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[28 Mar 2014|05:52pm] |
and i wonder if i ever cross your mind( Read more... )
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[23 Oct 2011|07:53am] |
I can't sleep. There are 9 days before my novella comes out. That's nine days I'm not going to sleep. My students think I'm really funny right now because I'll randomly stop in the middle of talking and then one of them will just say the number of days left, and I do this mental flail, start grinning, and am completely derailed. We are discussing a lot about publishing, never letting go of your dreams, and why contests are a good idea if you want to be an author. They're still learning lessons, but they aren't quite the same lessons I had planned for this time of year. Once November first is over, I promise I'll be more sane. Really. Not that I'm ever actually SANE.
Of course, I'm feeling more myself since Dad has been getting back on his feet. Thank goodness. I don't even really want to talk about that whole mess. I'm glad he's okay. I just don't want to talk about it.
Why do I have an insane desire to chop off all of my hair? I think I just need a massive change in my world right now. Though if I do cut off my hair, I'll mourn and cry until it's back to normal. So I guess I WON'T do it. But I'd still like to do SOMETHING.
Oh wait, I'll just wait until my NOVELLA IS PUBLISHED IN NINE DAYS.
:D
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[03 Sep 2011|07:30am] |
Okay, so I don't normally GUSH about things. In fact, that last post where I was talking about the contest thing? It was excruciatingly hard to write.
I'm gushing. I'm putting this out here. You know that last post? The contest? How it was supposed to run until the 15th? I lied. Let me explain... It actually ran until September first. I just knew that I wasn't going to win and that I would need a few days to be able to say it out loud. I'm sorry I lied. Please look past that for the moment.
My agent called me this morning, all adorable on the phone with me. She explained that the contest was decided, and that she'd gotten a call late last night, but didn't call because I have this weird rule about business calls after 8 pm. She made this weird little sound, and then she burst out with the news.
I won.
I, Jessica Ann Franklin, am having my novella published. As of November 1, 2011, you will be able to go to a store and BUY MY NOVELLA. My novella, which is called "Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones". My novella, which is the thing that opens up into the novel I've been writing all summer.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
I motherfucking WON.
If you need me, I'll be drinking champagne all damn day. Call. Text. Message. But expect lots of gushing.
Because, you know, I won.
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[23 Aug 2011|03:47am] |
So, I decided to post about this in the middle of the night so that I'd have less people responding right away. Not that I don't want responses, but I'm currently overwhelmed by this whole thing, and I've seriously contemplated not even writing about it at all.
I wrote a novella at the beginning of the year. It's the start of something bigger, but I wasn't sure it was going to be well received. I actually put it into a contest in March, and I figured I wouldn't hear anything about it after that. I guess I don't have much confidence in my own work, but I still felt like I'd be a total hypocrite if I didn't try, since I'm forever telling my students that you don't gain anything if you don't try.
I'm rambling. I'm sorry. The point is, I wrote a novella. I turned it in to a contest. I heard back from them on Saturday. I am in the top three.
My work is in the top three of a cross-country contest. When I say that, I start to shiver a little. My hands shake. I have a chance of actually winning. I never would have though I had any kind of chance at all, but now I'm one of three. Holy shit. No, really. I have no words other than that. Holy. Shit.
The final decision will be on September 15, and we should all be told the results within 10 days after that. If I'm a little spastic until then? Please try to understand. My life may change pretty significantly in less than a month. Hell, even if I don't win... I'm a finalist! My life's already changed, I just haven't quite caught up to it yet.
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[11 Aug 2011|07:34am] |
Do you ever go back and re-read things you wrote when you were younger and cringe? To be honest, I do that with stories I wrote last week, I don't know why I think something from years ago will be any better.
I was going through a box from Mom's and pulled out this old notebook and started flipping through it. It, of course, was filled with stories and other things I'd written, all from about three months of my life when I was twelve. Twelve is a hard age for a lot of girls, and my life was no different in that respect. I fussed about chores and siblings, about mom and dad, about school and friends. I wrote a lot of bad poetry. I wrote a lot of crappy stories. There's an idea in there I might take and mature up a bit, flesh out and turn into a book proposal. Not all younger writings are cringe-worthy.
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Speaking of books (Which I was. At least, kind of?), I may have found an agent. That's pretty big news. The other big news is that I'm almost 150,000 words into the book I've been writing on all summer. Thank god. I guess a lot of the things I'm bringing up now, all of these secrets I'm letting go of, are because my mind is so full of all of the things I'm writing that there's just no room for the other stuff. I can choose to write on the book, or I can choose to hold in secrets. Being a writer makes you a more honest person, usually.
Cross your fingers for me that the agent I'm going to interview with this next week will take me on as a client. Double cross your fingers that I can get this book done in the next few weeks. Triple cross them that my agent (if/when I get one) can sell it. That's a lot of crossing. Sorry about that.
Oh god, I have to wear big girl clothes next week. Damn. Oh well. I'm sure I have a dress somewhere that's not eyelet or lace. (I have many. They are just not my favorite.) Is it better to be myself at this interview, or to be what I think they want me to be? Why must being an adult be so hard?
And what shoes am I going to wear?!??!
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