Category: Writing

Observations on the writing life

#UpbeatAuthors: Self-Respect

When I become interested in an author, I will read all I can about that person. Many years ago, someone recommended A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf to me. I read it. I liked it. I bought several of her books. Didn’t care for her fiction. I took out volumes of her letters from the library and read them. I purchased A Writer’s Diary, a book with excerpts from her journals as compiled by her husband after her death. There were relatable moments. One might say I studied Virginia Woolf as an author.

A friend of mine was involved in a book discussion group at a local university. When the group was scheduled to discuss Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, my friend invited me to attend with her. We went to the college professor’s home for the discussion. I was young, impressionable, and feeling rather awed that these educated people were including me, with my high school diploma, in their discussion. We drank tea in a room with red “oriental” carpets strewn over shiny wood floors. There may have been Georgia O’Keefe prints on the white walls. I was a little intimidated.

I didn’t say much. After all, who was I?

I now regret not speaking up at the end of the session, when the professor said, “We should all strive to emulate Virginia Woolf.”

As I said to my friend in the car as we drove home, “Why would I want to emulate a woman who committed suicide? Killing myself isn’t my definition of success.”

My friend was shocked. She didn’t realize Woolf had indeed killed herself. She berated me for not speaking out. I confessed my intimidation. She replied: “But you’re right.”

After that night, I didn’t feel quite so belittled for skipping college to get on with life. Not having a degree doesn’t mean I’m ignorant. It merely means I’m self-educated.

 

#UpbeatAuthors – Following Your Dreams

I cannot remember a time when I did not want to be an writer. Does that make working toward becoming a published author a dream or a goal?

I do know one thing: my children saw me working toward fulfilling this dream. I like think that gave them a positive role model to pursue their own dreams. They watched me cry when I received a particularly hurtful rejection; they celebrated with me when I had a writing contest win; they witnessed the hard work that goes into making dreams come true.

I hope I taught them that dreams are important.

Mondays with MJ: #UpbeatAuthors

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m mixing up my social media a bit in 2018. One of those changes is blogging on Monday instead of Sunday. The logic behind this move is that last year, I became of a group called Upbeat Authors, which is a “group of authors who support each other and take part in weekly, themed posts about happiness and positivity through their own social media and other outlets.”

We all need happiness and positivity.

This week’s topic is: one resolution you’re making this year you’ve never made before.

Except I don’t make resolutions. I set goals.

One of my goals this year is to self-publish a novella I wrote a couple of years ago. My critique partners and I came up with a theme for a self-published anthology, but due to life changes, that project never came to fruition. I, however, now have a novella about a werewolf baseball player.

And I’m going to self-publish it in 2018. As we used to say when I worked in TV: stay tuned!

 

Changes

It’s that time of year when most people, including me, start thinking about the upcoming year. Yes, I’ve set my goals for 2018 (see my blog of December 13), but I’ve been thinking about how and when I do things. I’ve decided it’s time to make a few changes in my social media calendar.

My twice weekly blogs will be moving to Mondays and Thursdays.

I will no longer be tweeting my Tasting Notes Tuesdays

I’m sure I will be tweaking my schedule as the year progresses. Stay tuned!

 

Goal Setting

I start thinking about my goals for the upcoming year in November. I always try to be realistic. The past couple of years, life has gobsmacked my goals–family crises, day job dilemmas, and so on. Nevertheless, I persist.

I thought I had my 2018 goals pretty much set. I’d printed them out for my annual goal-setting session with my critique group:

  • Finish writing two werewolf books
  • continue search for agent for dystopian women’s fiction novel.
  • critique at least once per month
  • 2 critique group writing retreats
  • minimum 2 Thistle Dew retreats
  • Active social media presence
  • RWA/local chapter
  • self publish cross genre novella

Do-able, right?

Well, the calendar had even flipped before life gobsmacked me again: one of my publishers is closing.

This could be awful, but the letter sent to the authors assured us that we will receive reversion of rights letters by June of 2018. This is a good thing. They are closing their doors, not going bankrupt, so the books they’ve published aren’t assets, the rights to which can be tied up in the courts for a long time.

But now I have decisions to make: do I want to self-publish these titles? Do I want to try to place them with another publisher? If you re-read my writing goal punch list, none of these scenarios are there.

At least I have choices. I have five already-edited books that will be 100% mine to do with what I will. That’s a good thing.