Pocketful of Dreams

I walk this concrete jungle with my
dream tucked inside my jean pocket
can I share it with you?
my heart is poetry
iambic beats on the ground
I folded my pocketful of dreams
the prose I compose
never seems good enough
to catch your eyes
words are my soul
can't let the passion perish
these pocketful of dreams
won't be deferred

Three

Well I now have three completed manuscripts. Two are middle-grade fiction and the other is young-adult. All three are fantasy adventures. They're a little under twenty thousand words each. I'm quite proud of what I've been able to muster. As far as sending them out to agents, I dunno. The Strange World of Neve Rimbel hasn't been doing too well.

Of course the first manuscript you write might not led to publication. It might be the third, fourth, tenth. I don't want to give up on this, it's my passion. I know the bar is set pretty high. And the Potter books are the precipice of children's literature. And since so many MG/YA fiction are thick volumes it might be quite hard to sell something that's a little scant.

Writer's Quest

Well, since April is poetry month, here's something I jotted down. Like to hear it here it goes.

Blank page

pen in hand

words spill like blood

across the white canvas

Empire State of Mind

I really love music. And there are some songs that really speak to me, especially when they are about following your dreams or unrequited love. Lately Alicia Keys' Empire State of Mind pt2 is in my head. I know what does that have to do with my literary blogging. Quite a bit. The chorus part really strikes a chord with me. I'ma make it by any means/I've got a pocketful of dreams/baby I'm from New York/concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
I'm not from a big city like New York but my dreams are just as big. Big enough to believe there's space on the bookshelf for my book alongside the Stephine Meyers and J.K. Rowlings of the literary world. I gonna make it by any means despite how daunting and difficult it is to navigate the publishing terrain. The arrows of rejections won't pierce my pride b/c I'm gonna keep writing and polishing my manuscripts. I've got a pocketful of dreams, baby.

Today

Today I mailed the first 30 pages of The Strange World of Neve Rimbel to Bookstop Literary Agency via snail mail. I also sent an e-mail to another agency. So far my manuscript hasn't had the best of luck, but I haven't exhausted my list yet. So I'm ever hopeful.

Of course I'm not resting on my laurels I'm still working on the revisions of my third manuscript, it's called QuestSeekers or I might change it to the Quest or TruthQuest. Anyways, it's about a young prince and three villagers who search for the fountain of truth to clear his name. I know I have to work on the pitch.

Today I learned a new word, insouciant. It means to be calm and carefree. Here's to tomorrow being insouciant.

Tenacity

I just finished reading an interview with this seasoned author named Mitali Perkins (I actually follow her on Twitter) I found her writing journey inspiring. She let the rejections she received shape her vision as an author and improve her craft. Despite numberous rejections she refused to give up on her novel, letting it sit at the bottom of a desk drawer. She was unwilling to abandon her vocation. That's how I feel about writing, despite rejections I keep writing. Keep honing my craft. I believe in my stories and that there's a better place for them beside my notebook.

In the interview Perkins also stress discipline being vital to a writer if they want to be successful. And that writers should treat their craft as a serious profession not a hobby. Besides that I took to heart when she said, "good books take time to write, edit, get published, and reach the hands and hearts of readers."

Sea of No

I started sending out queries for my middle-grade novel, The Strange World of Neve Rimbel the first week of this month. By the second week, two of the three agents respectfully declined. I've been swimming in the sea of no for so long, I wonder where the shore of yes is. I know rejection is part of the literary game and it's a subjective business. I've worked really hard on my novel. I think it's a very good story. A twelve-year-old girl and her family moves to a cursed town. The girl sees beware, bewarned, be afraid eteched on her window. Thus begans her encounters with strange things from a woman bursting into crows to alien baby imposters.

A lot of the middle-grade/young adult novels I read the protagonist are white. My protagonist Neve Rimbel is black, but of course I like to think that wouldn't be the cause of a no. I would like to believe a fantasy novel with a black protagonist could have a decent number of readers and buyers. Character race shouldn't matter if the story is well-written and compelling and you believe in the story you're telling.

Often when I look at the book sections in Target and Wal-Mart (where I work) I get a wistful look in my eyes. Given a chance I would love to see my story ideas in book form.