Happy New Year!

So yeah, this is the post where I usually revel in how wonderful the previous year was for me and all the amazing things that happened and how 2011 will be awesome and blah blah blah blah blah.

The truth?

Being a writer is the hardest, most frustrating thing I've ever done, because you just never know what the year will bring. It could bring a whole lot of somethings, or a bunch of nothing. Since 2010 was coming off the debut year, let's just say I fell into the "bunch of nothing" category more often than not.

But do you know what I learned this year? Patience.

Ha! Not really . . . but sort of.

I learned that getting one book on the shelves doesn't necessarily mean that people will be clamoring for the next one.

I learned having a book published is awesome, but not everyone is going to care, or keep caring.

I learned that if I want to make it in this industry I'm going to have to work my tail off.

So in retrospect, 2010 was a "working my tail off" year. I wrote one new ms over the summer that I plan to start revising soon (more like "rewriting"), and I spent months and months and months revising one ms in particular: adding scenes, ripping them out, changing the ending like, five times. And you know what? It still might not be enough. But what I learned throughout this process: I can be better. I can do better. Each time I pushed myself, every time I revised, the ms became stronger.

Patience = not rushing through a project to get it out the door. It means taking time to make sure *everything* is perfect. And then it means going back and making more changes, because "perfect" right now . . . well, let's just say I've read some of my old stories that I thought were perfect at the time, which now I think are . . . um . . . fairly crappy.

That's good, though, because I'm recognizing my flaws, and I'm correcting them.

I'm *forcing myself* to be better.

Because the best thing about a new year is the possibility of "somethings." There's potential. *Anything* can happen.

And you know, at the end of 2011 I might look back and see more "nothings," but it won't be because I didn't kill myself trying. I'll be a little stronger, wiser, and my "perfect" then will be much better than my "perfect" now. Because, you know, life is just one huge Work In Progress.

Happy 2011!

Love,

~Leigh~