Saturday, January 17, 2009

the Moment of Truth

Or at least the Moment of Commitment.

So I'm sure I was one of the last to submit to Firebrand, but I did it. At first I was trying to cram in 20 full pages, and then realized that a 20 page chapter in a boy's tweener book just wouldn't fit. If I can't convince them in 9 pages, or even 5, then the story has bigger problems not solved by length.

The same sample is what I'm going to use for Big Sur. It's both a relief and a fire to have submitted. A relief because I can stop sweating. A fire because that's what's now lit under my ass to make everything as good and exciting as it is when there's a deadline.

I even used a few lines for the Westside Schmooze "First Pages" night which was great. Lee and Rita really had fun, and the format of the evening (mixing published/famous/unknown writings together) was also great. I think last year I did a lot of writing in a vacuum, and the Schmoozes give me a sense of community that I was missing. Hats off to the Westside Schmooze; it's a good group.

All that writing took it out of me, though. I've been off my blogs for over a week. And tomorrow I'm taking some time off for the MLK Holiday/Inauguration Build-up. I'll see you all reliably again in a week.

Now get back to those books!

5 comments:

Katie Anderson said...

Oh good! A new post and a new start! Graeme, all of this hard work will def. pay off. I am sure of it!

I can't wait to hear what happens. I wonder when you will hear back? Any idea? 6 weeks?

P.S. you know I love that photo :-)

Christy Raedeke said...

Nothing like the terror of submitting! Good for you!

I'm really excited for you to go to Big Sur - you'll be the life of the party.

Tyler said...

Woohoo! Good luck, I hope you hear from them shortly. Although Nadia Cornier's blog said because of the huge response they received is going to probably extend their hear-back-by deadline, so don't fret if come Feb. 1 you haven't heard anything. She also said they're getting around double the rate for full MS requests compared to normal, so that's good!

But I totally know about the burnout after cranking out a bunch of writing for a deadline. I'm still working on getting back into it after I submitted myself, haha. Not good.

Graeme Stone said...

Thanks you guys for your encouragement. I know it will probably be mid to late February to hear from Firebrand, but I'm just glad to have the piece in. Now I've got to get ready for Big Sur. And Tyler, give your self a break, and then a schedule you can live with. I read fairly recently, 'What do you do everyday? Well...that's your life.' So write what you can each day. Let it help sustain and grow you, not drain you.

Lee Wind, M.Ed. said...

Graeme, congrats on submitting! And glad to hear the schmooze is helpful. Hope to see you Wednesday,
Lee