I discovered a post today from TOR.com about ten awesome and unusual mythological creatures. I think my favorite is the Enfield. Check it out! http://www.tor.com/2015/05/06/10-awesome-and-unusual-mythological-creatures/

As a speculative fiction writer, I do a lot of dreaming—about spaceships, mythical creatures, and more. I often wonder whether the stories I weave from these dreams really make a difference to anyone else.

But the lives of all people on our planet are interconnected. Thus, the work each one of us does—even if that work is just scribbling stories in isolation—could have a profound impact on someone else’s life one day—and hence, on the world.

Here are two real-life examples:

Mae: Mae, an African American girl, grew up on the south side of Chicago in the 1960s. She watched a science fiction show called Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry, and a character named Uhura inspired her to reach for the stars. In 1992, Mae Jemison blasted into Earth’s orbit aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, becoming the first woman of color in space.

Jane: A British girl named Jane used to climb a beech tree at her family home, and from up in that tree she read the Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. She daydreamed about life in the forest with Tarzan and the apes. Many years later, Jane Goodall became the most renowned chimpanzee researcher in the world.

Did Gene Roddenberry know that Nichelle Nichols’s character on his show would be a role model for the first female African American astronaut? Did Edgar Rice Burroughs anticipate that his adventure novel series would inspire a young girl to become a groundbreaking primatologist? No. These two writers both just dreamed their own dreams and wrote them down, and that spark caught on in the hearts of others and became a flame that changed the world.

What about you? What are your dreams? And where will your dreams take you?

Happy Valentine’s Day, friends!  Today, I’m going to talk about one of the unromantic parts of a writer’s life…rejection.

As a freelance writer, part of what you do is submit your work for publication.  After toiling away on your beloved novel/short story/poem/screenplay/article about Norse dragons, you send it out into the world and hope for the best.  It can be a little nerve-racking, like handing a carefully crafted Valentine to someone you’ve secretly admired for a long time.  You’ve put your heart and soul into it, and you’ve made up your mind to share it, but you’re still not sure exactly how it’s going to be received.

And sometimes (more often than not), things don’t work out the way you planned.  Your story about the telepathic penguin with a gun is too similar to another story the magazine has published recently.  Or maybe the story isn’t dark enough for the editor’s tastes, or the plot just didn’t grab his or her attention, or…or…

There could be any number of reasons your story just isn’t quite right for the publication to which you’ve sent it at this time, even if you’ve done your research and you thought it would be a good fit.  Usually, you don’t receive any feedback about why.  Most editors are too busy to respond to submissions individually.  You tend to get form letters instead: “Thank you for your submission.  Unfortunately, it was not right for us.  Best of luck placing this elsewhere.”

If you are trying to be a serious freelance writer for any length of time, you will get a rejection like this.  Then you will get another.  And another.  And another.  At times, your life seems to dissolve into a gray haze of painful rejections.  Perhaps you’re never going to find love, or a home for your writing.  Perhaps you should just give up and move back to the carrot farm.

But if you really want to succeed at writing, or at anything, you can’t give up!

Stephen King nailed his rejection slips to a wall in his house.  When the pile of slips got too heavy for the nail, he replaced it with a spike and kept writing.

J. K. Rowling’s manuscript Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was rejected by about a dozen publishers before it was sold.

Thomas Edison’s team tested over 6,000 plant materials before finding the right element for the first commercially viable electric light bulb.

So…what should you do?

Keep trying.  Learn from your mistakes.  Heed the advice of others, while taking everything with a grain of salt.  Don’t take rejection personally; it’s a fact of life.  Work hard to make your work the best it can be.  Write regularly.  Edit fiercely.  Submit boldly.  Keep trying.

One of my favorite children’s authors, the late Jean Craighead George, offered me this advice: “Do what you love and you will succeed.”  I have taken this message to heart and carry it with me wherever I go.

Hang in there, everyone.  Keep doing what you love.  Good luck with those Valentines.

For years, “White Wolf Leaping” by Jim Brandenburg has been my favorite photograph.  In this photo, an Arctic wolf leaps from one patch of ice to another.  Brandenburg captured the wolf in mid-leap, suspended between one chapter of its life and the next.

I don’t just love this image because wolves are among my favorite animals.  I love it because of what it reveals about life.  Like Brandenburg’s wolf, each person in this world is on a journey, leaping forward into the future.  We don’t always know what’s going to happen next.  We don’t know if the ice on which we land will be sturdy or if it will fall apart and plunge us into chaos.  But we leap anyway, because it’s all we can do.

Any creative endeavor -whether it’s a photograph, a drawing, a song, a story, a poem, or a novel – requires such a leap of faith.  It’s risky, baring your soul to the world as you struggle to turn your dreams into reality.  You might fall into frigid waters.  You might reach a dead end.  Or…you may just find the path you were meant to walk all along.

My name is Amy Fontaine, and this year, I’ll be taking a leap of my own…into pursuing my craft, creative writing, more boldly than I ever have before.  For me, 2017 will be a year of many firsts: my first time applying to Clarion and Clarion West, my first novel publication (Mist, forthcoming from Thurston Howl Publications!), my first time being featured in an anthology about sharkasauruses (Are they sharks?  Are they dinosaurs? Stay tuned to learn more!).  Who knows what other surprises await?  I don’t, but I’m excited to find out!  I hope you will join me on my journey, and perhaps find inspiration for your own journey along the way.