The Journey Continues

 It's hard to believe, but unless the country runs out of ink and paper in 2021, this spring I will be buying cases of books. Copies of my book.

It's been a journey with lots of twists, turns and obstacles. It began with a first draft that stunk to high heaven. Because of my wonderful editor (and now publisher) and her feedback, I scrapped it and began again from scratch. I queried more than 120 agents and publishers, and got lots of rejections and even more "no responses" before I finally found a publisher who said yes.

                                                                     image by Pixabay

Now the journey is peppered with a variety of decisions. I've chosen to take all the piles of money dollars my book makes and use it for a good cause. Since my novel is about the Tulsa Race Massacre, it will go toward a project in Tulsa or scholarship for a Black Tulsan. I've considered a college scholarship or grant money to fund school field trips to the Greenwood Cultural Center. Currently, I'm mulling over an internship for a writer/performer to create a multimedia piece to show in the cultural center. Helping to showcase a rapper/poet/artist would be wonderful.

If you'd like to check out a post I recently wrote for The Muffin about some of the decisions I've grappled with, head here.

 

Feeling Over-the-Moon... But There's Obstacles

In case I haven't mentioned it 13 zillion times in the last month (on The Muffin), my manuscript is getting published. The stack of papers I labored over for years is going to become a book. A publisher said yes, they liked it, they really really liked it. (Sorry, Sally Field--I couldn't help myself.)

However, there was a moment recently where I was stopped dead in my tracks.

You see, I'm white and old. I'm also a woman. 

My main character is black and young. And he's male.

This is a problem these days, and I understand--or I think I partially understand. I obviously cannot fully or completely understand what it's like to be marginalized and ignored and silenced, since I am white. And elderly. And I have no idea what it's like to be a male and black, in a day and age where being black and male all-too-often means there is a target on their back. Literally and figuratively.

I wrote a post about what stopped me in my tracks. (Please stop by and leave a comment if you haven't already. I need some honest reactions.) 

                                                                        image by Pixabay

My book is still going to be published, but I plan on not making a single penny from it. Oh, I will peddle it from the trunk of my car and I'll set up book events and I'll go to Tulsa this May to be a part of the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, but my part of the sales will go somewhere else... it won't be going into my pocket.

And I'm not sure why I've been absent from this blog for months, but I hope my next post appears relatively soon...

 

Sioux? Heading to Japan?

 Well, yes... if my son and daughter-in-law and grandson(s) relocate there next summer. (It's their first choice as far as new Air Force home. We'll see if they get their first pick.) If they move there, I will be going for at least one visit while they're living there.

                                                                       image by Pixabay

However, I did travel to Japan recently while doing some research. Not literally, but it was a pleasant detour nonetheless.

If you check out my WOW post, you'll see I began by writing about the importance of underdogs in stories... and then I ended up in Japan, in love with a real-life racehorse.

Have you been beaten down by rejection? Do you wonder if you'll ever succeed? Have you considered giving up?

If the answer is yes to any of those questions, go to my WOW post and watch the 18-minute movie. I (can almost) guarantee you'll be moved by it.

A Writer's Faith

Too bad that George Michael is no longer alive. Perhaps if he was, he'd had written another song to help me along as a writer.

These days, I'm shuffling along. I sometimes say stumbling but really, most of the time it's shuffling. Stumbling implies a faster, forward way of progressing. Shuffling is less assertive, less confident.

However, shuffling is a slow but steady movement forward. That's not quite right either. So perhaps I should say, "I'm shuffling around, my writing progress stuck in the-middle-of-the-might mode, where I'm flailing my hand around in the dark, trying to find the light switch."

The light switch is what will illuminate my way on the path to hopefully eventually getting my manuscript published.

What George Michael song am I tuning into right now? (I'll bet you can guess.) What else did I write about my stumbling? Head to The Muffin and find out...

The Dog Days of Summer

Recently I wrote about my dog Radar going back to school. As is usually the case, it is the owner that is getting more "education" than the dog. Most of the time, dogs will do what they're supposed to do... if they're told to do it. If they're consistently expected to do it.

This is often how we find Radar during the summer.
A cool wooden floor + a hot dog = a great combination.

It's midway through the summer--for me as a teacher, it's more than midway. Beginning in August, something will happen. Either we will be planning on meeting in person in our classrooms, or we're going to start planning online classes, or we're going to create some hybrid approach--perhaps some in-person and smaller classes combined with online ones.

As a freelance writer, I need to follow the same guidelines the dog whisperers shared with me, as I allowed my 84-pound handsome guy drag me up and down the driveway as I  ran the gauntlet showed off my lack of dog handling skills.

If you'd like to read what I learned about myself as a writer (there's an even better photo of Radar as a bonus), check out my post.  And please leave a comment about any "old dog" habits you're dealing with, along with what new skills you're trying to work on.

Twists and Turns in Writing (and Life)

I’m twisted. I guess it would be more apt to say I love twisted writing.

I adore books and stories where the reader has to turn corners, clueless about what’s on the other side. Chuck Palahniuk’s writing is twisted in the best sense of the word. Joe Hill (he’s Stephen King’s son) keeps me on the edge of my seat. Sandra Dallas’s novels almost always have a major twist at the end.

These days are twisted… in the worst sense of the word.

To make sense of the world, what does a writer do? They write.

Recently I helped rescue a hawk. It was only a month old, and when a tree was cut down, the nest fell, and the baby bird was pacing in yards, desperate for food and water. My friend and I ended up taking it to the local wild bird sanctuary.

Slogging through an essay’s draft that’s simmering right now, a draft that begins with that baby hawk, I’m reminded of one of my favorite essays. It’s "Time and Distance Overcome" by Eula Bliss, and it's brilliant. It begins with a lot of information on telephone poles… and then it turns a major corner. A major corner.

Every summer I co-teach a graduate class. It’s full of teacher-writers. Usually it’s face to face but this year, it’s being conducted via Zoom meetings. Every summer I’m bowled over by the writing. This June is no different.

One of the teachers shared a short story she’d written. It was a moving tale of a mother who’s dealing with a miscarriage, a busy toddler daughter and a husband who doesn’t completely understand the grief she’s dealing with… and then I was punched in the stomach by the realization that what I thought was happening was not what was really happening. It was a whallop in the same vein as the one I got watching The Sixth Sense.

If you’d like to read an incredible essay—another one of my favorites—head to a post I've written for The Muffin. I’ve included a link to Brian Doyle’s powerful essay, “Joyas Voladoras.” It turns corners in a smooth and polished way.

And as far as my personal life, I turned a corner on Friday. I chose to not sign a contract at my old school, so I was (desperately) looking for a job for the last month or so. On Friday, I got a job offer (and accepted it). I’m thrilled. It's with a principal I love... which makes all the difference.

How about you? Do you incorporate twists and turns in your writing? How are you making sense of what is going on in our country?