Persistence Party

I’ve had a touch of stinkifunkitis in 2015. (No this isn’t the same as the funkysmellitosis I’m also suffering from after a very sweaty yoga class.)

My word of the year in 2014 was REVISE. And I revised my patootie off.

But this January my revision brain is on vacation. I tried to work it with ReViMo, with medium success. I tricked it into revisions by rereading and analyzing manuscripts when not in front of the computer. Unfortunately, none of the changes are getting finalized into nice final drafts.

So when I read Romelle Broas’ blog post this morning – Confessionsof a Writer: So Close Yet So Far - which opens with this:

I have a confession to make.

Lately, I've been plagued by doubt, fear, and nonsense talk.

I found myself yelling, “OMGollygee, ME TOO!!”

Misery loves company, and boy does it feel good to know I’m not the only one facing a lot of self-doubt.

But this ain’t no Pity Party.

Nope… This is a Persistence Party. After we pin the illustrations on the picture book and crack open the slush pile piñata, we give eachother a big hug and say, “get back to work.”

"I will break this pinata open if it's the last
thing I do."

Because, like Romelle, I find creative writing for children incredibly fun, motivating, and inspiring. What a great job to have. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to write a NEW draft. Because it’s okay to let revisions wait a little bit while I nourish my brain with the bright orange glow of creativity. 

A Loss for Words

I haven’t posted in a few-ish weeks (yikes!) I’ve started a bunch of posts, but then just didn’t finish them.

I wanted to tell you how I brought the unwrapped Christmas presents down too soon from the attic and put them in my closet. My 6yo discovered these very quickly. When I told her not to go in there, she cried, 

“BUT IT’S ALWAYS JUST BEEN A CLOSET! I DIDN’T KNOW!” 

Luckily she bit her tongue and didn’t tell her little sister what she saw.  

I wanted to tell you about how when I needed to get a revision done, I let my kids tattoo me for 15 minutes. They were surprisingly prolific. Sidenote, temporary tattoos stay on for a long time!

Then John Cusick’s blog post yesterday kicked me in the pants. I just needed to start a post with whatever blergh came out of my brain. If I worried so long about what I was trying to accomplish with my post I was sure to accomplish nuthin’.

I need to tell you all about when I submitted to an agent in December and got a response that the agent was closed for submissions as of yesterday. Ack! Reminder: Read the submission guidelines one more time before you submit, even if you just did it a few days ago! I also got a no thanks from an agent but with helpful personal comments, so all was not lost. :)

I started my 2014 accomplishments post as I was reading the flurry of posts after New Year’s. I haven’t finished it yet, but I did count up all the critiques I did in 2014: 

62  

Wow. I love getting critiques, but it feels really great to know I've contributed to 62 stories which may one day make their way into the world.

I also read a brand new subversive picture book called While You Were Napping by Jenny Offill and illustrated by Barry Blitt. I realized I had no idea which category it fit in from my subversive research in the fall. This delicious picture book features a big sister explaining to her little brother all the things he missed while he was napping in a way that only a real stinker of a big sister can do. It’s terribly inappropriate (babies light fireworks), but so good.

Two lovely bloggers nominated Lauri’s Stories for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Please visit their fabulous sites. If you like MG and YA, Leslie Zampetti is a librarian who does great video reviews. If you like people who spell their name's L-A-U-R-I then you have to visit Lauri Fortino's Frog on a Blog. Thank you ladies!!

Ahhh. This post was rambling and disjointed, but it was a start! Here’s to a 2015 with lots of action and less worry about whether the action is the perfect one for this moment.