I can’t promise that if you work with me you’ll get an agent and a book deal. I can promise you’ll learn from this experience, and your book will be better than when you started. So, if you don’t sign, are you still going to be as motivated to keep trying as you were the day you entered this competition? Will you keep querying that book until you find your dream agent? Will you write a new one and query that if this one doesn’t get you there? Before I share what I’m looking for, I’d like to tell you a little bit about me. I’ve been writing since 2010. I am represented by Dr. Uwe Stender of Triada US literary agency, but a little secret is that he rejected me when I first queried him (he got a kick out of that, BTW). In 2016, I was selected to be mentored in a competition very similar to Pitch Wars: Pitch2Publication; and as a result of that, I signed with Uwe. My debut novel, TEN AFTER CLOSING, came out in 2018. I’m also the author of BROKEN CHORDS, a YA horror that is currently unavailable because I’m getting ready to release a re-designed version (the cover is SO pretty and I'm revealing it publicly here for the first time. It's below!).

I’m also a senior editor for Allegory Literary Magazine, so I spend a lot of time thinking about story, what works, what doesn’t, and how to build upon a story’s strengths to take it to the next level.

​As for my non-writing time, I’m a full-time, licensed clinical psychologist. I work with people every day on figuring out what their ​strengths are, understanding their barriers & things that limit them reaching their potential, and setting the kind of goals that work. On the education front, I've been teaching and mentoring students (from college to post-grad) for over ten years. One of my mottos is: It’s not about being good. It’s about getting better. 

You'll also find, right here on my blog, a series of posts called "It's a Writer Thing." These are full of writerly inspiration and motivation. I draw from the psychology world, applying the concepts to the specific challenges we writers encounter. 

​- I’ll be here to cheer you on the whole way, including providing support during the hardest part of the competition—the waiting phase.  

​- I’m definitely looking for genre books, but within that context, I’m excited to read stories with diversity of any type, including #ownvoices books.
- Voice, voice, voice.
- I’m a better fit for upper middle grade, and I’d be especially interested in stories set just before the 8th grade to HS transition (though not a requirement).
- My number 1 request is some good MG horror or anything creepy/scary/eerie.
- I’m also looking to see contemporary books full of thrills.
- My favorite type of horror is paranormal/supernatural, so bring on your ghosts and demons.
- Witches in contemporary settings are great too.
- I’m a SUCKER for a haunted house story. (My secret ambition is to write the world’s best haunted house book, but if you beat me to it, send that bad boy over here please.)
- I’ll take my horror with a dose of silliness or keep it straight. I love HECK, WHERE THE BAD KIDS GO (by Dale E. Basye and Bob Dob) and THE MONSTER SQUAD, so feel free to send me your humorous horror.
- I’m open to MG horror with a more literary vibe too, like A MONSTER CALLS (by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd).
- I’m all about seeing creepiness in the mundane, so more subtle stories are very welcome (e.g., DOLL BONES by Holly Black).
- Adventures and thrillers? Yes, please. Something like STRANGER THINGS or THE GOONIES for MG would be great.
- Scavenger hunt stories would be fun (especially if there’s a creepy element).
- I’m a sucker for kids getting stuck somewhere and having to survive something (lost in the woods, stranded on a desert island, accidentally locked up somewhere—OMG, if they’re accidentally locked somewhere and there also happens to be a ghost or monster, that book is for me. Clearly there’s a theme here.).
- I will take fantasy if it’s rooted in the contemporary world.
- I’m open to some SCI-FI, but again, rooted in the contemporary world.
- Detective stories, especially with humor. My favorite movie of all time is CLUE. If you’ve written CLUE for MG readers, I wants it …

​- Anything that’s NOT MG. I love books for all ages, and even though my debut is YA, I’m only mentoring MG this year.
- Quiet books. I’m a genre girl, so I’m looking for books with thrills and scares.
- Pure contemporary. I love these books (think BFF BUCKET LIST by Dee Romito, SHOUTING AT THE RAIN by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, or THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT by Mae Respecio), but I’m NOT looking for that this time around. 
- High fantasy. 
- No vampires or werewolves (UNLESS it’s a silly take on the trope.)
- No space stories.
- No dystopians, please.

​Welcome, Wonderful Writers. Whether you’re here for the first time or a repeat reader, I’m sure you’ll find something helpful here. And if this IS your first time, be sure to check out my past It's a Writer Thing posts, including this series on writer’s block, my mini-series on receiving feedback, and my other posts on writing-related motivation and productivity. To those of you who’ve been here before: thank you for returning! I LOVED getting your messages and comments on my blog. Knowing that my post spoke to even one writer is the most amazing thing ever, and it really refuels my motivation to keep working on It's a Writer Thing.

Last time, I shared a visualization process for re-envisioning success. At times, we can forget what it is that we love about writing, we can lose sight of the bigger picture, forget what we’re working toward; and that process can help to recreate the strong, rooted connection to our goals and joy in writing. 

Today, I want to change gears a bit. 

​Have you ever started on a project, but found yourself talking yourself out of working on it? Have you caught yourself predicting failure or disappointment before you even begun? Then there’s the dreaded “should,” a word that puts intense pressure on us by insisting that something ought to be this way or not be that way. We might even decide that an agent or editor will hate our project before bothering to query. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered people who’ve decided not to enter a competition or try for a position or sub a story because they assumed they’d be rejected. They took themselves out of the game. They rejected themselves.

Guess what happens when we allow negative thoughts to drive our action? We don’t take that leap. We stay in the exact same place as we were before we started. 

We lose opportunities. 

We don’t grow. 

We get writer’s block.

And we don’t get used to the discomfort that accompanies our attempts to do a truly challenging thing. Because it’s always scary. I think that’s the hardest part to really wrap our brains around. Trying, striving, aiming for our goals, putting our work out there, facing rejection, attempting that next step toward publication—it’s always scary—and unless we grow up to become Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, I don’t see that going away any time soon. (And I bet they still face some scary stuff, too.)

So, what do all these scenarios have in common? They represent scenarios where how we talk to ourselves inside our heads can help or totally hinder us. 

Today, I want to share a process to help you build cognitive resilience.

Notice that I used the word allow above. I really mean that. We can choose to change our thoughts so that we don’t allow the negative ones to be in charge. Our thinking is a behavior that is under our control. Like any habit, it takes practice to change, but it IS possible. Here’s how.

Ever since Dr. Aaron Beck defined the Cognitive Model in the 1960s, research has demonstrated the immense power of our thoughts to drive emotion and behavior. The Cognitive Model says that how we think about a situation is the direct determinant of the emotions we feel; and our emotions determine our behavior or what we do as a result. One way to maintain our motivation no matter what this industry throws at us is to practice catching, checking, and changing unhelpful thoughts.

I’m giving up on querying because agents always say no. 
I’m a terrible writer; look at all these critical reviews. 
I’ll never write as well as they do.

​about reality; rather, I’m suggesting that we recognize that there are multiple ways to interpret any situation and that we don’t need to choose the most negative one. (Tweet this.)

Let’s take that last example; it’s perfect for our discussion of Writer’s Block. If we hold the belief I’ll never write as well as they do, we will be highly critical of everything we put down on the page. We will go back and read and re-read and re-re-read each word. Progress will be slow. Maybe we’ll skip writing all together today. And tomorrow. And all this week. There’s an immediate impact on our productivity, but that’s not all; that thought can haunt our behaviors indefinitely and extend far beyond today’s writing session. For example, the belief that we’ll never measure up might also make us more reluctant to try to improve. We may decide it’s useless to read that new craft book because we’ll never be good enough anyway. We may skip the conference, avoid the agent pitch session, or bow out of a competition that could help us improve. 

​Negative thoughts are like an Uber driver who wants to ignore our destination and take us to some random spot of their choosing. We need to kick them out, get behind the wheel, and get back on  track.

How do you do that? Here we go.

Here’s a research-supported technique—which I tweaked especially for writers—for catching and reframing negative thoughts. I call it TALE.

T: Take notice of the thought.
A: Assess the helpfulness and validity of the thought.
L: Let go of the thought.
E: Enter new thought.

Step 1: Take Notice when negative emotions pop up and ask: What was just going through my mind?

“I’m  feeling frustrated. What was going through my mind?”

​Step 2: Assess the helpfulness and validity of that thought. Is there another way to interpret this situation? Can you put a new spin on it?

“I’ll never write as well as they do.” (Seems pretty unhelpful, huh? This step is all about RECOGNIZING that the unhelpful thought is happening in our heads right this moment and calling it out on it’s BS.)

Step 3: Let Go of the unhelpful thought. Once we’re aware that the thought is unhelpful, we can CHOOSE a different thought instead. We can tell ourselves to let it go, that we don’t need to entertain this thought, remind ourselves that what we think IS under our control. 

Step 4: Enter New Thought: now replace that thought with one that is more balanced and helpful.
“I’m not as skilled as that awesome writer I love today, but I’m working at getting better every day.”

OR

“That writer has their own strengths, but I have my strengths too. My voice is unique.”

OR

“How do I know that I’m NOT as good of a writer as they are? And does it matter? Judging myself right now won’t help me get this book written.”

OR

“This is a first draft. Of course it’s not as good as their book. It’s not supposed to be polished. It’s just supposed to be done.”

As you can see, there are a lot of ways to challenge even one single thought. You can generate multiple examples, just like I did here, and use them all as part of your more helpful inner dialog; or, you can focus on one go-to reframe to get back on track.

​That’s it for this month’s post. Check back next month when I’ll be talking about Craft Overload. And, until then, remember: “You can do it! You can write!”