And very happy to be so! I hope you all had a hugely productive summer. In fact, we would love to hear what you’ve all accomplished over the last couple of months! As we all straggle back in get settled into our fall routines, we’d love to have a Milestone Monday and learn what everyone’s been working on, accomplished, any breakthroughs people have had. You know the drill.
I’ll start. I actually (finally) finished a manuscript I’ve been working on (off and on) for four l-o-n-g years. Boy, did that feel good! It is my first YA and I am very excited about it.
As for Mary’s milestone, well, there is some good news and some bad news. And the bad news is actually more bittersweet. Mary has radically unplugged. Over the summer she deleted her Twitter and Facebook accounts and is going deeply inward for the next year and taking a year’s sabbatical from SVP. ::sob!::
I am hugely proud of her that she is honoring her introverted needs and process, but I will sorely miss her presence here throughout the coming year. The important thing is, that if any of you have been feeling a similar need, do let Mary’s decision be a gentle nudge in that direction. She reports that her stress has been reduced by 75% and her muse is happy, happy, happy with the decision.
The good news is that we have lots of exciting things on the menu for you in the coming months. By popular demand, we will be running both a Discover Your Online Persona workshop as well as a Shrinking Violet Bootcamp. We’ll be starting with the Persona workshop on Oct. 4. The Bootcamp will probably begin sometime after the first of the year. We also have a bunch of inspiring, educational, eye opening, and perspective challenging guest posts on the horizon, which I also hope you’ll enjoy.
Also, if you are a regular Shrinking Violet reader and have a new book coming out in the upcoming year, drop me a line, will you? We’d love to celebrate your launch here as well as get your picture up in our sidebar.
And lastly, I’d like to point you to a terrific article, The Revenge of the Introvert, in the current Psychology Today by Laurie Helgoe, who has been a frequent guest poster here on SVP. The article also features Nancy Ancowitz, yet another frequent guest poster here. Do take a moment to read this terrific article.
Look forward to hearing all about your milestones!
26 comments:
Welcome back! How exciting to hear of your work on your YA. I am glad to know your time away from here has been productive.
Speaking of time away, I will miss Mary over here, but I applaud her decision. Go, Mary, go Mary's muse.
I took the summer off from blogging as well, and it has been a good break for me, if only to release myself from pressures no one else places on me but myself.
Look forward to the events!
And oh, I read the article in Psychology Today. So happy to see it featured so permanently in a popular magazine.
I'll miss Mary, but she's so brave! I have a love/hate relationship with social media.
My big milestone is that I sold my first book in June. It's a historical middle grade novel called The Marble Queen, slated for 2012 with Marshall Cavendish.
Good for you for taking the summer off, Yat Yee. There is nothing more creativity crushing than pressure!
Congratulations, Stephanie! Selling your first book is a HUGE milestone! Hooray!
And yes, I will miss Mary, too. ::sniff sniff::
So glad to see SVP back! I'll miss Mary, too, but hope the year will be hugely beneficial to her well-being and her writing.
No big milestones for me. I took an intentional break from writing over the summer to focus on catching up on reading and also studying craft a bit. It was definitely a good decision! Now I'm enthusiastically working on the second draft of my WIP (and I'm doing a "Back To The Books" September writing challenge on my blog, for others who are feeling the need to re-focus and get back at it).
Welcome back
I'll miss Mary's presence too, but I respect and admire her choice. I've tried to do it on a lesser scale (deleting my Goodreads account, leaving a couple of blog communities) and it definitely makes a difference.
I signed with an agent this summer! Hooray! I'm repped by Ammi-Joan Paquette! I'm an EMLA author!!!
Thank you for sharing that link!
We'll miss Mary! And if you need any other shrinking violets to chime in with occasional blog features, please feel free to call on me.
I just got back from an unplugged week and, as much as I enjoyed it, I also missed the internet. I really do appreciate my online community. Being an introvert doesn't mean that I don't like people or that I don't have social needs--mostly, for me, it means that big crowds of people, or being around people all the time, tends to take a lot out of me. But I find online interactions quite manageable.
Over the summer I finished a book--can't say much more about it yet, but hope to soon.
Jenn H.
We'll miss Mary! And if you need any other shrinking violets to chime in with occasional blog features, please feel free to call on me.
I just got back from an unplugged week and, as much as I enjoyed it, I also missed the internet. I really do appreciate my online community. Being an introvert doesn't mean that I don't like people or that I don't have social needs--mostly, for me, it means that big crowds of people, or being around people all the time, tends to take a lot out of me. But I find online interactions quite manageable.
Over the summer I finished a book--can't say much more about it yet, but hope to soon.
Jenn H.
Wishing Mary the best as she unplugs and gets recharged!!!!
(BTW, LOVED the article from Psyschology Today. Thanks for sharing that.)
ARGH! I just typed up a huge, person by person response to all your comments and blogger ATE it. Am now despondent. Will have to try again later.
Suffice it to say, it's great to hear from all of you! I really missed everyone--exactly proving Jenn's point that introvert doesn't mean anti-social. More like having a social budget one must stick to. :-)
Welcome back! Thanks for all you do!
Mary, enjoy the peace. Can't wait to see how things unfold for you in the quiet.
Here's to a great year for all!
Donna
The Shrinking Violets are back:
Clouds part and beams of light guide the way for introverts across the globe!
(We’ll miss Mary, but I totally understand her need for unplugging.)
Yay! Welcome back, SVP! I'll miss Mary but I admire her bravery in stepping back from the so-addictive Internetz.
My big summer milestone--well, I finished the copyedits and page proofs of THE SECOND DUCHESS and received a box of ARCs. Whoo-hoo! The pub date has been changed slightly to March 1, 2011. I don't know if I can wait. On the other hand, my SV self is so terrorized by the whole thing I can't help thinking I've received a bit of a reprieve...
Congrats to all Violets on their summer milestones!
Hmmmm. To unplug? Don't tempt me.
LOL. Thanks Kimberly Lyn! Those clouds parting and beams of light are the only sun we've gotten all summer!
That is HUGE milestone, Elizabeth! And I'm laughing at your all-too-introverted reprieve!
I know, Lois, VERY tempting!
Hey, SO fun to see everyone here again! Thank you, Robin! So glad you had such a great summer. And MARY, oh my, we'll miss her so much! She is a dang brave woman, too. I keep threatening to go even one week without all the blogging and FB and Goodreads checking and can. not.
I've had about 8 book launch/speaking events for THE HEALING SPELL - 4 MORE this week and next so that's kept me slightly crazy!
On July 1 got a Book Armageddon Deadline to draft the next book in two months. I couldn't begin until July 20 but am sending my second draft to my editor tomorrow! Whew! I did it! Pub date: Fall, 2011. And I just found out Scholastic is re-doing the paperback cover and design for Healing Spell, too, (for next fall) and it's really compelling and SO different! I heard today the book Fairs LOVE it. Double whew!
Good luck to you for holding down the fort here, Robin. We're here to help any way we can, K?
Glad to see you're back and the mss is done! I also admire what Mary has done. I'm so close to trying the same thing...
So glad you are back! I appear to be going in the opposite direction of the general mood -- I'm starting to prepare for a web site for the launch of my book. I'm sure I'll continue to find lots of great advice here....
This blog looks great, what a wonderful idea! But I can't find an easy way to search or an archive to look at previous posts easily. Am I just missing it?
Kimberly, I'm tired just reading your comment! And I will definitely be taking people up on their offers of help, thank you!
Hey Laura! It IS tempting, isn't it??
And Liz, there's nothing wrong with going in the opposite direction--and really, writers SHOULD have at least a website. It's all about balance and priorities and as long as you have those covered, you're golden.
Hi Stevie! Um, no. You are not missing it. One of the violets (exactly which one shall remain nameless) went a little bit tag crazy and we have about 547 tags, which makes posting categories unfeasible. I tried to go in and delete all the existing tags and retag them, but there is no universal delete feature for all the tags. Until blogger develops that, or I have a bunch of free time on my hands (laughing hysterically here) I won't have a chance to clean that up.
At the beginning of the year, however, when we begin our SVP Bootcamp, I will go through and link to a number of the old posts and list them by topic on an additional page. Sorry it's so unwieldy!
Glad to see you back, Robin, even if you are solo :(
I ditched Facebook this week, too. Twitter I'll keep. For now...
So glad to see you're back! I only just found this blog (and promptly read all the back posts) as you were shutting down for the summer.
Not as big of a milestone as some, but during the summer I was querying my YA urban fantasy, HUNT. As of today, I've had four requests (2 partials and 2 fulls), all still out with the agents. I'm playing the waiting game now.
Congratulations Sherrie, for finding a way to pare back!
Jessica, I'm so glad you found us! Wasn't it nice of us to give you the whole summer to catch up on our archives? :-)
And CONGRATULATIONS on your milestone! That is HUGE, writing a query letter that gets you requests!
Yea!! Glad you are back. I took the summer off from blogging. So I could gear up for the marketing of my novel thats coming in the future. I feel rested and ready.
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