Whew!, What alot of information to take in! As you see by my countdown, that isn't counting down anymore, the conference is here. Two more days of great stuff ahead.
The VLOGS with agents and editors was really great. They made it seem like, even though it is a tough business, if you have a great story to tell, it will find a home and it will be heard.
I'm getting some pretty good feedback from other attendees so far, but I'm excited that agents and editors are also lurking around the critque forums, so maybe I will get some good advice from a pro!
SO one thing I learned today....Believe in yourself...
OKay, so this is NOT a new concept, however it is a concept that never seems to stick to the wall.
Here are a few other tidbits...From "Give yourself permission" by editor Molly O'Niell
Simply this: Give yourself permission.
Being a writer is a solitary act of will—it can only happen in the first place if you actively choose to do it. Your writing depends entirely on you for existence. And your life as a writer depends on you, too. If you grow as a writer, it is your doing. If you remain static as a writer, it is your doing. You are boss and worker and teacher and student and coach and cheerleader all rolled up in one writerly self, in a sense. And you know yourself as a writer better than any outsider could. So ask yourself—what sort of permission do you need as a writer, in order to make yourself a better writer today than you were yesterday, and in order to help your stories become all you hope they will be? And then—give yourself that permission. Today. Now. Before you write another word, give yourself permission:
1. Permission to call yourself a writer.
2. Permission to collect sparks of inspiration from even the unlikeliest of encounters.
3. Permission to wander your way into telling stories completely unlike those you perhaps once thought you would write.
4. Permission to start writing something new—totally, gloriously new—even if the thought terrifies you. Especially if the thought terrifies you.
5. Permission to stray from your outline.
6. Permission to keep writing, even if it feels like you may never “get there.”
7. Permission to let a character become someone totally different than you originally expected him/her to be.
8. Permission to kill a character. (And to cry a little when you do so.)
9. Permission to hire a babysitter, or to blow off some homework, or to order dinner in, or whatever it takes, to give yourself a little more space in your life for writing.
10. Permission to write a scene or story that might make certain people who love you shocked and surprised.
11. Permission to fail, maybe more than once. (Because you can’t fail unless you’ve tried.)
12. Permission to feel things deeply as a writer—disappointment, grief, doubt, jealousy. But then to balance those negative emotions with more positive ones: ambition, determination, persistence, hope.
13. Permission to ignore all the conflicting pieces of advice, and simply to write the story within you that wants to be told.
14. Permission to step away from measuring yourself against other writers.
15. Permission to be inspired by EVERYTHING.
16. Permission to be uninspired…but to try to write through it anyway.
17. Permission to mess up. Possibly many times. Every day.
18. Permission to do what you need to protect yourself as a writer—to turn off the internet, or to stop reading blogs for awhile, or to avoid Twitter—and enable yourself to do that thing which writers must do—TO WRITE.
19. Permission to think of your characters as real people (and to perhaps actually like them better than some real-life people you know).
20. Permission to…Write On!
Obviously, most of these are geared for a writer, but most are general and can be used in many areas of our life. We have to start giving ourselves permission to do the things we want to do instead of letting our fears hold us back. Easier said than done, right?
Hope you find inspiration, too.
Kris
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