Manuscript – ngh. Time to face the music

I looked at my to-do list as I sat down in front of my computer this morning. I always write it in the evening as a way to ground me, to let me know what lies ahead for the next day.

The problem with doing this though, is that sometimes the shorthand I use at night is not the same shorthand I use during the day. I read through my list:

Photo credit: Edgar Sousa

Manuscript – ngh

I knew I was making reference to the manuscript I’ve been challenged to finish by the end of the month, “ngh”? “ngh”? What was I trying to say?

And then with a sinking heart I realized that “ngh” was my code for:

“not gonna happen”

Last night as I made my list filled with plans to write articles and blog posts that were due (and go to the bank, and pick up vitamins), I also decided to give up the ghost on my book challenge.

It seemed like a doable challenge when Julie and I made the pact at that writer’s dinner a few weeks back. Finish what both of us had already started by the end of the month, it should be a breeze right? After all, both of us are writers.

But then life got in the way. Cars sprung oil leaks which reduced this family of 8 – 4 of which are working – to one car, requiring our best Excel spread sheet skills to organize. Driving people to where they needed to be became a full time job. Members of our flock got sick enough to land in the hospital for a few days. College kids (some for whom the worry never stops) needed to get ready to go back to college, and a little part time job taken to ensure gymnastic costs are covered each month ended up taking more time than expected as I put my feet sore from not having to stand for hours at a time e;evated on the couch pillows each time I’d come home.

Layer all of this on top of my regular writing (I was assigned 5 newspaper articles for August and am still waiting to hear about 3 ptiches), working on (paying) marketing jobs, and trying to keep up with my blogging and well, what you get is a big, fat, NGH.

I’m not necessarily complaining, it’s more that I’m facing the facts.

Not being able to write happens, but quite frankly it also stinks. I dream of being a full time writer, having an office set away from my family (tiny house anyone) where I can go to compose and not be interrupted with questions like “Where is the peanut butter?”, “Can I hang with my friend?”, and “Mom, I need two more packages of notebook dividers for school. Can we go to the store now?”

Look, I get it. You can’t be a writer until you are a writer (just like you can’t get published until you are published.) No one takes a “wanna-be” writer seriously enough to not interrupt them or to not expect them to run the house, because in the end, what’s more important, writing a story or getting food on the table?

So even though I did make incredible progress, went to the library to write more times than I thought I’d be able to, and have 78 good solid pages, I’m not where I should be and I’m not finished. It’s not gonna happen…

…by the end of this month.

But it will happen, maybe by the end of September, or even October. I’m not giving up, I’ll never give up. I know that my life circumstances are not going to change any time soon, my family is not going away (and neither do I want them to) and the responsibility of maintenance like feeding this crew rests squarely on my shoulders.  It’s a package that I signed up for (although I’m not really sure I signed up for a dog that insists on barking enough to raise the household every morning at 5:30.)  I’m here.

What I’m saying is that I’m not going to sit around and wait for the perfect circumstances so that I can write – if I did that I could be waiting for a very long time (try infinity.)  Instead I’m going to continue to pinch off a few minutes here, steal an evening away there, and as long as I stick with it, *eventually* my book will get done.

***

Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)

The life of a writer is to write, stumble, brush off the dirt from your bruises, and then continue writing.

Whether or not you succeed depends on whether or not you can get up and keep writing after each of the inevitable  falls.

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Rejection Letters and Turkish Taffy

When I pitch an idea for an article or an idea, I do it electronically. 

In fact, if the editor or agent won’t accept pitches by email I move on. Sure, I might be missing a wonderful opportunity but my feeling is that if that person is not comfortable with electronic submission then I probably won’t have the patience to work with him. It’s a fast paced world out there, if you can’t keep up, move over.

I have long ago given up writing everything out by hand, printing it, making edits, and then re-entering everything. And I’m not even sure we keep envelopes in the house anymore for the obligatory SASE. These days everything I do is directly on my computer. I edit in my head and make my corrections using the keyboard. It’s far more efficient and after decades of doing it this way, it’s how I feel most comfortable.

Electronic writing and submission makes me happy because of its efficiency and it makes the trees happy for the non-usage of paper but it means that I miss out on what is arguably one of the most important rites of passage in writing: the hardcopy rejection slip.

All of the writing greats have stories of their work being rejected. They take great pride in saving those rejection slips in a folder to pull out once they become successful. In fact, here is a list of some of our better books and the amount of times they were rejected:

Auntie Mame, Patrick Dennis (15)
Carrie, Stephen Kng (30)
Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack Canfeld and Mark Victor Hansen (140)
Diary of Anne Frank (16)
Dr. Seuss books (15)
Dubliners, James Joyce (22)
Dune, Frank Herbert (23)
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell (38)
Harry Potter book one, J. K. Rowling (9)
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach (18)
Kon-Tiki, Thor Heyerdahl (20)
M*A*S*H, Richard Hooker (17)
The Peter Principle, Laurence Peter (16)
The Prncess Diaries, Meg Cabot (17)
Watership Down, Richard Adams (26)
A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle, (26)

Just think of the beauty in all those rejection slips – “Sorry J.K. Rowling, we don’t think this will attract an audience.”

Those rejection slips become an important part of a writer’s history. It seems that you’re really nobody in the world of writing until you amassed your share of people telling you “no.”

Oh don’t get me wrong, I get plenty of electronic rejections “this piece does not fit our list” “Cute story – good luck” “Not open to submissions” but they just don’t have the same “zing” as a piece of paper sent through the U.S. Mail in which a real live person bellies up to the bar telling you to your face “nope, not now – hot shot.”

The hardcopy rejection of yore could be tacked to the wall – a constant reminder of “just who the hell does he think he is?” spurring you ever onward. Instead, these days we get an email that once read is lost in the daily onslaught of incoming information.

It’s just not the same.

I’m not saying that things should be changed, they shouldn’t. Electronic submission is the quickest and most efficient way to get anything done, I guess I’m just saying that in the good old days, you know the ones where I had to walk one mile uphill to school in the morning and then walk one mile uphill home in the afternoon?, there was a certain distinction and incentive-spurring quality to the now defunct hardcopy rejection letter that I do, along with Turkish Taffy, sorely miss.

***

Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens).

You were wondering how I would fit in the Turkish Taffy, weren’t you? 

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Memoirs – um no, maybe you shouldn’t write a book

A while back I was sitting in a restaurant with some fellow tennis sports camp attendees. One older gentleman was being introduced to the group. He had climbed mountains, had biked in South America, had swum in exotic locations, and had eaten only the best food, while wearing the most expensive clothing. He owned several houses around the world and had a few boats. He had lots of money and liked spending it.

“You should write a book”, said one person, obviously impressed with his adventures.

Knowing that I was the writer in the group, several people looked at me for agreement.

“Well”, I said, careful to choose my words, “You’ve definitely had some very exciting adventures but what are the lessons learned?”

“Oh well”, the man sputtered, “I’ve learned um, ah, that life is exciting if you know how to live it.” Several people nodded in agreement, one or two said that they would be among the first in line to buy his book.

I took a long sip of my beer and remained quiet. That was one book I knew I would never read. That was also one book that a publisher would never touch.

There was no point to his story, there was no moral, no life altering event.

The best memoirs, like good novels, include an arc. There has to be conflict, trouble, it has to look like something that is good or is wanted might never be attained. There has to be a lesson learned, a moral to the story at the end. Usually the author has to show that she has changed for the better because of this experience or set of experiences.

A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive by David Pelzer comes to mind. It is the story of horrific abuse inflicted onto a child who then despite everything survives and then uses those lessons as motivation for others. The story is so compelling that you find yourself rooting for this little guy even though you know the author is now an adult. It is a story with meaning. People can’t put that book down.

Compare that to some of the lightweight “celebrity” memoirs out there which are essentially someone’s diary of events, parties they’ve attended, and famous people they’ve met. Sorry, but unless you’re someone at the level of a Bill Clinton, I’m simply not impressed and don’t care.

And that’s the key point of a memoir: you need to make people care about your story. No one is going to care if you won 6 million dollars in the lottery. That’s luck, not a story.

But if you won 6 million dollars, then lost it by gambling, then pulled yourself up by your bootstraps to start a community for people who are addicted to gambling, well, sir, you’ve got a hook and an angle which just might make for a good read. Go ahead and work on that.

But if you’ve traveled the world because you were fortunate enough to have a lot of money. Even if you climbed a mountain or biked in a remote ravine, perhaps your time might be better spent working on your backhand and not on a memoir.

Maybe you do have a story to tell, but unless you are writing it down solely for your family’s personal history, make sure that during the story you emphasize the conflict, the hazards, the situations blocking your progress and by the final page, please, please, if you ever want to see your book in a book store, make us care by telling us how your situation was the reason for change.

About the Author:

A  features writer, interviewer, and columnist, Wendy Thomas has been published in national magazines, newspapers, e-zines, and blogs.

Wendy discusses marketing writing at Savvy B2B Marketing.

Her current project is to blog about life living with 6 kids and a flock of chickens.

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