I know. I know. I haven't blogged in F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Sometimes it's just good to step away and do some hard thinking, ya know?
Regardless, my little hiatus sure didn't stop me from accepting Roni Loren's challenge when she asked me and Tiffany A. White to find her a new Boyfriend of the Week. I love Roni Loren -- her blog posts are helpful, enlightening, and sometimes, even, a tad controversial (when it comes to discussing the value of writer-only blogs, anyway), and on Tuesdays, her Boyfriend of the Week posts are just downright HOT. I've been a fan since BFoW post #1, so I was honored when she asked me to fill in.
To see my pick for this week, go here. I promise you won't regret it.
*Thanks again for the wonderful and encouraging comments on the post below. Writers rock.*
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Keep writing
(If you commented on my last blog post, you might want to read this.)
First off, can I just say how unbelievably thankful I am for the outpouring of encouragement and support I received from you guys last week? I never expected such a pleasant reaction to such blatant honesty. You all made me smile, laugh, and most importantly, you provided me with even more resolve to never give up. I thought about replying to each and every one of your comments, but then I realized I'd end up writing the equivalent of a blog post anyway, so here I am.
(Those of you who are new to the blog and commented, WELCOME! I hope you'll stick around so we can get to know one another better.)
Gosh, I have so many things to say that I better break my thoughts up into numbers.
1. It took me so long (well, an entire week, obviously) to write this post, because I felt I needed to do a little soul-searching before replying properly. Also, and just so you know how important your feedback is to me, each of your comments resonated with me the entire time.
2. With every comment I received, I kept thinking how clever Kristen Lamb was to come up with the Twitter hashtag, #MyWANA (We Are Not Alone), because in my time of need last week, I felt anything but isolated from the rest of you -- my fellow writers. Many of you shared stories of disappointment and failure, and many of you simply said, "Girl, I'm with you. I know exactly how you feel." As writers, we're thwarted by rejections, setbacks, and lessons of the harshest kind -- which is why it's so important for us to connect with one another, so that we can encourage each other to keep going strong, even when going at all seems impossible. I needed that kind of encouragement last week -- from people who understand, from people who've been there multiple times before -- even if I didn't set out to get it. And encouragement, far beyond my expectations, is exactly what I got.
3. Many of you suggested I put the series away for awhile and start on something new -- but I don't know if I can do that. (Not yet, anyway.) By no means am I the kind of writer who can only write one story, but THIS story has my heart right now. And I don't believe writing a story, simply to write something down, is worthwhile if your heart isn't in it. How good can a story like that be? I noticed an article by Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, floating around Twitter yesterday, and in it Kathryn wrote this:
That part of the article really stood out to me in light of the feedback I received last week, because that's exactly how I feel about The Socialite. If Kathryn Stockett didn't quit revising and rewriting The Help after receiving 60 rejection letters, why should I give up after receiving even less letters than she did? I especially appreciated Meredith Jaeger's comment:
4. So, in case you haven't already guessed, I'm not giving up. After a lot of soul-searching (mostly done in the car or on the treadmill) and after reading parts of The Socialite again, I've come to the realization that admitting failure quite so soon would be a nothing more than a cop-out. There's something to be said for a story that's kept me coming back, hungry to write more, for three years and never once bored me to tears. There's something to be said for a story that, even amidst multiple revisions, never shook my faith in this much at least -- that someday I'd finally get it right. After all, what kind of writer gives up on a story she spent three years writing after only four months of querying? Certainly not the kind who knew from the beginning that writing is NOT for the faint of heart.
And so I leave you with this -- a word cloud, compiled from all the wonderful, encouraging words of luck and wisdom you graciously bestowed upon me during my time of need:
Do you see that? That at the top? It says KEEP WRITING. And there in the bottom right corner it says JUST WRITE. Both summarize the basic message behind your comments completely. Because, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if I start something new or continue revising the book I've already written. The most important thing of all is that I keep writing. Period.
And so, my fellow writers, should all of you.
First off, can I just say how unbelievably thankful I am for the outpouring of encouragement and support I received from you guys last week? I never expected such a pleasant reaction to such blatant honesty. You all made me smile, laugh, and most importantly, you provided me with even more resolve to never give up. I thought about replying to each and every one of your comments, but then I realized I'd end up writing the equivalent of a blog post anyway, so here I am.
(Those of you who are new to the blog and commented, WELCOME! I hope you'll stick around so we can get to know one another better.)
Gosh, I have so many things to say that I better break my thoughts up into numbers.
1. It took me so long (well, an entire week, obviously) to write this post, because I felt I needed to do a little soul-searching before replying properly. Also, and just so you know how important your feedback is to me, each of your comments resonated with me the entire time.
2. With every comment I received, I kept thinking how clever Kristen Lamb was to come up with the Twitter hashtag, #MyWANA (We Are Not Alone), because in my time of need last week, I felt anything but isolated from the rest of you -- my fellow writers. Many of you shared stories of disappointment and failure, and many of you simply said, "Girl, I'm with you. I know exactly how you feel." As writers, we're thwarted by rejections, setbacks, and lessons of the harshest kind -- which is why it's so important for us to connect with one another, so that we can encourage each other to keep going strong, even when going at all seems impossible. I needed that kind of encouragement last week -- from people who understand, from people who've been there multiple times before -- even if I didn't set out to get it. And encouragement, far beyond my expectations, is exactly what I got.
3. Many of you suggested I put the series away for awhile and start on something new -- but I don't know if I can do that. (Not yet, anyway.) By no means am I the kind of writer who can only write one story, but THIS story has my heart right now. And I don't believe writing a story, simply to write something down, is worthwhile if your heart isn't in it. How good can a story like that be? I noticed an article by Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, floating around Twitter yesterday, and in it Kathryn wrote this:
"'Maybe the next book will be the one,' a friend said. Next book? I wasn’t about to move on to the next one just because of a few stupid [rejection] letters. I wanted to write this book."
That part of the article really stood out to me in light of the feedback I received last week, because that's exactly how I feel about The Socialite. If Kathryn Stockett didn't quit revising and rewriting The Help after receiving 60 rejection letters, why should I give up after receiving even less letters than she did? I especially appreciated Meredith Jaeger's comment:
"I sense your dilemma with the sequel and I say go back to the original. Some people write five novels in 5 years and the fifth one gets published. Some people spend 5 years perfecting one novel until, yes finally! It gets published."
4. So, in case you haven't already guessed, I'm not giving up. After a lot of soul-searching (mostly done in the car or on the treadmill) and after reading parts of The Socialite again, I've come to the realization that admitting failure quite so soon would be a nothing more than a cop-out. There's something to be said for a story that's kept me coming back, hungry to write more, for three years and never once bored me to tears. There's something to be said for a story that, even amidst multiple revisions, never shook my faith in this much at least -- that someday I'd finally get it right. After all, what kind of writer gives up on a story she spent three years writing after only four months of querying? Certainly not the kind who knew from the beginning that writing is NOT for the faint of heart.
And so I leave you with this -- a word cloud, compiled from all the wonderful, encouraging words of luck and wisdom you graciously bestowed upon me during my time of need:
Do you see that? That at the top? It says KEEP WRITING. And there in the bottom right corner it says JUST WRITE. Both summarize the basic message behind your comments completely. Because, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if I start something new or continue revising the book I've already written. The most important thing of all is that I keep writing. Period.
And so, my fellow writers, should all of you.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
I've been keeping a secret
And it's the most shameful secret a writer could keep. Especially from another writer. Are you ready for it? Are you sure? It's not pretty -- just to warn you.
Here goes:
I haven't written anything in four months.
(I'm hoping most of you have really poor eyesight and aren't able to read the fine print.)
If you're blessed with great vision, on the other hand, you know just how terrible a writer I've been. Just, please, don't hold it against me. It's shameful, I know, but it's something I've been dealing with a lot lately -- the inability to write, even though I'm certain that's exactly what I should be doing.
They say -- who are those they people, anyway? -- after you complete your first book (or any book, really) you should keep on writing. After you've sent out a batch of queries, start writing the next book, they say. It just might be better than the first.
But therein lies my entire problem. I can't write the next book. Because my next book is the sequel to my first.
The Socialite took me a grueling three years to write. They were the longest three years of my life. After I finished, I vowed to query widely and take a much-needed break from writing. Instead, I figured, I'd draw up an outline for book two -- which I'd mostly put together in my head anyway -- and work on getting my act together as far as my blog and Twitter account were concerned. I figured I could meet more writers, read more blogs, and put a dent in my TBR pile, too. I had no idea how long a break I intended on taking, I just wanted to take one, period.
But then something unexpected happened.
I didn't take the time required to write a really good query letter. I mean, in all seriousness, who's to say there's a perfect way to write one, anyway? Still. You'd think someone who labored over her novel for three years would put similar effort into perfecting her query letter, but that just wasn't the case. I'd waited years for that scary moment to arrive, so as soon as I typed The End, I couldn't press that send button soon enough.
Huge, huge mistake.
The rejections started pouring in, and with them, a stream of doubt, too. Maybe this concept isn't as great as I think it is. Maybe, even after three years of working at it, I'm still a newbie at this whole thing, after all. Maybe those three years were wasted. Maybe this book just really sucks -- not that a single agent out there has read the entire thing or anyone's ever said that, but still.
So I improved my query letter, over and over again, then sent out those improved copies with renewed hope. I got a few bites here and there, but nothing spectacular. And nothing spectacular resulted from those bites, either. If anything, my doubt -- both in myself and in my book -- grew.
The ending didn't seem quite right anymore. A few other scenes towards the end weren't sitting well with me all of a sudden, either. And then I started wondering if I'd layered the plot too thick, if the entire concept was a little melodramatic. It felt so unbelievably right for three years. Why wasn't it feeling right anymore? Was it simply the result of multiple rejection letters? No one ever told me anything was wrong with The Socialite. I just couldn't -- I still can't -- shake that horrible, hovering feeling of doubt.
So that's why I haven't written anything in four months. That's why I haven't started on book two. How can I move on if book one still somehow feels incomplete? And more disconcerting than that, why should I even start writing book two if The Socialite seems unlikely -- so far, at least -- to sell itself? Maybe I haven't given it enough time, but fear of failure plagues me nonetheless.
Back in January of this year, I blogged this: "I'll continue writing books two, three and four whether book one gets published or not." But I was a lot more optimistic then. Now I'm not so sure.
I just hope that lingering feeling of doubt flees once I tweak The Socialite a little. Because I hate being stuck in the kind of rut where I don't write at all. And I hate feeling as though I have to keep it a secret from all of you.
Here goes:
I haven't written anything in four months.
(I'm hoping most of you have really poor eyesight and aren't able to read the fine print.)
If you're blessed with great vision, on the other hand, you know just how terrible a writer I've been. Just, please, don't hold it against me. It's shameful, I know, but it's something I've been dealing with a lot lately -- the inability to write, even though I'm certain that's exactly what I should be doing.
They say -- who are those they people, anyway? -- after you complete your first book (or any book, really) you should keep on writing. After you've sent out a batch of queries, start writing the next book, they say. It just might be better than the first.
But therein lies my entire problem. I can't write the next book. Because my next book is the sequel to my first.
The Socialite took me a grueling three years to write. They were the longest three years of my life. After I finished, I vowed to query widely and take a much-needed break from writing. Instead, I figured, I'd draw up an outline for book two -- which I'd mostly put together in my head anyway -- and work on getting my act together as far as my blog and Twitter account were concerned. I figured I could meet more writers, read more blogs, and put a dent in my TBR pile, too. I had no idea how long a break I intended on taking, I just wanted to take one, period.
But then something unexpected happened.
I didn't take the time required to write a really good query letter. I mean, in all seriousness, who's to say there's a perfect way to write one, anyway? Still. You'd think someone who labored over her novel for three years would put similar effort into perfecting her query letter, but that just wasn't the case. I'd waited years for that scary moment to arrive, so as soon as I typed The End, I couldn't press that send button soon enough.
Huge, huge mistake.
The rejections started pouring in, and with them, a stream of doubt, too. Maybe this concept isn't as great as I think it is. Maybe, even after three years of working at it, I'm still a newbie at this whole thing, after all. Maybe those three years were wasted. Maybe this book just really sucks -- not that a single agent out there has read the entire thing or anyone's ever said that, but still.
So I improved my query letter, over and over again, then sent out those improved copies with renewed hope. I got a few bites here and there, but nothing spectacular. And nothing spectacular resulted from those bites, either. If anything, my doubt -- both in myself and in my book -- grew.
The ending didn't seem quite right anymore. A few other scenes towards the end weren't sitting well with me all of a sudden, either. And then I started wondering if I'd layered the plot too thick, if the entire concept was a little melodramatic. It felt so unbelievably right for three years. Why wasn't it feeling right anymore? Was it simply the result of multiple rejection letters? No one ever told me anything was wrong with The Socialite. I just couldn't -- I still can't -- shake that horrible, hovering feeling of doubt.
So that's why I haven't written anything in four months. That's why I haven't started on book two. How can I move on if book one still somehow feels incomplete? And more disconcerting than that, why should I even start writing book two if The Socialite seems unlikely -- so far, at least -- to sell itself? Maybe I haven't given it enough time, but fear of failure plagues me nonetheless.
Back in January of this year, I blogged this: "I'll continue writing books two, three and four whether book one gets published or not." But I was a lot more optimistic then. Now I'm not so sure.
I just hope that lingering feeling of doubt flees once I tweak The Socialite a little. Because I hate being stuck in the kind of rut where I don't write at all. And I hate feeling as though I have to keep it a secret from all of you.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Top tweets of the week
My vacation's over, summer's here, and if I do absolutely nothing else today, I will NOT miss posting my top favorite tweets of the week for the third week in a row. It's a short and sweet list this time around. Here they are:
"About Page Blues: Are You Making Any of These 5 Mistakes on Yours?" @CatsEyeWriter @erinlthomas @elizabethscraig
"Are You A Blogger Buddy Or A Blogger Bum?" @JohnSherry @KaylieNewell
"Resisting the Urge to Give Up When the Going Gets Tough" @JenJDanna @JodyHedlund
"How Many Queries Does It Take [To Land An Agent]" @lkblackburne @AmySueNathan
"T.E.A.M. -- Together Everyone Achieves More" @KristenLambTX
Enjoy! I hope a summery, sunny, and tornado-less weekend is in store for each of you! I'll be back with regularly scheduled writerly posts next week!
"About Page Blues: Are You Making Any of These 5 Mistakes on Yours?" @CatsEyeWriter @erinlthomas @elizabethscraig
"Are You A Blogger Buddy Or A Blogger Bum?" @JohnSherry @KaylieNewell
"Resisting the Urge to Give Up When the Going Gets Tough" @JenJDanna @JodyHedlund
"How Many Queries Does It Take [To Land An Agent]" @lkblackburne @AmySueNathan
"T.E.A.M. -- Together Everyone Achieves More" @KristenLambTX
Enjoy! I hope a summery, sunny, and tornado-less weekend is in store for each of you! I'll be back with regularly scheduled writerly posts next week!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
I'm back!
Did you guys miss me? Because I sure missed all of you! Hi, new followers! *waves frantically* You probably started following this blog, only to be confused by its utter lack of posts. (Sorry for that.)
I've only been gone a week, but I feel as though I've been gone much, MUCH longer than that. Anyone else ever feel like you lose yourself while on vacation? And when you come back, you're sort of renewed? But also less thrilled about your prior commitments and aspirations?
No? Just me? Oh, well. I sometimes feel that way. It takes me awhile to get back into the swing of things after an upset (of any kind) to my little daily routine. Until I consume myself with all things writing again, why don't I show you some of my pictures from Jamaica? (You know you're dying to see them.)
While in sunny paradise, I drank fruity cocktails like this:
And enjoyed delicious coffee drinks (made extra stiff) like this:
With a good book in tow (of course):
And took in many breathtaking sunsets before dinner like this one:
And relished beautiful beach scenes like this one, walking to and from the café:
(That's Hubby, me holding a near empty White Russian, and my friend Amy. She and her hubby accompanied us. Sadly, my iPhone 4 takes much better pictures than the last three, which were taken by your run-of-the-mill digital camera. I was afraid to take my SLR, for fear something horrible would happen to it.)
On the way home, I snapped a picture of one of the Cayman Islands from my airplane window:
Gorgeous, right? And then I got to hold the most precious of newborn baby girls when I arrived home:
My cousin -- her mommy -- is very proud.
(And I adore her. She's the best cuddler EVER.)
I hope you guys had a great week last week! It killed me to skip Top Tweets of the Week two weeks in a row and miss reading so many of my favorite blogs. I have LOTS of catching up to do.
I've only been gone a week, but I feel as though I've been gone much, MUCH longer than that. Anyone else ever feel like you lose yourself while on vacation? And when you come back, you're sort of renewed? But also less thrilled about your prior commitments and aspirations?
No? Just me? Oh, well. I sometimes feel that way. It takes me awhile to get back into the swing of things after an upset (of any kind) to my little daily routine. Until I consume myself with all things writing again, why don't I show you some of my pictures from Jamaica? (You know you're dying to see them.)
While in sunny paradise, I drank fruity cocktails like this:
And enjoyed delicious coffee drinks (made extra stiff) like this:
And relaxed on the beach on days like this:
And took in many breathtaking sunsets before dinner like this one:
And ate freshly sliced pineapple popsicle thingys like this:
And waited until the very last day to pose for pictures like these:
(That's Hubby, me holding a near empty White Russian, and my friend Amy. She and her hubby accompanied us. Sadly, my iPhone 4 takes much better pictures than the last three, which were taken by your run-of-the-mill digital camera. I was afraid to take my SLR, for fear something horrible would happen to it.)
On the way home, I snapped a picture of one of the Cayman Islands from my airplane window:
Gorgeous, right? And then I got to hold the most precious of newborn baby girls when I arrived home:
My cousin -- her mommy -- is very proud.
(And I adore her. She's the best cuddler EVER.)
I hope you guys had a great week last week! It killed me to skip Top Tweets of the Week two weeks in a row and miss reading so many of my favorite blogs. I have LOTS of catching up to do.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Are you sick of me yet?
Two of my favorite writers awarded me yet ANOTHER blog award here recently. Cherie, I think, must really like to spoil me, because this is the second award she's given me so far!
If you haven't already, check out Cherie's blog at Ready. Write. Go.
Equally as generous is fellow writer, Sophie Li, who blogs at The Wordsmith Apprentice.
Each presented me with the very same award:
Great minds think alike, right?
Anyway, I've given out many repeat awards already, so I'm going to break the rules a little bit (okay, a whole lot) by keeping this one all to myself, and telling YOU, my faithful readers, how irresistibly sweet each and every one of you are! Your readership means the world to me. So thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
And thank YOU, Cherie and Sophie, for awarding me such a fabulously sweet award!
Now. Here are just a few more little random facts about me that somehow escaped the other two lists I've made:
1. Last year I worked for a clothing store whose name I shall not broadcast on this blog (for fear I'd be breaking some kind of code or rule or something). The store starts with an A and ends with an E and rhymes with sociology. Anyway, I participated in a couple fashion shows for them, and the one below was, honestly, LOADS of fun.
Yep. That's me, struttin' my stuff in a $200 skirt. They had a good laugh over the second picture. Apparently, I'm a little prissy. And I do, indeed, sashay in a very distinguishable way.
What can I say? I love dressing up.
2. If you'll ever hear me rave about anything, it's this: Nothing gets my blood pumping more than a man in a suit. This is why, as a teenager, my goal in life was to marry a hot lawyer -- for no other reason besides the fact he'd come home to me in a suit everyday. In high school, we had this career day thing during homecoming week and I dressed up as the secretary to my aspiring lawyer boyfriend/frenemy. (Suddenly a LOT about my book is starting to make sense.) Forget firemen, marines, policemen, and vampires. The quickest way to MY heart is through an adequately filled-out suit.
3. I play with my hair. A LOT. I'm talking so much the people who know me well enough slap my hand whenever they see me do it. I do it mostly when I have a lot on my mind or I'm stressed out, but sometimes I just do it for no apparent reason. And when I do? I can't focus on anything. I zone out. I have to put my hair up just to make myself stop -- but when my hair's long (like it is now) even that doesn't help. It's a habit. It's a comfort thing. It's annoying. But, somehow, I know I'll never stop. (Except when I'm in public. Around people I don't know.)
So. Are you sick of me yet? I think you NOW know pretty much everything interesting there is to know about me. Except for my dirtiest secrets. And I'll NEVER tell you those. *winks*
If you haven't already, check out Cherie's blog at Ready. Write. Go.
Equally as generous is fellow writer, Sophie Li, who blogs at The Wordsmith Apprentice.
Each presented me with the very same award:
Great minds think alike, right?
Anyway, I've given out many repeat awards already, so I'm going to break the rules a little bit (okay, a whole lot) by keeping this one all to myself, and telling YOU, my faithful readers, how irresistibly sweet each and every one of you are! Your readership means the world to me. So thank you. From the bottom of my heart.
And thank YOU, Cherie and Sophie, for awarding me such a fabulously sweet award!
Now. Here are just a few more little random facts about me that somehow escaped the other two lists I've made:
1. Last year I worked for a clothing store whose name I shall not broadcast on this blog (for fear I'd be breaking some kind of code or rule or something). The store starts with an A and ends with an E and rhymes with sociology. Anyway, I participated in a couple fashion shows for them, and the one below was, honestly, LOADS of fun.
Yep. That's me, struttin' my stuff in a $200 skirt. They had a good laugh over the second picture. Apparently, I'm a little prissy. And I do, indeed, sashay in a very distinguishable way.
What can I say? I love dressing up.
2. If you'll ever hear me rave about anything, it's this: Nothing gets my blood pumping more than a man in a suit. This is why, as a teenager, my goal in life was to marry a hot lawyer -- for no other reason besides the fact he'd come home to me in a suit everyday. In high school, we had this career day thing during homecoming week and I dressed up as the secretary to my aspiring lawyer boyfriend/frenemy. (Suddenly a LOT about my book is starting to make sense.) Forget firemen, marines, policemen, and vampires. The quickest way to MY heart is through an adequately filled-out suit.
3. I play with my hair. A LOT. I'm talking so much the people who know me well enough slap my hand whenever they see me do it. I do it mostly when I have a lot on my mind or I'm stressed out, but sometimes I just do it for no apparent reason. And when I do? I can't focus on anything. I zone out. I have to put my hair up just to make myself stop -- but when my hair's long (like it is now) even that doesn't help. It's a habit. It's a comfort thing. It's annoying. But, somehow, I know I'll never stop. (Except when I'm in public. Around people I don't know.)
So. Are you sick of me yet? I think you NOW know pretty much everything interesting there is to know about me. Except for my dirtiest secrets. And I'll NEVER tell you those. *winks*
Friday, May 6, 2011
Top tweets of the week
You know the drill. Another great week for great tweets that linked to great blog posts. Here were my top favorites:
"The Hardest Part of Being a Writer" @kristanhoffman @thecreativepen
"CRIT PARTNERS IN CRIME" @TaherehMafi
"Five ways to ruin a good story" @jammer0501 @elizabethscraig
"Band-Aids [To Apply Before Querying]" @sarahlapolla @elizabethscraig
"That Thing You Want to Know...[How Much Money an Author Actually Takes Home After a Book Deal]" @MandyHubbard @BookCountry
"Staying Strong" @DGLM @juliemusil
"Why I Want My Women's Fiction Published by a Traditional Publisher" @AmySueNathan
"On why traditional publishing is about more than a few weeks of chain bookstore distribution" @innaj
Happy reading! Hope you guys have a fabulous weekend! To all you moms out there, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
"The Hardest Part of Being a Writer" @kristanhoffman @thecreativepen
"CRIT PARTNERS IN CRIME" @TaherehMafi
"Five ways to ruin a good story" @jammer0501 @elizabethscraig
"Band-Aids [To Apply Before Querying]" @sarahlapolla @elizabethscraig
"That Thing You Want to Know...[How Much Money an Author Actually Takes Home After a Book Deal]" @MandyHubbard @BookCountry
"Staying Strong" @DGLM @juliemusil
"Why I Want My Women's Fiction Published by a Traditional Publisher" @AmySueNathan
"On why traditional publishing is about more than a few weeks of chain bookstore distribution" @innaj
Happy reading! Hope you guys have a fabulous weekend! To all you moms out there, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)