Rejection

My friend and unpublished (for now, but not for long) author just suffered through a devastating rejection from an agent at a writing conference. He compared her book (that he hasn’t read) to a book from a Canadian author that was well written, but with a story so bad no one would read or buy it. I gave her some advice I want to share here, because every writer has felt that pain.  

 

Good news, the worst is over. Rejection has stared you in the face and you survived.

Be sad and feel bad and eat ice cream and then get mad and prove him wrong!  I’ve seen so many students and writers devastated by BAD criticism that they gave up. Don’t give up.

Have you watched Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture” online? You can Google/Youtube it. His best piece of advice is “The walls are there to stop the OTHER people.” I love that. You just encountered a wall. Are you going to let it stop you, or are you going to find a way over or around it? He may stop many people this weekend. You are not one of them. Don’t let his negative world affect your world for one more minute. He may even get off on crushing dreams, and sleep with a teddy bear and call it Mommy because he didn’t get enough love as a child.   

How the heck can he compare your situation with a Canadian writer with a bad book. A) You are not Canadian and why does that even matter? And B) Your book is GOOD. Apples and oranges, baby. Fallacious argument. Doesn’t make sense, no logic. Doesn’t follow.

Think about how many bad/uninspired books you’ve read. Somebody published them. Yours is good, so it shouldn’t be hard to get published, but it is. I don’t understand it, either. But the world works in a crazy way sometimes.

You now have a specific goal, to imagine his face when he gets a copy of your published book.

You have work to do, get that book out there.

Write soon,

Mary

Outliners vs. pantsers

The author Kelly O’Connor McNees (The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott) mentioned in her presentation earlier this summer at Saturday Writers the difference between writers who are outliners (those who plan) and pantsers (those who fly by the seat of their pants).

As a writer, I can honestly say that I love outlines. For nonfiction, I use comprehensive outlines. For fiction, I use a variety of methods that run from not much except an idea I have in my brain, to some sort of weird, abbreviated version of a list or plan of how I want to get characters from Point A to Point B.

As a speech teacher, I require students to turn in an outline form that I give them. The top of the sheet requires the student to state the topic and thesis. These items are followed by a standard outline format that lists main points, sub points, introduction, conclusions and transitions. I do this for a couple of reasons – one is that they have an appropriate speech topic with sufficient support for their thesis and main points, and the other is that they don’t wait to the last minute to begin working on the presentation.

Let me tell you about Andrew, a fictional student I just made up who represents several students I have every semester. Andrew usually approaches me right before class begins, or during our break to tell me his outline isn’t finished. He hems and haws around a bit, and sheepishly admits that he can’t seem to settle on a topic.

“I have some ideas,” he says. “But I haven’t written anything.”

I tell Andrew to pick any topic, and go with it. I tell him that I don’t care if it isn’t good. I tell him he doesn’t have to give his speech using that exact topic and main points, and I tell him that something is better than nothing.

What I don’t tell him is that by writing anything, it forces him to develop his ideas. I also don’t tell him that there is power and strength in beginnings, and outlines help us get rid of the fear of not being able to do it.

And Andrew always writes something. And it’s always good.
    
Write soon,

Mary

Book jackets

Writers appreciate interesting visuals, and when the visuals are book covers, well, even better! Grab a cup of coffee and follow the link.  http://thejacketmuseum.wordpress.com/

Let me know which ones you like!

Write soon,

Mary

Self-fulfilling prophecy

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction or statement about ourselves that may or may not be true, but causes us to behave as if the prediction or statement were actually true.

When I was a kid, I struggled with math. It didn’t take me long to go from not understanding certain algebraic concepts to believing that I wasn’t good at math. That’s what I told myself, and I believed it. And because I believed that I wasn’t good at math, I behaved as if it were true, turning it into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Maybe if I had worked a little harder or longer, I would have been able to understand algebra. But I didn't give myself the opportunity to improve. I gave up because I believed I couldn't do it.

What is the little voice in your head telling you? Are you sending yourself positive messages, or negative ones? Are you taking a small setback and letting it turn you into someone who is afraid to proceed because the outcome may not be as great as you think? Or do you give yourself the message that you can do more than you think you can?

Don’t let the negative thoughts in your head determine your reality. We all have disappointments and failures. Look at them for what they are: opportunities to improve.

Write soon,

Mary

Success and failure

Success is never final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts

Winston Churchill

Recently, I haven’t started any new projects, and haven’t finished any old ones. I’m not writing much, and don’t have a routine. I do have a few ideas in the hopper, but nothing is rising to the top. Does that make me a failure? Maybe, but I’m not giving up. I’m just going to start again.

This week the fall semester begins. One thing I like about school is that we get to start over a few times a year, so we have more chances to get it right. I love that. A student or teacher can have the worst semester ever, and in a few months, it doesn’t matter because everything ends, and then we get a chance to begin again. Sounds kinda like life, eh?

At the beginning of every semester, I ask my oral communications students to write down their fears and goals for the class. I stress the part about CLASS, but I get a variety of students who write about other fears like spiders, bugs and heights. (I can relate to the one about heights.)

I save these sheets in my class folder, and return them on the last day of class. On that day, I announce to them that they can see how they have conquered their fears and met their goals. Every time I put a sheet on a desk, I watch the student read it and smile. I love that.

Write down your goals. Write down your fears. Every day, try to do one thing to accomplish your goals, and one thing to eliminate your fears. By the end of the week, or month, or season or year, you will have something – and it may be good. Work toward something bigger than yourself, and you will be able to realize who you are, hiding in plain sight underneath who you think you are. And don’t give up. Ever.

Write soon,

Mary

What I want the truth to be vs. the actual truth

I WANT to say that I haven’t posted content lately because I became engrossed in the movie Moby Dick, which turned into an obsession with the book, with which I am almost finished. But, it wouldn’t be true. I tried to watch the movie, I really did, but it just wasn’t for me.

I couldn’t get past William Hurt as Captain Ahab. I like William Hurt, but I kept seeing and hearing him as his character in The Accidental Tourist, and the peg leg just made it more unbelievable. I believed Gary Sinise as Lt. Dan who lost his legs in Forrest Gump, but couldn’t make the same leap with William Hurt in Moby Dick.

And to be completely honest, I had issues with his coat being buttoned/unbuttoned in a scene in which I’m sure they had many takes, and was hard to make it exactly the same every time, and it bugged me. And when I find myself looking for things like buttons on a coat in a movie, then I know the spell is broken. My only reasoning is that sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t.

I CAN honestly say I finished my summer semester, turned in my grades and began preparing for the next semester. Plus we have house guests! Like all writing, blogs take thought, time and effort to produce content, and while most of us have one or two of those things going for us at any one time, it’s hard to have all three at once!

So tell me, how do you motivate yourself to write? Do you have a certain amount of time you set aside, or is it a word count goal every day, or week, or month?

Write soon,

Mary

An interview with author Kelly O'Connor McNees

Last month, Kelly O’Connor McNees spoke at Saturday Writers about her book titled The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott. The debut novel presents a fictional account of what might have happened to Louisa May Alcott one summer. In this interview, O’Connor McNees gives some insight into the book, her inspiration and writing process.

Can you give a brief summary, and tell why you decided to write the book?

Millions of readers have fallen in love with Little Women. But how could Louisa May Alcott-who never had a romance-write so convincingly of love and heart-break without experiencing it herself?

I had always loved Little Women but never knew much about Louisa May Alcott herself until I picked up a biography of her a few years ago. I learned that her life was big and complex, and that she had burned some of her letters and journals before she died. I thought those spaces in the historical record offered a great opportunity for fiction.

What was the most surprising piece of information you found out about Alcott?

That she didn't want to write Little Women at all! She thought her own life was very boring.

How did you research the material for the book?

I read most of Louisa's novels and stories, many different biographies of her and some of her family members, as well as her own words in her remaining letters and journals. I spent time too learning about what life was like in 1855, how domestic tasks were performed, what people wore and ate. It was such a pleasure hunting for the perfect details.

You write first, and then revise later. Why does this system work for you?

I think you need to get something on the page to work with. You can't fix what isn't there!

You also outline before you write. Do you have any particular tips, or an outline style that works best for you?

I try to think in scenes rather than chapters. What interactions need to take place between the characters to keep the story moving forward?

What was the most difficult part of writing/publishing this book?

Coming back to the manuscript every day when something is not working. That doesn't change one bit after getting published.

Read more about Kelly and the novel at http://kellyoconnormcnees.com/

Write soon,

Mary