Good news

Yesterday I heard from Hambidge, an artist residency program in Northern Georgia. They hadn’t promised to notify before July, but for some reason I had expected to be contacted by now, so naturally I assumed that since I hadn’t heard yet I was being rejected. What a wonderful surprise to get my email yesterday afternoon with the first line “Congratulations!”

I’ve been awarded the month of November, which was my first choice, so I’m thrilled. I’m not a big fan of Thanksgiving (I’m a vegetarian and hate to cook) and I always like to have somewhere to be so people don’t feel obligated to invite me for dinner and I don’t feel obligated to endure the family dysfunction of non-family. There’s nothing worse than having dinner with people you really like but wishing you were in some back room spending time with your keyboard and your characters.

I’ve mentioned before what a gift it is to receive a block of time with nothing to do but write. What I haven’t mentioned is the lift you get from that acceptance email or letter. Rejection is such a huge part of the writing life, and with enough rejection it’s easy to start feeling little prickles of self-doubt. When we have a story accepted for publication, though, or are offered a residency, we have proof that someone out there values our work. And that’s possibly the greatest gift of all.

Cheers!

Good things are happening for a couple of my very talented writing friends. Usually we celebrate with champagne, but this long distance raising of a glass will have to do for now.

Susan Gregg Gilmore, author of Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen and The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove, recently learned that Bezellia has been picked up by Target as an August selection. If you haven’t read her books, you should. And if she’s ever doing a reading in your area, go. You’ll be charmed.

Rachel Unkefer has been in a writing critique group with me for years. She was just notified that a story of hers, an excerpt from her currently circulating novel, is being published in the September issue of Crab Orchard Review. For those unfamiliar with literary journals, COR is “a biannual journal of creative works published by the Department of English of Southern Illinois University Carbondale featuring new fiction, poetry, literary nonfiction, and book reviews of small press and university press titles.” It is a highly respected journal, and a great place for Rachel’s work.

Congrats ladies! You deserve it.

How am I doing?

Almost halfway through 2011, and it’s time to check in on my goals.

I can hear my writing friends groaning all the way down here in Mount Pleasant. Yes, this does mean that soon I’ll be harassing you about your goals. But first, I need to check in on my own progress. And maybe add a few new ones if I’ve crossed any off the list.

I’m a big believer in written goals. The process of writing down my goals makes me think, really think, about what I want to accomplish, and how I’m going to go about it. It makes me realize that if I want to finish a project by a certain time, I have to commit to a certain amount of time at the computer. And if I want that fabulous short story I’ve written to ever see print, I have to commit to sending it out. Now, I can tell myself that I will finish that project or get that story published, but without a concrete plan to make that happen, most likely it’s not going to happen.

Each November, I start planning for the next year’s work. I think long term (finishing that big project) and shorter term (revising a short-short that hasn’t yet found a home). The goals I end up with are “SMART” goals: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. For example, I may have a goal to write 1000 words a day, 5 days a week. Or to send a rejected story back out within 48 hrs. Or to apply to two residencies over the course of the year. As you can see, these goals are within my control. I don’t say I will get a story published – that is out of my control. But I can increase the odds a story will be published by keeping it circulating. (Reminder – you’re not going to get published unless you send your work out. No one is going to come to your house and ask you for that fabulous story stuck in your bottom drawer.)

But, and this is a big but, just writing down your goals is not going to make them happen. You have to revisit them frequently to see how you’re doing. I pull mine out about once every 2 or 3 months. Sometimes I find I’m doing better than I realized, sometimes I find I’ve been slacking. I don’t beat myself up about it – I just use this as a reminder that I have to be more aware of what I am and am not doing in my writing life.

Now I’m going to go check up on my progress. C’Ville friends, you can expect an email from me any day now about yours.