• About Jane
  • Jane’s Writing
  • candid photography

jane, candid

~ just one jane's thoughts on life

jane, candid

Tag Archives: Christina Katz

Proudest Moments

14 Friday May 2010

Posted by Jane Bretl in Motherhood, Writing

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

anthology, book signing, CBS Sunday Morning, Christina Katz, Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop, Jane Friedman, radio interview, The Prosperous Writer, The Ultimate Mom, There Are No Rules, Writer's Digest

One person’s humor can be another person’s yawn.  One person’s proud can be someone else’s embarrassment.  On either side of the fence, I find that most things in life are not as they appear on the surface, because there exists the chapters before and the chapters not yet written, and all we see is a snapshot.

Profound?  Maybe.  Prophetic?  Confirmed.  Pedantic?  That’s your call.

(Forgive my lack of an obvious segue here — hang with me),  I recently completed a writing course with author Christina Katz called Writing and Publishing the Short Stuff.  I want to make some money as a freelancer, with a side benefit of feeling more comfortable calling myself a writer when I have more clips.  I know, I know, it is not necessary to be published to be a true writer, but truthfully there is some ego involved.  And freelancing is my next challenge.

The class was a fantastic experience — a wealth of information on writing list articles, how-to pieces, fillers, tips, cover letters and much more.  Most importantly for me, it was a kick in the pants.  I willingly signed up for a kick in the pants and I am so glad I did.

I have been following Christina’s blog and reading her newsletters for over a year.  I own two of her books, and am ready to purchase the third.  I respect her advice.  But it was one of her most recent posts that touched me more deeply, one where she asked “writer mamas” to share their Proudest Moments.  I think it is a great read whether you are a writer, a mama, both or neither.

After reading story after story, here is what I chose to share in this on-line conversation about pride.  Because I am still a self-handicapping procrastinator budding deadline embracer, my contribution is in the comments section (umm, missed the cut-off):

This collection of Proudest Writer Mama moments left my heart on my throat. I am so touched by these stories of accomplishments, ones that society may consider large or small, but are each huge to all of us that have this goal. Thank you Christina for inspiring each of these writers to post these experiences, and to each writer for sharing the private insight into their dreams.

My proudest moment came the day I received my copy of the anthology “ The Ultimate Mom“, in 2009. My essay “The Impromptu Birthday” was my first published piece, and was not just a shot-in-the-arm of confidence, but really the I.V. drip that kept me going through my self-doubts. I held that book in my hands with the late afternoon sun streaming in the windows, looked at my name in print and smelled the pages as I let them riffle. Then I looked at the mountain of dirty laundry in the dining room and the sink-full of dirty dishes still left from breakfast, (and quite possibly the previous night’s dinner) — and felt a sense of accomplishment, a quiet peace that after many years and multiple careers, I had finally found what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Subsequently, things started hopping. I appeared twice as a guest blogger on Jane Friedman’s Writer’s Digest blog “There Are No Rules“, was invited to do a radio interview about my story, did a book signing at my local Barnes & Noble (did you know you could do a book signing by being a contributor to an anthology? I didn’t!) and most recently appeared very briefly on CBS Sunday Morning as an attendee at the Erma Bombeck Humor Writers’ Workshop. No matter that my published story of motherhood is about poo and lying to my kid to accelerate the potty training process; the radio interview was broadcast from a nursing home-based radio station with a broadcast range of approximately five miles; at the book signing I sold 11 copies, with eight of those purchased by my friends; and on my seven second stint on national TV, I inadvertently uttered the words “incontinence problem” and “recovering valedictorian”. There’s a lesson in there somewhere, that lots of things in life sound far more impressive to others until they know the details.

But I am proud of these moments, even though a disturbing number of them involve bodily functions. The real pride blooms from this: each and every time, I had pushed myself far beyond the edge of my comfort zone, and laid myself bare with as much authenticity as I could bear.

…it is that same authenticity that I feel in these Writer Mama stories. We can all feel proud.

Other than being a mom, my best job ever, nothing has been as personally fulfilling as being a writer.  Wife, daughter, sister and friend are treasured roles…  and in all these areas, I have been unbelievably blessed.  But, writing?  I can hardly wait to see what happens next, (and it will not be the missing component of the body function trifecta, I promise).

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

one word

29 Friday Jan 2010

Posted by Jane Bretl in Writing

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Ali Edwards, blogiversary, children's book, Christina Katz, ChristinaKatz.com, Jane Koenen Bretl, Marsha Norman, middle grade novel, NaNoWriMo, one word, Writing

“Dreams are illustrations… from the book your soul is writing about you.”   Marsha Norman

Can one little word provide some vision for a whole year?

I stumbled upon the idea of this ‘one word‘ while reading author Christina Katz’s new site.  She moved her “WriterMama Riffs” blog over to ChristinaKatz.com.     Christina chose her one word for 2010 — Prosperous.  That is a good word.  It has connotations of not only copious output, but also well-earned income to go with it, always a bonus when doing something you love to do.

Through Christina Katz’s word I found blogger Ali Edwards.  (One of the things I like best about these things is that one writer’s ideas lead to more ideas and on it goes and grows…)  In Ali’s blog, she shares  One Little Word 2010.  Here is her explanation:

“Essentially the idea is to choose a word (or let it choose you) that has the potential to make an impact on your life.

Maybe you want to invite something or maybe you are hoping to subtract something. Maybe your word will be practical or hopeful or creative or fanciful. Maybe you need a big word, something in-your-face that will challenge you everyday. Maybe you need something smaller and quieter that will whisper gentle tidings as you make your way throughout the year.

Whatever word you end up with, make sure it is your word (not your sister’s, mom’s, partner’s, child’s, etc). You can share it publicly or keep it close to your heart.”

Hundreds of her readers commented on their one word for 2010, and Ali published a list of her readers’ words. I find the list thought-provoking and inspiring.

I did not know what my word was a year ago, in the first month of 2009.  Forced to choose back then, I may have volunteered the word “Bewildered”.  Or “Ready To Step Off The Precipice Of The Known”.  Wait, that last one is way too many words.  Maybe “Embark”?

With the clearer view afforded by hindsight, I can now see that my word was “Exploration”.  I started the year with a plan to write children’s books (age 4-8), so I was learning all I could about that genre.  Then I received the exciting news that one of my short stories would be published in an anthology, so I also learned as much as I could about that genre.  Then I discovered blogging, and threw myself wholeheartedly into learning that bright new world.  Then I researched the options of freelancing for magazines and newspapers, writing humor essays and finally rounded out the year by writing a 50,000 word NaNoWriMo draft of a middle grade children’s novel.  So 2009 ended with a great deal of ground covered, a lot of information crammed into my head, and I softly landed somewhere between a lack of focus and a world of possibility.

I finish January, my first blogiversary, with many lessons learned…  The discipline required when granted the gift to do what I love to do but damn I don’t feel like doing it now but I have to do it anyway because it is important for me to write every day to reach my dreams.   Moving beyond the guilt inherent in that previous sentence.  Learning where I have a natural aptitude, and what will actually pay, and how to combine the two.  Sorting what currency in which I want to be paid — money, confidence, fulfillment — and how to combine all three.

A year ago, I read a blog post from a writer that I now cannot find.  In my memory, it was brilliant, and I want to quote it here because it completely describes in a humorous but honest way, how she made it through this same phase. It had the power to stick in my head for a year, in the way that words can do when they speak to your soul.

But I can’t find her.

Still obsessing Moving on, I’ll share the essence of her story: she wrote of ‘blind-dates’ with many genres of writing, and having each genre, time after time, not be “the one”.  She would fall feverishly in love with each one for a while, but then would see the foibles and faults and know she had to keep looking.  But if she had not given each one a try, she wouldn’t know what felt right when she found it.  Which she did.

Dang, the analogy was so much better than that.

Thinking about the next year, I am still on that path of searching and exploring.  But my choice for my one word in 2010?  Embrace.

Embrace the gift.  Embrace the challenges.  Embrace the unknown.  Embrace inevitable failure.  Embrace inevitable success.  Embrace the discipline I must muster.  Embrace the journey, even though I may not know the destination until I find it.

What’s your word?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Where are we going?  Good question.  I’ll know it when I see it.”   Anonymous

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

where’s the bus?

13 Saturday Jun 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in Motherhood, seasons, Writing

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Christina Katz, Get Known Before the Book Deal, yellow bus

Okay, so here’s the deal:  that magic big yellow bus stopped coming to my house and now there are extra PEOPLE here.  Every day.  All day.  And every time I sit down at the computer to write something brilliant, someone says “You’re at the computer, AGAIN???”  Which makes me feel like I should play a game with them or something.  Because they grow up so fast.  Then I wander off and see some task that was supposed to be done yesterday, and they ask if they can use their “screen minutes” which are a commodity akin to gold around here.

Coincidentally, I work at the one computer in the house with a fast internet connection;  it could not be their secret evil plan to distract me so they can play a computer game, could it??

I miss the bus.

I miss the writing.

I need a new routine.

Anyhoo, back to business around here.  There is a book to give away.  You may already know that lots of blogs do regular giveaways.  I’ve won three books from blog giveaways in the last couple months, and I don’t enter that often.  Maybe three times?  These cool blogs usually also make a clear point of the technologically superior and ultimately equitable computer program used to chose the winner (the Randomizer! Randomcount.com! the Randalamadingdong!)  I imagine this cuts down on their hate mail from the losers non-winners by making it clear that the blogger plays fair.

So I offered my very first blogging giveaway this week — a copy of the book Get Known Before the Book Deal by Christina Katz.  I hoped to encourage lots of thought-provoking and intelligent questions for Christina to cover in the follow-up Q&A.  It would be a bummer to invite a famous author to a party and then have no one show up.  It worked!  The questions were great and we all learned something new.  I also secretly hoped that the promise of free goods would lure some of the Lurkers out of hiding and into the open to take part in all the fun and frolic that goes on here.  I think I may have to give away a Weber grill to do that.  Food for thought.

But here’s the deal: I do not know how to use the Randomizer.  It sounds like an Abdominizer, or a Lobotimizer.  So I used some folded yellow sticky notes, and a kid that has been here ALL DAY pulled the name out of an actual hat.  Sounds random to me.

And the winner is…….  Judy!  It is quite fitting that Judy be the Truly Randomly Chosen Winner since she left one of my very first comments, ever, back when I had three readers, and she had never met me in her life.  So Judy, send me your mailing address and the book will be yours!

Send me a bus and I’ll put people on it!

No, that is so not true.  I love all those people to the moon and back.  I am so lucky to have the opportunity and flexibility to be here with them all summer.  Though I might consider getting on that bus myself if I had a new laptop.  I’d only be gone a little while.

Maybe I can win one from a blog…?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

{Books to Ponder} April

23 Thursday Apr 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in good reads

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Anne Lamott, Christina Katz, J.A. Konrath, Jack Kilborn, Maria Bailey, Nora Ephron, The Ultimate Mom

Current Reads:

Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott

And, of course, since I had read the story that I wrote but not the other 257 pages:  The Ultimate Mom, an anthology by Maria Bailey (I’ve heard the story on page 34 is worth a look)what a great book!

Recently read:

Whiskey Sour, J.A. Konrath

1/2 page of Afraid, Jack Kilborn

Writer Mama, Christina Katz

On Deck:

I Feel Bad About My Neck, Nora Ephron

Get Known Before the Book Deal, Christina Katz

*

Recommendations, anyone?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

tour guides

06 Friday Mar 2009

Posted by Jane Bretl in Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

blog tour, book tour, Christina Katz, J.A. Konrath

Authors go on book tours to promote their work.  I am always surprised by the stream of authors that make an appearance at the little Barnes & Noble near where I live.  We are off the beaten path, a bit.  They must travel to quite a few stops before this burg rises to the top of the list.

Recently, I learned about blog tours by authors.  Whether this is a truly revolutionary concept, I don’t know;  I had not heard of it, but since I am a newbie to the publishing world, everything is brand-spanking new to me.  Either way, the idea of “traveling” to reach the readers (and potential readers) via blogs seems to be an exciting and potentially game-changing marketing approach for writers.

For me, following these blog tours is like doing a ‘beautiful home tour’ in my favorite city.  Someone else has looked through lots of places and picked ones that were unique in style, content and creativity.  The organizer won’t put a house on the tour that is in C.H.A.O.S. Everything will be neat and tidy and I can just look around as long as I want and find new ideas I may want to try at home.  I get to peek inside some very creative, inspirational, thought-provoking little corners.  I could have found these places on my own, but I would have had to crack open some scary doors. (Do you have any idea how much crap is on the internet??)

Speaking of S-C-A-R-Y, one of the blog tours I am following now is J.A. Konrath, who publishes the blog A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, and is the author of the Lt. Jack Daniels thriller novel series.  He is promoting his new horror novel AFRAID, which is frankly too scary for me to read, but that is because I am just a big scaredy-pants.  Even without reading his new book, I can tell you that I have already learned a great deal from his own blog, and have thoroughly enjoyed visiting the ones he is picking for his tour.  Whew!  So many ‘houses’ to see!

I am also following the blog cyber-tour of Christina Katz, author of “Writer Mama: How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids” and “Get Known Before the Book Deal“.  Her blog, The Writer Mama Riffs, has also been a wonderful source of industry information (and humor), and the blog stops so far in March have been lovely.  Christina’s tour is planned to celebrate the two year anniversary of the release of “Writer Mama”, and it is inspiring to see what all those other writer mamas are accomplishing every day (plus it is always just fun to peek around in someone else’s house).

In the meantime, Kitty continues to wait her turn for some attention.  The In-Box seems a logical place to pass the time while SOMEONE sits reading blogs all day…

kitty in box

So many great blogs, so little time.  Anyone have another blog tour they recommend?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

jane, candid

In 2009, I started this blog to share my sometimes thoughtful, sometimes funny, occasionally irreverent thoughts on motherhood, writing for publication and myriad creatures that got along as cats and dogs.

One day, I felt like stepping away from living out loud for awhile. Eh, life happens.

Fast forward five years -- I'll gloss over the details for now -- save to say that lucky for me an unexpected detour has provided some new material.

So here I am, standing at the corner. I've been here before, wondering which way to go. This time I choose living.

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 137 other subscribers

topics to peruse in either the traditional or modern sense. You get to choose.

  • cancer, weirder than I thought
  • Foodies
  • get along like cats and dogs
  • good reads
  • Motherhood
  • Photography
  • seasons
  • something important, I'm sure
  • Writing

Posts from back when

Follow jane, candid on WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • jane, candid
    • Join 43 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • jane, candid
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: