I have a shiny new project and I am super excited for it. Wrote over 6000 words on it just yesterday. When it flows it flows, baby!
I am hereby calling this Broad Fiction and all other single title book ideas that I have will henceforth also be known as Broad Fiction, not women's fiction (though I assume I'll use that in a query letter - because Broad ficton might not be well known yet!), not Mainstream fiction with romantic elements, not a novel, or a literary journey. Oh no, not me.
So Broad fiction you say - Let me define it - Can be fiction that is broad in scope. But - I prefer:
FICTION FOR BROAD'S!!!!!!
Yeehaw!
Misty - very much a broad :)
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Rejection
Last week I got a rejection for a short story I had submitted. It was a fair rejection and I appreciated the time that the editor took to send me a personal message regarding why it didn't work for them. She also told me she sees potential in my work and would look forward to another submission. That is all fine and well and I do really mean that.
But sometimes you need to bolster yourself after a rejection. I know what you're saying, this is a business and she's not rejecting YOU. She's rejecting the manuscript. And maybe she had a bad day, or a fight with her significant other, or she had a rip in her panty hose, or she just got bitched out by her boss and THAT'S why she didn't see the brilliantness of my work.
I agree. It could be any one of those things. Or maybe she just didn't like it and it didn't resonate with her enough to want to look at it over and over during the next several months trying to edit and line edit and typo edit and go through galleys. Maybe she just didn't WANT it enough. And I assure you I want someone who WANTS my work, because I'll have to go through all that too.
Th point of this blog though is, what do you tell yourself to get through? I got this quote a couple days ago and it spoke to me...
Or maybe:
"If you're going through hell, keep going" - Winston Churchill
Maybe you subscribe to the burning of the rejection letter with incense and wicked thoughts in your heart :)
I'd like to know. Tell me what works for you and what makes you move past the feeling of let down when you thought you held something so tight and it slid through like sand.
Misty
P.S. I'm going to start chronicling some of my diabetes exploits. Today sucked as far as food goes since I just started eating the right things in the right amounts. Come back for more "What the hell did I just eat!" soon.
But sometimes you need to bolster yourself after a rejection. I know what you're saying, this is a business and she's not rejecting YOU. She's rejecting the manuscript. And maybe she had a bad day, or a fight with her significant other, or she had a rip in her panty hose, or she just got bitched out by her boss and THAT'S why she didn't see the brilliantness of my work.
I agree. It could be any one of those things. Or maybe she just didn't like it and it didn't resonate with her enough to want to look at it over and over during the next several months trying to edit and line edit and typo edit and go through galleys. Maybe she just didn't WANT it enough. And I assure you I want someone who WANTS my work, because I'll have to go through all that too.
Th point of this blog though is, what do you tell yourself to get through? I got this quote a couple days ago and it spoke to me...
"I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, 'To hell with you.'"
~~~Saul Bellow
Or maybe:
"If you're going through hell, keep going" - Winston Churchill
Maybe you subscribe to the burning of the rejection letter with incense and wicked thoughts in your heart :)
I'd like to know. Tell me what works for you and what makes you move past the feeling of let down when you thought you held something so tight and it slid through like sand.
Misty
P.S. I'm going to start chronicling some of my diabetes exploits. Today sucked as far as food goes since I just started eating the right things in the right amounts. Come back for more "What the hell did I just eat!" soon.
Monday, October 11, 2010
My Friend Flo
Did you ever have a friend who challenged you? Who made you better than you are? Who made you think twice and then think again about your path? I have and last week marked the first year since her passing. I don't like to call it an anniversary since there is really not a lot to celebrate. But then I thought and I thought again and I thought once more. And maybe there is.
Flo came into my life during a writing challenge like NaNoWriMo which starts next month. In fact it was Oct 15th of 2004 when a big bunch of people decided they wanted the NaNo experience and the interaction but not the restriction of starting something totally new. We had deadlines, real and imagined, we had published and pre-published. We had those who were almost done and those who were starting out and didn't want to wait until Nov. 1st. So i took the reins (shocking, huh?) and started a group called Month To Write on Yahoo. We set goals. I was a cheerleader and a drill sergeant and whatever else anyone needed to get the fricking work DONE! Some feared me :) We came up with phrases to get us going. Most noteworthy BDB but I'm not going to explain that here :)
And then we got writing. We sweated, we swore. We accomplished a ton of work. And when the month was done, some people started to drift off and on to other things. The month was up, we'd done what we set out to do and it was time. But for others, we hung around and kept writing. And then a few more found other paths and went their own direction. We ended up with a core group of seven of us.
Sometimes we would go months without really posting anything then someone would pop on to say hi and the back and forth was fast and furious. And then life would intrude. And the cycle would begin again. Things got steadier and we all started getting to really know each other as people not just writers. We shared pregnancies, births, miscarriages, moves, deaths of parents and set backs. We cheered when someone got a contract/agent/new release. We sighed and commiserated when rejection came or something we thought we held tight in our hands dissolved like sugar in a glass of warm water. Some of us left only to come back again. But we were cohesive and those who left always came back :)
And there was Flo Moyer who had written as Florence Moyer and Hayley Gardner and was starting her career for the third time as Florence Case. She gave me my first ever quote to be put on the front of Poison Ivy. She was a mentor, a friend, always there with some quirky piece of information or a quote or an anecdote. She sent me emails on writing and listened to me bitch. I read her work and critiqued for her, cried in joy when she got a contract with Love Inspired Suspense and the second time too. Was honored when she put me and the other girly whirlies in her dedication.
I loved her and love her still.
But she went to be with God last September and it was one of the bleakest days of my life, to know that that spirit, that generosity was now out of my reach. But was it? I think of her often. I can hear her say I can do this just get my butt in the chair. And the girly whirlies and I were talking about her the other day, about sending her family a card. And I thought about how much she was hurting before she passed on. And I thought about how we pass around a writing muse named Larry sometimes. And I wrote "... I miss her too and wish she were here but i bet she and Larry are having a grand old time where she no longer hurts except if she's been laughing too hard."
May you laugh long and hard, Flo, and never feel pain again. I'll see you up there and join right in the joke.
Misty
Flo came into my life during a writing challenge like NaNoWriMo which starts next month. In fact it was Oct 15th of 2004 when a big bunch of people decided they wanted the NaNo experience and the interaction but not the restriction of starting something totally new. We had deadlines, real and imagined, we had published and pre-published. We had those who were almost done and those who were starting out and didn't want to wait until Nov. 1st. So i took the reins (shocking, huh?) and started a group called Month To Write on Yahoo. We set goals. I was a cheerleader and a drill sergeant and whatever else anyone needed to get the fricking work DONE! Some feared me :) We came up with phrases to get us going. Most noteworthy BDB but I'm not going to explain that here :)
And then we got writing. We sweated, we swore. We accomplished a ton of work. And when the month was done, some people started to drift off and on to other things. The month was up, we'd done what we set out to do and it was time. But for others, we hung around and kept writing. And then a few more found other paths and went their own direction. We ended up with a core group of seven of us.
Sometimes we would go months without really posting anything then someone would pop on to say hi and the back and forth was fast and furious. And then life would intrude. And the cycle would begin again. Things got steadier and we all started getting to really know each other as people not just writers. We shared pregnancies, births, miscarriages, moves, deaths of parents and set backs. We cheered when someone got a contract/agent/new release. We sighed and commiserated when rejection came or something we thought we held tight in our hands dissolved like sugar in a glass of warm water. Some of us left only to come back again. But we were cohesive and those who left always came back :)
And there was Flo Moyer who had written as Florence Moyer and Hayley Gardner and was starting her career for the third time as Florence Case. She gave me my first ever quote to be put on the front of Poison Ivy. She was a mentor, a friend, always there with some quirky piece of information or a quote or an anecdote. She sent me emails on writing and listened to me bitch. I read her work and critiqued for her, cried in joy when she got a contract with Love Inspired Suspense and the second time too. Was honored when she put me and the other girly whirlies in her dedication.
I loved her and love her still.
But she went to be with God last September and it was one of the bleakest days of my life, to know that that spirit, that generosity was now out of my reach. But was it? I think of her often. I can hear her say I can do this just get my butt in the chair. And the girly whirlies and I were talking about her the other day, about sending her family a card. And I thought about how much she was hurting before she passed on. And I thought about how we pass around a writing muse named Larry sometimes. And I wrote "... I miss her too and wish she were here but i bet she and Larry are having a grand old time where she no longer hurts except if she's been laughing too hard."
May you laugh long and hard, Flo, and never feel pain again. I'll see you up there and join right in the joke.
Misty
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Renn Faire fun!
If you have never been to the Renaissance Faire and you live in PA or the surrounding states, I highly recommend you go. Where else can you be insulted or cajoled by people sitting on top of walls? Have the queen acknowledge you and have peasants genuflect when you walk by in your costume? I didn't dress up this year but I have before. And it was fun.
This year though it was all about the jeans and the sneakers. Though I did wear a peasant blouse I bought from a Fairy Festival a few years ago and put on my Celtic knot necklace :)
Anyhoo! we watched a circus and a magic show and a joust, a human chess game, jugglers and a guy on really tall stilts that had old time white leather baby shoes on the bottom. I got to step over fake drunks sprawled in the middle of the road and warn people away from the frisky guy playing his ukulele on the wall by Ms. Cluckie's Hen House.
Really. Don't miss it :) It was a wonderful "gathering day"* for this author who is feeling a little unraveled right now. I have thought recently that my brain was in danger of leaking out of my ear. But then Saturday happened and the following seemed more possible - I'm signing up for NaNo and have a 50/50 starting up in my chapter. And my writing goal for this month is to finish this damn book. I needed a gthering day and it feels like it stoked my fire for getting back to the writing and shored up the leak in the brain. Which is always good :)
Have a good day!
Misty
*gathering day is a term courtesy of Jane Yolen and found in the book Take Joy: A Book For Writers - another thing I highly recommend to get your brain back where it belongs or at least keep in mostly intact!
This year though it was all about the jeans and the sneakers. Though I did wear a peasant blouse I bought from a Fairy Festival a few years ago and put on my Celtic knot necklace :)
Anyhoo! we watched a circus and a magic show and a joust, a human chess game, jugglers and a guy on really tall stilts that had old time white leather baby shoes on the bottom. I got to step over fake drunks sprawled in the middle of the road and warn people away from the frisky guy playing his ukulele on the wall by Ms. Cluckie's Hen House.
Really. Don't miss it :) It was a wonderful "gathering day"* for this author who is feeling a little unraveled right now. I have thought recently that my brain was in danger of leaking out of my ear. But then Saturday happened and the following seemed more possible - I'm signing up for NaNo and have a 50/50 starting up in my chapter. And my writing goal for this month is to finish this damn book. I needed a gthering day and it feels like it stoked my fire for getting back to the writing and shored up the leak in the brain. Which is always good :)
Have a good day!
Misty
*gathering day is a term courtesy of Jane Yolen and found in the book Take Joy: A Book For Writers - another thing I highly recommend to get your brain back where it belongs or at least keep in mostly intact!
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
New Blog worth checking out!
Hi! I have the privilege of being friends with one of the women starting this great new blog and wanted to post the link for anyone interested. Here's their blurb :)
"Welcome to Novel Adventurers, the blog that celebrates the great cultural diversity of our planet. We are four suspense novelists whose books and stories are set in locations around the world, from Turkey, Iran, and South America to Russia, India, and New York. In the coming weeks and months, join us for lively discussions of the cross-cultural adventures and misadventures that inspire our books. We will showcase our favorite travel destinations and review international movies, books, and plays. And don't miss Fridays, when we invite guest bloggers to tell us about their own journeys off the beaten path."
And here is the link. I hope you'll go check out my friend Alli and her cohorts :)
http://noveladventurers.blogspot.com
Have fun and tell her I sent you!
Misty
"Welcome to Novel Adventurers, the blog that celebrates the great cultural diversity of our planet. We are four suspense novelists whose books and stories are set in locations around the world, from Turkey, Iran, and South America to Russia, India, and New York. In the coming weeks and months, join us for lively discussions of the cross-cultural adventures and misadventures that inspire our books. We will showcase our favorite travel destinations and review international movies, books, and plays. And don't miss Fridays, when we invite guest bloggers to tell us about their own journeys off the beaten path."
And here is the link. I hope you'll go check out my friend Alli and her cohorts :)
http://noveladventurers.blogspot.com
Have fun and tell her I sent you!
Misty
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