Curve Balls – Staying on Track When Life Interupts

It turned out that last week, not long after I posted my blog about heading to my college Alma Mater, that the trip was canceled due to a medical emergency in my friend’s family. Since I don’t have a car, this canceled things for me as well. Coincidentally, my sister came in from out of state on the same day and will be around longer than I expected. She’s splitting time between my place and my mom’s so far which throws a bit of a curve ball into our lives.

I didn’t work on my writing the way I had planned to last week. I’ve been trying to work on my novel for about 3 hours on Sundays, 1-2 hours on Thursdays, and squeeze in at least 100 words a day on every other day except Tuesday and Saturday. Since I was cleaning for company, I didn’t write last Sunday, and everything else fell out of place as well. I wrote a few hundred words on Tuesday, but without the Sunday momentum I couldn’t get into it like I normally do. I’ve been semi catatonic on my bus rides in and out of the day job — so no writing there, and actually not much reading either. I did get to go write on Thursday, but I was back to writing articles for eHow and Associated Content. I figure I’ll get my novel groove back on Sunday when I take my three hour block back.

Curve balls can be dangerous to a writer, routines can be hard to establish in the first place, and upsetting them can easily be taken as a sign that something else was meant to be. And sometimes it isn’t, but it doesn’t mean you stop writing. You just write something else — maybe something less demanding, like a silly haiku, or a few minutes of a nonsensical journal. On the busiest of days five minutes can do a world of good. It can remind you that you are who you say you are — a writer. It can give you enough of a taste to motivate you to set a new schedule that will work until life throws you the next inevitable curve ball.

But curve balls aren’t all bad either. They can pull you out of a rut, or make you see places in your life that can use a little patching. Article writing is a lot different than creative writing, and before this past week I had barely noticed that I had gone two months without a new eHow article. I was able to expand on a side note from an Associated Content article and get something new out of it. Article Writing gets you involved with scoping the world for information, and figuring out how to shape that in a way that it will work for you and the reader. Creative Writing generally carries more aesthetics, more emotion, and it’s good to balance both. This week’s curve ball taught me that. Both types of writing deserve a purposeful place in my schedule. I may just keep Thursdays for article writing for a while.

In baseball, curve balls are designed to trip the batter up, keep him guessing. It’s some players favorite pitch. I’m not sure it’s my favorite — but it does keep me on my toes. Because I never know what life is going to throw at me next.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin’s Blog is syndicated weekly on

Gather.com, WordPress, Associated Content, and her website. Her novel, No Sensible People, is available in paperback on Amazon.com or in print and download from Lulu.com. For further updates, please consider following her on Twitter.

Hit and Miss

There’s something about early January. The good parts of the holiday spirit is lingering a little, people are making small promises to themsleves- Resolutions. There’s bits of new self-confidence everywhere. Bits of hope. I’ve written down a bunch of things I want to do, in my “Resolution Journal” and as time and will allow I will pick things I believe are possible and make individualized plans to accomplish them. I doubt I will get to everything on the list, but I’m bound to get to something. Some things I will hit, and others I’ll miss. I’ve already decided that’s okay, and it’s a lot less pressure.

I also want to start including “daily resolutions” — list at least one thing that I can get done and feel like I’ve accomplished something. Writing this blog makes today’s list.

Resolutions get a lot of attention this time of year. Losing weight. Quitting smoking. Exercise. Volunteer. Read more. Watch less TV. Spend Time with Loved Ones. A slew of good intentions run through the forefronts of our minds. And I think even those who declare they don’t make resolutions can’t help but let the idea of self improvement cross their minds, even if they refuse to say anything out loud.

Resolutions certainly don’t exist in a January bubble, and everyone — even the naysayers make them all year round. Most of the time we call them goals, or simply things we need to do. But we don’t let ourselves count those things, and we should. I cleaned my refrigerator really well the other day. A definite hit. I celebrate that hit whenever I open my fridge.

Too many times we only see our misses. Bills we might be behind on. Clothes we can’t fit into. Problems that certainly will take resolve to conquer, and chances are they won’t be solved overnight. But with planning we can at least move toward those solutions. See the little hits along the way. The more hits we choose to see, the less we will allow the misses to defeat us.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of No Sensible People available on Amazon.com and Lulu.com

The Same Old New

Today marks my son’s 18th Birthday. Today, he is officially an adult. It’s never been my own birthdays that made me feel older, it’s been my kids.

My son skipped second grade, so he graduated early. He had planned to go to college up north, but it didn’t work out, so he is home. He is getting a little college in this year, though, at the local community college. There’s no student loans so far, we (mostly me) are paying as we go.

He’s involving himself in various artistic projects and I have noticed a growing passion and purpose among some of his endeavors. He’s tried to get a regular job, but the economy has stopped him. He may have some new options now that he’s 18, so he’ll explore those. The last six months, especially, he has grown tremendously. I am very proud.

This year’s Christmas was especially light. I earned gift cards online and ordered books, which are still enroute, but they’ll come. We saw family Christmas Eve, went to church that night, rented movies and had spaghetti on Christmas Day.

Yesterday, two new babies were born in my family. My niece has a new baby boy, and my nephew has a baby girl. My niece’s baby is going through a bit of a hard time, but we are praying for them both- as well as my nephew’s family. We all have our twists and turns and bumps and bruises along the way. But we get up, find something new. Life is constant revision.

And of course, this time next week we will have started a New Year. A few weeks later there will be a new president. Another new chapter will start that is sure to bring hope, fear, joy, disappointment, and surprises. But in the end, we grow, emerge a stronger more mature nation– or even world. That kind of thing tends to be contagious.

Many of us will be making resolutions, again. I will probably have a few, and most likely I will break most of them. But hopefully, something will stick. I’ll be able to glance back over my shoulder as say, “Yes, I have moved forward.” I’ll pat myself on the back for my accomplishments, consider the areas where I’ve fallen short and pledge to do better.

That newness isn’t reserved for newborns– or even eighteen year olds. It’s for all of us. And we can take a little dose whenever we need it- not just with the new year.
Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of No Sensible People available on Amazon.com and Lulu.com

The Flavor of a Writer

One of the things I’m committing to this fall/ winter in order to save money is to bring homemade soup to work with me a few days a week for lunch. Depending on how well the soup of choice goes over with my kids it could be from 2-4 days of soup for lunch. I’ve made it 3 weeks now. White bean curry, split pea, black bean. Next is probably my pumpkin almond. eventually, I will have a week where I get to bring a hearty stew.

I love my soup. Most of them are pretty simple. They cook a long time, usually in the crock pot, but the prep time is pretty minimal. Soak beans, rinse them, cook them, throw in some spices, a couple potatoes and/or diced tomatoes, and several hours later…. Voila! Like magic you have delicious nutritious soup.

If you eat slowly you can notice how strong flavors mix with more mellow ones. Sweet mixes with spicy. They work together in a collaborative effort, somehow independent of the cook to bring out the best in one another. And when something doesn’t work, it is blatantly obvious.

Novel writing is a bit like making that soup or stew. No it isn’t always easy. It rarely is. When I’m making a soup, for example, I often use garlic powder. I want to get it cooking fast, and I make short cuts. I know myself enough to know that if I relying on making myself mince my own garlic every time I won’t do it, and I’ll end up spending money I can’t afford at restaurants– and not necessarily healthy ones. Even with my shortcuts, my soup is usually better. But when there’s a special occasion, I take a little more care to use fresher ingredients because it really does make a difference.

The novel is an involved piece of writing, the character development affects the plot. The setting affects the characters. The plot and point-of-view affects the theme. Sometimes it just happens, and it’s something the writer never planned. But sometimes it is very deliberate. Sometimes you go through several “garlic powder drafts”, before you break down and mince your own garlic. You realize how your spicy parts balance with your mellow parts. You keep things interesting and palatable. You do a few taste tests, you ask others to taste. You read with all your senses, see what makes you fall in love with a character, or long to go somewhere you have only read about in books. You learn, grow and become a better writer.

But you don’t have to be a novelist to experience this. It will work in your poetry, in short stories, or to keep yourself writing a variety of different things for a variety of purposes. It all shapes who you are as a writer. It all contributes to your flavor, and keeps them tasting. And it’s never the same soup twice.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of the novel No Sensible People, available in print from Lulu.com and Amazon.com. A preview of the 2nd edition is available as a free download for a limited time via her website.

Life’s Landmarks

Last Thursday marked seven years since September 11, 2001 – a date that nearly everyone who is old enough or capable of remembering back seven years can recall where they were during the attack. I was working at the first decent temp job I’d had in months. I’d been forced out of the permanent job I’d had for a year and a half – largely because the company was sending jobs to India. Since the end of June, I had been on a handful of Interviews, worked a few temp jobs that lasted a day or a week and I was about a month into a two and a half month assignment at an insurance company.

I was at that job when the planes hit, doing what most of the people in the Towers were doing. Just working, trying to earn a living and support my family. The horror and heroism continued to pour out across America and the world as we carried on in the following weeks and months. And even now that day is a weight we carry together as a citizens of a peace-loving world, and as a country – some more than others.

There are other profound moments as well. I remember being pulled from science class in 6th grade to watch the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. The explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. Oklahoma City. Columbine. The 35W Bridge collapse in Minneapolis. The 2003 Tsunami. Katrina. Ike. And many more accidents and incidents that become the folds, dents, and scrapes in our lives. These are things that remind us of our own mortality. The things that sadden us, move us to action, and make us appreciate all the little blessings we carry a little bit more.

The other day it occurred to me that it had been nearly a year since my apartment caught fire last year at 2 a.m.  I still remember standing outside with my son in my pajamas, watching the flames spread across the building, wondering what in the world was taking the fire department so long and watching my chances of getting anything back go up in smoke. We managed to save a few things, but most was unsalvageable. The outpouring of support was amazing, from family, coworkers, The Red Cross, my apartment complex management, the kids’ school. Things are more or less back to normal now, but I will always be grateful for everything I received from those around me.

Bad things happen to good people. It is a horrible, somber fact of life. But in that sorrow there is opportunity for good people to be a little better than they were. I have been a little more charitable than I used to be this past year, and hope to incorporate more into my schedule to assist not only victims of large tragedies, but those that endure situations and conditions everyday for which they have little or no control. It may be difficult to do at times, but in the end we’re all in this together.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of the novel No Sensible People and the poetry collection The Long and Short of It.

The Significance of the Insignificant

One of my personal downfalls is that I have never been a fan of planning. I internally cringe when I’m asked at an interview “where I want to be in five years.” I don’t know, and I don’t especially want to know. I have learned what you think you want and what will actually happen are often two very different things. And that’s not bad, just different. It’s part of what keeps life interesting. Life that is always according to plan is a little too much like autopilot. I worry that it will become too gray and I like a little splash of color every now and then to mix things up. But even I recognize that a little planning can sometimes get you through the “splashes” in life that can feel a little more like tidal waves.

One area where I’ve made a bit of personal progress is in meal planning for myself and two teens. I while back I bought refrigerator magnets that are really a set of small dry erase boards. Too often I would go to the store and buy food, some of it was based on what we liked, some based on what we “should eat.” Too often, what we “should eat” would spoil and go to waste while we went out or ordered something else. Food prices are way too high to do this. So now we are utilizing the magnets more.

Lately we have started to plan five days at a time, balancing “cheap meals’ with more expensive ones, trying to keep costs down as much as possible. If we find we start to crave something else we put it on the possibility list for the next five days. Everyone gets a say, everyone makes a contribution.

Big things are happening right now. We are preparing to choose a new president. We are at war. We are facing possibly the worst financial crisis since The Great Depression. Gas prices and bus fares are rising.Unemployment is rising.  Food costs are rising. Health care costs are rising, a not many are getting enough raises in their jobs.  Looking at the big picture it can all look pretty overwhelming. But that is why the little things mean so much, especially now.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of No Sensible People.

Good Excuses

Back in August, I took a class about getting back into the writing habit, and during that time I self published my completed novel, No Sensible People, wrote promotional articles and character sketches, started blogging regularly, and revived my work on the prequel, Almighty Whispers in Our Souls that I had set aside ages ago.

All of this, especially trying to market No Sensible People has proven to be a bigger challenge that I expected, and my work on Almighty Whispers in Our Souls has started to slip away again.

Writing is a strange thing. Often writers find themselves making a million excuses not to do the very thing they profess that they really need to do. Write. On the surface, it makes little sense. They start to ask themselves if they are a “real” writer because that resistance makes them feel guilty somehow. Then ultimately they buck up, start making more excuses to start writing then they’ve been making to run away from it.

It was in this spirit that NANOWRIMO — National Novel Writing Month– was born. Every November thousands of writers declare the day as a good enough excuse to put their muse first and set out on a journey to complete a fifty thousand word novel in 30 days.

Last year I was going to do it. I hadn’t written like I felt I should in a while, and I figured writing with that intensity over thirty days would make me give myself license to make mistakes and break through  a lot of the barriers I had set up in my mind. If I was going to write that much in a month I could forgive myself if it wasn’t any good. But then my apartment caught on fire and I had to relocate. It was a busy month, and any novel would have to wait.

I had every intention of restarting this November, but I have come to the conclusion that the timing is not right to start something new, especially when I still have one novel to promote and it’s prequel to finish. But it’s still a good excuse to reaffirm my commitment to being a novelist, even if I’m not an official participant in NANOWRIMO. So here is my personal novel writing pledge for November: 500 words a day directly related to Almighty Whispers in Our Souls-- whether it is actually something that will directly go into the novel or just character exploration. The important thing is to keep pressing on, to keep going forward no matter what. I am a writer, after all, and no matter what month it is, it’s a good enough excuse.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of the novel No Sensible People, available in print from Lulu.com and Amazon.com. A preview of the 2nd edition is available as a free download for a limited time via her website.

Moving Along….

The election is over, my guy won, and I have done my proverbial share of dancing in the streets. It is now Obama’s job to lay the groundwork to get the nation out of the mess we are in, and pick the right people to help him. I don’t envy him the job, but am very glad he is stepping up to do it.

In the meantime, I have plenty of work to do myself. I have my day job to do effectively, two kids to guide and protect, a book to write, and another to promote.I have to make sense of a stagnant income and figure out how it will continue to get me through a more expensive world. I want to help the community when I can as well. Volunteer when possible. Shop at small businesses when I can. Give a little less to the big guys who have plenty and a little more those who are honestly and nobly trying to make their way.

For many of us there is that capability to reach inside and give even a little bit more than what we are giving. I have a fundamental belief that when you do the right thing for the right reasons things will turn out okay. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a struggle getting there.

Hard times are not healed by hard hearts. There are some who  cling to the remnants of rumors, who still fight the ghosts of an election season. While it is healthy at times to disagree about specific issues we should not let those disagreements define us. There is good in all of us. If there was ever a time to see that, to celebrate it, and to share it, it is now.

My novel, No Sensible People, written long before the recent political battles, touches on this as a liberal young woman is granted custody of her conservatively raised niece. Here is a quote from Stuart, one of the most “sensible” characters in the novel, who happens to be gay. The young girl, Jennie’s, reaction to meeting him was to scream. This is how he addresses it.

“You weren’t screaming at me. You were screaming at your own fear. You can’t fight fear with anger. It doesn’t work that way.”

And it doesn’t. Not in my novel. Not in my country. We will run across many things we don’t agree with or understand over the next four years and throughout our lives. But the time has certainly come to stop screaming.

We need to move along. Tomorrow is our day. With an attitude of peace and cooperation we can make it better. Only when we choose to see the beauty will the bruises start to heal.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of the novel No Sensible People, available in print from Lulu.com and Amazon.com. A preview of the 2nd edition is available as a free download for a limited time via her website.

Art Matters

Last Tuesday I enjoyed the privilege of hearing Garrison Keillor talk about some of the events in his youth that led him to become a writer. The event was part of The Friends of the Minneapolis Public Library’s Talk of the Stacks series and was held at the Minneapolis Public Library– a place where Keillor found solace during some trying times of his childhood. The night was conversational, unbold. as he spoke to a packed hall of Midwesterners like himself who were there simply to celebrate words.

I too sought solace at the library as a child. When I was in Jr. High, and my mother was upset over one thing or another, usually a messy house– and probably something more than that, I would offer to take out the garbage, hop over the back fence and sneak away to the library. At the time I was writing a “film script”, and having no typewriter at home I retreated into the typing room with scrounged change and used the coin operated typewriter as long for as long as I could afford.

This week also marked the end of my company’s annual charity drive which involved raising funds and volunteer hours for the Twin Cities United Way and Community Health Charities. On the pledge form we were allowed to allocate a specific charity where our financial contribution will go. For the second year in a row I chose to delegate half my contribution to Free Arts Minnesota, and organization that supports children who need to seek solace in the arts.

Minnesota also passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment in the recent election that raises the state sales’ tax by a minuscule amount in order to help support the environment and the arts. It’s a bargain, compared to the vast amount we stand to get back.

Art matters. Whether it be drawing, or painting, or writing, or dancing, or theater, or something else. Four of the characters in my novel, No Sensible People are artists– two dancers, and two visual artists, and they too recognize their art  for it’s “medicinal” value. The power to create beauty, often out of the less than beautiful moments is not something that should ever be taken for granted.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of the novel No Sensible People, available in print from Lulu.com and Amazon.com. A preview of the 2nd edition is available as a free download for a limited time via her website.

Simple Pleasures; Wherever You Can Find Them

Yesterday, the daytime temperature dipped below 10 degrees for the first time this season in my area, and yesterday I dug my winter coat out of the closet for the first time. I was fighting it. I wanted to wait until after Thanksgiving. My fall coat is relatively warm, but this was a little too much. This was also the morning where my bus pass was mixed in with the mail — rather than in my purse or coat pocket, and I missed my regular bus, and I had to walk about a mile to catch my “plan B” bus.

Luckily, I made it — it’s an hour wait if I don’t. Just as fortunately, I had remembered to charge my little mp3 player and I had the chance to tune out the world during my commute, and I still had enough charge to listen a fair amount while I worked. We had a department meeting and I got a bit of recognition and a few tokens along with that. And when I got home the laundry was put away, the dishes were washed, my jar collection was all properly matched with their lids, and even the crock pots were cleaned out — courtesy of my kids.

My book proof with ISBN also came in the mail, and looks great so I was able to approve that for distribution. One more baby step to world recognition. Lulu’s having a sale on orders of ten books or more, (in select sizes) so my next hope is to scrounge up money for that so I can have some copies for libraries and book reviewers — and hopefully a few off line sales.

It’s easy to see obstacles. We want to run on autopilot, move straight ahead, keep our eyes on the prize. But sometimes, we forget to look at what’s at our feet. We stumble, curse a bit, try to go back to business as usual. But the reality is, there’s not much “usual” in business these days. Personal or otherwise. Life has always been a mine field, and right now it seems there are more mines than ever — but it doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of good stuff out there too. We just really have to keep our eyes open.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of the novel No Sensible People, available in print from Lulu.com and Amazon.com. A preview of the 2nd edition is available as a free download for a limited time via her website.

When Characters Sneak Up On You

Early last week as I was working on my new book, Almighty Whispers in Our Souls , the prequel to No Sensible People, I started to get one of those emotional kicks in the stomach from a character I never would’ve expected. This character, Steven Ferguson, is a bit of a jerk, as those who noticed the brief references to him might be able to attest. But as he’s about to do something horrible, he started to explain why and where he was “bad” in many ways converted to being frightened and insecure, and it brought me closer to that character and the pain he feels. Even with the laptop closed, Steven Ferguson followed me. I’ve come to expect my major characters to follow me when I’m writing, but this one threw me for a loop.

Something similar happened to me with Lucy’s somewhat sleazy husband, Frank Cartwright, in No Sensible People, and he wound up being a more significant character in the novel than I intended. He even made me cry.

When I take on a writing project– especially a novel, I make a conscious effort to absorb myself in the “reality” of my character’s situation as possible, carry them with me, even at times when I am not actively writing with the hopes of making them more authentic to me and any potential reader I might have.

I think of it as a writer’s version of method acting, but more complex. To some extent a writer needs to connect with every character, even when the story is told in first person from only one point of view. Sometimes even more so, because their feelings cannot hide within an internal monologue. They have to come out in some way that’s realistic to the reader.

I direct some of my own reading, and try and learn about the things they need to know. It makes summary writing hard for me, because I’m so connected to everyone and I don’t want to leave anyone out. As much as writers may try to write about what they know, it’s inevitable that we will run across something we still need to learn.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin’s blog is syndicated weekly on Gather.com, WordPress, Amazon.com, Associated Content, and her website. Her novel, No Sensible People, is available in paperback on Amazon.com or in print and download from Lulu.com. For further updates, please consider following her on Twitter.See recent press releases for No Sensible People at Biblioscribe.com and pr.com

The Power of a Mentor: A Tribute to Bill Holm

On Wednesday evening, I attended a reading for Elissa Elliott’s new book, Eve: A Novel of the First Woman at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. As with many author readings, the discussion questions afterward turned toward writing, and Elissa made a point to credit her mentor Allison McGhee, author of Shadow Baby, who she had worked with both while she had taken a class with her at The Loft, and when she won Loft Mentor Series Creative Non-Fiction award for her memoir in 2003-2004.

The next morning, I learned of the passing of one of my own mentors, Bill Holm. I had the good fortune of taking numerous writing workshops and a couple literature classes with Bill while at Southwest State University (before the name change to Southwest Minnesota State University). I took way more than what I needed for my major, causing Bill to dub me “the workshop junkie.” Even after college, I owned several of his books, attended his readings when I could, and listened to broadcasts on Minnesota Public Radio. I’m incredibly greatful for MPR’s archives, because it’s a great comfort to be able to go back and hear his voice.

To his own credit, Bill Holm was a champion poet and essayist. He was the 2008 winner of The McKnight Foundation’s Distinguished Artist Award, an honor held in past years by his longtime publisher at Milkweed, Emilie Buchwald, and his own mentor, Robert Bly. He wrote several books, including, among many others, The Box Elder Bug Variations, The Music of Failure, Eccentric Islands, The Heart Can Be Filled Anywhere on Earth, Playing the Black Piano, and most recently, Windows of Brimnes – An American in Iceland.

 But true literature is about more than accomplishments or a list of credits. It absorbs into you and helps define you — not just as a reader or a writer, but as a human being. Over the past few days as I’ve remembered Bill, I’ve begun to realize how much his influence has helped to shape who I am.  

Over and over, in his writing, his teaching, and the way he interacted with those around him Bill absorbed the best of everyone he knew, and longed for humanity to do better because he knew we had it in us. It was almost as pleasurable to watch him as a spectator at someone else’s reading, on the edge of his seat, draining the nectar out of every word. You could be sure that whatever he took would be given back, as part of an essay, a poem, or advice to a student or a friend.

In truth, Bill was a “workshop junkie” himself. But he made the whole world his classroom, traveling and reading extensively, sharing his observations with whoever would listen — and some that didn’t. Bill was the eternal student, a continual work in progress, constantly revising, and getting better with every draft.

Bill Holm may have left this life, but he left so much behind. I believe there is a part of Bill in everyone who knew him. And thank goodness. Because there is so much left to learn.

 
Gretchen Lee Bourquin’s Blog is syndicated weekly on

 

Gather.com, WordPress, Associated Content, and her website. Her novel, No Sensible People, is available in paperback on Amazon.comor in print and download from Lulu.com. For further updates, please consider following her on Twitter.

Reintroducing…. Me

Yes, I have been elusive in my blogging for a while now, as I’ve been trying to get a rhythm going with a little more “practical” writing, on eHow and now Associated Content. I’ve set a goal to write 10 -12 articles for each of them each month, enough to keep the creative juices flowing and leave me time for my novel. Right now, both ventures are acting more or less as a virtual change jar, but like an offline change jar they can really come in handy when a rainy day comes, so the most part I’m going to let what I earn through those ventures sit in my Paypal account, and one day I’ll be really glad I did.

Over the past week, I’ve gotten little snippets of time to work on my current novel, Almighty Whispers in Our Souls, as I finally have a computer to work on that I don’t have to share with anyone.: a mini-laptop. Definitely a worthwhile investment..

I downloaded a few ebooks from Lulu.com too, to read on my little laptop (about the size of a hardcover book) as well as ordered 5 publisher’s grade copies of No Sensible People, and 5 official copies with the ISBN– and I‘ve received notification that half of them have shipped, the other half should ship early next week.

You wouldn’t know it by looking out the window, but spring is around the corner. Soon it will be easier to get around, do more “foot soldier” marketing for my “baby.” Now that I’ll have “inventory” I can actually offer signed editions to people if they are interested. 

 Recently, I read the first story , Dracula Slinks Into the Night from the collection Months and Seasons, by Christopher Meeks. In the story, a man who is overly resistant to starting a family because he is waiting for that “perfect” time — and he comes to the realization that life is fragile, precious, and short. Preparation is one thing. Procrastination is another. I’ll be finishing the collection soon; it’s always good to discover a writer who puts a real stamp of quality in the literary world. Of course, I can’t guarantee that I’ll never procrastinate again, but I should be able to keep up on my weekly blog again, my handful of articles, and sometime soon, update my website. After I stop to enjoy the preciousness of what’s around me.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin’s Blog is syndicated weekly on Gather.com, WordPress, Associated Content, and her website. Her novel, No Sensible People, is available in paperback on Amazon.com or in print and download from Lulu.com. For further updates, please consider following her on Twitter.

Keep Fighting A “Shout Out” to All the Outcasts

Have you ever watched a baby wriggling on a blanket on the floor? Maybe there is a toy a few feet away. Maybe it is just the end of the blanket. But whatever it is, they do not see the limitations. Few if any, will say to the baby, “Listen, kid you can barely hold your head up, what makes you think you can get that stuffed puppy? You’re out of your mind!”

Some people will watch for a little while and then hand the baby the toy. Some will cheer the baby on. Eventually, the baby wins. He succeeds in moving enough to get what he wants. For now.

In some things we never outgrow our baby steps, but in many things we fight against a lot of naysayers. As we get older, those naysayers get louder and louder. Some of them live inside us, and fighting them can be an exhausting battle. We feel like we are spinning our wheels, or beating the proverbial dead horse. And truthfully, sometimes we are.

It takes that same “try because we don’t know any better” mindset that we all held as infants to keep going. Progress is sometimes so minuscule that we can’t see it.

In this past week, two things happened in my dealings with Lulu, publisher of my book, that I thought would take at least a week or two longer.

1. I got a small royalty payment for my books on Lulu. This is the first payment I have seen go into my Paypal Account so it was pretty exciting. Their promise is “by the end of the month.”

2. The second edition of No Sensible People became available on Amazon.com. I’ve blocked further printing of the first edition, although Amazon still has at least 1 copy. The second edition is the less expensive book, with fewer pages. I didn’t expect to see this until January.

Right after Christmas, I will send my only copy of that second edition to The Library of Congress. I want the book to be received after the Christmas, to be separate from the big rush on the Post Office.

I also want to scrounge up money to order a few new copies to be able to offer to reviewers or to sell myself as signed editions. I can’t quite afford to order in “bulk” but if I can at least have a few copies I’d be able to mail them a little cheaper than Lulu. I’m going to donate a copy to The Loft library. I’m going to make promotional postcards and leave them around Minneapolis, try to get the word out more locally, especially since the story is set in Minnesota.

As a Lulu self-publisher, distribution beyond Amazon, Lulu, and myself would cost another $50. The Library of Congress listing cost me $30. Amazon was free. I’m hoping I can afford it in March. Hopefully, I will have sold more books by then and will try to get a couple independent booksellers to sell the book in their stores. I’ve designated anything I earn online, whether it is from book sales or writing online to be money that goes back into marketing or into my writing in one way or another.

I’ll continue to search for my free options as well, and many of those are very time consuming. Sometimes I feel like I’m going nowhere. The stigma of self-publishing still over shadowing and it feels like a real leap of faith to keep going. But I do believe in my book. I believe that it’s important to have it’s message of finding a way to honor ways of thinking that you may not agree with, without selling out your own beliefs. We’ve experienced terrible division in the world and writing No Sensible People, for me was a way to combat that un-sensible division — if only a little. The book declares no official political affiliation, and mentions no politician, but with the current global political climate, and so many issues at an apparent crossroads, I do think it is important to examine how we treat not only the issues, but one another.

The self-publishing industry is an outcast industry full of diamonds in the rough, books that don’t always look just like the traditional, and may have a few extra imperfections. But they are still worthy. I will try to buy more of these books in 2009, because self-publishing is wriggling to the end of the blanket and we will get to that puppy as long as we don’t give up.

I am looking at my Christmas tree, where my daughter has hung my collection of small stuffed animals from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer’s Island of Misfit Toys. It reminds me of the cast of misfits in my book, and how important it is to fight for them. How important it is to fight for one another.

And so I have given No Sensible People the following dedication-

“No Sensible People is dedicated to the contrasts of the human spirit, both internal and external, and to the outcast that rests within us all. May we have the strength to embrace it and grant it the respect it deserves.”

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of the novel No Sensible People. It is available on Amazon.com and Lulu.com

Scooping Your Life

This past week I came across a DVD I had misplaced a while back, 13 Going on 30 with Jennifer Gardner. In the movie Gardner plays 13 year old Jenna Rink who, thanks to a little magic wishing dust, wakes up one morning as a 30 year old. It’s filled with all sorts of fun 80s references, like Pat Benetar, and Jenna’s crush on Rick Springfield, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance. We quickly learn that not only does Jenna need to find a way to remember her life, but the magazine she edits, Poise, is being “scooped” by the competitor, “Sparkle” and no one knows why.

When Jenna goes to find the boy next door, she discovers that he too, has been “scooped” by another woman. She learns all her lessons about being true to herself and being good to others, and lives happily ever after. Okay, so I guess the movie is a little contrived, but it is fun nonetheless. And I still believe in that basic premise – be true to yourself, and be good to others.

Unlike the movies, when you neglect things and let them go, it’s not so easy to get them back. You have to prove yourself all over again. It takes time, persistence, and faith – and still sometimes that is not enough. You press on believing that the journey will be worth it – even if you end up somewhere entirely different from where you intended to go.

My writing is a bit in flux right now. Every couple weeks I have one or two good days on my novel, and my other writing is journal entries, how to articles, and this blog– my one steadfast commitment. I find since I started writing my how to articles, I’ve neglected the marketing of my completed novel, No Sensible People.

My next plans include spending a little money, which I don’t have right now. I’m making my first real conscious effort to actually earn money from writing, and exploring the whole “practical” side that I resisted for so long. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a balance, but I’m still in the process of adding and subtracting weights on all sides to get it to come out just right. I’ve decided to allow myself to spend money I earn from writing on book promotion, but I still have another month to wait on that.

It’s so hard to look at something you believe in, something you put your heart and soul into and say “later” – not knowing if it will be too late once you get back. Not knowing if you went about everything the wrong way. Not knowing if that thing you really wanted to say will ever be heard or if it will be scooped by someone else.

Patience is not my strong suit. I want my magic wishing dust, and I want it now. I don’t want to wait for that PayPal payment next month. I don’t want to wait until the better, second edition of my book finally makes it onto Amazon. I don’t want to delve all my time and energy into getting some kind of feedback and see practically nothing. I want to get to that ONE try in my life that doesn’t turn out to be an error.

But the wishing dust doesn’t exist, and so I press on, one day at a time, with hard work, persistence and faith that eventually that will be enough.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of the novel No Sensible People, available in print from Lulu.com and Amazon.com. A preview of the 2nd edition is available as a free download for a limited time via her website.

Punching Out

This week I have been working hard, both at the day job and trying write potentially profiting things. I keep trying to establish myself as a “real writer” and honestly, sometimes I feel a bit like Pinocchio. After 30 + years of struggling to take myself seriously it dawned on me this morning that there has to be a point when you stop. This point should not be reserved for the moment when you can’t keep your eyes open anymore. You do not have to wait until your brain feels like gravy. You do not have to wait until you run out of clean clothes and you must do the laundry. You do not have to wait until someone else has to use the computer to do their homework.

At the day job, the end of the day comes, and I log off and go home. Sometimes I work overtime, but if I do, it’s a decided amount and I go home. Then what do I do when I get home. Work some more! The work is often more fun than the day job, but it’s still work.

I’ve read articles, even taken classes on the importance of showing up for your writing and taking it seriously for the job that it is. But as important as it is to punch in, I’ve come to realize I need to punch out as well. I need to hold “reviews” with myself on how I can do what I need to do more efficiently in the time allotted, and try to work only during that time allotted with minimal O.T.

Next week I am going to make a schedule. A full fledged, post it on the fridge, this is what I’m gonna do, schedule of when to write, what to write when, when to network. When to be online. When to be offline. When to be in training. I will keep track of what seems to work, and what doesn’t. Maybe I will even give myself some PTO.

Relaxation should be something we choose to do, something we plan for and look forward to. Not just something that happens when we can no longer hold our own heads up anymore.

Gretchen Lee Bourquin is the author of the novel No Sensible People, available in print from Lulu.com and Amazon.com. A preview of the 2nd edition is available as a free download for a limited time via her website.