Category: Writing

Blogging, Disappointment, Manuscript rejection, Writing, Writing your Truth

Blogging out Disappointment

Mona Alvarado Frazier
google images
You ever have one of those days you just want to throw your hands up, flop on your bed and give up? Probably so. That’s life, especially the writing life. Combine that with the additional life of a single mom of three teens/young adults who still live with me, and it makes those ‘throw up your hands’ days multiply. 



Everyone has those days I know, but that rational thought is overwhelmed with the feelings of disappointment over a rejected manuscript. I know it’s not the end of the world but it impacts my writing world. And I’m surprised about my feelings too. Lord knows I’ve had disappointments before. I’ve been down this road before in other aspects of my life. 


This morning (the morning after) I didn’t want to do revisions or much of anything, so I posted that on Twitter, where I’m a newbie and joined as part of an online class. Glad I did because fellow writers know so much about disappointment and offered encouraging words. I texted a writing class friend and she was sad with me. I felt understood.


But two hours later I find myself blogging out the disappointment because I don’t know what else to do and writing is a way I get things out. I purge, on paper, and thus online. Sometimes we’re our own worse critic. Maybe because of perfectionism, want for control, need for approval, or whatever other psychological term fits. 


Maybe this is a time to reflect on why I choose to write: issues of social justice, letting young women know they don’t struggle alone, that obstacles are surmountable, that someone cares.


It dawns on me that the reason for my disappointment is because I think my work won’t get out there and my audience won’t hear me. That makes me sad. 


In the search for a photo on disappointment I found this quote:
We keep going back, stronger, not weaker, because we will not allow rejection to beat us down. It will only strengthen our resolve. To be successful there is no other way. – Earl G. Graves


Then I remember I don’t write for me, I write because I’m driven to write for something more. It’s not about me. Rejection is part of the path to success. I still have my truth, my goals, and I know I can do this.

I’m ready to take a deep breath and review the comments about the MS now. Thanks for listening.



Dennis Mathis, Shelly Lowenkopf, Talking Heads, Ten Ways Writers Confuse Readers, TFS, Writing

Ten Ways Writers Confuse Their Readers-Part II

Mona Alvarado Frazier

How many ways are there to confuse a reader? I don’t know because the reader will throw the book down when the writing bores or frustrates them to death.

A couple of days ago I posted how writers confuse their readers. Here are five more, three from Dennis Mathis-Editor and two from my writing instructor Shelly Lowenkopf.

6. Negative Description- “He was not an aggressive driver. He didn’t speed or switch lanes or use his horn. She showed no hint of anxiety.” We don’t want to know what’s not there, we want to know what is there.


7. Commas- “I assumed his death would be reported by the press and the police checkpoint came as no surprise.” Self-explanatory.

8. Map-Making- “He climbed ten steps, walked twenty feet down the hall, turned left, walked east halfway down the corridor and knocked on the third door on the right.” It’s supposed to be a story, not a Thomas Guide.

9. Talking Heads-A long string of dialogue with no action, conflict, description, or dialogue tags (‘he said’). “A lamentable condition arising when two or more characters in a scene exchange dialogue with only minimal accompanying gestures. Individuals converse in real life. (They) use dialogue and agenda as though each were a volleyball being batted back and forth over a net.” From Lowenkopf’s “The Fiction Lover’s Companion (TFLC).”


10. TFS- Writers who are overly given to descriptions and explanations. The reader wonders where he/she is going.  The story should begin in the opening chapter, even the first page, not buried in chapter three. Tell the Freaking Story. (Also in TFLC).

Avoid these 10 pitfalls and you’ll be on your way to taking a reader along with you on your storytelling journey. Commit these errors and very possibly lose current and future readers.