0 Registered (),
108
Guests and
2
Spiders online. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
3239 Members
63 Forums
16332 Topics
210704 Posts
Max Online: 409 @ 01/16/20 10:33 PM
|
|
|
#38301 - 08/28/04 11:53 AM
Re: Book for Late-Blooming Readers & Writers
|
Da Queen
Registered: 07/02/03
Posts: 12025
Loc: Alabama
|
Dotsie, I think fear is the MAJOR and sometimes ONLY factor that holds people back from doing things they really want to do. I've found that if I minimize the fear, or better yet, meet it head on, then that particular fear simply disappears. I think someone like Garrie (who has a way with splain things) could do a better job here, but let me give a very simple and small explanation of what I mean....
Ever been to a large gathering where there was a buffet? Seems like everytime I do, when it's time to eat, no one will go first and the person who does gives some sort of embarassing statement as to why he/she's going first...then after that person, everybody jumps up and gets in line. How crazy is this? It's a food line, not a line to get into heaven. I've made it a practice that whenever I'm in a situation like this and the speaker says "okay folks, let dine" or "time to eat" or whatever, I simply get up and get a plate.
Now I know that too simple an explanation but it serves the purpose. What I do whenever something bothers me or I feel my fear creeping in is to say to myself, "what's the worst that can happen?" Usually, it already has...and it's not that bad so I go for it!
Hope this helps a tad...
now, I'd love to hear how Prill got her agent and publicist, but I just had to put my 10 cents worth in...teehee.
JJ
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#38302 - 08/28/04 12:02 PM
Re: Book for Late-Blooming Readers & Writers
|
Member
Registered: 08/24/04
Posts: 201
Loc: Connecticut
|
Dotsie--I'm happy to share what I know. In terms of getting a publicist, my agent helped me; so the answer to your question has to start with how I got an agent. A successful writer friend of mine, Jane Hammerslough, gave me some advice early on in my project. First of all, she recommended I read the book I suggested in an earlier posting: "The Shortest Distance Between You and a Published Book" by Susan Page. But she also said that being crystal clear and passionate about the concept of your book was the most important thing in terms of getting an agent. "An agent will come to YOU, if you're clear," she said. I didn't quite believe her, but that's exactly what happened to me. I talked shamelessly about my book idea everywhere I went--in airports, in stores, even at PTA meetings. (At this point, I hadn't written a word, but I WAS clear and I WAS passionate.) Within a few weeks of my conversation with Jane, I was been given business cards by two agents with encouragement to call them after I'd written a few chapters. The first I met in a train station; the second, at a party. Keep in mind that I had never met--at least to my knowledge--a literary agent in my life. Less than a month later, a third agent, Paul Fedorko, whom I met through a friend but had no idea was a literary agent, paid me a visit and asked about my book. (My friend had told Paul about my idea.) After I shared with him the concept, he said, "Do you have an agent yet?" When I told him I didn't, he said, "Well, I'm your agent." I was floored. I felt sure that once he saw my writing, he would change his mind (that self-doubt thing I had to work through), but he didn't. I know that between the lines of this answer, your readers are going to think, "Ah ha! She had connections." And, this is true. But I didn't KNOW I had connections, and I think Paul would validate my belief that the reason he took me on was not because of my friend but because I was clear about what I was doing and able to impart to him my vision. Hope this helps.
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#38304 - 08/28/04 12:11 PM
Re: Book for Late-Blooming Readers & Writers
|
Member
Registered: 08/24/04
Posts: 201
Loc: Connecticut
|
JJ-- Love what you said about fear. I agree entirely. Also love the buffet analogy.
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#38305 - 08/28/04 12:15 PM
Re: Book for Late-Blooming Readers & Writers
|
Member
Registered: 08/24/04
Posts: 201
Loc: Connecticut
|
JJ-- You just crack me up. Cinder-prilla. That's great.! I've been called all sorts of things (my good friends always lapse into Prilly or Prillilla or some such thing), but never Cinderprilla. How do you come up with this stuff? Wish you could bottle it and sell some to me.
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#38306 - 08/28/04 12:21 PM
Re: Book for Late-Blooming Readers & Writers
|
Da Queen
Registered: 07/02/03
Posts: 12025
Loc: Alabama
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#38308 - 08/28/04 02:24 PM
Re: Book for Late-Blooming Readers & Writers
|
Member
Registered: 11/08/03
Posts: 3512
Loc: outer space
|
Okay Queen, I can buy the football boobs thing, but you're spelling naked like a Yankee. It's not nakid. It's nekud. Get your southern butt down here where you belong girl.
AND, Where did you hear that stuff about "way down yonder" being in New Orleans? It ain't New Orleans. It's Oklahoma. Woody Guthrie, the Dustbowl Balladeer, from Okemah, Oklahoma, wrote about it in the thirties. And us Okies ain't lettin' them Louisianans steal it neither. "This Indian Nation, Oklahoma, is where "Way Down Yonder" is and we know it!! Here's Woody's song:
OKLAHOMA HILLS by Woody Guthrie Many a month has come and gone Since I wandered from my home In those Oklahoma hills where I was born. Many a page of life has turned, Many a lesson I have learned; Well, I feel like in those hills I still belong. CHORUS: ""'Way down yonder in the Indian Nation Ridin' my pony on the reservation, In those Oklahoma hills where I was born. Now, 'way down yonder in the Indian Nation, A cowboy's life is my occupation, In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.
But as I sit here today, Many miles I am away From a place I rode my pony through the draw, While the oak and blackjack trees Kiss the playful prairie breeze, In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.
CHORUS
Now as I turn life a page To the land of the great Osage In those Oklahoma hills where I was born, While the black oil it rolls and flows And the snow-white cotton grows In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.
smile P.S. I went to the site. Loved it. Can't wait to get the book. No matter how late I am, I need to BLOOM!!! [ August 28, 2004, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: smilinize ]
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|