0 Days Left of 2009...My Top 5 Writer'y Moments...In Book Title Form

My Top 5 Writer'y Moments...In Book Title Form

Today is one of those magical lazy days. Curled up on the sofa with my kids watching 4 episodes in a row of Ghost Lab on Discovery Channel. No pressure. Still in pj's. Ahhh.

But Ghost Lab grows old and my blog calls me from the other room...

"Kaaaatttteeee, today's the laaaassttt day. You just can't not write a post today. Get off of the sofa and get in here. Right now. Yes, I said now."

I think, "Wow, when did you get so bossy? Haven't you ever heard of doing nothing?"

Blog calls back, "Yeah, I've heard of doing nothing, that's what I'M doing right now! Nothing! Let's go, little lady. You created me. You pumped me up with all of your, "Top 5" nonsense. You think you can just leave the readers hanging on the last day? Oh no. Up and adam!"

I think, "Relax, Blogtator I'm coming."

So, the creative pressure is on. I think I've come up with a fairly interesting way to end my Top 5 posts. End the year with a bang, so to speak.

Here are my top five Writer'y Moments, but not in boring old plain'ness, oh no, I'd like to present them in Book Title form (adapted from my Top 5 reads of 2009).

Take that, Blog.

5. Many Queries, Many Rejections (Many Lives, Many Masters)
I queried quite a bit this year with some requests still "out there" but no offers...yet. But, this is a list of my top 5 writer moments. I had to include querying because of the enormous ah-ha moment I experienced while Query Ninja'ing my query letters. If you are a writer, check it out.

4. Sandra's Key (Sarah's Key)
At the SCBWI conference in NYC I met many interesting people. Perhaps one of the most delightful and helpful was the chance meeting of Sandra. She sat next to me at my first writer's intensive group where each writer read aloud their first 500 words. And a real, live Harper Collins editor ran the group. Intense, helpful and oh-so-full-of-positive-feedback. I'm pretty sure I floated out of the ballroom. But see, Sandra took her helpfulness 1000 steps further when she offered to read the rest of my book. We communicated back and forth via email and she gave me incredible feedback. She actually got signed by Barry Goldblatt last spring. Go Sandra!

3. The Writer (The Alchemist)
Revisiting one of my picture book manuscripts with a fresh eye. A real writer's eye. Reading it and realizing it had no conflict, no problem. It was just a cute little story. After listening to Lee Harper at the SCBWI Fall Philly conference, I learned that even picture books need conflict. So, I revised the heck out of the manuscript and have just sent out my first query. We'll see. This experience made me realize a crucial reality - I am a writer.

2. The Absolutely True Story of an Ah-ha Moment (The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian)
At the SCBWI Pocono Writer's Retreat I had a true ah-ha moment. I realized my middle grade novel needed a prologue. What did I do about that? I wrote myself a kickin' prologue - if I do say so myself.


1. MY Corner of the Universe (Corner of the Universe)
There were so many people in my universe this past year that tried to help me, encourage me and guide me. You know who you are. Thank you for cheering me on, telling me to keep writing, giving me critique advice, reaching out to your contacts, talking about my writing, giving me new ideas, advising me and most importantly believing in me and my writing.

2010 will be my year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE. THANKS FOR READING MY BLOG. KEEP READING AND KEEP COMMENTING. I really like the comments.