Limbo

I'm having trouble settling on a writing project, because I feel like I'm floating in a bit of writer's limbo. Why, you ask? I have two big projects out and expect to hear on both in the near future. I have another editor who asked me to help out with an upcoming chapter book series...starting any day. And I've recently emerged from complete immersion in another book project, written as my entry for the Writing Away Retreat scholarship contest.

Part of the trouble is that I can't quite settle on what project to pick up next. My head tells me that this might be a good time to tackle one of those article ideas on my shelf. They're good ideas, have an excellent shot of publication (IF I write them), and wouldn't a short-term project be best when I've got other big tasks around the corner? My heart tells me to dive back into the Peru book, which has been unattended far too long. I sifted through my notes and edits yesterday. I had twenty or so new pages that I hadn't even printed out! And I have vague memories of making life-altering plot decisions during my trip East (not so many weeks ago)...but I can't remember, exactly, what those plot decisions entailed.

And then there's the ever-distracting Authonomy site, where I can read others' work and try to nudge my own farther up the scale...except that the work I posted there isn't my best writing, so I'm not 100% engaged in the effort. And I think you have to be 100% engaged to gain full benefit from the site.

The solution? I'll pick up the Peru book again today and see how much I can recapture of those half-remembered plot decisions. I'm not ready to resume writing; I need to reacquaint myself with the characters, theme, and so on first. I'll see what I can do today.

But maybe that's what writing is all about--seeing what we can do, one day at a time.

:) Cheryl

a brief hiatus...

I won't be posting for the next few days, because I think life is about to keep me VERY busy. Life as in a get-together with many, many family members to celebrate the marriage of the last kid in my husband's brood. Dave (age 45) is giving up his role as the family's token bachelor, which dismays my son, Robin, to no end. He was holding up Dave as his model of girl-free life. Oh, well. Robin might be changing his mind about girls, too.

Hee. He's going to kill me when he reads this!

Cheryl

Training the Writer...

Anyone who has studied up on animal training knows that intermittent reinforcement is one of the most powerful training techniques.

Intermittent reinforcement (Cheryl's non-technical definition) is rewarding a given behavior some, but not all, of the times that the behavior occurs. I used positive reinforcement to train my dog to sit--she got a yummy treat every time she did it right. Once she'd learned the behavior, I cut back on the treats. Intermittent reinforcement means that I give her a treat some of the time she obeys. Not every time, but just often enough to keep her coming back.

Well, it's occurred to me that my e-mail program (or editors and agents--or the world at large) has trained me to check my e-mail with increasing frequency. It provides that incredibly addictive intermittent reinforcement.

Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, my e-mail messages are unexciting (and that's not even counting the messages that head straight into my spam folder) but every once in a while--usually just after I've said "there won't be anything good, since I just checked my messages five minutes ago"--I get something great. A request for a manuscript...or a kind word from an editor...or correspondence about an article I have out in submissions land...

Luckily, I write longhand. Far, far, far away from my e-mail program!

:) Cheryl

Surviving the agent query process...

I have a midgrade fantasy manuscript that I'm (theoretically) sending out to agents and editors. I say theoretically, because I suffer from a common writer's problem: fear of rejection. Not as badly as, say, when I first began to write and submit, but the submission process is often tough.

For a variety of reasons, this manuscript is particularly tough to submit. After I queried a few agents the end of last year, I stopped. I had excuses--maybe the book wasn't ready, or maybe the concept wasn't marketable for a first-time author. The truth? Sending it out was (is) incredibly emotionally draining.

For the New Year, I resolved to get back on the horse. I'm researching agents and sending out queries to a few who seem like good fits, even though it's scary :). Here's how:

1. I told my critique group to keep me accountable. (They will!)
2. I send out a query or two in the morning. Then I meditate. THEN I write.
3. I tell myself that probably, nothing will come of the submissions. I bargain with myself, promise myself that I won’t have to worry about it for a while….
4. Blatant bribery. I mean, incentives. ("If you send out that query, Cheryl, you can buy a raspberry-lemon gelato at Glacier....")
5. And I keep working on several other deliciously distracting projects.

How’s it going? Well, I’ve sent out those first few queries. And I’ve gotten a few nibbles, from a few agents I’d be very excited to work with. Of course, my coping strategy #3 is failing me: obviously, I will hear from some of them! But I guess that was the point of submitting in the first place.

Just one question: does anyone else burst into tears when they get a request-for-partial email?! Goofy emotions.

Ooh, wonder if I can use that in a story?

:P Cheryl

Proven Remedies for the Mailbox Haunt

My current favorite remedies for writing-related waiting:

• Start a new project
• Read a great book (such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Haunting of Freddy, and The Supernaturalist, by JK Rowling, Dietlof Reiche, and Eion Colfer, respectively)
• Corral guinea pigs while they munch on the lawn
• Get busy with other work (for me that means editing some proposals for a biotech company)
• Take a hike (hey, I live in Colorado--what can I say?)
• Smell all the essential oils at our local natural foods store (current favorites--tangerine and pine needle)

Sometimes life keeps me too busy to write. Sometimes life is the source of what I write. Sometimes life helps me survive the fact that I write! As Jane Yolen says, sometimes it's time to stop and kiss the grandbabies. I don't have any grandbabies yet--guess I'll have to grab those guinea pigs....

~Cheryl