Thursday, December 9, 2010

My personal journey in the writing seas

Good Morning Everyone! How are you today? Thank you for your participation in my blog site. I feel that as a new member of the writing seas, having been a writer for the majority of my life, I come up against obstacles, choices, conversations that make me ask questions on if I am making the right decisions in certain situations. I have a wonderful group of artists in which I network with on a daily basis, hence today, I am blogging more because I have the worlds SMALLEST FONT on facebook-can you imagine? How can I get any work done on facebook today when my font is size 1? So here I am with you wonderful people? :)

My struggle some days is this-which book do I work on now and do I go back to my novel? I have written 26 children's books and 11 have been edited so far and awaiting publication and illustrations. So I continue to write, yet I am not able to draw more than a stick figure, so with that being said, I really cannot help my illustrator at all! If I did, I highly doubt any of my books would be published.

Journey of a Starfish #1---

Journey #1--AGENTS--If you need one, you should not be paying them a penny. Do you know why? Because you are talented and they have the money and the means, if they are legitimate, to get your published. Research your agent, check blogs, check who they have worked with, get their CV, make calls, and then, decide. I would recommend taking at least 6 months to make a decision on an agent. That is just my personal recommendation. Why? Because an agent steal  from me personally, found me on my space, and used the money I gave her to publish herself. True story. I will never release her name, because it simply doesn't matter anymore. Lesson learned? Definitely! Will I ever make that mistake again? No way! Should YOU pay an agent to do anything for you-NO WAY! I would have had 15 books published by then. How did I find out she was not legit? A website people created that she had stolen from appeared after a multitude of research and many non-returned phone calls from her on business. Did I try to get my money back? No. Why? Because it was energy that I put towards something more positive. Self Publishing and getting a Business Partner and a Creative Team together. That was my next journey.I went from guppy fish to fish at that point in the deep seas of writers.

Journey #2---I then went with self-publishing-spent thousands on self-publishing in which they could not even get my book title right when my book went live for purchase on a Nationwide site-talk about your embarrassment, right? It got fixed after several hula hoops that I jumped through, and then, my next book came out and guess what happened? Yes! The same thing-an entire page missing when the book arrived via Fed Ex to my front door. It took me ten calls to get it taken care of and it took weeks for me to get the real copy, meaning the copy that I could actually show people. So that was my journey in self-publishing. Did I learn from it? Yes-absolutely! Will I do it again? Never. Why you ask? It is simple. Because time is valuable and you should not have to pay anyone for a service, a fee, that is astronomical. And it was astronomical! I had to get published and I knew that. I had a radio show the next month that was Nationwide. So I paid for express payment. Take a guess at how much I paid and how much money I lost in the process? I will leave it at that, folks. Still a guppy fish.


Journey #3-Get business cards, no matter what, because you never know who you will meet.
I was at Staples. I was getting my very first business cards. It was exciting. I had a table being featured where I had been volunteering for a few weeks locally. It was Career Day Tomorrow. My first official table for poetry and writing prompts with 4th and 5th graders was May 28, 2010. May 27, 2010, changed my life. I was at Staples and all the systems behind the desk shut down for nearly 30 minutes, so it was like an MVA line. There were only three of us there. I was exhausted and had been working on my Career triWenger at Staples and now, I am Co-Writing and have been editing for Dr. Win Wenger, the 1% of the smartest people in the world of Mensa since May 2010. He is a dear friend of mine and quite humble. We will be Co-Writing a book on listening together in 2010.

Journey #4 and Journey #5 will be upcoming tomorrow....Thoughts? Comments? Feedback? Post away my friends! :) Today, enjoy your journey as a new fish in the deep blue seas...we will travel it together on this site! Beware of sharks-some do bite! :)

My live post on Angie's Diary this week

http://angiesdiary.com/poetry-and-lyrics/poem-stories/fast-writing-poetry/

Writing Prompt on GOT POETRY

This prompt is for the poets here on Got Poetry who want to tackle something other than what you may be used to writing. This prompt is instructional, and tells you what to do and how to do it. Please follow the instructions. <s>

Imagine yourself being in a place the day after a disaster and you have no idea what happened the day before. So use ordinary people. For some odd reason you could walk into a place where you feel alone in a crowd? Perhaps, walking on a beach - and how will you learn about what happened? Remember this is poetry - and the tone and pace is important. Read it aloud, once you are finished, listen to the words, all the words should move as if in motion.

USE real people, no one famous. Pick somewhere, anywhere. You know nothing, and you are faced with a mystery, how will it end? Ordinary REAL life - something like this can happen.

This one should be interesting to write - and to read. Thanks Nancy


Meg Collins writing Prompt on Dec. 8, 2010

I was walking along the beach
the same beach I walked on yesterday
I think it was around 1pm
the beach was swarming with people
children playing
many bright colored buckets of sand and
water and sandcastles were being made
and children digging for sea crabs
remember those tiny little guys in the bottom of the sand?
children playing merrily
digging and digging for sand crabs
laughter and smiles and
the ocean waves crashing amongst the
many granules of sand on the oceans shore
the life guards were watching 
wearing their zinc oxide on their noses
I remember there were ten stands
20 people total in the stands
and a vendor selling food and drinks because
it was 90 degrees
many umbrellas
 mostly blue and yellow and green
I walk the beach today and
the sands are there
the seas are roaring
louder than I have ever heard before
people are scattered, buckets flying to and fro and
lifeguards running
the beach is empty now
it is me
and the ocean
and the sea of blue angry waves
roaring
growing bigger
and bigger
and bigger than I have ever seen before
i am alone
but am I?
I see buckets yet no people
 no sand crabs
stands
but no guards
I walk the beach of the roaring seas
no smiles
no laughter
no people
buckets
blankets
picnic baskets left behind
and a net up for volleyball
and the castles
the sand castles that I viewed before
in the contest
there were 15
they are all gone!
who am I by this sea?
do I matter?
and if I do matter..
why did all the people run
and where do I stand now
among a world of silence
and roaring seas
with no smiles to see today
only that of the angry and roaring seas
only the roars
where did you go?
and why,
why did you leave me here, all alone?