The job that brought me to my dream city is ending. In two weeks, the company that miraculously contacted me last winter just in time to keep me from temporarily giving up on my goal and instead brought my plans to sudden fruition, my first choice company, will let me go. They’re eliminating the position. That’s life. I know it is. The corporate life. I don’t resent them, or at least only in brief fits. I’ve saved enough from the start that I’m not panicking…yet. But what’s far more interesting than my job ending is what thoughts it thrusts upon my mind. What do I really want to do with…
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The Long Walk to the Slush Pile
Warning: Mild satire. This is not meant to discourage or disrespect, but to let off steam. If you feel convicted at any time, that’s something for you to work through on your own. Why didn’t anybody warn me that querying agents is itself a full-time job? And you don’t get paid. So don’t quit your day job. But this is your new night job, so don’t quit that, either. Basically, the things that keep you alive and human, like sleep and friendships, are the first things to go. I’ve sent out a few batches now, and my queries have grown and changed, which is a good sign. There are good…
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Revelation at the Book Festival
Call it an invictus. An invictus, in case you were wondering, is a Latin word meaning “unconquerable.” When I use it, I’m referencing the daring, courage-in-the-teeth-of-fate poem written by William Ernest Henley. (It’s worth a read!) My invictus came at the top of the steps at the Book Festival. I had just been to a workshop in which anxious authors-to-be plied several of Those Who Have Made It with questions about how to get their start. As per usual, (I’ve been to a few of these talks before and read articles following the same bent) we got to the incredibly disheartening odds stacked up against us new, innocent little storytellers…
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The Writer’s Toolkit: 5 Ways to Bait Your Muse
Typewriters, laptops, and notebooks all have two things in common: they serve writers and they can smell fear. You’re trucking along, writing like a pro, and then chapter six rolls around and suddenly you have the urge to clean the apartment from top to bottom. In fact, every little task you’ve been ignoring suddenly seems like a great idea because for some reason, you’ve lost the ability to put one word after another. This quasi-productivity is accompanied by feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt, and internal stagnation. You’re afraid to even say those fated words, “writer’s block,” because they feel like a life sentence. Honey, have a tissue. We’ve all been there.…
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A Single Writer’s Manifesto
I’m terribly intimidated to know that this is the first of my work some of you will ever read. This moment feels like public speaking, right at the hush when everyone waits for you to speak but all you can think about is whether the mic is going to squeal with feedback. And then you hazily ask yourself, “Why am I up here?” The Long Version: I guess I’m here, writing this to you, because I want to give some explanation of what you can expect from me and, quite simply, why I do what I do. I used to know the answer to that, but it gets less clear…