In Honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

While school children and others enjoy this day off, we should all remember how selflessly Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. worked so others could have a better and safer life.  I hope everyone takes a moment today to honor the man and his accomplishments.

I've read The Help and remember the 1960s well.  I grew up during the latter years of segregation, but really didn't understand what it was, until people like MLK stood up for their rights.  After taking a trip downtown with my dad when I was quite young, I remember asking him why the colored people (the term used at that time) sat in the back of the bus.  His answer was that some people believed other people shouldn't get to do things with the rest of us because of the color of their skin.  That was a little confusing to me, but I was too young to understand.  In 1954, the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas) was a landmark case, and the Supreme Court's decision changed the course of this country for many.  But it didn't mean everything was to be integrated.  In 1958 the Dockum Drugstore sit-in  "was one of the first organized lunch-counter sit-ins for the purpose of integrating segregated establishments in the United States."  Wichita, Kansas was instrumental in making us aware of segregation, and having been a Wichita girl, I'm very proud of that.

I'm very lucky to have lived to see the changes I've seen in this country and in this world.  Freedom is a word we tend to take too lightly, too often.  Thank you to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others who have given their time and their lives to make this country a better place.

"The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." - Thucydides 460-404bc

One Down and a Gazillion to Go

In spite of my phobia of making New Year's Resolutions, I still have things to do.  Goals to be decided on, lists to make, and the usual daily chores that can only be pushed aside for so long.

I've now come to the place where I've reached the goal--finish a new 2-book proposal--I've been working on pretty much exclusively for the past month or so and realize that I still don't get to sleep in or watch TV ad nauseum or any of those things that would be fun but not productive.  While working on that goal, there were too many times that I said, "I'll get to it as soon as I get this finished and sent."  Yeah, well, that time is here and the dishes are still waiting, while the Christmas decorations packed in boxes need to be hauled to the attic.  Oh, and let's not forget the laundry that I've begun tripping on as it's begun to spill out of the basket.  Yes, real life has returned, and it's as real as it always has been.  Ah, what a glamorous life!

One goal may have been reached, but there are plenty waiting in the background.  Yes, that bookcase I wanted to put back together for the living is still waiting in the corner of my bedroom.  I did manage to get my office re-arranged, but not everything has been put away in a proper place.  I did manage on Christmas Day to get my kitchen in shape, but with those dishes waiting...

Goals aren't always a one-time-mark-it-off-and-forget-it thing.  Living takes a lot of time, and daily goals continue to reappear like clockwork. And maybe that's a good thing, because otherwise I might revert to reading all day and watching TV all night.  And now that I think of it....

"People with goals succeed because they know where they're going."  - Earl Nightingale 

Wichita Area Romance Authors are blogging about goals this month.  Come visit!

How Busy Was It?

After getting the upper hand on a cold that had me wanting to crawl back into bed early last week, somehow I managed to actually finish the week with some accomplishments.  Lucky for me, the momentum followed me into today.

It started on Wednesday evening, when I joined the other three members of our critque group for the first time since before the holiday hustle and bustle hit hard in December.  I couldn't have felt better when I left that evening.  My contribution of a reading of the first two scenes from my current WIP was very well received.  To put it simply, they liked it!  There's no way to describe how much that helped my id.  By Thursday, I was raring to start addressing the few changes they suggested and get on with the writing---and revising---process.  (Thank you Pat, Theresa, and Deborah!  You three are the greatest!)

Sometimes all it takes is a few positive comments from others to chase away that feeling that you're swimming through mud.  Creative beings tend to be their own worst critics...and enemies.  We're so tuned into looking for what needs to be changed and improved that we sometimes forget to look for what's good.  Kathie D and I call it Forest for the Trees Syndrome.  Yes, you guessed it.  We get so close to our work, picking and trimming and changing, that we lose the ability to see the whole picture---or in a writer's case, the whole story.  Sure, the leaves on a tree are especially beautiful in the autumn, but it's the whole tree of leaves that takes our breath away.

Yesterday I finally finished rewriting the last of the three chapters that I soon plan to send to my editor.  Well, once the synopsis is revised to fit those new scenes that cried out to be written.  I'd planned to do a final read-through and polish today, but I worked on a updates for several websites, instead.  That's probably a good thing.  It gives it a chance to cool and me a chance to step away, if only for a little while.  My eyes (and brain!) will be a little fresher for it.

Yes, it's been a busy week, but it's been a week that I can look back on and say I accomplished a lot.  And that doesn't happen all that often.

"It is not time that we need to manage, but our attitude towards it - we all have the same amount, it is just how we use it that differs. Keep busy and keep getting results."

-- Anton Guinea

Happy 2012!

Yes, I'm late.  Not the best way to start the new year.  But sometimes we don't have control over what happens or at least we can use some of those happenings we do have control over to procrastinate.

As June Carter Cash sang in the song Time's A Wastin', ♪ ♫ "A cake's no good if you don't mix the batter and bake it." ♫ ♪

While I'm not much for making New Year's Resolutions that are quickly broken, I do sometimes make goals for the year.  This year I didn't.  My goals haven't really changed, but I am looking at them in a different way.  I know what it takes to reach them.  The problem comes when it's time to take that action.  Sometimes there are things that come along to keep us from working on our goals.  That's what happened to me this past week.

Early on Friday morning, two guys arrived to put the new siding on my house.  Not long ago, we had a new roof put on, so I knew it wouldn't be a normal time while they were working.  What I didn't realize was how long it would take or how intrusive it would be.  I tried writing on Friday, because my goal had been to finish the proposals I was working on and send them to my agent.  But the pounding and hammering on the walls (especially thin ones with no insulation) was a whole lot louder than I'd expected.  Concentration--at least the kind needed for writing--was almost nil.  They were there until after dark.  The same thing happened on Saturday.  Very little writing and revising got done, and because it was New Year's Eve, we had plans to go to my oldest daughter's for the evening.  We were a tad late, but well before the magic hour of midnight.  With the thought in mind that the next day was not only a Sunday, but a holiday, as well, we planned to sleep in late, after staying up into the wee hours of the morning.

We were WRONG.  At 8:15 in the morning on Sunday, I was awakened by what sounded like a sledgehammer on the wall next to my bed.  They're baaaaack!  I was not a happy camper, but there was very little I could do about it.  I managed a few paragraphs.  Yesterday (Monday) the siding was finally in place, and the workers left in mid-afternoon.  Hooray!

The result of the past few days is a super looking house...and the fact that I'm four days behind.  I no longer have time to play and must make up for lost time.  Somehow.

Is being behind schedule only three days into the new year a bad omen?  I hope not!  I'm determined to make this the best year yet, no matter what comes along to try to mess up my plans.

For me, 2012 starts today!

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.

- Oprah Winfrey 

No Fish Story

There are things that happen that we'd rather not share, oftentimes because it might put us in a bad light.  Maybe it's a little embarrassing and not something we're not proud to tell others.

So why a picture of Flounder today?  Because floundering was what I was doing for a few days last week.  I'll be honest and not be embarrassed.  On Thursday I received a double rejection from my editor at Harlequin American.  After seven books for HAR, I fell in the hole.

It's been that kind of year.  I should have seen it coming, but I was holding out hope.  I've been trying since June to hit on the right story.  Apparently my aim was bad.

It took me less than two days to get over it. Okay, those two days were BAD, but by late Friday I'd moved beyond and dragged out a couple of stories from under the bed.  No, not really from under the bed, just not something I'd looked at closely in the past few years.  A phone convo with one of my brainstorming buddies helped me make that final few steps to get over the Hill of Despair.  (I think I own a house there.)  I've already begun working on them and hope to have them ready by the first of January.

So where does the floundering come in?  It happens when revisions are requested and when submissions/proposals are rejected.  It happens to everyone at some time, not just writers.  It's that time--no matter how short or long--when a person doesn't know what direction to take.  Should I do this this?  Or should I do that?  And more than likely, nothing is done.

Rejections, passes, Rs, whatever anyone wants to call them, happen in the writing business.  A lot.  They hurt.  They hurt even when we tell ourselves it isn't personal.  But because our creations, our books, our stories, are pieces of our selves, it feels personal and can be painful.  Many people give up when they don't make the progress they'd envisioned.  It takes a thick skin to keep writing or creating when no one seems to care but us.

And, yes, rejections happen to everyone, at one time or another.  The key is learning how to handle them and how quickly to put an end to the floundering, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and return to forward movement, having learned something--again--the hard way.

Is it worth it?  I think so. :)

Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work.  -  James Lee Burke

Traditions

(from dictionary.com)

tra·di·tion

   [truh-dish-uhn] 

noun

1.  the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs,information, etc., from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice: a story that has come down to us by popular tradition.
2.  something that is handed down: the traditions of the Eskimos.
3.  a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting: The rebellious students wanted to break with tradition.
4.  a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices.
5.  a customary or characteristic method or manner: The winner took a victory lap in the usual track tradition.

There are probably as many traditions as there are people.  They come in all sizes, shapes, colors, reasons, times, seasons, and anything else you can think of.  We like traditions because the make us feel safe.  Once made, we know what needs doing, making decisions much easier.

We're most familiar with traditions around the holidays.  Christmas, Hanukkah and other religious/faith-based holidays at the end of the year often have the most traditions attached to them.  But we all manage to create more of our own, just for us.

Sometimes we have to adjust traditions to fit something new in our lives.  A marriage can dictate the melding of traditions.  A new baby may mean a change in timing.  As a family continues to grow, new traditions--Santa Claus, the Christmas story from the Bible--are introduced for the children.

And sometimes we make new traditions.  Children grow into adults who have their own children.  Jobs can often mean a distant move.  Divorce or the passing of a loved one are two of the saddest of reasons for the need to create new traditions.  But somehow, within all the changes, we adjust and find solace and peace in traditions, whether old or new.

If you have a favorite tradition, I'd love it if you'd share it, either here on the blog, through Twitter (@roxdelaney), on Facebook or my author Facebook Page.  Who knows?  We may find something that will make the perfect new tradition.

To many people holidays are not voyages of discovery, but a ritual of reassurance.  - Philip Andrew Adams 

Roadblocks and Re-assesing

A week ago I blogged about the need--especially mine--to make a habit of writing each and every day.  Except maybe weekends.  Today I'm here to say that my determination to begin to make that habit came to a screeching halt.

Something didn't feel right, but I went ahead and started working on the synopsis for a proposal I want to submit--before the official holidays begin and no one is around to receive submissions.  I hoped that maybe if I pushed ahead, that feeling--caused by my own lack of belief in myself--would either go away, or the simple act of forward movement would take care of things naturally.

Wrong.  On both.  As I worked on the synopsis, seeing scenes in my mind, I hit a roadblock.  There it was, smack in the middle of my plot.  It was probably there all the time, but I didn't want to see it.  Fortunately (or unfortunately), writing a synopsis is good at revealing what we refuse to acknowledge.  This time the problem centered around the heroine and what had happened in her past to make her feel and react a certain way.  I thought I had it worked out.  I didn't.  It took several days, but I finally found what she (and I) needed.  I was almost ready to move forward again with real writing, when I talked to a published friend, who recently received revision notes on a book in the same sub-genre as mine.

Uh-oh.  I had another problem.  Was the story too dark?  Had I put my characters through too much, especially before the opening of the story?  Did I need to lighten up a little and give at least one character a little slack?

I still don't have the answer to that, but I'm going to beg for a few minutes of my friend's time, give her a quick overview of my problem, and see what she thinks.  Any other time, I might have busted through the roadblocks without too much thought, but this time I'm treading on new ground.  New sub-genre and a new line, meaning new "rules" that have not yet become familiar to me.

Hopefully tomorrow will find me back at writing the synopsis and still able to have it done in time to send before the holiday break.  The one good thing about all of this is that I've come to know my characters even better, and that's sometimes something that doesn't always happen until almost too late.

Keep tuned in.  Updates on the re-invention and expansion of my writing coming later.

First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!  - Ray Bradbury