Today's the day!
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES HERE
Miss Snark's First Victim
Monday, September 21, 2015
Friday, September 18, 2015
Friday Fricassee
Let's talk about creative energy.
I've always maintained that I'm not one of "those" authors--the temperamental ones who claim they will stop breathing if they don't write every day. The ones for whom the word flow is a heady, uncontainable rush that fuels them in the way that cheeseburgers and chocolate fuel the rest of society. The ones who wear tee-shirts that say, "I write, therefore I am."
No, indeed. For me, writing is a discipline. I have trained myself to write to deadlines. I have a scheduled daily writing time, and I sneak in more when I need to. I view my completed manuscripts not only as personal accomplishments, but as potentially viable products.
BUT.
That doesn't mean I'm not CREATING. It doesn't mean I'm not head-over-heels in love with my characters, or that I don't feel angsty when something gets in the way of my writing time, or that I'm not utterly passionate about what I do.
The whole CREATING thing really hit me last weekend, when I was involved in my first performance with the pretty-big-deal choir I'm now singing in. I haven't had a legitimate "performance week" for many years. Those of you in any branch of the performing arts know what I mean--an entire week of dress rehearsals and concerts that leaves you feeling, at the end, like you haven't slept for a month.
Here's what happened to me: Knowing I was fairly close to finishing a draft of something she's been waiting to read, Danielle Burby asked me when I thought I'd send it. This was a few days before my performance week, and I airily told her that it was my intention to finish by mid-month. "I should be able to have normal days until our call times," I wrote, "but then again, I may be pretending I have superpowers."
Here's the thing--at the time, I really believed I would be able to write during that week. And for a couple days, I was fine. Then--it all came crashing down. I was putting so much into the musical performances--or perhaps they were requiring so much from me--that I literally had nothing left. Every drop of my creative energy was spent at the symphony hall.
At that point, it didn't matter that I was a disciplined writer or that I was working to another self-imposed deadline. The truth was that I had no creative energy left over. I couldn't go to ballet classes that week, either, and I didn't miss them. That's kind of huge, because ballet has been an intense source of joy for me for the past three years. The one class I could have attended (because it was in the morning), I skipped. There was no way I could have danced the morning after a performance.
Of course, there's also the obvious truth that I'm not a good dancer, whereas singing is actually something I can do well enough to perform. So the whole fulfillment factor this past weekend was huge as well. And while finishing a novel is certainly fulfilling in its own right, it isn't exactly satisfying to write and write and write and still not see any tangible results. As in, yanno, a publishing contract. So my entire creative soul was satiated this past weekend in a way it hasn't been in an incredibly long time.
Anyway. I've learned that, despite my wanting to believe otherwise, there really is a limit on the amount of creative energy I can expend in a given time frame. That I cannot pour my creative self into more Things than it has the capacity to support. That my writing requires from me a certain amount of creative energy, regardless of my cut-and-dry approach, and if something else is requiring all the energy from my stores, I can't write. It has nothing to do with "writer's block" or a bad attitude--I am physically and mentally unable to do it. Last weekend, my tank was empty.
The good news? I bounced back like a champ on Monday. In fact, my entire writing week has been phenomenal (I'm almost there, Danielle!). Which leads me to believe that a vast expenditure of creative energy leads not to depletion, but to RENEWED CREATIVE ENERGY! It's a sustainable source.
So, what do you think? Have you ever paid attention to your own stores of creative energy? Do you find that you can spread the love fairly easily during the course of a normal week? Have you experienced the depletion of your creative energy because you've had to focus it on One Big Thing--like a performance or the completion of a huge project?
Share your thoughts! This has been revelatory for me. I will be able to better plan my writing life around my next performance with the chorus (which isn't until January), for sure.
Happy weekend!
I've always maintained that I'm not one of "those" authors--the temperamental ones who claim they will stop breathing if they don't write every day. The ones for whom the word flow is a heady, uncontainable rush that fuels them in the way that cheeseburgers and chocolate fuel the rest of society. The ones who wear tee-shirts that say, "I write, therefore I am."
No, indeed. For me, writing is a discipline. I have trained myself to write to deadlines. I have a scheduled daily writing time, and I sneak in more when I need to. I view my completed manuscripts not only as personal accomplishments, but as potentially viable products.
BUT.
That doesn't mean I'm not CREATING. It doesn't mean I'm not head-over-heels in love with my characters, or that I don't feel angsty when something gets in the way of my writing time, or that I'm not utterly passionate about what I do.
The whole CREATING thing really hit me last weekend, when I was involved in my first performance with the pretty-big-deal choir I'm now singing in. I haven't had a legitimate "performance week" for many years. Those of you in any branch of the performing arts know what I mean--an entire week of dress rehearsals and concerts that leaves you feeling, at the end, like you haven't slept for a month.
Here's what happened to me: Knowing I was fairly close to finishing a draft of something she's been waiting to read, Danielle Burby asked me when I thought I'd send it. This was a few days before my performance week, and I airily told her that it was my intention to finish by mid-month. "I should be able to have normal days until our call times," I wrote, "but then again, I may be pretending I have superpowers."
Here's the thing--at the time, I really believed I would be able to write during that week. And for a couple days, I was fine. Then--it all came crashing down. I was putting so much into the musical performances--or perhaps they were requiring so much from me--that I literally had nothing left. Every drop of my creative energy was spent at the symphony hall.
At that point, it didn't matter that I was a disciplined writer or that I was working to another self-imposed deadline. The truth was that I had no creative energy left over. I couldn't go to ballet classes that week, either, and I didn't miss them. That's kind of huge, because ballet has been an intense source of joy for me for the past three years. The one class I could have attended (because it was in the morning), I skipped. There was no way I could have danced the morning after a performance.
Of course, there's also the obvious truth that I'm not a good dancer, whereas singing is actually something I can do well enough to perform. So the whole fulfillment factor this past weekend was huge as well. And while finishing a novel is certainly fulfilling in its own right, it isn't exactly satisfying to write and write and write and still not see any tangible results. As in, yanno, a publishing contract. So my entire creative soul was satiated this past weekend in a way it hasn't been in an incredibly long time.
Anyway. I've learned that, despite my wanting to believe otherwise, there really is a limit on the amount of creative energy I can expend in a given time frame. That I cannot pour my creative self into more Things than it has the capacity to support. That my writing requires from me a certain amount of creative energy, regardless of my cut-and-dry approach, and if something else is requiring all the energy from my stores, I can't write. It has nothing to do with "writer's block" or a bad attitude--I am physically and mentally unable to do it. Last weekend, my tank was empty.
The good news? I bounced back like a champ on Monday. In fact, my entire writing week has been phenomenal (I'm almost there, Danielle!). Which leads me to believe that a vast expenditure of creative energy leads not to depletion, but to RENEWED CREATIVE ENERGY! It's a sustainable source.
So, what do you think? Have you ever paid attention to your own stores of creative energy? Do you find that you can spread the love fairly easily during the course of a normal week? Have you experienced the depletion of your creative energy because you've had to focus it on One Big Thing--like a performance or the completion of a huge project?
Share your thoughts! This has been revelatory for me. I will be able to better plan my writing life around my next performance with the chorus (which isn't until January), for sure.
Happy weekend!
Monday, September 14, 2015
September Secret Agent Early Info
Please note: This is NOT the call for submissions! The contest will open next Monday, September 21.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (please read carefully):
*To enter, please use THE SUBMISSION FORM HERE. (Please note: email submissions are no longer accepted.)
*THIS WILL BE A LOTTERY: The submission window will be open from NOON to 6:00 PM EDT, after which the bot will randomly select 50 entries.
* 2 alternates will also be accepted, for a total of 52 entries.
* PLEASE NOTE: You are responsible for figuring out your own time zone. "Time Zone differences" are NOT a reason for not getting your entry in.
* Submissions received before the contest opens will be rejected.
* Submissions are for COMPLETED MANUSCRIPTS ONLY. If you wouldn't want an agent to read the entire thing, DON'T SEND IT. If an "entire thing" doesn't exist, you shouldn't even be reading these rules.
* Manuscripts THAT HAVE BEEN IN EITHER OF THE LAST 2 SECRET AGENT CONTESTS March or May) will not be accepted.
* You may submit A DIFFERENT MANUSCRIPT if you've participated in any previous Secret Agent contests.
* Only ONE ENTRY per person per contest. If you send more than one, your subsequent entry(ies) will be rejected.
* If you WON A CONTEST WITHIN THE PAST 12 MONTHS (i.e., offered any kind of prize from a Secret Agent or were one of the 60 entries in the Baker's Dozen Agent Auction), please DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST. (Unless it's a different manuscript.)
* Submissions are for THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. Please do not stop in the middle of a
GO HERE to submit via our web form.
As always, there is no fee to enter the Secret Agent contest.
This month's contest will include the following genres:
*SF for all categories (MG, YA, NA, Adult)
*Fantasy for all categories (MG, YA, NA, Adult)
*Contemporary and Historical Romance (no Women's Fiction)
Good luck!
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES (please read carefully):
*To enter, please use THE SUBMISSION FORM HERE. (Please note: email submissions are no longer accepted.)
*THIS WILL BE A LOTTERY: The submission window will be open from NOON to 6:00 PM EDT, after which the bot will randomly select 50 entries.
* 2 alternates will also be accepted, for a total of 52 entries.
* PLEASE NOTE: You are responsible for figuring out your own time zone. "Time Zone differences" are NOT a reason for not getting your entry in.
* Submissions received before the contest opens will be rejected.
* Submissions are for COMPLETED MANUSCRIPTS ONLY. If you wouldn't want an agent to read the entire thing, DON'T SEND IT. If an "entire thing" doesn't exist, you shouldn't even be reading these rules.
* Manuscripts THAT HAVE BEEN IN EITHER OF THE LAST 2 SECRET AGENT CONTESTS March or May) will not be accepted.
* You may submit A DIFFERENT MANUSCRIPT if you've participated in any previous Secret Agent contests.
* Only ONE ENTRY per person per contest. If you send more than one, your subsequent entry(ies) will be rejected.
* If you WON A CONTEST WITHIN THE PAST 12 MONTHS (i.e., offered any kind of prize from a Secret Agent or were one of the 60 entries in the Baker's Dozen Agent Auction), please DO NOT ENTER THIS CONTEST. (Unless it's a different manuscript.)
* Submissions are for THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. Please do not stop in the middle of a
GO HERE to submit via our web form.
As always, there is no fee to enter the Secret Agent contest.
This month's contest will include the following genres:
*SF for all categories (MG, YA, NA, Adult)
*Fantasy for all categories (MG, YA, NA, Adult)
*Contemporary and Historical Romance (no Women's Fiction)
Good luck!
Friday, September 11, 2015
Friday Fricassee
Thank you to all who entered ON THE BLOCK yesterday! For those of you who might have been waiting for an email confirmation--there isn't one. You received your confirmation on the screen after you hit the submit button, and before you made your payment. Rest assured that, if your payment went through, your entry is IN.
A huge thank you to Michael, who has spent the equivalent of MORE THAN AN ENTIRE WORK WEEK'S WORTH OF HOURS on rewriting the code for our submission form, and who was available yesterday to help folks who hit some snags as they tried to enter. WE WOULD NOT HAVE THIS GLORIOUS SUBMISSION FORM WITHOUT HIM! And this is the form that we will continue to use for all our Secret Agent Contests and in-house crit sessions.
I will begin reading the entries next week (this is performance weekend for the sort-of-a-big-deal choir I'm in, so my life is revolving around that right now). I'm already pleased to see a wide variety of genres represented! Should make for some entertaining reading.
In the spirit of writing and reading stories, I'd like to give a shout-out on behalf of Grammarly.com to International Literacy Day, which was on September 8 (but, yanno, it's never too late to advocate literacy). As the wee girl who started reading on her own at age 4, statistics like these give me pause. Books have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember (thank you, Mom), and a world without the written word is, to me, unfathomable.
Something to think about, yes?
Have a glorious weekend, and I'll see you on Monday -- with submission guidelines for this month's Secret Agent Contest! Woot!
A huge thank you to Michael, who has spent the equivalent of MORE THAN AN ENTIRE WORK WEEK'S WORTH OF HOURS on rewriting the code for our submission form, and who was available yesterday to help folks who hit some snags as they tried to enter. WE WOULD NOT HAVE THIS GLORIOUS SUBMISSION FORM WITHOUT HIM! And this is the form that we will continue to use for all our Secret Agent Contests and in-house crit sessions.
I will begin reading the entries next week (this is performance weekend for the sort-of-a-big-deal choir I'm in, so my life is revolving around that right now). I'm already pleased to see a wide variety of genres represented! Should make for some entertaining reading.
In the spirit of writing and reading stories, I'd like to give a shout-out on behalf of Grammarly.com to International Literacy Day, which was on September 8 (but, yanno, it's never too late to advocate literacy). As the wee girl who started reading on her own at age 4, statistics like these give me pause. Books have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember (thank you, Mom), and a world without the written word is, to me, unfathomable.
Something to think about, yes?
Have a glorious weekend, and I'll see you on Monday -- with submission guidelines for this month's Secret Agent Contest! Woot!
Thursday, September 10, 2015
On The Block: Submission Day
Submissions for ON THE BLOCK are NOW OPEN!
SUBMIT HERE
Please be sure to FOLLOW THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES.
Submissions will close at 10:00 pm EDT or when 250 entries have been received, whichever comes first.
SUBMIT HERE
Please be sure to FOLLOW THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES.
Submissions will close at 10:00 pm EDT or when 250 entries have been received, whichever comes first.
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