From Probably Not to Potentially Yes

Photo credit: Antti Kyllönen on Flickr

It’s November 24, 2014, and a year ago today I did not have an agent or a book deal.

A year ago today I was a writer with a bunch of queries out, and one agent with my full manuscript, and I was jumping at every e-mail, and resting after finishing NaNoWriMo early, and I had absolutely no idea that I was weeks away from getting The Call.

So much has changed in a year.

After writing (and trunking) manuscript after manuscript, I’ve kind of had to adjust to a new method of thinking. It used to be, when I wrote, that most of the time I assumed chances were likely no one would ever see it (while not the case for everyone, this kind of thinking is somewhat inevitable when you trunk as many manuscripts as I did). And in a way, that was safe. It meant it didn’t matter how good or bad the manuscript was, how much work it would potentially need, whether the idea was overdone or the characters were weak or what-have-you, none of that mattered. It was freeing, in a way, to write thinking that nothing mattered because chances were likely no one would see it.

Things are different now. And I love that they’re different—really, honestly and truly, I do—but it’s been a weird shift.

Now I’ve gone from probably no one will see this to any one of these could potentially be published. And I mean, that’s not to say I can’t trunk a manuscript if I don’t like it or don’t think it’ll work (I definitely can), but going from probably not to potentially yes has been so so strange.

After trunking nine manuscripts in a row, I’ve got one on its way to you guys (yay!) and three more in my revising queue. And I obviously don’t know for sure that any of the ones I’m working on are going to get published (or even go on submission, for that matter), but each one of them is a potentially yes and that just totally blows my mind.

And you know? Weird as it is, I'm so thankful for the shift. While it’s sometimes terrifying, it’s also ridiculously exciting, and I’m so psyched to share my stories with my CPs and incredible agent and hopefully, eventually, you.

Probably not was a safe place to grow and learn and develop my writing, and I’m absolutely thankful for that stage in my writing journey.

But now that potentially yes is here? I couldn’t be more grateful.

What are you grateful for this year? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Post agent and book deal, @Ava_Jae shares a shift in the way she sees her WIPs. (Click to tweet) 

Writer @Ava_Jae shares one big thing she's grateful for this year. What are you grateful for this year? (Click to tweet)

Operation Thanks

Photo credit: Flying Pig Party Productions on Flickr

As it’s Thanksgiving in the States tomorrow, I’m taking a minor detour from the usual writing-related posts to talk about some real-life applications.

You see, as many of you are aware, tomorrow is a bit of a strange Thanksgiving, because not only does it blend with Chanukah, but many large retail stores have decided to extend Black Friday and start the sales on Thursday. 

I’ve heard a lot of people calling for boycotts, and telling people not to go, and starting petitions against it, but that’s not what this post is about. Boycotts or petitions or not, the stores are still going to be open and employees are still going to be working on Thanksgiving. 

Instead of focusing on the negative, however, I’d like to try to do something positive. There are going to be a lot of tired employees who are missing Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, so why not go out and make their day a little better? 

If you plan to go out tomorrow or Friday for Black Friday sales, consider buying your cashier or another working employee a small gift. Maybe it’s a candy bar or a pack of gum, which may not sound like much, but as someone who has worked as a cashier during the holiday rush in the past, I can tell you little gestures go a long way. 

Let’s take some time this holiday season to show hard-working employees that you’re grateful for their work and you understand that they’d rather be home with their families. Let’s show them the true meaning of being thankful and spread some holiday spirit. 

Even if you don’t go, I encourage you to spread the word to others who might. I’m calling this Operation Thanks, and you can easily spread the word by reblogging this post on tumblr or sharing one of the tweets below with the #OpThanks hashtag. We can all do a little something to help make someone’s day better, and it starts with remembering to be thankful. 

Happy Thanksgiving and Chanukah to all who are celebrating! 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Going out on Black Friday? Consider giving back to employees working long holiday hours with #OpThanks. (Click to tweet)  

Shopping this Black Friday? Consider spreading some gratitude this Thanksgiving with #OpThanks. (Click to tweet)

Thanksgiving: A Writing Exercise

Photo credit: Lawrence OP on Flickr

Seeing how it's Thanksgiving in the States tomorrow, I thought it especially appropriate to talk about—what else?—being thankful. Rather than going through a list of things I'm thankful for as I did last year, however, I'd like to do something a little different and think instead about our characters.

As writers, it's important to know our characters as thoroughly as possible—everything from their fears, to their birthdays, to their favorite foods, nightmares and aspirations are relevant, even if we don't intend to include even half of that information into the actual writing. The important part is that we understand our characters so that we can write them as realistic and multi-dimensional people.

That being said, take a moment to think about your characters in your most recent WIP: what are they thankful for this Thanksgiving? Go through each of your major characters—yes, that includes your antagonist—and think about what they would say they were thankful for on Thanksgiving. Is what they say they're thankful for and what they're actually thankful for different? Are they actually thankful, or do they just go through the motions to get to the turkey and cranberry sauce?

Maybe your characters live in a world where Thanksgiving doesn't exist—that's ok, place them at a Thanksgiving table anyway. What would they say? How would they act if they had to sit at a table full of food and share things that they were thankful for? Would they consider the holiday quaint? Wonderful? Ridiculous? Pointless?

I'd like to hear your answers: what are your characters thankful for? And for fun, what do you think various book/movie/TV show characters would be thankful for this Thanksgiving?

And to all who are celebrating—have a very happy Thanksgiving!

On Giving Thanks

Photo credit: mtsofan on Flickr

It’s Thankgiving in the States tomorrow, so a lot of people remember to be thankful this time of year as it’s the focus of the holiday (besides too much turkey and stuffing and delicious desserts and all of those goodies), but I think it’s important that we remember to give thanks year round.

You see, Thanksgiving reminds us to have a positive attitude—to focus on the things that we do have, on the wonderful events and surprises and achievements we’ve had this year and forget about the bad. It’s a day when we’re permitted to forget about the stress and rainy-less-thank-wonderful-days and overstuff ourselves with turkey while sharing smiles and stories about what has made this year wonderful.

But really, it’s got me thinking this year—why wait until Thanksgiving to give thanks?

Maybe instead of waiting until turkey day, we should take the time to be thankful about something every day. I think we might be surprised what the change in our outlook could do for us.

So I’m aware it’s not New Years (yet) and now’s not the time to be making resolutions, but I’m going to make a point of trying to be more thankful. Even if it’s just something small in our lives—like a sunny day or a beautiful sunset, I think we could all find one thing to be thankful about daily.

And you never know—a positive start to the day might make the rest of the day feel that much better.

So what am I thankful for?

I’m thankful for the quiet—the soft morning moments when I can sit and write and everything is just so still and wonderful and the birds are calling outside and I just slip into the zone and spill virtual ink all over the page.

I’m thankful for the Creator, because regardless of what you believe, we live in a beautiful world with incredible people and no it’s not perfect but wow, some days you just step outside and the sun is rising just right and the air is crisp and cool and it feels as if every leaf was placed intentionally and it’s just incredible.

I’m thankful for my family, my friends, my real life supporters who put up with my eccentricities and get excited for me even when they have no idea what I’m so happy about.

And finally, I’m thankful for you, my readers. You guys are my support group, the ones who keep me writing even when I don’t think I’ll be able to manage, the ones who make me smile and remind me why this whole blogging thing is worth it. I never imagined this blog would get half the attention it has, and none of it would be possible without you. You guys have no idea how much you impact my day with your comments and smiles and for that I thank you.

You’re amazing and wonderful. Don’t ever stop being you.

Thank you.

I’m aware that not everyone reading this is celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, but regardless—what are YOU thankful for?