Thursday, March 18, 2010

You Know How Sometimes...

...you ask the universe a question, and it provides the answer in some strange way?


Yeah. To me, this was strange.

I've been stuck on this one part of my manuscript, HANDS TOUCH. I kept re-writing the scene, never quite getting it right.

My protag receives a very old letter from a relative and I struggled to figure out how the letter would look after so many decades, and what it would be written with (pencil, fountain pen, ink...). I even Googled different variation of this topics and got...nothing.


On my vacay last week, I left my writing behind and that distance gave me a fresh perspective (weird how that happens). We had the privileged company of my son's great grandmother with us in Florida. We discussed my writing and I asked her about letters and ink used back in the day, when she was little. She gave me some perspective but admitted it was hard to remember.



SO. Now jump to post-vacation.

I have a roll top desk from my childhood that I keep in my home. I store jewelry pieces and parts in it. I sat down at the desk to organize my jewelry orders for the week. But I couldn't get the roll top to open up. It was stuck.

I shoved my fingers under and towards the back and felt something there (um, something that was never there "before"). * dum dum dum *

It felt like paper of some kind, and when I tugged I could feel it crumbling.

I told my husband it must be a long lost love letter from a prior owner of the desk or something. I very gently pulled the papers out...



So here they are (below). From my own childhood. So about thirty some years ago.

It says Hi Boys and Girls on it. I vaguely remember writing it. But I wrote a lot. Either I was playing school or writing a story or something.


Anyway, after only thirty years the paper was so yellow and crumbly.

There was my answer staring right at me. WEIRD!

****
By the way, some good news for me on this manuscript.

I submitted the first 250 words of it to the Source Books Teen Fire Contest last month and I made it as one of the top 45 semi-finalists!

Not sure how many hundreds of entries there were, but that little news gave me some much needed validation. Maybe I am finally a better writer and on the right track with this one. ;-)

P.S. Want to win a bookstore gift card AND a first chapter critique? Then head on over to Chimera Critiques.

11 comments:

Maddy said...

This is awesome! It's times like these that you realize how perfectly orchestrated our lives can be. It's a complicated mix of fate, luck and our own decision making. Congratulations on being a semi-finalist! That's a major accomplishment! I look forward to reading your final product some day (hopefully soon!).

Red Velvet Confections said...

Based on this post, I get the feeling you'll do quite well with your manuscript. Congrats on your contest accomplishment.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a great day!

Jules - Big Girl Bombshell said...

Congratulations! Yes, it is wonderfully amazing when the answers just appear!

Ann said...

That is really freaky. It just suddenly "appeared"? Congrats!

Harmony said...

A call to the show "ghost hunters", maybe?

A huge pat on the back for you!

Finding Beauty said...

That is so awesome Christine that you were selected! Also awesome that you found that paper from so long ago. Wild!!

Elana Johnson said...

Wow -- that is so cool! I love old things. And WOO HOO!! Congrats on making the semi-finals!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Great story! That is so cool - thanks for sharing. :-)

Cafe Fashionista said...

As they say, "Life works in mysterious ways." I'm so glad you received the help you needed - it's fate, I tell you!

And congratulations on making the Top 45 Semi-Finalists - what an amazing accomplishment, my love!! :)

Lourie said...

That is awesome...all of it! Way to go.

Clara said...

These are really great news! =)
I know how it goes with this universe thing, it´s remarkable sometimes...
Fellow writer here, by the way ^_^