Lauri Meyers .

Hey there, My First Manuscript. [ Casually punches manuscript in shoulder and smiles uneasily ] We need to talk. I Love You Not (image by nubuck via sxc.hu) We've had this off again, on again relationship for a long time now. You and I both know this isn't going to work out. I mean, I love your humor and sweetness, but it's time we end this thing.   It's not you- it's me.  I will always adore your cute anthropomorphic characters, but you know society frowns on them. I'm tired of having to cover up our secret. But it's not you- it's me.  I've grown a lot in the last year. Sure, my word selection and dialogue skills have improved, but I can't fix you. It's not fair to you. You deserve someone who loves you for who you are. [ Mumbles under breath] I doubt you'll actually find anyone who does, but you never know. But again it's me, not you.                ...

Tag!  You're it! That's pretty much the worst thing you can hear when you're not very fast. Luckily, I was persistent and had a strong enough bladder to outlast my faster opponents for the occasional win at Tag. Coming out of my shell a little bit... (by Suzula via sxc.hu)   So when Marcie Colleen tagged me for Tagging Thyme , I was happy to find that endurance (there's 11 QUESTIONS) was going to be more important than speed (she tagged me a few weeks ago. And I STILL haven't gone tinkle.)   Thank you Marcie! Yeah, thanks for making me share MORE about myself, and not letting me hide in my well-appointed hermit crab shell.  Blogging has been a very healthy experience for a hermit like me, because I've found you have to come out of shell a bit to for your emotions to penetrate your writing. So, really, truly this time:  Thank you Marcie! I have to answer 11 questions then tag 11 people who would be willing to answer weird questions....

Last summer I posted about my Mommy Multiple Personality Disorde r and explained all 7 of my mom personalities including Giant Exploding Blueberry Monster (a bad mommy) and Rapping Mary Poppins (a good mommy.)  Now I'm admitting I have a writing personality disorder too. Split-Voiceitosis. Yes, it's serious, but don't worry - I don't think it's too late for treatment. It must have started in the fall, when I was striving for five polished picture book manuscripts (because Tara Lazar recommended that goal, and she's smart.) Finally, I had a solid stack of manuscripts, but then ah, snapadoodle ! Each one was totally different. I don't mean the theme of the stories ( of course they were different stories ), but like written by seven writers with these distinct voices: That's one messed up writer! (Image by Lauri Meyers) 1.        Sweet, quiet, lullaby voice that cuddles in blankets and drinks hot chocolate.   2.  ...

With the weather springing into life, I need to force myself to focus. Since I'm a procrastinator , I will do little things on little projects to avoid doing the big things on the big projects. That means I have to pick one (or two, I have a loose definition of focus) picture book(s) to coddle with attentive editing and love. Unfortunately, this feels akin to picking a favorite child, which is generally frowned upon. As for the ones which don't get picked, I won't make them sleep under the stairs or feed them bread crusts (like my real children.) It just means they will have to be a little more patient and wait until mama's ready to give them proper attention.  I have been studying picture books and learning how to write picture books, but when the time came to pick my favorite I was still stumped: What factors determine a picture book's chance of success? There's clearly an emotional element to the selection; each one is special in its own way...