Improbable Press Blog — Shouty Encouragement

This worldwide illness, losing a job, having depression…a million and one things can leave us feeling powerless. I want to share one single thing that helps me in tough times again and again. Though this thing doesn't "solve" my problems usually, it does help me cope in the meantime and if I cope I can hope, you know? When I'm feeling powerless I…do stuff. The thing I do most is write, because writing is my power. I love it, I'm good at it, I can do it anywhere or any time. After my college closed down last Wednesday—three weeks before...

When you're not the only one — or the crazy-pants importance of diversity, in strengthening a dream by seeing others DO.

"I hope and pray no on has had this idea for a story yet!" That's a tweet I saw this week, and it made me fly off the handle in about twelve different directions because, because, because... ...the thing about stories and human beings is that the first thing we probably did as human beings was tell each other stories. Even before language we told about the fish we almost caught — it was this big! — about the spark we think might be something more, about how that person over there makes our heart go fast like this. What...

Along with writing for a living, in the last nine years I've written nearly a million words of fanfic and two books. I love writing, I love it, I love it with shouty fire. However. Sometimes I just want to drop-kick my laptop out the window, shouting obsenities after it. The feeling is not unfamiliar, so I know that when it comes, so shall it go. I've also learned what to do in the meantime. Turning Turtle: Recharging My Creativity * Saturday's Become Sacrosanct I turn turtle to recharge, booking nothing on Saturday that I can book some other day....

I got a good rejection from an agent last week. "Nope, we don't want this script. But try with something else in a couple months." It's great because they liked me enough to encourage, it sucks because they said no. If you're like me, if you're like most writers I know, know this: You're going to get rejected. You're going to get a lot of emails and mails and to-your-face words that say "Sorry, this isn't what we're looking for" and I'm pretty sure at no time is that going to be less than really hard. Hollow-in-the-belly hard. If-I-was-any-good-they-wouldn't-have-said-no-so-I-must-suck hard....