Calling all blogger experts

So this has been one of those whirlwind sort of weeks. I did not even intend to, but somehow found myself doing something every night after work and it was fun but a bit too much. The perils of living in NY! I suppose I am making up for all those hours spent at Starbucks.

I actually had a nice idea for a different sort of post. I wanted to share a song I really liked, but couldn't figure out how to do it other than playing it through my phone with audioblogger and it sounded horrible. So if there are any blogger experts out there who know how to post an itunes downloaded song and would be willing to help me out, please email me! I will thank you right here on my blog when I make the post. Just think of it now…the fame! The fortune!

Enchantia post ahead

I'm giving you a nice size snippet today, and it touches on some major themes. It's during one of Jane's and Megan's (or I should say Butterfly's and Mialee's, respectively) earlier adventures in Enchantia, and Mialee is teaching Butterfly an invisibility spell. If you are lost, by all means ask or try browsing through my blog to some older Enchantia posts. Hope you enjoy.

“Fade, Fade, Fade!” I said.
“Not yet. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal to have trouble at first. Keep trying!”
I knew my problem. I hadn’t been serious enough. I just felt like I was pointing a stick at myself - a regular, non-magical old stick. For a moment, I thought I heard The Woods laughing at me. But a change came over me, from Mialee’s encouraging words. I was a powerful Enchantian sorceress, and Queen Bea was counting on me. Now was not the time for doubts.
“Fade! Fade! Fade!” I said, concentrating with all my strength, every muscle in my body contracted.
By the last Fade! a gentle wind whipped across my face, and I knew the spell worked.
“You did it!” Mialee said excitedly. “You’re invisible!”
As she said this she looked straight at me.
“Oh yeah?” I grinned. “Well then how come you can see me?”
“We can see each other since our powers are the same. Don’t worry, that’s a good thing. Even if we’re invisible we’ll always be able to help each other out.”
“Cool. Well, it’s so nice to be invisible. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do this spell out of Enchantia?”
“Sometimes I try, but it never works,” Megan, in her regular accent, sighed, and I knew she was thinking about home, or something to do with the bad thing that happened.
“What am I saying?” Mialee asked, horrified at herself.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, then continued teaching.

Guess what?

I figure it's about time for a change of subject, so I'll tell you something that actually happened a couple of weeks ago...I've finally finished my revisions!! And I realize this is totally anticlimactic, as my original self-imposed deadline was like how many months ago? But it's nice to be done.

I think I've said it before, but that deadline wasn't realistic. I had made it during a very hectic time at work when I had to stay late a lot. One of my friends even warned me that it would be like burning the candle at both ends, and she was totally right. So I decided to just chill out, take my time and finish at my own pace…and I did.

But here's the thing. Until the day an editor tells me, "You're finished," I'm not really done. There are any number of reasons why I might have to go back to it. But I'm at the point where I'm through with my evening sessions at Starbucks and am finally ready to start the next stage in the publishing process- submitting (to agents, at least to start with).

A word of warning to anyone thinking of publishing a book: your patience will be tried in ways you never thought possible. Even if (and this is a HUGE if) I do get lucky and find an agent right away who in turn sells my novel right away, it could easily be another year until you see it at a book store. It's a very slow moving process.

I was so naïve at the beginning of writing this book. My thought pattern was something like, "So cool, I'm going to write a novel, get it published, and begin my exciting career as an author. It's gonna be great!"

But that's not exactly what happened.

I've gone through so much with this manuscript- wrote a first draft, showed it to some people, revised it, submitted it to two agents who in turn rejected it, took a break, considered giving up, spent over a year going to a writers' group and working on this final draft…and that's leaving out a lot of details. Just thinking about it exhausts me. You could say I've been humbled, many times over.

I hope this doesn't sound discouraging. I'm obviously a huge believer in people going for their dreams. But sometimes dreams take work. Major amounts of it. And it's not only the work itself, you also need the said patience, persistence...and a thick skin helps.

Bear in mind I'm speaking of what I've learned from my own experience- that doesn't mean it'll be yours. You could be really talented and really lucky, and get the easy ride I had assumed I'd get. Anything's possible.

I'm going on, aren't I? I'm sorry. This blog is supposed to be for writers and non-writers alike, and this is a total writers' post. I guess I just needed to get all these thoughts out. But from now on I will only talk to you about my latest venture into the world of publishing if something major happens.

Have a good week, everyone...

A poem of one of my fondest memories

For Zayde

K-K-K-Kayla, beautiful Kayla,
You're the only g-g-g-girl that I adore;
When the m-m-m-moon shines,
Over the cowshed, I'll be waiting at the k-k-k-kitchen door.

So you would sing
as we walked along the shore,
hands clasped
as the cool waves
washed over our bare feet,
sticky with sand.
Kicking up the water
and giggling
I looked up at you,
my grandfather, my Zayde,
who loved me so much
you sang songs with my name,
for the joy of my smiles.

Only a child then,
yet forever will I remember
our walks by the sea,
and should I find myself
on the shore again
I'll see us, still walking,
shadows in the distance
dancing with the light,
the ocean echoing
your songs of love.