#SonofaPitch Begins

Tags

blogs, feedback, help, Katie Hamstead, query, Son of a Pitch, thoughts, Twitter, words, writing

One year ago, I joined the wonderful event called Son of a Pitch, created by the wonderful Katie Hamstead. You can find her on Twitter here…and follow #SonofaPitch there too!

What. A. Fabulous. Time.

So I did it again last February…

And I am back! Go here to read about this month’s spectacular schedule, the post about the blog hosts and critiquers, and the post announcing the publishers participating in the final round. I am preparing for SO MUCH reading and critiquing queries and first pages.

Let’s celebrate writers helping writers. Today is the first week of Son of a Pitch! You can read Katie’s post here. Not mandatory at all to participate in next week’s round, where the critiquers read and then vote for their favorites, this week lets those who want to enter read and critique each other’s entries.

Writers are the best when it comes to helping. We all know what it’s like to struggle with words, to stare at blank screens, to read and re-read words that end up sounding like a whole lotta non-sense. We’ve all live in the land of the unknown, the darkness of the query trenches, the limbo of publishing. Seriously, are we nuts, insane, completely bonkers?

Yes. Yes, we are. And it’s the best.

Every person who enters, but be fast, because she takes the first 50, gets feedback from more than one person. Feedback on your query and first page. Want to take the critiques and rewrite, then get more feedback? Yup. We do that too.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the connections I have made doing this. I LOVE LOVE LOVE celebrating when great things happen to those I met during the weeks of word madness.

Next week will leave me tired and slightly dizzy (last time, I learned to keep good notes about all the entries), but very happy. I will stalk the entrants on Twitter. I will be pretty active on #SonofaPitch, so say hi!

If you want a bit of feedback, if you want to make some new friends, join Son of a Pitch! Enter your words. It’s so much fun! This week, reach out to your fellow entrants and read fabulous words…leave comments…HAVE FUN!

For the fun will continue next week. I am a blog host…again. So later this week I will post about that. My team name…what will happen on my blog…what words I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to read, my strengths and weaknesses, and maybe you can join my team!

A great big, huge THANK YOU to Katie for setting this up and asking me to be involved. It is my pleasure and honor.

That Real World Thing Out There

Tags

happy, News, not let bad stuff in, politics, the world of stuff, words, your truth

My hubs told me the other day that I NEED to pay attention to what’s happening in the world.

Need?

I know there’s a great wide world full of people and news and politics and stuff. I know that. I choose not to join it. I choose not to watch the news. I choose to step away from politics.

Does this make me a terrible person, a un-American American?

No?

The news has never interested me, the pages and TV full of all the awful things people are doing to other people. So, no, I don’t know exactly what so and so did to cause what…I don’t know all the details (but really because they’re reported by the news, does that make them details, fact?) of all the wrongs out in the world. No, I don’t know what all the politicians are screaming at the top of their lungs about.

Yes, I stick my nose in the world of fiction.

I wander happily around my own life, knowing what will keep my family and me wrapped in comfiness. I know what we need. I make what we have work for us. The economy is in big trouble? Gas prices are going through the roof? The healthcare system is changing? Instead of spending time listening to all these big problems and worrying about what it might mean…I simply live the best I can.

When Presidential elections came, I used to listen. Then I realized that no one was saying anything. The news took their words and twisted them to manipulate my feelings. I would vote, happy in my choice, because I listened to the high and mighty speeches, until I noticed that they were only high and mighty speeches.

The world is full of words. Stories of what is happening, people talking about what it all means, people ranting about how the world needs to change. Words telling me how to feel. Even my dear Catholic Church preaches about truth, telling me I must believe what they tell me to believe.

Is there injustice in the world? Yes. We’re human. We’re all trying to live on one world, all trying to have our voices be heard, all trying to hold on to our truths. But I do wish we could get over ourselves and find peace and acceptance.

I get one chance at this life. I choose to be happy, to not let in the words get in my way, to not waste my time screaming about what is wrong and focus on what is good, to live my truth.

Maybe your happy is watching the news, is ranting about all the things you don’t agree with, is loving the conflict. Great! Carry on.

But not mine. So no, I won’t watch the news. I will stay out of the elections, but not because I don’t care, but because I care about me, my sanity, my happy. Ignorance is bliss? Except it’s not ignorance, I see it. I choose not to let it in.

*skips away*