You Are Your Own Writer

Dear Writer,

This is a hard hobby isn't it? The range of knowledge and age is vaster than most other hobbies, possibly all. At least, I can't think of another one.

And with age and experience and knowledge, its inevitable that someone is going to be a better writer than us.

I got a dose of this first hand when I entered a writing contest a couple months back. Outwardly, I told my friends that "I probably won't win", but inwardly I fantasized with the judges calling me, exclaiming "This book is too good to not be published!"

But I didn't win.

I didn't come in the top ten.

After that, it was hard to not compare myself to the others. They started writing their first novels at twelve. I wrote ten horrible misspelled pages at twelve. They were on track to be published by fifteen. I hadn't finished my first novel at fifteen.

It's hard to compare ourselves to others, but writer, we can't compare ourselves to others because we aren't others.

We are us.

You are your own writer, Writer. You have your own time lines and milestones. You have your own life story.

God doesn't make mistakes Writer, God's timing is perfect. So maybe I didn't get published when I was fifteen. So. What? God's got a plan for me that is so much better than anything I could dream up.

But, sometimes it's hard to remember that isn't it? Like when a friend can't stand your MC or you have the worst case of writers block this century. (Not that either of those have happened to me...)

It's hard being a writer, Writer. I'm not going to lie, books can only teach you so much in this profession. It's hard, and daunting, and sometimes virtually miserable.

But it's so so rewarding.

Writer, writing is a part of you, you are your own writer. You are not JK. Rowling, you are not Judy Blume, you are not Timothy Shoemaker. (Code of Silence books anyone?)

As much as these people inspire us or as much as we want to be like these people. We cannot look at their time lines and milestones and be discouraged. Because, they are not us. 

Writer, comparing ourselves is something we do all the time, but it needs to stop. Your story can't come from Joan Bauer, Writer. It has to come from you. And I think that's pretty cool.

Don't give up Writer. God's got great plans for you.

-Libby

"I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139:14

Historical Fiction: Outside the Box

Hey Guys,

Today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite things in the world... *insert trumpet fanfare*

Historical fiction.

There's just something about the way I'm transported to another world that I love about historical fiction.

But for my writerly readers out there (ha! writerly readers. That's funny. :P) How the heck do you make it work? How do you make it new? I mean, there's only so many times we can hear a story of the colonists fighting for Independence before it gets old. (Unless you're me, I love that stuff.)

 Think outside of the box 

Okay, so this goes for all writing, but it is especially important with historical fiction. With historical fiction you are confined to a box, so to speak, you can't make too much up in terms of world building because it has to be, you know, historical.

So we rely on other ways to make our readers gasp. Maybe we go from the other angle, tell the story about Hitler's niece who was in love with a Jewish merchant... (That's a good idea by the way, I should write a story on that) No one's expecting that because Hitler isn't a 'good guy' Historical fiction is very one sided, we tell the story of the Patriots of the revolution, the allies of WWII, the pioneers from the wild west.

But what about the other side of it? What about the loyalists who were persecuted? What about the people who were fighting with the Axis Powers? Or the Indians who were just fighting for their homes?

Guys, it might take a little bit of research, but those sides can make great stories. Just writing this blog post my writing brain is itching to delve into these ideas. They're new, fresh, and exciting.

Or what about a character you wouldn't expect. Instead of telling the story from the soldier's sweetheart's prospective  (This can be done well, but it's pretty cookie cutter) tell the story from his father's, grandmother's or dog's perspective.

I've never read a war story from the POV of a dog... have you?

But, typically, at least I go for what's easy. My unfinished manuscripts are full of cookie cutter historical fiction, Trying to write original historical fiction is hard! It's hard to convince ourselves people will like this, or they aren't bad guys.

Maybe people need outside of the box historical fiction, after all, not all the bad guys are 'bad guys' and a story like that will show us that.

Thinking outside of the box is critical to writing. We can't be Jane Austen, JK. Rowling, or James Patterson, but we can be us. So our stories need to be ours too, even if they are historical fiction.

What about you? How have you spiced up your historical fiction?

-Libby

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" John 1:1

Fear of the Food Allergy

Hey Y'all,

Today I'm going to go off the writing course for a bit and talk about allergies.

I was watching a documentary on food allergies a few days ago and a realization hit me with the force of a brick. Food allergies are scary. 

Like I guess I always knew they were something to have a healthy awareness of, but listening to stories about how little kids almost died from the same condition as me was almost surreal, as if I'd just gotten to the point to where I wasn't afraid, but listening to those stories caused the fear to rise again.

So now we have two red flags. Being terrified and not being afraid at all. Both of these are trouble, for completely different reasons.

First off,
Being Terrified: 

It's kind of obvious why this is a problem, while there needs to be an awareness of 'yes if I eat almonds I can die' but it can't get to the point of 'you ate an almond three weeks ago? Get away from me! Are you trying to murder me?'

That could pose as a problem for making friends. ;p

Psalms 23:4 says "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me"

God knows everything that has happened and everything that will happen in the whole realm of the universe. Who am I to be afraid of a peanut when God's planned out my footsteps and is going to take me home right at the very moment I need to be?

Being scared of a food allergy lets it run your life, lets the what if's run your life, and if something else is running your life (other than God) is that really living?

That being said this can lead to another big problem:
Being Fearless

Yeah, sure, being fearless can be a good thing to a degree, but not when it comes to food allergies. I have read so many anaphylaxis death stories that have the words 'did not have epi-pen' in it. To which I respond "why in the world did someone not have their epi on them???"

You see guys, it's all well and good to not let the fear of the allergy run your life, but that is NO excuse to not use common sense. If you have an epi PLEASE carry it around with you, just because something has never happened before doesn't mean something never will.

You still have to be diligent in keeping yourself safe, even if that means sacrificing the invitation to Texas Roadhouse. It's better to be a social outcast then dead right?

So where do we find the happy medium guys? Where is the I have a healthy respect for my allergy?

To be honest... I don't know.

I lean more on the 'being terrified' scale when it comes to my food allergies, but I have recently taken to not letting it run my life.

A few weeks ago I was at a large function, that was supposed to be nut free with LOTS of food, with some friends of mine. While there a group of boys I knew, but wasn't great friends with came sprinting up to me telling me someone was eating peanut butter. I thanked them for telling me and was about to turn around to go the other way when one of the boys stopped me and said "how do you do it? How do you go to things like this"

I'd never been asked that before, but I knew the answer. I looked him dead in the eye and uttered one word: "Faith."

God gave me these food allergies for a reason, and I'm not going to be afraid of something God ordained.

What about you? Are you more terrified or fearless? I'd love to hear what you have to say on the subject.

-Libby

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" Matthew 17:20

I'm Not Giving Up

Hey Guys,

Sorry you haven't heard from me for a little while, it's tricky stuff running a blog and a life at the same time. :P.

Anyway, today I wanted to talk about giving up on a story...

Has anyone else ever felt like they just don't want to work on a book any more? I'm feeling like that with my NaNo book, and boy, it's difficult.

I feel like I'm letting go to a part of me, because I love that book, but right now I don't have the resources I need to fix it. I'm a 'fix as I go' writer, but I'm trying to do it in shifts in order to make the editing process easier, but I can't do it! I want to go overhaul the whole thing!

Finally, I've decided I'm not getting rid of it, I'm delaying it until I can spend more time with it, because it hurts to throw out your pride and joy, and I'm not one to throw the baby out with the bath water. (That's such a weird saying) 

Has anyone else ever felt like they need to give up on a book? What did you do?

-Libby

"Do not be anxious about anything, instead with prayer, petition, and thanksgiving,  present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6

A brief look at 2016

Hey Ya'll,

Am I the only one who cannot believe that 2016 is almost over? I really cannot, this year has been huge for me from a writing aspect AND an allergy aspect. Go me! :p (sorry guys, I'm a little full of myself at times ;) )

So, being the somewhat prideful perfectionist I am, I've decided to make a list of my accomplishments this year!! (within reason of course...)

From a writing aspect this year I have:

•  written a novella numbering 23,000 words
• finished my first novel at 57,000 words 
• Started editing my first novel
• Did NaNoWriMo for the first time, writing 30,000 words
• Won my local writing contest for the third year running in my age group. (Well I was the only one who entered in my age group this year... but that's beside the point...) 
• And, written a short story for a nation wide contest 

From an allergy aspect this year I have: 

• Found a church that will accommodate my allergies that I thank God for every day (or try to) 
• Become more independent in keeping myself safe as opposed to relying on my mom. 
• Started to become an advocate for food allergies. They ARE a big deal you know... ;p 

So.... nine bullet points wasn't as nearly impressive as I was going for, but that's alright, it's good for me to learn early my life isn't nearly as exciting as soon as I write it down. :p 

All in all 2016 has been very eventful year for me and my family, I'm very thankful for all the things I have been given this year. 

What about you? 

-Libby 

"And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing out eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." Hebrews 12:1-2

ROUGH Drafts

Dear Writer,

When I looked at the rough draft for my first and only novel I thought to myself, wow. This stinks. I've grown up with these fantastic books that were on the eighth, ninth or tenth draft when I read them. I'd never seen a rough draft of anyone else's book, so I compared mine to theirs. Mine lost.

Do you ever feel like your writing is too sloppy? That your rough draft is too... well.... rough? I have.
The books that we've grown up with, that inspired us to write in the first place, are not comparable to ours. Theirs are finished, ours are not.

Writer, rough drafts are supposed to be full of grammatical errors, missing punctuation, and remnants that you wrote that scene with WAAAAAY too much caffeine in your system. Rough drafts are your story in it's purest form, as messy as it may seem. You know why? Because this is our story just as it came out of us, just as we breathed it into this world.

It's kind of like when a mother gives birth to her child. She's kind of messy and not the prettiest to look at as soon as she arrives, but no one in the room is saying, "Eww! Look at how messy that baby is". They're all saying, "That baby is beautiful, her Mama must be so proud." They all know that babies have to be cleaned up before they're introduced to the world.

Sounds kind of like your first draft, huh Writer? Messy, not the prettiest to look at, but it's yours. You put your blood, sweat, and tears into that draft, so don't give up on it now. Rough drafts are supposed to be rough,Writer, nothing within this world is perfect by default. It takes a lot of hard work to get it that way.

You've done the hard part, you've told yourself a good story. Now, it's time to do the hard part, making it ready for the world to see. This draft is your baby,Writer, it may be messy, it may be flawed. It may have no punctuation other than a couple of stray commas and quotation marks, but that's okay, it's your mess, and you can't abandon it now.

Writer, I know that rough draft looks so rough... it looks sooo rough Writer, but like with everything, with a little elbow grease, it'll get better. This is your story, and it's waiting for you to share it with the world.

-Libby

"All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23

I Guest Posted!

Hey Y'all,

I did something I've never done before today, I wrote a guest post for another blog! Cool right?
Anyway, it's been posted on Reveries by the awesome Kellyn Roth. You can find it here.

Merry Christmas Guys,

-Libby

Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”