Friday Focus: Your writing must have you

"There's one thing your writing must have to be any good at all. It must have you. Your soul, your self, your heart, your guts, your voice -- you must be on that page. In the end, you can't make the magic happen for your reader. You can only allow the miracle of 'being one with' to take place. So dare to be yourself. Dare to reveal yourself. Be honest, be open, be true... If you are, everything else will fall into place." ~ Elizabeth Ayres

Happy Friday, everyone! =)

Heavenly Blessings

I was going to post a query analogy today, but that will have to wait until next week. Today, I'm posting a few things I'm thankful for. But first, a quote...

"The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" ~Henry Ward Beecher

A few things I'm thankful for:

I am thankful for the way Lovemuffin goes out of his way to make my life easier on a daily basis, thankful that no matter how much I correct him or forget to do the dishes, he still loves me. Thankful for no matter how terrible I look or insane my hair is or how dark the mascara rings under my eyes are when I wake up, he still tells me that I'm beautiful.

I am thankful for the friends who are there to listen to me, who let me ramble on and on about this writerly journey that has to bore them at (most) times, and yet, they keep listening -- who know they can trust me to keep their secrets, and know that I trust them enough to keep mine.

I am thankful for the way my oldest daughter laughs silently when she laughs really hard, who gets my personality and doesn't get embarrassed by me very often, whose usual response is a shake of the head and a "You're weird, Mom."

I am thankful for the way my middle daughter can be utterly frustrated and furious and yell and stalk off to her room, slamming her door and screaming about the unfairness of it all, only to come out minutes later crying and saying she's sorry for making me sad.

I am thankful that my youngest daughter forgives me every time I put her wallet in a new place, to be lost for weeks on end until I happen to come across it again -- for her OCD tendencies, because even though it drives me batty I can't imagine how much messier the house would be without her constantly picking it up.

I am thankful for the view of the sunset right above our back fence every evening -- for having the best seat ever to watch the glowing leaves, the pinks and oranges spread across the sky as the sun melts into the horizon.

I am thankful for books, for words, for creativity -- for people who didn't give up and pursued their dreams to get their stories out there on paper in order to entertain little ol' me.

I am thankful for music, for the lyrics that make me happy, sad, hopeful, energetic. Thankful that if words ever leave me and I'm not sure what to say, I can find a song that explains it perfectly.

I am thankful for the writing community, the huge group of people who not only strive to get their own work to publication, but who also strive to help others reach that goal as well.

I am thankful for a roof over my head, a car that runs, flannel sheets, coffee, clothes to keep me warm, food in my pantry.

I am thankful for hand sanitizer.

I am thankful for cameras -- for photographs of captured milestones, silly moments, the people you love.

I am thankful for trees orange as flames lining the neighborhood yards, for the crisp, cool air that hits my face and makes my head hurt -- because if I can feel it, I'm still breathing.

and finally...

I am thankful that I can see, that I can hear, that I can remember. Thankful that though there are many wonderful people who won't be physically here on Thanksgiving Day, they'll be with me forever in my heart, in my memories.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! =)

The Sky is Falling

There's been some talk on the internet lately about the way the industry is going -- what publishers are looking for at the moment, and what's been overdone.

I read both articles (first this one -- scroll down to the Nov. 8th post -- then this) and my first thought was, Well, sh*t. (To be honest, I actually began to panic before I'd even read the second post.)

The main discussion in the first link was about contemporary YA, but she also said this: "It’s telling me I’ve got to be wary of paranormal. And that there are lots of stories around about teen girls with ‘an altered state of consciousness’ (ie, who transport somewhere else, switch places with someone, live an alternate life)."

But but... that's what I'm querying right now! Dreams! Fantasy! Not paranormal, but still... I mean... what? How was I supposed to know other people were writing the same thing, that the agents were feeling inundated with that sort of work? (Well I did know, because not too long ago I queried an agent who immediately tweeted that it was being done too much. But at that point, FLORA was done, so I was kind of stuck.)

I sat there, outside, in my chair holding Henry, shivering, and thinking, "Now what? What do I do? What do I write? How in the world am I going to come up with something entirely different?"

But you know, this sort of thing happens all the time. One person says things are in, another says they're not. The industry is entirely subjective. It depends on who you know, what you're writing, how you're writing it, and if your voice stands out. (At least, that's what I'm telling myself right now.)

I spent a better half of the day yesterday trying to change my new WiP into something that it wasn't. Into something more daring, more "high concept" than it really was. And for what? To make sure I covered the bases for something that will most likely change in a few short months? Way before I even finish this thing, that came two me a mere few days ago?

Then I remembered this post I read the other day - at the Getting Past the Gatekeeper blog. And it made me feel better. It made me remember that we have to do what we do, the way we feel like doing it. (Further proof of that is the ever-popular author Ellen Hopkin's response in the comments section on the Kidlit blog.)

Sure, FLORA may not go anywhere. Do I want that? Heck no. But if it doesn't, I'll keep writing, finish up this new WiP, and then I'll have yet another novel under my belt. Another piece of work I'll mention when querying -- that may or may not spark interest. But at least I'll be able to mention it, if they don't like the current piece of work. And who knows, by then it may be something agents are looking for again. At least, that's my hope.

We have to get to a point in this writerly journey where we're comfortable with who we are, comfortable with what we write. Because if every single article we read spurred immediate panic, and we all rushed around saying "Did you hear? Did you hear?" there's a whole lot of awesome work out there that would never go anywhere.

This is your brain...

This is your brain...

This is your brain during the query process.

That is all.

Friday Focus: Follow your inspirations

"Far away in the sunshine are my highest inspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they may lead." ~Lousia May Alcott

Talk about an inspiring point of view!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Slumpy Snuffalupakins

So the past few days I haven't been me, or Snip. I've been Slumpy.

I'm not IN a slump necessarily, but this longline thing has me ready to poke my eyes out. Or cut off my fingers. (There will NOT be any removal of hair.) Between that and working on the ol' query thanks to Elana Johnson, who critiqued it a few days ago (check out her website, blog and ebook, From the Query to the Call, BTW, all three of which are AWESOME!), my brain is stuck on

FLORA FLORA FLORA DAHLIA FLORA ROWAN FLORA DREAMS FLORA CONFLICTS INTINCING INCIDENTS FLOWERS FLORA AMBROSIA and, well, duh -- FLORA!

Argh.

So I just wanted to say,

Hello

How are you

Hope you're doing well

Hope you're feeling creative and productive and smart and refreshed and appreciated and Nanocomplished

I'm sorry I haven't read any of your blogs but I promise I will be back next week to drive you all crazy with my boring comments

And

I will be back on here soon, too.

Much love,

Slumpy

Friday Focus: The way to resume

“The way to resume is to resume. It is the only way. To resume.” – Gertrude Stein

Resume: to take up or go on with again after interruption; continue

Thought this was a good one after Wednesday's post.

Happy Friday!