Last week I submitted my first writing fellowship applications. It will be months before I know any news though just applying felt amazing. Writing our ideas into reality is a powerful act! Have you ever applied for writing fellowships? Have your ever gotten a writing fellowship? What did you think of the experience?
Write every day: Not all feedback is created equal
There’s a lot of emphasis on feedback, and it’s such a valuable gift when it’s specific, actionable, and detailed. I was very fortunate last week to get professional feedback on my TV pilot after as a result of entering it into a writing competition. The feedback came from someone who works in production in the television industry and knows the market well. I was shocked and delighted by how thoughtful and thorough it was, and it was well worth the extra fee to receive it. If possible, it’s incredibly important to get these professional perspectives on our writing as often as we can.
Write every day: A mammoth week of writing
Last week I was an editing machine:
✅TV pilot submission
✅Feature-length screenplay
✅3 writing fellowship applications
✅Science communication conference application
✅2 federal grant application contributions
✅Storytelling show pitch
✅Magazine article pitch (and it was accepted!)
✅Biomimicry article
Now we wait to see if anything comes through. I’m really proud of this work and feel so grateful to have the time and flexibility to do it. To celebrate, I took a much needed break from my screens over the weekend and now I’m back at it!
Write every day: The tight rope walk of editing
I have one more day left of editing on this screenplay. There’s a fine line between editing something to be as good as you can possibly make it and editing the life and energy out it. I’m treading that line carefully, determined to stay on the right side of it.
Write every day: Sometimes the publisher finds you
This week I had an interesting turn of events: a publisher contacted me about the possibility of writing a new book. It’s a book I’ve been thinking about writing for a while so I already had a lot of thoughts about the topic and the book. It was one item on my very long to-do list of writing that shot to the top of the list because of this inquiry. The publisher asked me to pitch my idea for the book so I did and we’ll see what happens. Could be something. Could be nothing. It taught me a lot.
Many times, this is where the story ends and it may just seem like a wonderful stroke of luck to get an email like this from a publisher. It is and it isn’t. The serendipity springs from a lot of hard work over a very long time, much of it a labor of love. First, the book idea is based on my long career in product development that had had very high highs and very low lows. It’s also a result of my work as a writer (also with its peaks and valleys), and most recently in going back to graduate school (for the second time). The publisher’s note to me happened after they saw that I shared a post on LinkedIn with a relevant hashtag about some of my recent writing of a TV pilot script that was entirely unpaid and that I don’t even know will ever get off the ground.
This recent interaction taught me that we have to make our own luck, that we have to talk about the work we’re doing to find people who share our interests and passions. Many times, we talk into the void. Sometimes, that void ends and we find an audience. Working in secret and staying quiet about our work is a completely fine and personal decision. If we want our work to have impact, to inspire and reach other people, to build a better world, then sharing it (when we’re ready) is key. The creative world is weird. The publishing world is weird. Life and career is a wild ride, and I think it’s absolutely worth the price of admission.
Do you have a story about how sharing your work led to an unexpected opportunity? I’d love to hear it.
Write every day: Re-writing, again
I got some excellent feedback on a query for my second novel. It was a rejection but a very useful one. In my reading, I like set-up. I like to see the stage, and then dive into the action. This is not enticing agents. Though I cut way down on the exposition at the start of my novel, it seems like it’s still too much. They love the imagery and the world-building, but they want action first. As in, right from the first word. So I need to re-write the beginning. Again. There are just two ways to take this kind of news—we either get bitter or we get better. So I’m getting better. And re-writing.
Write every day: One way to manage rejection
With a little distance and time, I realize that the rejections I got that stung in the moment were the very best things that could have happened because they were the beginning of something new, something meant just for me. I remind myself of this every single time I get a rejection. Hang in there, writers. You’ll find your pack. ❤️
Write every day: Wake up with books
“When you put a book in a child’s hands…you are an awakener.” ~Paula Fox
Books bring us into communion with authors, the characters they create and follow, and other readers. The greatest thing we can do to teach our children, the guardians of our future, about the world and their place in it is to wake them up to the joy of being a voracious reader. As an author, it’s a role I take very seriously. I want the words I write to be sparks that ignite a reader’s curiosity. It’s a privilege to write young adult literature, and it carries an enormous responsibility. My job is to wake up readers to their potential, to encourage them to rise up and build the world they wish to live in. And intend to do everything I can to empower them and help them do just that.
Write every day: Prohibition and organized crime
Take a ride through the underworld with me! I wrote a piece about Prohibition & organized crime in New York City for Inside History magazine’s latest issue called Crime and the Underworld. The piece is titled If Organized Crime Could Make It In New York…It Could Make It Anywhere! If you’d like to read just my article, click here.
The entire magazine is filled with juicy true crime stories throughout history so if you’d like to get a copy, here are the order links:
UK delivery (print)
Worldwide delivery (print)
Digital PDF download
Write every day: Genius vs. talent
“Genius gives birth. Talent delivers.” ~Jack Kerouac
There’s a lot of talk about genius out there in the world, especially among writers. Very often we have the idea that the most gifted writers just rattle off lines like silk off a spool. There might be people out there like that. I don’t know any. I’ve never heard of a writer saying that this is what their writing life is like. It’s hard work. They all sit there day after day, butts in their chairs, and hammer it out a little at a time. And then they go back to refine again and again through many rounds of edits, often over years of time. That dedication to craft the very best of our imaginations and put it out into the world is real talent. It’s not easy. It’s difficult work, and it’s worth it. Keep writing.
Christa Avampato 