Sigh….
April 25th, 2008 by SaraSigh…
Today in the mail, I received the bane of a writer’s existence. “Your work was given careful consideration by one of our editors, and we are sorry to say that we do not feel like it is right for our list.” ARGGGGGGG!
The form letter has the power to derail you like nothing else. That’s because it is exactly that, nothing. You can’t fight back against it. You can’t rage against its harsh judgment. You can’t even scream ‘THEY’RE WRONG.” It’s pretty hard to argue against a non-opinion about your work.
And, of course as writers, we start imagining. Picturing the assistant editor’s assistant who looked at your pages. She sneered at them. She didn’t even bother getting to the second paragraph. She just cackled evilly to herself.
“I wouldn’t sully my pen by writing a single word on this manuscript. The ink would probably eat through those terrible metaphors anyway. How dare such filth be sent to this fine establishment! Ban the Sara-woman for life!”
I will not let the reality of my experiences and conversations with perfectly nice editors get in the way of my imagination either. The assistant is actually a dragon, sitting in her cave, surrounded by manuscripts instead of treasure. She roasts the truly despicable ones… I can even see the singe marks around the edges of my story now. Can’t you?
Whew. I’m actually feeling pretty lucky now. I’m sure the worst authors get kidnapped and skewered for dinner. At least, I escaped that fate.
Flap. Flap. Flap. Do you hear that strange noise?
AHHHHHHHHHHH!
Posted in Not-so-nifty happenings, Writing
April 28th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Sara,
let’s take a little of that WHUMP! WHOMP! energy from the drumming and open up the can of WHUMP *$$ motivation they mailed you with that lame form rejection letter.
Think about this: the best revenge will be success, HUGE success!
You are a great writer, and they just lost out on something really special.
So, WHUMP! WHOMP! On to the NEXT prospect - you’ve got the gold, you just need to find the right editor, editor’s assistant, and assistant to the assistant editor who KNOW treasure when they’ve got it in their hands!
So take that rejection letter, put it on the floor, and STOMP on it!
WHUMP!
YOU ARE A DRAGON, TOO!
WHOMP! WHUMP!
And you’ve GOT the treasure, by golly!
WHOMP! WHUMP! WHOMP!
GIVE A GOOD ROAAAR, AND SOAR INTO THE SKY!
You’ll get there. I KNOW it.
Your fan,
Lee
Whump! Whomp!
April 18th, 2008 by Sara
There is nothing like
Taiko drums to root rhythm
Deep into your words!
Posted in Writing
April 19th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Oh, yeah!! I’ve been meaning to tell you, if you and Tony are interested in trying taiko again, I’ve got a recommendation for you!! :D
Warts and All
April 17th, 2008 by Sara
Well, instead of groveling for bloggle forgiveness for my inexcusable absence, I’m merely going to chalk it up to an excellent example of how I write.
What an great idea, you’re saying. Why didn’t I think of that excuse myself, you wonder. Why? Because I’m simply BRILLIANT and full of sh…arp ideas!
So, here’s the thing. This past weekend was Writer’s Day here in the LA chapter of SCBWI and one of the speakers was Gail Carson Levine. Someone asked her what her writing schedule was like. She stalled for a moment, then revealed the awesome truth.
I have a laptop, she said in Sara’s fairly accurate paraphrase, and I write when I eat breakfast. And lunch. And I write while I eat dinner. I tend to fall asleep while I’m writing and at least I can’t sleep while my mouth is moving.
Ok. Hands down one of the best answers to that question EVER.
So, inspired by that wonderfully bizarre and revealing answer, I realized that this blog is clear proof of my writing style and schedule. Sometimes I write consistently. Sometimes erratically. Sometimes I seemingly abandon my writing all together. But no matter how my ‘active’ writing process is going, I am always, _always_, ALWAYS thinking about my stories.
When I go to the Battlestar Galactica concert featuring the amazing music from that amazing show, I find in the music a soundtrack to my novel that uncovers the sense of urgency I’ve been trying to inject into my key scenes.
When I go to the bookstore to peruse the new picture books, I find a book that uses page turns in just the way that will give my picture book the added momentum it needs.
And when I get angry at the world because my writing is stalling out, and I’m no closer to reaching my goals, I realize that rage is the exact emotion that is missing from my final scene.
Sometimes I feel like I lose my way, but the truth is, I’m walking the writing path every minute of every day. Even when there are these spells of seeming dryness. I’m really just one of those toads who lives in the desert. They bury themselves, sometimes for months at a time. They just sit there and sit there, existing. Waiting. Then it rains and they emerge. They splash and drink and eat and sing and well… you know. They party until the rains stop and the desert dries up. Then they burrow back down into the dark to wait.
So, I’m a toad.
Except for one huge difference. When I’m in the dark, I’m never waiting. I’m dreaming and plotting and planning exactly what’s going to happen when I finally do reach the world up above.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
man, i love your insights into the writing process. you make it easy to understand what goes on in the life of a writer. :)
April 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Hey Sara,
This was really deep and considered. And I really appreciate how thoughtful you are about your process, and how open you are to sharing it with all of us in the blog-o-sphere.
I don’t think I’ll ever look at desert toads in the same way again!
Maybe they’re plotting and dreaming while they’re burrowed deep, too?
It’s a great reminder that each step, even when it’s not directly putting words down, is part of this writer’s journey of ours!
thanks for that!
Namaste,
Lee
