Longest day

My household is full of excited tension today.  I have 3 small boys, ages 2, 4 and 6.  It's Halloween.  They're antsy as all get out, ready for dark ("is it dark yet?"), ready for Trick-or-Treating.  They've got costumes (Super Why, Green Lantern & Batman), they've got plastic pumpkins ready for candy holding, and they've got a whole neighborhood of houses purported to be housing free candy.  Kid in a candy store is nothing; kid on Halloween, now that's where the wide-eyed excitement really exists.

I am also full of excited tension.  It is NaNoWriMo Eve!  Midnight tonight, I get to start on The Book! Working title: Able Mabel's Coffee & Treats (AMC&T, when I get tired of typing that mouthful).  I have a storyboard outline, I've got notecards, I have dual main characters, and I am ready!  But I also find myself staring mournfully at the clock, asking if it's dark yet.  We haven't hit Daylight Savings yet, but the days are already so much longer.

In order to give myself something to do besides twiddling my thumbs, I've been reading a bit of the terribleminds.com blog.  Freelance penmonkey who uses more profanity in every entry than most people do in a month, he's got some solid advice.  His NaNo bundle is what's going to get me through today, and probably any "down time" I have in November that I, for one reason or another, can't write during.  Terrible Minds is where my favorite writer's prayer comes from, which I will now share here.



How can you not love that?

In other news, I managed to bang out a synopsis the other day.  To my chagrin, all it actually took was reading the back of a few kids chapter books.  Immediately put me in the right frame of mind, made the task seem more manageable.  Now to figure out the rest of the query letter to stick it in.  Le sigh.

That's all I have for the moment.  For all those about to write, I salute you!  May the odds be ever in your favor!  So say we all!  (and many other great things other people have written)
-Meagan

Distilling

My writing endeavor for today, and yesterday as well, have mainly taken place in my own head in the form of an argument.  What I should be doing is writing a synopsis of my early age chapter book, for the purpose of sticking in a query letter.  I hate writing synopses.  I don't even like summarizing a book someone else has written.  If I could shorten the story to under 300 words, why would I have used so many in the first place?!  I jest, but only a little.  But since this query letter is the only task I've given myself before NaNo, and the days are dragging by, I should just get on with it.  

In fact, in practice of making something short, this is where this post will end.  See, I can learn!

-Meagan

NaNo Prep

Life got in the way of writing for a few days, with Halloween being the main culprit.  Luckily a NaNoWriMo planning session with one of my best friends allowed me to still get a lot done in that regard.  As of Sunday, I have a plot! And characters with weaknesses and strengths, pets and favorite beverages! Well, may have not made quite that much progress, but having a plot (and complications, oh my gosh the complications!) has eased my mind a great deal.

Speaking of complications, my friend had one come up during our prep.  Two hours of her work disappeared through an auto save vs. backup vs. program crash error.  This was heart-wrenching for her, and I felt sympathy pains for her that stayed with me most of the night.  While I have faith that she can (and will!) recover the lost information, either by sifting through her mind and notes or rediscover the intended pathos during the writing process, it weighed on me.  A couple spiked eggnogs did nothing to lift the pallor I felt falling over our NaNo process, and I found myself in need of something to, if not lift my spirits, at least allow me to let it go.

I did a quick app search on my phone for Buddha, (not that I'm particularly Buddhist, but he is a good "let it go" inspiration), and stumbled upon the Buddha Board app.  You may have seen the real life meditation toys in stores like Brookstone.  

Their line is "Master the art of letting go".  You paint on this little board with water, and then watch as your artwork evaporates.  The little app is much the same, but less wet.  I highly recommend.  I was able to let go of my angst, and this morning I woke up singing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" and having new NaNo insights.  I hope my friend is able to find the same clean slate before November starts.

All this talk of impermanence aside, queries must go on!  This morning was spent querying two agents with one of my picture book manuscripts.  One auto-responded (again) that she's not accepting new stuff for another two months.  C'est la vie.  But the kind auto-response from the other agent confirmed that she is accepting queries, and I'll (hopefully) hear back in 6-8 weeks.  That puts us right at Christmas time, so hopefully I'm too busy with holiday hoopla to be watching my mailbox obsessively. 

That's it for now.  May all your backups be uncorrupt and your mailboxes contain acceptance letters.

-Meagan

Agents

Today's writing time has been spent more on the business side of things; researching agents.  I've got the book 2014 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market.  Great resource, along with www.writersmarket.com, to find publishers & agents.  Not that I've had luck yet with either, but I'm still early in my submission timelines.
Having only submitted to one agent, I'm looking to send out a few more submissions.  Doing the research on where to send is a bit of necessary procrastination on my part, because the next bit is scary.  I have to polish up something new to the point I think someone else would enjoy it enough to give me their vote of confidence and/or money for it.  Or at very least not laugh in my face.  That's never the goal.  Unless it's a humorous piece I guess, then that's what you're going for, but I digress.
Through all of my panning for agency gold today, I've come up with one new agent idea.  Since I'm seeing requests for exclusivity, only adding one doesn't hurt my brain too much.  Now to decide if I want to send off my early-grade chapter book, or another picture book (or two).  It's nice having a portfolio of writings to choose from, so I can make sure the submission is right for the recipient.  I was hoping to even have an illustrated work to send off to a couple publishers that prefer that, but it looks like my illustrator idea is falling through, at least for the time being.  Oh well, maybe it's not meant to be.

That's it for today.  Screaming babies & all.
-Meagan

Obstacles

We all have our obstacles keeping us from our writing.  Some of the hardest to overcome are those in our own heads.  But outside of that?  There's "real" work, and all the other things one must do during the day.  My personal obstacles keeping me from enjoying the peace and quiet while I write away?  My three little boys.  Only the oldest is in school, so that leaves my day full of a two year old and a four year old.  Enough to wear out any sane person, and I'm not promising I'm that most days.  Today has worked out well in that I got in about 45 minutes of relatively uninterrupted fiction writing time, which, btw, is not counting the time I'm spending blogging.  Blogging is easier-- just writing about writing instead of actually doing the writing in question.  Procrastination, so therefore it's easy as pie.

My precious writing minutes were spent on a small project for a writing contest.  I'd actually intended to let this writing deadline pass me by, as I don't have anything in mind that's the right length.  It turns out the competition is running short of their goal number of participants though, and that hits me right in the guilt.  So I'm trying to get something cobbled together in the next two days to enter the competition.  Let me tell you about this contest though, it's one of the cooler ones I've heard about.

From the sixfold.org website:

How It Works

Upload your own short-story or poetry manuscript PDF for a $6 entry fee by October 24, 11:59 pm ET. Then, vote within your genre to select the three prize-winning manuscripts of $1000, $200, and $100, and everything published in each issue. Sixfold is a completely writer-voted short story and poetry journal. Every writer who uploads a manuscript votes to choose the prize-winning manuscripts and all the short stories and poetry published in each issue. Everyone's equally weighted vote selects what's published, instead of one judge, or one or a few editors. With a fair, transparent,  rule-based voting process, all writers find the best writing together.

Sounds spiffy, right?  I'm excited to take part, so I'm hammering away at my little piece that takes place in a specialty bar.  Sounds intriguing, right?  Hope so.  You also get a lot of feedback from the other writers who vote, which is so valuable.  Getting an honest critique is hard.  Who do you ask?  A friend is afraid to hurt your feelings, so holds some info back.  What stranger are you going to tie down and ask to give you information?
But these writers, they're also putting their own hearts on the line, getting their works reviewed.  Hopefully this keeps people from being cruel, but manages a nice balance between with fair and honest reviews. Fingers crossed and all that jazz.

Back to the work in question now.
-Meagan

Destructive thoughts

Destructive thoughts vs good ones by chibird


It's so easy to let the insecurities we face, as artists, as writers, be the loudest voices we hear.  If you have even one person in your life that is encouraging, or even you just occasionally find little things like this comic that lift your spirit and remind you that you don't completely suck, save those.  Guard them, treasure them.  I was having a day where I was convinced I was a talent-less hack, that I had no business trying to get published.  I, in a moment of outgoing vulnerability, turned to my Facebook friends for a shot in the arm.  I asked what they did when they, in whatever medium they create, do to turn the tide around, to get back in the game instead of throwing their hands up and just watching Netflix for the rest of my life.  Their life.  You know.

And the response I got was so heartwarming.  I've saved it away for myself, but most of the advice translates to everyone out there that is having a crap creation day, so I thought I'd boil it down and share.

1. Everyone feels this way sometimes.  I got responses from writers, photographers, cake decorators, quilters, singers and the all-around-crafty-types.  Knowing that everyone that creates something that they hope someone else will appreciate has days like this, that bucked me up a bit on it's own.

2. Take a little break.  Not a forever break. Not a break your favorite pen, throw your computer out the window kind of break.  But a little break, doing something you enjoy.  After you've given it your all for the day, after you've really tried to squeeze water out of that stone, give yourself a break.

4. Laugh at yourself.  Laugh at your situation.  Laugh at the wind, at the rain, at the hail.  Have a sense of humor about yourself and your surroundings, every chance you get.

5. Remember to enjoy what you're doing.  You started writing because it spoke to something inside you.  Don't get bogged down by hopes for the end product, remember to enjoy the therapeutic, aesthetic beauty of what you're actually doing.

6. And furthering that... create to please YOU.  Writing what you think someone else is going to like first isn't going to please anyone.  Write for you first.  Polish, redraft for others, if necessary.  But the first draft, in all it's shitty glory, is just for you.  Take joy in that, and then be pleasantly surprised if anyone else likes it too.

7. Be kind to yourself.  Don't compare yourself to those you think great, just compare to yourself.  Are you getting better, growing in your art?  Don't think about what Joe Schmoe does.  That's his problem.  Don't let comparison be the thief of your joy.

8. Work on a deadline.  Then you have permission to stop tweaking, a finish line to cross where you throw your hands in the air and say it is what it is, and I gave it everything I could with the time I had.

9.  You've dealt with harder crap than this.  Don't let it beat you.

10.  I also got a vote of confidence from my best friends.  The people that have read my stuff, and have confidence in my abilities.  Maybe some editor in New York will pass on my book this time, but my mom likes it dammit, so that counts for something!


I hope something in this list speaks to you, gives you an idea for how to get out of your own dungeon of self-loathing.  I know I'll be back to reread this post again.  Hopefully it's only every month or so and not every day, but always remember-- you're not alone.

-Meagan

I'm so submissive

Today seems to be a solid writing day.  Mental health is stable, coffee is plentiful (if cold) and the muse is flitting about the place with regularity.

9:30 and I've managed to enter the latest Writer's Digest Your Story competition, pencil up a new idea for a kid's book, and rehammer a line for a Christmas poem.  This doesn't seem like much (the entry was only 25 words!), but having hit the great Writing Well a lot recently and found it bone dry, blocked off by police tape and guarded by some scruffy dude named Block, it's refreshing to get anything out at all.  If only all those impotence pills worked for writers as well.  Of course, then the slush piles would be even bigger, and more difficult to work my way to the top of,  cream-of-the-crop style.

Checking the mail box once and my email umpteen times a day isn't quite enough torture, so let's go to the countdown app and see how much time has passed for my various submissions.


Submission A (publisher): 2 days till up. This one had a 6-8 week suggested time, but they WILL RESPOND.  Most of the publishing houses don't send rejection notices anymore, so I value the ones that do above all others.  I may not be able to paper a wall with rejection notices, but at least I'll get some sort of response, instead of dead air, which means "Your heart on paper isn't even worth a stamp to us: Not interested".

Submission C (publisher): This one's still grating on me.  Their own guidelines said one month (which we're past that by two weeks now), but Writer's Market gives them two months (so we're still shy a couple weeks).  Another that WILL RESPOND though, since they asked for a SASE.  Yep, if I get a rejection from them, it'll come to me using my own stamp and envelope.  Adding insult to injury, but I'd gladly pay for a stamp for all my submissions if they'd just send me word back.  Just seems cruel not to, though I suppose they do get a lot of just crap.  Here's hoping they don't consider my baby that way.

Submission D (agent): This is the only agent submission I have out right now, but I intend to send another out in two weeks, when this one's exclusivity runs out.

5 other submissions range from 6-19 weeks before I can consider myself kissed goodbye.  In the meantime, I keep visiting the blank page, keeping myself from going crazy (most days) by writing more pieces.  Mostly kids books at the moment, but NaNoWriMo starts in 10 days, and that will be an adult, urban fantasy book.  That should definitely keep my mind off the mailbox, eh?  50,000 words in 30 days, always a kick.  I intend to get another win under my belt this year, and I have a strong writing buddy this year as well.  Hopefully we'll drag one another kicking and screaming (or more likely silently protesting) over the finish line.

That's all for now.  Back to the grindstone.
-Meagan