Get Your Vocab On!

We're running a fun contest over at Swords & Stilettos today. We're looking for the best examples of really bad writing you can give us (yes, it needs to be your original creation!).

The contest: Write a sentence using the most adjectives and adverbs you can possibly fit into the sentence while still having it make sense. =)

The prize: All commenters will be put into a drawing for a free book (title to be determined).

Go wild with your vocab and enter the contest! (I've written a gloriously decadent ode to overly-descriptive writing there myself...)

How Many Brain Cells? Let Me Count Them...

Yesterday's stats:

1. Received an email from an author friend telling me she'd taken the liberty to pitch me to her agent and her agent was interested so please send a partial.

2. Sent the partial along with a warm thank you to my friend. Having other authors believe in my work is an unbelievable gift.

3. Spent much of the day writing. Total word count: 6400

4. Yes. That's right. 6400 words in ONE DAY.

5. I think I have about 24 brain cells left.

6. Nope, make that 23.

How To Change The World

Last year (or maybe the year before, I don't keep track of these things), John Mayer came out with a song called "Waiting On The World To Change." It's a discourse on how powerless his generation feels in the face of all they disagree with on the world stage (war, government etc) and so since they think they're powerless, they're just waiting on the world to change, perhaps waiting until the generations above them have all died off or retired and no one is left to run the world but this one dissatisfied generation of waiters.

The lyrics have always rubbed me the wrong way and I'll tell you why. There are many things that need attention in this world--hunger, war, genocide, child slavery, illiteracy, stupid or selfish people maintaining positions of power, disinformation--you can add to the list all you want, the end result is the same: turn your eyes in any direction and you'll see something that needs to be done.

Mr. Mayer says this:

Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change

I believe we have three choices when confronted with something that breaks our heart. One, we can do nothing. Take Mr. Mayer's words to heart and stand around wringing our hands, decrying how helpless we are. Two, we can turn away and pretend we never saw. Or three, we can roll up our sleeves, wade into the fray, and meet the need or stand for the cause that is right in front of us.

Powerlessness, for most of us, is a state of mind. We don't live in huts made of mud and straw. We haven't lost our family to our own government's machine guns. We haven't been abandoned at a bus stop as an infant because we had the gall to be born a woman. We aren't afraid speaking our minds will land us in prison. We can read. We have the basics necessary for survival. We don't choose between feeding our children and feeding ourselves.

We aren't powerless unless we choose to be. We can change the world, one piece at a time, if we do what is right in front of us. If we speak up, stand up, get up, open up--own a vision for the change we want to see and go after it with single-minded dedication.

One of the most inspiring examples of this is 23 year old Lopez Lomong, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. When he was 6, he was kidnapped from his village. He escaped by tunnelling under a wire fence and traveling across Sudan and over the Kenyan border, ending up at refugee camp. Can you imagine doing that at 6?

He lived in hiding at the refugee camp for ten years. One day, after being paid a few shillings to do a landscaping job, he hiked five miles to the home of a man charging an entrance fee to those who wanted to watch the Sydney Olympics on his black and white television.

Lopong was captivated by the sight of Michael Johnson running for gold in the 400 meters. This was his first introduction, not just to the Olympics, but to the idea of running as a sport. That day, Lopong decided he would change his life. He decided he would compete at the Olympics as a runner, under the American flag.

That day, Lopong stopped being a Sudanese refugee and became a future American Olympic athlete. His outside circumstances were the same. It was the inside that was changed. Eight years later, Lopong not only competed at these Beijing Olympics as a runner for America, he carried the American flag in the opening ceremonies.

It gets better.

Lopong is not content to see his own life change without reaching back to save more Sudanese children from growing up in refugee camps as he did. He is part of Team Darfur, a group of athletes using their status to raise awareness of the plight of Sudan.

How did Lopez Lompong go from kidnapped, traumatized 6 year old boy to raising awareness for his country on the most prominent international platform available?

He refused to lament the problems in his government without taking action. He believed he could rise above his present circumstances and be whoever he set his mind to be. He did not stand at a distance, waiting on the world to change. He got in the world's face and said, "Hey! Listen up!"

And we did.

So, with respect to John Mayer's disillusioned generation of powerless future leaders, may I use the shining light of Lopez Lompong's life to say, with conviction, we are only powerless if we choose to be.

Let's stop waiting on the world to change and be the change we want to see.

My vision for change is my passion for adoption--educating others, facilitating the process for others if there's any way I can help, and most of all, completing my own family with as many orphans as God has written on my heart.

What's yours?

Procrastination

Writing Update

WRITING PROJECTS:

Shadowing Fate: Synopsis finished (and I'm really happy with it!). Currently adding five chapters into the middle of the book, two into the last third, and then I just need to finish writing the ending and polish it up.

Short stories (one for ezine, one for Paul): Nothing. Nada. Zip. Let me finish SF and then we'll see.

Poetry Blog: Up and running. Starting slow but I won't be posting more than two a week there. I want an outlet, not a stone around my neck.

SUBMISSIONS:

Queries sent this week: 2

Total queries sent for SF: 7

Total requests for partials: 6

Total requests for fulls off of partials: 2 (the others are still reading)

Total rejections: 0

CONTESTS:

Will be entering SF in the Golden Pen by end of August

*If anyone knows of another high-publicity contest that would be a good match for SF (one that is coming up shortly), please let me know. I am woefully out of touch with which contests hold the most weight (beyond Golden Heart, Maggie, and American Title).*

Owning The Place

Last night, I watched Phelps beat an incredibly competitive field of swimmers in the 100m breast stroke by one one-hundredths of a second to win his 7th gold medal at this Olympic games.

It was absolutely incredible to watch. He passed the leader at the last possible second by simply hurling himself into the wall. Most swimmers take one last stroke and then stretch for the wall. This time, Michael tossed stretching for the wall out the window, took an extra stroke and literally slammed his hand into the wall one one-hundredth of a second faster than the guy next to him.

Stunning. Brilliant. Everything we've come to expect from Michael Phelps.

What I found interesting, though, was his interview directly after the race. The peppy female journalist shoved a mike in his face, congratulated him on yet another win, and then asked the following question: "Did you ever believe, when you first came into these games, that you would be able to dominate all these races and win seven golds?"

Phelps responded with: "I knew if the conditions were right and everything lined up, I could do this."

I rolled my eyes. Not at Phelps. At the woman for asking such a clearly ridiculous question. I mean, has she actually seen Phelps swim?? If so, she should know the answer is undeniably: "Yes."

And not because of his phenomenal natural ability either.

Phelps is a fierce competitor, a dominating force in the water, because he refuses to be anything less. He demands the utmost his body can give him and when he achieves it, he pushes for more. I guarantee he didn't approach these Olympics with the hope that he could win. He walked in the door of the Aquatic Center confident that he owned the place.

There's no doubt that Phelps has incredible natural ability but he doesn't rest his confidence on that. Great athletes are forged out of discipline, persistence, passion, and a willingness to endure what would make a lesser man quit.

Sounds a lot like what it takes to be a published author. Or an acclaimed actor. Or sculptor, painter, poet, singer...the list goes on. Art begins as a spark of natural ability but the artist must fan that spark into a passion that refuses to accept silver when gold is on the table.

Artists who want to forge themselves into a master of their craft must demand what their talent can give them, and then push for more. They must exercise discipline, persistence, passion, and a willingness to endure what would make a another artist quit.

Phelps doesn't just swim. He is swimming because he refuses to be anything less.

Ask And It Shall Be Given...Err...Spoken...No...Typed! Yes, typed!

The dust has settled from my whirlwind trip to San Fran and the kids are now back in school so I'm entering into my daily routine again and will resume the series of posts on the Writing Process and the art of living a creative life.

Since (as I've pointed out numerous times) this is my blog, I can (and will!) post on any topic that comes to mind.

However, I'm not writing these just to see my own thoughts on a page. =) So, if you have a question or a topic idea you'd like me to cover, please leave a comment (suggest as many items as you like) and I'll intersperse those with whatever else the Muse dictates.