The Resilience of the Human Psyche

by atozmom, posted in Writing

It’s amazing the resilience of the human psyche, isn’t it?  One moment, you’re down.  The next your back in the game.

I keep getting reject after reject for my queries so what do I do?  I keep editing my query letter, editing my novel, and researching agents and mailing off more queries.  Yeah, I get down when a reject lands in my inbox.  But I’m learning to think, “That agent is just not for me.”

As I research and research literary agents, there are HUNDREDS out there!  I didn’t realize there were that many!  Out of these hundreds, one has to love my work, right?  Or does it just suck?

Sure, there are good agents and bad and one must be careful.  But with research and guidance from God, I’ll find one, I’m sure.

This is my third work so surely I have it down by now, right?

I’d love to hear how you cope with rejects.

Excitement, Once Again, Reigns

by atozmom, posted in Writing

Well, I’ve re-vamped my query letter to make it shorter and much more compelling.  I’ve cut 10,000 word from my novel (the part that I thought didn’t flow very well at all from the very beginning) and now, I believe, my novel is the best I can make it.  Now, whether a professional editor can make it better remains to be seen.  However, I am extremely excited about this development and can’t wait to polish things up and get back on track.

I hope and pray this is it–this is the one after so much hard work put in that will finally garner some attention.  If there is a God in heaven, then this will succeed.

Words of Comfort

by atozmom, posted in Faith

Just when I’m feeling sad and questioning what I’m doing with my life and even if all my work is worthwhile, I open the Bible and God speaks to me.

“Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”  Isaiah 55:2

The Bible further goes on and says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found” verse 6 and those who “have no money, come” verse 1.

This comforts me as I know my writing satisfies me (and God) even though right now it satisfies no one else.  It’s encouraging to know in these tough times that there is hope and a future as I’m bogged down in the mire of the present.

“Your ways are not my ways,” verse 8.  This is true but sometimes I wish they were my ways.  His ways tend to be too hard.

Dreams

by atozmom, posted in Writing

I usually don’t have vivid dreams, but I woke up this morning with one.  As a writer, all of my novel ideas have been from my dreams (ultimately from God in my opinion) and this one was intriguing.  I immediately wrote it down because the conversation was so alive and breathing.  I don’t see how it will fit into a story but maybe one day.

As I’ve been researching literary agents to submit to, I’m discovering ones I’ve never discovered before.  This is because I’ve wrote a young adult (YA) novel instead of one for adults.  I didn’t realize how many agents out there focus exclusively on kids works.  I find this fact great.  I love helping my kids pick out books at the bookstore and now I know why there are so many fabulous ones on the shelves.  Thanks to all the agents out there who recognize talent and work so feverishly to bring it to the world.

Now if only one of these esteemed literary agents would bring my talent to the world!

Home School Update

by atozmom, posted in Homeschool

I had promised an update on homeschooling so here it is.

Homeschooling is really about finding what works for you which is really a bunch of guessing.  No one can tell you what curriculum is the best or how to even do it.  Basically, you just start–plain and simple.  You sit down one day and begin.

I had mentioned I was doing the Riggs method of learning to read and I have to say IT IS THE BEST!  My daughter can now sound out most words with minimal help and can read books by herself and it’s only been 2 1/2 months!  I broke down and bought the Riggs Institute’s “Writing and Spelling Road to Reading and Thinking” Teacher’s Edition Level 1 and it’s the best purchase I’ve made.  It uses dictation which teaches the kids how to think as well as Socratic principles (which I love).  With this foundation, my kids will be able to easily take it to the next level.

I also love the Core Knowledge sequence developed by E.D. Hirsch.  We are currently on “What Your First Grader Needs to Know” after completing “What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know” in just two months.  Our school in Fort Collins was Core Knowledge and I loved it.  It has great stories and provides me with a guideline of what other kids are learning so I don’t forget anything.

We also have a daily reading lesson which I think complements Riggs perfectly.  It’s “The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading” by Jessie Wise and Sara Buffington.  It’s from “The Well-Trained Mind”, a classical education guide by Susan Wise Bauer and her mother, Jessie Wise.  It’s easy to follow and my daughter loves the stories which are carefully crafted to use lesson words.

We spend at least an hour every day reading, be it history, geography, science, math, art, music, or plain old good stories and my kids love this time the best!  I can cater to what they like and they get excited about it.  We visit the library once a week where we supplement our teachings with cool books.

My methods are hodge-podge to say it best.  I love Classical Education as I believe the ancients have a lot to teach us and will continue to use their methods.  I pick texts that I like and that I think the kids will learn from the most and I just do it.

My daughter told me yesterday that my school is not as fun as her old school.  Let me tell you why:  we don’t fill time with meaningless projects.  We don’t make a lot of drawings.  We don’t do as many art works.  There is no time to sit and stare at the other kids and wait around for everyone to finish.  Once school begins, we’re on go mode and there is little time wasted.  It’s 3 or 4 hours straight of work.  I can honestly tell you my daughter knows more than most kindergartners right now just from the 2 months I’ve been working with her.  Kids this age are sponges and will soak up whatever fed them.

Will I continue to homeschool?  That is still up in the air.  As long as I’m doing what’s in my kids’ best interest and everyone is happy, I’m content.  I hope this helps.

Reading the Bible Again

by atozmom, posted in Faith

So, I went to church last Sunday and they emphasized three things, one of which was daily time with God.  So, I thought I’d pick up my Bible again and start reading where I had left off.

It’s amazing how God speaks to your heart when you’re open and ready.  I’m in the book of Isaiah, chapter 49.  These words jumped out at me from different verses:

“Before I was born the Lord called me…what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God….I will not forget you!…those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”

These are the exact words I needed to hear.  As Christians, I think we all need to know that God is with us, He sees us and all we are going through, He hasn’t forgotten us, and there is hope when we can’t see it.

There’s a Christian song that just came out that so speaks to my heart right now.  It’s called, “The Words I Would Say” by the Sidewalk Prophets.  The words that keep repeating over and over in my mind are:

“Be strong in the Lord and never give up hope,
You’re gonna do great things, I already know,
God’s got his hands on you, so don’t live life in fear,
Forgive and forget but don’t forget why you’re here,
Take your time and pray.”

I think of this song a lot, especially when those rejections keep cropping up in my inbox.  I’m reminded to keep working, keep striving and God will do the rest.  That’s all we can really do anyways.  Pray, Ask, Receive, and keep on living.

Need Some Writing Advice

by atozmom, posted in Writing

So, I’ve spent the last two days holed up in my room finishing the third draft of my novel.  I added a great motivation for one character as a result.

However, I also began to wonder if I shouldn’t change my ending.  If I did, I would cut out the last two chapters (essentially 5000 words), resulting in I think a better cliff hanger.  But my qualms:  5000 words is a lot when my novel is only 65,000.  It would take it down to 60,000 words, which I think is very low.  Does anyone out there have any advice for me on this point?

To recap:  it’s a young adult novel and I’ve read that they are supposed to be between 50,000 and 70,000 words so I’m right in there.  I am just unsure.

Thanks for any advice out there!

Writing

by atozmom, posted in Writing

As I mention in my About page, I’m a writer.  I’ve written a non-fiction book on parenting and pregnancy that I used to sell on my own website.  However, no one was buying it so the cost began to outweigh the financial gains so I took the site down.  Furthermore, my passion moved elsewhere.

Then, at the beginning of this year, I finished my first novel about football.  I tried for months to garner the attention of a literary agent so I scratched that idea and it sits on the back burner.

Currently, I’m writing a young adult novel.  This one is different than the other two.  First, I’m almost done with it.  I feel that my passion for this work is infinitely more than my previous two.  This means I’ve written the book in about a month.  I spend every waking spare moment on it and I feel it only gets better and better.  Second, this is the hardest book for me to write as it deals with issues from my past that I don’t think I have thoroughly dealt with.

Finally, I believe this one is the One God has intended for my life in order to help the most people.  The first one was just to prove I could do it.  The second one was to prove to myself that I could indeed create vivid worlds and live in them.  Thus, this one has the most meaning, the most depth, the most provocative, and the most potential helpful of all three so far.

I am so ready–so ready to see my countless hours come to fruition in the written word–hopefully something that will make meaningful impacts in people’s lives.

I once read where Stephenie Meyer, author of the insanely-successful Twilight series (which I would highly recommend) once said that she wrote these books for herself.  This truly resonated with me as I feel my planned series will be for me as well.  This book (and future ones in the series) is what makes my heart sing.  I can only pray that God guides me as I write so the words I choose impacts the most people.

I’d love to hear from other authors and their journeys through novel-writing land.

Shopping Online

by atozmom, posted in Homeschool

So, being that my husband has moved me far, far away from civilization (ok, a bit of an exaggeration but we all need it sometimes), I have entered the world of online shopping in earnest.

So, early this morning I am shopping on Amazon.com.  I logged into my account and they informed me that the price of two books in my shopping cart had jumped by $5 combined!  Now, I was a bit upset, but what can I do?  Amazon is still the cheapest place on the internet to get books and the nearest Barnes and Noble is 3 hours away (just not a viable option with 3 kids and little time).

So I ordered my books and one gets free shipping (for orders over $25) which seems like a great deal, right?  Well, the only catch is that your order gets less priority so it takes about a week longer to receive your books if you had actually paid for it.  But, being a mom on a budget, I can wait (just not patiently usually).

As a home schooler, I am looking for curriculum books on line.  There is one book in particular that I need (ok, so I WANT it really bad) to teach my daughter how to read.  Brand new from the owner’s website, it’s $90 plus shipping.  However, I can get a used copy online at Amazon for $70 so I will save money.  However, I’d have to buy it from Amazon’s marketplace which is basically anyone who wants to sell items online can go through Amazon (I’m sure there’s probably some vetting process).  But, the complication here is you never know what you’re gonna get and if you don’t like it, the return policies on some are dubious to say the least.  In essence, I don’t know these people from Jack and I’m hesitate to buy from them.

So, now the question becomes, “Do I spend the extra $20 and buy the book from the publisher directly?”  I have been wrestling with this exact question for the better part of an hour and so I’ve finally decided to spend the extra money and buy from the people I know (who by the way, are incredibly nice and helpful) rather than some guy in his garage.

The book by the way is from the Riggs Institute, a non-profit agency specializing in explicit phonics.  Explicit phonics is where you teach your child to read and write through learning the sounds rather than through learning sight words and memorization.  I LOVE this method and is part of the reason I didn’t enroll my daughter in the kindergarten when we moved.  Also, they are not a Core Knowledge school either, which was unimpressive.  I highly believe every child needs the same knowledge from year to year plus it’s just overall good stuff that everyone needs to know.  I myself enjoy reading “What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know” by E.D. Hirsch, Jr, and my kids definitely love it.

The book entitled “Writing and Spelling Road to Reading and Thinking” by Myrna McCulloch is highly rated and I’ll have to keep you posted on my daughter’s progress once I begin this program after the first of the year.  I will order it once business hours occur (I’m an EXTREMELY early riser.  I work best alone in the morning hours and am most productive.  It works out great because my husband works nights.).

Please feel free to comment (especially if you’ve used any of these aforementioned books).  I’d love to hear from you!