Happy National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month, so I celebrated by writing a poem. If you decide to write one too, share a link in the comment section, so we can take a peek. Also, I'd love to hear who some of your favorite poets are, so give them a shout-out!

Story Farm by Laura Renegar

The writer’s brain is like a farm

With many seeds to sow.

Ideas sink in and some take root

In zig-zags more than rows.

The farmer weeds the adverbs out.

She fertilizes scenes.

Organically, she kills the tropes—

Those buggers can be mean.

She takes her time with characters.

Her voice makes each one blossom.

She irrigates and prunes each page,

Until the plot is awesome.

She’s story farming all the time.

As seasons paint the sky,

Until she picks her finest fruit

For publishers to buy.

*special thanks to my oldest daughter for illustrating my poem!

Lovers, Haters, and Creators

Creating is natural. Beautiful. Fulfilling.

Sharing is liberating. Gratifying. Gut-wrenching.

Yeah, I said it: Gut-wrenching. Because not everybody loves every creation.

We aren’t all attracted to the same people, and that’s a good thing. I’m thankful I don’t have to pry other women off my man every time we go to Target. That would be awkward and all sorts of time consuming. He’s a good-looking man, mind you, but most women notice the gold band around his finger and realize there are other options.

I follow many writer feeds, and over and over I read this advice: “Don’t read your reviews…EVER…unless someone reads them first and filters them and only hands over the ones that say you’re brilliant.” It’s as if the path to Goodreads is Disney’s Splash Mountain ride. A boatload of writers bopping along to Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah getting the tummy squirms as danger signs and buzzards appear.

So why does it bother us if what we create isn’t for everyone? We don’t all like the same foods, music, or people.

But when you create something, it’s different. It comes from you. You love it, nurture it, and groom it. When it seems less fragile, you allow a select few to hold it. And when you are confident your creation can walk, run, or even fly on its own, you let go.

Or pretend to.

But it’s still your baby.

And when someone calls your baby ugly, it would be easy to go mama bear on them.

But we mustn’t.

I am North Carolina born and raised and grew up under the rule of “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” so I’m guessing I should probably avoid reading my own reviews when that glorious day comes…or maybe I’ll peek through half-closed fingers like a kid watching a horror movie.

There’s an awesome episode of Victorious called The Bird Scene. It should be required that all actors, artists, and writers watch it before throwing themselves or their work out for public eyes. Seriously. Wisdom from TeenNick to creators everywhere.

What do you recommend? How do you handle someone not loving your creative baby? Comment and let us know.

Five Advantages To Being A Writer

I love being a writer. Seriously. LOVE. So as we start the new year together, I thought I'd share a countdown of five fun reasons why:

5. Funky hair color and attire is encouraged.

4. People Watching totally counts as research.

 

3. Creating imaginary friends, enemies, and boyfriends for others is all kinds of fun.

 

2. Furry mascots for the win!

 

1. The skills I’ve picked up from youtube and google searches ensure I’ll always be on somebody’s watch list.

 

So whatever you are (a writer, a dreamer, a magic bean buyer), join in the fun. Comment below to tell us something you love about what you do. Happy 2015!

 

 

Thankful For Great Characters

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I thought we’d put a bookish spin on things and talk about characters we’re thankful we've met. One character I’ve loved since I was a little is Pippi Longstocking. She’s creative. She always has a story to tell. She’s much stronger than she looks. Annnnnnnnnnnnd she has a pet monkey. Ha!

So how about you? Is there a character you’ve read about recently or one from your past that inspired you? Share about him/her in the comment section. On Thanksgiving, I’ll draw one sharer's name to win a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card. This contest is only open to U.S. residents. Be sure I have your email address, Twitter handle, or some way to contact you in case your name is picked. Good luck, and thanks for sharing!

Five Things You Will Never Hear Me Say

Sometimes the things a person or character won’t say are more telling than what they will say. Delia Moran has a post on what she wouldn’t say, and I love it so much I decided to steal (with her consent) the idea. Here’s the link to hers. And here are five things you’ll never hear me say:

5. Want to meet me for a 5:00 a.m. jog?
4. I know exactly where that random piece of paper I jotted that down on is!
3. Who would buy paperclips just because they come in cute shapes or colors?
2. Baked Kale tastes just like potato chips.

And last, but not least:

1. No worries. I never take my story ideas from real life situations.

What would be on your list? Share by leaving a comment.  If you decide to steal Delia’s post idea, be sure to leave the link so we can read yours too! J

 

And The Winner Is...

All the entries to our BEING FRANK Birthday Contest had me giggling, but alas, there can only be one name drawn from the hat--although technically, I drew from an empty fruit roll-up box. The winner of Donna Earnhardt's fabulously funny picture book BEING FRANK is Maureen Wartski! Congratulations, Maureen! You will be getting an email soon so we can get your prize to your doorstep.

If your name wasn't picked, you don't have to miss out. You can buy a copy of BEING FRANK at  Barnes and Noble , Amazon, or your favorite bookstore. Thanks for visiting my blog and making it more fun with your comments!

Pitching Plot Bunnies

You know that point when you've decided to eat healthy, and then McDonald's advertises their Rolo McFlurry? Sometimes that happens in my writing life too. Focus meets temptation. And temptation looks like a mighty sweet treat. Sometimes we dive into a manuscript and are making amazing progress when a plot bunny hops by and catches our interest. Plot bunnies are story ideas that pop into a writer's head and beg for attention. I'm not one to ignore a plot bunny. I might need that fellow when I finish my current WIP. My fabulous writer friend Donna Earnhardt has a July challenge perfect for rounding up those critters so they'll be there when you need them. Check out Donna's Elevator Pitches Challenge .

Capilocks and the Three Critique Partners

Once upon a time, there lived a young writer with stories worth gold bouncing from her head. She dreamed of an amazing house—a publishing house that would take her manuscript all the way to Happily Ever After. So after Capilocks trudged through the Forest of Revision, she set out to find a critique partner that was juuuuuuust right.

The first partner she found was a tough one. He flashed his red Sharpie and laughed a maniacal laugh as he slayed each sentence and made them his own. He belittled her ideas, told her to only write to the trends, and tweeted mean things about her crappy first drafts.

Capilocks shuddered. “This relationship is too hard.” She wished him well, gathered her tattered ego, and backed away.

The next partner she found was quite cuddly. She dotted her I’s with smileys and hearts, embraced every adverb, and proclaimed, “Brilliant! Send it!” whenever Capilocks scribbled out a new manuscript on the back of a phone message. Capilocks liked this new partner. She never criticized and always encouraged, but Capilocks' stories were still rather suckish.

“This critiquer is too soft,” she said. Capilocks looked around for someone new.

At last, she landed in a relationship with a fabulous writer and caring soul—someone who wanted her to succeed, but wasn’t afraid to ask tough questions. Someone who encouraged her voice, but hid the postage stamps and guarded the send button until manuscripts were polished and prime.

“This critique relationship is just right,” said Capilocks. And it was.

I’ve been blessed to work with some amazing critique partners and dodged a few that didn’t work for me. Where do you go to find great critique partners? Do you ever find it’s tough to critique in a way that’s juuuuust right? Please share in the comments below.

Surviving The Wait

You hit send. And so it begins. The waiting. You check your sent folder. Yep. It’s gone. Now what? Do you spend the rest of your days hitting F5 to refresh your inbox? If you don’t at least feel the pull, I question your humanity. But you know, there’s no guarantee of a response. So here are ten different things you can do while waiting.

10. Be a kid again. Go down a slide head first. Blow bubbles. Color a picture. Walk on your hands in the swimming pool. Do something fun, and practice not caring what anyone thinks about it.

9. Find fun songs about waiting & sing them loudly as you drive through town with your windows down and your hair tangling in the breeze. We writers don’t have to look like soccer moms, you know.

8. Volunteer. Come out of your writer’s cave and see what cause needs some love. Tutor a kid. Help out in an animal shelter. Serve others at a soup kitchen. It will help put things in perspective again.

7. Ketchup. No wait, I meant catch up. That laundry pile looming and threatening to bury you in your sleep? The kitchen floor confettied with Goldfish crackers and Cheerios? Take charge of it before paranormal elements emerge.

6. Create flash fiction. Can you write a mini story? There are some fun contests out there with prompts and prizes to get you started.

5. Let out that nervous energy in a way that feeds your soul. If it’s running, run. If it’s playing guitar, strum. If it’s dancing, twirl. Your family will thank you.

4. Create a spreadsheet. When responses come in, you’ll want to keep good records so you'll know who you sent what and how they responded.

3. Read. Read for fun. Let a stranger’s story dance in your head. And when you finish that book? Read another one.

2. Plot, plan, dream. Start thinking about your next writing project. It’s time.

1. Write something new.

So what do you do when the waiting starts? Comment below and let us know.

Query Flops Contest

After years of tweeting with each other, Donna Earnhardt and I finally met IRL (in real life) in March. She is every bit as fabulous and funny in person as she is online. One of the things that got us especially giggly was remembering and retelling some of the blunders of our submissions past.

You see, the more I learn, the more I learn I have to learn. If you’ve been seeking publication for a while, go back and look at your first letter to an agent or editor. *shudders* It’s bad, right? The more you follow agents and editors on Twitter and their blogs, the more you learn about how to make your submissions more professional.

With that in mind, I’m having a contest to celebrate our flops! What did you do when querying (We’ll all assume it was a very long time ago) that you wish you could take back? Make up the name of the agent or editor involved—we don’t really want it popping up in their Google alerts, do we? Then tell us what you learned from your mistake.

 On Friday, April 27^th, I will put the names of the brave souls that entered into a hat and let my youngest pick a winner. One winner will win a pair of Old Navy flip flops, so you’ll know we are thankful you’ve learned from the flops of your past.  Be sure to include your email address or Twitter handle if I can’t find it through clicking on your name. U.S. entries only, please.