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Time flies when big things are happening!
Since signing with my agent in May, I’ve been hard at work on expanding the THEN COME KISS ME pitch package to include more art, more script, and more details as we prepare to send it out to editors and publishers in the hopes of getting a contract. I expected this work to take me ages, and it certainly hasn’t been fast, but I have definitely been surprised at how quickly I’ve been able to move through these things—my confidence and competence have reached a wonderfully steady place, and it feels really good.
But that isn’t the only work I’ve been doing since my last newsletter. I also finished the final round of edits on I Will Go to the Bank by the Wood, which is soon to make its first ventures into the world looking for blurbs, those praising quotes from other authors and established figures on the cover of books. I’ve also done some freelance writing for a mobile dating game, and been hired as a coach for PlayWrite, a nonprofit here in Portland that mentors youth at the edge through intensive playwriting workshops.
Oh, and we bought a house. So you might say I’ve been busy!
In previous years, I’ve been quick to be burnt out by this level of activity. I spent a lot of time ruminating over the reasons, zeroing in on defects in my mind, my process, trying to find any and every thing that could be optimized to make me and my work perfect. I don’t need to tell you that this was a fruitless endeavor.
What’s been unusual about the amount and level of the work I’ve been doing since about October 2020 is its duration. The boom has yet to bust, and since summer is always my most energetic period, it doesn’t show any signs of stopping. And I don’t feel like I’m strapped to the front of a roller coaster. I feel amazing. I have never felt so good about what I’m doing, not since I was a baby writer finishing my first manuscript with absolutely no idea what publishing was like.
While I am older and more experienced than I’ve ever been, I think the primary difference is not about me being “truer to myself” or having “found my inner resilience.” I think the biggest factor here is the major increase in external validation I’ve received in regard to my work.
I sold a book to a local publisher and a great friend whose opinion I’ve highly valued. I’ve had a consistent and dedicated writing group, meeting bi-weekly or more for two years. I began working with a painting tutor who praises my skill, eye, and imagination as much as she offers suggestions and advice. I finally signed with an agent who believes not just in my writing and illustration abilities but also in my potential for a literary career. Of course I have always had support from my friends and family, but the last two years, and the last year especially, have provided me with validation and support from experts in my fields of creative pursuit, which hits a bit differently.
It is important to have a degree of faith in oneself—without it, it’s hard to get started at all. But I think it’s absolutely crucial for creatives to understand that this external validation is also vital to many of us. It’s important to remember not only as one is getting started, but also as one becomes established and respected. It is not weakness to acknowledge that we need to be validated by people who intimately understand the nature of the work we are putting in. Creative labor is skilled labor, and professional appreciation matters.
As I put it to the program director of PlayWrite during my interview: as I enjoy my newfound stability, I’ve found my desires shifting. I’m focused less (only slightly) on my own ambitions and achievements, and more on turning around and doing what I can to pass on what I’ve learned, to help those who are coming up behind me. I know how much this support has meant to me. If I can offer anything like the professional praise I’ve received to someone else who needs it, I’ll count myself lucky.