This morning, I turned in my new novel, THE SILVER GIRL, to my editor at Algonquin. I don't know how she'll react to my revisions, but I can only tell you how I feel--- terrific. This book has probably been the most challenging project I have ever undertaken. I had so many upheavals in my life over the last four years and I was trying to keep writing all the way through. There were times when it looked like the story was going to die on the vine.

Friends, who mean well, would say "How's the writing going?" It wasn't going. It was like all my creative energy was going to just keeping my life together in a general way. There was nothing left for my characters.

But y'all, I did it.

I thought that maybe I should wait until the novel is at the final, final, final, stage to write this. But then, I decided that postponing giving thanks and putting off feeling accomplishment is just another way to sabotage myself. Undermining is not part of the agenda for 2010.

If you are working on something, I hope it's going well for you. If it's not going well, keep pushing. Your luck will change and when it does, celebrate it. I don't care how little the milestone is, mark it. Even if you just write a happy note in your journal. Do it.

Taking care of yourself is the first step to reaching any meaningful goal. You can't write if you're sick. You can't write if you aren't getting enough sleep. You can't write if you are in a bad relationship that damages your confidence. To write your best work, you have give yourself the care you deserve.

Tayari and Tiphanie!
Originally uploaded by kleopatrjones

Tiphanie Yanique is a writer to watch. Although How to Escape from a Leper Colony is her debut, she writes with the wisdom and confidence of an old soul. The title story alone is worth the price of admission, but each of the stories contained in this gorgeous collection is clear-eyed, honest while still zinging with emotion. Tiphanie Yanique is blessed with an electric imagination, an expansive heart, and an unflinching gaze. I can't wait to see what she does next. -Tayari Jones

Once a publisher agrees to publish the manuscript, the editor sends the writer an editorial letter, which is basically a few pages of critique. The writer gets a few months to address the issues. I always make a good faith effort to take the editor's instructions. However, if there is something that I just really disagree with, I leave it be. Sometimes fixing other issues with the novel, will make it where things that used to be issues aren't issues anymore.

I do try and address every point she brings up, even the ones that seem crazy on their face. You have to trust your editor enough to believe that she knows how to make the book better. As I tell my students all the time-- take every suggestion. If you don't like it, just change it back to the original.

This morning, I rewrote the ending. Tomorrow, I will do one more read through, but then I'll be ready to submit. It's a really big deal. I half want to celebrate and the other half of me would like to get in the bed. I am exhausted.

Over the next couple of weeks, my editor write me another editorial letter. This is when we will really tangle over the little stuff. I will turn it in one more time and we will basically be done.

Maybe then I will be rested up enough to party.

This is when you blow off your novel for important stuff that needs doing, not fun stuff, but neccesary stuff. For example, right now. I know I need to be working on my novel, but I am doing things like grading student papers. (It must be done! It's my job!), paying bills (It's the first of the month!), etc. Other instruments of Workcrastination include updating this website. (I spent half the morning updating my "appearances" page. Check it out. I added a lot of new stuff.)

But really. This has got to stop. I am about ten pages from the end. Why am I acting like this??? I am going to have to get a zero-tolerance policy with myself-- If it ain't the book, it's procrastination. If the house is burning down, grabbing a hose = procrastination.

Time to get to work.

On a cold miserable day like this, I need me some Kendra.

Kendra Clayton is the protagonist of the mystery series by Angela Henry. I love reading the adventures of a GED teacher who finds herself at the center of all the action in her Ohio hometown.

When I find myself stressing out and want to escape, this is exactly the type of book I like to curl up with. Angela's books are sort of like the Sue Grafton alphabet series, but with a sister-girl touch. The other characters are delightful, too and there is just enough romance to keep it interesting.

Angela sent me the latest in the series, "Schooled in Lies." I noticed that the cover was different than the others. From her blog I learned that her publisher had opted not to renew the series. Angela Henry is a determined and resilient as her characters. She published the latest book herself.

I have to go to work in a little while, but while I wait for the cops to show up, I am taking a little Kendra-break.

But here is the little surprise that life had tucked away in the bottom of the bag. Teaching is actually helping me push through the manuscript. I know this is counter-intuitive and goes against everything you ever overheard at the bar at AWP, but it's true.

I won't mention their names, because I would probably get sued or something, but my students' work actually helps me see what's wrong with my own writing. One former student sent me a draft of a novel she's working on. I read it over and I was really moved by the way that she described the emotional landscape of an older character. That really cracked the whip on me to think of the way the body informs the action of the story. Then, I was reading a story for workshop and the student wrote about snow in such a way that made me ponder the weather in my own story. The way we talk about weather is regional and specific. I went back and improved several chapters. Yet another student brought in a delightful story about doomed love and she made me remember to keep it funny, even when the events are most-unfunny. The best antidote for melodrama is a pinch of humor.

So, thank you dear students, for all your inspiration. And thanks, blog family, for your patience. I'll post again tomorrow. I'll put it on my schedule.