Rejection

Has your work been rejected? Were you devistated? Ready to give up? In tears? Angry? Suicidal or homocidal?

Teresa Nielsen Hayden takes a logical yet unvarnished look at rejection reactions. http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004641.html It's long, but every word is worth reading.

Even if you skip the rest, be sure to read #3. But you really don't want to skip. Take the time to read it all, and then enjoy the comments too.

Like what you read? Hmmm...might be a topic for next Wednesday's chat!

It's back!

Yes, the forum is finally back. Our "quick and simple upgrade" didn't go well. It put our board out of commission for nearly two weeks, and had Kim, Renee and I tearing our hair out.

The backup got corrupted, so we lost all the old posts and the old member list. The only option left was to start from scratch.

So now the three of us are bald, but the new forum is bright, shiny and new! Go register, and start annoying Renee. She lives for that, ya know. ;)

The forum is at http://www.writerschatroom.com/forum
See you there!

Audrey

Do You Wannabe Like Jordan (Dane, that is)?

We’ve certainly had some great comments during each stop of the Virtual Book Tour for Jordan Dane.

Why was she chosen to be our first vic … I mean featured author? Because she has a very professional website. Because she has a very professional blog. Because she has a presence on MySpace and other networking sites around the ‘Net. Because she attends every writer’s conference she can possibly get to to network with successful writers, editors, agents. Because she promotes herself as a professional writer.

She isn’t resting on her laurels after having sold SIX books to Avon HarperCollins before the first one hit print.

If you’re like me and wannabe like Jordan, take a look at how you’re promoting yourself. Does your website look like a novice put it together? Do you remember to blog more than once a month? Do you network with other writers?

Or do you do like too many very good should-be-published writers … and hunker down in the corner pretending that you’ve done everything you can and the publishing world and all its agents are against you?

Think about that as you visit the next stops on The Writer’s Chatroom’s “Show—Not Tell” virtual book tour featuring debut author Jordan Dane. Jordan and Avon HarperCollins are offering opportunities to win great prizes all along the tour.

Next up:
March 19 Cricket Sawyer at http://www.Cricketshearth.blogspot.com
March 22 Diana Castilleja at http://dianacastilleja.blogspot.com

Give yourself every advantage to learn from this marketing dynamo—who just happens to also be a very good writer—and read the interviews and comments at previous stops:

Billie Williams at http://printedwords.blogspot.com
Linda J. Hutchinson at http://reviewhutch.blogspot.com
Kim Richards at http://kim-richards.livejournal.com/
Lisa Haselton at http://lisahaselton.tripod.com/reviewsandinterviews/

And don’t forget to come to the “Launch P-A-R-T-Y!” on March 30th! There are prizes galore!

Time

What would you do if you could devote the next three months to doing nothing but writing?

What if you packed up your personal items, some clothes, your laptop, and maybe your favorite pillow and headed off to a writer’s retreat? A retreat where you didn’t have to cook or do laundry or clean up after yourself or anyone else. A place where the other residents are like you, all sharing a need to write, paint, sculpt, create.

You could finish a novel in three months. You might even get into the first or second re-write in that amount of time. You could write a poetry chapbook. You could create new worlds to explore—and be the hero in every one. After all, your great written work has been rattling around in your head for a long time. All you need is the time to get it written down. Time … that has been slipping by without a word having been written.

What would you write if you could find the time? How would you break up your day to be the most efficient and effective? Would you rise at dawn to get as much writing done as possible? Would you stay up until daybreak, allowing every thought to be recorded?

Or, would you shower (or not), eat a leisurely breakfast, gaze out the window at the variegated colors of flora and fauna and daydream? Would you think about friends, neighbors, and family fending for themselves back home? Would you worry about the dog’s next vaccination?

Writers are notorious for kidding ourselves. Sure, a job and kids, a dog or cat (or two), the spouse or significant other, all expect certain things from us. Especially our time.

That’s really why you haven’t completed your great written work, isn’t it? Lack of time.

So, as you’re finishing the task of writing your goals for the remaining 11 ½ months of 2008, decide whether you have the time to spend three months at a writer’s retreat or if you’ll have to squeeze writing in between other life events.

And then? Quit kidding yourself and plan accordingly. This is real life and time will not always wait.

(Linda wrote this post, but couldn't get in to post it.)