I read somewhere that consistency pays off and it does. I’m so happy to share with you two posts I recently got published, and some news about a new writing gig I’ve landed for a print magazine!

First, I was published on Listverse, a site that lists top 10 list articles that are strange or bizarre. I wrote an article titled 10 Suspicious and Unsettling Staircase Deaths because a few weeks ago I was really obsessed with The Staircase documentary, the one about Michael Peterson getting convicted for killing his wife (who was found at the bottom of a staircase). I decided to research 9 other suspicious staircase deaths and throw it all together in an article for Listverse and voila! They accepted it, and I was $100 richer.

That’s right, they’ll give you $100 if they accept your article (I’m lookin’ at you, writers!)

I was also asked to be a contributor for a website entitled Self Love Beauty, so I’ll be writing articles for them once a month. My first article was published there a little over a week ago, and it was called Dealing With Difficult People: 8 Things to Remember.

I rather like that post. I’d been saving it up for awhile, and I’m glad I got to finally show it to the public.

And finally, the last bit of news I wanted to share with you was that I finally got a ‘call-back’ for a magazine gig I applied for a few days ago. It’s a new magazine launching in the fall, and I’m currently working with the founder to determine my first few articles. I’m so excited because I’ve never been published in print before! If you don’t count the small book my diary entries were published in a few months back. I can’t wait to share everything with you once it’s published! I might order a zillion copies.

So it’s been an exciting couple of weeks in Monique’s writing world. I’ve learned that when you send pitch after pitch after pitch, someone finally sits up and takes notice. I was starting to really lose hope after 2 straight weeks of sending pitches and not getting anything in return. Not a ‘sorry, not good enough’ or a ‘the position has been filled’. Nothing! So I started thinking maybe I needed to tweak the emails I was sending out, and that maybe I needed to take a break and re-configure a few things. But seriously, consistency is the key. And patience. Because now I’ve got a few more recent gigs under my belt to share, so I can hopefully score a few more!

All that being said, I’m also now hoping to get a few guest posts here on the blog. I’m super busy lately and going to Hawaii for a whole week next week, so I want to keep the blog going while I focus on a few other things. Any interest?

If you’d like to submit a guest post for A Novel Quest, here are a few things I’m looking for:

– 500-1000 words

– spiritual or non-spiritual experiences that have changed your life for the better

– writing or blogging hacks

– resources or recommendations for living a positive, more fulfilling life

Pretty basic. Anything that makes people feel better will be considered! Feel free to email me either an idea/title, or a full post via Google Docs at monique.muro@gmail.com. Don’t worry about a picture for the post, as I like to hand-pick all of the pictures for the blog, but do send a bio, a picture of you, and links to your Twitter/blog if you’ve got ’em! I look forward to hearing from anyone who is interested

Aside from going to Hawaii to basque in beautiful sunshine and clear blue water for a few days next week, I’m also looking to morph my blog and writing website together over the next few weeks. I found a beautiful template online that I think is perfect for it, so I’m excited to get it underway. It’s going to be a bit of a project, but I think I can get it done. I have a writing website at moniquemuro.com, but I’d like to have these blog posts connect to that site, and re-vamp that site altogether. I have to make a list with a zillion things on it, but it’s a mini project I’m excited about.

You’ll hear from me one more time this week before I saddle up and leave this Saturday, but other than that, I look forward to stalking Wayne Dyer and telling you all about it when I return! Talk to you soon!

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Monique Muro

Monique is an exceedingly happy human from LA. She runs the blog A Novel Quest, and writes. A lot.

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