A to Z Challenge #544

Is it March 31 already???
But it can't be.  That's just too gruesome!
This year my A to Z Challenge theme will be Random Variety--as in A Variety of Topics Not Necessarily Related.  One day may be a poem or song.  One day maybe a picture.  Maybe an essay or a flash fiction. 
I've had so many ideas and themes.  I may be political.  I may be religious.  I may be irreverent, serious,  and funny.  I'm sure I'll offend some along the way and hopefully inspire or encourage at least once or twice.  One night I sat down with a notebook and wrote out the alphabet letters and brainstormed. I loved how it was so weirdly eclectic.  I hope they're are as fun to read as they will be to post.
I know for some the challenge has already begun, but here in Southwest Louisiana we're still on Sunday night and I'm not late yet.  Just not as early as I'd like.  I'm glad for the challenge, though, as it makes me sit down and write.
Happy Reading.  I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has to say. 

How about everyone else?  Are you intimidated by a challenge, or is this the accountability you need to get you going?

Wow!  1717 blogs?  I'd better get busy! 

The Humanity of Social Media

Oh the humanity!

The icons smother me:  linkedin, facebook, twitter, hootsuite, pintrest all beg sign up here, log in there, post daily for best results, but do so between the hours of 1 and 1:30, 2:22 and 3:13 and only when the moon is 3/4 full-- drowning in a sea of social media, no life preserver.  Nobody to tell what kind of information  I should and shouldn't share.  Privacy settings?  Is privacy even possible on the Internet? How do I use it to promote myself and my work?  My brain has been totaled on the information highway.  Trapped in the wreckage, where are the jaws of life?
I wake up in a cold sweat, shivering in the remnants of the nightmare. Whew! Thank goodness it was just a dream.  It had seemed so real. 
My phone lets out a single bing and the screen brightens the room.  I look to see what has awakened my sleeping smart phone.
you have notifications pending on facebook.
Oh no!  It's real!
If I touch the phone will I lose my soul?
Oh wait, I forgot.  It's the first Saturday of the Month.  The Bayou Writer's Group meeting.  Live contact, icon free, no passwords to remember. I love the first Saturday because I get to talk to real writers who drink as much coffee as I do. I learn as much by how they say things as what they say.
Sure we talk about using social media for a few hours over dinner.  But it's not so scary when I have live people to talk to about it. I guess we were flapping our jaws of life. 

Writing Conference Lesson

 The best part of the Bayou Writer's Group conference?  Plenty of coffee. 
It was a great conference.  My brain is overflowing with inspiration and writing knowledge. 

 

So, what all did I learn?

•  It's all personal--don't take it that way.
•  Write what you know--unless you can research well.
•  Ignore negative comments--but pay attention if you keep hearing the same thing over and over.
•  Write everyday--or at least most days.   
• Have a Network presence and socialize but stop talking and get to writing.
• Throw out your rejections--save them all.    
• Publishing Houses are evil--Self-Publish
• Self-Publishing is evil--go Traditional
• Fire your agent.
• You need an agent.
• You need a critique group.
• Don't listen to others. 

It all sounds contradictory, unless you stop and think about it.  There's  a lot of information available:  books, magazines, Internet sites.  You can make yourself crazy listening to others since there really aren't any hard and fast rules.  Sure somethings might get you published easier, but does that make them better?  When I look at some of the things published these days I wonder. 
At the end of the day, you have to be happy with the stories you craft.    Nobody else can tell them since only you know them.  Your perceptions and experiences are unique, which means only you know what words need to be shared.
It all comes down to writing.  You can't be critiqued, submitted, published or rejected if you don't write. 
In ten years your failure won't be in seeing 100 rejection slips in your portfolio.  The failure will be in finding you haven't written anything at all. 
 
For more on the conference and the writer's group check out:
Writing in Wonderland
and
Bayou Writer's Group