Yeah, Baby!

Sleepy Suzie...

Well, my daughter has a boyfriend again. They broke up for a while. Long story. But now he's back in our lives, and he was over here again last night until around 11:30. Which, of course, means our daughter couldn't fall asleep until 1:30 am. Oh, the thrill of young romance, texting all your friends, and Facebooking how your evening went. Then, of course, she was hungry. So she clanked around in the kitchen for a while. Do all 16-year-olds stay up this late?

I went online, checked Facebook for a while, goofed around talking politics with my friends who I knew would not answer my emails until the morning because, unlike me, they were sensible people. I googled someone I knew seven years ago. Watched an old episode of Mad About You (they're all old episodes by now). Then, just as I was headed to bed, my son woke up and climbed in beside me. It's as if he can't sleep once all is quiet. A little noise must comfort him enough to stay in his own bed. Once that's over, he stumbles across the hall and into mine. It never fails!

After a fretful few hours of sleep, most of it coverless and squashed, I heard my husband's alarm go off. It was 6 am and I had hardly slept. So now I sit in a quiet house amid sleeping children. It's 10 am and I can't fall back to sleep again.

Not a creative post, nor an enthusiastic one. But share my pain, will ya?

Critique group is tonight... Looks like that coffee's gonna hafta be caffeinated!

Yours -- consciousness raised or not,

Megan Elizabeth

Savvy Samantha...

I've been thinking a lot lately. (some of you are saying, "It's about time!") But seriously, I've been thinking about the election coming up in November and about the many people I have spoken to who are voting for Obama because he's black or, sadly, for McCain because he's not. That conversation only happened once, but it gave me the heebie jeebies! Not a close friend -- someone I barely knew, but still...

It finally occurred to me that these people are just not savvy enough to be voting. This conversation came up because I took my daughter to see the movie, The Duchess, yesterday. Women didn't have the vote during that time period, of course. But not many men did, either. They were selective in who they extended the freedom to vote to. Now that's not good, old-fashioned American freedom. But when I meet people who are voting for their candidate because he can dance well with Ellen on her talk show or because they think he's more "presidential" that bugs me! Have real, solid reasons to elect your candidates, people!

As for me, I have become Savvy Samantha. A friend of mine included me in a thread on his Facebook page that has led to well over 300 messages among a group of five people -- two solid Republicans, a Democrat, and Miss Independence (me). I've learned that Barack Obama has some pretty scary connections to Socialism, bordering Communism. I've also learned that McCain has an anger management problem and his former army buddy and POW in Vietnam is worried about him having his finger on the nuke button. I've learned that Barack Obama has received millions of dollars in donations from the very people who got us into the real estate crisis. I've also learned that he refused to vote yea on the Born Alive Act in Illinois, effectively assuring that any child born alive after an abortion will be smothered. Some have called him complicit in infanticide. Others have suggested that the people who say that are insulting him the worst way because he loves children and would never favor infanticide. A woman named Gianna Jessen, who survived a saline abortion 31 years ago disagrees with them. Thankfully, a nurse called 911 and she was rushed to a hospital for prenatal care.

I want to be savvy when it comes to my writing, too. I want to research the market, target my submissions so I don't waste an editor's time, revise my work so that it stands a fighting chance before I ever submit it, and perhaps most important, never give up! Savvy Sam will rise to the top of the slush pile because her manuscript is not in a brightly colored envelope with jingle bells dangling from it. Her cover letter is businesslike but still friendly, informative yet personable. Her queries are succinct because editors are as swamped with queries as they are slush. And one day, hopefully very soon, the creative creature within Savvy Samantha will have wrought a magnificent masterpiece (enough alliteration -- that could sink her chances altogether!)

Yours -- throughout each and every stage of the process,

Megan Elizabeth

Pitiful Pearl...

That's what my mother used to call me. And it suited me! I was determined to see the down side of every situation, to hide in shame when I did something embarrassing, to suffer when rejected.

And how many times will a writer be rejected before getting published?!?!?

Please don't answer that. My heart can't take it! But you see my point. I deleted a few posts below where I was either being Mopey Minnie or Pitiful Pearl. And now, I want to get down to it, write the right stories, send them to the right people, and if they're the stuff that dreams are made of, I'll get there.

I've been working on an article on John Quincy Adams this week. And now, it seems the Adams family is everywhere I look. (Ha! I saw you snap your fingers twice!) Our homeschool group had an essay on John Adams. John Adams will be the focus of an upcoming issue of Cobblestone Magazine (now don't you go and sub to them! It's my turn! My destiny, even!) I'm learning so much about this great man of dignity and courage that I'm really stoked about the possibility of getting this article published somewhere.

I think that's key to getting published, too. Being stoked about the subject you're writing about. How exciting would the article be if I didn't particularly find the subject interesting? And how much care would I take in writing it? Anything for money, right? Well, sadly, this biz generally doesn't pay big bucks. You'd better not be in it for the money, folks!

So I start my day with joyful anticipation... And a blank page before me -- the new leaf I've just turned over!

Yours -- when all you see is empty white space and when your page is filled with ink,

Megan Elizabeth