On Validation

Since I've recently started querying in earnest, I'm feeling all vulnerable and stuff, and that's simply no good.  The Ego will not allow it.  So in the spirit of self-validation and faking it til you make it, two staples of the actor's toolbox, I propose a meme of sorts.  Pick something from your writing that you KNOW you excel at, whether it's character description, snappy dialogue, killer last lines or an awesome hook.  Then just post samples from your manuscripts or WIPs, and show off those skills.  You're going to be a published author someday, and here's why:  Insert proof here.

I for instance, kinda write a hell of a first line.  It's interesting though to note the evolution of my first lines.  More important to me than the fact that I think I write a great opening, is that I can definitely see where I've improved from manuscript to manuscript. 

She leaped off the roof, speaking words of sorcery that changed her jacket into wings and falling, began to fly. - Roanoke (YA Fantasy) 

This is how the story ends. - Shades of Adrian Gray (YA Contemporary) 

I glared at the vending machine until it started to shake. - Vagabond (MG Sci Fi) 

My dead boyfriend appeared between me and the doorway and raised his finger to his lips in warning. - Voodoo Streets (YA Urban Fantasy) 

I was still kneeling (naked) over the coroner's dead body when the security guard found us. - Good Intentions (Adult Urban Fantasy) 

I felt my brother dying on the other side of the universe. - Gemini (YA Sci Fi) 

Sally Ride's teleport brought them in low and fast. - Slipstream (YA Sci Fi)

And then my current WIP:

For my sixteenth birthday, my oldest brother tried to kill me again. - Dust to Dust (YA Urban Fantasy)
 
 


See?  Feel better already.

Now you!