Denise Vega's Blog: Denise Vega's blog and website, page 12

A Writing Career Should Include Writing!

Over the last few weeks I was starting to feel a little less than my sunny, optimistic self when it came to my writing career. But how could this be? I absolutely LOVEDeverything I was doing —teaching writing, developing online writing classes, providing manuscript critiques, blogging, maintaining my e-newsletter—oh wait.

I wasn’t writing

Well, I was a little, but not as much as I wanted and it was affecting my mood and general outlook on life. I had snuck in some picture book writing here an...

Writers: Dare to want what you really want

So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the universe for it. – Jim Carrey

So what is up with not asking for what we really want? We don’t think we deserve it We believe those things happen to other people We have enough so it would be greedy/selfish to ask for we really want It isn’t practical (read: won’t make money)

I think this last one trips us up the most. O...

Allow Yourself to Take Your (writing) Time

When I was attending the RMC-SCBWI Letters & Lines Fall Conference, my roommate, Cheryl Reifsnyder, kickass writer and human being, mentioned a book that is already changing my writing life: The Art of Slow Writing: Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity by Louise DeSalvo.

The title resonated instantly, so I hopped on my phone and reserved it at the library. It was waiting for me on Monday. Note: I will be adding it to my permanent collection!

Feelings of Failure

Those of you who know me...

Why I Go to Writing Conferences

Illustration by Ruth Harper, winner of the Letters & Lines Calendar contest.

Last weekendI attended the 2015 Letters & Lines Fall Conference, the annual conference for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of SCBWI. This year was the first year I was “just” an attendee, having retired after 10 years as co-Regional Advisor and prior to that as speaker liaison.

It was magical.

I wrote about some of the takeaway highlights on The Wild Writers blog this past Monday. Here I want to talk about why I still go...

When is a Manuscript Ready?

Last Wednesday, my agent sent out a new picture book manuscript to publishers. It’s one of the steps along the way, a step I find exciting because the story is out there, but all options are still open.

Prior to submitting, I celebrated having a manuscript that we felt was ready to submit. It’s a short one—about 250 words—but we went back and forth with it six or seven times. Each time I was sure we couldn’t possibly make it better and then my agent would have an idea and I’d run with it or I...

Reason or Result: You Can’t Have Both

“If you have a reason, you don’t have a result.” – T. Harv Eker

I heard this recently and it has stuck with me. In other words, if I’ve got reasons or excuses around something, I haven’t accomplished what I want to accomplish. Reason or result: you can’t have both. Of course I immediately applied this to my writing.How many reasons (read: excuses) have I come up with not to work on the novel I profess to love and care about? What is up with that?

Reasons Keep Me From Results

It seems like my...

Are You a Perfectionist Writer?

Yep. I am. And a perfectionistin general. And it’s a real pain in the butt when it comes to reaching my goals.

Signs You May Be a Perfectionist Writer

Do any of these traits sound like you? Notehow many do, just for kicks.

You set unrealistic expectations for yourself, such as completing a novel in three days (though I’m sure there are some who have or can do this) and then beat yourself up ifyou don’t meet those expectations. You feel like a failure when you make a mistake or at the very le...

You Are as Successful as You Believe You Are

Everyone has different definitions of success. For some, success is money. For others it’s recognitions or rankings. For even others, it may be both or something completely different.

Success by Ranking

When my first books came out, I was a slave to the Amazon ranking list. When it was lower, I was ecstatic. When it moved up a few, moving from five figures to six figures (because let’s be honest, it never went under five figures for me), I was devastated.

And you may have heard me mention bef...

You CAN Submit Your Book Professionally

Information Overwhelm

I have a very distinct memory of the first RMC-SCBWI conference I attended over 25 years ago. I was scared, nervous and convinced everyone was published except me—not only that, but everyone knew I wasn’t published, like there was some flashing neon “UNPUBLISHED LOSER” sign hovering above my head.

To my relief and delight, I met many pre-published writers there and at other conferences, even forming a critique group with some of them (one of them was published—the rest...

It’s All About the Love

It’s all about the love when it comes to the SCBWI conferences and boy was there a lot to go around in Los Angeles this past weekend!

For some great session and keynote details, check out the official SCBWI blogand 2015 SCBWI LA Twitter Highlights #LA15SCBWI.

The sessions I attended were amazing and my Inspiration Junkie was well fed. But beyond that, I was reminded about how much love there is at the conference—for each other, for the craft of writing and illustrating, for kids, for books, f...