Two thumbs up (and totally biased)

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Contest judges, agents, editors, readers—writers get lots of constructive and not so constructive feedback on our work. Sometimes, it’s downright cruel.

But it’s also part of the job. Want to land those freelancing gigs? Want to publish that book? Then develop the tough skin, learn to deal with rejection, keep calm and carry on.

Yeah, writers are right up there with sales people where enduring rejection is concerned.

So with all this rejection and school of hard knocks, I think it’s only necessary to have someone totally biased in your favor, in your corner.

We need it. We need people who can offer the encouragement and support that’ll keep us bouncing back up in the ring, ready for another brutal round.

For example, after finally beating my contest submission into some semblance of acceptable writing—and becoming completely sick of the smelly old piece of crap in the process—I took a break, called my mom and told her what I was up to.

“Oh,” she said. “How wonderful! I think it’s great when people can weave together plots and subplots to make an idea come to life.”

Then I read her my novel summary.

She gasped, ooohed, and ahhhed in all the right places. When I finished reading, she demanded I send her a copy right away so she could read it. I told her I was still working on the final revisions, but that I hoped to get everything done in the next couple of months.

“Well hurry it up, would you? I’m not getting any younger here,” was her response.

I promised I’d get my backside in gear. She seemed satisfied and I hung up the phone with a big smile on my face. Yeah, I know I’m gonna get smacked around a lot in the publishing world, regardless of the route I take.

But by golly, my mom likes my book.

Why do you write?

I subscribe to some great writing blogs like Seth Godin’s, Mridhu Khullar Relph’s, WiseInk, and a few others. These writers generously share their struggles and practical tips with the world. They make my writing life that much more fun.

But this morning, there was something special that totally blew me away.

1/3 inspiration, 2/3 common sense, this Renegade Writer’s blog post totally hammered home why I need to revamp my thinking about success. I like it so much I’m gonna print it out and keep it taped up right in front of me.

Here’s a little excerpt.

“Whether you call it positive thinking, a positive attitude, or a winning mindset, it’s the strategy of having a dream, creating a plan, projecting the positive results of that plan, and taking the necessary actions to accomplish your writing goal.

Part of positive thinking is the importance of determining your true motivation. In other words, what is your purpose? Why do you want to succeed? And, what do you want to succeed at?   All this matters.

You need to know and be focused on what you want, what success means to you, and exactly what you want to succeed at. You also need to know your motivation, your purpose.”

The post goes on to detail 7 steps every writer should take, steps like:

• Ask yourself what you want to succeed at, and why?
• Make a plan on how to achieve it
• Give yourself a reasonable timeline
• Don’t just talk the talk (guilty!)

The rest of the steps on this fabulous post is here.

Encouragement

Encouragement is a wonderful thing–especially when you’re pounding away over the weekend trying to meet a deadline. Here’s something that’s putting a fire under my backside, courtesy of the WiseInk blog.

“You are smarter, braver, and more capable than you know.

This very simple statement allows us to leave the space where we only measure ourselves by our proven skills, and move INTO a space where we are fully aware that there are heights and depths and mountains and canyons that we CAN reach.

While the rest of the world might measure you by your proven achievements, YOU must measure yourself by the achievements yet to be had. Without living in the presence of your full potential, you won’t seek to reach it. You won’t even know it’s there!”

Check out the entire post here.  You won’t be sorry.

Unexpected help

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every once in a while, writers get some unexpected help.

Writers struggle to be taken seriously. Family members wonder why we spend so much time clicking away on our laptops instead of focusing on a real career that actually might make us some money.

Co-workers may be polite to your face but behind your back, roll their eyes when you come up in conversation. “Oh puhleeze! Did you know Sylvia’s been writing that (insert pantomimed finger quotes here) book for almost a year now? Like it really takes that long. Say, did you catch last week’s NFC game?”

We writers learn the hard way to hold our publishing dreams close to the chest.

But then every once in a while, we catch a break. A gloriously unexpected, inspiring confirmation that yes, there are other people out there who take our work seriously and will help.

Let’s take expert sources as an example.

When I request expert sources for freelance articles, my Gmail inbox is flooded with people eagerly offering their wares. It’s quite the opposite when I ask for guidance on whether I’ve buried the bones correctly or whether the DNA trace is still viable.

My inbox? Dry as a withered up old apple hanging limply on a tree branch in the grey dead of winter.

Really, it’s quite understandable. I mean, let’s look at it logically. A freelance article gets my sources out in front of thousands of readers. I’ve secured publication with an editor. I’m a known quantity.

Not so with a novel. I may or may not get published. If I do succeed, any acknowledgement won’t happen for a couple of years. When it does, it’ll be buried in the back part of the book. Why should a source waste his/her valuable time answering questions when there’s a real chance nothing will come of it?

Luckily for us, there are experts out there who don’t always think logically.

Last week, I called around to several forensic anthropology experts asking if they might spare 15 minutes to answer (literally) five questions about old bones. I explained who I was, emphasized that I was writing a novel, it was fiction and in no way, was I looking to obtain confidential information. All I needed was a few facts to make my plot more plausible since I’d gone as far as I could with my own research.

I got zip response on my voice mails and one expert telling me sniffily that he’d have to check with his PR department to confirm protocols before saying anything more, thank you very much, I’ll call you, please don’t call me, goodbye, click!

I’m betting the response would’ve been completely different if my name was Tess Gerritsen, David Baldacci or Gayle Lynds.

And that’s when I caught the break.

An assistant to the one expert I didn’t think would respond, called. “I gave her your message and she’s in meetings all day until late tonight,” he said. “But if you email your questions to her, she’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible.”

All right, I still have a chance!

I ended up emailing her at midnight, figuring it might be a while before she responded.

Boy, was I wrong.

By 9.30 AM the next morning I had all my answers, plus some extra to make the plot even better. You can bet I sent her a very thankful, appreciative email. You can also bet that her name is going to be one of the first I list in my acknowledgements.

But it’s more than just an appreciation for her answers. I appreciate that she took me seriously.

That’s a big thing for any writer.

A little bit of inspiration for a rainy day

Quote: “Follow your dreams, and the money will come. Follow the money, and you lose your dreams.”

Yeah, we’ve all heard it.

Most of us think it’s some kind of sappy nonsense…except it actually seems to work for Robert Dugoni. I attended one of his talks several years ago when he was finally breaking through and in a business full of divas and rejections, he’s one of the nicest writers you’re ever going to meet.

Note: The video link in the webpage doesn’t work so here’s  a link to the YouTube interview:

Monday morning inspiration

I’m gonna have that theme song running through my head the rest of the day but you know, it’s worth it.