Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Lovefest!

It's time for another Road Trip Wednesday, courtesy of YA Highway:

Who has helped you in your reading/writing journey?


As soon as I saw this RTW, I knew that I had to participate. A lot of the people who have helped me grow as a writer don't even know how important a little something they said might have made a difference in my life.

  • All the teachers who have encouraged me along the way. You saw something in my writing and encouraged me to play. Oh, and elementary school teachers? Sorry that my presents to you were "books" that I "wrote" about girls solving mysteries on horses while all of the other kids in class were giving you candy and such. I've seen some of those "books" with my illustrations and I don't know how you managed to keep a straight face when I gave them to you.
  • Lucy Maud Montgomery. Emily wanted to be a writer, just like me. Following her journey, failures and all, gave me a realistic view of the journey up the "Alpine Path"
  • All of the authors who have been a support and inspiration, whether they know it or not. Amy Plum, who made the writing process sound so not-scary. Jeri Smith-Ready, who introduced me to #1K1hr and cheered on my own word counts. Jodi Meadows, who saw my tweets about how her writing made me doubt my own writing and tweeted back an awesome amount of encouragement.
  • All of the agents who have participated in contests. Taking time from their busy lives to offer critiques to some of us sludging through the slush-- especially Suzie Townsend and Gemma Cooper. Because of their critiques, I have a much stronger manuscript and a more critical eye towards my own work.
  • Elizabeth Briggs, who paid back her own good fortune with a critique contest and gave me one of the most thorough critiques I've ever received. One of her comments inspired an addition to my MS... which inspired a bunch of changes and is making me fall in love with the part of the MS that has always felt lacking to me. 
  • Brenda Drake-- the workshops! The advice! I love Brenda and the tireless work that she puts into her blog.
  • Kimberly Sabatini!!! and the Poconos SCBWI crew (Stephanie, Megan, Jodi, Taylor)!!!! Even though I've only met Kim in person so far, y'all are awesome and all so inspirational. I can't wait to knit-dance-write with all of you.
  • Deena, fellow Team Kilter, fellow Shadowhunter, fellow SCBWIer, and possessor of the best tattoo on the planet. We prop each other up.
  • My betas and main idea-bouncers: Erika, James, Lori, Tim, Brooke, and my baby sister Susie. All of you had to live with The Desired as I wrote it and have suffered through the early revisions. I've poured out my worries to you. I've tortured you with random writing facts. And you still don't hate me. I love all of you for that.
  • Madeline, my twitterTwin, who sends me hilarious texts and tweets whenever I'm feeling down. And querying can do that sometimes.
  • Marnee, who has told me a million times to write from my heart and to enjoy the journey. She's been my twitter touchstone from the day we wrote through the same  #1k1hr
  • My tweeple knitterly friends who #K1P1hr whenever I need a #1k1hr kick in the pants
  • And all of my regular blog readers. You won't believe how much your comments mean to me. Especially when I'm posting some incredibly stupid little story about a girl falling in mud. Or about mini socks. *giant hug*
Thank you. When I first started this journey, I couldn't imagine how welcoming and wonderful the writing world could possibly be. All of you have taught me so much, made me laugh, made me cry, given me countless virtual and real hugs, and have made me a better writer than I was a year ago.

*throws glitter in the air*

Thank you. Obrigada. Merci. Danke. Gracias. A million times over will still never be enough.

2 comments:

  1. I don't have a huge support group when it comes to writing. A lot of people don't even know this is all I have ever wanted to do. But, I do have a few teachers (in high school and college) who stand out, and really encouraged me to pursue writing, and for that I am so grateful.

    I do, feel the same as you, about my blog friends. Their comments really count to me. So some of my thanks, can go straight back to you!

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    1. Thank you :) Your comments always make me smile.

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