Writability Turns Four!

Photo credit: billerickson on Flickr

So technically Writability’s fourth birthday was on Wednesday (May 6th), but I’m writing about it today because I’d already scheduled Wednesday’s post when I realized what day it was. Which is fine. This is close enough. 

Writability has hit a ton of milestones over the last four years, which has been really incredible to see. This blog has taken off way beyond any expectations I had when I first nervously posted four years ago, and I’ve met and connected with so many people because of it, and all in all it’s just been a really wonderful experience. 

So I have you guys to thank for that. Whether this is the first post of mine you’re reading, or the 696th, thank you. 

I’m currently in the process of setting up something really great for you guys that I think you’ll like. The details will be up Monday, and I’m pretty excited about it.  

In the meantime, I’m just going to leave this short post saying thank you. Writability’s success would not have happened without your amazing comments, lovely RTs and shares and inspiring suggestions. 

Without your support, Writability wouldn’t exist. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

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)

How to Be Happy

Photo credit: Dawn Ashley on Flickr

I try to be an upbeat person.

Remaining positive throughout the day isn't something that comes naturally to everyone— as I'm a rather realistic person, it certainly doesn't come naturally to me. But over the course of the last couple years, I've learned a few secrets about being happy that have shifted the way I look at things.

As it turns out, being positive isn't necessarily related to external events. We all have our bad days, bad weeks or even months. Writers, especially unpublished writers, often struggle with keeping a positive attitude during the years it takes to hone the craft, write book after book and find publication. The life of writers is difficult, and being happy can often feel like an impossible task.

But it's not impossible.

Change Your Thinking

Happiness, as it turns out, is much more closely related to the way we view events rather than the events actually taking place. Good things that happen to us don't make us happy —the fact that we interpreted the event as something good is what makes us happy. The same goes for unhappy events —it all depends on the way we view them.

I read a post by Michael Hyatt a little while ago titled, "How a Shift in YourVocabulary Can Instantly Change Your Attitude." I highly recommend you take a look at it, but if you don't, his post basically capitalizes on what I'm talking about here: you dictate your own happiness.

In the post, Mr. Hyatt talks about the importance of having an attitude of gratitude, and reflecting that gratitude in our vocabulary. Rather than saying, "I have to go to work," for example, he suggests you say, "I get to go to work." This shift immediately turns a negative connotation (I'm going to work because I don't have a choice) to a positive one (I'm so blessed to have a job I get to go to).

For writers, it could be the difference between "I have to edit today" and "I get to edit today." Or "I have to write today" versus "I get to write today."

This is just one example of how changing our thinking can immediately make us more positive.

Smile Often

Do we smile because we're happy, or are we happy because we're smiling? This is a question that scientists have struggled over for years, but research today seems to indicate that smiling can make you happy.

It's hard to smile when we're upset, tired or stressed out, but if you force yourself to hold a smile a couple times a day, even when you're not feeling particularly happy, I think you'll find it much more difficult to hold your unpleasant mood (and really, why are you trying to hold onto that, anyway?)

Start Your Day with Gratitude

Try to start your day by listing three things you have to be grateful about. This is a habit I'm still trying to get into, but I think it's a great idea because not only does it force you to think about something positive first thing in the morning, but it starts to train your brain to look for things to be grateful about —something, I think, that is essential for a positive attitude.

These are just three ways writers (and everyone else) can inject a little more happiness into their lives —and who doesn't like an extra dose of happiness?

Have you tried any of these techniques? What do you do to maintain a positive attitude?

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? 

What Are You Thankful For?

So Beth Revis is having a HUGENORMOUS giveaway on her blog like you would not believe. The prize is something like 19 signed YA books (including an ARC of A MILLION SUNS), plus a box of Turkish Delight, plus signed goodies and swag.

And it all goes to one very thankful person.

Besides the allure of such a huge prize, I really like her giveaway because it focuses on something we often overlook—gratitude. You see, to enter, you need to write a post about the book that you’re most thankful for.

Let me tell you, this is a lot harder than it looks. It’s like asking what your favorite book or band or anything is—so many options, how do you choose one?

Well, after much thought, I managed. Sort of.

I didn’t pick one book, per say, I picked one author. Many of you can probably guess who.

I’m thankful for Ted Dekker.

I read my first Dekker book (Showdown) shortly before I started writing. I wouldn’t say necessarily that he inspired me to write, but with over twenty novels on the shelves and growing, I always had a Dekker book to turn to throughout my writing career, and I have no doubt in my mind that his style influenced mine. I’ve learned a lot about writing from reading his novels—like how one-line paragraphs are acceptable and not every sentence has to be a grammatically correct sentence every single time.

So although he didn’t start out as my inspiration for writing, he certainly became a role model for me as I developed my craft. Not only that, but his belief system aligned with mine and I learned a lot about the power of love—real, indiscriminating love—from his novels and non-fiction works like Tea with Hezbollah. 

Then I had the amazing opportunity of meeting him in person and he completely blew me away—his passion and charisma were contagious. I walked away with a grin on my face because the author I imagined behind my favorite novels was even better in person than I expected.

So why am I thankful for Ted Dekker?

He impacted my writing, forced me to really redefine the way I look at love, and has filled my bookshelf with consistent awesomeness.  

Plenty to be thankful for, I think.

Your turn! What books or authors are you thankful for?