One Little Elephant

I'm away at my son's College Family Weekend, but in case you dropped by here's a link to one of the places I go whenever I need a lift: 7 Things I've Learned So Far

Something that's helping me write today: This quote from writer Matt Myklusch "Writing isn’t just typing. It goes on all day...Make sure that part of your brain is always on."

I'm away taking care of a sick family member. Back soon.

In celebration of my friends Amy Carson-Strnad and Wendy Marcus First Sales, each is contracting for her own two book deal with Mills and Boon, I'd like to give them both a hand. Or actually four. So here goes...

Click to start the Applause.

Massive congrats! You go girls!

Something that's helping me write today: Joy for Amy and Wendy!

"Really?"

"Yes."

"No, really?"

*blush* "Yes."

"A thousand dollars in August?"

"One thousand and eight. For a family of five. And we're not talking 4-star, more like drive-thru. So we decided to stop eating out. Declared a moratorium on it. No more eating out in September. Not one dime's worth. That's what we said."

"And?"

"Four hundred and two dollars in September."

"Four hundred. How do you know? Do you write it all down?

"I track it electronically."

"Wow. One thousand in August. Four hundred in September. Better. But still, four hundred dollars?"

"I know, I know. A waste. And we need that money for other things. Gotta stop."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Did it. Declared a moratorium on eating out in October."

"Another moratorium? You do know what moratorium means, right?"

"Yep. No eating out this month. None. Not one nickle's worth. That's what we decided."

"Hmmm. Will it work this time?"

"Sure. Probably. Eventually."

"Really?"

*nod*

"No, REALLY?"

"Well, we've only spent $9.00 so far."

"So far? It's October 1st."


Something that's helping me write today: This thought: Sometimes Success is incremental.

I heard about a writing contest - flash fiction with a prescribed opening line. The prize wasn't much, but for some reason I got fired up about it. I rushed home and spent hours writing a flash fiction tale.

Then I went to the website and read past winners. I know. I should have done that before I wrote the story, but like I said I was fired up. Having read the past winners, I felt pretty good about my chances.

The next day I showed the story to my husband who called it "adequately good" which means "yawn". So I spent TWO DAYS improving it. I layered in action, romance, personification, sensory elements, etc. I struggled to make each and every word count. My daughter read the improved version and was more encouraging than my husband had been.

Feeling good about my story, today I took the time to read some of the previous finalists (before I'd read only the winners). That's when I realized I'd been wasting my time.

You see, the reason I'd believed I could compete in this contest was that the previous winning entries were not works of extraordinary writing. But after reading many of the finalists from previous contests I was stunned. The difference in the quality of prose, plots, and characters between the winning entries and the finalists was profound, with the finalists' work being far superior to the winners' work. And honestly far, far superior to mine.

So what did the winners have in common? Their stories dealt with controversial issues. That's when I realized the contest, though billed as a writing contest, wasn't wholly about writing. It was also about promoting the sponsor's ideologies.

So lesson learned: I waste my time and energy when I fail to do my homework.

Something that's helping me write today: a quote. "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas Edison