"You may say I'm a dreamer/ But I'm not the only one." - "Imagine" by John Lennon
I love "Imagine". It's my favorite Lennon solo song and I'm in awe every time I hear it, even though I have heard it a thousand times before. It's really a pretty simple song, but so powerful and thought-provoking at the same time. The work of a true genius...
So, I just finished watching the Meryl Streep/Amy Adams movie "Julie and Julia", which just gets better each time I see it. In fact, it was my inspiration for starting this blog almost a year ago.
Whenever I watch that movie, I have to throw my hands up in the air and shake my head in amazement and wonder (and, I'll admit, a little bit of jealousy) when Julie's blog takes off and she ends up getting calls from agents, editors, and even publishers who want to represent her and her writing. What an impossible dream that would be! But still, I'm a dreamer and I do fantisize about how incredible it would be to have someone pursue my writing instead of me sending off my hopes and dreams and waiting with my fingers crossed for a positive response. I know it's stupid to even think like that, and believe me, I know it would never happen in a million years because I do live in the real world (most of the time...), but hey, that did actually happen to Julie Powell. I also take solice knowing that I am not the only hopeful writer out there who shares these dreams, as well as these realities. That being said, I didn't start my blog to get noticed and become rich and famous. I started blogging because I always have something to say and don't always have someone around to listen. Plus, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get the word out about my writing just in case... It's always good to have a platform, right?
Okay. Since I know I have to make this dream of becoming a novelist a reality, I am in the process of compiling my next list of agents to query. I have some time off of work in a few weeks and I am going to use it to write, submit to agents, research, and write some more. What? You think that sounds like work? Well, not to me. To me it sounds like the possibility of getting one step closer to my goal, which is music to my ears.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Stormy Monday
"They call it stormy Monday/ But Tuesday's just as bad." - "Stormy Monday" by the Allman Brothers Band
Sigh. My family reunion is over and things are returning to normal. Back to work, back to the same old, same old. It rained my whole way to pick up the youngest kid I take care of from school, that summery rain that comes with the hot, sticky air that is a struggle just to walk through. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse, hence the reason for the song of the day.
Today is just not a good day. I can't concentrate to write, the very over-tired child upstairs is refusing to sleep and in a terrible mood, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I will have to work late today. Aren't Mondays great?
Tomorrow though, I plan on getting back to my writing. Poor Willow and the rest of the gang from Santa Elena have been frozen in time (1990 to be exact!)while I have been busy with family stuff, but now their journey can continue, much to my delight and relief. I have been working on this book since January, which is a long time for me. I have promised myself that it will be done by the 4th of July, and I think "it's very important to keep promises, especially to yourself". That quote was said by Barbara Stanwyck's character in "Christmas in Connecticut". What a great line!
Sigh. My family reunion is over and things are returning to normal. Back to work, back to the same old, same old. It rained my whole way to pick up the youngest kid I take care of from school, that summery rain that comes with the hot, sticky air that is a struggle just to walk through. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse, hence the reason for the song of the day.
Today is just not a good day. I can't concentrate to write, the very over-tired child upstairs is refusing to sleep and in a terrible mood, and I have a sneaking suspicion that I will have to work late today. Aren't Mondays great?
Tomorrow though, I plan on getting back to my writing. Poor Willow and the rest of the gang from Santa Elena have been frozen in time (1990 to be exact!)while I have been busy with family stuff, but now their journey can continue, much to my delight and relief. I have been working on this book since January, which is a long time for me. I have promised myself that it will be done by the 4th of July, and I think "it's very important to keep promises, especially to yourself". That quote was said by Barbara Stanwyck's character in "Christmas in Connecticut". What a great line!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Family
"We are family/ I've got all my sisters with me/ We are family/ Get up everybody and sing!" - "We are Family" by Sister Sledge
Every year my mom and her sisters get together for a long weekend, with a different sister hosting the reunion each year. This year is my mom's turn, so I get to see a couple of my aunts that I haven't seen in four years! I've been looking forward to this for a while now, so I'm glad it's finally here.
With the added family members and change in routine, I figure that I won't get any writing done at all this week. I have been holding steady around the 250 page mark in Willow book #4 for a few weeks now and it's starting to get on my nerves. I don't have writer's block or anything, I just either don't have the time, can't concentrate when I do have a few moments to spare, or I keep finding things to change in what I have already written. I think I have rewritten the last ten pages I have been working on at least half a dozen times. Sometimes it's just tweaking a sentence here or there, sometimes way more. Next week, I plan to get back on track and get some serious writing done!
I was originally hoping to finish this novel by the first week of June when the girls I nanny for get out of school, but that's not happening. My new goal is to finish my writing and editing of book #4 by the 4th of July, which will mark the end of a two week vacation I have from work while the girls are out of town. That goal will be accomplished!
Every year my mom and her sisters get together for a long weekend, with a different sister hosting the reunion each year. This year is my mom's turn, so I get to see a couple of my aunts that I haven't seen in four years! I've been looking forward to this for a while now, so I'm glad it's finally here.
With the added family members and change in routine, I figure that I won't get any writing done at all this week. I have been holding steady around the 250 page mark in Willow book #4 for a few weeks now and it's starting to get on my nerves. I don't have writer's block or anything, I just either don't have the time, can't concentrate when I do have a few moments to spare, or I keep finding things to change in what I have already written. I think I have rewritten the last ten pages I have been working on at least half a dozen times. Sometimes it's just tweaking a sentence here or there, sometimes way more. Next week, I plan to get back on track and get some serious writing done!
I was originally hoping to finish this novel by the first week of June when the girls I nanny for get out of school, but that's not happening. My new goal is to finish my writing and editing of book #4 by the 4th of July, which will mark the end of a two week vacation I have from work while the girls are out of town. That goal will be accomplished!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Sad
"I don't know why fortune smiles on some/ And lets the rest go free/...There's no use in asking why/ It just turned out that way/ So meet me at midnight baby/ Inside the sad cafe." - "Sad Cafe" by The Eagles
This post will be the opposite of the last one. My silver lining has faded to the point of being invisible to the naked eye. I heard back from the agent that requested a partial, the agent that I really, really thought would be perfect and the right person to represent my book, but she passed. Of course she did! I don't know why I even hoped for anything different. Okay, that was sarcastic bordering on snotty. I'll try to be nice. She said the writing was strong and the story was interesting, but she just didn't feel a strong enough connection as she would need to in order to ask for a full or offer representation. Grr!
Looking past this rejection and moving on to more agents is a big hurdle for me to jump over. Every time I get a request for a partial I tell myself I will not get my hopes up, and I really don't because I am such a pessimist. But unfortunately, a small part of me does think that maybe, just maybe, this is the one agent who will see my potential and recognize that my book is good enough to sit on the bookstore shelves. I know in my heart that it is, and I have been told that by so many people who have read it. It's just so frustrating to never have anything come of it. That being said, I won't give up because someday this is going to happen. But for today, I think I would fit in really well at the Sad Cafe. Does anyone have directions?
This post will be the opposite of the last one. My silver lining has faded to the point of being invisible to the naked eye. I heard back from the agent that requested a partial, the agent that I really, really thought would be perfect and the right person to represent my book, but she passed. Of course she did! I don't know why I even hoped for anything different. Okay, that was sarcastic bordering on snotty. I'll try to be nice. She said the writing was strong and the story was interesting, but she just didn't feel a strong enough connection as she would need to in order to ask for a full or offer representation. Grr!
Looking past this rejection and moving on to more agents is a big hurdle for me to jump over. Every time I get a request for a partial I tell myself I will not get my hopes up, and I really don't because I am such a pessimist. But unfortunately, a small part of me does think that maybe, just maybe, this is the one agent who will see my potential and recognize that my book is good enough to sit on the bookstore shelves. I know in my heart that it is, and I have been told that by so many people who have read it. It's just so frustrating to never have anything come of it. That being said, I won't give up because someday this is going to happen. But for today, I think I would fit in really well at the Sad Cafe. Does anyone have directions?
Friday, May 6, 2011
Silver Lining
"Many dreams come true and some have silver linings/ I live for my dream and a pocketful of gold." - "Over the Hills and Far Away" by Led Zeppelin
Okay. This song of the day is pretty self-explanitory. There are many, many writers out there whose dreams of publication have become a reality, and I want my dream to be realized too. The rejections I have received as well as the feedback do come with a silver lining, because they have all taught me so much about this business that I didn't know when I began two years ago. As for the pocketful of gold, that would be cool, but I'd settle for a check to pay my credit card bills. Whoa, dream big!
If you couldn't already tell, I'm getting impatient... again. In the past month I have sent out several queries and gotten a few rejections (nothing new, unfortunately), so I took a gamble. Earlier this year, an agent requested three chapters from me and ultimately passed, but I thought that maybe since I had totally reworked the beginning of my first novel, she would be willing to give it a second chance. Low and behold, her intern responded to my query and said that they would be happy to take a second look! Another silver lining perhaps? Maybe my work was rejected the first time around to give me a chance to do some rewriting, leading to a much stronger manuscript. I know I'm grasping at straws, but looking for silver linings is not what I typically do. Normally I would just see something as tarnished, messed up, or a total waste.
Anyway, this agent would be fantastic to work with and I can't wait to hear back. I'm not getting my hopes up at all because I've been burned too many times to be that optimistic now, but the waiting is killing me! It's only been nine days which is a nanosecond in the literary world, but what can I say? Patience has never been a strong point for me. I'm just hoping that her response will be my figurative "pocketful of gold" when it does arrive.
Okay. This song of the day is pretty self-explanitory. There are many, many writers out there whose dreams of publication have become a reality, and I want my dream to be realized too. The rejections I have received as well as the feedback do come with a silver lining, because they have all taught me so much about this business that I didn't know when I began two years ago. As for the pocketful of gold, that would be cool, but I'd settle for a check to pay my credit card bills. Whoa, dream big!
If you couldn't already tell, I'm getting impatient... again. In the past month I have sent out several queries and gotten a few rejections (nothing new, unfortunately), so I took a gamble. Earlier this year, an agent requested three chapters from me and ultimately passed, but I thought that maybe since I had totally reworked the beginning of my first novel, she would be willing to give it a second chance. Low and behold, her intern responded to my query and said that they would be happy to take a second look! Another silver lining perhaps? Maybe my work was rejected the first time around to give me a chance to do some rewriting, leading to a much stronger manuscript. I know I'm grasping at straws, but looking for silver linings is not what I typically do. Normally I would just see something as tarnished, messed up, or a total waste.
Anyway, this agent would be fantastic to work with and I can't wait to hear back. I'm not getting my hopes up at all because I've been burned too many times to be that optimistic now, but the waiting is killing me! It's only been nine days which is a nanosecond in the literary world, but what can I say? Patience has never been a strong point for me. I'm just hoping that her response will be my figurative "pocketful of gold" when it does arrive.
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