Purple Hearts

Last week, I finally accepted the death of one of my friendships — something I had been resisting for a very long time. Fortunately, the person is alive and well, but my bestowed opinion, emotional attachment, and deep care and concern for this person, which had been challenged off and on for that very long time, have reached their final resting place. From the moment I made the conscious decision to lop the head off that proverbial snake, I have felt an incredible lightness of being - more healthy, more peaceful, more hopeful . . . as though I lost about 200 pounds of unnecessary and dead weight.

It took me a long time to endure the relationship ups and downs and reach this personal breaking point — the point where I felt that for my own personal story I needed to metaphorically kill this darling or have it somehow kill me. It strikes me how the agony, deliberation, and emotional stress in ending this relationship is very similar to making the decision to kill a beloved fictional character in our stories. After all, whether in writing or in ‘real’ life, we tend to get attached and grow a vested interest in the people whom we let inhabit our worlds. But despite the attachment and at times iron-clad heart strings, sometimes a character just has to go. Whether for the growth of the main protagonist, a turning point that moves the story forward, or a black moment that could make or break a story’s outcome, we are often faced with a hard yet necessary decision to eliminate a character from the story.

And despite the pain and suffering that characterizes the act of killing your darlings, aren’t our stories stronger for the painful exercise? Speaking personally, both as a writer and a friend, I must say yes. Either way, there is good that can come from the bad . . . making us better storytellers and better individuals for having endured the process.

So my goal this week is to keep putting on the big-girl pants each morning, one leg at a time, move on from my loss, and embrace my new lightness. A new twist in my story awaits!

RIP, my once and past darling! I wish you no ill will, but I am so happy to be moving onward and upward.

-Jessica

I had a college student’s weekend in that my weekend started on Thursday night. Sadly, I no longer have the mental and physical stamina of a college student so while I had a nice, long, busy weekend, this Monday morning feels as though it has come all too soon.

I’ll characterize my weekend by saying I spent it supporting the arts – such a fun string of days, it’s no wonder the time flew!

- Thursday night I attended an author talk, where three superstar authors spoke to a sold-out crowd about writing and life
- Friday night I attended a book launch party for a debut author and dear friend
- Saturday night I attended an opera recital
- And yesterday, I hope you all stopped by the blog to help us welcome another dear friend, Nancy Haddock, as our guest and to celebrate the release of her debut book, LA VIDA VAMPIRE

And while all of these people from my weekend are solo artists, I am reminded that it often does take a village to make our projects come to fruition. Whether in the support of a critique partner, a commiserating peer, or a loyal, caring loved one there to help pick up the pieces when they fall or help us keep up the good work when things go well, we are not as alone as it often feels. Seeing the care and support during each of these artists’ events, makes me grateful not only for being able to support them in the way(s) I can, but also for the people who provide such medicine for me.

So while I’m toiling away on seemingly endless writing conundrums, I will think back to this weekend and remember the strength and creativity and forward momentum that true friendship can inspire. And when I hit the proverbial wall, I hope to draw on that strength, creativity, and positive momentum, and keep writing!

-Jessica

Over the years I have heard similar advice in response to the ‘how to get published question’ and almost all of that advice boils down to some variation of the same four things, all words that begin with the letter P.

Preparation - to put in proper condition or readiness. I have included a mention of ‘product’ below, but being prepared requires more than having written. It helps to have market research, business savvy, professional contacts, self-awareness, and a plan. Any and all preparation will help put you on better footing when confronted with THE CALL when it comes.

Persistence - to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, course of action, or the like, esp. in spite of opposition, remonstrance, etc. There are some people who find publishing gold straight out of the gate while others toil for years with mixed or no success. As Thoreau said, ‘Go confidently in the direction of your dreams . . .’ If publication is your end goal, may you persist and not be distracted from your goal.

Patience - an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay. Anyone who has ever sat down to write a book knows that it is a process that takes time. And even if you are a quick, prolific writer, the wheels of the publishing industry tend to move at a slow pace. There are many things you can do to help during the interminable delays — keep writing (of course!), read, volunteer for your writing groups, mentor newer writers, devise and present writing workshops, research, treat yourself to a writer’s date, vent to your writing friends . . . whatever you need to do to keep yourself sane instead of running your imagination in unhealthy circles.

Perseverance - steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. No matter how much joy writing may (or may not!) bring, writing is work . . . and is often hard work. And that’s just the act of fighting to sit down every day with the need to produce strings of words, coherent thoughts, and strong sentences. Pages and pages of what we hope is good, intoxicating, evocative prose. In the outside world, there lurks around every corner the villains of rejection, critics, naysayers, thwarters, bloodsuckers. I know of one writer who keeps a rhino (small, stuffed, animal) on his desk to remind him of the thick skin he needs to endure the sharp spears thrown in this business. But he stays steady on his course, determined to persevere and succeed. Which he does.

Do you have any other Ps you would like to add to the four above?

I would like to add two more Ps to that list . . .

Product - the best way to get published is to write and to have written. Write the best book you can, and, when you finish that one, start the next one. Keep learning and growing, but, no matter what, keep writing.

Professional. Nathan Bransford had an interesting post in the past few weeks on how personality counts in increasing ways in the publishing business. And while the product is what sells, having a complete and total professional package can only help you in the long run. As with any job search, you want to put your best foot forward. And I believe that placing your product with the right professionals is akin to finding yourself a new job.

Even with the four Ps (or six, or however many you would like to add), timing also plays a huge factor. I know I have said it before, but I believe that getting published is about having the right product in the right hands at the right time. But if you are doing what you need to do to get yourself published, I also believe that you can create your own luck. Keep minding your Ps and, most of all, keep writing!

-Jessica

At the end of the week last week I went to an all-day workshop for things-related-to-my-day-job and I got the chance to listen to three really great speakers who clearly loved what they do, were well-versed on their subjects, and loved to interact with and share information with the 150 or so professionals in attendance. They were great and I learned a lot just by listening to them . . . but throughout the sessions I couldn’t stop from trying to see how I could apply their wisdom, not to my day-job, but to my writing life. Because although I was a fellow professional at that meeting, participating in the field for which I’d been trained, I really just want to stay home and write.

In that context, I want to point you to a blog post that Tess Gerritsen shared last week on The Sad Financial Truth About Writing. In it, she reported some statistics acquired from Novelists, Inc. (NINC) of a random sample of 100 of its multi-published members — they were asked if they could support themselves on their writing income alone. Please check Tess’s blog post for the total distribution percentages, but 52% of multi-published authors polled reported they could not.

So, there I sat on Friday as a representative of my work-a-day life (completely unaware of the numbers Tess had just reported) and I was trying to make connections between product placement and web 2.0 and 30-point-imperatives with my writing, and as I contemplated today’s blog post I decided to leave you with a short story and a thought.

One of the speakers I heard on Friday told a story about Albert Einstein, which I would like to paraphrase here:

While on a trip to America, Albert Einstein had booked travel on a train. He got settled into his compartment and the train shoved off. As the train rumbled down the tracks, the ticket-taker came to his quarters to collect:

“Ticket, please, sir.”

Albert Einstein looks for his ticket, a bit taken aback that he’s misplaced it. “I don’t have it.”

The ticket-taker recognizes him and says, “Oh, Dr. Einstein! I didn’t realize it was you. You don’t have to worry about your ticket.”

“But I must find it.”

“But, sir, I am not going to take it from you.”

They went back and forth like this a few times . . .

At this point, Albert Einstein is on his hands and knees in his compartment, searching for his missing ticket. He looks up at the ticket-taker and says, “Young man, my dilemma is no longer about the ticket. I need to find it to know where I’m going.”

The same speaker who shared this short story with us also challenged us to stop strategically planning and to start strategically thinking when it comes to our organizations and how we intend to function and stay relevant in our ever-changing environment. As intuitive as it may sound, planning and thinking do not always go hand-in-hand.

So, I don’t mean to imply that the 52% of authors who reported that they cannot sustain themselves on their writers’ salaries alone have not strategically thought about their writing careers. On the contrary — I can’t imagine being multi-published without having strategically thought about career building moves. However, now that I have had time to process my conference experience from two weekends ago and synthesize some of those concepts with the ideas I took from ‘my other life’ workshop, I confess that while I may have hopped on the writing train, I really have not given much strategic thought as to where I’m going.

I find this revelation exciting! The great news is that it’s never too late to create or change strategy. So . . . my to-do list now includes some strategic thinking in addition to becoming a better quality storyteller. I am going to do all I can to get my ticket ready and keep writing! Anyone wanna’ come with me?

-Jessica

It was a super busy, tiring, exhilarating, motivating, inspiring and all-around awesome weekend, as are most conferences I get the chance to attend. Meeting new and old friends. Learning new things. Stocking up on new books. Making new connections. Conceiving new ideas and approaches for my writing life. As I think through and process all the elements from the weekend, there are just a couple of things I thought I could mention in today’s blog post.

There are certain elements about conferences that are out of an attendee’s control. Venue issues. Technical glitches. Travel atrocities. Inappropriate colleagues. [Fill in your personal conference peeves here.] But what I have learned over the years is that whether you have a personally good conference outcome or a bad one, the end result is up to you. The whole experience is truly what you decide to make of it.

There have been times when just one workshop has made the whole expense worth my price of admission. I love those A-HA! moments of clarity or inspiration or new line of thought. This parting of the clouds is magic to me, and there were two things that came to me over the past four days that made me want to reorganize the way I thought about my writing.

The first came when a NYT best-selling author was talking to me about the workshop she was set to deliver and she said, ‘[This topic] is what I needed to learn to sell my first book.’ So many times I feel as though I have everything left to learn and I am not sure I can distill the many craft pieces down to any one thing, or at least a small, prioritized list of things that I really need to learn before I sell. But this woman and the time and advice she shared with me make me want to fill in those gaping holes. In struggling with the amorphous blob that is my writing life I mentally chastised myself for not setting up a much better strategy. I am excited to change that and figure out the top three things I need to learn to improve my writing, if not sell.

One other thought that took on new and stronger meaning for me over the weekend can be summed up in two words: Who cares? Please don’t misunderstand my meaning here . . . I think about those two words in the context of the book(s) I am working on and I think to myself, ‘Who is going to care about these characters and what is going on between them, for them, or to them?’ In my mind, the stories I have been trying to tell just are not as compelling as I would like them to be. Granted, I am still learning so much about the process, and, to add to my to-do list from the previous paragraph, upping the care quotient is another aspect of my storytelling that I want to enhance.

So . . . a whole weekend spent and only two parting shots to report?! I’d say that was a pretty successful weekend!

We would love to hear about any conference revelations you may have had - in recent or from previous years - that have helped you overcome any blocks in your writing path. It’s all about the ‘Keep Writing!’

-Jessica

There are a number of RWA Chapter and regional conferences that take place in April so I thought it might be helpful and timely to share some conference tips acquired from over the years.  Here are some quick quips, in no particular order:

1. Dress Professionally.
Writing conferences are a huge, fun, social event.  But it is also a gathering of our profession.  Be conscious of the impression you want to make.

2. Dress in Layers.
The temperatures in the hotels tend to be on the cooler side, no matter what the season.

3. Wear Comfy Shoes.
You wouldn’t think that walking from conference room to conference room within the same hotel would take such a toll, but there is more schlepping than one would expect. Take good care of your feet! 

4. Bring Comfort Clothes.
You’ll want something comfortable to lounge in at the end of the day or for venturing outside the conference venue.

5. Keep Hydrated.
Drink plenty of water.  If possible, find a nearby grocery or convenience store and buy water, Diet Coke, snacks, [fill in your own brand of snacking necessities here], for your quick nosh during the day.  The Hotel will charge too much for these items, if available at all.

6. Fashion a Supply Kit.
Receipt holder. Pads of paper. Pens. Pencils. Post-it notes. Blank note cards. Stamps. Business Cards.  Paper clips.  Binder Clips.  Highlighter. Tylenol. Chapstick. Band-aids. Safety pins.

7. Buyer Beware. 
It’s tempting to go overboard in buying books!  If you indulge, know that you can ship the books back home (with mixed results).  Better yet, pack an extra carry-on bag and carry them home.

8. Stay Connected.
Have cell phone will travel.  Exchange cell phone numbers with your writing buddies.  You never know when you’ll need to find a familiar face in that huge crowd.  And pack your charger.

9. Smile and Nod.
If you are approachable, the networking opportunities may come to you!

10. You Don’t Have to Go to Everything!
Schedule some time to get away to recharge your batteries every day.

11. Go to Any Workshop Given by Jennifer Crusie or Susan Elizabeth Phillips . . .
. . . or any sessions at your respective conferences that may not be taped. The great thing about conferences is that most chapters arrange to have the sessions recorded for later purchase in either audio CD or MP3 format. If there are two sessions in one time slot and you can’t decide which to attend, choose the one not being taped and purchase the other.

12. Practice Sensible Etiquette.
Don’t pitch your manuscript to the editor of your dreams from the bathroom stall next to hers.  See #1. Be conscious of the impression you want to make.

Remember that there are eyes and ears all around you.  If you have a rant or criticism that just cannot wait, find a private place and a trusted friend with whom to share it.

13. Bring cash.
Think of the bar as the conference golf course - a lot of networking and business take place on these links so even a little time logged in this social setting can have great and unexpected benefits.

14. Have Faith in Yourself.
If you are aware of what’s going on in the industry and your genre, or who’s writing what, or even if you have just started writing your first book, you can talk about anything with anyone. Don’t underestimate yourself!  

In the comments section on Friday, I recommended a post on Conference Etiquette from Jessica Faust from Book Ends LLC, which shared some insight from an agent’s perspective — a perspective that I think is helpful for first-time attendees to read for advice and conference veterans to read as a refresher.

And if it helps, here are a few of the April conferences taking place:

Desert Rose RWA - Desert Dreams Conference. April 4-6, 2008.

Dallas Area Romance Authors - Dreamin’ in Dallas Conference. April 4-6, 2008.

RWA-New England Chapter - Let Your Imagination Take Flight. April 11-12, 2008.

Gulf Coast Romance Writers - Silken Sands Writers Conference. April 11-13, 2008.

Kansas Writers Association - Scene of the Crime Conference. April 11-13, 2008.

Romantic Times Book Convention. April 16-20, 2008.

Chicago-North RWA - Spring Fling Writers’ Conference. April 25-26, 2008.

Malice Domestic. April 25-27, 2008.

If I have missed any conferences, please share them in the comments section . . . and if you have any other conference advice, we would love for you to share your input.

For all the attendees, I wish you fun and successful conference-going. Go forth and write!

-Jessica

Envy — a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc.

The idea of professional jealousy has been one that I have thought about on and off over the years. And I have decided that I don’t resent my colleagues’ successes as much as I wish I had what they have. So I think I am less jealous than I am perhaps a little green with envy. It’s a monster I have rarely visited throughout my life (unless Fenway counts) and it feels a little strange to admit it.

Please don’t misunderstand me — one of my favorite things to do is to root for those people — friends and those unknown to me — who are working hard to make their dreams come true. I love to hear success stories and to celebrate such good news. I know how hard it is to tip the point from toiling writer to victories big and small, and to achieve the milestone is a feat we should all celebrate.

The envy comes in when I step back and look at the collective successes. And it feels like everyone is at a party and I have yet to receive my invitation. It feels a little sad and lonely to be on the outside of the publishing ranks and looking in, but all is not lost. I think that as potentially destructive a feeling as envy can be, it can also serve as a great motivating force.

I am an active part of two writing groups — a monthly in-person meeting group and an online one. At each of our monthly in-person meetings, we all take a turn around the room to introduce ourselves and share what we write. We celebrate the good news and share in the bad. In many ways it is a nice support group of people with shared interests, all presumably working toward similar goals but with not such definitive goals that the work reported feels tangible or the motivation contagious.

Then one day someone tosses a question onto the discussion board of my other, online group — a request that we all report in on what we are writing . . . to give these projects a name and report their progress. The flood of responses that came back to the loop blew me away . . . the sheer volume of pages being written . . . the number of projects being completed . . . the enormous productivity that these women shared. In that flood of reported output, I admit I was envious at how much writing progress everyone amassed each day.

Here was evidence of the much-talked-about ball and I was Cinderella. Without the fairy godmother. No one was going to float into my world on a pink cloud trailing sparkling fairy dust and promising possibilities with the flick of a wand. No pumpkin. No ball gown. No glass slippers. And no Prince Charming. (But that’s a topic for another blog post.)

This revelation was a great reminder — if I don’t want to be left behind, I am going to have to work to get to the party. In that way, I don’t think my envy is too terrible a thing to admit — as long as it is channeled for good purposes. I do not believe in climbing over, using, or hurting others to get what you want. I do believe in the reward of hard work and the hope of reaping the benefits of the time invested and practice logged.

So, the next time you are about to ask someone, “What do you write?”, instead ask them, “What are you writing?” The change in word choice is slight, but the differences in the potential answers are enormous.

There is no guarantee that any of us trying to make it in this business will ultimately get published. But I can guarantee that you definitely won’t make it if you aren’t working to get there. Rest assured, everyone at the party has earned his or her spot.

So watch and learn from the people you envy. Keep writing and get those dance cards ready — you’ll need them for when you get to the ball.

-Jessica

Back in February, I found a post written by Lauren Baratz-Logsted on Juggling Genres and the thoughts she shared have been bouncing around in my head ever since as I try to process what she said and see how it applies to my own genre juggling.

I admit, I was relieved to hear how Lauren phrased her reasons for diversifying her writing because quite honestly I had begun to think that I suffered from Writer’s A-D-D. My brain just does not want to hunker down and stay fixed in one particular genre or on one particular project at a time . . . and I have been struggling with myself in wondering if I just lacked the discipline to focus on the work at hand or if my creativity tended to function better if I gave it some license to roam from one project to the next.

After reading Lauren’s argument and after thinking through some other advice I have received over the years, I acquiesce that perhaps I land with a foot in both camps. And I have concluded that having Writer’s A-D-D is not wholly a bad thing.

The good news is that I have more than one idea when it comes to the stories I want to tell. The well is well-stocked and the voices all compete for air time. I have suffered creative draughts at times in the past, and, speaking from that experience, the schizophrenia is a much more cherished problem to have!

I have found, too, that when things start to stall on one project I can switch gears and start on another. And that change in focus somehow helps kickstart ideas and a number of solutions flow in a way that would not have happened if I forced myself to jackhammer through the block. Switching between projects tends to free my thoughts.

I like, too, that I will have different projects to discuss with different industry professionals, when and if I have the opportunity. The pendulum in the industry swings in odd ways at unexpected times, and you never know how your variety of projects may fit into the market. But for me, I write what feels authentic rather than to write what’s hot right now.

There are some dangers I can foresee in starting more than one wip at a time and in more than one genre, especially for an unpublished author –

–I know of a number of colleagues who are great at conceiving of new and interesting book ideas and getting the intro and some bones down on paper. The books start off well and have great promise, but these writers get to chapter three and decide to start something else . . . then never get back to the project left behind. The danger here is in not finishing what is started. This is where Writer’s A-D-D is potentially very destructive. Without the pressure of a contract or a drop-dead deadline, an unpublished author’s flexibility in this instance can do more harm than good.

–Some additional advice for unpublished authors wanting to write in multiple genres is to be consistent with the first few projects you sell out of the gate. The goal is to build an audience with your author brand so that readers know what kind of story they will get when they purchase one of your books. The consistency will build readership and anticipation . . . and rolling out books in more than one genre can stall loyalty and momentum.

The reasoning in Lauren’s post struck such a chord with me — we each are complex creatures with many sides to our lives and personalities, so what is more natural for a writer than to want to explore all those facets of being human? It is an excellent way to keep the writing fresh and interesting for ourselves, which is something Bria will talk about on Wednesday.

For now, I will leave you with another helpful blog post from CopyBlogger on 3 Sure-Fire Steps For Beating the Content Blues. These tips are great for people who may suffer from some attention deficit with their writing. I hope they help and I hope you keep writing — and if you’re working on more than one project in more than one genre, we’ll be rooting for you to find success with all of them!

-Jessica

I have been kicking around RWA for a few years and am so proud to say that I have learned so much during this period of time. The more I learn, I realize there is more and more that I really don’t know, which, for me, is a challenge I find both vexing and exciting.  

When I have those A-HA! and WELL, DUH! moments, I feel such pride for making such strides to those points of recognition.  

I can only speak to my experiences in romance writing circles, and in that context I think I can safely say that we all share a common vernacular. GMC, POV, Hero’s Journey, etc. Having been around writers during these years I developed a basic understanding of what these things are, but it wasn’t until I stumbled across some pretty stellar examples where I felt like I truly got it. 

 When I wrote my first book I had not yet found RWA or any mentors in the writing world and point-of-view was not something I grasped. I sheepishly realized how flawed my first book was when mentors and friends explained the basics of POV to me. However, it wasn’t until I read the three stories found in Lori Foster’s Fallen Angels book that I visually understood point of view. I highly recommend these stories as great and clear examples of how to handle POV.  

I had a similar A-HA! moment when I heard our upcoming April Honorary Heartlette, Eileen Rendahl, speak on the Chick Lit Hero’s Journey. I felt like I got it in a much better and different way after hearing Eileen speak and reading her books.  

So what do either of these examples have to do with villains or anti-heroes? I have learned that having a concrete example is one of the best learning tools for me. And the most excellent example of the villain or anti-hero I have yet to come across was in the Spike TV series The Kill Point. 

If you have not yet seen it, I don’t want to play spoiler, but the series stars Donnie Wahlberg as the cop who catches the call when John Leguizamo’s character and a group of his men rob a bank and things go horribly wrong.

It’s a crime drama, so naturally his show pits right against wrong. We see the side of the law . . . in this case we see Donnie Wahlberg as the level-headed hero. We count on him to diffuse the situation, save the day, restore order. We see him having to navigate the demands of work and family, the egos of his bosses, the tangled net of bureaucracy, the intrusive weight of the FBI . . . even the power and influence of the most successful in-town business owner. We sympathize with the competence and integrity of our hero, secure in the knowledge our hero will defeat the bad guys in spite of the additional obstacles he faces.

But just how wrong are these bad guys? John Leguizamo (called Mr. Wolf), as the captain of the crew, is the head ‘bad guy’, thus starring as the villain in this show. We know that robbing banks is bad and in that way he broke the law and deserves to be punished. But as the audience learns why - what his goals, motivation, and conflicts are - sympathies start to turn. At least mine did.

His backstory revealed injustice, grief, courage, and responsibility. His own struggles with right and wrong made sense to me. His being constantly kicked while down, yet still getting up and fighting back was something I found . . . heroic.

I found myself rooting for Mr. Wolf. I wanted him to get away with the heist, with all that money, to disappear and find his happily ever after. I wanted people to forgive him his transgressions and to heal his hurts. His character was so compelling, drawn in such an effective way, I couldn’t help but want him to win. For me, this was a stunning visual example not just on how to create a villain, but how to draw and layer all characters and their complexities.

In his book, The Writer’s Journey, Christopher Vogler says that villains are the heroes of their own stories. In The Kill Point, the characters have been created in such a way where the lines between hero and villain blur . . . to the point where the villain truly could be the hero of not only his own story, but the entire story. Only the obvious points of the law clearly delineate the difference.

When I see such stunning working examples of writing, I sit back and say — “Oh, how I wish I could write that!” So I keep my eyes open for learning opportunities and I keep practicing and persevering.

May you have lots of your own A-HA and WELL, DUH moments . . . may you find them in pleasantly unexpected places . . . and may you keep writing!

-Jessica

I once worked with a woman who said, ‘I can juggle ten balls just fine but give me one more and I will drop all of them.’  Right now, I feel like I am juggling about fifteen. Some continue to stay air born, a few have bounced off the floor, but I just pick them up and push forward as best I can. It is a test of skill, patience, and mental and physical stamina to say the least. 

It feels a little like being back in college for me – after a while, you triage your priorities into the categories of what absolutely needs to be done NOW, what can come secondary, what is of least priority, and what it is that I either wish I could be doing or would rather be doing that will have to wait until the main priorities get addressed.

I have been in dire need of down time but have had to sacrifice most of my unwinding activities to address the NOWs.  Because of that, I missed the Project Runway finale (horror!) this past week and although I know who won and have seen clips of the collections online, I am still disappointed I missed the show.  Wednesday is my guilty TV night and oddly enough the catch phrases from my Wednesday night shows speak to how I am getting through this demanding rough patch. Whether it’s Tim Gunn’s, ‘Make it Work,’ or Tyra Banks’s, ‘Model Through It,’ the message is to work through the problems and get the job done.

Sigh.

So that’s where I’m at this week.  Suffering a little bit of burnout but putting the fatigue and stress aside as best I can to keep pushing to get the NOWs done.  The good news – once I get through the NOWs I have a fun writing project and a TBR stack I want to get back to!  So there’s my reward, which helps make this demanding rough patch a little more tolerable.  There is an end in sight!

Keep writing!

-Jessica