Advice – My Corner

Each Sunday, I try to share something that made me grateful in the past week. I almost didn’t have a post today, but something came to me at the last minute.

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Earlier this morning, I attended an ACB Community program on Zoom called The Breakfast Bunch. Here, an icebreaker question is asked to foster discussion. Today’s question was: What bit of wisdom were you given that stayed with you through the years?

Looking back, I remember advice an author friend gave me years ago, and it doesn’t apply just to writing. It’s important to develop a thick skin. As an author, your work will no doubt be rejected many times before it’s finally published. You may receive negative reviews of your books and harsh criticism. A friend may suggest you do something, having the best of intentions, but it may come across as hurtful. Any of this could make you want to give up.

However, you can take rejections of your writing in stride and keep submitting. You can think about what’s said and apply it, or you can take it with a grain of salt. Whatever you do, put it behind you, and move forward. If you crawl into a proverbial hole, you’re only hurting yourself.

Last year, I lost sight of this advice after an unfortunate incident. It has otherwise stayed with me, and in the future, I’ll do my best to live by it and impart it to others as needed, though it may not be easy. I’ll always be grateful for this bit of writerly and life wisdom.

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Did someone ever give you advice that has stayed with you through the years? What made you thankful this past week? You can answer one or both of these questions in the comments or on your blog with a link to this post. Thank you for reading.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

Click here for more information and ordering links.

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What Amazon Says

Discover the Tricks and Tools of the Pros

Successful writers write, rather than just think about writing, talk about writing, or plan what they’ll write when they get a cabin in the woods. Yet even accomplished writers sometimes get “blocked,” losing access to their in-the-zone writing mind. Steve O’Keefe offers proven techniques and practices for jump-starting stalled ideas, honed during his many years of working in virtually every aspect of publishing. His innovative, often unconventional exercises will get you writing and accessing your own unique voice — a voice the world wants to read! Containing a career’s worth of writing and publishing savvy, as well as the advice of expert authors gleaned from hundreds of interviews, Set the Page on Fire is the kind of nuts-and-bolts coaching and encouragement invaluable to novice and veteran writers alike.

My Thoughts

I was fascinated to learn that this author has worked as a technology coach with blind and visually impaired students and senior citizens. I like how he uses what he has learned through this experience in the book. Some of his writing exercises are fun, and most of his suggestions on such topics as finding time and outlets for writing make sense.

I like his idea of writing that sets the page and your readers on fire. Since most people who set fires purposefully are angry, they’d do well to read this book and learn to express their emotions on the page instead.

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By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. Thank you for reading. Stay safe, happy, and healthy, and may you always have positive experiences.

New! The Red Dress

Front cover contains: young, dark-haired woman in red dress holding flowers

When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.

Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.

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Tag: Advice

Thankful for Good Advice #SundaySunshine #Jottings #Gratitude