Meme (s) for the Day

So, these memes are appropriate for me this week for two reasons:  the first reason is I have been working hard to be in an adult lyrical recital dance.  Yes, adults do recital dances, too :) But not this adult, this year, apparently.  Because when I went to slide into the splits (like these beautiful dancers but on the floor) my hamstring went POP! and I am now doing six weeks of physical therapy for a ruptured hamstring instead of being in the dance.  The bright side?  Well, for a split second (pun intended) after my hamstring popped I was on the floor with one leg in front of me and the other stretched out behind me and I thought:  "Wow!  I'm so flexible!"  Not.

Why I Say I'm a Unicorn...

I often refer to myself as a unicorn, even though I do not write fantasy novels.  Why?  Well, let me tell you. 

A unicorn is me being myself, but better.  There is a quote I like.  It goes like this:  "You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think." Author: Christopher Robin 

 

 

Another reason I call myself a unicorn is because unicorns can be alone without being lonely.  Look at this girl.  She is alone in a wasteland.  No one to talk to for miles.  But she has something zinging around in her brain that conjures up rainbows and lightning and fearsome skies and bright light all at the same time!  It's a story!  And it's happening while she is alone, but not lonely. 

 

 

 

 

 Unicorns have AMAZING friends.  And that is me.  I have the most kind, supportive, and real laughing-out-loud friends.  These are people who have something uniquely magical themselves.  And I am eternally grateful for these people in my life.   

And finally, unicorns dance.  Wherever they are.  But hopefully in a field of flowers. 

That, my friends, is why I am a unicorn.  I hope you can be a unicorn, too :)

Happy writing,
Rachel

Bullying is HIP and COOL, Right?

I could scream right now.

I recently overheard writers talking about BULLYING being a HOT TOPIC.  Like it is the HIP, COOL thing to write about.  Like maybe it was IN STYLE.  UGH!

Go on YouTube.  Go.  Look at the hundreds of videos made by kids who are bullied.  Read their comments.  My little daughter has her own LPS channel.  Oh, and on a side note--Hasbro, bring back the old LPS!  Anyway, we like to watch other LPS channels' videos.  One video she was watching this morning was absolutely heart-breaking!  It's all about this girl who is being made fun of and thinks of hurting herself because of it.  And the comments written... just go.  Read them.  One girl talks about having a knife in her bed and cutting herself.  She says she is 10.  You can argue that these are fake accounts and not really kids but WHAT IF THEY ARE?  And I happen to think they are.  

Bullying is a behavior, but it's become a label.  And like all labels, it's lazy.  We use labels to keep us from having to THINK.  If you think bullying isn't a problem for the kid who is bullying as well as the kid who is being bullied, then I suggest you read my book, Tutu Tough.  

I feel passionately about this subject, because I feel passionately about kids.  Rachel Simmons, who wrote Odd Girl Out says, "Being a child isn't practice for life, it IS life."  Until we adults figure that out, we will never be able to help kids on both sides of the bullying coin.

The NEW Writing Process... Revise, Revise, Revise

Deep below the ground in Seattle, WA the biggest digging machine the world has ever seen lies motionless.  Big Bertha.  Big Bertha was supposed to dig a new tunnel to replace a stretch of freeway called the Alaskan Way Viaduct in downtown Seattle.  Now two years behind schedule and 30 million dollars over-budget, she is broken and unable to finish the job in her current state.  As I type this, workers are rescuing this mammoth machine from the earth.  Many would call Big Bertha a failure.  I say she's in the middle of a process.

I, too, am in the middle of a process.  Friends remind me that Dr. Seuss was rejected 26 times before his first book was published.  Or that Einstein was considered mentally handicapped because he didn't speak until the age of 5.  Or that Thomas Edison famously said, "I have not failed.  I have found 10,000 ways that do not work."  Process, my friend.

If any of these people, and many more, had not finished the process the world would be quite different today.  Can you imagine learning to read without Dr. Seuss's Hop on Pop and nonsensical There's a Wocket in my Pocket?  I can't.  Or what science would be without Einstein's Law of Relativity.  Trust me, it's awesome.  And will give you lots of headaches in high school physics classes.  And lastly, do I even need to mention what the world would be like without electricity?  Forget not having internet or wifi and that means no Instagram and Facebook--what if you had to cook over a fire?  Or chop wood to stay warm at night?  Process made all of these wonderful things happen.  And more.  But you can look them up on Google... thanks to another list of people who suffered through the process to make it possible!

I will be the first one to admit I sometimes HATE going through the process.  Ah!  Why can't I be done already?  Why can't this story be finished?  It's giving me a headache!  And, worse, I feel like a failure because I haven't gotten "it" right yet... sometimes after many, many, MANY tries.  Failure?  No, it's part of the process.

Sometimes, though, going through the process is incredible, amazing, and beautiful.  I find myself in a spot I never would have imagined a hundred steps ago.  I am struck by the fact that had I not written that gobblydegook months ago and had I not been rejected and told what was wrong and had I not trusted those people who gave me the feedback and had I not WORKED... HARD... I would not have written those five words or that scene that just made everything in the world make sense!  At least for a moment.  Then, like a rubberband snapping, everything goes back to being confusing and trouble and a problem... Process.

So, guys, when your teacher asks you to do a brainstorming list, or a web, or a story map, or any other form of prewriting... maybe the dreaded outline???  Try not to hate it.  Or when you are asked to revise for sentence fluency or grammar or punctuation... Think... this is part of the process.  This draft, while it will never be read by my audience, is valuable and will help me get to the place I want to be... the LIGHT BULB!  Where everything comes together and makes sense and there is that AHA moment.

Revise, revise, revise.  That is my new process.  And I hope it can be yours, too!

Happy writing,
Rachel