Writers and authors who have been working on their craft for long enough know that rejection letters from publishers are normal and expected. In fact, if you don’t get them, then you’re not a real writer, because you’re not submitting, submitting, submitting. But getting rejection after rejection doesn’t make it any easier to take.

Except when the rejection letters start turning into positive rejections.

What do I mean? Well, they’re not the standard “thank you for your submission but we won’t be offering publication of your manuscript at this stage”. Instead, they become more personal, with comments about your work in the letter. And editors only do this when they recognise good writing.

I got one of those today and boy, am I bouncing off the walls. It was from a major publishing company in Australia, which makes it even better. They said that although they could not offer publication, their editors feel that my manuscript has “real promise”, and they hope I won’t be discouraged and will continue to try and get it published.

Whooppee! That was for my junior fiction novel, “Seeing Dogs”. Just yesterday, I was thinking maybe I should abandon any idea of getting it published, maybe it was just not good enough. Now I have renewed energy and enthusiasm to find the right publisher.

The message to all writers is never give up. We hear it all the time, but sometimes we just need reminding. So here’s to a better future for “Seeing Dogs”. May it find a publisher in 2007.

Goal setting is very useful for lots of things because it keeps us focused. I’ve been doing well with my writing goals this last couple of weeks because I don’t get hung up on not always achieving them. When other things turn up, we sometimes have to make changes.

That goes for my sporting side-line too. I’ve been trying to look after my knee so that I can keep running. I took it slowly - which was so hard for me - and did all my stretching and muscle building exercises. But after a lot of soul-searching, I realise that running is probably not for me.

Why? Because my knee starts hurting after only a short period of time of very slow jogging on the treadmill.

So I’ve reviewed my goals and set my sights back on cycling. Funny how opportunities crop up. I met a fellow cyclist on one of my regular rides who has sparked my enthusiasm for a cycling event I hadn’t really considered before, because I wasn’t sure that tandems were allowed to take part. But it seems as though tandems can join in, so the training is on. I’ve got till May to get my fitness up for a 50 km team time trial in York. I’ve never done one before, so it will be very interesting, to say the least.

So don’t worry about resetting goals. That’s part of the plan.

It’s so easy to procrastinate when you’re a writer, to say ‘I’ll do that tomorrow’, or ‘I just don’t feel creative right now’. And the days slip by, and you start to feel that maybe you’re not going to produce anything ever.

Someone who gives me the biggest kick to get moving and write is Marg McAlister with her tip sheets on writing. This week, she sent a great tip sheet about setting writing goals and times. It’s so simple, but sometimes you need someone to point out basic things. Now I have set myself goals - all written down - for each week starting from now, including how much time a day I will spend writing, and what I hope to achieve in the week.

And it’s amazing how much you can get done just by getting organised. This week, I set myself the goal of writing two scenes for my new kids book about the life of a guide dog, finishing a short story for a competition, and researching possible magazine markets. And already, I’ve done one scene for the new book - and I am happy with it! - and put a lot of work into the short story.

My goal now is to keep these goals! I’ve got so many projects to do, and a business to run at the same time!

If you’re feeling stuck and getting nowhere, do what I did. Set yourself goals. Write them down and prioritise them. Then tick them off when you’ve completed them. You’ll feel so much better.

The other challenge I set myself was to find a way of writing about a mundaine subject in an exciting way. That’s such a good writing exercise in itself and a good way to hone your writing skills. Nothing is boring when you’re playing with words and images.   

Self-publishing doesn’t always get much support. Authors seem to get more kudos from having their books in print.

But the beauty of self-publishing for me is:

1. control over the content; and
2. better sales.

An interview with a self-published author of a non-fiction book in Valerie Khoo’s blog demonstrates both of these points. Yes, it takes a lot of nerve, belief in yourself and heaps of marketing and promotion, but once you’ve identified your market, you’re off and running.

That’s why I’m going to self-publish my guide dog story. I want control over the content and I want it to get to the audience who want to read it. I’ll go around schools and tell them about it, do some readings and get feedback. Then there’s the wider internet community who I can tap into.

I think self-publishing will be a growing phenomenon.
  

Ok, I’ve cleared the writing blocks, set out my writing goals, and started on my new creation - a kids book about the life of a guide dog.

This book is going to be fast-paced, funny and enlightening. My idea is to encourage those kids who don’t like reading. And I’m stepping out of my mould and looking to publish this as a downloadable book. And this is really getting out of my comfort zone. For me, it means finding out about pdf creation software that I can use as a blind user. I’ll want some illustrations too, so I’ll need someone to do those for me. All very new, but also exciting.

So Lucy, my guide dog, is at my side adding to my inspiration, and my fingers are flying. I’ll keep you posted. 

In my very short athletic career, I’ve never experienced a sporting injury. I’ve heard about them - well-known cricketers, footballers and other athletes with injuries that keep them out of action for months. But nothing has ever happend to me.

Except for now.

I’ve got a complicated knee injury that has resulted from the way I’m built, the muscles I’m using that I shouldn’t be, and ones I’m not using that I should be. The result? My knee gets very sore when I’m running.

I’m doing the exercises my physio suggests and trying to take it slowly to remedy the problem. But nothing has improved in the last three weeks or so. All I can do is a bit of walking and jogging in short sessions, and I’m discovering my knee can only take very short intervals of slow - and I mean slow - jogging. Now going slow is not me!

So reality has set in. What do I want? Yes, I love running, and I’d love to do marathons. But no, I don’t want to spend months of special exercises and slow recovery to get back to where I was, only perhaps to get injured again. More importantly, I don’t want to compromise my health for an activity I don’t have to do. It isn’t a career; it’s just for fun. I have to remember that my mobility is so important to me. I don’t want to be prevented from getting out and enjoying myself because I have a bad knee. And I’m a guide dog user. If my knee packs it in, that would be the end of that.

So I’m sitting at the edge of a cliff, wondering whether to jump off into the unknown, or retreat to safety. Is it worth it to push it, or should I stick with what I can do without injury and pain, ie cycling?

So there’s no 8km marathon this weekend. Watch this space for more.

Last week in the mail, I got my two copies of ‘Secrets’, the anthology printed by Ginninderra Press of the top ten short stories in their annual short stories for children writing competition.

As my story - Grandad’s Shoes - was my first ever attempt at a short story for kids, it was so exciting to finally see it in print. Then I delved into the other stories and got engrossed in the world I love - fiction, adventure, fantasy and mystery.

It is inspiring to read good writing and interesting stories, and right now it is helping me to get my creative juices back. I’m also reading a couple of great books for kids - Morris Gleitzman’s ‘Boy Overboard’ and Kirsty Murray’s ‘Children of the Wind’. These two are very polished writers and I can’t put their books down. Their characters are believable, the dialogue crisp and appropriate, and there are no unnecessary scenes or descriptive words. What I also love about these authors is their use of metaphors and simillies - they are relevant and related to the story, not out of context or truly bizarre, which is a trap some writers can fall into. They remind me how to write well, which is something all writers need to be reminded of regularly.

‘Secrets’, the anthology, can be ordered through Ginninderra Press. Click here and you will be taken to their site.