by Tish MacWebber | Apr 7, 2017 | Writing
First Rejection Letter
In the journey to becoming an author, there are many roadblocks along the way. Inspiration or the Muse must be present to begin. Time must be set aside each day to write and practice your craft. There is a whole different world to enter when one wants to become a published author. WIP means “Work In Progress”. It is the current project that is being written. A social media presence is a must to develop your target audience. Writer’s Block is a fear that can strike at any time, and if it takes hold, can have disastrous effects on that WIP.
If an author survives all of these obstacles, the biggest hurdle of all looms in the distance. Submissions are needed to take the scariest step of all. Submitting the WIP for publishing.
Self-publishing is an option. Editing is a must. Beta readers test read the WIP and hopefully provide constructive criticism and positive feedback. Repeat as necessary. Query letters are sent to publishing companies.
Then the waiting begins.
The self-doubting during this time, which does not always have an exact deadline for a reply can be paralyzing. The WIP is sent out to one or many different publishers, with excited anticipation. As the days turn into weeks, which turn into months, the feeling changes. The belief in the WIP can fade. Negativity creeps into the picture and can cause the author to stop writing. This is the hardest thing a writer has to face.
It happened to me. I wrote a poem and submitted it to my writing group. I have experienced new friendships, answers to many questions, and support in this group. I continue to be a member of the Ninja Writers. I found them on facebook, and I am now a card carrying member. I am supporting a co-operative publication. My submission did not make the first publication.
I got my first rejection letter. It was not the result I wanted, but it is done. As an author, it will not be my last. As an author, I have arrived.
Was I disappointed? Absolutely. Did it break my desire to keep trying? Not a chance. My work is just beginning as an author. There will be times when I want to give up. If I am going to succeed, I have to be able to keep trying. Stubborn determination twisted with an immense amount of patience will help me to persevere and succeed.
I will be looking forward to receiving my first copy of the Ninja Writers Zine. It is called The NW. I am planning to read it from cover to cover, more than once, so that I can up my game for the next call for submissions. More information about it can be found at their Patreon link:
The NW
If you are interested in becoming a part of the phenomenon known as the Ninja Writers, here is a link to their facebook page:
Ninja Writers Facebook Group
It is a closed group, but the creator of the Ninja Writers, Shaunta Grimes, has given me permission to share both of these links here. She is a published author, and leading the Ninja Writers Revolution! She has created so many useful tools and guides for up and coming authors like me. Thanks for giving me a place to share, learn and improve upon my writing dreams, Shaunta! Ninja Writers Rock!
Finally, I will link the poem that I have published in January here. It was featured on this blog, and I am proud of it whether or not it shows up anywhere else. This is what I submitted for The NW.
Give yourself a little Grace
I will continue sharpening my writing skills until the next call for submissions.
by Tish MacWebber | Apr 3, 2017 | Weekend Warrior
I survived another Monday and made it to another Zumba Class! I really enjoyed the music and the workout today. I am tired, but I earned it. We made it to 5,000 steps today!
I knew I was feeling like I needed a good workout. I felt a little lethargic, but I knew I needed to go. I got ready and found my place in the Zumba Crew.
I went for it! Since I have this new smartband, I have been keeping an eye on my steps and my heart rate. My resting heart rate is around 65. Well, at one point it was really pumping, I felt like it was working hard. I checked, and it was at 146. Exercise success! I increased my heart rate! I paced myself for a bit with the music and brought it down to 85.
Then the music sped up again. I was feeling it, but not like earlier. It was back up to 101. I worked out hard tonight. It was a good class. I managed to calm down without panicking about my heart rate when it was pumping really fast.
We were near the end, and I heard a song I knew the moves for. So I got into a groove and was told I had some sass in the class tonight. I was just getting my Zumba on, and I guess others noticed. It is good to be in the Zumba Zone. It was a great finish to another Monday. My heart rate is closer to normal now, back at 75 beats. So I have recovered from my workout, and now I can relax.
A quick google search gave me the answer to what a good heart rate during exercise is. 220 – your age= the maximum heart rate you should have to still be within a healthy range. I still have wiggle room with that calculation, and with my weight being quite high, I do not want to max that out. Yet.
A target resting heart rate is 60-100 for the average person, and 40-60 for an athlete. I guess I have some work to do on that also, but generally, my resting heart rate is near 60, so I am going to keep on believing that I have a strong, healthy heart, and keep on going to Zumba. I like it, and it is good for me! I got my heart rate up, and I had fun! Those are 2 key points to remember when I am dragging my feet and don’t want to make the effort. I AM WORTH THE EFFORT! It certainly makes me feel better, and helps move the stress of the day job out of my system!
It’s all good, and when I pace myself, it is OK. I am comfortable in my Zumba Crew and sometimes I dance to a different beat, but I am still there, and I am still dancing my way to being healthier. Although I am tired after a really good class like this, I never want to stop! It is a good tired, the best kind, and I had fun getting there. It is good for my heart and soul. So I intend to keep going for as long as I can!
.
by Tish MacWebber | Apr 1, 2017 | Weekend Warrior
Well, I decided it was time to give a progress report. The tunes are cranked. I am motivated. So what did I get done?
I have decided to publish this first thing Saturday morning so I can keep the momentum going that I found last weekend. I worked on my kitchen DURING THE WEEK! I am really happy with my progress.
I moved the dish drainer out of the way to create a new Coffee Station. I blogged about that on Monday, because I was so excited that I had to share what I did. For a recap of that short story, here is a link: Coffee Station Complete!
I washed the curtains, and they are all hung back up. I also had to flip the windowsill decorations to match the flip of the coffee station. The curtain has to be at the opposite side of the window, which caused the rearrangement of the items. I have put the dish drainer on the other side of the sink. It is a better place because the dishes are on that side of the kitchen. Most of them. Then I continued to the last section of the countertop. Breadbox, toaster and blender are shuffled. The electric stand mixer is by the dish drainer now. It meant I could tuck the toaster beside the breadbox, instead of it being in front of the breadbox like it was before.
Then I ran out of steam. My husband helped during the week, which can help me to get going. I have plans to start my day with paying it forward. I am off to help another friend in the land of blogging and website design. I will do what I can to help, and we will see how far we get. The last friend I helped has 2 blog posts published and is still figuring it all out. I plan to help her again when our schedules align, and also to share her blog in the future when it is developed further. I am also planning to share blogs from others that I help, even if they do all the work and I just gave them ideas to run with. There is at least one person I know that is doing this, and it is nice to see them happy about their progress.
After I finish helping my friend today, I am going to go back into my kitchen, and get the house bouncing again! I need to keep the momentum going so that I CAN finish, otherwise I will NEVER finish, and that is just not acceptable to me. I need to do this cleaning challenge, more than ever! I need to prepare my home for neglect while I am writing. I know, it will still need maintenance cleaning, and I shall be looking into that when I am at that stage. For now, I will leave you knowing I am fighting through the procrastination and laziness, doing good in the world by helping friends, and getting my kitchen ready for spring, with a promise of more pictures as I complete different areas.
I am rethinking storage in my kitchen. I sense more reorganization in my future of 4 areas. I have very little room for storage, so I have to plan any changes in detail before tacki\ling them because any changes are critical, and need to improve on how things are now, rather than just add more confusion and not maximize the storage space that I have available. I am preparing to take this project on this weekend.
Have a productive Saturday! Who knows, maybe that next Weekend Warrior will be tomorrow’s story, with those pics I am preparing to share.
by Tish MacWebber | Mar 31, 2017 | Writing
The Little Blog That Could!
This adventure is growing. One like at a time. One laugh at a time. One follower at a time. One share at a time. Most importantly, one story at a time. It has given life to an imagination. It is a small obsession, reaching beyond what it was supposed to be. It is gaining momentum. Every time inspiration strikes, so do the strokes on the keyboard. Is it going to change the world at large? Maybe. Is it going to change my life? It already has.
Something is happening to me. I am gaining confidence in my abilities. I am pushing myself to write several times a week, and I am following through with the schedule that is developing as I write. I am watching the stats, and grinning while shaking my head at them. They tell me that I have reached an audience in 30 different countries. I have had more than 100 likes on this Blog, as a whole. Most of them are from people I do not know personally. To anyone that has looked at this blog, read any of my stories, liked, shared, commented or followed, I want to personally thank you. It humbles me to realize that people take the time to do this, even if it is just for the few minutes they take to read what is on my mind. I am finishing month five today. I have been consistent and persistent. It takes dedication.
I am having fun. I found my passion, I really believe it. I want to write and share the things that matter to me here. I want to expand my horizons, and get those books published. I am also sharing how I am trying to live a healthier lifestyle, and how my 2017 New Year’s Resolutions are progressing. I am writing about things that matter in my world, and from the support I see in the stats, these things matter to more people than just me.
It was a steep learning curve for me to take a run at when I started. For me, HTML was a thing that popped up by accident on my computer when I was surfing. Literally. There I was, Facebooking away when suddenly, there was a box of text that appeared on top of my facebook pages. Thank goodness I found the corner with the “X” to close it when it happened. Which was more frequently than I want to remember. It still scares me, when it is just there because I don’t really know what it does, or why it jumps out at me. But I have used HTML in setting up this blog, and I would not call myself an expert in any way shape, or form, I can now say that I have used it, and that is something I wasn’t able to say six months ago.
Constructive criticism helped me to develop the page you see today. I didn’t know anything about colour palettes for websites or branding myself as an author. I have a long way to go yet, and lots to learn, but if it keeps being this much fun, I see me working on it for the rest of my life. I have always had a vivid imagination and a creative artist inside of me. When I work with beads, and I create something that is mine from concept to finished product, I get this feeling. There is pride, but it is more than that. It is excitement and that thing that everyone says you should base your career choices on. That thing is passion. I feel it even more strongly when I am writing, reading, editing, and previewing every story that I publish on this blog. It is infectious. It is contagious. And it is bubbling out in every direction!
I am happier. I am doing better at my day job. People can see the difference in me. I am feeling the spark of inspiration all around me, and I am fueling it with all of the creativity and optimism I can get my hands on. I am able to process things in my everyday life, even things that I am not writing about, in a different way. I got my optimism back. It was missing for quite some time, but I have hope again. I have always had faith and a belief that things would work out even when times are tough. Now that I am working on this blog, and making plans for my future as an author, I am making one of my dreams come true. Because I am making it happen, I KNOW that things will be better in my future. It is up to me, and I am taking control of the next chapter in my own life.
I am a blogger, hear me type!
by Tish MacWebber | Mar 25, 2017 | Events
When I press the publish button, this becomes my 50th blog on this website. I give myself a gold star! I had no idea back in November when I decided that I wanted to get my lyrics out for exposure to a possible collaboration, that I would be writing this today. I didn’t even know I wanted to start a blog. But here I am.
What have I learned so far? I still love creative writing. Whether it is about serious topics, made up things called Tish-isms, Zumba classes, or me vs the weekend, I am really enjoying this blogging thing. I like sharing my thoughts here, and since I am Always Thinking…they will continue to accumulate. I hope I never need a shovel for them because the snow in New Brunswick has that covered.
While I am not a fan of numbers, I have started following the stats for this project. I am somewhat speechless at times when I am reviewing the results. It is growing, slow but steady, in the right direction. The likes and comments I have been getting are very encouraging, also. This has been a positive experience.
I have written a poem, as one entry. The lyrics page has 20 songs on it, two of which I have written this month. They do not count as separate blog posts, they are not in the 50 count on the blog itself, but they are here also. Since a few of the 50 are shared from another blog source, they balance that out a bit. I can’t write this without remembering I wrote my first guest blog that was shared on another person’s website. I never even dreamed that I would write from my heart, and that other people would read it, like what I wrote, and tell me they want to read more. How great is that?
In the blogging world, I am finding my way. If you are reading this, thank you for doing so. If you are following my blog, I am following yours too. If you have seen the tweets and facebook page, you are getting a little more of me through those different locations. I have one story on Medium, and that is just for fun. I hope to write more like that, and I will likely share between this blog and my medium account as I expand it.
I hope to keep growing the blog as I prepare to write my books. I am definitely having a lot of fun, and this is good. As long as it continues to be fun, I will keep writing. I am certain that I will have slow times of dealing with life in the real world or the dreaded writer’s block. It is a challenge I will have to face when that time comes. Until then, I will keep up the positive stories, and expanding my horizons.
Thanks for reading.
Tish MacWebber
Always Thinking…
