Inspiration Abounds!

Status: Tomorrow is my beloved husband's birthday! Yay! Which means I will feel slightly less old (I'm a little over 3 years older than him, so for about a month and a half of each year, our ages are 4 years apart instead of 3). He hasn't decided what he wants to do yet, but I'm sure that it'll be tons of fun. Hiking and geocaching have both been thrown out there as possibilities. If you don't know what geocaching is, go here. And then go geocaching. Because it's awesome.

Number of queries sent: 24
Number of form rejections: 14
Number of requests for additional materials: 0 (but I'm testing out my updated query, so hopefully that'll change!)

Okay, so I read something the other day on the blog of a fellow writer that I thought was AMAZING. It was on the blog of Julie Murphy (which I love), who is represented by Molly Jaffa at Folio Literary Management. Here's the link for her blog: http://andimjulie.blogspot.com/. I would also highly recommend following her on Twitter if Twitter is your thing. And if it isn't, why the hell not? In my opinion, there's every reason in the world to be on Twitter, and no reason not to be (this opinion is quite a recent development). There are so many agents and writers on Twitter, and why not use every resource you can? Plus, a lot of these people are just plain awesome, and I legitimately enjoy reading their tweets. And I just unfollow people if their tweets are annoying.

There I go, sidetracking myself. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming. Here is the AMAZING thing that I read on Julie Murphy's blog: "I'm sitting here all teary eyed typing this up at half past midnight. And if you're here, if you're still reading this (full on tears now) and if you're a writer or a painter or a plumber or a dreamer or whatever the fuck it is you are-- keep going. I know it's easier said than done, but I can say it because I'm doing it. I'm going. And as much as I love my agent and as pleased as I am to be working with her, she does not make me a writer. The words on the page make me a writer. My being a writer is no different now than it was in December with my stack of 50+ rejections. So whether you're writing on your lunch break and working that shit 8 hour a day job or if you're living in England and writing a book about a beautiful boy wizard who will save the world-- you're a writer. You are a writer.

"My name is Julie Murphy and I am a writer."

HELL YES!!!!!! Thank you Julie, for putting so beautifully what I've been feeling all through this querying/rejection process. Yes, the validation is nice. Okay, more than nice. Getting an agent, getting published, having my books out there in the world--I want that so much that I almost can't stand it at times. I have daydreams about "the call" with my future agent (I'm persistent...I'm sure I'll get one someday), and yeah, those daydreams are wonderful. I've admittedly made myself cry on more than one occasion, just imagining how happy I'll be when that day finally comes. But you know what? Even if that day never comes (*knocks on wood*), that doesn't change the fact that I'm a writer. And that won't change the fact that I'll keep writing. Writing is what I do. It's who I am. I've written four novels in my 27 years of life, and I'll write oh so many more.

A writer is someone who is just overwhelmed by that urge to put words on the page. Overwhelmed by rampant creativity and an overactive imagination. Overwhelmed by the story that needs to be told.

A writer isn't someone who can just stop. There is no stopping for people like us. Writing is part of our souls.

My name is Ashley Turcotte, and I am a writer. Forever and always.