Uncle

Growing up as kids I was known as the "stubborn one". That's the label you earn when you don't go along with the crowd or refuse to follow the path of least resistance. To illustrate just how uncompromising I could be, I once had an argument with my mother (which is constantly brought back up at family gatherings) over an exchange of money. She owed me $10 for my allowance...and I owed her $5 dollars for something she had purchased for me. She tried to just give me the net difference...$5...but I insisted that she give me the whole $10 and I would in turn pay her the money I owed her. Of course I knew that if I took the $5 I would end up with what I was owed, but it was the principle that mattered to me.  We argued for over an hour, until she finally relented.

On the playground I was the kid who wouldn't cry "uncle" with my arm twisted behind my back during ritualistic torture games us kids would somehow think amusing. Over time we stopped playing -- not because we grew bored -- but because everyone already knew who would win.

I told you...stubborn.

Today, I'm crying uncle.

NO -- I am not giving up my pursuit of publication. That is not what this is. What I am doing is recognizing that my current situation with my "real job" has made it impossible for me to temporarily keep doing certain things. Things like blogging, social media, participation in my critique group, and the hardest of all -- WRiTE CLUB.

The company I work for is installing a new ERP/EDI system this spring (one that I have been slaving over and continuously traveling for going on three + years), smack dab in the middle of when WRiTE CLUB would be going on. Through the end of May I'm anticipating long nights and single-day weekends, and I just won't have the bandwidth to give my beloved contest. So much of my writing-related activities, which includes WRiTE CLUB, will be on hiatus. I won't even be able to attend the DFW Conference this year. The only thing I will continue to do is send out query letters for my latest book. As slow as this industry moves, even if I land an agent it'll be after May before anything gets traction anyway.

This is not an easy decision for me - because I absolutely hate relinquishing the momentum my writing...and contest...has built, but it is the right decision.

Unless something dramatic happens in the interim, you won't here from me again until this summer.

Keep the fires burning for me!