2010 round up

It seems to be the time of year for a review of the previous year's ups and downs as a writer. So here's mine.
     2010 was an important year for me - in that it was the year I made that first step towards becoming a professional writer. It's the year I got published. That was the biggy.  My story A Conjunction of Interests  was published in the March 2010 issue of Semaphore,  and then made the cut to be included in the Semaphore Anthology 2010.  So I got to be in a proper book. One which is available to the public to buy, one which they need to use real money for. Now that's what I call being published.
    Other ups of the year include: finishing the first draft of my latest NZ historical romance; getting a "revise and resubmit" response from Carina Press, for which I have just about finished re-editing the first book of a two book series; passing two more papers towards my extramural Massey University Grad Dip Arts in English; making myself get to more of the monthly meetings of the Auckland chapter of RWNZ; joining SpecFicNZ, the new organisation founded by a number of NZ resident spec fic writers, driven by Ripley Patton; and attending the first two monthly Auckland get togethers of that organisation.  The latter were maybe the hardest to do, and also probably the most helpful. I tend to avoid having to meet new people - it's something I find particularly tough to do - but actually talking face to face to other writers in the same genre is hugely helpful.
       Things I need to improve on from 2010:  submit more work. I haven't submitted a story or book to anyone for months. And if you don't submit, you don't get published. That's another thing I have to really push myself to do.  I'm always quite sure that my work is nothing like what they are looking for, and how dare I bother an editor, agent, etc with my amateurish stuff. Plus like most writers, I hate rejections. My ego is quite fragile enough already, without it being added to.  But again, if you really want to be a 'proper' writer, then you have to get your stuff out there. So that's my resolution for 2011. Submit more work.
     And finish editing the two Hathe books so I can submit them again to Carina Press.