Sunday Post: Shit My Brothers Told Me #1

We somehow got to reminiscing about our childhoods last night and I realized -- my four brothers were really mean to me!!  So I'm starting this regular Sunday Series of blog posts to immortalize the abuse.  Today's post comes from brother #3, Nick, and I can tell you -- this caused me many a sleepless night as I started to lose teeth.

"When an eye tooth falls out, you go blind until it grows back in.  It takes like a year."

FRIDAY FAVORITE

I expect by now you've heard, from myriad sources, how fantastic the LA11SCBWI conference was.  Facebook, Twitter and the Blogsphere are F-U-L-L of posts proclaiming it's awesomeness.  (However, if you haven't had your fill, there's a great post about conference survival by my mentorship-brother Bret Ballou here, and an inspiring post about tackling your fears by my mentorhip-monkey-sister Sarah McGuire here.) 

So-- I'm not going to regale you with a conference recap.  Instead, I want to talk about the things you take away from a conference that aren't on the program.  Namely, writer friends.  As Katy Longshore (GIRL IN A DIAMOND COLLAR, Viking/Penguin, Fall 2012) writes in this post, writing is a team sport.  It has to be.  It takes years, on the average, to get from a first first-draft to a publishing contract.  And in between lie a whole lot of rejections.  A LOT.  Because writers tend to be an introverted bunch, we think too long and too hard about those rejections.  We take them to heart, we decide we suck and, too often, we give up. 

That's where our writing buddies come in.  They're our team.  (I used derby girls for the photo because they're super tough, just like writers.)  They remind us to look for the positive in those rejection letters.  They tell us how much they love our book.  They share their own failures and commiserate over ours.  And they're not afraid to kick us in the ass when we get too mopey and start talking about crazy stuff, like giving up and never writing again.  I know; I've been on both sides of that conversation and I can tell you it's a whole lot harder to give up when people are watching. 

I came away from LA with new writer friends, stronger ties with old writer friends and a new critique group.  And while I credit Judy Blume, Gary Paulsen, Libba Bray, Laurie Halse Anderson and a dozen other presenters with the burning inspiration I came home with, it will be my writer friends who are there for me in December and January and February, when I decide I totally suck and I'll never write again. 

Nine Things From LA

Great writer friends -- Namoi Canale, Craig Lew & Sarah McGuire

1. Judy Blume is "sucky" at plot.
2. Jon Scieszka wore a lot of hand-me-downs. 
3. He also broke his little brother several times.
4. Donna Jo Napoli's desk is in her laundry room, next to the washer & dryer.
5. It's not so much talent as determination that gets you there.
6. Gary Paulsen was cheated by a crooked publishing company.
7. He believes you should be able to hunt lawyers.
8. Every writer -- every.  single.  writer -- gets rejections. 
9. According to Laurie Halse Anderson, we're all going to die.  Keep things in perspective.