Monday, January 9, 2012

Practice Makes Awesome

Don't forget to enter the contest!

So...I may have forgotten to write a post for last Friday. And I may not have even realized it until the day was mostly over and Abby texted me. Maybe.

Whoops! I suppose it will take a while to get back in the swing of it. But I'll remember from now on! Just takes one eff up to fix it, ya know? But hey, I don't mind admitting my dee-tee-dee moment. I have them all the time.

I often put two words together so it makes one word that just sounds silly. Sometimes + moment sounds like somoment. I run into corners in my own house. I trip constantly. I closed the laundry room door on my toe. (Who does that!?) I drop things CONSTANTLY. (got an Ipad for Christmas from my hubs. Dropped it 2 days later. Dented. *sob!*) So, forgetting a post is really just another day for me. But I am sorry!

Right now I'm working on my query for my new book. I have at least a month to get it done, but it's slow going. I'm no good at them. Takes practice, I know. And I've only ever done one before this, but still. I want to be good at it right now. And the synopsis comes next and I KNOW I haven't got the foggiest how to do that well. Why can't I just be good at it now? Download it into my brain and bang it out.

But, really, if you think about it, it's a good thing it takes practice to do things like that. I wouldn't be allowed to walk into a hospital and do open heart surgery.(right...?) If writing was as easy as people(non-writers) seem to think it is, everyone could do it. Everyone would do it. But it does take practice. Write a short story, write a novel, write a query, write a synopsis. None of it can be done WELL without practice.

So wherever you are in this process with your writing, don't get discouraged if you aren't perfect all the time right away. I can't widdle. I can't play the piano. I can't even do a cartwheel. But that's the best thing about life. You can always learn a new thing, no matter what it is.(especially now that we have the internet to teach us. You can learn ANYTHING on the internet, after all)

Happy Monday dudes. See you Friday, I swear!


P.S. It's my birthday tomorrow!

P.S.S. Really...Don't forget the contest!

31 comments:

  1. I'll enter the contest! Happy Birthday early just in case I forget...the same way you forgot to post. Which, by the way, I will never, ever forgive you for.

    Besides. You're wrong. I performed Open Heart Surgery on my daughter's stuffed animal, and the horse is recovering nicely. :)

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  2. Happy early Birthday! And good luck with the queries. I'll be out there myself soon. (Hopefully by March.)

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  3. Ah the dreaded query and synopsis writing! I'm still practicing on those too. Best of luck perfecting yours!

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  4. Hey, happy early birthday!!! And yep, writing's a craft. And I was just commenting on Clarissa's blog that it's also like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Then I thought of playing the piano... I'm just full of analogies today! *snort* Good luck w/the query. Don't forget the Q3E~ :D <3

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  5. Happy birthday early! And you dropped your iPad? The horror!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  6. Ugh, queries. For something that's only one page long, they sure do take forever to write, don't they? Good luck! And happy early birthday!!!

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  7. Eh, who's perfect, especially when it comes to blogging? Give yourself a break. We, your blog readers, are just happy you're back!

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  8. Happy almost birthday! I never know what day it is, so I totally understand!

    Happy 2012!

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  9. I think that goes for anything; you need to practice to become good. I hope you get a joyful birthday celebration and some good cake >:)

    Cold As Heaven

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  10. Happy early birthday! I hope you're doing something totally fun!

    You dropped your iPad? I would have cried, too. I drop things all the time. When I got my new iPhone, I was afraid to even use it until I got a screen protector and case. I have the amazing ability to scratch things within 10 seconds of owning them.

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  11. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Good luck with that query and synopsis! I'm not too far behind you (but far enough!!), so I'm anxious to hear your woes and triumphs :)

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  12. I totally agree! ALL skills require hard work and practice. Happy birthday!! :-)

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  13. I've always said the day I stop learning something new is the day I die. :D

    Happy Birthday and always remember you are NEVER too old to learn something new.

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  14. Here's an early Happy Birthday to you. May it be Fab-U-Lous!

    I love this post. It's helpful to remember that we all frack things up sometimes. Big or small mistakes, we're all imperfectly wonderful humans.

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  15. You're right. Google can teach us how to do just about anything!
    And oh my GOSH you dropped your iPad??? *lots of sobs*
    Good luck with the query (and the dreaded synopsis. Oh how I detest that s-word...)

    Happy birthday for tomorrow!

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  16. Woot for query writing! It really does take a lot of practice!

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  17. Happy birthday for tomorrow. :D

    I hate write queries. I was lucky this time. My CP and then one of my beta readers wrote mine. Both versions have landed requests. (Long story why I have two versions. I'm only querying from now on with one of them).

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  18. Okay, my brains fried. Good thing I'm not editing tonight. LOL

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  19. Yay for your birthday tomorrow! I hope you have a great day :)

    And, yes, practice is awesome! I just need to remember that when I'm writing a first draft novel, query, synop, and wonder why I suck so bad. My kids get upset because they can't do something right the first time. I tell them all the time that they just need practice. But then I get upset for messing up the first time and get down on myself for days before I let it go. Go figure, right? Can't take my own advice? Haha. Great post! Thanks for the thought. Have a great week!

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  20. Happy Birthday! And can't remember, have you read Query Shark? So good.

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  21. What is widdling? I'm sure I can't do it either. I won't tell you how many doors I've closed on toes and fingers. I'm totally with you.

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  22. Happy birthday Colene! If you can stop falling over stuff long enough to get those pesky little synopses etc written, you'll be flying. Just read a good post on Anne E Allen's blog. I copied it for when I finally get an edit finished, lol!

    Denise

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  23. Happy birthday! You're totally right, practice does make perfect. When we're all perfect, we can brag to all our non-writer friends about how we're so much more awesome than they are! (Right?) :D

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  24. Happy birthday! Good luck with the query and synopsis. I doubt it ever gets easier to write them although I certainly hope that's just pessimism talking!

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  25. Happy Birthday, Colene!

    Writing is a craft where practice makes ... room for more practice.

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  26. Oh, now THERE'S a healthy way to think about how miserable this is... I hate queries and I DESPISE synopses... So. Hard.

    And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

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  27. It does take practice. I look at my previous queries and shake my head and say, "no wonder no one wanted to read my book."

    Take your time and let a lot of people read it.

    BTW: Happy Birthday - hope you have an awesome day.

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  28. Happy Birthday, Colene!

    And I know better than to expect perfection--even on edit #15. lol

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  29. Whoa, I got here on your birthday week! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Good post and good luck on the query:)

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  30. I think I wished you a happy birthday on facebook, if I didn't: HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

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