A-Z, or How to Fail Epically

At the beginning of the month I committed to doing what got me started off on such a great foot when I did digicon with Savvy Authors last year and earned my first publication contract. Start my own blog. Then I came across the A-Z Blogging Challenge. And boy did I rack up the followers. I thought wow, this is awesome, this is great, I could do this forever. And then it happened. I had a major case of burnout hit right as Fandom Fest hit last year. Around the end of July and didn't recover until around the middle to the end of September.

I tried to push through the burnout this time around February, but failed miserably and ended up sleepwalking through March and April. Thus my epic fail at the second go round. My apologies to the good people at A to Z and to all those who may have been coming by my blog to read my daily entries. I just haven't had any gas in the tank. But today I think I may have found my blogging mojo again, well, at least for the next three to four months lol.

After a couple of setbacks, a publishing house folding just as my book was to drop, and a tepid review of my award winning No Ordinary Love, I have to admit I was burned out. But from October to February I wrote GLADIATOR, SET FIRE TO THE RAIN, and BOUNTY HUNTER. GLADIATOR I've completed content edits on. SET FIRE TO THE RAIN was the book I had to resubmit because of a publishing house folding. Still waiting to hear on that one.

But today was a good day. Today I received word that BOUNTY HUNTER had been accepted for publication by Hydra Publications. That made me feel better as a writer. Not that I'm a best selling author by any stretch these days, but maybe one day right lol?

How to deal with burnout? I also wrote ORACLE which got a revise and resubmit (Book Two in the Gladiator Chronicles). So I had written a lot in that time. Now what? I'm seeking that magical combination of hero and heroine in a storyline which compels me to write, forces me to think about it non stop, and makes me slightly obsessive about the person I see as the hero. And I can feel it just there right beyond my fingertips. Which is the worst feeling but it also means I'm close to a breakthrough.

So what can one do about burnout? Nothing really. Relax, see movies, read books, magazines, hibernate, I have to start a million different stories to find the one that finally sticks. Not fun, but it's my process. In the process other things fall by the wayside. The house cleaning, the blog, the twitter, the FB, I'm on the phone more. I catch up on my soaps. Hey, I love a good melodrama. Anyone for Dark Shadows? I think I hear my Muse calling...