Julie, I read this piece reading a familiar storyline with my upcoming title, A VOICE OF HOPE, in September from idea to sale to publication soon. Dare I say, I started my piece back in June 2005? So glad you followed through and it's finally releasing. Love reading about experiences like yours, which reminds us to remain persistent and stay the course... stories sometimes take a while to simmer into something spectacular! Congratulations!
Um, I *LOVE* Mary Had a Little Clam? Maybe don't shelve that one yet! 🤭 There is a story there, because there is a laugh there, already! I'm totes imagining this being influenced by The Walrus and the Carpenter...
I'm not sure if I can fully impress upon you how truly terrible Mary Had a Little Clam was. Maybe someday I'll be able to fix it. But you need to know how mind-blowingly awful it was. It was all rhyming, in the cadence of the original, and it made no sense and was like a dizzy fever dream of rhymes and puns and cringey writing.
I know you are saying otherwise, but it *feels* like you are actively marketing this to me even more, with these details? "...A dizzy fever dream of rhymes and puns and cringey writing"--I mean, that is basically what Instagram uses as its algorithm when selling stuff to me because--yes, please? 😂😂 In my best Rene Zellweger voice: "Shut up. Just...shut up. You had me at clam. YOU HAD ME AT CLAM."
Oh my gosh, I just found a pitch I did for it. "MARY HAD A LITTLE CLAM is Rime of the Ancient Mariner + Fatal Attraction. For kids." What is wrong with me.
As a creative writer I resonate with having ideas that seem brilliant when you come up with them and looking back (sometimes the next day) thinking WTF was I thinking!? At the same time I think all ideas have a kernel of awesomeness. I thought all your Ideas sounded fun even if they weren't immediately ready to come into being.
AND I have been "working" on a story about a lizard girl named Maya who lives in the subbasement of Denver International Airport. I began writing last year and the first six chapters flowed right out and were super fun to write. Now Maya and her human friend, Clara are waiting patiently somewhere at DIA wondering when I'm going to tell them where their adventures will lead them.
I even go to DIA and hang out hoping for inspiration!!
I hope one day soon Maya and Clara will find out what's next. At the same time it's challenging working on lots of other projects (like making money through my coaching) and the ideas aren't flowing.
I suspect I'll need to make a serious commitment to completing this book. And not quite there yet.
Reading this brought back lots of memories of those early writing days for me—I did 12x12 back in 2013 (I hadn’t realized it started in 2012) and Rate Your Story was one of the only ways to get free professional feedback at the time. Except my headline is “when a writer takes 12 years to get an agent,” which is the journey I wrote about in my last 2 newsletter posts, A Perpetual Work in Progress.
Julie, I read this piece reading a familiar storyline with my upcoming title, A VOICE OF HOPE, in September from idea to sale to publication soon. Dare I say, I started my piece back in June 2005? So glad you followed through and it's finally releasing. Love reading about experiences like yours, which reminds us to remain persistent and stay the course... stories sometimes take a while to simmer into something spectacular! Congratulations!
I'm glad it's not just me, Nadia! And yes, stories sometimes take a while to simmer -- I'm glad it's not all of them.
Um, I *LOVE* Mary Had a Little Clam? Maybe don't shelve that one yet! 🤭 There is a story there, because there is a laugh there, already! I'm totes imagining this being influenced by The Walrus and the Carpenter...
I'm not sure if I can fully impress upon you how truly terrible Mary Had a Little Clam was. Maybe someday I'll be able to fix it. But you need to know how mind-blowingly awful it was. It was all rhyming, in the cadence of the original, and it made no sense and was like a dizzy fever dream of rhymes and puns and cringey writing.
I know you are saying otherwise, but it *feels* like you are actively marketing this to me even more, with these details? "...A dizzy fever dream of rhymes and puns and cringey writing"--I mean, that is basically what Instagram uses as its algorithm when selling stuff to me because--yes, please? 😂😂 In my best Rene Zellweger voice: "Shut up. Just...shut up. You had me at clam. YOU HAD ME AT CLAM."
Ha ha ha ha, ok. Maybe I’ll drag it out and bind it into a little zine for only one person (you).
😂😂
Oh my gosh, I just found a pitch I did for it. "MARY HAD A LITTLE CLAM is Rime of the Ancient Mariner + Fatal Attraction. For kids." What is wrong with me.
I once pitched a rhyming bedtime bear book as Carmen Sandiego meets Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Tea, so you won't get any judgment from me. 😂😂
As a creative writer I resonate with having ideas that seem brilliant when you come up with them and looking back (sometimes the next day) thinking WTF was I thinking!? At the same time I think all ideas have a kernel of awesomeness. I thought all your Ideas sounded fun even if they weren't immediately ready to come into being.
AND I have been "working" on a story about a lizard girl named Maya who lives in the subbasement of Denver International Airport. I began writing last year and the first six chapters flowed right out and were super fun to write. Now Maya and her human friend, Clara are waiting patiently somewhere at DIA wondering when I'm going to tell them where their adventures will lead them.
I even go to DIA and hang out hoping for inspiration!!
I hope one day soon Maya and Clara will find out what's next. At the same time it's challenging working on lots of other projects (like making money through my coaching) and the ideas aren't flowing.
I suspect I'll need to make a serious commitment to completing this book. And not quite there yet.
It's all about the commitment, and if you know you're not quite there yet, that's ok too. Give it the time it needs.
No one can say you’re not a hard worker!!! I’m excited for this one to be out.
Thank you, Heidi!
This is amazing! I love seeing this journey. And maybe it says more about me that I want the Mary Has a Little Clam book right now...
Believe me when I tell you it was so, so bad.
Reading this brought back lots of memories of those early writing days for me—I did 12x12 back in 2013 (I hadn’t realized it started in 2012) and Rate Your Story was one of the only ways to get free professional feedback at the time. Except my headline is “when a writer takes 12 years to get an agent,” which is the journey I wrote about in my last 2 newsletter posts, A Perpetual Work in Progress.
It started as 12x12 in 2012, which is the only reason I can remember what year it started. Congrats on getting an agent!