Sunday, February 12, 2012

Open

My word for the year is "Open." It didn't occur to me naturally, by any means. No, it was given to me ("given" a word which here means "nailed to my forehead") by my good friend Deborah.

Please note that Deborah doesn't have a blog that I can link to because she hasn't opened up to it yet . . .

Are you feeling my pain?

N-E-way . . .

My word is open because that's what I need to do. I have a habit, you see, of prediction. When presented with a scenario -- say, sending out a query -- I can "see" everything that will happen, right down to the rejection -- thus "saving" myself from actually having to send out the query. It's fast and easy. Takes two seconds tops and it's no trouble at all. But it isn't getting me very far.

So 2012 is my year of opening up. To all the possibilities: the good, the bad, and the neither here nor there.

Thus far I've opened up to pitching to Entangled in the pitch event we had here recently. Which led to my project being requested.

And I opened up to seeking help with the difficulties I've been having with the writing. Which led me to  reading Productive? Prolific? Sign me up! at the Waterworld Mermaids blog, which led me to buying the book The 7 Secrets of the Prolific by Hillary Rettig.

And it's slowly pushing me back on to Twitter, a slipstream if there ever was one.

You can find me there as @EV_Owens, which is the name I've used to self publish two short stories, and the name I am opening up to as I sally forth through 2012.


If you are a dreamer come in. If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar, a hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer. If youre a pretender com sit by my fire, for we have some flax golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!
--Shel Silverstein

7 comments:

  1. If Deborah says your word is "open" then who are you to argue with that? :) I understand the self-fulfilling prophecy - seeing the rejection before it happens so why even send it in? It's easier to be safe than to get hurt. I've played that game, too. I'm so proud of you and so happy for you that you've been busy and that you received a request during the pitch session. Open up the throttle and full speed ahead, Y!

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  2. "If Deborah says your word is 'open' then who are you to argue with that?"

    EXACTLY. LOL. And thanks for hanging in here with me, Lisa. The R8 has been tested, that's for sure. But if we're breathing, we're winning, right? :-D

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  3. Go Yvonne! It's so easy to wade half way in the pool and then stop. Hey we're wet right? so what if we still haven't gone under completely. But immersion brings us one step closer to Nichole's word: Ready.

    In the words of that great playwright Samuel Beckett: Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

    Keep up the hard work!

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  4. Go, Yvonne!

    Congrats on the Entangled request, the self-pubbed stories, the return to Twitter, and forging ahead in ways that work for you.

    Can't wait to see what you have to say in 2013 about your year-long "open" adventure. Good stuff, I'm sure!

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  5. Evie! I so get that "prediction" frame of mind. You know what's going to happen, so why bother?

    I recently heard a great quote (sorry, can't remember who said it, grr) that we are perfectly designed to keep achieving the results we're getting. Ha! Success! Perfection! Wait a second...

    Congrats on opening yourself up to a new batch of results this year!

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  6. Thanks, Shellie & Christa. And Keely, LOL. Yes. I am PERFECTLY designed for this. :-)

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  7. Evie ~ Adore your post. I love that your word this year is Open. I know you can do it. And I can't wait to see all the awesome things that come your way this year. Action is rewarded and even opening yourself up to the possibilities is an action. You go, girl!

    I've been reading the Productive Writer by Sage Cohen--the other book recommended by the Mermaids. It's excellet, too.

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