Update from Pam Land

It’s been a while since I spent any time writing about Pam. That, however, does not mean that I’ve not been thinking about her and her story.

Writing fiction is hard; harder than I thought it would be. Not ditch-digging hard or third-shift on your feet hard but it presents its challenges. Not just worrying about dialogue but also having a compelling and cohesive story arc but also giving in and letting the story be what it wants to be. Yeah, I’ll bet some of you are wondering what the hell that means. It means I want the story to be one way and the story, well the story wants to be another way. I was a little surprised as well and no, I can’t write it the way I want because when I do, it feels inauthentic. If I feel that, I’m pretty sure that you will as well. 

See, the story wants to be one thing and I don’t like it. So, I guess, I’m refusing to write it down. Think of it like a five year old having a temper tantrum. That’s me. Only I’m having it in my head, with myself and I’m not quite sure how to but myself into a mental time-out. So here we are at an impass.

So what to do?

I guess one of us will have to be the adult and give in for the sake of getting it done. {heavy sigh}

Here’s my promise. I will tell Pam’s story the way it wants to be told. I won’t be happy about it, unless of course it’s amazing and everyone immediately loves it and tells me how awesomely awesome I (I mean it) is. 

Here’s what I need from you. I need the truth – even if I can’t handle the truth – I need it. Even, or especially, if it’s awful or worse than awful, boring. 

I’ll be posting more of the story later this weekend.

Thanks again for all your support and feedback. It helps enormously.

BMW

My terrible, awful, not very good week

Well, that seems like a bit of hyperbole since no one died and no one was maimed. However, my ego took a pretty good kick in the teeth. And since I have a wee bit of the drama queen in me, I decided the best course of action was to pout and then to write an entirely self-satisfying-stuart-smalleyesque blog about my own awesomeness.

I could rail about how unfair it is that I’m no longer featured on Patch but then I think about those poor Patch readers who are not on my facebook or blog and will have no idea how to find me. That makes me sad.

For them.

So, if you see them, send them to the blog. For their own sake. You’ll be doing a tremendous public service. Honest.

Then of course there is the writing contest that I failed to win. I know, right?! Outrageous! Hasn’t Pam gone through enough? To heap this disappointment on her. Who knows how she’ll cope!

I didn’t expect to win. After all, I’ve never written fiction before. But that didn’t make me feel any better when I lost. I was mad and hurt. How dare they not love me! Everyone loves me (and Pam).

Who do they think they are? Asshats!

I was on the verge of cancelling my account and deleting them when I thought, “Know who else didn’t get any appreciation from snotty writer types? Stephen King!”

Yeah, I’m a little deluded but I’ve long ago learned to live with that aspect of my personality.

Anyway, I’m still here. Still writing. Hopefully, my eleven non-related fans will continue to read and share. Share. And Share.

Who knows how the blog will shake out in the future? I may end up back at Patch or maybe I’ll finally get my big break and be able to write for the OCM (that’s some local humor). I’m definitely going to explore new opportunities.

Emma thinks I should start a tumblr.

I’m pretty sure I’m not cool enough for that.

Yet…