my husband proposed to me. And this morning he brought me coffee in bed while he did toddler duty. He gets my vote for Most Romantic Man today and every day. Happy Valentine’s day to everybody out there. Appreciate your own Valentines today!
Yesterday was one of Those Days. After writing one agonizing paragraph on my WIP and feeling stupid, slow and dull all morning, I decided it was time to face the fact that I felt cruddy, I’d felt cruddy for three days, and maybe it was time to take something and get some rest. So I dosed myself up on sinus medication and read “The Dragon and the George” (Gordon Dickson, always good for a laugh). I got through the day and went to bed as soon as our daughter did.
Today I feel much better. I’m glad I got some rest, I’m glad I didn’t do the stupid thing and ignore symptoms until I got really sick, but I’m also glad I wrote that paragraph. Even on Those Days, the writing still reads just the same as work done on good days after the fact.
The slow progress also made me decide to maybe jump ahead in the story and quit trying to make that scene happen. I know what happens in that scene, I know the whole chapter, but if it isn’t coming out right, I can write something else and come back to it. Today I’ll see how it goes and if that chapter just isn’t moving, I’ll go on to something else that is. Maybe stories have Those Days, too, and that chapter will feel better if I let it get some rest.
Sometimes you just want a good book to read. Without writing it. I hopped on to my favorite forum this week and asked for recommendations. Lots of suggestions I’d already read popped up, but here are some new to me titles and authors I’m going to check out: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, Heroics For Beginners by John Moore, and The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem. Thanks to all the TORNadoes who helped me find something to read!
And for all the rest of you reading this blog, feel free to give me your suggestions. Funny books sought, fantasy/SF preferred but open to other genres.
I worked on marketing stuff yesterday. I’m doing an online author day for the ebooklove Yahoo group after Rockets releases and I want to be prepared. Since I’m promoting the release of Love and Rockets, I found a bunch of fun links related to fireworks: online toys, history, science. I also put together some copy and paste posts so if I go blank from nerves I will have something to say that’s at least coherent!
Been thinking about persistance, because this week I read in Wil Wheaton’s blog that he’s got a job on CSI. I’ve been reading his blog for about 2 years. At first out of curiosity, “oh, so that’s what he’s been doing”, then out of respect, “hey, he’s really a good writer, good for him getting a book deal”, and then just to silently root for the guy as he persisted in showing up to try out for part after part after part. At last his persistance has been rewarded!
This is a good example for writers. I at least don’t have to go tap-dance in front of editors and agents personally. I send them my ms. and hope for the best and if I get rejected, it’s all nice and impersonal. Imagine pitching yourself in person, over and over and over, getting no after no after no, and NOT QUITTING. I went to a workshop Susan Wiggs gave a couple of years ago and she said she has honestly never seen a writer fail to make it if they just didn’t give up. Persistance pays, it really does.
And while you’re persisting, it’s good to have affirmations. I use them. I have come across Kara Lennox’s blog recently and she posts an affirmation for the day along with her blog entry. I love that.
So there’s today’s deep thought. Use affirmations, persist, and oh, yeah, be prepared (i.e. my author day preparation). Because no matter where you are in your journey, these things will help you move forward.
A forum friend of mine in NZ bought Yule Be Mine in paperback and put it up on Bookcrossing. Bookcrossing, if you’re not familiar with it, is a pretty neat thing. It’s like a mini private lending library.
She who will be known here only as FutureCat in order to protect the not-very-innocent gave me 8 out of 10 stars. What I liked best about the readers who’ve picked up Yule on Bookcrossing? They’re not romance fans, but they read my book anyway. This is a big compliment. It takes a lot to hold a reader’s attention even if they love your kind of book. To hold the interest of non-romance fans is pretty cool. And now these readers know what a snow angel is, snow angels being rare over there.
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