Wednesday, January 26, 2011
SO LITTLE TIME
Deadlines, even those set by yourself can hang over you like a dark cloud. Why do we procrastinate about reaching deadlines and as they approach stress out fearing we won't meet them. Are we hardwired to create chaos within ourselves or is it a learned process? If it's learned, I get an "A plus".
Why, well right now I'm spending time writing a blog about not meeting a self-set deadline - it's taken me a half hour to write this - of which that time I could have been editing the pages of my second book "SIMPLE MAN". Is it the fear of completing the task? I don't know, I've proven to myself on many occasion that once you tackle the camel on your back it's never as difficult as envisioned.
How do I squash the voices of doubt and rid myself of procrastinating?
Thursday, January 20, 2011
One Girl Band
In 2009 I began to write a story that literally popped into my head. That story turned into a novel - shocked!!! Not as much as I was. I'd never written anything longer than a thank you note and always had trouble with that. Naive, as I usually am, I thought if I could write a book, I could also get it published. LOL!!!
The publishing business is not a friendly business by any stretch of the imagination. And when you are navigating this on your own it is very disheartening. My series of books is about a young boy and his friends venturing into the music world, a world just as difficult to break down the boundaries as publishing, but they have each other to share responsibility, the tiny glimpses of hope and the crushing disappointments. As a writer, though my family and friends support me, they are not working with me - I'm a one-girl-band and it's difficult.
There are many days I tell myself write because you love it and don't worry about publishing. Then I create a storyline that I so want to share with the world and the cycle starts all over again. I begin to look for names of agents in the YA genre that represent authors writing about music, I send out the query letter and I receive the "no's" some not as kind as others. I'll tell you, a kind "no thank you" really softens the blow.
I realize you need to have tough skin and I wish mine was as leathery as the women on the beach with the super dark tan, but it's not. I don't think it ever will be. Like music, writing is a subjective business and I must remember it's a business, profit is the bottom line. I'm not looking for profit, I just love the story God has given me and grateful that other's have read it, liked it and are looking for more.
Instead of worrying of how, when and if the books I write reach the masses, like musicians who keep making music, even if ionly in a garage, I'm going to stick to my keyboard and let go of all the confusion and frustration. I'm sure that's the devil at work to stop me from enjoying my passion - and this time in he's not going to win!!!!
The publishing business is not a friendly business by any stretch of the imagination. And when you are navigating this on your own it is very disheartening. My series of books is about a young boy and his friends venturing into the music world, a world just as difficult to break down the boundaries as publishing, but they have each other to share responsibility, the tiny glimpses of hope and the crushing disappointments. As a writer, though my family and friends support me, they are not working with me - I'm a one-girl-band and it's difficult.
There are many days I tell myself write because you love it and don't worry about publishing. Then I create a storyline that I so want to share with the world and the cycle starts all over again. I begin to look for names of agents in the YA genre that represent authors writing about music, I send out the query letter and I receive the "no's" some not as kind as others. I'll tell you, a kind "no thank you" really softens the blow.
I realize you need to have tough skin and I wish mine was as leathery as the women on the beach with the super dark tan, but it's not. I don't think it ever will be. Like music, writing is a subjective business and I must remember it's a business, profit is the bottom line. I'm not looking for profit, I just love the story God has given me and grateful that other's have read it, liked it and are looking for more.
Instead of worrying of how, when and if the books I write reach the masses, like musicians who keep making music, even if ionly in a garage, I'm going to stick to my keyboard and let go of all the confusion and frustration. I'm sure that's the devil at work to stop me from enjoying my passion - and this time in he's not going to win!!!!
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