Embarrassing Mistakes 101

Ahhh. I suppose there are plenty of areas to cover in the realm of embarrassing mistakes in this world.


For a writer, few are less embarrassing than making mistakes in your quest (and sometimes, haste) to have your writing published…

It's even more frustrating when you find out it could have been completely avoided had you dug a little deeper and familiarized yourself with the proper way something should have been done.

I wrote in my previous blog about the importance of research while writing your story. I forgot to mention another, perhaps even more important, area of research:

The submission process.

Please, please, please research the proper way to format your manuscript, the length and content of a synopsis, and perhaps, most importantly, the correct procedure in writing your query letter.

I speak from experience.

In the first few query letters I sent out, I was completely off base.

I misunderstood the part where you’re supposed to tell a bit about yourself. In my mind, I took it to mean that they wanted a casual, summary of who you are. You know, like the way they do it on Wheel of Fortune;  “Hi! I’m Sally from Callamazoo. I’m married with five great kids, and I raise homing pigeons!”… That’s not exactly what they want.

There is a very specific and professional format you need to follow if you want to be taken seriously.

If you don’t do your research and submit it properly, there’s a possibility you may have to endure the mortification of reading segments of your query letter on the “What Not to Do” segment of an agents blog.

I’ve learned my lesson the hard way.  Hopefully, I can spare you the red face and feeling of a massive rock sinking in your gut once you’ve realized your faux pas-- and it’s too late to do anything about it.

With the plethora of excellent websites and blogs written by experienced authors and pros expressing exactly how to prepare your submission information, there’s no reason you can’t create the perfect submission.

I’d like to finish this entry by taking a moment gush over my fourth-grade daughter, Eden.

She hopped off her school bus the other day, and came barreling at me with a big, toothy smile, waving a certificate she had won for “Writer of the Month.”

We stood there hugging, and I was overwhelmed with pride as I realized that the fruit had indeed, fallen from the tree-- and I was holding it in my arms…

Research When Writing Fiction...

Still working on my book, but decided to take a break from my Internet research to share some thoughts on why it's important to do your research, even when you're in the fictional realm of "make-believe."

For me, blending facts and real locations into a fictional story adds so much more depth.  The book I am currently working on is laden with unassuming clues, woven into the plot and are relative to the story.   Nothing is there without a reason. 

I think I do this, because it's fun for me as a writer--I ejoy learning "little known facts" about places and people...

I think I must have been a teacher in another life.  I love encouraging people to look deeper into a subject and stumble upon a fact that may not have received much historical attention, yet is still valuable or interesting. 

In a world of instant information via a quick "Google" search, a clue can either be dismissed or confirmed as factual in a matter of seconds.  Who cares?  Just ask all those people playing trivia games.  It's fun for people with curious minds.  I believe readers have curious minds. 

Let me back up a moment and stress the relative to the story apect of my research...  While it's great to have an arsenel of facts, or what my husband calls "useless information" for a Trivial Pursuit game, just throwing them into your story for no good reason can be distracting, so I don't recommend it. 

This may be coming more from my point of view as a reader rather than a writer, but it's important, either way.  There's a fine line between interesting and drole in the pusuit of sharing facts.  It's important that you've confirmed your facts with a number of reliable resources, and then they have be interesting and relevant.

OK, back to work.  Please remember, I'm not an expert.  I'm just a gal who knows what she likes to do, and wanted to share a thought or two on my thought process. 

Have a Groovey Tuesday!

And now, about writing...

I had almost forgotten this blog existed.  Seems that I've been letting life get the best of me lately.  Sometimes, it feels like brick by brick, it's closing in.

Thank goodness I have my book to work on.  It's almost as if God threw me a bone with the concept to help distract me from the rest of the world.

I know that being published should be the main objective for a writer, but this book seems to be serving a dual purpose for me.  It's been bringing me joy during a dark time in my life.

I love my characters.  When I'm not writing them, they're lingering in my conscious. 

It's like those rare dreams, when the places and people are so real, I miss them when I wake up.  I have to grab onto the bits and pieces I can remember as I become more awake. 

Complete stangers in my waking hours, but familiar and loved in my dreams.  It has to be real on some level...

Does anybody else dream that way, or am I revealing something strange about myself that I assumed everyone experiences?

I think that's the beauty of having some ability to write.  You can create whatever characters or universe you wish.  No limits.  It's an exhilerating concept! 

The heart and soul lies in the characters as they come alive in your mind.  I'll be honest.  I love the characters I'm currently working on (with?) more than many real-life people I know. 

Is that too honest? 

My husband says that I'm honest to a fault sometimes.  (I think it has to do with a head injury in my twenties.)

What's a girl to do? 

I'm going to get back to my book now.  I had to take a break, because I brought some sadness in my MC's (main character's) life, and found myself slipping into sadness.

That's right.  I'm using this blog as a distraction to elude a bad day!

I guess you could call this blog a glimpse into the the writing process of a writer's book in progress!

Eden's note in the snow to Aunt Kathy

What happened to July?

So, it's August already and I have no idea where the time went...It seems I missed blogging the entire month of July!  I've been real busy with my kids, and have been committing as much time as I can to helping out and hanging out with my sick sis.

You know, I have a theory about why time seems to go by so much faster now that I'm an adult.  Sure we're busier with lots more responsibilty, but that doesn't jive with the whole "Time Flies When You're Having Fun" theory. 

When I was a kid, life was a lot of fun!  Time certainly didn't fly by.  There really wasn't that much to worry about--just things like going to school, doing homework, learning to tie your shoes, and using the right silverware in front of our scary Grandmom...

Other than that, life consisted of riding bikes, building forts and playing games like "Ghost in the Graveyard" (so fun!)  There were so many of us, that on some days during summer vaction, our mom would only let us in the house to use the bathroom--lunchtime picnics everyday--we loved it! 

So here's my theory on how the time flies:
See, I think life is like a roadtrip--The ride there always takes forever, but the ride home seems to go by pretty quickly... (I remember our family taking roadtrips to the mountains in Pennsylvania--once, we even went as far as Canada.  Our parents stuffed all seven kids in a station wagon,  and away we went...now that's a long roadtrip!) 

Anyway, my point is that I think our life's timeline is like that.  When I was a kid, it seemed like the days were really long, and it took FOREVER for Christmas to come back around--So that was the first half of the "life" ride--very long.

At some point in my adulthood, time started moving very quickly--like the "life" ride back...

So, if you're feeling like time is soaring past you, it's probably because you're on your way back, so to speak--in other words, when you finally reach your destination, you truly will be at the end of the road...
So take the time to enjoy your life, and make it a sweet journey! 

Storybook Land & My PB Story...

I have this picture book that I've been working on about a peacock named Parsnip. 
I got the idea while at the zoo with my kids a few months ago.  I was watching the lemurs in their pen antagonizing a peacock who was free to walk around the zoo.  He had been kind of following us around... 

I kept thinking, 'This would be a good story', but I wasn't sure about where to go with it. 

About a week later, as we were driving down this wooded road in Southern New Jersey,  I was still pondering where to go with it when suddenly, a peacock--yes a PEACOCK, crossed the road right in front of us!!  I have witnessess!

 (It turns out that there's a guy with a ton of wooded property on that road who raises exotic birds--this one must have busted out.   But still, a peacock?  Come on...He was running across the road with his feathers back, and his neck bobbing front to back, front to back as he arrived safely on the other side.  It was just a sight to see~)

My husband and I looked at each other in shock for a second, and then he said real calmly, "Now there's something you don't see every day..."  We started cracking up! 

It was totally surreal-- and it gave me the answer I was looking for.  Write the damn peacock book-- NOW!

That's when Parsnip Peacock was born.  Except, my peacock is different.  He's white.  (Like a parsnip is when it's peeled). 

Anyway, I took my manuscript to the NJ SCBWI with me, (I thought I should bring something...) even though I knew it was too long for a picture book...  Well, on my return trip  from the conference, I had ideas swirling around my head about how to fix it with the information I had just gained in Princeton.

I had no sooner arrived home from the conference when we found out about my sister's illness, and I dropped everything.  Including my pal, the peacock.

I keep missing Parsnip, though, and yesterday while on my four-year-old's class trip to a place called Storybook Land (of all names), in Egg Harbor Township N.J., the universe nudged me again. 

Within five minutes of arriving at Storybook Land, I met the dude in the pictures you see here.  I walked up to him, he YAWWWED (loud!) right at me,  fanned open his beautiful, white feathers, and did a spin....I took a couple of pictures and smiled. 

It was the first truly hopeful feeling I've had since we found out Kathy was sick.

Needless to say, I'm not giving up on Parsnip, either...

I'm back!

Well, I'm back.  If some of you were able to read my last post about my sister being sick (before I deleted it), then you will undoubtedly know that we've all been pretty busy, and yes, I slacked off on my blog--sorry!

Since this blog started out with me mentioning the deletion of one of my posts, I'd like to expand on why we delete things we put so much of ourselves into. 

For me, personally, deleting is a common thing.  Since I don't really understand the whole "online posting" end of deleting, I'm not sure if my words actually go away once I hit the delete button.  (If the post about my sister's cancer is still out there, can someone let me know?)

Getting back on point.  Ever since I was a kid, I have destroyed things I've written.  In one of my college classes, a piece that I had written about my being mugged was read by the professor to the class (it was the only one she shared).  Even though she didn't tell anyone who had written it,  I remember my face burning (with embarrassment?  fear?) as I watched everyone listening--really listening--to my words.  When it was over, everyone looked around at each other, trying to figure out who wrote it.
 
She gave it back to me at the end of the class, and when I got home, I burned it in the fireplace.   I've been nuts for a long, long time. 

I guess I need to write about things close to me for some sort of theraputic reason, but I always feel embarrassed later--hence, the deletions...

I'm much more confident with my fictional stuff, though.  I'm finding that it doesn't matter what I write about, banging on the keyboard makes me feel better.  So, I'll try to keep my really personal stuff out, and my huge imagination and opinions in.