Struggling Writer's Club 3

I was the last to comment (aside from Dee) in the old room, and you're the first in the new room!  Congratulations! 

A bright and shiny new room! Love it!

Well, here I am, closer to being the first on this forum instead of the last this time! <GG>  I'm still waiting to hear back from SSE on my partial.  I love it that I feel I'm not alone in this.  There's all my eharl buddies here with me to hold my (virtual) hand !

New room! Happy faces!

Best of luck to DH, Lori. Fingers crossed.

Whoooo-peee Dooo! To Dee and DH for their new job too! Yowza for the vitamins. Kids...

Keeping up with your Mom's progress to, Trish. Wishing all the best.

Well, this is a crazy time in the job market. After me waiting weeks for my boss to return from his 3week trip to the Ukraine to offer me the job, he did today. Except... that the Exec VP requested a meeting with me previous to me signing on the dotted line.

All of us were flummoxed by the request (Boss included). This isn't the usual procedure and the VP didn't/wouldn't elaborate.  Umm.... I'm only looking to be hired as a simple file clerk. Really.  I'm afraid that he saw my resume attached to the job request and knows that I'm not a file clerk. But why should he care? 

The toxic coworker is in a panic because she is afraid that he has somehow found out what she tried to do to me and is wanting to grill me to see about getting her fired.

Why would the VP care about any of this? Coworker is insane, clearly.

And it gets better. My DH is on the phone in the other room hammering out the details for HIS new job. THUD.

Upheaval in our lives, much? You bet....

Good luck, Lori's DH!! 

Cearha, looking forward to hearing this latest bit.  Enjoying the toxic co-worker doing a bit of sweating, though.  She deserves it.

Momma continues to improve in slow measures, but we take any measures we can.  I'll soon have to clear my closet of all those clothes I've outgrown (in weight ) and take them to mom to wear.  She is getting so tiny!

Good on the no blue typing fingers, Michelle!  I've tried typing in gloves, with some interesting (and not very usable) results.

It's the kids first full day out of school for the summer and I'm supposed to be geting ready for work, but I'm enjoying the quiet solitude of the morning instead.  No rushing.  No fighting over the bathroom (though we have two, we have to fight over one?) no fixing a lunch.  I'll love it for the first two weeks, then I'll want them to go back to school, 'cause they'll be driving me batty!

Right, gotta get in the shower...

trish 

Hee hee!

Yeah, we're still happy and getting ourselves situated for me to be alone with the kids.

(Beat of silence, so you can appreciate my terror.)

Wishing you luck, Cearha!

Dee 

I hope you can find some resolution to your medical problems.  It's hard for them to treat something when they're unsure what the cause is.  Maybe your journal notes will help them narrow it down and pinpoint what's going on and bring about a swift resolution.

trish 

EC -- hugs on the health woes.

It is posisble to over edit and to end up with a very bland, very samey ms. You want your own voice to shine through. YOu want to fix small things and make it the best it can be, but also you want preserve what is uniquely you. Sometimes you are far too close to judge.

WIth me, my editing has stayed about the same. But then I tend to be a bit impatient with myself...Also the things that I think -- oh my editor will hate this, or this is not right is often something that does not bother her. She will find fault with something else. And once pointed out, it is usually so glaringly obvious that I kick myself, BUT I was far too close.

As Isabel Swift said -- keep your eye on the doughnut (ie the story) and not the hole.

Every writer is different in their methods and sometimes every ms is different.

FWIW

Michelle S

I hope they are able to get to the bottom of your health issues soon - but love the take charge attitude with which you are facing it.

Oh, man, I haven't posted in here in ages.  I think my trip home, and then finishing and revising my latest wip, just kicked my butt and I haven't had energy to spare to post.  (I've lurked, though.)

So forgive me if I forget someone...

Dee!  Hooray for DH!  And while it's hard to be alone with the kids, I know you'll do fine.

Cearha, I too want to hear about that meeting with the VP...

Trish, I'm glad your mother is improving.  Every little gain counts.

Lori, fingers crossed for your DH.

Michelle, make sure you post a pic of your new fireplace on your blog.

Good luck on the submission, Amanda.

*waves to Shaz and Jamie*

(((EC))) I am so sorry about your pain.  But wow, you are such a fighter and your attitude is inspirational.  Do you have a CP or writers' group who can talk over your revisions with you?  An outside voice can often help, if you trust them, and let them help you follow your own instincts.

Welcome Janiebug.  Many of us here are, or were, teachers. Personally I think teaching can give you a valuable insight into human nature which definitely helps with the writing.  Good luck with yours and feel free to vent, ask for advice, just chit-chat, whatever.  This forum is full of people at all different stages of the writing and publishing process and people with lots of life experience too.

I hope Joyce is having a great holiday! 

Right, the next post is all about me, and children. 

I have posted a picture of my fireplace on my normal blog, not the eharlequin, simply because I am not quite about photos on.

Welcome Janebug. No author was born published, so we have either gone through or are going through similair stages to yours. I find being disciplined helps and making usre that I write each day. Every author is different.

LOL Julie on the Flecket Wars. He has become a toddler. It is pretty awful when your child grow through the biting phase or the hitting phase or you name the  very embarassing phase.It happens and parents deal with it because children are not old enough to be self discplined. Then it passes. Looking at my eldest, you would never guess that  I used to sling him over my shoulder and bodily carry him, as he kicked and screamed when it came time for playdates to end.

Temper tantrums are bad enough in toddlers, it is the ones in grown men that I don't care for...

Michelle S

First, thank you to everyone for the wonderful welcome.  Thanks, too, for the advice.  I especially agree that it is important to carve out time each day to write. That's been my goal lately.  Even if I don't feel like I have the time, I make the time. 

 I think the thought that plagues me most is, "Am I really good enough?"  How do you know?  I have a three-book series idea.  I have written a synopsis for all three.  I know this sounds crazy.  But, I can't help it.  These three brothers showed up in my head and they wouldn't leave!  So, I decided to get their stories down on paper in a short form (synopsis) and struck out writing the first book. I am at the beginning of the first book--yet I feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants.   I learned to teach by working with a master teacher.  I was blessed with a wonderful mentor who taught me so much.  Yes, I had to work hard to become a good teacher myself, but I had a mentor who would offer pearls of wisdom and guidance.  Perusing this goal has me off-balance because I have no way of knowing if I'm going in the right (or even 'write') direction.  Does that make sense? 

I would like to find a romance writers' group. As for finding one, the nearest group is two hours away!  Can anyone recommend a way to find a critique partner for this genre on-line? 

Thanks in advance, guys.   Janie

I am readying a short story of mine for submission to a writer's contest. It's a small, local contest with a bit of award money and publication so nothing major but I'm still nervous.

 wish me luck, 

Tracy 

One small piece of advice is to make sure that they can stand alone. There can be nothing worse than to have the first book rejected and that means the whole project.

There is a find a critque partner thread on the Write Stuff forum and some people have used that. Others have found cp through just hanging out on some of the threads. It ihow I found mine before Iwas published.

And everyone, whether they are published or not, suffers from the Crows of Doubt. You do have to be positive. It is why learning about craft and and becoming determined perserve can be so key in this business. It is one of the best jobs in the world, but it also can soul destroying.

Right off to open some more veins and to hope that this Viking will eventually be good enough.

Michelle S

Tracy, you are totally right in your advice to Janie.  I've sold a bunch of books now, and with every book I fear that I'm not good enough.  My critique partners are used to my calling them up in a panic midway through every book; in fact they set their watches to it.  The fear doesn't go away.  I'm sure Nora Roberts has it, too.

What you do is learn to deal with that fear. Critique partners can really help you feel you're not writing into a void.  I found most of mine through this forum, but I believe there are also online RWA groups which can be found, I'm sure, on their website.  They also offer online courses which can be reassuring.

Ultimately, though, you just have to get the words on paper, and accept that in all probability, you will have to serve an apprenticeship by having several manuscripts rejected.  But no writing is wasted; it all helps you learn.

Good luck with your submission Tracy!

Agh, Michelle and Trish, he is such a good little boy but he is too small to deal with anger. Thanks for reassuring me that it is normal and passes, eventually.

Welcome, Genevieve.  We don't share our work here, because this isn't a critique board and also because everything posted here becomes the property of Harlequin.  Though as I mentioned above, some of us share work with each other privately.  Mostly we use this board for chat, venting, support, asking questions, and an oasis of sanity.  

This is the first time I've posted to this forum but I like having somewhere I can just hang out and talk to other writers. Earth Child I'm sorry about your medical problems and hope you can find some answers/solutions to them. I think the postive attitude makes a huge difference as long as you're doing everything you can medically (tests etc) which it sounds like you are.  As for the reno's Michelle I'd love so see the new fireplace and I think I'm going to really, really be experienceing the 'joy' of renos soon as our condo has building envelope problems and is about to undergo a huge remediation process. Cearha I hope the job works out. Maybe the VP looked at your resume and said 'hey, we've got this great job here she'd be perfect for'. As for the toxic co-worker I'm glad she's having to sweat. I think we've all had a toxic co-worker at one point or another and it's no fun.

As for myself I'm just about finished a ms that I'm doing a final edit on and then sending in. Wish me luck. I'll need it.

Pat

Glad to see new faces here!  Welcome Janie, Genevieve and Sparkle!  We're all in various stages of publication here, from "never written a word" to "published multiple times."  I'm in the "written a lot but no books published yet and having work critiqued" group.  I think there's a thread here somewhere in eharlequin for looking for a critique partner.  I'm sure someone knows where it is and will point you in the right direction.  There are no good writers' groups in my area, either, but I do occasionally get to meet published authors at our library book signings, which is wonderful.  I hope all of you like it here as well as the rest of us do! 

Big welcome to all the new faces on the board!

DD graduates from high school this Saturday morning. ACK! We bought her dress, shoes and tights for the big day AND a new set of pink luggage, her first set of luggage. It's been CRAZY. I've been blogging about her off and on this month. I can't believe she's REALLY going to be done.

On the writing front, I have a request for a full from an agent on my women's fiction and I've entered two contests, one with my YA and one with an RS.  I have the women's fiction query out with several agents right now, but the one who requested first is number one on my list. I sent the query in last Sunday, and she asked for it Tuesday. I'll send it tomorrow. (Another ACK!)

Hope everyone has a fabulous week.

MB  (Mary Beth)

First of all welcome again to everyone new. And if anyone is lurking, welcome as well. It is really a thread for anyone who struggles with writing.

Someone asked about my fireplace. You can see the blog post <a href=http://michellestyles.blogspot.com>here </a> 

Now about giving friends things to critque, I would say that it would depend on the friend. Unless the friend is a writer and someone  you respect, you may not get what you are looking for. Also, friends and relations can have other agendas.

When I was first starting out, I found it much easier when I first found a cp through the Critque partner thread. Then she stopped writing, and I went through several other ones and eventually found mine through the Mouse & Pen. We became friends but more importantly I expect her to give me an honest opinion that I respect.

Critque partners work in different ways. With mine, she see my work in the early first stage and then it is up to me.  Once it goes to my editor, it is between my editor and me. My cp is there for encouragement and support but she does not see my revision letters etc.  This is just the way I work.

I do know that sometimes, the editors see ms where all the life has been polished out. They want to see your unique voice.

The thing about writing is that every writer approaches things differently and you can never fully master the medium.

One of my new favourite quotes is keep your eye on the doughnut and not the hole.  In other words, keep your eye on the story and not the rule/problem. Does the story work? Isabel Swift gave me the quote. I would highly rec. her blog as she is busy doing a series on H/Sil editors and it is always imformative.

FWIW

Michelle S

Your daughter is graduating?! My son graduates from high school on Friday night. It's a little different with sons than daughters from what I've seen. The daughter has the dress scoped out, possibly being made for her by January at the latest, the guys are in getting suits or tuxes a week before the event. You think your son's the only one but then you go in the store and it's filled with his classmates. Pink luggage - I'm guessing there's a trip on the horizon.  Anyhow congratulations to you both.

Pat 

http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/write-stuff/find-critique-partner

Hope this helps, Janiebug!

Forgive... such a wild flurry of new faces and such dedicated and determined ladies! Woo-hooo! Great energy surge in the thread....

EC ((((((HUGS)))))) Sooo sorry to hear 'bout your continuing health concerns. I understand the frustration. Don't give up and don't give in.

Hugs to Julie on the biting (this too shall pass) and woo-hoo on the writing!

Gooooo, Biddy! You CAN do eeeet!

Mary Beth! Graduation time. *gulp* so soon? My DD's turn is next. One year to go.

Send waves, hugs and XXX's to AnnaofC when next you see her. Miss her.

Shaz! Whyfore are you gone from us for so long??

Yay! Joyce is back.  *drumming fingers impatiently for our travel stories*

Yay, Jennifer!

Life has turned upside down for me over the past few days and not in a good way. 

On the upside, I had the Big Meeting today.  Seems the VP saw something in my resume that really piqued his interest concerning a Code of Ethics/Corporate Compliance program that I administered. He listened carefully and demanded to know who I knew in this company. Who'd sent me. *scratches head* "A temporary agency?"

Concerns over hiring me (waaay over qualified for my current position) and I hopefully settled his brain cells on that score. *sigh*

Anyway, done hi-jacking the thread....

Welcome to all the newbies.  Some great advice here!

Julie - I sooo feel your pain.  My sweet angel was sent home from school Friday cuz he hit his aid --- again (weeks of this challenging stage now - told them to send him home the next time he hit anyone - after all actions have consequences!). 

Oh, and then yesterday my sweet darling broke both my dh and my windshields - now he knows there is a reason I've told him over and over again not to throw rocks!!  Sigh.

On a bright note - after a weekend with few treats/enjoyment/fun stuff (actions have consequences) - ds did not hit his aid today AND behaved beautifully the whole day at school.

I know that I had to work at controlling my temper when I was young - guess my darling takes after his mommy!!

MichelleS - your advice is always spot on.

WB Joyce - looking forward to hearing about your adventures

Biddy - you can do it!!

MB - congrats - wow - exciting and scary all wrapped up in one step

Cearha - hope everything calms down for you

Trish - love the attitude

Off to fight the traffic.  Bye!

I'm having a problem picturing our Lori having any trouble with her temper....closes eyes and tries real hard to imagine it....nope, just can't get that picture in my head.  Sorry, Lori.  Hope your DS (dear son) outgrows this phase soon.

(((Cearha)))

Looks around for Shaz and Annaof.   Hmmmm, maybe we forgot to move them when we moved into the new room...

LaTessa, pull up a chair and stay and struggle with us a while.  It's nice to see you here, too.

Today is the day Christyne's book with that other publisher is supposed to come out in print.

MB, (((hugs))) and congrats on the graduating daughter.  A bittersweet moment for sure.

OK, I've got children to kill.  See y'all later.

trish 

MB-congrats! And I so agree with the bittersweet emotion sentiment. There's definitely got to be one.

La-Tessa-welcome! DH means dear husband, dumb husband-you pick! It can change day to day or minute to minute!

LindaC