Guest Author: Tracy Seeley

       Exciting news! On July 12, Tracy Seeley will be doing a guest post on my blog. Tracy is the author of My Ruby Slippers: The Road Back to Kansas.

      Her post will help writers who find their words are just not working for them. (Don't we all have uncooperative words at times?)

      I was lucky enough to be the random winner of a copy of Tracy's book; the contest was hosted by WOW--Women on Writing.(I cannot wait to read it!)

      For those who love memoir, for those who are writing a memoir, or for those who want to pick Tracy's brain about the writing/publishing process, leave your questions in the comment section on July 12 and Tracy will answer them. 
    

Tearing Out Hair and Gnashing Teeth...

         Many years ago, I  went to a workshop that focused on the social consciousness of kids.  Two of the books they used to prod us into writing had a permanent impact on me.

          One is Faithful Elephants.  It is a picture book, a true story, and is reportedly read aloud over Japanese airwaves every year, in the hopes there will never be another war like it.  Every time I read it aloud to a class, I am sure that--this time--I won't cry, because I am so familiar with it.  Yet every year I sob...

        The other book that made an indelible mark on my 
     life is Go Home!  The True Story of James the Cat.  I can 
     still remember the anguish as I listened to that story, 
     the first time, wondering how it would end. (It's the
     story of  a stray cat, and chronicles all the dangers a
     stray has to endure, in a very realistic manner.)
                                        

         Several years ago, having thought all along
   that there should be a companion-book for
   Go Home!, one about a stray dog, I worked
   for a year or two on a picture book.  I took it to
   a writing retreat and had a response group
   help me with it.  I met with a friend at a local
   book store---our own little writers' group---and
   got her to critique it.  I had my #1 editing
   friend give me her take on it. Then it sat for a
   couple of years, gathering dust.

           This summer I bragged in my blog that I was
finally ready to send it off.  I even stupidly said I'd do it by the end of the month (August). Someone I had recently met, Donna , made sure I followed through when she commented on my post, "So that means August 31, right?"  That meant there was no way I could back down...

        According to the post office, it should have arrived on September 3rd.  When I did not hear anything the next week, I was surprised.  But I gave them a little leeway.

        Now, since they have had it for almost a month, I am sure there is some incredible battle going on.  Probably, other publishing houses heard about my story, and have tried to snag it from Albert Whitman & Company. They probably have hired professional cat burglars who will rappel down the walls of the building at night, so they can break into the office where my manuscript is... 

       Or,  perhaps all of their editors are arguing.  Which one is going to get the privilege of working with such a gifted author?  Each one is vying for the prestigious position, and there is tearing of hair and gnashing of teeth over the prospect.

        If you are a writer, how do you wait patiently for a response? Do you let your imagination run wild (as I obviously do)? What do you do to keep your hope and faith from flickering into nothingness? 

A Writing Ephiphany

         Well, perhaps the term "ephiphany" is a bit strong.  And curiously, this thought has occurred to me before, but only in fleeting glimpses, and then it vanishes, as if never having appeared at all...all memory of it gone. Last night it reappeared as part of a stupid sitcom.

       One of the characters was speaking of a crush.  The reason why they did not act on their feelings was so they could "keep on dreaming, instead of dealing with the reality as a failure."

        That is why I don't submit things.  As long as I don't send anything out and risk receiving rejection letters, I can hold onto my dream of being published. I can continue to fantasize what life would like if...

          However, thanks to making my plans public (to send out my manuscript by the end of August) and thanks to some gentle prodding (thank you, Donna ) my manuscript has been delivered and is probably in a pile with other hopeful pieces. In 3-5 months, I will hear, and will then go from there...

          Two days after I sent off my manuscript, I went to a book reading at the Boom Boom Room in St. Charles (right above The Lounge).  W.E. Mueller was reading from his book Peaches and Cream.  There was a 2nd author there as well:  the son of the man highlighted in the book Confessions of a Mob Hitman.


         Both readings were moving, in different ways.  One of the
   stories that Mueller read was "Uncle Albert."  It had an O. Henry
   twist at the end that really smacked the reader in the head in a
   good way.  I have purchased the book; it's a mixture of detective
   stories and humor and poignancy. I have not finished the book,
   but I will say that although detective stories are not my normal 
   fare, I enjoy Mueller's...

          Flynn's reading was engaging because it was apparent how
   emotional this journey has been for him.  His father died before
   the book could be published. It was easy to see how moved he was
   as he wrote the preface and did the research to validate his
   father's stories.  Both father and son had been incarcerated, yet
here was the son, perhaps learning from his own as well as his father's frailities, reading stories for a captive audience.  (I couldn't resist the bad pun!)

        We write for various reasons.  What do you most want to accomplish when you write?  Who is your audience?

What AM I Going to Do About It?

          After receiving two helpful comments to my post yesterday---helpful in different ways---a few things hit me in the head with a loud thunk.

          One, I have no idea what a "meme" is, but I imagine if I type in "meme" and search, I will find out.  (That was just a minor knock on the noggin...)  But, it led to a larger one, that if we force ourselves to engage in little writing "exercises" on a regular basis and sometimes stray from our comfort zone, it will stretch our skills.

           A writer named RK thought it was perplexing that someone who wants to be a writer does not write...It's not that I don't write; I'm just extremely clever and creative when it comes to ways to avoid writing.  (That reminds me of a story a high school teacher told me.  She was relaying that students are paying for a service/program that "corrupts" their disc. This allows them to seemingly turn in a paper on time via the disc, but when the teacher tries to read it and cannot, it buys the students a couple of days to actually write/finish the paper.  If they would use all that energy and ingenuity for good instead of evil, these students could get their work in on time.)

         If I used all the time to write instead of making excuses and psychic predictions ("No one will like this," "I'll never get an editor to look at this.") I might actually get something published.

          A large blow to my head happened when I brought back to the surface (because I've thought about it before, but quickly shove it back down) the idea that it's much safer to wonder than it is to know.  It's much more comfortable to speculate what response an editor would have to your work, than to really know via a rejection letter.

           For example, I have a picture book that I liken to (with great delusions of grandeur) Cynthia Rylant's picture books.  These are some of my favorite ones:

































        I loftily compare this story to Rylant's because it's not like the picture books I grew up with (five or so decades ago).  I've carefully worked on the craft of the story---the variety of sentence lengths, the similes, and so on.  I use the above picture books in my third grade classroom as well as in workshops I do with college students and fellow teachers---the books are that well written.  (In my next post I will tell you why I hate Cynthia Rylant as a person...)

           Anyway, I became emotionally connected to this story I wrote, several different response groups have read it, and has been "finished" (I know, a piece is never "finished") for probably at least 2 years. I think it's fairly polished.  And for 2 years I've wondered why it isn't published.  And that's because I have not sent it off.

          As long as I keep it that way, I don't have to face rejection, I can ignore the glaring light of reality, I can speculate what it would be like if...

          Various goals I've set have not worked:  By the beginning of the new year, I will have sent it off....By the end of the summer, I will have...It'll be in the mail to an editor by...

            So, RK, this is what I'm going to do about it.  I have a query letter written (it's also been written, and waiting, for 2 years).  I have a publishing house that---logically---I should begin with, because my story is kind of like a bookend for another one of their books.

             Give me a month.  In fact, give me a little less than a month to get off my butt and do something about it.  By September 1, send me note and hopefully, I will be able to say, "The eagle has flown" or "The chicken has left the coop" or some other coded phrase that says, "I've sent it off."  (Which leads to the biggest blow to my head:  RK is from India, a country where some of my favorite books and movies and documentaries come from.  How cool is that?  In another continent far, far away, from a culture that is very different than mine, one writer reaches out to another writer...)