The Next Important Question

 Now that I have you thinking about the importance of asking why, let’s consider another very important question. What if?

What if asking why led you to consider new and uncharted possibilities?

What if you realized some of those possibilities could be just the road you need to take?

What if you took a chance?

What if that chance you took changed your life, as well as the lives of your family members?

What if it was hard and required a lot of sacrifice?

What if that hard thing meant good progress in the future?

What if that progress was something that taught your children or other loved ones about the importance of following their dreams?

What if they took that lesson and did something big?

What if your choices rippled on for generations?

Or

What if that chance wasn’t right for you, but you learned from it anyway?

What if that wrong choice led you to another choice that could be the right one?

What if you learned a lot of important lessons along the way?

What if your loved ones saw you try and knew that your journey made you who you are?

What if your future, and theirs, was better because you took a chance on the possibility of what if?

Progress. Pass it on.

**For writers:  What if this question created an entire story. Conflict, character arcs, beginning, middle, end—all thrive on this question. Because in the world of fiction, reality stems from possibility. It’s how  good stories are created.

GUTGAA Meet and Greet

A couple weeks ago, I signed up to participate in a Gearing Up to Get an Agent blog hop that involves authors getting together and preparing our works and the materials we’ll need to query agents and/or submit to publishers. If you haven't signed up and want to, you should visit Deana Barnhart's blog and find out more,

Hurry up and go do that. I'll wait.

Also, since you're here, I'd love it if you'd click the follow button to your right--show me a little love, and I'll stop by your blog and return the favor. Deal? I promise to make it worth your time by doing an awesome giveaway in the next few weeks.

I'll wait while you do that too.

*whistles*

Right. Okay.

Today is introduction day. This will explain why my first post this week went live on Monday instead of Wednesday, and also why I won’t be posting anything new until Friday. Because two blogs a week is still two, regardless of what day they post.

Anyway, here's my official blog hop introduction:

~Where do you write?

Usually in my bedroom, but sometimes in the back yard, the car, soccer games and, when I travel, on planes.

~Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?

Don’t laugh. Seriously. It’s a bookshelf that is overflowing with all my current most favorite books.

~Favorite time to write?

Late at night. It’s when I’m most creative because I’m either sleepy, or goofy, or both.

~Drink of choice while writing?

Dr. Pepper. It’s my addiction.

~When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?

Depends on the day. Most often, silence is best. But sometimes a little music is great for setting the mood I need.

~What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?

Picture this: Me, on a treadmill at the gym, watching music videos while listening to something totally different on my iPod. Thinking of rebellion, watching some lady cry in a cemetery, and then a news clip about the rising price of gas, followed by a clip about wildfires burning across the country. There’s a whole lot of what if involved, but it will all become a full story someday. (This is a work in progress, not a finished manuscript, FYI.)

~What's your most valuable writing tip?

Never. Give. Up.

That is all.

Actually, wait. I changed my mind. FINISH before you edit. Now really, that is all.

Thanks to Deana Barnhart for putting this thing together! And hello to all my new friends. *waves*

Wanna meet the other crazy authors? You can find them here:

The Inevitable Question: How’s Your Writing Going?

I don’t know about the rest of my writer friends, but I’ve decided it’s inevitable that whenever I end up at a gathering that does not include other writers, someone will ask how my writing is going. And it’s really obvious that the people who ask this question mean well. Most of them are truly interested in hearing news about my progress.

The problem is that most of the time there is no quick, easy way to answer this question with much detail. Am I still writing? Yes. More than I ever have. Am I still submitting? Again, yes. Have I finished another novel? Yep. A few. When are they coming out? Uh…someday. Maybe? I hope. Am I still looking for an agent? Yep.

All these answers are the same ones I’ve been giving for a while. In the eyes of the people who ask that question, nothing has really changed. I’m still chasing an impossible dream.

But in reality, everything has changed. I have more finished projects, and am preparing at least one for querying/submission. I am a better writer than I was two years ago. A LOT better. I write faster. I am more focused. My characters are more developed, my plots clearer and more compelling. Most importantly, I feel more confident than ever. I KNOW I’m making progress. I’ve come a long way since I started. And I’m so excited about this progress. About my personal possibilities.

Still, there’s really no way for a non-writer to understand this progress in the ten to thirty second question-answering allowance. So I am usually reduced to something like, “It’s going well. Making some great progress.”

For now, that answer is going to have to be good enough. And I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that someday I’ll have news they can actually understand.

What about you? How do you answer that question?