Run Away To Fight Another Day

This past weekend I did something I desperately needed to do since about mid July...I took a mini vacation. 2013 has been a pretty challenging year for me so far and getting through the past 11 weeks of summer was particularly daunting. Despite my best efforts, I struggled with insomnia along with working 14 hour days while still trying to get my writing in, so needless to say I was a bit frazzled once school started up again.  

I counted the hours of sleep I missed out on...220 hours over 11 weeks...and for me that equates to 27 1/2 days of NO SLEEP out of 77 days of my summer.

So I took a break, gathered my pennies, and ran (drove) as fast as I could to the mountains for a little mental rest and a lot of physical relaxation. It was supposed to rain Sunday so I decided to spend Saturday at Dollywood. 

I thought I would forget about everything to do with writing for children and just have a little fun. But it's not so easy to say you're not going to be a writer.  These past three years have trained me to search out the story ideas no matter where I may be, and when I saw this statue as soon as I entered the gates I realized my "inner child" had come along for the ride.

There was the Lemon Twist teacup ride to remind me what to do when life throws a lemon my way.

I rode on the merry-go-round. I really wanted to ride that green dragon just ahead of me but I wasn't going to wrestle with the kid who got there first. Maybe I should have because as soon as I scrambled up on my horse he jumped off and picked something else.  Oh well, I'm getting used to not always getting what I want but still enjoying what I have...

This reminded me too much of all I had to juggle over this past summer so I just admired it from a distance.

One of my favorite rides at Dollywood is River Rampage. I am not much of a daredevil in other parts of my life, but this ride reminds me it's okay to take risks every now and again...even with my writing.

I even rode the Dollywood Express through the mountainside.  I have been on this train many times, but never actually listened to the history behind the engine that pulled us up the mountain.  I was so fascinated with the engineer's talk that I came away with another story idea. So much for running away from everything...;~)

After a few hours walking the park, I decided to grab a bite to eat and go watch a movie. If you've never had fried pickles before, you are missing out!  I haven't had steak in probably over a year but decided to treat myself to it along with streamed broccoli since I'm not really allowed to eat it any more. I was on vacation and wasn't worried about calorie counting...lol...

After a restful night's sleep where I actually slept EIGHT WHOLE HOURS I sat out on my balcony and welcomed the quiet view.  You can't see it very well, but I am looking over a park with picnic benches and the Tennessee River is flowing by those trees.  It's peaceful and I spend the next few hours reading until it's time to check out of my hotel room.

On my way out of town I passed this upside down tourist attraction.  I've been inside Wonder Works before and I thought it quite fitting this would be the last thing I see before heading home from my mini vacation.  The crazy, topsy-turvy life that I lead can be challenging but would I really want to change it?

Well, maybe with another published piece or two under my belt, but other than that, I guess not. I needed to run away this past weekend to be able to fight another day on this path to publication. It also reminded me that I can't truly run away from what I was born to be and that is a writer.  It's in my blood. It is the center of who I am and who I want to be. Now it's time to hop back in the ring for Round Two...

Racing To Greet 2013

As this month winds down, it's time for me to close the door on 2012.  It was a really hard year for me with quite a bit of changes to be made in my personal life as well as a lovely surprise in my professional one.  But I don't tend to dwell on the negative very much or for very long.  My mind continually races forward, welcoming new challenges, and I think 2013 will be a great year for many milestones overcome on my road to publication.  My vacation is from Dec 22nd until Jan 1st and I have a plan for the new year:

1.  Streamline my writing study.  I know it looks organized but there are a couple of boxes hidden away full of odds and ends I need to go through.  If it doesn't have immediate value to this next year's writing then I'm either going to pack it away as a resource tool or give it away to someone who can benefit from it now.

2.  Print a hard copy of all my completed and WIP manuscripts and store them in a folder under categories.  Since I write picture books, chapter books, middle grade, young adult, essays, poetry, etc. I need to make sure I know what type of writing I am doing so I can target the right agent or publisher.

3.  Review my 2011 & 2012 list of PiBoIdMo ideas.  There are 85 story seeds to sort through.  Some will never germinate, some will become seedlings in other stories, and some will blossom into full fledge manuscripts on their own so I need to have a good idea of which will become which.

4.  Streamline my bookcase of writer resources.  I  have 100+ books covering all craft aspects of writing as well as the general topics of interest I like to write about.  There are so many great writers out there that I can learn from but I really need to look at all the variations covering the same material and simplify my resource pool where I can.

5.  Narrow my list of agents and publishing houses I intend to focus on in 2013.  I plan on submitting and entering competitions all year long so I will take my vacation week to help fine tune the target audiences for my work.

6.  Work on basic query letters for the stories ready for submission.  Make sure those letters have all the elements agents and publishers are looking for.  I'm even excited to finally be able to list at least one published credit to my name...a small one but still a start in the right direction.

7.  Try to finalize the guest blogger list for my new writer's series, WRITERLY WISDOM, beginning in January, 2013.  I only have 18 guest blogger spots left to fill so if anyone knows of an author or established writer (2 or more years full time writing experience) who might be interested in doing a guest blog, then just send them my way!

8.  I've blocked out specific times to work on Lacey's Bridge, The Warriors Three, Lunadar, and many of my picture books.  My best friend is going out of town and I've asked my family to give me these two weeks to focus on my writing without distractions.

There you have it.  I've got an action plan for the new year and the ability to create my own personal writer's retreat at home.  What about you?  Have you mapped out a course for tackling the new year?  Have you prepared for the uphill climb to publication?  Does anyone have any areas I might have left out in preparing for the new year?  Come on 2013, I'm ready for you!  Now all I have to do is to actually sit down and get started...