My story so far: first musings in following my bliss

Early tomorrow morning with be the ninth time in as many weeks that I've faithfully published a new segment on The Miracle in July, my guerrilla publishing experiment. I'm busting my emotional chops every seven days in the name of achieving my bliss, but that's not all I've been doing. Oh, no. I've gotten lots more done.

Let's start with the big news, shall we?


I'm very excited to announce that boutique literary agency Baker's Mark has agreed to represent me in publishing The Miracle in July! Bernadette and Gretchen, the ladies of Baker's Mark, are eager fans of the MIJ who like the story, the format, and the boundaries I'm pushing. When I started publishing my story I had no specific plans to find an agent, and instead I concentrated on producing good content and readers to read it. I also didn't actually find Baker's Mark, in fact didn't know anything about them, until I met Bernadette at Beer and Blog, the weekly bloggers networking event I write for and help promote.

Not only am I very surprised to have agency representation even before I've finished Act One of MIJ, I am also sighing with relief! Knowing who will represent me in big stuff like publishing rights is one less thing I need to fret about. I sincerely believe Baker's Mark is a perfect match for my project. My assistant @MeaganKate and I sat down with Bernadette and Gretchen not long ago and while we all agreed that the MIJ, my interactive manifestation of destiny, is a hugely ambitious project, we also all agree that we're up for the challenge.

Editorial Note: I promoted @MeaganKate from Intern to Personal Assistant the day I said yes to Baker's Mark, of course -- that girl is my good luck charm!

I'm also very pleased to say Apture, the multimedia tool I that makes my story so interactive, featured MIJ as Site of the Week. They also said this very nice thing about me: "There is no denying she has talent." Sweet! I've also been interviewed about my project on OurPdx and The Abundant Artist and received manymanymany private messages and tweets from esteemed friends and virtual strangers asking questions, giving suggestions, and offering to spread the word about my story.

In other news, I recently spent some time with talented local photographer @richburroughs who shot some promotional photos of me on gorgeous film at my home. (You can see a couple of digital shots on Flickr, here.) And in a few days @MeaganKate and I will be on Strange Love Live, a technology-focused podcast hosted by the lovely @CamiKaos, to talk about MIJ.

@MeaganKate and I have also made several major additions to The Miracle in July web site:

• Donations to support me as I write the story can now be made on the site
• A press page was added and embedded with a social media press release (complete with TwitPitch, links to the MIJ Flickr page and Friendfeed page, and preferred keywords)
• A fan page was added and contains links to MIJ badges and desktop images
  
• The images page is now an RSS feed from the MIJ Flickr page
  
• The About the Story and About the Author pages were re-written
• The Table of Contents was moved to the far right, out of the posting area
• "Like this story? Please consider [donating]" was added to the bottom of posts

Whew! As you can see, a lot has happened in the two months I've been writing The Miracle in July. And thanks to this self-imposed, admittedly brutal schedule crafting weekly installments of a very important experience in my past, I have learned a lot, too, about myself and the life of being a writer. I am beginning to understand how to coax my muse into reaching each piece of the story's puzzle inside of me. I can see that I take care in choosing the words that stay in, and that I worry about the words I should leave out. I watch the struggle of picking out the perfect media elements to help my readers be there with me, be in that moment. I listen to hours of music for that inspirational hook a song's title brings to my words. And I dig into the digital records of my past, scour the pages for storytelling clues. And while I do all of this creating, I must also make lists of ways to introduce MIJ to new readers.

So, yes. I've been a very busy girl since I last wrote here, and boy am I looking forward to the end of Act One. When that happens I'm taking a short hiatus from posting and instead will be focusing a bit on re-writing Act One, into turning it into a beautiful eBook for downloading and into a manuscript for my new agents to show off.

I also have many other exciting things in the works -- things I can't talk about just yet, but will just as soon as I can. In the meantime, I'm going to keep up with the type-ity type type. I'm going to keep following my bliss. It seems to be working in my favor so far. =)

Let's go steady!

Happy birthday to me (and my type-ity type type) on #july6

Lately, certain things in my life have been left to their own devices or forgotten outright. Such things include regular household cleaning, renewing the license tags on my car, and tending to my garden. My teenager also complains of being left alone too much, forgotten. While he's been touting his alleged neglect for years now like a badge of honor, he enjoys near-constant computing and delicious, homemade I-feel-guilty meals. However, he's probably right on some level. (Just to be clear: not anywhere near the "legal definition of neglect" level.)

All this letting things go by the wayside is because of the type-ity type type.

You may have noticed I tweet a lot about getting ready to, being in the midst of, or just finishing up some type-ity type type. I've been working a lot, for months and months, on something very special. It is hugely ambitious, deeply personal, and requires much balls out soul searching. And a lot of type-ity type type. This leads to laxity in keeping attention on anything else.

For instance, my poor garden. Those tiny spaces in my yard that yield fragrant flowers, alien veggies and mindful clarity has not been touched in months. After planting some onions, peas, and two kinds of lettuce I kind of just...stopped spending time there. And I've missed it. I truly heart my garden and its permission to experiment with nature. Sinking my hands into the soil has always brought my brain to task, triggering in me a state of deeply focused thinking. But lately I've been busy, insanely busy, with the type-ity type type.

Yesterday I finally got the chance to work in my sunny garden for a few hours. The weather was perfect for it, I had the time to get dirty, and I needed an inner dialogue with the voice of experience that comes when I physically connect to the Earth. When I was done kneeling on the ground, pulling weeds and pushing plants into dirt, I had some things figured out, a sense of calm, and 24 mature, rouge, sweet cherry tomato plants. Offspring from last year's crop.



I guess this means my garden was neither neglected nor forgotten, hm?

Today, while I re-potted those 24 tomato plants, my mind entertained the idea that if this special, deeply personal secret project of mine and its intense, intensive hours of type-ity type type didn't kill my garden or starve my teenager or get me a ticket (special thank you to the Portland cop who gave me a warning and waved me along) then maybe. Just maybe. It won't ruin me, either. Maybe it's not only a good idea to move forward with my plans, but a great one. One that could bring great things.

We'll see next Monday, the morning of #july6. That's when I'm setting my project adrift for all the world to see, to ultimately embrace or reject. I hope my hard work, this endless type-ity type type, will all make sense once the journey begins, and I hope the message of it is not lost in the translation, and that the risk and effort I'm making is at the very least respected.

And that night I'm celebrating my birthday at the Leisure Public House (in St. Johns, of course) and will be giving away these rouge sweet cherry tomato plants that grow, with or without me. I hope there's some hardy specialness in them for whomever wants them, and that you join me and in a drink or two.

Won't be the same without you there, telling me how sexy my gynormous balls are on #july6.

RSVP on upcoming.org

Let's go steady!