebrity round-up idea for my last assignment and although I don't hold much hope of getting to interview any of the celebrities I selected, it was a good experience to complete the tutorial exercise.
My tutor has also made me feel a lot better in that she thinks it is good to specialise in some areas. I know most of my success has come from writing chicken related articles and for a while I felt a failure in not tackling other things but now I am striking a happy balance and pitching ideas to Poultry magazines as well as other areas of interest.
So far since starting the course I have pitched ideas for another three articles ( I admit one is about chickens!) The other two are completely different subjects one of which is looking hopeful and the other two pending. I was even asked by one editor how much I expected in payment. This was difficult as I did not want to show my in-experience by asking too little or too much. Fingers crossed she may feel I made a reasonable offer.
I really feel like I have re-charged my energy levels and feel motivated to get cracking on some new ideas as well as my existing projects. For now the road is clear and I intend to look far ahead and see what happens.
