Thursday, February 5, 2009

Glimpse of another season


Photo by Andif

19 comments:

Nancy P said...

I am a stranger to my own blog this week. I'll bring a photo I.D. :D

Kimberly Frost said...

Good morning, everyone!

Thank you all so much for your well wishes and support with Would-Be Witch. Whether there will be another contract for the series probably depends a lot on how this month goes, so I am so GRATEFUL to everyone who is helping by getting a copy and talking it up, etc.

Also, I remember cybercelebrating with everyone when I finished the draft of Book 2 right around the time Kelly had finished one of his. It was so much fun. And, of course, Nancy is a wonderful writing mentor. See Would-be Witch acknowledgments please...

Anyway, this blog has been a special place for me over the past year. So thank you all!

Kimberly Frost said...

Kimber post: Part 2

I have a question for everyone. A friend of a friend just got a rejection letter from an agent and is very upset. I know when I was suffering through a period of rejection, I tried to focus on people who had succeeded after failure, so that I could hold onto hope. What advice/what kind of support do you give to friends who are going through tough times?

AndiF said...

So since everybody has declared me the weather decider, how come it's only 21 degrees outside. It's spring, spring I say! ::checks thermometer:: Damn, nobody ever listens to me.

Well at least the dogs know how to deal with the weather. [LINK]

I hope everything goes great for you, Kimber. As for your friend, I don't think there's any one thing that works for everybody; people have to find their own solace and safety. But they need safe harbors to keep them from getting lost while they do and that's what friend provide. I think that "Misery loves company" doesn't mean that we want other to suffer with us but that the hardest thing in the world is to be sad and alone.

Morning all.

Anonymous said...

Morning All

Andi--Keep practicing. It takes a while for those Season skills to work. Pat puppies for me.
NICE PICTURE. Swirly Water Good.

Kimber--One thing that's important with emotions--Don't ask her/him to deny the bad feelings. "Don't be upset... You shouldn't feel bad we all..." Kinda talk. Emotions and feelings are important. The bad as well as the good.
Recognizing and validating those do help.
"It really hurts to get that regection.
"It sucks when you were so hopeful and it didn't work out...

Then at some point talk about the future.
What do you think you'll do...
I'd be happy to help you make a plan of action when you're ready.

Sometimes we can just sit/walk beside them quietly so they are not alone.

We are on this journey TOGETHER.
Check Kimber's or any acknowledgement page for thanks to those there in the darker curves of the trail.

One of the reasons this is a GREAT blog family.

Fabulous Friday to All.

Anonymous said...

Morning, all! A toasty 30 outside, lots o' frost on the grass - this IS Florida, right? But up to 57 today. Once the sun gets up, that is.

Waiting for my furniture. Busy weekend of nesting ahead. Then finally back to writing Monday, whoo-hoo!

Frantically sending spring vibes north. Waving to our absent (and probably busy) hostess. And Kimber, I can order your book now that I have an address to have it sent to! Good luck with the numbers.

Great advice, Lisa and andi. If this crazy writing life was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Have a wonderful Friday, folks. If you're bored, come on down - I'll give you a box to unpack!

Maria Lima said...

We can haz spring??? (she asks with great hope)

Morning, peeps! Yay for Friday and for Kimber's book release. I'm about 1/2 way through and enjoying the heck out of WOULD-BE WITCH.

Kimber, re: the rejection - egads, yes, it's so tough. I remember thinking I had an agent all lined up and he not only rejected me, but did so quite eloquently...in a nice but not so nice way.

For your friend, just stick with her, and be a friend. There are a LOT of rejections out there as a writer as well as other things. After my first small publisher vanished into thin air, just a Matters was released, I nearly gave it all up. Now, I'm on incarnation 3 of my series and am about to be published by Pocket Books.

In the words of the immortal Commander Peter Quincy Taggart: Never give up. Never surrender.

On that note, I'm giving all of you a ginormous cyberhug today...mostly because I could use one.

Fabulous Friday to all!

Anonymous said...

Maria--

Hugs. Does a body good.
Give plenty in real life.
Didn't used to. Too reserved.
Much smarter now.

Cyberhugs work well too.

Big one right back atcha!!!

dina said...

De-lurking just to say hello to everyone and what a great picture!
Re-lurking now.

Kelly McCullough said...

Kmber, send her to
Every rejection letter is an achievement if you think it will help. The basic message is thus: Rejection = you're in the game = you rock!

Anonymous said...

Great post, Kelly. Thanks for reminding us!

Larry Kollar said...

Andi… what I want to know is, how the heck do you keep the stove area so CLEAN? I know dogs will eat anything, but "anything" doesn't include wood chips and stray bits of ash. Keep practicing with the weather thing; I'll bet you'll start seeing results in a month or so.

We've got a nice weekend coming up, temps in the 60s and sunny. I'm going to finish painting the cold frame then set it out. I'm thinking about lining the backside & bottom with bricks to create a crude thermal storage, other people have done that and it seems to work well.

Kimber, your FoF needs to nail the rejection letter onto the wall near where he/she writes — and I mean use a NAIL — then give it the finger as necessary to get motivation. Don't get sad, get determined. (He says, not having sent anything out lately himself.)

Friday. Friday. Friday. I have to keep reminding myself of that.

Kimberly Frost said...

Great advice. Thanks, guys!

Beth - so glad you have a home. You'll find your name among the WRW crew. :)

Andi - Thank you and thanks for the always gorgeous pictures. I find them a source of peace and inspiration.

Maria - thank you and I'm so excited about Pocket. This week is obviously crazy, but I'm reading you on the way to San Jose. I can't wait. I haven't read a novel in weeks and weeks and it's, of course, one of life's great pleasures. So I can't wait to get back to reading with a friend's book. :)

Kelly, I'm talking to young writers tomorrow, and wyrdsmiths and sweetmystery are places I plan to steer them to for writing advice.

Lisa - you're right about processing the emotion. I did tell my friend that it's okay to be frustrated and to cry. A writer from my group blog said she lets her have 12 - 24 hours to sulk and soak when something goes wrong in her writing life. I like that a lot. Process, vent, then move on.

Morning, Dina! Okay, so I'm a couple hours late with that. ;)

Farf- you crack me up.

Anonymous said...

KatieBird, whenever you have questions about green things, always feel free to ask me. I work with people who make their own cleaners from very regular, everday, non-toxic stuff.

Most I had asked about soda crystals said they hadn't heard of em because "I make my own cleaners". :) But I'm not that industrious or inclined LOL.

Kimberly I'm ordering your book via Powells on Saturday. Whoot! Congrats!

Maria, GalaxyQuest is one of our favorite, comfy comedies.

Not at the mimes but still gotta go to the mimes to pick up groceries. Way behind because I didn't go last week.

Larry Kollar said...

Hey Kimber, the two reviews on bn.com are pretty positive so far (as in 5 stars each).

Mf. Add "send stuff out, dangit" to the personal to-do this for the weekend. Need to print and package tonight, send tomorrow. We hatessss thisss part of writing, we doesss.

Anonymous said...

Bebo is bigger than I had pictured. He looks as big/bigger than the other 2 in that pic. Love the pic on the front page.

Re: dealing with rejection, the following sites listing successful people who experienced rejection early on may be of help?

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/22435

http://media.www.themontclarion.org/media/storage/paper374/news/2002/01/17/Feature/They-Too.Were.Rejected-165854.shtml

http://www.motivational-messages.com/persistence.html

Hurray! It's Friday and the snow is melting! :-D

Maria Lima said...

Today has certainly made up for a lot!

I got a reimbursement check from work for expenses. A reimbursement from insurance. Balance of advance for my essay in IN THE HUNT: Unauthorized Essays on Supernatural (and 2 author copies) AND a royalty check for the initial trade pb release of Matters.

In about 1/2 hour, I get to go to the eye doctor and spend some of that $$ on new glasses. ::g::

Kelly McCullough said...

Back. Made my nut and ready to curl up streamside with a good book and a bottle of beer.

Beth, thanks and your welcome. That mindset is a lot of what kept me sane through the dark times.

Kimber, glad to be of help. Let them know that they're welcome to ask questions. Questions give us stuff to blog about.

FarF, We hates it to, oh yes we does. More even than those filthy Bagginses.

Andi, we'll understand if it doesn't work this first time but if there's still no thaw tomorrow...

Maria, getting paid, w00t!

Everybody else, (waves frantically before curling up with beer and book)

AndiF said...

Hey Farf, you'll notice I didn't take a picture of the front of the stove. :)

Congrats on getting the excellent reviews over an B&N, kimber.

And hey, something must be working because even though there's still snow out there, we're going from the low 30s today to the high 40s or maybe even low 50s tomorrow! And the long range forecast shows we're going to be above freezing for the next week. w00t!

Evening everybody.