Taylor Harbin, well that cheered me up, to hear I helped you (in however small a way) to get over a block!
indianroads, thanks for the input. It's been a convoluted series of events that has put me where I am in my trying-to-get-published journey. I'm still committed to getting traditionally published. Self-publishing just wouldn't work for me. I don't have the time or temperament to make self-publishing work for me. I wouldn't be able to do my work justice on my own, and I'd frankly rather keep it to myself than see it flounder. Smaller presses are a more likely possibility.
As for writing for myself, I've been doing exactly that for 15 years, while simultaneously pursuing the getting-published thing. I do get a lot of fulfillment out of it--out of the process of writing and creating a presentable product. And I do tell myself that's enough. But in a lot of ways, it's not, or it was enough for a long time, and maybe it still is, but I'm starting to wear thin on telling myself that it is enough. At some point you look at six full length, publishable manuscripts sitting on your hard-drive and think that you don't need more novels under your belt, you need something to happen with the ones you already have before you bother writing any more.
Anyway, that's where I am.
