CHASING AFTER THE WRITERLY DREAM...

 

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To all my current and future #DCSPeeps (DECIDE, COMMIT, SUCCEED), welcome to my new series in my continuing effort to inspire, amuse, and entertain you! Each Monday I will select a new word to analyze how it might apply to our writing lives and also give you a peek into my childhood growing up in the swamps of southern Louisiana. So kick back, put your feet up, and check out my story about TODAY'S WORD:

CHASING

When you come from a poor family you have to be creative. Especially when it comes to games.

My mother didn't especially care for me hanging out with the neighborhood kids, so it was a good thing my sister, Janet, and I were fairly close in age. She was four years older than myself, but many a Saturday morning would find us outside getting creative with whatever was lying around.

One particular Saturday when I was about 9 years old, we decided to pretend we were grand ladies going to a Ball. The only problem was, we didn't have any fancy dresses to wear. I don't remember which one of us came up with the idea, but soon my sister was cutting holes in large packing boxes trying to make cardboard skirts out of them.

The plan would have gone great except for the fact my sister cut the leg holes of my "skirt" a little bit too small. When I stepped into the box, she quickly pulled it up my legs to see if it fit, causing my legs to be painfully scraped and my temper was immediately inflamed.

Throwing the cardboard to one side, I grabbed the knife my sister had used and began CHASING her around the yard, screaming at the top of my lungs I would kill her if I ever got a hold of her! It took much persuasion from my mother to eventually convince me to put the knife down. My sister and I continued to play together after that fateful day, but I can't remember either one of us ever wanting to go to the Ball again after that!

CHASING our writing dreams, my #DCSPeeps, can sometimes be as scary as being CHASED by a madder than heck victim of a cardboard attack. Some newbie writers CHASE random agents and publishers like dogs barking at cars...not very effective, but it gives the impression they're being productive.

There's nothing wrong with CHASING the chance to see your name in print. Just make sure while you're running down that publication path, you remember three things:

1. Make sure your story is the best it can possibly be. Revise, critique, and polish your words until they shine like diamonds on that page.

2.  If you go the traditional route to publishing, do your research so that your manuscript has the best chance of being read by the right person to possibly help you.

3. Once you have completed that manuscript, don't hesitate to start on your next project. The more you write, the more you learn HOW to write, and when it comes to CHASING those writerly dreams, MORE is better!

I hope you have an AWESOME day today cuz you deserve it!

 

Children's book author, Donna L Martin, has been writing since she was eight years old. She is a 4th Degree Black Belt in TaeKwonDo by day and a 'ninja' writer of children’s picture books, middle grade chapter books and young adult novels by night. Donna is a BOOK NOOK REVIEWS host providing the latest book reviews on all genres of children’s books. She is also a book reviewer for Harper Collins, and a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. Donna is a lover of dark chocolate, good stories, and an adoptive mom to 20-pound guard kitty in Knoxville, Tennesse

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