No Guts, No Glory

No matter how well a book is written, a handful of kids will always hate it. Hunger Games is the closest I've ever come to having most of my kids enjoy reading it. I personally love the Cinder series. I think it's incredibly well-written, especially the second and third books, but many of my kids can't get into them. That doesn't mean they aren't good books.

I recently gave my MS for critique to someone who didn't have the same vision I had for my plot and characters. As a result, the critique totally derailed me. Since then, I've been rethinking (and over-thinking) something I was initially excited to write instead of actually writing.

Likewise, a CP of mine on submission right now just received a R&R from an agent. While most of the suggestions were good, it caused him to temporarily lose sight of everything great and strong about his MS. My CP friend is brilliant. He emailed a best-selling author for advice. The advice Mr. Best-Seller gave was stark, sound, and basically boiled down to this: Just because someone gives you advice about your MS, doesn't mean you have to take it. No matter how good an agent, an author, or a CP is, if they aren't a fit for you and your work it's best to go a different direction. 

These last couple months have shed a new light on an old lesson - one I need to have more faith in: Write the novel you want to read. This April, may you all have the confidence, the ambition and the guts to do just that.

Happy IWSG Alex J. Cavanaugh and friends!

IWSG: So Much to Celebrate

Today, I celebrate another month of IWSG and my Blogoversary. A year ago today, I wrote my first post, "Giving In." I reluctantly started this blog to enter a contest. I ended up gaining more from this blogging thing than I ever expected. Over the next month or two, I'll share my reflections of what I've learned from this past year and what I actually "infiltrated." Those posts require me to be reflective and (hopefully, ideally, not making any promises) profound. After 26 days of the A-Z Challenge, I'm feeling neither. So instead I'll leave you with this:

After a year of blogging and querying, this unagented anybody writer believes that successful publication is not only possible, but it is something I truly believe will happen for me AND for you if you want it badly enough and will work hard for it. Hard is a relative term, I know. It's also different for all of us. I don't know what "working hard" means for you. All I know is this: A year ago, one-day publication seemed like a pipe-dream. Now, it seems like a possibility. You and I just need to get it done. 

Read. Be reflective. Be open to criticism and toss the criticism that isn't right for you. WRITE, WRITE, and WRITE some more - without forgetting to enjoy life as you go. Enjoying life, after all, gives us our inspiration and motivation. 

Enjoy life, write about life, whatever you need to do. Just get it done.

Winter Doldrums

The end of February and the beginning of March is, without a doubt, the absolute worst time of the year. If you have a birthday or anniversary or some other type of fabulous, wonderful celebration during this time of the year, go away  consider yourselves lucky that you have something to look forward to. I don't. So I hate it. And even though I prepare myself for it every year, I can't seem to do anything to get myself out of the pissy-pisserton funk I fall into. During my funk, I'm awful to be around. I'm stressed, anxious, gossipy and above all horribly, horribly, horribly insecure. While I've given up negativity for Lent, I'm cheating right now because we're allowed to be negative and insecure in our group (right?) with the promise to end on something positive. 

Things I'm horribly insecure about:

1. I have not read a book in its entirety since August. August 12 to be exact. Yes, Baby Boy #2 was born on August 14, but that's not an excuse. Not one book since then? That's pathetic.

2. I have not read a manuscript in its entirety since August. AND I'm sitting on two FABULOUS manuscripts by two very talented writers. EVERY SINGLE TIME I pick one up and read 5 more pages or 10 more pages, I love it!! And then I get called away and I don't pick them up for another two weeks and I HATE THAT. (And I'm so, so sorry about it too!)

3. I have not sent a query or written a new manuscript in...a long, long time. Even my current editing is going SLOW. 

4. I have three new shiny ideas that I'm dying to write about and even though I've outlined them and taken pages of notes about my ideas, I haven't started them.

Rant over. Lent back on (because that's the kind of Catholic I am). 

Okay. My two positives. 

1. Earlier this week, we bought a house. We are leaving our fabulous city life behind for the burbs and (I never thought I'd say this about leaving the city) it's exciting. ;)

2. I read a wonderful post last week at Operation Awesome by R.R. Russell that makes me feel okay and even good about having other things going on in life - even if that means writing life is slower than I'd like it to be right now. Need something positive? Check out: Writing Is Not My Life. I hope you all love it as much as I did.

Anyone have any more positives? I'd love to hear them. 

IWSG: Perseverance and Elbow Grease

2012 was a year of possibilities. Even though it marked perhaps the beginning of my path to publication (something I'm still working on), it was a year about family more than writing.

Baby Boy #2, a child I was told I'd never have, was safely delivered in August. Baby Boy #1, my toddler who was born prematurely and has struggled in many ways, found his voice through so much hard work and determination I can't help but be awed by him. On a personal level, as we start 2013, life couldn't be more beautiful.

Even though my priorities were with my family last year (as they should and will always be), I still sent out my first query letter exactly one year ago to date. I received requests and plenty of rejections. I started a blog, made a few friends, found a few invaluable CPs and rewrote my manuscript 648 times taking it from a incredibly naive, amateur first novel and turning it into something I'm excited about. (I was still excited about the draft I queried a year ago....I was just an idiot then...I'm clearly so much older, wiser, and cooler now...clearly)

But perhaps even more significant - over the past year I corresponded with a handful of agents enough to make them seem almost human. A year ago they all felt like little leprechauns - not the cute cartoon versions willing to help guide any lost soul to the end of the rainbow; they were more like evil gold-hoarding kind that were impossible to catch no matter how hard you chased them. Not only did I correspond with them, I actually enjoyed these corresponses. In many cases, they were incredibly helpful. It made me think that maybe, just maybe this publication thing that I am trying to pursue is possible...if not now...then someday.

If nothing else, 2012 and my two boys taught me two very valuable lessons. ANYTHING, yes ANYTHING is possible with a little luck and a whole hell of a lot of perseverance and elbow grease. While I can't imagine anything happening in 2013 to make me more proud and grateful than I feel right now, I'm ready to work my butt off to get to that next level.

May 2013 bring you all just enough luck to make all of your hard work pay off.

My cutie-patooties.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Tomorrow I will have Amy Sonnichsen from The Green Bathtub here for a blogger interview. She's so lovely, you'd never expect the reasoning behind the title of her blog - which I love! Hope to see many of you back then.

So many insecurities, so little time....

Let's start with some positives. Today marks my third month of blogging. In that time, I've...

(1) met some really lovely people whose company I enjoy
(2) found several strong critique partners (and a few more I'm looking forward to exchanging
      work with)
(3) somehow managed to get a few people to follow my blog (thank you fabulous followers!)
(4) had quite a bit of fun
(5) learned more about writing than I ever thought possible

As for the negative in all of that? Why, oh why didn't I do this sooner?

The community and advice around here has been invaluable. My first MS that I started submitting back in January (when I thought it was the best it could be) is totally different now. And more importantly, it's BETTER. That should be a good thing, but by now, I've had a good number of requests from agents, each of whom I'd consider to be a dream super agent to work with. I also just received brilliant feedback from another beta propelling me into yet another revamp of my current MS. I'm very excited about this next revamp...this beta is pretty damn smart. But I'm also shuffling my feet around like Miss Mopey-Moperton over my wasted opportunities for querying and sending out work too soon. Did I think it was too soon at the time? Of course not, but now I just want to hit myself for being naive. If only I wouldn't have been so reluctant to start a blog and join you all sooner...

Now back to the positives - so much nicer to end on that. To all those I've met in the past three months: thank you for the encouragement, thank you for the support, and thank you all for making me BETTER.