Staying Patient As a Writer

You know those times when you're staring at your WIPs (works-in-progress), or thinking about them, or dreaming about them - so basically all the time - and you ask yourself, "What am I waiting for? Just send the dang thing out already!"

Or when you're having some crappy moments (or weeks) at your money job and your neighbors are hammering on their new $*%&ing deck every morning before you wake up - a deck that now overlooks the nice high wall between your house so that you can no longer keep the curtains open on your first floor, or even take your dog into the backyard to pee without having some guys stare at you - the same neighbors that throw their teenagers floor-shaking parties on work nights until 3 a.m. and the ghetto police in your ghetto neighborhood don't come in a timely fashion when called...

And you just think, "I really really really really really really need to get my publishing career started so I can quit my day job/move out of this ghetto cul-de-sac/stop feeling like the biggest loser compared to my friends who are way richer/more successful/more powerful/and way way more published"?

That's when this post over at Kidlit.com helps. Mary says:

What concerns me...is the tendency for writers to immerse themselves in the publishing end of things and jump into the search when their time might be better spent really solidifying their craft. Publishing will be here (for the foreseeable future, anyway, *gulp*) while you work on your writing. Focus on that and we’ll be waiting for you when you’re ready.

And I turn my nose back to the grindstone, silent and patient as a straight-A Asian student.

Your time will come. Focus on your craft. Don't mess it up for your novel. (Don't be Stephenie Meyer, as Publishers Weekly warns.)

Be as patient as you want your novel to be good.

Jane Austen + Romance + Mallows Giveaway

Stephanie over at Natural/Artificial is having a post-Paris giveaway of books and marshmallows. I want I want! The YA fiction she's handing out sounds awesome!

Hop over to enter...or don't so I can have more chances. Heh.

I Took the 2010 Survey

2010 Survey from Louisiana Bride

Welcome to the new 2010 edition of getting to know your family and friends. Here is what you are supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Have fun and be truthful! I want to see your answers!!

I'm tagging Selena, LS, Novelista Barista, Dette, a.k.a. "Kellan's New BFF", and Slow Panic, and old bloggy friend in a new (old) name

1. What is your occupation right now? English teacher and counselor
2. What color are your socks right now? barefooted
3. What are you listening to right now? Bobby McFerrin's presentation of the pentatonic scale from Selena's blog
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Kurobuta pork chop with mango salsa at my friend's LOST premiere themed dinner
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Jifo wants to teach me
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone: Jifo
7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I pulled this off a fellow BlogHer's site - but at her behest! :)
8 . How old are you today? in the sunset of my 20's
9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? dodgeball with costumes
10. What is your favorite drink? water
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? I only recently stopped the red streaks
12. Favorite food? toss-up between Real Food Daily and NYC pizza
13. What is the last movie you watched? Sherlock Holmes and loved it
14. Favorite day of the year? My birthday
15. How do you vent anger? I cry
16. What was your favorite toy as a Child? Jumbo Love, the knock off puffalump who is still with me
17. What is your favorite season? summer (see 14)
18. Cherries or Blueberries? cherries
18. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? who says no to this question?
19. Who is the most likely to respond? LS hates memes but can't resist the allure...
20. Who is least likely to respond? Selena is bad at following up on...um...lots of things
21. Living arrangements? house in the burbs with Jifo
22. When was the last time you cried? If I'm not crying right now, just wait a few minutes
23. What is on the floor of your closet? I wish I could say we were organized enough to use closets
24. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are tagging/sending this to? LS
25. What did you do last night? started teaching spring semester and met with a new counseling student
26. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? woah there's spicy? Cheese.
27. What are you most afraid of? not getting over my childhood issues
28. What is your favorite kind of dog? 1) the quiet kind 2) my fox-terrier/doxie 3) pitbulls
29. Favorite day of the week? the day I get off (varies b/w Tues and Fri)
30. Diamonds or Pearls? diamonds of course!
31. What is your favorite flower? lavender or deep-pink bio-engineered roses
32. What is your favorite blog to read and why? The Shelter Chronicles: Doggie Matchmaker because I'm addicted to dog porn

Pizzeria Bianco

ROAD TRIP PART II: the Pizza Pilgrimage Realized

At last! After battling Phoenix traffic, we finally got to our pricelined hotel in Scottsdale, threw on some fancy get-ups, and headed back to downtown Phoenix, where I circled a bit before finding the oddly placed hut of pizza.

We met up with the birthday girl and her pals - all cooks and chefs like Selena.

where the magic happens

They'd ordered everything on the menu. The pizza portion looked like this:

There was a cute picnic table area in between the pizza hut and their adjacent wine bar, over which were strung festive lights. While the cooks chatted up a couple of coworkers with inappropriate chemistry to rival Nathan and Claire season 3, I tore sheets out of Selena's notebook and NaNoWriMo'd. I got 1000 words in that night.

Coming Up...
Topless marines and BACON

Did you miss Part I?

The Road to Phoenix

Finally! I'm blogging the photos from the Pizza Pilgrimage that my LesBro and I took a few months ago, when we drove 12+ hours in a day and a half for, um...pizza.

PART I: Desert Bus, I Mean the Drive From Los Angeles

Apparently, we went to Chiriaco Summit, which is like some dude's mountain. I wouldn't know, since I spent the entire morning portion like this:

Yeah, my sleep mask says "I Don't Do Mornings."

But Selena said I was such a good immigrant that I was sneaking across the border while sleeping:

This poor FOB could only stand outside the fence and make Japanese tourist signs:

Coming Up...

Midgets eat pizza and Marines flash their nips!

Sh...Someone's Going to the Vet on Saturday

Friday Five About Nothing

I wish I had a picture for you, but all my photos are on my Mac and I'm PC right now. (Yes, I swing both ways in the most unholy of computer couplings.)

Since none of the good memes are refreshed yet, I'll do my own Friday 5.

52 Faces Presents: the Most Boring Friday 5 Ever

Here are 5 things that have kept me busy in the last week:

1) Bitchass Terry acts all housebroken for days, then pees on the carpet. We kind of hate him.

2) My new position at work has started and I love it! It keeps me busy though.

3) I've been diligent about writing Novel Y every day (except last night when I had to sleep early...and I guess I should write a few words tonight.) Word count is now over there -->

4) The diluvian rains have come to Los Angeles, doubling both driving times and hazard, while flooding rich people's homes. I knew we had it coming. It's Heidi Montag's 10 surgeries. (Awesomest celebrity awfulness ever, btw. Not as good as Casey Johnson and Tia Tequila: From Lesbo Engaged to Dead, though.)



5) Jifo's cousin independently joins a meetup group that I've been hanging out regularly with. Her friend from the group is friends with one of my coworkers (Neither knows this yet, and I am going to guard this fact with my life. Other than blabbing it on my blog.) The world implodes yet again.