Resetting the Bar
- At March 03, 2009
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Roxanne Writes On
- 2
Resetting the Bar
Last October, I once again attended the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in Surrey, BC, where I pitched my novel to Valerie Gray, executive editor for Mira. I’ve done this a few times, so I wasn’t, you know, cramping, but I still had a few butterflies. Mira, after all! But Valerie instantly put me at ease. Better yet, she took my brief synopsis, identified a couple of very specific problems and then – get this – spent about twenty minutes figuring out with me how to make it work. Never, did I expect an editor to engage like that with someone who’s never been published with them.
Then, after a full day of workshopping and appointments on Saturday, Valerie joined the RWA GVC cocktail party. As a brand new member (yay!) I enjoyed the opportunity to chat with numerous authors and aspiring authors. Among the already-famous were the lovely Kay Gregory, Mary Jo Putney, who is a fabulous speaker, and Anna deStefano, a relatively new writer who’s rocketing to stardom. What a treat to learn from these savvy writers!
Anyway, I was all set to participate in November’s annual National Novel Writing Month, but through various workshops, the realization came to me that first drafts are something of an avoidance technique for me. I need to focus on revision, not the creation of new material. I’ve got three – that’s THREE – full-length manuscripts completed, but in need of pretty extensive revision. Among these are 1) the second in my Shelby James veterinary mystery series 2) a Mennonite family saga that I suspect might be best left in the drawer and 3) my first category romance novel. Oh, and I’ve got over 50K words in my third Shelby James book, from last year’s NaNoWriMo. You see? I need to polish and submit before I let myself get distracted by what Anna calls the “shiny new idea.”
So tomorrow, I begin looking at major structural changes to the romance manuscript. Once that’s done – and SUBMITTED – I’ll get the mystery done to my – and hopefully my editor’s – satisfaction. Then and only then will I allow myself to indulge in a shiny new idea.
Hm. So why am I posting on my blog, instead of working? Well, that was another goal I identified at the conference. Darren Barefoot gave us some fabulous workshops on the need for all authors, emerging and established, to create and maintain a web presence. Well, I’ve had a website for a few years, but have gotten so lazy about updating it that I couldn’t remember how to log into the admin page! Even I know that’s bad. So here I am, shrugging off my Luddite tendencies and embracing the web.
And it’s not even lunch-time yet.
Not Giving Up
- At March 03, 2009
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Roxanne Writes On
- 0
Not Giving Up
You know who’s not giving up? Inspector Banks novelist Peter Robinson. I read an article recently in which he talks about his process, the arc of the novels, (18 novels in this series, over 21 years)what fresh hell he’s put Banks into most recently, and at the end, his work teaching creative writing. He doesn’t teach much anymore because producing a new book every year doesn’t leave a lot of free time (go figure.) He remembers, though, being struck by how few promising writers hung in there long enough to achieve success. “I came across a lot of people who I thought were talented as writers, but they didn’t do it, they gave up on it, for various reasons. It’s often difficult to find the time if you have family or a demanding job. I’ve been through all that, I’m lucky I don’t have to do any other job now, but I’ve been there and it’s tough.”
Every year at the Surrey writers’ conference, I hear a variation on this theme: If you want to be a successful writer, just keep at it, because everyone else will quit and eventually, you’ll be the only writer left and they’ll *have* to publish you. But you have to be disciplined and you have to get through that “million words of crap” to reach the gem that is your particular wisdom to share. Some writers get up at 4:30 in the morning, to get their word count in before work. (I am not in this group.) Others stay up late, with dark chocolate. Some write on their lunch hour. Or while the baby’s sleeping. On the bus. On the train… in a boat….with a goat.
I love seeing the same faces at the conference, pitching new manuscripts, or showing off brand new books. I might only see them once each year, but I count them as my friends and I’m thrilled to buy their books and read their work. Pam, Susan, Kathy, Rose, Nick, Donna, kc, Carmen, so many people who keep on writing, year after year, getting better – and finding more success – with each completed project. But each year there are a few faces I look for but don’t see, which makes me sad. Have they stopped writing? Have they given up? Maybe their lives have moved in different directions. No shame in that.
But those who want it bad enough, who truly believe we have something to say that’s worth saying, hang in there. We get up early (like 8 am) or we stay up late. We write despite headaches or surgery or teething puppies or three kids with chicken pox. We write about the death of a friend, the birth of a child, the color of a leaf on the surface of the lake. We dare to talk about depression, about wanting to run away from home, about whether or not chocolate is better than sex. (The answer… seriously??)
And wherever our words appear, in a book, blog, magazine, newspaper, billboard or a note in a lunchbox, if they reach into the reader’s heart and remind them that they are not alone, or make them laugh, or cry or wonder, magic happens.
And that, dear reader, is why I keep on writing.
Beautiful words
- At March 03, 2009
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Roxanne Writes On
- 0
Beautiful words
I wish I could take credit for these beautiful words, but alas, I cannot. These are from the Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational, which has once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary and alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.
You’ve probably read some of these winners, but perhaps a few will be new to you. A couple of them were certainly spew-worthy for me.
1. Cashtration (n.): the act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.
2. Ignoranus: A person who is both stupid and an asshole.
3. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
4. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
5. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
6. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
7. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high
8. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.
9. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)
11. Karmageddon: It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.
12. Decafalon (n): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
13. Glibido: All talk and no action.
14. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
15. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.
16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you’re eating.
The Washington Post has also published the winning submissions
to its yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate
meanings for common words. And the winners are:
1. Coffee, n. The person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted, adj. Appalled by discovering how much weight one has gained.
3. Abdicate, v. To give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade, v, To attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly, adj. Impotent.
6. Negligent, adj.Absentmindedly answering the door when wearing only a nightgown.
7. Lymph, v. To walk with a lisp.
8.Gargoyle, n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.
9.Flatulence, n. Emergency vehicle that picks up someone who has been run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash, n. A rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle n. A humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude, n. The formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon, n.A Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster, n. A person who sprinkles his conversation with yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism, n. The belief that, after death, the soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent, n. An opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.