Category: Uncategorized

I love Jama Rattigan’s blog, and it’s not JUST because she posts pictures of food that makes me want to go out and gain twenty pounds in two days! It’s because she loves Paddington Bear as much as I do–if you go by the number of Paddington’s sharing her home, you’d have to guess even more.

Today, Jama is celebrating the birthday of Michael Bond, the man who created Paddington, with all his good intentions and not quite-as-good follow-through, with his love of marmalade, and the always necessary, if not quiet, baths that result from said marmalade-overdoses.

Jama and her Paddingtons sent me a special hug today, so I couldn’t not send one back.

To Jama & her bear family and to Michael Bond, with huge thanks,  from MY Paddington family & friends.

I know–never say “never.” So, if that’s true, any or all of the items on this list might just show up to surprise me in the next year. But…let’s say I’m skeptical!

Sometime next week, you’ll my “resolutions” (they’re never very firm, more like Fimo clay that hasn’t yet been baked in the oven), but today I thought I’d do a fun list of unlikelies. So here you are:

1. I won’t be invited to participate on Dancing with the Stars. If I had those kinds of connections, don’t you think I’d already have done a spot on What Not to Wear?!

2. I will not suddenly grow a green thumb and start growing exotic plants and flowers all over my hillside. My apologies to all the deer that would love to munch them.

3. Martha Stewart won’t ask me to blog about my cleaning and decorating tips.

4. My husband will not sign up for Facebook.

5. You won’t see me driving one of these.

Hey, if the universe is going to play a trick on me, I want to make sure it has the right material!

6. I won’t buy a trampoline.

7. Nobody will hire me to teach a yoga class.

8. I will not bring home a Great Dane puppy. No matter how cute they are.

9. I won’t sing a duet with Joan Baez. Not with her actually in the room.

10. I won’t stop doing the happy dance about my writing milestones.

See you all in the New Year!

Warning: This post will be a little mushy.

We had a great Xmas. We went to my sister-in-law’s house, out in the high dessert, which mean long drives down and up Highway 5, but also great views of desert landscape littered with Dr. Seuss trees. I stayed lazy while others went out on photo shoots and geocaches, talked with my nieces, played Trival Pursuit, and ate a LOT of candy and cookies.

And I got many wonderful presents.

I want to talk about one in particular.

In case you can’t see it well, it’s a bear fetish from a very cool shop in town, one that sells lots of Native American art. I’ve drooled over these bears for years, but they were one of those things I just wasn’t going to buy for myself (I know, silly!). In my head, I think this little bear was something I would never have. Only, until Xmas morning, I hadn’t realized that.

My son bought this for me. His high school is an open campus (oh, yes, he does love that fact!), and the store is within easy walking distance. I had never mentioned to him how much I loved these fetishes or the bears in particular, although I do have another little pottery bear that a friend got me years ago. Without me knowing, he bought the bear and brought it home. When I saw the wrapped box under the tree, I was sure it was something he’d built or written or drawn, which–obviously–would have been great and made me happy. My imagination never went anywhere near the bear.

When I opened the box, the tears just about came. I flashed through amazement and delight and gratitude and pride and shock. And then happiness. And these words came out of my mouth:

“This bear is going to get me an agent.”

Huh? What was THAT about? Okay, yes, I know what that wish is about, but what did it have to do with the bear?

It took me a day or so to put it all together. And here’s what I finally understood…The bear is about possibility.

The bear is something I was never going to get. And yet–here it was.

It’s been a long year. You all know the feeling. You keep writing and making progress and trying not to look at the calendar and think how long it’s been or how long it’s still going to be. And you know, deep down, that you’re going to be doing this no matter what, because you love it and there’s nothing else like it.

But still…sometimes the feeling of possibility starts to fade.

Until something happens to bring it back. Like your son goes out on his own and buys you the thing he didn’t even know you really wanted. And gives it to you on Xmas morning.

I’ve been thinking about my New Year’s post, which you’ll see soon. And it’s going to be a lot more upbeat than it might have been. Because I’ve remembered that, whatever does happen in 2011, agentwise or otherwise, the year will contain possibility. And that’s the important thing.

Thought I’d toss a post up and let you all know that I haven’t (yet) and don’t plan to vanish from the face of the earth, but…this blog may be quiet for the next week or so.

Hey, it’s Holiday Time!

It’s not like we’re unbusy around here. The last of the presents have been pretty much bought and/or created and, yes, wrapped. The house is being cleaned, friends are visiting, food is being cooked, family will be visited. Exercise is being achieved. And all the other important vacation things are being done–books are being read, TV is being watched, couches are being laid upon, and eyes are being rested.

How’s that for passive voice?

There is not much writing being done. Unless, of course, you count to-do lists, grocery lists, and labels for those wrapped xmas presents. And you know what? This week I do count those!

Sometimes, the recharge is as important as the progress. Important to the progress.

So just stopping by to wish you all a wonderfully relaxing (and–if you want it–productive) time. Eat cookies, listen to holiday music, and enjoy!

Last week, Jennifer R. Hubbard blogged about writers making the decision to stop working on a particular project. I thought it was a good post, and particularly interesting because Jenn talks about having files “full of projects that I took through a few chapters or a few drafts, but then abandoned” (if, as she clarifies, abandoned can mean very possibly picking up the project again, at some unpredictable point in the future). This was interesting to me, because–as my first thought was–I have no projects that I abandoned by choice, because I actively decided I was not writing that project.

I have lots of stuff from the years before I was what I consider truly committed to doing this writing thing, but really–those were stopped from fear or laziness or just not writing–not from me consciously saying “No, not now.” And I do have a drawer-for-now novel, one that got me close to agents but, so far, not one who really wanted it.

But I don’t have (Foreshadowing: Or so I thought) any that I thoughtfully stopped writing.

Except, I do. And I remembered it this morning when I was emailing with a critique partner about the post.

I have the book that I worked on for years, that I essentially got nowhere on. It is a mystery novel, and my process for it  was essentially to write a chapter, send that off to my critique group, wait until the critque-group meeting (because how could I write forward until I heard what they had to say–yikes!), get their feedback, revise that chapter, write the next, send it off to my critique group, wait… You can see the picture. Every now and then I’d get an idea about the beginning, go back, and start over. Multiple times.

Eventually, I fell in love with an idea for my first kids’ book and slid that mystery into a box. To be honest, with a lot of relief and not much regret. I told my critique group that I wanted to try out this kids’ book instead and–here was a clue–they pretty much encouraged me to make the change. Yes, they were (and are) supportive, but I think they also had the same feeling about that first book, that it and I were going nowhere together.

So, yes, it was the right project to put away.

What about the ones that shouldn’t be put away. Jenn talks about trusting her gut–and, yes, that’s important. My critique partner & I also talked about how and why we decide to keep going. Because, in every project, there will be a moment when you hate it. When you don’t know where you’re going, when you look at the timeline this is taking you into the future and you feel like the end of the tunnel is miles and miles and miles away. So why (and when) do you keep going.

Like Jenn said, boredom is bad. Boredom had a lot to do with me being so happy to switch to the kids’ book and let the mystery go. Other feelings, though, are signs that maybe (probably) I need to push on: feelings like frustration, confusion, anger. Those feelings usually come along because there’s something in the story I haven’t figured out–something I really need to know. Well, that need is not just about the moment, about the scene or the character. It’s about me–if I back off and give up on the need, how is that going to make me happy. Whereas, if I grab another ounce of writer-faith and keep staring, keep thinking, keep brainstorming with my critique group, there’s a chance that I will reach understanding, that I WILL find an answer. And, typically, at that moment, what I want to do most is stay with this story.

Through the whole, long, dark tunnel.

1. Everything-and I mean everything: wrapping paper, ornaments, green-and-red-wrapped candy–has been out in the stores for almost a week. This doesn’t bug me quite as much as I know it bugs a lot of people, but they could have waited another few days. Although, honestly, Trader Joe’s could sell their peppermint-chocolatey goodies all year, if it were up to me.

2. Our “tree” is up and has been since last weekend. My husband got a little bored and built a metal sculpture, which–halfway thru–the three of us decided had branches and would do just fine, with a bit of decoration. Normally, we don’t get the tree thing done till a week or so before the big day. And, yes, there are presents out.

3. The car thermometer read 36 degrees earlier this week as I was taking my son to school. What other purpose could this serve than to get things cold enough (and perhaps snowy enough) for Santa and the reindeer to visit?

4. I think I’m almost done with my shopping. Which scares me into thinking maybe I’ve forgotten something important, but I’m going with cheerful oblivion for now.

5. This wonderful video has already been making its way around Facebook. Beaker always makes me smile.