E is for...

Editing.

I have been writing Death Becomes Us since January of 2009.  First I did research and immersed myself in the world of people who work with death  I met with an EMT and a coroner and a crime scene cleaner and some EMTs and a hospice nurse and a grief counselor and a death row inmate and a warden and a prison chaplain on death row and it was all very nice and I turned it in as my MFA thesis in 2010.

Once I finished school, I began to submit my proposal to agents.  (I suffer from premature submission,not obsessive compulsive editing, if you really want to know the truth.) One agent liked my voice but wanted the book to be more of a journalistic exploration into the professions of death workers. In other words, more about them, and less about me.  At this time, I realized that this book wasn't really about the people I was writing about.  Yes, they were important, but the journey was really about what happened to me--a middle aged woman with very little experience with death--when I started paying attention to it.  I will be the first to admit that some very weird, out there stuff began to happen.  It was like the universe was just putting stuff in front of me that worked so well for the narrative arc that I was like "NO WAY!"  And the universe was like "WAY."

Years passed. 2011, 2012.  I didn't even want to look at it.  I continued writing, but I couldn't see where it was going.  But now I do.  And now I'm breaking that sucker down into small little manageable chapters that I can spit shine and polish and submit to an editor on April 20th.  I really want to be traditionally published because that feels more like acceptance and love than the self publication route, but if I have to do it myself, I will.  I owe it to the people I wrote about.  Their stories are important.  My story is important.

Editing sucks.

Hey, guess what?  I'm bringing "Monday Mournings" back in May. No, not the TV show, my blog posts.  I need people to interview about their experience of death.  If you search on this blog for "Monday Mournings" you can see these posts.  The questions are simple.  Lots of people read them.  It drives traffic to your blog.  And it's beneficial to talk about death.  Heck, NPR just had a post on this very topic.

So, want to volunteer to be interviewed?  Pretty please with a cherry on top!

D is for...

Death.  NOT.  During the month of April, I'm taking a respite from the subject of death.  Okay, okay, I'll sneak a few things in because there is a day that's pretty important in April that deals with death.  Today, I let Gracie Wilde  pick my D topic and she said "Doors."

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is the band, the Doors.  So, here's a song to listen to while you read the rest of this rambling post.

The next thing I think of when I think of doors, is the quote, "When God closes a door, he opens a window."  My mom says this to me a lot.  I've had a lot of doors close and I've crawled through some half-open windows in the past few years.  When bad things happen, like death or job loss or house loss, it's hard to see anything good that comes from it.  We can't possibly see anything good from something that hurt us so much.  But, I have to say, it is when we are in the abyss that we do our best learning.  We come out stronger or we get closer to someone or we find joy in the simple things.

So, what do you think of when you think of doors?  What's your favorite Doors song?

C is for...

Conferences and Cats and some other things that don't really start with C!

As a writer, I like to go to places where other lap top loving loners tend to gather in one place.  And no, I'm not talking Starbucks.  (Too expensive!) So where do I go?  I attend writing conferences.  Writing is a lonely business people, so it's nice to go and hang around other pasty-faced people who stare at blank pages and obsess over tense issues.  Oh, that sounds mean.  I'm sorry.  Writers are very social creatures.  Ha!  Well, some of them are.  Hello Kristen Lamb!

So, what conferences will I be attending this year?  Well my friends, I am going to the DFW Writers' Conference that is coming up in exactly one month from tomorrow.  It's in my lovely neck of the woods and it will be my third year to attend.  Three times is a charm, right?  Will I convince an agent that they really need to get to know me?  Uh, no.  This year I'm not pitching my book.  I'm just going to chill and learn and eat lots of cookies.  That's my plan and I'm sticking to it.

In July, I will be attending the Mayborn, which is also in my neck of the woods, but that's not why I'm going.  The Mayborn is all nonfiction all the time and not making shit up is how I prefer to roll.  One of my essays is going to be printed in their journal this year, so I get the added benefit of getting to sign the journal for people who buy it.  What can I say?  I'm a fame whore.  Actually, I'm not.  I'm Very shy.  Very reclusive.  Kind of hermit-like.  But, I'm gonna go because they have a fantastic line up of speakers and a cash bar to lubricate the masses.

Okay, now onto cats.  I love me some cats.  If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have heard a few stories about my cats, but if not, just trust me on this.  One of my favorite finds during this challenge has been The Tex Files blog.  She took cats and grammar and blended it all together for a very entertaining and informative read.  Trust me on this.  You need to read this blog.

So, yesterday, I hinted that I was going to a writer event and Sarah Holmes, a fellow blogger in this challenge was smart and daring enough to guess that it was Anne Lamott.  And she got to pick my "G" topic because she took a chance.

So, Anne Lamott.  Oh, Anne Lamott.  Her book, "Bird by Bird" is my favorite book about writing that I've read and I've read a few.  At the event, I was sitting alone flipping through my dog-eared copy of the book and I noticed on her author bio that she went to Goucher college.  I was like, wow!  We have something in common.  I went to Goucher to get my MFA in Creative Nonfiction.  So, as I'm getting my book signed, my sister-in-law says, "Pam went to Goucher too."  Anne looks up and says, "Really?  I loved Goucher, but I left after two years to become a writer."  I walked away thinking, yeah, I went to Goucher for two years also, but unlike Anne Lamott, I went there to become a writer.  And that's probably why she's waaaaay more successful as a writer.  I'm like the Tinman in the Wizard of Oz.  I need a diploma to validate my crazy professional choices.

Okay, I'm rambling.  Today I plan to sit my butt in the chair and actually do some writing.  Not that this isn't writing, but if you're a writer, you know what I mean.

Peace out.