Author Blog of Erica Deel
© 2015-2019 Erica Deel, All Rights Reserved
The best thing in my life right now are my every-three-months visits to my dear friend’s house in Massachusetts. We instituted this idea back in January, and I just got back from my third trip—and I loved every single second of it.
Why are these visits so invigorating?
Last week, I was in Massachusetts with a dear friend of mine, and we went to the CUTEST little bookstore I’ve ever had the pleasure of stepping into. It’s called An Unlikely Story, and it’s now owned by Julie and Jeff Kinney—the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series.
What makes this bookstore stand out from the others?
As the name suggests (or outright tells), I started my own Twitch stream this past week! I’m a Twitch streamer!
It’s still weird to say that, much less FEEL that, but there it is. I did the thing I’ve been thinking about for TWO YEARS, and it feels freaking awesome. Now, let’s break down this incredible feat because it took a lot for me to get here.
Happy Independence Day! Today, I want to talk about regaining my independence post-concussion and how I’m working towards living my best life amid the struggles.
As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, for the past two years now, I’ve been dealing with post-concussion syndrome from banging my head on the Test Pilot amusement park ride at Little
Last week, with all of my painful-rejection mayhem, I didn’t have a chance to share one of the most important things of my recent life: I GOT TO CROSS AN ITEM OFF MY BUCKET LIST.
Yes, friends, I finally made it to a Josh Groban concert. At long last.
Back in February, I submitted a short play to a publisher who is developing a children’s play anthology. This play is called “Lost Wings,” and it’s about a fairy named Felicity who loses her wings one day and has to go in search of them, making lots of new friends on the way. I love it; I’m proud of it; I was hoping beyond hope that this would be my first significant publishing credit.
Monday night, I got the rejection email:
For a self-professed writer, I haven’t been doing a whole lot of writing lately. Even though I claim writing as my primary occupation and priority, I’ve been working on building my editing business. And before that, I was taking a break from my main book series to focus on writing something else, something easier and less laden with complexity and complicated memories.
But now, it’s time to get back to work. Real work.
I’ve completed a few editing projects, which feels fantastic, and I have another big one lined up for a few months from now. As I’m searching for my next client, though, I have some space to wade back into my story waters and pick up where I left off.
Except, I’m realizing, it’s quite impossible to “pick up” right where I left off.
Hello, friends! Can you believe it’s JUNE already?? Time is sure flying this year, and I just don’t know what to do with myself. This post comes a whole two months after my last one, and I’ve decided not to feel guilty about that and just move on with my life and blogging. So, I’ll just say, welcome back, me!
A while back, I posted about a flash-fiction story I had written for a contest run by National Geographic and Wattpad called “Planet or Plastic.” My entry was “Po’s Plight,” and I was—and still am—immensely proud of it.
Unfortunately, “Po’s Plight” didn’t win the contest, or even make it into the top ten finalists. But that’s okay. I’m finding the silver lining here and turning this “no” into a “yes.”
Two weeks ago, I posted about how I was giving up on a story that just wasn’t working. I was two days until the submission deadline for an anthology, and I hadn’t yet made it through the first draft. It was daunting. It seemed impossible. I gave myself permission to give up and not go through with it.
Then, the most miraculous thing happened.
I got unstuck.
The words started flowing.
And there, finally, was the first draft of the story I had been trying to write for two whole months.
