No Hope

I feel like this week's quote is a bit of a downer. Even though the true message is basically to keep on keeping on.

Still, keep going when there seems to be no hope? Yeah. I think we all feel like that about something at some point in life, but I think the main thing we all need to remember is that we need to keep GOING.

Sometimes it's hard when you feel like everything is against you, but no one ever said life - or getting published - was easy. And if you ever think someone's life or writing journey was easy, well then you probably don't know them very well.

It's hard to remember that when it feels like everyone around you has great news and fantastical deals and the whole of the interwebz is celebrating with them, but just remember: your time will come, you simply must keep going.

This past winter was a big moment of seemingly no hope for me, and now, well, now summer's fast approaching, I've made it through finding a new normal with the family, have taken some time for myself and started back into the wonderful world of word counts and writing, and now, I think I am stronger for the experience.

What's your moment of seemingly no hope? How did you make it through?

Joining Short Races

This week's quote has really stuck with me. When I first saw it, I didn't think much about it, but then I realized how true it is. Especially for me right now.

I tweeted a while back that I signed up for my first 5K. Ever. I hate to run, but I needed something to get me moving. And people always told me it's a lot harder to commit to training unless you have a predetermined deadline.

So here it is: my next birthday, June 9, and what a way to start a new year of my life, right? Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. I only have 2 goals for this 5K. #1) run the entire time & #2) survive.

I think those are very reasonable goals.

As I thought through my running goals, I realized how remiss I've been on the writing front. I've been losing all the short races on this side by simply not participating at all. On pinterest there's this little poster:

And yeah, I've been the one sitting on the couch as everyone's been passing by.

Well no more!

If I can get training for this 5K, then I can get back into the writerly swing of things. I've said it before, the getting started again, but if you never start (however many times it may take), you'll never ever finish, right??

Since I've committed to 2 goals for the 5K on my birthday, I've decided I need to commit to 2 goals for my writing to be done by my birthday. #1) get to 40K words in the current WIP (I'm right about 5K right now) & #2) blog twice a week to get back into my writerly groove.

Nothing too crazy or impossible. Not gonna jump into any marathons right away, because that's how you end up quitting before you get started, I think.

Realistic enough goals, but at the same time, a bit of a stretch for me.

How are your short races going? Are they pretty reasonable without being easy reach?

Quote of the Week

"Perseverence is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other."

Walter Elliot

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week

"The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places."

Unknown

Quote of the Week

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue to that counts.

Winston Churchill

It Didn't Burn and Thank You Thursday

If you've been following me on Twitter, especially this week, you'll know I've been pretty paranoid about cooking lately.

When Husband started working nights, dinner (and his lunch for work) fell to me. Now, I'm not necessarily a horrible cook, I'm just not that great. And over the last few weeks when I've been sick, he's picked up a lot of the slack and cooked. I'm cooking again now and I've been very nervous to try again.

You see, the reason he picked up the slack was because I started over- or under-cooking EVERYTHING.  It was abysmal. Looking back I realize why that was: I was physically not well, which made me feel mentally and emotionally spent--I just wasn't into it enough to put the energy forth.

The same reason I didn't do much writing while I was going through everything--I just didn't have the energy for it.

The thing with writing is that there's not always someone there to pick up your slack, literally. No one can write your book for you. But for me, there are people who've been around to help me start putting my head back together, who have been there through all of this to help me piece my thoughts into some semblance of order so I can keep at this whole writing thing.

So today is a Thank You Thursday.

comic courtesy of Natalie Dee

For all those peeps, writerly and not, who've helped me remember why I have to keep trying. I can't thank you guys enough! Have you said thank you to the peeps who help you keep going just by being around?

P.S. *knocks on wood* we're at 3 nights in a row of pretty good dinners that I've cooked. Hopefully the streak holds on!

Trying Outlines ... Again

Speaking of trying again, a few things you may not have previously known about me: 

• I don't write in chronological order. 
• I don't outline until I'm done with the book. 
• I don't write chapters at a time. 
• I don't know how long my books going to be until it's written.

I really shouldn't have ever said "don't" because . . .

I just finished a pretty extensive outline on my current wip that I'm only about 1/3 of the way through. This is a written-down-on-paper-with-enough-detail-I-don't-have-to-try-to-remember-everything-in-my-head outline. I tried this before once. The outline was more one wordish and I had no idea what I was thinking when I wrote it. I don't think it was supposed to be an outlined story.

From a pantser trying to write from an outline, I'm curious, have you tried going against your norm? Are you an outliner who's tried writing from the hip? Are you a pantser who's outlined your latest wip? How's it going?

Try, Try Again

I'm back now. For real this time, (I hope). I'm running with the theme of this week's Quote and starting over. Sort of. I'm still working up to 100%, slow going, but I keep getting these "friendly reminders" to take the time. You know who you are!

Well, some of you may know, I've been swimming a bit in the vast query oceans and with all querying comes rejection. It totally sucks. There's a lot out there that tells you not to take rejections personally, but seriously?

These projects have taken months . . . years of our lives to complete. And have probably taken years off our lives just to get to this point!

Everyone deals with rejection differently and no matter how much we try to let it roll off our backs, the sting of it lingers.For me, I send off my queries, up to 5 at a time, and then just don't let myself think about it. It's a wonder what being distracted by your health, two small kids, a full time job, a monstrous reading list, and just the regular dealings of day-to-day life can do. And if a request comes up, Woohoo. If a rejection comes, well crap, but I can always drown myself in some Starbucks ice cream (my new fave!) and send out 5 more queries and try again!

So how do you deal with rejection? Some ice cream and more queries? A cup of tea and some agent research? Or how about 2K new words in your latest wip?

Who to Run to

So sorry to all for my absence this past week. To roll up all the excuses together, there was lots of sickness, fussy kidlet-ness and catching up abound and I just had to say no to something. Unfortunately, blog-o-sphere was it. But yay! I'm back now.

I'm still working on catching up on all the blog posts I've missed during the week, so you may see some better-late-than-never comments from me :)

That's not what I wanted to talk about today, though. I've been listening to a bit of Lady Antebellum recently and as I started writing this post their song I Run To You came on and there's a line in there that goes "I run from prejudice, I run from pessimists" and I started thinking about how we, as writers, all face this.

There will be people who don't like the genre you write.
There will be people who don't believe you will get published.
There will be people who tell you you stink.
And there will be people who tell you you have no chance in hell of getting where you're trying to go.

So this is a shout out to all my awesome crit buddies, family and friends who've been there when I needed to run from prejudice and pessimists.

Thanks. You guys rock.

I Run To You - Lady Antebellum

Quote of the Week

"Hope and patience are two sovereign rememdies

for all, the surest reposals, the softest cushions

to lean on in adversity."

Robert Burton

Quote of the Week

"No one can really pull you up very high--
you lose your grip on the rope.

But on your own two feet you can climb mountains."

Louis Brandeis