Keep Your Eye on the Ball

It's been one of those weeks and I'm definitely hoping for a restful holiday weekend.  Phew...

Earlier this week I started feeling lousy - sore throat, cough, sniffles.  If you guess "summer cold" you'd be right on the money.  My mom had one the week before so I guess I picked it up from her.  After the Emmy's on Monday night I took an Alka Selzer Cold Nighttime capsule to help ease my symptoms and put me to sleep.  Though, that wasn't what happened.  Even though I was getting very tired I had to keep getting out of bed because my mom kept calling me.  She was having abdominal pains and needed me to fetch her things.  Water, a bucket, and so on.  By the time three am rolled around I was dead on my feet but not in bed even though work started at eight-thirty.  My mom decided she needed to go to the hospital but I couldn't take her because of the cold medicine.  And, if we both went who was going to stay behind with my sister who was asleep?  Neither us wanted her to wake up to find the house empty - she'd be so scared.  So, my mom decided she felt well enough to drive herself and I would stay home to sleep and be with my sister.

At ten of seven my mom calls to ask me to pick her up from the hospital.  She has a kidney stone - her second one of the year.  They'd given her morphine and she couldn't drive.  So, after only a few hours sleep I got dressed and went to get her.  I went back to sleep for about half an hour when we got back before getting up to head to work.

My mom had asked me to text my younger brother who lives in NJ - he'd been planning on coming down and she wanted him to run some errands for her while I was at work.  He said he probably wouldn't be down until after five but would do what needed to be done.

I ended up leaving work at four because I could not sit there anymore.  The AC was so high it was making my Raynaud's flare up, I was sleep deprived, and my cold was getting worse.  Since I had finished all the work on my desk my supervisor and president had no problem letting me slip out early.  I was in bed by 4:22.

My brother and sister were not at the house when I got home.  They were out picking up my mom's prescriptions and picking up some dinner.  I went right to bed and was woken up around six to hear my brother and sister had gotten into a car accident.  They were going straight through an intersection and a guy on the other side was turning left and he turned right into them.  No one was hurt but the car was totaled.

I had to meet them at the car dealership to pick them up and then we had to drive over to the hospital so he could get our mom's car to bring drive back to the house.  After I dropped him off I drove right home and went right back to bed.  My poor body had been through enough and it still had miles to go.

On top of all that I got a rejection from the agent I thought could be "the one".  As soon as I read her blog I felt a connection to her and something inside of me said "this is it".  Sometimes that something inside should keep it's damn mouth shut.  It's back to the drawing board for me.

I'm on the tail end of the cold now and my brother has picked out his new car.  He got a rental car and will be back on Saturday to pick it up. The week may have started poorly but it looks to end well - I get to leave work at 2pm tomorrow.  Yay!

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Half as Big as Life

Sometimes we fall off our Hills of Confidence and stumble into the Valleys of Self Doubt.  Clawing our way back  up can sometimes feel like a very sisyphean task.  As we try to make our way back up the dirt at our feet keeps giving way and the dirt above us falls on our heads.  The only way to climb out is with a helping hand.  More than anything that is what #pitchwars has given to me.  I have a confession to make - I don't know what mentors I've chosen.  I had a list and it was stolen by one of the cats.  Note to self - never write things on paper and then leave the paper on your desk.  You might be rolling your eyes but it's turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  If I knew who they were I'd probably be stalking their feeds and only interacting with them.  This forces me to put myself out there more and interact with everyone.  I feel as if I've gotten more out of the challenge than I might have if I had been solely focused on the mentors.


I haven't received any requests for pages or a full manuscript but I'm not even sure that matters at this point.  I feel as if I've already won.  September 3 is a little over a week away and plenty can happen between now and then.  My empty inbox could suddenly be bursting and until that happens I have the spam porn to keep me company.

But, even if no one chooses me I'd like to think that the attitude I've put forth has caught someone's attention.  Someone is out there watching and thinking "wow, I'd like to work with her" and everything will work out for the best.  The ultimate goal is getting published but the friends, the contacts, and education are also a big part of it.  For all of these gifts I would like to thank Brenda Drake from the very bottom of my overflowing heart.

By the way - September 3 is my half-birthday as well as my calico Róisín's 3rd birthday.  We'd love a mentor as a present.

Between the Lines

Every August Turner Classic Movies has what they call "Summer Under the Stars" and every day is dedicated to a different actor or actress.  A few days ago they had a day filled with John Hodiak films - one of which was Harvey Girls.  I've seen Harvey Girls several times over the years and actually own the DVD.  I also read the book back when I was in high school.  It got me thinking about that book and others I bet people haven't read or even heard of.  So, I thought I'd post about some books that have been made into movies that I bet people haven't read or seen.

Harvey Girls

As always the book is very different from the film.  Fred Harvey was a real person who built restaurants along the blossoming westward railway line.  Trains would stop at these stations and the passengers would get off the train to have something to eat before continuing their journey.  The cities were typical "wild west" with prospectors, ranchers, gamblers, and prostitutes who did not always welcome the restaurant and their respectable waitresses.  As a musical the film shows a slightly happier version of events while the book is more realistic and darker.

Captain Blood

Captain Blood is the film that made a star out of Errol Flynn and is one of my favorites.  I read the book when I was in a freshman in high school.  It's not an easy read but it's certainly worthwhile.  I would recommend both the book and the film to anyone who likes a bit of swashbuckling in their life.

I Capture the Castle 

If you are a writer this is a book I 100% recommend.  It's written in journal form and is laugh out loud funny.  I have given this book as a gift countless times.  So often that I don't remember who has it and who doesn't anymore.  I'll have to find another book to give.  The ups and downs of first love and life in a run down English castle has never been so artfully shared.  The film is good but, of course, the book is better.

Butter Outta Cream

I got an email just as I was getting ready to shut my computer down at the end of the day.  Rejection #11.  I'm not depressed about it - I've had ten others to get me ready for it.  But to say that every "no" isn't a disappointment is a lie.  Every one is a sigh but they're not stop signs.

When an agent says something doesn't sound "right" for them you have to wonder what makes it "wrong".  I think that's a fairly normal reaction.  Is there something broken about it?  The key is not to dwell on those questions and ponderings.  It's just one more wall to climb over - or break down.

It wasn't a great way to end a rough day at work but what made it better was all of the support I'm getting thanks to my involvement in the #pitchwars community.  So many of them stopped to tell a joke or show their support when I announced I had received another rejection.  The writer's life can be a solitary one so it's nice to have that sort of support.

All I Ask Of You

My answers to the Pitch Wars Ask Me Anything!  Next questions go to @elwicker!

1.  Which literary character, if they came out of their novel, would you leave your partner for? - @SandieDocker

Hmm...tough one. I'd have to go with Gilbert Blythe. He's not as dashing as Fitzwilliam Darcy or as steadfast as Charles Bovary, but he's kind and loving.

2.  Give me a synopsis of one episode of Power Rangers you wrote! - +AlannaLP

 In a nutshell Billy started dating the new girl in school and she found out about their secrets.  She became the Purple Ranger and her dino was the triceratops.  And, yes, I absolutely sent it to Saban.  They didn't care for it.

 3.  What is your guilty pleasure in books? - @thirtynerdy

Hmm...I don't know if I have any "guilty" pleasures but I do enjoy Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series as well as Victoria Laurie's Abby Cooper series.  I tend to gravitate toward series - I've been reading Carol Higgens Clark's Regan Reilly books since I was in high school.

4.   Have you ever 'shelved' anything and if so, what led you to make that decision? - @elwicker

I have. About ten years ago I started creating my own superhero but I kept getting frustrated because every costume I came up with or any set of powers mirrored another hero.  She was essentially Live Wire wearing Black Cat's costume.  It's not shelved permanently and I do dust it off from time to time.  But, every time I do the same frustration comes out again.  I'll finish it - someday :)

5.  How do you handle rejections? - @raballard

I move the email to my "rejections" folder and send out another one. There's not much to it - I just keep moving forward.

Positoovity

The #pitchwars submissions have been closed for almost forty-eight hours and emotions are running high.  Some people are getting requests for more pages from potential mentors and some people are not.  Others are taking offense at some of the less-than-positive comments from mentors in the #tenqueries.  We've all put ourselves out there and playing the waiting game isn't easy.

Something else I've noticed are people throwing in the towel because they haven't heard from their mentors.  I have to say that giving up this early probably isn't in anyone's best interest.  A big part of being an author is playing the waiting game.  Waiting for an agent to read your query/pages, waiting for a publisher to pick up your book, and so on.  Panicking and giving up after forty-eight hours is simply a waste of time in my opinion.

There are so many positive things to take away from this contest even if you aren't chosen by a mentor.  If you give up you lose out on all of them.  You can learn from the mentors when they talk about the queries and pages they've received.  You can take their comments and go back to your own work to see if you can apply them.

There are also a lot of great people waiting out there for you to interact with.  People who are in the same leaky rowboat you are.  Chat with them.  Laugh with them.  Learn from them.  There are so many great new connections and friends just beyond the Pitch Wars hashtag.  Personally, I've already found a new betareader.  I bet you can too.

Also, we can all see you.  Lots of us are "stalking" the hashtag to follow the news and we can see you giving up and walking away.  Those people watching are other authors and agents and you don't want them to remember you as "that negative one".  I know of at least one person who lost their chance at a mentor because of their behavior on twitter.  Heaven forbid any of us be that person.

Remember, you get out of any situation what you put in.  If you are negative then it will be a negative situation.  Come and play with us - we don't bite.

Much.

The Colors of My Life

After writing about a dozen posts I decided it was about time to introduce myself to my readers.  As you can tell by the name on the blog my name is Kristin and I am a 1997 of Steinert High School in Hamilton Square, NJ.  I am a life-long Hamilton resident and it's hard to imagine living anywhere else.

After Steinert I moved on to Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA where I graduated with a BA in Fine Arts with a concentration in creative writing in 2004.  I value my time at Cedar Crest because it is what helped shape me into the person today.  I was much better off being a "big fish in a small pond" than the other way around.  When I graduated my adviser gave me a gift - you don't find that everywhere.

I worked retail for several years before landing a sales job with a plastics company.  Eighteen months later the company was moving and I ended up back in retail.  A year later the store I worked at was closing and I needed to find new employment.  Which is how I ended up with the job I have now.  Six years ago I started as sales assistant for a steel company and a year ago I was promoted to the billing clerk.

I've started writing when I was a sophomore in high school when I was injured and had to sit out of gym class and other activities for a whole semester.  I needed a new outlet and started writing episodes of Power Rangers.  Don't laugh - my younger sister was watching and I figured I could do better than what they were airing.

Other than writing my loves include pop culture (films, television, etc), reading, Broadway, and pretty much anything Superman related.  It would probably take more than a year to have a marathon of all the Superman DVDs I have.  I also love my cats more than I probably should - they're my furry children.