I love submitting.  Get your mind out of the gutter, I'm talking about submitting manuscripts to publishers.  I remember when I first discovered the joy of submitting manuscripts, back in college.  I took a class on magazine writing and as part of the class we had to write and submit articles for publication.  My first try, I sold an article to Texas Highways magazine, and I was hooked.  (Sadly, Texas Highways folded before they published my article!)

Back in the old days, I used to have five to ten manuscripts floating around at any given time.  A trip to the mailbox was filled with trepidation:  Would there be a rejection?  When the phone rang, I was seized with hope.  Would it be a sale?

Then I got an agent, and I gave all that up.  It's one of the drawbacks of having an agent, giving up that power.  Of course, I would still have lots of submissions out.  One of the benefits of having an agent is that they can do multiple submissions without anyone batting an eye.  But they can be slow, and sometimes I felt like I didn't know what was going on.

Now I'm back at the epicenter of Submission Central.  I've sent out two manuscripts this week, and a third will go out tomorrow.  It motivates me to know that when I finish something, I can get it into an editor's hands (or rather, her e-mailbox) in the blink of an eye.

Eventually I'll get another agent.  But not right away.  Agent shopping is a lot of work.  I'm planning to enjoy being captain of my own ship for a while.

This has been a great week for me on Etsy.  I've sold several pieces of jewelry and one notebook-necklace.  If every week were like this, I could start thinking of Etsy as an honest-to-goodness second income.  Let's hope it keeps up!

Have a great weekend,
Kara

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