Favorite bumper sticker of the day: Change how you see, not how you look.
Just thought I'd share.
(And p.s. I sent that file, but I'm not sure you got it--what is it about me that entices spam filters so?)
I use hot packs, not cold ones. 1000 mg of Tylenol at the first warning sign. Dark room, long nap. Luckily the longest mine last are usually about 12 hours, but there's always the post-migraine hangover the next day.
Feel better soon, Teresa.
(Blushing) I'm glad it was received well :-) I know you and Patrick have good senses of humor, Teresa, but everyone has a bad day now and then...
I was actually in Manhattan one weekend last November, and as we ate lunch at South Street Seaport I could hear my manuscript's siren song. . .it called to me, tugged at me, a tangible presence across the streets and buildings, not just as a box of pages but also as the bundle of hope and expectations and hard work that I'd wrapped and mailed off last year.
My goal is to one day be published by Tor--if not this novel, maybe the one I'm polishing up now, or the one I'm going to write this autumn, or the one I'm going to write next autumn...eventually everything will work out exactly as it should. That's what I believe. Even so, and even though I used to boss around seaman recruits and whip unruly computer students into shape, I'm sometimes too shy to query in person at cons, or even by email. I'm working on that.
Very entertaining and educational post, Teresa!
I let fear of rejection stop me from submitting for many years. But then at Necon a few years back (this would have been right before VP) I realized that the only thing holding me back from being a published writer was my own fear. So ta-da, off to the post office I went, and though it took a little time to toughen up, I can honestly say that most of the time I now shrug rejections off as just part of doing business. It helps, perhaps, that I don't read the rejections too closely before I toss them into a shoebox under my desk. People who obsess over every little word and phrase, who think or write vile thoughts about editors, who nurture every real or perceived slight--these people, I think, need to get some perspective. Basketball players don't worry about the baskets they *don't* make, unless it's to use that knowledge to help improve their game--and rejections come in so many shapes and colors, and for so many reasons, that I think they're useless as far as telling you how to improve a story, if that's in fact what the story needs.
If a rejection does hit close to the heart, which some invariably do, oh well. It's why they invented Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice Cream. You get over it or you don't, you stop writing or you don't. Simple.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2004 | 5 |
Total: 5 comments. View all these comments on a single page.
The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Sandra McDonald:
Show all comments by Sandra McDonald.