To help you progress in your writing endeavors, we are sharing our struggles, triumphs, and lessons learned - with hopes you can shortcut the mud we've had to wade in.
I never completed reading the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It was a book that I had purchased for my young twenty-something sister to remind her that there were dangers in the world that she was ignoring. And also hoped my sister could live vicariously through Cheryl's lofty endeavor ...
Read MoreAs a writer I humbly go before you – oh mighty publishing industry
About two years ago, my sis and I finished our MS. We were ready to query. By spring, we’d have an agent. By summer, we’d have a book deal. By the fall, we’d be hot stuff.
But that’s not what happened.
By spring, we’d been rejected eleven times. By summer, we’d received not even a request for more pages. And by the fall, we were dead in the water. Researching agents, querying, and being rejected or receiving nothing at all. So is the life of querying writers...
Recently on Twitter, one of my Twitter Buddies asked, “What scares you most about writing?” My answer, “That I’m horrible and delusional. That when I read my work and its sounds good, I must be having an episode.” His response, “I deal with that too. It’s paralyzing, isn’t it?”
And the truth is it really can be. This year has been trying. We ventured into our journey of querying our manuscript in October 2015. And we were rejected. Like a lot. Like every time. And how could this be possible? We had edited the heck out of our manuscript. We had Beta-readers that loved it, and couldn’t wait until the next book. How were we so off the mark? Well, we were and over the course of the year, we’ve learned...
Read MoreA piece advice given by many of the top hustlers (you know the uber successful, too many projects, wish you were them people) is you have to wake up at 5 AM. But why 5? Because you are able to eek out an hour where most people aren’t awake or those that are, have their own stuff in works and they don’t have time for you. Therefore, you are able to get a ton done at 5 AM. At least that’s my experience.
I have a full time job and it’s not at home. It’s an hour, on a good day, away from my house. And so trying to find time to build a community and query literary agents is not easy to do with a bad commute, full-time corporate job...
For the past few weeks my mind has been reeling with all the emotions. At the beginning of the month, my sister and I decided to submit ourselves into a contest. Our submission consisted of a 35 word pitch for our YA fantasy and the first 250 words of our novel. It was nerve-racking, 35 words is not a lot to describe a 91,000 word project. But we did it. A last minute decision, getting our entry in just before the deadline at midnight Eastern time, which is 9pm our time.
And as promised we received feedback. It was positive feedback! No one telling us we were hack jobs or out of our depths. The judges liked our concept, but told us the most valuable advice we’ve ever received...
Read MoreAn underlying principle by which I live my life is “...and then you die.” Everyone has a life with the same end result, there is no avoiding it and it’s inevitable. Sad and Scary? Yes, but true. A question my sister and I are always answering is - ‘What are you doing with your dot-dot-dot?” It helps us put life in perspective. Are you wasting time lamenting over something of no consequence? Do you spend time contributing to the world? Do you appreciate small moments in life? Is life passing you by minute-by-minute? Are you only a pawn in someone else’s game? Do you have a game of your own? We both spend focused concentration on making sure our dot-dot-dot is full and hearty with the hands we’ve been dealt...
Read MoreI remember nearly seven years ago, I had this idea for a book that I knew if written well enough could get published. Being the A personality that I am, taking control of the situation, I immediately went into research mode to discover how it was that one went from an idea to a published book. It all seemed very reasonable: Step 1 - Write a book, but learned that’s actually called a manuscript; Step 2 - Get an agent. Yep! Knew this one was somewhere in there. Step 3 - Get it published by a publisher. Oh, but wait. There’s also: Step 1a - Write rough draft; Step 1b - Rewrite rough into first draft; Step 1c - Edit first draft into second draft; Step 1d - Cry and ask yourself
Read More“I just don’t get it. What am I supposed to do with Twitter?” I frustratedly expressed to my social media guru sister one day during one of our many ‘drive-home’ convos. My sister and I had made a business arrangement, she’d work on her social with blanketforadventures.com while I’d continue to breathe life into our Tulips and Poppies presence. In an effort to expand our reach in my not-so-capable hands, I decided to enter the world of Twitter and floundered.
It was like Twitter was a party that I was not invited to. People were having conversations that I was not a part of and short of saying “Hey! I really liked your blah..blah...blah..I heard today on the radio,” every time I tweeted, I had no idea what to do.
Whether it be on the radio or on TV, the one thing I will stop channel flipping for is to hear about someone's writing process. I think partly because I want to make sure we're doing it "right", even knowing that in the creative process there is no right or wrong. However, I'm curious none-the-less and I have to listen. So, for the universe that has allowed me to gawk at the processes of so many others, I only felt it fair to share our own.
Being that I write with my sister, there are really two processes at hand. My own personal process, which involves music, pajama pants, and blankets. Then there's the day-to-day with my sister where the roots of story took form and flourished. The genesis of
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