I decided to post today and realized that I hadn’t posted in months! I’m still researching the book I reported researching in my last post, but in between then and now:
- I attended a great conference hosted by the Association of Jewish Libraries. While there I got super exciting, top-secret news and then was told not to share it. (G-d-willing, I’ll be able to in a few months.)
- I figured out I couldn’t do the necessary research on that YA novel because my kids were home for the summer. I decided to shove the rest of the research off till fall.
- I got a wacky new idea for a Middle Grade novel and started writing it.
- I broke my arm. (Yes, my dominant arm.)
Fun fact: When you break the radial head, you don’t actually get a cast. But it still hurts like heck. (Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com)
- I finished writing that MG novel, largely through voice-to-text and typing help from my husband and eldest son.
- I sent that MG book out to beta testers. (Thank G-d, they liked it, and I got a slew of useful suggestions to improve the book.)
- I got a rejection letter from the one agent who had the full manuscript of my adult-audience novel.
- The kids went back to school.
- I attended a great writing conference in Fallbrook at the library there.
- And now, because I got so many useful tips about my adult novel submission and my MG novel submission, I’m shoving off my YA novel research just a bit more. Hopefully, I’ll get to it in October, because my plan for the moment is to write that book during NaNoWriMo.
What did you get not get done this summer? What happened instead? What are your fall plans? I’d love to hear the answers to these questions!
Rebecca Klempner 
Sorry to hear about your arm!
Done this summer: – finished my non-fiction Doctor Who book;
– failed to find a publisher for said non-fiction book. There are about four specialist SF publishers that publish Doctor Who non-fiction and none of them are interested. I’m looking to submit to other publishers, but I don’t have much hope, so it’s been hard to get around to pitching;
– non-writing: did some CBT that helped my social anxiety a bit.
Autumn plans: the main plans are non-literary: – get through the Yom Tovim with all my ‘issues’;
– have my autism assessment (hopefully);
– find a part-time day job to support myself while writing.
My main writing goals are to work on the novel I just started and to keep submitting the Doctor Who book.
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1) I love all you did over the summer, and think that it might be useful to look at Daniella Levy’s Rejection Survival Guide (an awesome blog for writers) to help you feel more hope about the Doctor Who book’s future. I used to also really cut myself off from the hope, mostly out of fear of what rejection would feel like, but Daniella constantly sets me straight.
2) I love your fall goals, too! Just said a little tefillah for your success at reaching them!
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Didn’t know about the Rejection Survival Guide, thanks. It looks good.
Thanks for the tefillah!
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First of all, I wish you a refuah sh’laima for your broken arm.
This summer, I didn’t complete my YA sequel. Why not? For a few reasons. First, the kids’ camps made busier than during the school year, not less busy. We also had to prepare for our eldest son’s trip to Israel. Time management was a real struggle. The most important reason was because I’ve temporarily taken leave of that novel. A friend approached me with a great idea for a non-fiction collaboration.
So, I’ve devoted time and energy to the non-fiction book instead. It would be nice to go back to the YA book in the future.
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I sometimes feel guilty for that “let’s stop one project before completion and then start working on the next” because it seems a little like “highly distractible” behavior, but sometimes there’s something in the air, or an opportunity comes your way that you’ve gotta snatch, right?
And B”H, the arm is much, much better now.
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