I’ve Got Two Words For You

Apparently in certain circles, the hip thing to do at the start of a New Year is pick one word to sum up your resolution(s). My mother, two sisters, and I were texting about it the other week, and my older sister chose “Thrive” as her word. My mother quickly texted back with “Health” as hers. Don’t know what my younger sister chose, but as for me, I needed a few days to think about it. I mean, if it’s going to frame how I look at things for 365 days, I want to make sure it’s the right word…right? 😉

I don’t have a word. I have two. Sorry—broke the rules. But if you read my last post about all the writing rules, then you know I do that sort of thing. (Hey, I was a very good kid growing up. I didn’t break those rules.)

So what are my words?

and

If you’ve been with me for any length of time, you’ll know I’ve struggled with depression and negativity over the years, and while I believe God’s brought me to the other side of those murky waters, I still dip my toe in every now and then. (Yeah, I don’t get the appeal, either, but it happens.)

Between my writing life and a parcel of land Hubby and I finally closed on last week, 2016 will present opportunities to go full-on deep sea diving in the ocean of negativity. Here’s why: 1) I plan to query my Christmas story hard this year and 2) I’ll be joining Hubby in building a house.

Now you see my problem.

I thought the least I could do is help keep my head above the water level by repeating OPTIMISM to myself on a weekly…excuse me, hourly basis. And if I manage to sit on the shoreline for most of the year, rather than going for a swim, that would be fantastic!

So what’s with the perseverance? Uhhh, I plan to query my Christmas story hard this year. ‘Nuff said.

I anticipate rejection. It’s part of the job of an author-wannabe. But my hope is to continue pressing forward despite the refusals and silence from agents, maintaining the same love and enthusiasm I have for my characters right now. That’s where I want to persevere. What a feat if I could arrive at December 2016 still believing in my work and my MCs*, even if I have nothing but an email box full of rejection letters. I don’t want to quit pushing this story until I’m positive God has shut the door and I’d only make my fists bleed by continuing to pound on it.

Why do I want to push so hard? What’s the difference between this story and the one I tried to query last time? Simply put, I’ve been with these MCs for almost three years now…and they still make me laugh. With the other manuscript, I was so over my whiny characters and their problems. When I thought about them, I’d roll my eyes. Not that my current characters don’t have problems. Heck, my protagonist, Tinsel, is a too-tall elf whose chemistry final went awry. It blew up part of the school and destroyed a portion of Christmas presents along with it. And that’s just the start of her problems. Insert Santa’s grandson, Niklas, and she’s got a slew more. But even though I wrote “The End” on this manuscript last February and have been editing it ever since, I still chuckle when I think about Tinsel and Niklas, their escapades, and all the misunderstanding between them. I owe it to them to push their story, so I’m going to PERSEVERE. It’s what Tinsel would do. 😉

There you have it. I kind of like this one-word idea. Makes it easier to remember a resolution when you don’t have a lot to remember. So what’s your word? It’s not to late to chose one…

Or two.

*Main Character

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