Tweet If you’re reading this, you want to be published. You want to become an author or be published in a mainstream magazine. Congratulations on acknowledging this HUGE first step! As someone who has walked this path from absolutely no writing experience aside from an internship to working full-time as a copywriter to eventually getting published in newspapers and magazines, I know how simply COURAGEOUS it is to just admit your dream. And I know how difficult it is to want to share it with others who end up telling you why being a writer is a dismal job with…
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Tweet Lately, I’ve been resting in between writing articles. I know my greatest asset is not my writing, but my ability to stay healthy and strong despite waves of doubt, unpredictability and chaos of our pandemic world. I realized while there is a multitude of classes provided on the craft of writing, I seldom see posts devoted to a writer’s inner world. How do we nurture our creative selves? How do we protect it from burnout, desensitization and overwhelm? This is the reality for many of us who are sensitive souls. I am an INFJ so making sure I don’t…
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Tweet Show Notes: If you’re interested in writing a memoir and getting it traditionally published, you need to get advice from someone whose been there. Linda Strader has not only written a memoir, but she’s done all the emotional work to write it, deal with the pain of reliving it and endured the 200 rejections to see it through to publication. Like Tara, Linda is one of the kindest, most genuine people I’ve had the honor of getting to know. I’m calling this a conversation because that’s how it feels when you talk to her. Linda is down to earth, humble…
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Tweet Just this Thanksgiving, I sent out a silent prayer of thanks for an inbox void of rejection letters. Guess what I received a few hours later? Thank you agent for taking time from your busy holiday schedule to decline my manuscript! In my writer’s critique group, I am the only one who has sent over a 100 submissions with not one acceptance letter. Yet, I continue to work on my craft every single day. Am I crazy? I just have faith that with time and hard work, I’ll eventually get there. But even I lose hope every once in…
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Tweet The deeper you get into your work, the harder it is to separate your self from what you’re working on. You’ll notice that the more passionate, the more involved you are, the more the deep dark stuff of your unconscious seeps out. It’s easier to live life on the surface. That way when rejection happens, it doesn’t hurt as much. You failed, but you didn’t care anyway. But what happens when what you’re failing at means the world to you? It hits at your core, purpose, and sense of self-worth. If you’re writing about a company, it stings a…
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Tweet No matter how long you’ve been writing, it always gets to you. The formal rejection letter. The kind, but full revision request. No reply. Writers are subjected to rejection as part of their job. But it doesn’t make things easier. While I tend to get over it faster than I did 7-years ago when I started as a freelance writer, it still hurts the ego. Like a scab that you constantly pick at, my mind constantly asks, “Why oh why did I make that dumb mistake?” That is, until I heard this Soundstrue podcast with Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your…
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Tweet All artists have trouble with their egos. Maybe it’s because unlike other fields, our sense of self and our creation are personally intertwined in a beautiful, yet complicated relationship. We often get defensive when editors pick away at our prose. And when finally hitting send on that perfect piece we spent days on, we’ve never felt more vulnerable. That’s why it hurts so much when we’re rejected. It’s not just an attack on our work, but it feels like an attack on our soul. But allowing our egos to get wrapped up in our work isn’t just unrealistic and…
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Tweet I don’t know if you’re a big Something’s Gotta Give fan like me. But if you are, you know every single line, every heartbreaking sentence and LOL phrase that made Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson sing on-screen together. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways (the writing, the setting, the fact that Diane played a screenwriter). One of my favorites, however is her genuine vulnerability reflected when she’s with Jack’s character Harry. There’s one scene that does it for me every time. Harry and Erica are in New York when she catches having dinner with a younger…
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Tweet When I first started telling people I was going to quit my full-time job and go freelance, I think they heard “rogue” instead. It’s as if I just announced I was going to make a living making balloon animals or shooting to outer space. It’s hard to explain their expression-a mix of disbelief, pity and maybe even undertones of resentment. I initially chalked it up to my own insecurities. Maybe they thought I wasn’t good enough or that I was just being Brandi-you know irresponsible, only child syndrome. What they said was things like: You can’t be a writer.…
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Tweet {flickr photo by: khaybe} Just last week I read an author’s tweet about her lackluster review on a movie based on her book. And several weeks before that, a writer expressed her frustrating over feedback from an article she wrote. Bad reviews are a part of life. They can happen whether you are a writer, entrepreneur or a 9 to 5 employee. I certainly have had my fair share. But what do you do about them? {Besides run under the covers and hide.} Basically, you have 3 options: a) Sulk b) Quit c) Suck it up I’d opt for the…