Carrot and Stick
I believe in the old carrot and stick and me. And it’s thanks to my parents. Study hard, reward yourself with something. Get good grades, make it through this week alive at work without wanting to hurt a co-worker, reward yourself. These rewards do not have to be big but they are important. I’ve learned now as an adult that we always work so hard at what we do, giving so much OUT that we hardly ever give ourselves something back. And so each time I progress one step or do something that I consider is brave or insane, I reward myself. I think we get in the habit of not doing it - of always giving but never thinking of giving something back to the person who matters - yourself. The stuff I buy myself hardly ever costs me than £20. But they are special and may mean nothing to others, but to me they are milestones reached, targets acquired. They are valuable to me. And in this I am allowed to be selfish.
When I finished writing Curse of the Djinn I randomly found the prettiest charm at a stall in Spitalfields. The tiniest genie lamp that opens up and you can see something coming out of the little spout. I love it and immediately added it to my groaning Victorian charm bracelet.
On July 27th when I sent Grimm off to Juliet, I celebrated by purchasing myself an Old Ones poppet from Lisa Snellings’ etsy shop. I also indulged in a lovely bit of her art because really, the title said it all. It is so Kit and Grimm, it aches. It was my reward for sticking to my guns, for getting stuff done. It felt good and I got to celebrate it and now I know whenever I look at my Old One I will know: this is the poppet I bought when I took the plunge and sent a manuscript off to an agent. And it so happens that that agent became my actual agent. In Real Life. Who would’ve thunk it?
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I spent the entire weekend reading and relaxing. It was bliss. I made the deadline to Juliet a day early and sent her the fiddled with Grimm manuscript on Thursday. It exploded from a 72k manuscript to 86k. I’m still a bit stunned by this. But we see what she says. I indulged in three days of binge-reading and this morning I’m a bit drunk on the words in my brainz.
Today, being a Monday, I dragged my feet coming in to work. But to my utmost delight a parcel arrived too from Lisa Snellings with my poppet and art. And I cannot be a happier person. I’m over the moon.
Just look at my Old Ones poppet:
Old One poppet
And this is my lovely piece of art entitled: A Girl Needs a Knife:
Do visit Lisa’s etsy shop - her items are unusual and odd and too lovely for words. I cannot wait to have more of her poppets.
I really am content at the moment and am looking forward to a week of more reading and planning out bits on Grimm2. But also on another project. It feels odd and amazing allowing myself to do this, to play around. Also, the new Mslexia magazine is in today and I answered a few questions Danuta Kean asked about writing and lo! I am mentioned in her article “I don’t know how we do it“. I’m famous now, right?
Oh, the excitement as I wait for those royalties to roll in. *chortle*
Today also heralds the release of The Hunger Games and I am so excited to run home and watch it. I may have to sit super close to the TV so I can pretend I’m in the cinema again.
I leave you with a very interesting blogpost from my friend Jo who wrote about High Concept ideas.
Mirrored from Liz De Jager.