Silence, A Cleanse and Change

March 19, 2010

Silence

At 3:30 this morning I woke. Same thing I did yesterday and the day before. Each time I woke from some random dream (this a.m. Justin Timberlake was flirting with me.) But previously, I couldn’t go back to sleep each time until almost 5:00 which made my 6:30 wake up…rough.

Today, I rolled out of bed happily at 4:30 and decided to revel in the silence. It doesn’t happen often around here. My children chitter-chatter idly about their silliness, hubby talks of work or plans for the weekend, kids in the neighborhood are coming and going, dog barking…it is always noise. But right now… complete silence. (Unless you count the refrigerator running, which in my life, the drumming hum sounds wonderful.)

So where am I spending my silence. Here with you.

A Cleanse

Over a week ago, my trainer put me on a nine day cleanse. Your diet consists of certain meals, supplements and shakes that help “cleanse” your body. That also means, no alcohol, no sweets and no coffee.
**needle scratches the record**

GwOE: “I’m sorry, did you say no coffee?” She thinks about the three to four cups a day she will be giving up.

Trainer: “Yes.” He gives her a firm, I-was-in-the-military-don’t-test-me look, though he never was, he just has that look.

GwOE: “You mean, like coffee is ok just don’t put creamer or sugar in it.” GwOE starts thinking about rehab.

Trainer: “No I mean coffee, like NO COFFEE.” He smiles like its final.

GwOE: Opens her mouth. Shuts it.

So I finished the nine day cleanse on Tuesday. NEVER thought about coffee once. NEVER got a coffee headache. And today, right now, I’m having my first cup and it’s...okay. And the only reason I wanted it is because my throat is sore and the warmth sooths it. (I’m from the south, I can't do warm tea. Iced tea all the way baby.) My body feels GREAT! I thought I ate healthy before but after this last week, I impressed myself. It really makes you question what you put in your body.

Change

Now my third randomness, I’ve decided to “put on hold” one of my WIPs. My second book, The Language of Little Sun at 37K, is really in a good place and has a great chance of some day being published (Unpublished Girl says as fact) BUT, my second WIP, Day Glow Blue (working title that I hate BTW) at 32K has consumed my life. I’m taking a whole new approach with this book, which I will share in another post, but the story, the characters, they call to me.

Sure, I could continue to go back and forth, working on both. The two books are polar opposites so switching is not a problem. It actually helps me focus on the MC’s voices even more. But I’m focusing on one because I need to move on to the next step in my writing journey.

I am ready to query. I don’t mean my book is finished and I’m ready to send it to an agent. But I’m ready to complete a book and query it.(hopefully in August.) Complete meaning, finish writing it. Have my critique buddy (miss you Diana) hack at it. Rewrite. Send it to two new critique buddies, let them hack at it. Rewrite. Take it to a critique group and let them hack at it. Then…rewrite. Read one last time. Rewrite two more times. Then panic. Sweat. Doubt. Then query.

I’ve learned a ton from writing in the last year plus. I’ve learned an exponential about from the blog world. (There are tons of amazing agents with all kinds of invaluable advice out there.) I’ve learned an astonishing amount of things about my writing from having a critique buddy (love you Diana, xxoo’s). And now, I am ready to learn about rejection, though the thought of it terrifies me. Querying is the next step for me. And I think the experience will shape my writing into something I never thought possible.

Where are you in your writing journey? Are you ready?

5 comments

Elana JohnsonMarch 19, 2010 at 10:50 AM
See? You can do ANYTHING! Go you. I hope all goes well with your writing and querying.

I'm ready to move forward. I hope I can soon.
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Nicole DucleroirMarch 19, 2010 at 11:19 AM
H! I had to say hello -- we have the same blog layout! I love having something in common right off the bat :)

The cleanse sounds great. I'm impressed you didn't get a headache coming off coffee. Nothings worse!

Congrats on the decision to begin querying. I hope it goes well. I've restarted my NaNo WIP, trying out the Snowflake Method. So far, so good...no, GREAT!

Nice to meet you :)
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SummerMarch 19, 2010 at 12:52 PM
Cleanse sounds great! I quit coffee cold turkey about 6 months ago, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I'm impressed you didn't get any headaches.

Congrats on deciding to devote yourself to one WIP--it sounds like you're passionate, so hopefully that passion will carry you right to the publisher's desk. :-)
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B.J. AndersonMarch 19, 2010 at 4:06 PM
Congrats on the cleanse! Sounds awesome! And good luck with the query process. I've been through it many times before, and I'm in it right now after revising my WIP about 30 times. Sigh. :D I wouldn't have it any other way.
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Bossy BettyMarch 20, 2010 at 10:38 AM
Good luck with the queries! It's exciting you are at that stage in your process of writing!
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