Black Holes and Birthdays

 

Black hole illustration courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory.

My youngest turned 18 this past weekend. Yikes!

Christina’s milestone birthday jolted me. How can my baby be 18 when she was born only yesterday? There’s a problem with the time/space continuum. That’s the only explanation.

Not only that, my daughter Stephanie will be 25 in April, and my son, Joey, will hit the big 3-0 in March. Whaaat?

So now I’m certain the time/space continuum anomaly isn’t operating alone.  There’s also a black hole out there gulping entire decades in the flash of a hummingbird's wing. What is happening to the universe?

The real irony is that even if a method existed to induce that old black hole to regurgitate the time it’s stolen, I wouldn’t do it—and not just because that sounds really icky. I’m so in love with my kids the way they are today, right this minute, that no matter how wonderful they were way back when, it isn’t worth the risk of losing what exists right now.  ‘Cause right now is terrific.

I admit to missing the tromping about of little feet. I miss the sticky kisses and the sweaty hugs, the munchkin voices and the silly games and songs. But, oh . . . what I have today!

Long conversations about life and love and dreams; about taxes and gas prices and college tuition; the weather, good books, spear fishing, and the pros and cons of tattoos. The hugs are frequent but not sweaty; the kisses are still spontaneous and sweet, but no longer sticky.  I continue to laugh at the things my kids say, but now it is because of their sparkling wit rather than their misinterpretation of circumstances.

A pretty sweet deal, and one over which I’d do well not to quibble.

So the time/space continuum and its voracious companion, the black hole, continue to feast on days and years. That’s okay. While they’re digesting the past, I’m engaged in a banquet, feasting on the here and now.  And it tastes delicious.

See you next for Book Blurb Friday!

Lisa

Microfiction: Elected Clowns, Selected Clowns

Welcome to today's microfiction!  

Grandma's Goulash graciously hosts Succinctly Yours, the wonderful meme for those of us addicted to microfiction. The trick is to write a story in 140 characters or less using the photo below as inspiration. To add to the challenge is the word of the week, "extend."  My stories are below.

Elected Clowns

(127 characters)

“Is the circus in town?” A hotel guest asked Ed at the front desk. “Sort of,” Ed smirked. “It’s the annual Congressmen’s Gala.”

*          *          *          *

Selected Clowns

(139 characters)

Black-nosed Bart extended a dinner invite to Ho-Ho, but she gave him the silent treatment. Last thing she needed was to date another clown.

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Birthdays.

Have a great week--
Lisa 

One Year of BBF! #52: Indubitably, by George

First, I'd like to thank everyone who commented on my Wednesday post. It was a bit of a departure from the norm for me, but you rolled with it, offering grace and kindness. Thank you all for your understanding and for sharing your own experiences. Your comments were just what I needed to get me over the bump.

Second, this is Book Blurb Friday #52 -- one whole year of book blurbs! Participation has fluctuated, but for those who have stuck with it I hope you have come away with a lot of great writing ideas, as well as a BBF-enhanced skill of fine tuning words that holds you in good stead with your other writing. I debated ending BBF when I reached the year milestone, but I've decided to keep going with it and hope those of you who enjoy writing blurbs every week will continue to play along with me. I'm not ready to give it up yet, and hope you aren't either. So . . . let's have fun with BBF!


TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday.  If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows.  Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme.  This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs my new pen pal and talented writer Lynn Obermoeller of Present Letters. My book blurb follows.

Indubitably, by George

(145 words)

Alvin Schlepmacher hopes for a birthday breakfast of chocolate-chip pancakes and sausage. He gets it, and finds himself dripping syrup on divorce papers while his wife drives off with her lover.

The ensuing hours include a flat tire in the rain, a call from the vet with sad news regarding Alvin’s pet ferret, and a pink slip at the office.

Desperate to escape reality, Alvin stumbles into a local bar and enters a karaoke contest where he creates an alter ego named George Crooney. George takes up with a sassy hooker named Svetlana who gets him a job delivering dubious packages for her Uncle Vlad.  Add a suspicious cop named Grimm, the Russian mafia, and the obsessive attentions of a karaoke groupie named Mitzi, and you have the ingredients for hilarity as Alvin works to extricate himself from the mess he created, indubitably, by George.

Okay, so I made myself tee-hee again this week. If this were a movie, Alvin would have to be played by Ricky Gervais. The scene where Alvin creates George Crooney is a doozy in my head . . . if I never actually write this story, I might just have to write that scene anyway so it won't haunt me with giggles.

To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.







Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #53, provided by the always generous and talented Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy:

I've used so many of Kathy's photos for BBF that it seemed fitting to begin the new year of BBF with a "photo by Kathy Matthews." Thanks, Kathy, for being so generous with your talent.

Thanks for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Dealing With Loss

I decided several days ago to write a post about loss and bereavement. My reasons are purely selfish ones. I miss my Mom desperately and knew writing about it would be a catharsis. So, thank you for your indulgence here.

Mama’s birthday was on the 12^th; she would have been 79, and I can’t imagine it. She was 67 when she died and except for a heart that hid its sickness from us, she was healthy and vibrant right up to the end. She died in her sleep. When I die, I want to die like she did, peaceful and dreaming.

I suppose it was her birthday that set me off. And when I miss Mama, then I start missing Daddy too, and tears are never far from the surface. I’m not an emotional basket case, just emotionally tender. There’s a difference.

Before my parents died I thought that mourning was something that eventually ended. It doesn’t. It goes on in perpetuity, though it changes over time. Even after a decade I still have bad days, but the pain that left me raw in the beginning is different now.  That’s what coping is, I guess, what “getting over it” is although, truthfully, I don’t think we ever really “get over” the loss of a loved one. We train ourselves to deal with the loss, to cope, because we’ll go crazy if we don’t. But the loss is always present, no matter how well we adapt and adjust.

Maybe it is different for other people. I don’t know.

I can go a long time without tears, a long time during which thoughts of my parents bring smiles and laughter and, often, deep comfort. But sometimes, like this past week, the ache becomes stronger, more persistent. I know it will ease, but until it does I’ll be feeling pretty undone.

If my parents could, they’d give me a hug and a smooch, then tell me to knock it off, get over my silly self, and go do something constructive, which is why I decided to write about it. After all, what’s more constructive than writing?

Ironically, I came across this competition just today, sponsored by an organization in the UK called Dying Matters, whose goals are:

“. . . to support changing knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards death, dying and bereavement, and through this to make ‘living and dying well’ the norm."

Here’s the info on the contest:

FINAL CHAPTERS WRITING ABOUT THE END OF LIFE COMPETITION
http://www.dyingmatters.org/finalchapters
---
NO ENTRY FEE
Open to all. Limit 2,500 words of prose or 40 lines of
poetry. Must be in English. Dying Matters Coalition is
running a new creative writing competition about dying,
death and bereavement. Anyone touched by dying, whether
directly or as a relative, friend, colleague or caregiver,
can enter. 1st: £200; 2nd: £100; 3rd: £50; plus highly
commended certificates. All entries will also be considered
for publication online or in print form. Deadline March
31, 2012.

How have you coped with the loss of loved ones in your life?  Is your experience with bereavement similar to mine or different? Writing helps me sort through my feelings; what method do you use?

Thanks for sticking around. I’ll see you next for Book Blurb Friday.

Lisa

Microfiction: Baditude, Tatitude

Welcome to today's microfiction!  

Grandma's Goulash graciously hosts Succinctly Yours, the wonderful meme for those of us addicted to microfiction. The trick is to write a story in 140 characters or less using the photo below as inspiration. To add to the challenge is the word of the week, "revolution."  My stories are below.

Baditude

(134 characters)

Members of the 70’s era rock band, Baditude, protested the Grammys when their #1 single, Bieber Bites, failed to receive a nomination.

*          *          *          *

Tatitude

(140 characters)

Edna, a 1960’s social revolutionary, hides her Flower Power tattoo. “A daisy on my forehead seemed such a good idea at the time,” she sighs.

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Loss.

Have a great week--
Lisa

Versatile Blogger Award

Earlier in the week I became the proud recipient of the Versatile Blogger Award, presented to me by fellow blogger and author Léna Roy at Léna's Lit Life.  Léna is the proud author of the YA novel "Edges."  Find out more about her novel HERE.

According to the rules, I'm supposed to spread the love and bestow this award on six other bloggers. So here goes:


Linda O'Connell at Write from the Heart, who really does just that. Her blog is a source of positive energy and smiles aplenty.

Laraine at Larainy Days, whose tagline reads, "Because no one needs to laugh as much as you do." She never disappoints. A visit to her blog is a sure hoot.

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin at The Year of Writing Dangerously. This overachiever also maintains another awesome blog, Middle Grade Mafioso.

Debra Mayhew at For the Love of Once Upon a Time, manages to home school her brood of six AND write some great stuff for kids. Talk about versatile!

Grandma at Grandma's Goulash hosts Succinctly Yours, the microfiction meme I love so dearly. Thank you, Grandma!

Claudia at Claudia's Page, whose friendly, chatty posts make her readers feel like they're visiting over a nice cup of tea.


Thanks to each of these bloggers for helping to make the Blogosphere a great place to visit.

I hope everyone is having a terrific weekend. See you next for Monday's microfiction!

Lisa

Book Blurb Friday #51: Deputy Dachshund

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday.  If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows.  Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme.  This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," offered for our creative blurbs by yours truly. On this very cold winter day, we have a summer pic.  My own blurb follows:

Deputy Dachshund

(150 words)

Meet Dieter, the canine superhero lauded by law enforcement and civic groups as the phenomenal Deputy Dachshund.

Dieter’s sensitive snout and love of the water have made him the golden boy of Lake Sniffenfetchit’s pollution control watchdog group, the Petrol Patrol. Every day, the Petrol Patrol cruises Lake Sniffenfetchit with Dieter in tow to sniff out those environmental enemies who dump unsafe petroleum toxins into the lake. The Harbor Police might not always snag the malodorous miscreants, but it is the rare polluter who can escape the dogged determination of this hardy hound, Deputy Dachshund.

Polluters beware: He’ll hunt you, hound you, and hold you accountable!

Share a day in the life of this diminutive hero of the environment, Deputy Dachshund! Read about his exploits and adventures as he tracks down the pollution perpetrators of Lake Sniffenfetchit. 

This book is a real doggy treat. You’ll have a tail-wagging good time!

This cracked me up, because the Dachshund in the picture is Special Agent McGee, one of my grand-dogs. Since I know him to be a total clown, this book blurb is really casting him against type. I suppose he's a hero to those of us who love him, and he does adore the water. One of his favorite things to do is fetch a tennis ball thrown into the lake. He's a better retriever than  my Labs!


To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.





Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #52, provided by the talented writer and epistolary powerhouse, Lynn Obermoeller of Present Letters:

Thanks for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Shades!

Photo courtesy of Morguefile.com

Do you ever do something so lame-brained that you wonder if your brains are oozing out your ears or evaporating a little bit every time you blink?

I do. I really, really do.

Last week I took my daughters to see “One For the Money,” a movie based on a series of books by Janet Evanovich. (If you haven’t read any of the books, you’re missing out.  They are fun reads.)  We arrived at the movie theater early afternoon, splurged on buttered popcorn, and settled in to be entertained.

After the show we returned to our car. I opened the compartment that houses my sunglasses, but they weren’t there. I hunted through my purse, checked every other location I could think of, to no avail. It was my youngest who finally said, “Mama, you’re wearing them.”

I blinked at her through the darkened lenses.

“Did you have those on this whole time?” She asked, laughing.

I sighed and shifted uncomfortably as realization struck. “Through the whole damn movie.”

The laughter that ensued was hyena-worthy.

My daughters thought the whole thing was hilarious, of course, compelling me to point out that the apples do not fall far from the tree, since neither of them noticed that I was wearing my sunglasses in the movie theater.  I couldn’t see myself, I pointed out, but they could. How did they miss the shades? These aren’t the sunglasses that go from light to dark. These are regular sunglasses, always dark no matter the environment. How could all three of us be so unobservant?

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this and I don’t have a good answer.  As with most things, though, I compare it to my writing. Many is the time I have edited and re-edited, proofed and re-proofed, thought my submission error free, only to discover a week later that I missed a typo or misplaced word.  The best explanation I have is that we see what we expect to see, and so anomalies hide in plain sight.  

So what is the answer, when we miss an error that is as plain as the shades sitting on our nose? Is it possible the recipient, like my daughters, also sees what he/she expects to see and glides over the error? We can only hope.

I’m going to ask you to tell on yourself now. C’mon, spill a shade story. Everybody has at least one! 

See you next for Book Blurb Friday --

Lisa

Microfiction: True Love

Welcome to today's microfiction!  

Grandma's Goulash graciously hosts Succinctly Yours, the wonderful meme for those of us addicted to microfiction. The trick is to write a story in 140 characters or less using the photo below as inspiration. To add to the challenge is the word of the week, "honest."  My stories are below.

 

Is It True Love?

(138 characters)

Ed knew he was a slave to love when he gave up his usual meal at the Hog Heaven BBQ for a romantic dinner with Mae at the Sweetheart Café.

*          *          *          *

Is It True, Love?

(135 characters)

Mia wanted to surprise Ty with his own man cave, but she made an honest error while decorating. “Not hearts!” he cried. “I said darts!”

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Shades.

Have a great week!
Lisa

Book Blurb Friday #50: The Iron Prince

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday.  If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows.  Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme.  This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," generously offered for our creative blurbs by the very lovely Ashley Ortiz.

The Iron Prince

(147 words)

Prince Iamsovain is a master manipulator. A wink here, a sly grin there, and good fortune smiles upon him. Until . . . the death of his father, King Whatachump.

The people love Prince Iamsovain and his endearing, if wheedling, ways. But they aren’t idiots, and know he hasn’t the wisdom to rule the kingdom.

Enter retired wizard, Spellsapoppin, who offers to help. But his prince-to-frog spell goes terribly awry, and the prince is transformed into an iron gate. To free himself, the prince must love another person more than himself, a task he fears is impossible.

With Spellsapoppin’s help and the unexpected friendship of Shyancoy, a milkmaid, Prince Iamsovain hopes to break the spell and avoid rust and ruin. Will he succeed, or will his narcissism continue to rule him? Will he claim the throne? Or will he be forevermore  . . .  The Iron Prince.

This was a real stretch for me this week. I love the photo, I just couldn't pull the blurb together! I'm looking forward to reading the other blurbs to see the different stories that spin from this.

To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.

Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #51, provided by yours truly.  I thought we would all welcome a summertime shot.

Thanks for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

Sad Statistics - The Naked Truth

A couple weeks ago my daughter, Stephanie, adopted a chocolate Lab (she named her Lola)  from a kill shelter in Jasper County, Georgia. This sweet, 1-year-old girl, slated to be euthanized, had been found wandering up the interstate highway with six puppies trailing behind. Three of the pups were stuck by a car and killed. One was badly injured and not expected to live. We do not know the fate of the remaining two pups.

Here is Lola the night Stephanie adopted her.  Vastly undernourished, but still sweet tempered and beautiful:

It was on that night that I learned this chilling statistic: 10,000+ dogs and cats are euthanized in the state of Georgia every month, 120,000+ per year.

10,000+. Every. Month.

120,000+. Every. Year.

Just in the state of Georgia alone.

These numbers broke my heart. I hoped the statistic was wrong so I checked it out. What I learned is that the number is likely much higher. The 10,000+ was derived by a survey of shelters in Georgia counties; however, many of the counties declined to report. 

Here are the numbers for the U.S. in total, taken from the Humane Society's web page:

Estimated number of cats and dogs entering shelters each year:

6-8 million (HSUS estimate)

Estimated number of cats and dogs euthanized by shelters each year:

3-4 million (HSUS estimate)

Estimated number of cats and dogs adopted from shelters each year:

3-4 million (HSUS estimate)

Estimated number of cats and dogs reclaimed by owners from shelters each year:

30 percent of dogs and 2-5 percent of cats entering shelters (HSUS estimate)

Estimated number of animal shelters in the United States:

3,500 (HSUS estimate)

Estimated percent of dogs in shelters who are purebred:

25 percent (HSUS estimate)

Unless otherwise indicated, statistics provided by The National Council on Pet Population, Study and Policy.

The good news is that many animals are adopted and spared; but the number of dogs and cats euthanized is still unconscionably high at 3-4 million.

One huge reason for these numbers is the refusal of so many pet owners to spay and neuter their dogs and cats. Please---if you have a dog or a cat and you do not intend to deliberately and responsibly breed them, choose to spay/neuter. Please. Don't contribute to the 3-4 million.

So how is Lola doing? See for yourself.  Here she is sacked out on the couch with Chutsky (those white splotches are the bald spots from her malnutrition and time in the shelter):

And here is Lola playing in Stephanie's backyard with McGee:

Lola will be spayed before the end of the month, and she now has an implanted microchip for identification purposes. Her coat, which was dirty with patches of missing fur, is now sleek and shiny with the bald spots beginning to fill in. She has already chewed holes in the TV remote, much to her own delight, and developed a special fondness for racquetballs. She is gaining weight and learning to play with her pack-mates in accordance with their diminutive size. Lola had a rough journey, but she finally found her forever home.

To love and be loved is really all our furry companions desire. I don't think that's asking too much, do you?

Love your pets? Please, spay/neuter. It's the right thing to do.

See you next for Book Blurb Friday -
Lisa


P.S.  When my daughter told me Lola's name the feminist in me became disgruntled. After all, Stephanie's two other dogs (miniature Dachshunds) have criminal justice names:  Special Agent McGee and Federal Agent Chutsky, What happened to Lola's title? What is she, their secretary? And then it hit me. Of course! Lola is the canine equivalent of James Bond's Miss Moneypenny. She doesn't chase down the bad guys, but she knows where all the bones are buried. Ha!

Microfiction: Office Politics

This past Friday, Grandma at Grandma's Goulash gave me a great shout out regarding the upcoming anniversary of Book Blurb Friday.  In just three weeks Book Blurb Friday will be a year old. Thanks again, Grandma, for rolling out the banner.

As it happens, Grandma is soon coming up on the one year anniversary of Succinctly Yours, and you know how much I love this Monday meme. Grandma took the torch passed by Susan of Stony River, much to the delight of so many writers who participate in this meme. If you haven't checked out Grandma's blog then you're missing out. Head over there now!

Welcome to today's microfiction!  

Grandma's Goulash graciously hosts Succinctly Yours, the wonderful meme for those of us addicted to microfiction. The trick is to write a story in 140 characters or less using the photo below as inspiration. To add to the challenge is the word of the week, "speculate."  My stories are below.

Immediate Retribution
(140 characters)

Nervous, Al hid under his desk when the boss came by. He congratulated himself for his ingenuity, until he realized he was stuck and couldn’t get out.

*          *          *          *

Lazy Contribution

(140 characters)

The Invisible Man loved moonlighting as an office clerk. He was only caught napping if he snored. Even then, coworkers could only speculate.

To read the microfiction stories of others participating in this meme, please click HERE.

Thanks for visiting! See you on Wednesday for the naked truth about . . . Statistics.

Have a great week!
Lisa

Book Blurb #49: Gruwel Hall

There is good news and bad news to report. The good news is that my short story, "First Kiss," won second place in the Writers' Journal Romance contest. Yay! The bad news is that Writers' Journal is closing its publishing doors. This is the quote from their website:

"After months of searching for another publisher for WRITERS’ Journal (WJ) magazine to no avail, Val-Tech Media (VTM) has decided to cease publishing WJ. Our last prospects decided January 19, 2012, not to take on the publication. Until this time we operated as though some publishing company would continue with WJ. Unfortunately, no one has stepped forward. We thank you for your support over the years and hope WJ has helped you become better writers."

To read about the reasons for their decision in more detail, please click HERE.  It is sad to see another long time publication go under. This is becoming a sad trend.

TGIBBF!

Welcome again to Book Blurb Friday.  If you're a newbie, here's the scoop so you understand what follows.  Please click HERE or click the tab under the blog header for details of the Book Blurb Friday meme.  This is the shortened, abridged version:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

Below is this week's "book cover," generously offered for our creative blurbs by talented photographer and fellow Book Blurber Kathy Matthews at Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy.

Gruwel Hall

(144 words)

When Maura Aarden focused on Gruwel Hall she was mesmerized by the fingers of ivy that clutched the stone and mortar of the abandoned structure like an alien fist. Her two cameras captured her vision. And more.

The digital photos gave Maura the colors she sought, the grays, greens and icy blues. But from the black and white film emerged faces in the windows, ghostly shapes, smoky and ethereal beyond the glass.

Maura returns to the site, camera in hand. She is determined to take more photos, this time from inside. But a fall down a shadowy stairway inexplicably renders her totally blind. It is only when looking through the lens of her camera that she can see, but sight through the lens reveals images Maura believed existed only in nightmares. Haunted and hunted, her only goal now is to escape Gruwel Hall alive.

In honor of Kathy, I employed the use of obscure faces to accompany her awesome photo. Kathy often sees faces in her photos (as do I on occasion) and I thought she might get a kick out of my use of that here. Thanks again, Kathy, for being so generous with your photography.

To be sure that others can read your blurb, please put your name and link in Mr. Linky, below, if you are participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have no blurb to share, please do not install a link. It will be treated as spam and removed. Thanks.

Please scroll past the Linky widget to see our "book cover" for next week.

Here is our "book cover" for next week's Book Blurb Friday #50, provided by the lovely Ashley Ortiz. Thank you, Ashley!

Thanks for participating in Book Blurb Friday. If you have any photos you think would be appropriate as a "book cover," please send them to me via email (writinginthebuff@hotmail.com).

See you next for Monday's microfiction. Have a great weekend!

Lisa

No Fear

Photo courtesy of Adam Beevers via morguefile.com

Recently I’ve read a ton of articles about writers getting past their fear of submitting work for publication. This must be a widespread problem or there wouldn’t be so much written about it, but I don’t really understand it.

Fear isn’t the problem for me. Procrastination—guilty. Occasional laziness—oh, yeah. Fear? No way. And here’s why.

Submitting work is exciting; it makes me giddy. It’s like watching a kid ride a two-wheeler by himself for the first time. It is fun to see all the practicing, effort and determination pay off. There’s the wobbly start, the focus, striving to find the perfect balance, and finally—wahoo!—the kid is zooming up the street, wind in his hair. That’s how I feel when I submit something I’ve written. Elated. Not deterred by the knowledge that I could hit a bump and fall off that bike because, hey, what do you do when you fall? You get right back up again.

Here’s the thing about getting back on the bike: Not every ride is bumpy. I know not all my work will be accepted for publication. This time. That doesn’t mean I can’t retool my article/story/essay and submit it again somewhere else. A few years ago I submitted a short story to a competition. I didn’t win. Didn’t even come close. Six months later I entered the same story in another competition and won. Different venue, different editor, different outcome. Knowing this is a possibility changes everything, doesn’t it? Why worry about rejection when it isn’t the final diagnosis?

We all face rejection, but it isn’t something to fear. Rejoice! A rejection means you submitted. It means you labored hard and delivered your baby. Receiving a rejection means . . .  congratulations, you’re a writer!

So get on that bike. Sometimes the ride will be slow and uphill, sometimes fast and downhill, and sometimes you'll cruise on level ground. The important thing is to stay in motion. Submit your work. Not every response is a rejection, but every rejection is proof that you're serious about writing for publication. And when acceptance letters are mingled with the rejections, believe me, you'll want to keep pedaling. 

Submit!

See you next for Book Blurb Friday!

Lisa