Picks and Shovels

For those of you who haven't heard, there's a new non-fiction book in the works. Liz and I are using our ghostwriting experience to write: Picks and Shovels - Cashing in on the New Gold Rush in Ghostwriting. Which, BTW is turning out to be a gold rush *laughs in a greedy yet contented fashion*. We are anticipating finishing by April 1, don't know the production schedule yet.

The title for the book came from a friend, NYT Bestselling author, Jodi Thomas. We were at lunch talking about the idea for the ghostwriting book and she said that we were like those people in the California Gold Rush who, instead of wasting their time looking for gold, sold the picks and shovels to the miners....they were the ones that made real money. She's right!! Our ghostwriting helps others achieve their dreams of publication. We provide the tools and then they go out into the world to find their fortune. I just love that.

In other news, I got another assignment from Kiplinger, so I will be reading this weekend. I also received a full manuscript back in the mail that I submitted to someone. At first I thought no, I have no clue, then opened it. It was a manuscript I submitted to an agent in June of 2005!!! So....almost a smooth TWO YEARS later she says that she feels my pacing is too slow for the current market....really....she should know about slow. Good thing I have several sources of moola.

The last session of my critique class is tomorrow. So sad. It went so fast this semester!! Of course, when you are busy everything goes fast. I've been searching this evening for some more markets to submit to. I have a few ideas for one particular magazine and I think I may target it for a while and keep a log of how long it takes to break in, and then how long it takes to move up. So far, in my experience, its has taken less than two months to break into a given market(assuming hard work of course) and less than six to move up(again assuming hard work). So I think I will try a little experiment with a couple of the 'biggies' and see if they skew my average.

When I was desperately searching for my spread sheet from two years back to find the wayward submission *not the least bit bitter here,* I also ran across the spread sheet I started last April after the non-compete ended. Some of you who follow my blog (you poor lonely things) will remember the 'One Thing' list. I started it as a way to force myself to do one thing every day to advance my writing career. Wow...I mean wow!!! Who knew that one thing a day could have brought me so far so fast. I stopped keeping track last fall when I was doing so much every day that I couldn't keep up. Now I do those things almost without thinking, they have become such a natural part of my life. It makes me wonder....hmmm....what if I had done TWO things a day....or FIVE???? I'm almost afraid (yet excited) to think how far along I'd be now.