I'VE UPPED MY HOPE... SO, UP YOURS!

Dork Side Status: I can't believe I forgot to mention the premiere of Lost tonight. So, consider yourselves warned!

Okay, so I think Monday's post might have sounded a bit depressing and that's not what I intended at all! The post was about the difficult odds of getting an agent through the traditional query process, but seriously, if a butt-munch like me can do it, so can you!

So don't shove those manuscripts in a drawer, never to be seen again. (Although I will say, most published authors have a bunch of unpublished manuscripts in their drawers...) There I go again. But, really! If you've read my blog, you know I can be, like, neurotically pessimistic and dangerously self-loathing! Why am I even writing a blog? Readers shouldn't be inflicted by the inner-workings of my brain, right?

Yes, I am self-loathing. Yes, I am constantly doubting. But I'm also persistent. Like, stupidly so.

Did you know there are even websites, dedicated to demotivating you? Begging you to stick those manuscripts in the drawer, for good? My favorite is 101 Reasons to Stop Writing. They're only doing that to up their chances. (At least, that's what I tell myself).

So, since my last couple posts have been wallowing in the pits of despair, my next ones will be chuck full with a butt-load of hope.

For instance, take a look at Bruno Baby:
(Number 2 candidate for Alex in my book trailer, just behind Rafa)


Of course, he has to be a model, right? But did you know he was born with like no hair? Couldn't walk until he was like, 12 months old? His mother told him he would never amount to anything if he didn't do his chores and attend school. And don't even get me started on his father. (Let's just say, he worked 9 to 5, every day. Except weekends).

Now, what if Bruno Baby had listened to all of those demotivators? We wouldn't be ogling his picture today! He beat the odds, learned to walk, grew out his hair, and succeeded. And despite his IQ of 7 (which he proudly displays on his shirt), he never gave up!

My mother (an incredible writer, on the levels I could never dream of reaching) once told me there are only seven possible storylines for fiction novels. Every story ever written, in its base, falls within one of the seven. (Don't ask me what they are, I wasn't listening. I was watching Michael Jackson on MTV. It was the 80's.)

This is especially prevalent for me today, considering my sister author Bree and I apparently share one brain between us. (There are some seriously random similarities in our thought processes. Yes, she's just as twisted and dark as I am). So I thought the demotivator below very appropriate.


The way you can battle it is to reach the realization that even your most creative ideas have probably been done, in some form, before. So it's up to you to do it better!

So dust off those manuscripts, and rework those queries. Nobody gets published just sitting around. Persistence is half the battle!

Ummm, okay. I don't know what to do with all this optimism. It kind of makes me uncomfortable. I might have to go find Opie and head on down to the malt shop so we can share a chocolate soda.
Lassie's meeting us there. With the Beav.