Cheer for Your Team

I'm not very good at the preschool athletic mentality. 
1.  Every kid is not the Most Valuable Player.
2.  Each game should have a winner and a loser.

That's life. 

Don't get me wrong. Winning isn't everything, but losing doesn't mean hanging up your sneakers, either.  When you fall, brush yourself off, quit your crying, and get back in the game. It's important to always do your personal best because your only real competition is yourself.

I was a cheerleader--the kind that believed more in the job than the uniform.  I disdain the "spirit leaders" who leave when rain or sleet falls from the sky. If the team can still play, then they can still cheer.

12th grade: front and center in a parka in the pouring rain

After a few adult beverages, I'm willing to dance my high school's fight song.

Go Bulldogs!

 

Last month,  I put my dormant cheer skills to use and cheered myself on through my own special version of March Madness.

Here are the rules: If a writing opportunity presented itself, I must enter the competition.

Even if I doubted my abilities--especially so--I must take action. With failure comes wisdom. With wisdom comes success.

Want to know how the brackets turned out?

I submitted my essays to two Listen to Your Mother shows.  Instead of submitting to one show, I embraced March Madness and submitted to two.

Two! Two! We want two!

And, well, you know how that turned out. Read about it here and here.

Gooooo team!

Then, I tried Brenda Drake's agent contest.  My cheerleader was still asleep when I dragged myself out of bed to submit early in the morning.  Right before I pushed send on my carefully written entry of my novel's first 250 words and 35-word pitch, I doubted myself.  I changed the pitch.

I did not make the next round.

That's all right. That's okay. We're gonna win another day!

Then another opportunity presented itself. Mini Vaughn, one of the slush zombies for the contest, volunteered to critique the pitches on her blog Dirty Silly Things.  I thought, "Oh my. I can't put myself out there and face rejection again. It's so public. She even says something about spanking us and making it hurt."  *Blushes* 

My cheerleader gave me a high-kick in the butt.  

Be aggressive! B-E Aggressive! B-E- A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E! Be aggressive! B-E aggressive!

Because she was an obnoxiously perky, insistent little inner cheerleader, I not only sent the rejected logline, but I also submitted the one I'd planned to send. If I was going to get a smackdown, I might as well really feel the pain, right?

The critique wasn't painful at all. She thought the original pitch was "fantastic." Lesson learned.  My biggest opponent is self-doubt. 

Defense! (clap, clap) Defense! (clap, clap)

Over the month, I had a couple of contest triumphs and forfeited one opportunity. The point is that I put myself in the game.

I'm gearing up for submitting my freshly revised novel to agents. I've listened to agents who seemed excited about the story but rejected it. I've rewritten the novel and improved my game. 

First (clap) and ten! Go! Fight! Win!

Why compete? Because someone has to win.  Why can't it be me?  Or you?

  Dribble it! Pass it! (clap) We want a basket!

Have you stepped outside your comfort zone lately? What would you like to achieve?  

Go for it!

Listen to your personal cheerleader and take the challenge. Let me know what it is.

I'm already waggling my spirit fingers for you.

Listen to Your Mother

Last year I heard a lot of buzz about a show called Listen to Your Mother.  Some of my favorite bloggers participated in "giving Mother's Day a microphone." I didn't attend, but I checked out performance after performance online.

I submitted this year. It sounded so cool that I submitted two different essays to two different cities.  I haven't heard about the Oklahoma City show yet, but...

Guess who has a callback to the NW Arkansas show on Saturday? 

That's right.

Me.

I'm so excited to make the first cut.  It seems like a great opportunity to grab your favorite ladies and enjoy a night out.

Check out the website for a show near you.

Or in stolen moments, check out past performances here. 

Hopefully, I'll be able to share my story, too.

When life kicks you in the gut...

...watch this video from TED.


Writers, when you get those rejection letters. Watch this. 

Guys, when you feel weak, watch this.

Gals, when you feel you can't measure up, watch this.

You're welcome.




"Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change."--Brene Brown

Channeling Andy Rooney on Technology

Warning: I'm going to get all Andy Rooney grumpy pants here.

What is the deal with these codes I have to type in on the internet to prove I'm not a self-actualized robot?

They used to be a jumbled word.  Then they became upper and lower case. Next, it became two words. NOW, it's numbers and words.

Confession: I have been unable to comment on blogs simply because I can not type in the proper code. After four times--yes, FOUR--I give up.

My failure makes me feel...old. And I'm NOT old.

Read in the appropriately curmudgeon voice:

• "Back in my day, we didn't have email. We wrote letters."
• "When I was a kid, we didn't have smart phones. We had to look things up in encyclopedias."
• "We didn't have Pinterest to plan our childhood parties. We had McDonald's Playland and a birthday cake."
•  "When I was in the third grade we moved to a small town where you didn't even have to dial a prefix. Just four numbers.  Most times I dial now, it requires more numbers than I have fingers and toes."

How on this green earth am I going to manage by the time I qualify for senior citizen discounts? It will probably be an eye scan. Of course,  I'll probably develop cataracts and it will misread.

Maybe, by then, I can buy a computer program to figure out those darned codes for me.


Follow up: My husband told me this makes me sound much older than I really am--especially because of the phone number thing. It was a very small town. 

And I'm not old.  Not yet.

OWFI 2012

This weekend was my big birthday party. Other people know it as the annual conference for Oklahoma Writers' Federation, Inc.  

Potato.
Potawto.

Writers are such a friendly bunch most conferences are enjoyable. However, this year was special. Most of the speakers were (sing this next word) outstanding. Not only did I pitch stellar agents I've been cyber stalking for well over a year (Louise Fury and Jessica Sinsheimer), but also the sessions were great.  My friend Lela Davidson infotained us about social media. She's kind of a guru. I'll post some of what I learned over the next few weeks.

For now, please check out my friend Lisa's blog for an excellent summation of the weekend.

Who is that, you ask? That's me with my checks and certificates--and wearing the Inklings celebratory tiara.  I was especially thrilled with my first place win of my young adult short story. It's my next book idea!

Our entire table did well. You may remember me writing about Dee Dee Chumley's Beyond the Farthest Star. Don't take my word for it being a great book...it won Best Juvenile Book of 2011.  The fact that I missed her win and Lela win Best Nonfiction Book of 2011 for Blacklisted by the PTA because I took a badly timed bathroom break need not be mentioned again.

If you've not attended OWFI, mark it on your calendar. It's always the first weekend of May. See you there!

TV Tuesday: White House Correspondents' Dinner

The White House Corresondents' Dinner was on CSPAN.  Seth Meyers, Saturday Night Live's head writer, was the comedian/host of the event. I laughed while reading about it, so I wanted to watch it.  I thought you might, too.

Didn't Donald Trump know the event is traditionally a roast? (Sure, it usually primarily roasts the president, but everyone is fair game.)  I'm a little concerned for the mogul because he seems to have lost his sense of humor. Sir, if you're going to run for office, you need thicker skin. You can't "fire" the American people when they displease you.

Our elected officials must keep many secrets and guard their emotions carefully. I marvel at how Mr. Obama flashed the big smile when Seth Meyers cracks the joke about his inability to locate Osama bin Ladin--especially since the president and a select few knew exactly where bin Laden was and had helped plan an attack for the following day that would result in the end of the terrorist's reign.

So, for a few political chuckles at everyone's expense....

Rusty Shelton Pulls Writers Out of Their Shells

As Rusty Shelton shared his knowledge regarding digital marketing, social branding, and web design at the DFW Writer's Conference, I realized I need to embrace technology more fully. His session changed the way I view the web and its ability to reach readers.

So often, writers are advised to "Get a blog! Get on Facebook! Tweet!" but we're not told how. Rusty Shelton cleared away the confusing cobwebs of the World Wide Web and helped me see clearly with real-world applications. It's no surprise he spoke at Harvard for the first time at age 23 and continues to do so. The man knows what he's doing. His advice was so fresh and real that speakers in other sessions quoted him throughout the weekend.

Yeah, that good.

Plus, he's a nice guy. After his session, I went to my room to review notes.  In doing so, I developed more questions. So, I dashed off in hopes of finding him. He patiently guided me in a private tutoring session and even signed me up for Twitter.  (I'm still in the voyeur/learning stage of the game, so I'm not making comments yet.  But follow me at brandi_barnett and you'll soon see all sorts of fascinating tidbits.)

A few of his quotes illuminated the power of social media:

"10 years ago, we were a classroom with Oprah, Dr. Phil...telling us what to read. Today, we are passing notes."

"Facebook is a family reunion, a class reunion. Twitter is a cocktail party."

"Social media helps bad books fail faster."

Check out Rusty's blog to learn how to make social media your ally.