Mum has a new friend. Her first ever dog. ‘Trav’ – the travelling dog š
Isn’t he just adorable!
Have a lovable month yourself, dear Reader!
- KRidwyn
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On ‘schooling’
So my two school-aged kids are at the same school again, for the first time since June 2021. It’s Brisbane School of Distance Education, and they’ve completed the first week of Term 4.
And so far, it seems to be going well! Miss15 started last term, so it wasn’t ‘all new’ for her, but my taller-than-me-now Master14 has been at it for a week… and he seems to be tracking okay š
Such a relief. This parenting gig is harder than it first looks… and wow but that pregnancy bit does NOT look comfortable!
I’m always second-guessing myself. Should I “let” Miss18 have a gap semester or a gap year – or just figure it out for herself? Will the benefits of Distance Education outweigh the issues for the other two, or have I just made yet another foolish decision? Will they be able to support Master14 with his autism, more effectively than at a regular school? After all – that’s why I’ve moved him…?
And when on earth does it all get easier?
Still. BSDE schooling *seems* to be going okay, at this moment in time, so here’s hoping that this will continue… Wish me all the best, dear Reader!
Til we meet again š
- KRidwyn
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Grateful beyond measure!
I very rarely drive my husband’s Camry. Something to do with writing off his last one. In my defence, no-one’d ever told me that you don’t keep on driving when in a hailstorm! But it is what it is, so I don’t drive it much.
The other week was an exception though. It was my father-in-law’s birthday lunch, my husband was working for the day, and I needed to transport myself with my three cherubs and my Mum to the party. And so we swapped cars; Ian took the Hilux and I used his Camry.
And of course, that was the cue.
Not really how I expected the trip to go. Praise God for the angels that must have been pushing the car along, to get to the Bruce Highway off-ramp and safe!
Two hours later, we made it to the party.
Note to self: stop driving Ian’s car!
Have an accident-free month yourself, dear Reader š
- KRidwyn
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thoughtful.
As in, full of thoughts.
It seems as though the majority of children these days have ‘coped’ with the separation of their parents. And it appears as though I’m joining their ranks. At the age of 49.
I’m too full of thoughts, it’s difficult to write them all down.
Sorry, dear Reader. I’ll try again next month.
I hope yours is a good one.
- KRidwyn
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and how!
Busy is an understatement!
On the flip side though, there’s this:
Isn’t she a beauty?!
See you next month, dear Reader!
- KRidwyn
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Happy birthday, me!
Today I want to thank some people. I want to thank my brilliant Mum, Rehanah, for bringing me safely into this world 49 years ago, and to my parents for nurturing and guiding me since then.
To Ian, for saying some special words and then staying with me since then, 27 years ago, and also to my amazing three cherubs, as you all make each day a delight.
Thank you to my extended family, all my friends, and my colleagues, as without each and every one of you my life would be the poorer. Thank you all for the amazing human beings you are, and for making the journey Iām making through this life the wonder that it is. I truly appreciate you all!
And hereās to another trip around the Sun for us all 
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Stumbling…
So my querying journey ran headlong into a wall the other week. Iād been sending out query letters and the first several pages of my story for a fortnight or so, happily exploring QueryTracker and garnering rejections but expecting these as par for the courseā¦ when I stumbled across an agency website page which stated word count expectations for a variety of genres.
Blow me down but they were wanting between 35K ā 80K for Middle Grade. The piece Iād poured my blood, sweat and tears into, barely tipped the scales at 27K.
Heart attack! What if the rejections Iād been getting werenāt because the agents didnāt feel like they liked my story enoughā¦ but instead were rejections out of hand due to my paltry word count? Had any of them even read my pages? Was I counting myself out of the running; doing myself and my story a disservice because the word count wasnāt hefty enough?
So I withdrew all active queries, and thought. And thought, and thought some more.
You see, Iād originally intended the story I was querying to be but the first in a 7-part series. And yes, even though I *know* itās not wise, Iād gone blithely ahead and drafted the majority of all seven stories. And all of them were in the 27K ā 33K range.
It had occurred to me within seconds of reading that page, that I could be staring down the barrel of seven rejections, based simply on word count!
After a period of grieving at the thought of my story never reaching an audience, I realised a mental re-adjustment was in order. Then it hit me.
Why did it have to be a 7-part series? What if it were a trilogy instead?
As in, Books 1, 2 and 3 becomes ‘Book 1’.
Books 4 and 5 become the sequel.
Books 6 and 7 then finish the arc as the ultimate title in the series.
Huh! Word count target achieved! So now Iām editing what *was* Book 2, which Iām hoping will become Part 2 in my newly enlarged novel.
Letās see what happens when itās done, huh? And now I’d best go: Iāve QUITE a lot of editing and polishing to do!
See you next month, dear Reader!
- KRidwyn
So… I did it!
Not quite on the 16th, admittedly, but on the 25th. And that was pretty much all because I was directing a production of The Velveteen Rabbit, whose opening night was the 16th. Yeh, I didn’t particularly time that one very well, did I…
Still, the querying started on the 25th, and I’ve averaged 2-3 queries per day since then. So I’m happy with that. Some fairly immediate form rejections, which is sad but par for the course, I know.
And I’m enjoying learning LOTS. Last time I queried (years ago now) it was *way* too early. Now I’m feeling a lot more ready, but I’ve revised my query letter twice, my biography about five times, and I’m not even going to mention the numbers of times I’ve reworded my answers to the ‘target audience’ and ‘similar works’ questions! Hence the spinning hamster wheel. Am I doing this right? Should I be writing this? Or this? Or even… this?
I’m quite liking the Query Manager / Query Tracker side of things though. It’s a very impressive site! And researching agents and agencies is also fun. I’m constantly wondering ‘who will I be lucky enough to end up working with’?
So that’s my “Ceridwyn is now an #amquerying writer” story. It took a while to actually happen, but it’s happening now! Praise God š
And speaking of God, have brilliant Easter weekends, dear Readers!
Yours,
KRidwyn
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Almost there…
Well, this month was D-month! (Is that even a thing? And if not, why not? And can I make it a thing? And who even came up with the āDā for āD-dayā anyway? And Iām really showing how much of an ignoramus I am right now, arenāt I?!)
And back to the story: my plan was to start querying my Middle Grade novel by the middle of March. Am I on track to still make that deadline? Well, yesā¦ but itās a long drawn out āyesā so everyone knows thereās a caveat attached!
So hereās why. Amongst my drama group preparing for our performances next week and Miss 18 finishing her 100 hours on her learners and then getting her license (YAY!!!)… my computer died! And yes, Iām one of those people who says āIāll back up *next* week, which of course never arrives, meaning my last back up was before Christmas, and I have done SOOOOO much editing since then!!!
In fairness to the computer, it *was* ten years old, which Iām told is a very good age. My 13 inch MacBook Air, as light as a (okay, maybe a pelicanās or an albatrossā) feather, and it had never had ANY problems… even after I accidentally dropped it hard enough to dent its corner a couple of years ago; and even though Iāve let it overheat once or thrice.
But the keyboard stopped. The trackpad, screen, everything else was fine. Just no keyboard – and external keyboards (both wired and wireless) also didnāt work.
Hence: I now have a new MacBook Air. And the IT guru was able to restore my old computer using a P-RAM reset (which he did for free) so I was able to save, back up and then transfer my book baby (and all her siblings!) to my new computer. No edits lost!!!
But Scrivener had apparently undergone a new version in the years Iād been writing, so I had to buy the new version. And then my baby (and her siblings) needed updating to the new version, and I need to relearn how to do stuff on this new Scrivener which I already knew how to do on the old version, soā¦ sigh. Itās been a bit of a set-back.
But Iām determined to send my first query letters on the 16th, so I have 10 days left to get my baby ship-shape and looking her best.
Wish me luck, dear Reader! Iāll let you know how it goes come April!
ā KRidwyn
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Off and running…
So howās your 2023 shaping up, dear Reader? Mine has been a whirlwind! Although it feels a tiny bit more relaxed, incrementally a little less hectic, than last year.
Iāve added some āphysical health awarenessā time into my routine this year, and having one child fewer at school has given me a LOT more head-space, for which Iām grateful! And Iāve filled it (but of course) with other thingsā¦ Iāve paid the Term 1 school fees, closed (and opened) a couple of bank accounts, sold then collected some budgies, had a vegetarian best friend stay for a week, processed a lot of books and kept on top of my ordering, and also done some gardening in there – as evidenced by my aching and stiff lower back as I type.
Oh, and add into the the time spent night driving with my eldest; an extra church activity or two, and more writing this year than any other year I can remember to dateā¦ and 2023 is looking good so far!
And the fact I wrote in my last blog post that I’d be querying by mid-March is still front-and-centre of my ‘not just important but urgent’ mental list. Truth be told, it might actually BE the whole list. I’m on track for that still. Kinda…
Speaking of which, I should probably get going now. Thereās editing to do. I’ll leave you with this inspirational new(ish) writing from Veronica Roth, shall I?
See you next time!
- KRidwyn