Another Attempted Submission

Well, I’ve just sent an article out for submission and I’m hoping for the best. Someday I’d really like to get into freelancing or any sort of job in fact that allows me to write on a frequent basis (and doesn’t require much lifting) but I often wonder if I have anything in me to write about other than stories and poetry. I know I could easily write about foster care or all my many blessed issues but who really wants to hear about that stuff? Isn’t there enough depression in the world as is? If I want to write about that I’ll do it on my own time so I can help people but I doubt I can make money off of it.

I’m writing articles to put on a site called Constant Content and perhaps make a little cash on the side. The first, and as of yet only, time I submitted an article it was rejected. Apparently my style doesn’t quite fit in their guidelines. The subject I had chosen was somewhere along the lines of spirituality, a topic I care for deeply and consider myself adept at writing about.

Later that night I went through their site and though they have a section for spiritual related writing- it’s thin. What they seem to accept more often than not is technical style writing so I decided to try something different.

It took me a couple of days to figure out that I do know about something that I can write about (that’s useful to the general public). I’ve been running my own community based web site for almost two years now. I started from scratch, self teaching myself HTML, the evilness of Java, PHP, and CSS. Eventually I worked my way up to using programs like Joomla and Drupal. I noticed that articles about web design tend to go fairly well so I’ve tried my hand at it. It was a bit dull to write but slightly satisfying to write about something I know- not the usual for me as I almost always have to do tons of research during my story writing.

I wrote an article on the very basics of HTML. It’s extremely short, not even 500 words and I’m hoping the format (bullet points) holds up during the submission process otherwise it’s going to look like a mass of gobligook.

Wish me luck all. I know it’s not the same as submitting to a magazine. It’s just a place to put articles and hope someone buys them, that’s the real acceptance point. Still, I’d really like them to approve my submission. It just takes me one step closer. I figure if I can get some of my technical writing (that’s what it’s called right?) out there then I might have a better chance with some of my other writing. I can hope, and hey maybe I’ll find a niche I didn’t know I had and learn to write the boring stuff really well.

You never know!

Quoting Quotes

Here- have some quotes I enjoy.

"One cannot truly understand and appreciate the light until they have been submerged in darkness." -Me

"Life’s a journey not a destination." -Aerosmith

"Since we are destined to live out our lives in the prison of our minds, our one duty is to furnish it well." -Peter Ustinov

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." -Michelangelo

"Indeed the pen mightier than the sword, for though the sword can pierce the heart; the pen is all that keeps it beating." -Me

"Even angels have bad days." -Unknown

"Words – so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become, in the hands of one who knows how to combine them!" -Nathaniel Hawthorne

I love quotes and would love to here some of your favorites my fellow bloggers.

I Did The NaNoWriMo!

I did it! I can’t believe I actually did it! And to top it all off I survived. Woo-hoo.

I only heard about the NaNo a day or so before it was about to begin. I had head the phrase NaNoWriMo several dozen times as of late, especially on all the writing sites and blogs I’m prone to visit and finally curiosity got the better of me. I went and checked it out.

When I first got to the site it was slow and I almost lost patience but when the window finally opened I was completely intrigued and instantly consumed by the whole concept of writing without looking back and reaching what seemed like an impossible count of 50,000 words in thirty days. I began writing right at midnight and aside from getting sick a total of three times during the month I tried to write every day. Towards the end I didn’t think I would make it.

Last night I reached 48 thousand some odd by 7 am. I was rushing to catch up because I felt bad for skimping a couple of days. This was my one chance to prove to myself that I could in fact finish something I started and I didn’t want to mess it up. I can let other people down and survive the momentary guilt but if I let myself down then there’s no turning back. I wanted to keep writing and finish it that morning but common sense told me that sleeping three hours a night was a bad idea so I went to bed and started on it again immediately when I woke up.

I was updating my word count every hundred words at this point and praying to every deity I could imagine or name that my computer didn’t suddenly fry (it has happened before in such a moment) or one of the cats would come across and hit the power button. True to my luck my internet almost died while updating my count the last time and I swear I almost cried- but I survived and so did my net.

I have sat in front of my laptop for thirty days attempting to work primarily on one project (something that isn’t easy for me) and one project only. I have slept little and lost my glasses often but I made it. I’m proud of myself. I’ve always been afraid that I wouldn’t be any good at writing merely because I have trouble finishing things. I think I would be crushed if I couldn’t do anything with my writing just because I was overly lazy.

To all my fellow NaNos: It’s not over yet. Even if you don’t finish on the deadline, keep trucking and finish in your own time. That’s all that matters in the end. Get to your goal and keep the cats off the keyboard.