I'm in my third day of the Colorado Christian Writers Conference and my head is spinning. On Wednesday I knew I had my novel to pitch and was prepared to pitch it to two agents and two publishers. On Thursday I discovered I was only scheduled to meet with agent Terry Burns with the Hartline Agency.

A bit disappointed, but accepting this must be God's will, I relaxed a bit and prepared to learn anything and everything I could to improve my craft.

Thursday afternoon I learned if I ever want to retire and earn a living as a writer I have to direct my writing in areas other than just novels. (Funny! This is the same thing my mentor with the Christian Writers Guild has been telling me for months.)

If I want to retire and earn a decent income as a writer I need to:
1. Write articles and actually submit them for publication.
2. Write devotionals and submit them for publication.
3. Write short stories and submit them ...

And, Oh yes! I can even pursue the possibility of screen writing.

The good news is Terry wants a proposal for The Divine and I promised to have it to him within the next two weeks.

The bad news is that I'm only on Chapter 1 with my rewrites and need to get through the rest of the book a.s.a.p so I have a completed manuscript ready just in case Terry finds a publisher who wants to buy the book.

Oh, yeah, and I've learned I should be reading at least one nonfiction book a month relating to the craft of writing and read as many novels as I can get my hands on that are written in the genre of my desired area of fiction. That would be a bit easier to narrow down if I could decide if The Divine is going to be a trilogy of romantic suspense or a one shot deal.

I've been researching for a historical novel set in 1894 in Cripple Creek Colorado, so that means reading historical fiction set in the 19the century in the southwest. And, of course, there is always the forensic anthropology interest that seems to nag at me constantly and I just love reading about gruesome murders and how they did it. I'm not all that certain of how well I could write such suspense, but I sure love reading it.

It is 4:00 on Friday afternoon and at 5:00 I will be in a class learning about agents, contracts and how to get a six figure advance on a new novel. (LOL)

All kidding aside, my continuing class Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams taught by Terry Whalen has been incredibly informative, and I cant' wait to see what he has next.