I have been suffering writer’s block.  All kinds of false starts as I attempt to write for my blog.  However, I can defeat it by lowering my standards.  So here goes.

I have no problem with the act of writing itself.  Every day I sit down with my journal and fill it with words.  But when I write for my blog, my creativity is stifled.  So, as a solution I have bound and gagged my internal editor and stuck him in another room.

I have also defined a very limited scope for my blog.  It removes all of the stress over what to say.  This should be so simple.  Each week, I have to do something to get published, or I have to explain my failure to do some thing.  Each week going forward, blogging should now be an act of stating the obvious.

So today, I will bring everyone up to date.  This past summer I went to a writing conference in Tucson.  It was my fourth conference in about seven years.  But it was the first in which I submitted a manuscript to be read by an agent.  The agent gave me some excellent feedback.

First, he told me there was absolutely no chance he would represent me.  He laid out the type of work he is looking for, and I definitely do not fit his niche.  Hearing that was reassuring.  Because I went in with the idea that an agent would tell me some ugly truths I needed to hear.  So this meeting turned out to be very productive.

The agent pointed out that my manuscript was non-fiction.  He said that anyone can get published if they can write fiction well.  But in non-fiction, publishers want credentialed writers.  He suggested that a resume of magazine and journal articles would greatly help my cause.  He also suggested that the first chapter of my manuscript would stand well on its own as a magazine piece.

So my goal this year is to begin publishing articles.  My first goal is to complete a companion piece for an article based on my first chapter. Then, to re-write the original article to support this second piece.  Then, to find a home for these two essays.