I’ve mentioned before that my grandmother, Bernadette Rajotte, was also an author.

She wrote many short stories, a number of them appearing in various Canadian school textbooks and children’s magazines, and I recently found a used copy of one of the books online.

Just seeing the cover was like stepping back in time. I remember the illustrations of her story (The Moonlight Dance of the Whooping Cranes) so vividly that it was such a treat to open the book and see her story after all these years.

While I obviously write in a very different style and on very different subject matter than my Grandma, I know that I adopted my love of writing from her, so getting this book and adding it to my collection has me over the moon.

It also has me inspired to get going on the 2nd month of Write1Sub1. It is no surprise that I am way…waaaaay behind on my self-imposed schedule of ALL THE STORIES but as long as I am actually actively writing, I can’t complain or feel guilty about it. All I can do is vow to do better.

So I moved a few of my (lesser anticipated) stories to the backburner and have shuffled my ideas around to make it more manageable.

Okay, so there are still 17 shorts, 2 novels in each of 2 novel-series, 2 novellas and 2 experimental projects that I want to tackle…

So, I’m not sure if I made anything better. But it was fun moving things around on the bulletin board. That counts, right?

I sent this same story out five times in 2011 but it didn’t find a home, so I put on the back burner until the new year when I could find a market that I felt it would suit.

During another bout of insomnia the other night, I trolled Duotrope to find it a new home.

I polished up the formatting, dashed off a quick cover letter, and sent it off. Unfortunately, later that afternoon I received a nice rejection with some feedback on the piece (there is such a thing as a nice rejection letter!).

No matter how many stories I send out, I still get that twinge of anxiety before hitting the send button. The same with rejections — each one still smarts a little but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop sending them out.

If anything, you need to look at each rejection as a failed relationship, and take away something that can improve your writing or at least give you some insight into what went wrong.

So, I’m still on the fence as to whether I’ll rework it again before sending it out (it had been edited a few times during those five rejections), or whether I’ll try another market first.

Now, on to the WIPs.

I’m the first to admit that I haven’t done as much writing in the new year as it would’ve like to. Considering my epic list of stories that I want to tackle in 2012, I had hoped that I would’ve made more progress already but I’m allowing my old insecurities get in the way of this one story I’m working on.

So decided to go back to it on my old habits, which is switching off all distractions while trying to write the first draft. This means using Leechblock, and maybe even going back to handwriting the first draft because stories seem to come more organically to me when I do it that way and the last thing I want to do is sit at the computer all day, produce nothing, get dejected and give up without getting any words down.

So there you have it. Down but not out. A minor blip on the radar. Moving onward and upward from here.

Fellow WIP Wednesday posse:

• Aaron Polson: WIP Wednesday: Escape from the Planet of the Rewrites
• Barry Napier: Sore Fingers, Tired Writer
• Katey Hawthorne – WIP Wednesday

If you’re a writer participating in WIP Wednesday, post a link to your blog in the comments! More info on the WIP Wednesday initiative can be found at Kate Karyus Quinn’s blog.

Each card represents either a short story or novel/novella that I want to work on. But know what?

There’s a 2nd corkboard.

The other one has a few ideas I am interested in tackling but not sure what I am going to do with them yet. Plus some super-sneaky plans that I so want to do but just need to figure out the logistics of. (So exciting!)

I’ve loosely scheduled which stories I will be working on when. Somehow, I need to finish my NaNo project, edit it, and decide what I am doing with my 2 other unfinished NaNo-vels, while at the same time trying to write and sub the 23-odd stories I selected from my Idea File.

Like I said….loosely scheduled. Who knows how the words will flow. Or how my creativity will show itself. Or whether inspiration will strike when I need it to. But with this schedule, at least I know what I should be doing when I’m sitting at my writing desk.

Note that these plans do not take into account all the books I want to read & review, all the interviews I want to do, and all the articles I should write.

I know there will be some push & pull (probably daily) as I try to make it all fit in somewhere. But even though this looks maddeningly overwhelming, I am really looking forward to starting a new writing year.

Uh…that’s next week, right?

But it was fantastic meeting so many new people and seeing so many new visitors on my sites!

I hope you’ll all stick around to follow my adventures in 2012, when I am going to try to break my personal best and write up a storm.

But for now, enjoy the rest of your holiday…And check to see if you are one of the winners of my giveaways!

FIRST – the winner of the coveted Like Flies to Honey prize pack in my Holiday Hop contest!

Congratulations….

HEATHER COX!

You’ve won the issue of Shroud 8, various and sundry bee-themed paper goodies and MaryRajotte.com mini bookmarks. I’ll be in touch in the coming days to get your contact information. Your name will also go into the hat to win a Kindle Fire from the main Holiday Hop site. GOOD LUCK!

SECOND – the winner of the 12 Days of Creepfest Contest…

Congratulations…

SHANE DEMONE

You have won the opportunity to completely customize a character who will appear in one of my upcoming stories!

In the coming weeks (probably after Jan. 1), I will send you a character profile to fill out, and then I will take your creation and write him or her into one of my stories. I’m probably as excited about this giveaway as you are!

If you didn’t win, why not head over to Bloody Bookish to see if you won in the other 12 Days of Creepfest contest.

Otherwise, thanks for entering, for all your comments, and for taking an interest in me (or at least in my swag!).