To Quit or Not to Quit...

I'm not big on rejection. Apparently, my extremely sheltered life led me to have an extremely not-thick skin. So you can understand why querying the story that holds most of my soul is so hard. Lots of rejections.
I told myself that I would try for a year and a half. I could quit on my birthday, and then no one could tell me I didn't try, right? Right.

My birthday is a month away. Only one more month of trying. And I'm scared that the month will be over and I'll have failed, but I'm also kinda relieved. Or at least, I was.

Cue conversation with my daughter on the way to school today:

She was telling me all the things she wanted to be when she grows up. And then she stops, mid-sentence: "Mom, what did you want to be when you were little?" "A writer." I smile. "Me too. I want to be a writer just like you when I grow up."

OH.

And then, "How do you get to be a writer?" I answer what every parent is supposed to answer when kids ask how to chase their dreams, "You can be anything you want to be. Just work hard and never give up."

OH.

So now I'm at an impasse. How on earth can I quit in a month and still tell my daughter to chase her dreams?    

August 15 Minute-a-day Writing Challenge

I have this weird thing. If I know I'm going to be bothered at all, I can't write. My mind will only work if I think I'm going to have the next hour or two open, no interruptions, no kids, no dogs, cats, neighbors...needless to say, I don't get to write much because that kind of time block just doesn't happen. So when I stumbled across Laurie Halse Anderson's blog about fifteen minutes a day for a month, I thought, hmm. Interesting. (http://madwomanintheforest.com/wfmad-day-1-welcome-to-the-write-fifteen-minutes-a-day-challenge/)

So I'm gonna try it. Also and conveniently, I am also participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this August. 

So. 

Every day, I will write for fifteen minutes. AND. It might be about nothing.

It might be about something important. 

Today, I am writing a blog post. Also, I'm working on my story, which is much more fun than blog posts. No offense.

If you think this is so much fun and want to join me, mention it in the comments! We can compare notes every day and see how we're doing. You can push me forward when I get lazy. I'll sweetly suggest you get your butt in gear if you fall behind. See how that works?