National Writing Day in lockdown

Today is National Writing Day and this year like most things this year it's a bit different. In previous years I've participated in writing workshops and gone to outdoor theatre events.
They say things come in threes and today that was true. Among the emails I received today three were encouraging and all in different ways.
The first related to an Amazon delivery- at last it was on it's way. After ordering a copy of the book some of my poems are included in a few weeks ago I was disappointed when it got lost in transit.

So the email heralding it was finally nearing its destination was warmly received. And a couple of hours later the package arrived. (Deliveries seem to have taken on a special delight over the last few months!)

And it was lovely to open the package to find a book I have contributed to inside. I'm looking forward to reading all the pieces soon.

The second email arrived about an hour later. It was a rejection of a piece of work I had submitted. And while I was disappointed to hear my work wasn't quite what they were looking for  I was touched that the email wasn't just a standard rejection and that the sender had taken the time to provide some constructive feedback on my submission. This is not common practice so it was the best type of rejection to receive.

The third email arrived around another hour later and it was the best one. It was an acceptance of a piece of my work which will be included in an anthology being published later this year. More details to follow.

National Writing Day has been very special in lockdown.

Pitching again...

I'm enjoying  a couple of days off work at the moment. Unfortunately the beautiful weather we had earlier in the week has disappeared to be replaced by cold wind and rain so I'm not out in the garden as much as I might have anticipated. But there's plenty to keep me busy indoors. 

Yesterday's entertainment included experimenting with the new coffee machine. It's amazing how exciting a parcel arriving at your front door has become in recent weeks! Prior to lockdown commencing I knew that one of my most essential items would be coffee. It's my drug and I need it to function. Just the right amount is required each day, of the right variety and blend - too little isn't good and too much is not good either.  The cafetière is not used every day, being kept for weekends and holidays. Usually instant coffee is the staple interspersed with a take away latte (or two) from a city centre café and I'd recognised a few weeks ago that (aside from seeing my family and friends) the one thing I was missing desperately in lockdown was a 'real' latte. 

I also spent quite a bit of time taking part in PitchWars' PitMad event on Twitter and really enjoyed the experience, my second time pitching on Twitter. This event is mostly for the North American market so it started at 8.00 EST (13.00 BST). Again I released my three pitches during the day, sat back and watched to see what might happen. While I was 'sitting back and watching' I was looking at the other pitches and retweeting those I liked - some were from writing friends I know, some from writing acquaintances I've made on social media and some by writers who were new to me. My pitches received a few retweets as I waited to see if an agent or publisher would like them. 

This would be the signal to go the next stage and submit something to them. I was delighted that my pitches received a ❤ from three publishers based in North America (one Canadian and two in USA). 

I've now followed up on a couple of these - and will pursue the third soon too.  And I'll wait and see what happens with them.