Cool Blog Quote: Sometimes It's Not You

Today's quote is from a post one of my writing buddies made at MiG Writers on disappointment:
 

"But there are politics, bad timing and subjective judges and sometimes things simply don’t go in our favor. It’s not a reflection of us..."

 Carmella Van Vleet, Grace in the Face of Disappointment, MiGWriters, Monday August 13, 2012.

It's so important to remember that in the writing business, there are a lot of things beyond your control. If you haven't yet gotten where you want to be, it's not necessarily because you've written a bad story or a bad query letter or because you're a terrible writer. It might just be bad timing. So what I can I do to not get dragged down by disappointment?

I can't just have faith that someone will "discover" my talent. I'm going to do everything in my power to reach my goals.

• I'm going to keep writing new stories and sending them out on submission.
• I'm going to keep reading good books and learning from other writers.
• And I'm going to keep learning about how to be a better writer and how to promote myself and my writing in this crazy changing business.

The Importance of Story

If you're looking for a good writing-related podcast, I recommend checking out Joanna Penn's interview with Lisa Cron, author of Wired for Story, over at the The Creative Penn.

Lisa is so enthusiastic and passionate about her views, it's inspiring! I love thinking about how our brains interpret the world in terms of story.

It puts a picture in my mind of how my kindergarten students calm down and are instantly attentive when I pull out a good book and start reading. I've ordered Lisa's book and I'm going to be thinking about how to apply some of her ideas to my writing and to my teaching.

I especially liked her thoughts on "show don't tell" and how showing isn't effective if the reader hasn't been shown WHY the character is reacting. For me, that means showing the right events to explain a character's frame of mind and reasons for acting a certain way, not just using actions to show an emotion.

Learning from WriteOnCon 2012 - Part 2

After Day 2 of WriteOnCon, I feel as though I've learned as much as I would at an in person conference.

There was lots of great info for writers of middle grade books in the Industry Pro Panel with Agents Katie Grimm & Sarah LaPolla, & Editors Sara Sargent & Allison Weiss. A couple of tidbits:

From Sarah Sargent, Editor: Writing Girl MG is harder than writing boy MG.

From Katie Grimm, Literary Agent: There's a huge difference between elementary school (ages 9-11) and middle school (ages 12-14).

And from all the panelists: They see a lot of stories about dogs, baking and kids sent to live with oddball aunts.

Another great presentation for writers of middle grade was Differences Between YA and MG (for the Writer Who Does Both) by author Claire Legrand. Here's a sampling:

From Claire Legrand: Make sure middle grade characters aren’t too perceptive or aware of what they’re feeling, because it makes them seem too mature for their age.

There's lots more, but the transcripts are all there, so when you have a chance, you should check it out!

For my take on Day 1 of WriteOnCon 2012, see Learning From WriteOnCon 2012 - Part 1.

Learning from WriteOnCon 2012 - Part 1

I've been hanging out at WriteOnCon and it's amazing! This is the first time I've had a chance to browse the forums and attend live events while the conference is actually running (though one of the great things about WriteOnCon is that all the transcripts remain up so you can visit them anytime).

My writing notebook is bursting with great tips that I can hardly wait to try out in my own writing. Here are a few things I've picked up from Tuesday's session:

It's great to have a blog because it can be a hub for all your social media. From Meredith Barnes in How to Get Started With Social Media: DON’T Do All The Things! by Publicist Meredith Barnes.

Characters are what makes a novel stand out. From Daniel Lazar in Literary Agent Daniel Lazar Talks All Things Publishing.

Strong friendships are important in middle grade fiction and it might be a good idea to make it clear that your main character has an ally in your query letter. From Peter Knapp in a Live Pitching Event with Literary Agent Peter Knapp.

For more tidbits from WriteOnCon, see Learning from WriteOnCon 2012 - Part 2.