Lara D. Elliott - Inspirations

It's amazing how one person's words, while positive in intent and directed at another, can cause hurt. Has this has happened to you? Someone else is praised for their outstanding work (and deservedly so) but it makes you feel lesser? This past weekend my work team put our "product" out in public. An outsider publicly gushed over the team leader (who really is amazing), but completely ignored the existence of the rest of the team. As one of the ignored ones, it hurt. And I shouldn't let it get to me, but it's bringing up old feelings of not being important and not being good enough. It's really affecting me more than I care to let on. I often feel this way in the writing world too. Another writer posts on social media about their success--they got an agent or won a contest or signed a book deal. And I'm over here jealous and feeling like I'll never be good enough. But I need to stop. That writer who scored the book deal took many years of hard...

Today I was called an author. That's right. I'm going to be published. Okay, so it's "just" a flash fiction piece in a magazine, and it's "only" 697 words. But they're my words. Someone is willing to pay me for my words. And my words will appear in print. My name will appear in print. When I found out my story had been accepted, I cried. I didn't tell anyone at first. It was a special moment just for me. I've since told my husband and a couple of writer friends, and now I'm telling you. When the piece is published, I'm going to shout it from the rooftops. While I've gotten some positive feedback on my writing over the past few years, I've also gotten rejections. Having this tiny story published is the validation I was hoping for. The encouragement to keep going. Maybe I'm actually good enough to do this. To be a writer. So, yeah. Today I got an email from the production assistant at the magazine about the next ...

Some of you may have read my bio post earlier this year, but here is more about me and my writing! First of all, I am a wife and mommy. At the time this post goes live, I will be in the hospital having kiddo #3. And yes, I am enough of a Harry Potter geek that, of the window given me by the doctors, I chose July 31st, Harry Potter's birthday, to have my daughter. (Honestly, it is maybe the only reason I'm okay with being basically forced into a c-section). And for those of you trying to do the math, the timing works out that I was newly pregnant for the entirety of NaNoWriMo and still managed to bang out 50,000 words (though you can read my post on how I kind of cheated here ). My day job is a high school band director. My maternity leave means that I will miss a big chunk of the marching band season, which I'm kinda sad about, though I won't miss the 50 hour work weeks during this busy time of year. I'll be enjoying the air conditioning instead, and some qu...

I entered the popular Twitter contest #pitchwars last summer on a whim at the last minute. Surprisingly, I got a full request! It didn't pan out, but it whet my appetite for more contests. I kept my eye out for other Twitter mentorship contests and continued to enter. Spoiler alert: I didn't get selected for any of them. This spring, not only did I enter contests, but I also started participating in the community surrounding the contest. I chatted with others on Twitter and swapped critiques. I joined Facebook groups with other entrants to share questions and encouragement. I researched and followed the potential mentors, gaining the bits of wisdom they would share. Prepping for entering the contests was a learning experience in itself. When a contest allows you to enter only the first five pages of your manuscript, you start really examining whether those pages do the job of selling the book. Creating a synopsis and query letter helps to identify (or show the lack of) the...

After frustrating feedback for one novel, and frustrating indecision with another, I decided it was time for a break. I dug out my one completed picture book manuscript and started asking around for critique swaps. I found a wonderful group of writer-moms to swap with and wow was their feedback amazing. One in particular gave me ideas on how to better structure my piece to conform to standard storytelling format. How could I ever have thought my book was good enough before? This was exactly what the story needed! Now I've rewritten the book and continue to finish the last little bit of tweaks it needs along with the query. Big problem. It seems most agents want an author that has more than one 500 word picture book up their sleeve. Makes good business sense. But I only had one. Cue the disappointment. But maybe I could write more. I actually had started another manuscript. But that one is probably trash. I'm just not feeling it. So that means I need to write more. Picture...

I am an “Author Mentor Match” hopeful, and this is a post all about me. For those of you who don’t know about AMM, it’s a little like pitchwars mentorship without the war. So this bio post is going to be a bit like #pimpmybio. If I seem interesting enough, feel free to post a comment and we can be internet buddies! First and foremost, I am a wife and mommy. I have been with my husband for a wonderful nineteen years. We have 2.5 beautiful children (baby girl due this July) who are my constant joy (and stress. Can’t forget about the stress). We live in a suburban/rural part of West Virginia close to DC. (And yes, the timing works out that I was newly pregnant for all of NaNoWriMo, so you can guess how hard that was.) For my day job, I’m a high school band director. I spend my summers and falls with my marching band doing the band camp thing and performing under the Friday night lights. My winters and springs are full of taking my jazz band and concert band out to festivals. ...

I've been struggling for a while with my position in the writing world. When I first started writing novels, I found a contest run by a Christian writers organization. The fee to enter was cheaper for members, and it seemed like there were other benefits of membership, so I joined. I didn't place in the competition, but I learned a lot. I wrote my second novel for NaNoWriMo and then found critique groups in the Christian writers organization. The feedback on my work was both positive and constructive. I enjoyed swapping and giving my feedback to others on their work. Not only did I get to read other stories, but I practiced looking critically at what I was reading and saw ways to improve my own writing. But then we get to chapter eight. Spoiler alert: the main character has sex. Actually, that happened in chapter seven. I put a note in the email where I submitted the chapter for critique, warning potential readers that there was slightly sensitive material. Now, it didn...