10.28.05
Posted in Writing at 9:08 pm by Administrator
Do you understand sensory overload? I mean, truly, can you possibly comprehend that moment when your electrical circuits receive more juice than they can handle and they shut down, with breakers tripping, lights dimming? This week, I not only understand this concept, I am living it.
After finishing my manuscript (or so I thought), I began a comprehensive search on writersmarket.com to find the perfect agent. The one who was simply awaiting my story and somehow felt incomplete without it. In my research, I discovered that several of these agents attend major writers’ conferences each year. With breathless excitement, I “googled” the conferences listed. With one exception, every conference had already occurred and the 2005 season of conferences had come to a close. That one exception was Glorieta Christian Writer’s Conference outside Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I could hardly believe it when the agents I specifically wanted to meet listed Glorieta as a conference they attend. Not only that, but the conference had not yet occurred for this year. The date of my discovery was October 14, 2005. I remember this because it is my sister-in-law’s birthday and my family and I had traveled to St. Augustine to celebrate it with her. Instead, I spent the entire weekend printing, researching, and exploring everything I could find about Glorieta and the conference. This, I breathlessly told my husband, was THE place to be. Oh, and the only place left this year. For whatever purpose, God has placed a supportive and wonderful husband in my life and that husband said, “Go!” So I went.
And now that I’m here, it’s not simply a lack of oxygen or thin air at this altitude of 7500 feet that is getting to me. It’s the information. I have learned more in two and a half days than I have since college. I graduated in 1991. Fourteen years ago. I am exhilarated, energized, and downright giddy about getting home to Florida where I may finally put into practice all the things I’ve learned here. And I still have a day and a half left! Needless to say, I have been humbled and educated this week. And the agents, while polite and extremely informative, are not feeling that incompleteness without my manuscript that I imagined. So while I arrived with a complete manuscript, I am leaving with something altogether different. And the beauty of this knowledge is that it is okay! In fact, it is good. It’s fantastic. As one agent told me today, “You have identified a major flaw and corrected it. You can hardly take anything better than that away from this conference.” Amen!
I now have a clear starting point, a clear genre and clearly defined protagonist, antagonist and villain roles. I long for the time when I can once again sit at my desk at home, not overwhelmed by all that is here, and write. In the meantime, I felt I could at least blog once. My friend and first line editor, Rita, asked me the other night, “When are you going to blog about Glorieta?” It exhausted me to my very core to think about coming back to my hotel room and actually working. Until tonight. Now I’m ready, after my last day of courses, to get back to work, a better informed, better educated writer. And when people ask me what I do? Now I can say with confidence, “I am a writer.”
On a side note, Santa Fe and the surrounding area (which includes Glorieta) is simply beautiful. The Aspen trees are in full fall splendor and their vibrant yellow leaves are like fingertips of sunshine, reaching out to touch all those who pass by. I bask in their golden glow and I am yet again amazed at the creativity my Maker possesses. No dull and boring being could come up with something as striking as brilliant yellow leaves to express his creativity. Indescribable, as Chris Tomlin the musician puts it, is an apt description of God and His glory. He expects so much from us, but just stop and look around. What glory and splendor He gives us freely in return!
I will be home late Sunday night, just in time to take my kids trick or treating on Monday. Maybe once the air thickens and oxygen returns to my brain and I am not as high (literally and figuratively) as I am now, I will be able to make better sense of what I have experienced here.
In the meantime, I will bask in the Aspen Glow.
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10.19.05
Posted in Writing at 6:31 pm by Administrator
My nephew, Ryan, logged onto MSN chat tonight and gifted me with the most hilarious quote I have heard in a long time. I had to share it with you.
“I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers.”
(This and other quotes can be found at www.coolquotescollection.com by using their search engine.)
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Posted in Writing at 6:22 pm by Administrator
…writing a synopsis would cause so much physical pain? Apparently everyone knows this. I knew this to be true but I did not truly understand until I began avoiding my computer at all costs when the blank document mocked me from my computer screen. I even saved it as “Synopsis.” I just had nothing to put in it. So I stalled.
I cleaned my office. I unpacked boxes (we only moved in a year ago. I guess now is as good a time as any to start unpacking). I cleaned the kitchen. I did laundry. I even, gasp, made dinner! I haven’t done that in two weeks! And now, I am blogging. How pathetic. I just need to write a few words! I’ve already written the story, why should a few words telling it be so difficult?
I heard an explanation of sorts tonight. Writing creatively draws heavily on the right side of the brain: you show the story in vivid detail. Writing a synopsis is the antithesis of creativity. It forces the writer to go against everything she has learned, crafted, honed, struggled to capture in her writing: tell not show.
I am learning a vast deal about this process. I don’t want to. I wish I could just go to Borders or Barnes and Noble and pick up the Cliff’s Notes for Synopses. Or better yet, a fill in the blank form. I can see it now:
My hero/heroine (circle one) is named _________________. He/she (circle one) has a crisis when ______________________. He/she (circle one) _______________ then he/she __________________. The story ends when__________________.
Can’t get much more telling than that, I suppose.
And all this time, the blank page has not moved. “Still here!” it taunts. “Take your time! I’m not going anywhere!”
Great. Now it has its own voice. Who knew?
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10.18.05
Posted in Me, Reflections on Life in General at 11:13 am by Administrator
OK, third time’s the charm. I have attempted to type this blog and include a nifty graphic twice already. The nifty graphic messed up the entire posting both times. I am burning that graphic and never using it again. It’s appropriate really, for the words in the graphic are what set me off today.
I just began a blog entry regarding the frustration of my day with all things technology-related. And what should happen in the midst of writing the post? The software crashed. This is the story of my day.
It began, actually, yesterday when I was searching for the most cost effective options for travel and lodging for the Glorieta Christian Writer’s Conference next week. I utilized every possible search engine known to man. Priceline, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotels.com, Hotwire, and then I searched individual hotel and airline sites. I was so confused by this morning that I didn’t know if I was flying to Santa Fe for a conference or going to Vegas for a weekend trip.
The sluggishness of my wireless network did not help matters. I sat for interminable amounts of time, waiting for pages to finish loading that never did. I hit the reload button so many times on my browser that when it eventually caught up with my clicking, I was so far from where I wanted to be that I would have to start all over again. It did not make me happy. At all. In fact, I was quite ready to hurl my precious Macintosh out of the window. This insult was acute. Mac’s just don’t generally behave in such an unruly manner. But mine did.
In an effort for diplomacy, I started afresh this morning. I plugged my laptop directly into the hub with an ethernet cord and that seemed to alleviate some of my network issues. Those issues aside, I started my search for stellar savings at top hotels and airlines via the internet. In the process, I made a startling discovery. All those sweet package deals that cause outbursts of “Wow! I’m getting this trip for a steal!” are bait for the real hook, which is a message that pops up after you hit “purchase.” The message reads something to the effect of this (here is where the graphic was supposed to go, but you’ll have to ignite your imaginations and dream it up on your own):
‘YOUR PRICE HAS CHANGED. We’re sorry, the price of this package has changed from $344.60 to $402.90 since you chose it.”
What? I must have chosen twenty different packages on both Expedia and Orbitz and gotten the same sort of notice. I do not understand how they can advertise one package, you click on it to purchase, and then receive this warning of price increases. How fast can airline tickets and hotel rooms and rental car prices go up? In the blink of an eye? I began to think these companies program some sort of automatic price increase into the action of “click here to purchase.”
Once I finally got over my shock and admitted defeat to the greater economic giants, I clicked there to purchase and was hit with yet another warning.
“This flight does not qualify for e-tickets. You must receive paper tickets via mail. Please choose an option below:
a. Fedex overnight- $24.99
b. Fedex standard - $21.99″
That was it! Those were my only choices. Now I know how they get you to buy into the whole “buy as a package and save $200!” line. You may actually save that money on the ticket prices, but you will pay through the nose to the agent handling the transactions.
But again, what was I to do? I had learned all this too late. Next time, however, I will be armed with the knowledge that these packages are not what they seem and if you simply ignore the man behind the curtain, you, too will be taken to out to lunch and relieved of all your change as you are nickeled and dimed to death.
So perhaps you can understand my true frustrations with this day. Now it is 2:03 p.m. EST. I was supposed to be at my son’s school three minutes ago to help with Writing Process. Am I there yet? No. Why? you may be brave enough to ask?
My AC went out last night. I made a service request and was informed the tech would be here around 12:30. I was here at 12:25. By 1:30, I called to find out why my 12:30 tech had never shown. The explanation? “Oh you shouldn’t have been told 12:30. He was still at his other job and wasn’t finished then. “ He pulled in my driveway as I was hanging up the phone with the AC company.
So now I sit and wait while this man tromps through my attic and outside the house trying to figure out why my ac unit has no power. Fortunately, it is October, glorious October in Florida and I am enjoying cool temps and humidity free afternoons.
That helps my mood some. I’m still missing my son’s class. And my teeth hurt from clenching them so much.
At least I got through ver. 1.3 of my day without having to abort and begin 1.4.
UPDATE: We have a “service contract” with our AC company. Guess what that gets us? After paying $190/year, we get to pay $114 for a housecall. Yep, I do believe I need to see the dentist about a teeth guard. My teeth will be ground to nubs before this day ends.
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10.17.05
Posted in Writing at 7:22 am by Administrator
I am determined to sell my book. I have spent the last 3 solid days researching agents and agencies who might be a good fit for my newly written, “The Tale of Lillian Foster.” In the process of this research I discovered two important facts.
First, the best way to get a foot in the door with an agent or editor is to actually attend a conference, manuscript in hand. During my research, I discovered most agents and editors attend several conferences per year. This is their way of keeping an ear to the industry pulse and also in hopes of discovering that new, untapped author just waiting to be noticed. Also, most of them speak or lead some sort of roundtable discussion. It’s a perfect opportunity to listen and learn.
Second, the best way to get a foot in the door with an agent or editor is to meet them at a conference, manuscript in hand. It seems an agent or editor is more likely to take a look at your work if you actually meet them face to face and pitch your story idea to them. They prefer this method over an unsolicited query sent to their office, although most will still accept those.
I also came to the realization that most conferences take place before October. With the exception of one major conference which is coming up October 26-30, 2005. It is the Glorieta Christian Writer’s Conference near Santa Fe, New Mexico. I scoured the website for this conference (http://www.classervices.com/CS_Glorieta_Conf.html), pouring over workshop descriptions, roundtable discussion schedules, faculty listings and editor/agent appointment availabilities. The information was overwhelming at first, but the more I read and researched and delved into it, the more I knew I had to make this happen. I had to go to Glorieta.
I spent the better part of Saturday picking out my classes, weighing different topics’ relevance to my season in the writing life and choosing agents I might want to meet. I am now convinced more than ever that this is the perfect first opportunity to get my foot in the door. I have requested an appointment with one of my top agent choices, Joyce Hart of Hartline Literary Agency. Coming into the game at this late stage, I may not be able to secure that meeting, but I am hoping and praying that God has brought this conference to my awareness for a specific reason. And I’m attempting to take advantage of that awareness.
Now, before anyone seems to think I am delusional, let me qualify somethings here. I am going to this conference for the express purpose of education. I have never attended a major writer’s conference and I am looking forward to soaking in the knowledge and wisdom of experienced and successful authors. I would be a fool not to take advantage of this situation.
So, if all goes as planned, I will fly out of Orlando on October 26 and hopefully come back on the 30th an educated, informed, and, fingers crossed, better connected author.
I will keep you posted on my process.
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