Wow! I sort of took a dive off the deep end after retiring. I’m having a blast, but somehow, I’m using my brain more and busier than ever. The old cliché is true! How did I ever find time for work?

So, I went to class. My characters (aka pod people seeded in my brain by aliens) talked me into taking on more ambitious goals. And I did. After all, they’ve done me lots of good and deserve to have me at my best; making them shine, bringing them to life.

Starting with orientation last Friday, then commencing Day 1 Sunday, every day since has been packed full of exercises from a workshop I stumbled onto on Facebook (okay the advertisers stuck it in front of my face, but sometimes that’s a good thing), and boy! I’m so glad I did. The value has been phenomenal. If you ever get a chance to catch Getabookdeal101‘s Pitch Perfect Masterclass, 5-Day Query Letter Challenge, grab a spot! It’s only $17! A generous offer by a team who really cares about the struggling writer. It’s packed with insight into the publishing industry, and you get hands on practice building valuable skills.

I’m using a draft of a historical fantasy I have in the works as my practice pitch. I’ve truly learned to “mine for the gold” and pull out the nuggets of my story, as Kathy Ver Eecke likes to say in one way or the other. Quoting Kathy again, “it’s all that and a bag of book deals.” She is super fun, and so is her team.

Even if it takes me a while to get a book to the point I want to pitch it to an agent, the skills and inside industry knowledge will come in handy for so many things. Like book blurbs and story submissions to anthologies and magazines. And I now have a better way to look at my story for those nuggets that are the most desirable to my readers, then craft it even better.

Next on my list is AutoCrit’s Penning Passion romance writing class. Yay! It starts next week and you can still sign up.

I’m also in the middle of Writing Battle‘s micro fiction contest, and AutoCrit‘s annual short story challenge (my story Priss Starwillow & the Wolf made it into the anthology last year, which was super exciting, I must say). If you haven’t checked out AutoCrit as an editing platform option, take a moment to do so. They’ve recently done an overhaul of their community website giving you better access to tools and resources.

Writing Battle just so happens to have also undergone a website design overhaul, so check them out if you’re looking for new and fun ways to challenge your writing.

Yep! Deep end!

“But that’s not all” I finished a short story and it’s off to my readers. I’m getting the feedback I expected, which is that it’s probably a bigger story than the 15,000 word limit I was going for. More on Giving it up for a Vampire soon!

I’m still working on my relaunch goal for this month for my Starlight Chronicles series. What!!! Yep. I’m working hard and this month is going way too fast.

And, I still have two fabulous interviews coming your way on my Creator Spotlight. First one’s up… this Sunday!

So like I mention in my previous musings about my pod people, they won’t let me retire!