Where Am I On the Road to Publishing

My current project, Phoenix Triumphant came about though my participation in National Novel Writing Month. My first time and I managed to get down 53,551, but the draft wasn’t completed until the end of February with a final count of 95,792 words. Yes, I’ve kept track. Perhaps even scarier is the fact I’ve kept track of my editing ours too.

If you’ve clicked on the link you’ll see I’ve posted approximately 42 Protagonize chapters. I call them that because the Protagonize format is best suited for short chapters, so I try to keep their size between one and two pages. Still that’s a lot. I’m actually up to Chapter 57 in my editing, having managed to push past my latest stuck point. I get them now and again.

Finding time to write and edit can be hard. As my little description up there states I’ve got a husband, two kids, a career and other hobbies that need balancing with my writing. The hubby and I have a stay at home ‘date’ night on Friday’s once the kids are in bed. The kids require dinner and supervised bedtime, so I’m never free until 10 pm at the latest every night I’m home. The career keeps me occupied from 9 am till 5/5:30 pm, though thankfully, being mostly desk work, I’m not without my Protagonize (you’ll see this site come up a lot. It’s my writing life line and what keeps me motivated). Lastly, there are my other hobbies. They’ve pretty much take the back seat to writing.

And that’s where I am. Currently my writing is being posted on Protagonize (I’ve got a link to my Protagonize profile over on the side bar). I’ve been doing that for about two years and I’m still surprised to find I have fans. Spook (the scribbler) Of Night and Delorfinde “Miriam” Telcontar being two of my bestest friends from that site.

Introducing Myself

Tonight I thought I was going to manage to slip in some editing on my current story in progress. No such luck. I got thoroughly distracted by creating this blog. So, now that the kids are sleeping and this dishes are done I might as well give you a little introductory post.

My name is Cathryn Leigh.

Well that’s the name I had printed on the tags you can sew into things you make. It really is my given name; first and middle. You see when I had those tags made, back when I was twelve, I was thinking. They came in bundles of 500 and I knew I wasn’t about to make 500 things in which to sew the tags before I got married. I also knew I’d take on my husband’s last name. So, Cathryn Leigh it was because, they would never change though my last name might, and has.

I have other names, which complicates things. Real life friends and family call me Cayla, it’s how my husband almost always introduces me. My coworkers and the parents of my kids’ friends call me Cathryn. And all those cool people I’ve met though the internet call me Elo, or some variation thereof; Elorithryn being my current and favorite.

But, whatever you call me, I’m still me.

I’m the girl who loves to create and will forever dwell in the land of her imagination. Writing is the hobby I spend the most amount of time on, though come October it falls by the wayside for Halloween costumes. In December it’s cooking gingerbread cookies and making cranberry sauce that eat away at my nights. But, whatever hobby I happen to be working on, you can be sure I’m creating something. That’s my passion.

But know this; I will be published one day. Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even next year. But it will happen. And this blog is about me getting there... eventually, and all the detours and sidetracks that happen given that I am a writing, working, mother.

:} Cathryn Leigh