Since last weekend, I’ve been working hard on the big writings. My weekly email from Writer’s Digest had inspiration for writing a novel in 90 days. The typical novel runs approximately 70,000 words. So writing 778 words each day will get me there. I have a bigger goal of writing at least 1,000 words each day. For each of two writing projects. Yeah. I’m bit of an overachiever that way.
I’m still adding substance to the first book in The Grenalia Chronicles with Megan. But last summer I’d started a story set in New Orleans, and that’s been my adventure this week. The story drew me back in, and has been flowing out of me with an ease I’ve not experienced lately.
Don’t get me wrong; The Grenalia Chronicles isn’t difficult to write. But there’s something even easier about the NOLA story. And I find it ironic in a beyond-coincidental way, that it’s been so easy to write a big story set in The Big Easy.
It’s been so easy, in fact, that I doubted my own talent. I was nearly certain my beta readers (that is, a tiny group of family and friends) were just placating me with their accolades. Of course Mutti is still my first reader, and she nearly always has wonderful things to say. But she has to. As old as I am, she’s still the Matriarch. She’s still my Mommy. And she still boosts my ego.
Then there’s Darcy. I trust his honesty. But a casual “I really like it” is the same as someone saying “I’m fine” when you ask how they’re doing. It’s a little parochial. Being the occasionally insecure person that I am, I need substance to his reviews. And he knows it. So today, I received this fine note:
“Ok, I don’t think I like reading unfinished works. Now I have to twist and stew while I wait for more. Answers! I need answers!”
The ultimate review came from Dot’s best friend who offered to read my story as a distraction from his summer college courses.
“… this is an incredible start to a story. I really did enjoy it… a very good tale of someone trying to find themselves in a city big enough where no one cares… I like it… Your writing is conversational, and it makes everything more comfortable… PS: My favorite line is ‘And I needed to be unnoticed by strangers.'”
I can’t share what he wrote between those lines, because that would give too much of the story away. I’m pleased that without knowing the plot past the first seven pages, the story is having a Big impact on the readers. Which, in turn, is having a Big impact on me.
It’s easy to doubt myself. To lose sight of the fact that I am not only a writer, but worth reading. Rejection comes in many forms, but the worst is from inside myself. This past week has caused me to stand a little taller, feel a little better about my works. To feel that self-confidence that comes with a job well done. And even if others hadn’t noticed, I’d still be taller. Better. Stronger. Because inward thoughts dictate outward behaviors.
And that’s the first of my Five Things Friday: The Big Easy. Here are the rest:
2. Harry Connick, Jr. has a new album out. Every Man Should Know. I’ve adored HCJ’s music since he first popped onto the scene in the late ’80s. Knowing my love for the man and his music, Darcy blessed me with an iTunes gift card so I could acquire the newest album. This of course was after I died and went to heaven while viewing Harry’s title video.
Just watch and listen:
(For those of you who don’t know, Harry was born in New Orleans.)
3. Jambalaya. I’ll be in my kitchen soon, cooking up a Mojo Original Jambalaya. I’ve never made it before, but I have a shaker of Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning that I love to dash on just about everything. I figure it’s time to use it for it’s intended purpose and make those mouth glands water! There are so many ways to make Jambalaya that I’m pretty sure I can’t mess this up.
4. Last year when I first started my N’Awlins story, I created a Pinterest board. I’ve added ideas, locations, recipes, party goods, and media for inspiration. I’ve been listening to a lot of Jazz and watching movies set in the South to get a feel for the accents, behaviors, settings, and characters. Since it’s likely I won’t make it to The Big Easy before I finish the story, I’m okay with living vicariously through the creative minds of others. Currently, my movies of choice are Double Jeopardy with Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd, and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil with Kevin Spacey and John Cusack.
5. To keep me inspired, I created a simple photo collage for my computer background. It’s a compilation of the first online resource materials I collected, as well as the writings I worked on this week. It’s colorful, detailed, yet simple.
NOLA Inspiration
I would love nothing more than to tell you as you read this, I’m enjoying beignets and coffee at Cafe DuMonde. Or even enjoying beignets and coffee from Cafe DuMonde. I know so much about them. Unfortunately, they’ve yet to know about me. Sometimes, soon can’t be soon enough.
Today’s post is from reporter Amy Zillner. She’s the reporter who reached out to me in November to help me get the word out about The Unemployment Cookbook.
As a creative writer, I’m intrigued with how reporters grapple with “just the facts”. I opened up a Guest Blog post to Amy with one caviat: Write what you want. I gave her no leading, no subject, and when she asked, I refused to give her direction. I wanted this post to be strictly herself, in her own words.
This is Amy’s post.
Reporting isn’t about facts, it’s about people
Hi all!
It’s such an honor to be a guest on Molly’s blog. I’m so grateful to be here.
Molly’s such an inspiration to me. I bet she inspires you too. I feel truly blessed to have met her.
She’s amazing! She took her dream of publishing The Unemployment Cookbook took action and made it a reality.
My dream. I wanted to be a freelance writer. Of what, I didn’t know. My B.A. in English hung on my wall, a gleaming example of my education —a dusty reflection of disappointment.
Can I tell you something? I never wanted to be a reporter. I had one class in college and said Nah! Too factual! Too boring!
As a creative writer and avid reader, facts were considered a part of daily living that I strove to escape from. Whereas fiction weaved a beautiful world I could get lost in.
It wasn’t until I actually had my first assignment that I experienced what a blessing and a challenge being a reporter really is.
The Blessings:
· If you’re passionate about something it can become your whole life if you let it.
· Forgiveness can bring peace and healing to many if a victim of tragedy can share their story to educate others.
· Listening to someone’s life story is something everyone should do.
· Reaching 100 years carries a lot of living with it; one person can influence the lives of many.
· Dreams can’t become a reality if you don’t take the steps to make it happen.
· People out there are rooting for our youth to have the opportunity to go to college, and they’re actually raising money to help them get there.
My Biggest Challenge:
· Fear
I’m not going to get the interview. I’m going to sound like a fool. I’m going to disappoint a lot of people. I’ll never be a good enough writer to make it through.
My constant companion.
If you’re looking to take a step toward your dream, fear is going to be your companion too. Sometimes you’re going to think you can’t do it.
Let me tell you something I know about fear. It’s a small creature casting a huge shadow puppet on the wall of your imagination.
And it isn’t until you face that shadow that you’ll see how small fear truly is.
So take that step toward your dream.
YOU CAN DO IT!
Let go of all the excuses of WHY you can’t and take a step towards HOW you can.
If you want to be a reporter start talking to people, immerse yourself in your community and the world around you.
Everybody has a story and everybody has a voice, we need only listen.
It’s TGIF time. It always seems to work out that when I’ve been blog-absent and finally have much to say, it’s a TGIF post. I like that. Blog and I, we work well together.
And believe me, I have oh-so-much to say. The first is, I’m learning how to not say everything. As a writer, I’m a bit cavalier with my words. That’s not always a good thing. I see a story everywhere, but that doesn’t mean I should tell it. Some stories aren’t mine to tell. Others are mine, but not worth telling. Still more are shared stories, and to be told in different avenues than the Blog. I’m finding a Magic Filter that makes it okay to write… and okay to not write.
I’m making much better use of my daily organizer. Not only am I keeping track of appointments and writing assignments, I’m also keeping track of accomplishments. “Ordered mugs.” “Writer’s Group 10 a.m.”. “ICL Assign #4”. These are only a few of the entries for this month. It’s my goal to have at least one entry each day relating to writing. So far, so good.
Now that the Cookbook is in production and I have an actual inventory, it’s time to work on production of my next project. A Study on the Ten Commandments is a work I’m humbly proud of. The writing is finished, the cover is designed, and yes, there’s a Kickstarter campaign for pre-selling and raising funds for publishing.
Ten Commandments Cover
My newest writing project is half done. Broken Girl and Other Stories of Redemption: A Collection of Parables, Poetry & Prose. I’m very excited about this one for many reasons. Even in my journals, I’ve written creatively. This is a collection of moments in the past two decades as I stretched my wings, flown the coop, and raised my own family. Lessons learned and failings felt. It will also feature photographs from my big brother, Mark. His photography skills are astounding, and last year he gave me carte blanche to use them as I see fit for this publication. I was so happy to call him this week and let him know this project is finally under way.
Broken Girl cover
I don’t know how the entire project will come together, but I intend to use this beautiful photo as the cover. I call it “Desert Beauty” and I’ve used it on my Blog before. Of course, he has such a plethora of nature photos that by the time I’m ready to produce the book, I may change the cover… oh, who am I kidding?! I love this photo and I’ll use it nine ways to Sunday if I can!
Oh, sure, I could complain about my nagging fears and personal woes. But, as I so often used to say, “Everybody’s got something, y’know?” The specifics of my trials and tribulations don’t matter. The history of how I got here is insignificant. All that matters is the goal, and whether I reached for it. That, in itself, is a great accomplishment.
I have much to write over the next week:
My views on the Vatican and Pope Francis.
Joshua Tree blooms.
How to score birthday freebies.
Philippians 4:13.
My Morning at the DMV and Why Appearances Aren’t What They Seem.
I may not get to it all in the next week. But you know what? I’m okay with that. Because I’m also learning to not sweat the small stuff… and, as Pastor Tom often says, “It’s all small stuff.”
I can’t begin to express how I feel writing this post. It always feels good when I write. But this one… Because I’ve been fairly absent in the Blogosphere since January… it feels good to Blog.
TGIF says it all. February has gone by so fast for me. Although my Kickstarter Campaign wrapped up on February 1st, I can’t believe how very busy I’ve been with the post-campaign work.
Ordering product, final editing, and, this weekend, sending the Cookbook to the printer.
I feel as though I’ve three jobs. My day job, which helps pay the bills. My writing, which helps feed my soul. And taking care of my house, which means bills and budgets and meal plans and family time and everything else.
I’ve so much on my plate that right now my thoughts won’t settle down enough to be productive. How I miss the days of the writing and the typing and the photography and the planning… now I need to remember to catch my breath every few hours.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining. I really do have a wonderful job. And I am working on the writing. And my home life is great. But my days are running together so often, that I have the hardest time keeping track of what day it is.
So I’m glad I know it’s Friday. For a slew of reasons, this one is going to be great. It’s payday. Always a great start. And through winter storms and a bout of sinusitis, I managed to work without taking time off.
Joshua Tree
I even drove to work over black ice and through storming snow! Bonus on the Confidence Scale!
Today is my co-worker’s birthday so the Boss is treating us to lunch. Can you say, delicioso?!
After work is Bible Study followed by our much needed Game Night with the Second Family. Have you ever played Hand-and-Foot? It’s a crazy card game that for some reason, my daughter tends to score very well on even when it looks like she’s losing. I, on the other hand, give the impression of being the Big Winner only to be, well, not.
Earlier this week I treated myself. The planets aligned with sales and discounts and after ordering supplies that I thought would cost much more, I had enough savings to allow me to finally purchase my own Kindle Fire.
I. Am. In. Love.
There are so many wonderful books on sale. My reading list holds Sherlock Holmes, the Oz collection, Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austin, and others. I’m currently reading Silver Linings Playbook. Have you seen the movie yet? I highly recommend it. Highly.
And then of course there’s my newfound love of Kiefer Sutherland in 24. Netflix has opened up an entire new world for me, and I wonder how I ever could have resisted such glory.
My weekend is going to be full of family, fun, writing, and dreaming.
I’m waiting for my brain to settle down enough to write more than just a paragraph or two. But since that’s not happening any time soon, I guess I’ll just watch Jack Bauer save the day… again.
I admit it. I got frustrated yesterday. Really frustrated.
I know I shouldn’t. I know I should revel in this Something Good that is my new job and a clean house… but I almost lost my temper. I definitely lost my Happy Place.
I discovered that I’m doing myself a disservice. Frankly, My Dear… is nearly two years old. And since August 1, 2011, I have blogged every.single.day. Sometimes, more than once.
In the beginning, when it was about social fiascoes and gaining confidence, it didn’t matter how trite my posts were. Or so I thought. But the more I wrote, the more I had to say. The more important it became to say it well.
And yesterday, my frustrations grew as I realized for about a month now, I’ve not written the way I want to continue to write.
Yes, November and December are always my busy season. Dot’s birthday. Holidays. And this year… a day job! Very exciting stuff. Very exciting, keep-me-on-my-toes stuff. Very exciting, keep-me-on-my-toes-and-holding-my-breath busy stuff.
It dawned on me… I need some R&R. I need to stop this “need” to write, and write when I have something to say. So that’s what I’m going to do.
Don’t worry. It’s just for a short time. For the week between Christmas and New Year’s, Frankly, My Dear… will be on vacation. We may check in from time to time. Run a few ideas past you. After all, I can’t just cut writing out cold-turkey!
Between now and then, I’ll post every day. A vacation is only a vacation when it’s a direction away from something else. If I quit writing now, what kind of vacation is that?
Come to think of, this all consuming day-job is a vacation from my unemployment. Hey, I like that! It’s a good job. I’m still learning the office procedures and rejoicing when glitches are generated from the Home Office system and not because I forgot to do something like hit the enter button. My budget is slowly balancing itself. Actually, it’s more of a teeter-totter; but now and then it levels off.
I need to focus on my job. And my bigger writing projects. My correspondence course. And better blogging. Guess what!
I’m not SuperWoman. Surprised? I am!
So this frustrating revelation led to a better outlook. Instead of remaining frustrated, I’m taking a vacation. I’ll give myself the end of this year to plot out Something Good for next year! Better blog posts. More advertising. Maybe a day trip or two with Mutti and Dot.
Definitely more recipes and writing. And positively a better budget. More reading! And making better use of my lunch hour for such things.
Yup. I just need to regroup, make a schedule, close my eyes, and listen to… nothing. Just for a few days.
I’d invite you to come along… but I think that defeats the purpose…
I’m learning to just be still. And keep my eyes closed. Sometimes it’s just as hard to not see the world, as it is to pay attention.
