Everyone Deserves A Chance to Fly!

Okay, so I've been listening to a lot of WICKED in the car recently. You know how you turn it up really loud and scream-sing along with, pretending you're even half as good as Kristin Chenoweth? Yeah, maybe that's just me.

But anyway, my favorite song of the show is "Defying Gravity." It just seems to fit a lot of what I've been feeling, thinking, and going through lately.

So Glinda has told Elphaba that she "can still be with the Wizard. What you've worked and waited for." (Tell me that doesn't apply to publishing!)

And Elphaba says:
"I know:
But I don't want it -
No - I can't want it
Anymore.

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap!

It's time to try
Defying gravity
I think I'll try
Defying gravity
And you can't pull me down!"

I love that. You can't pull me down!

Then Glinda says:
"Can't I make you understand?
You're having delusions of grandeur." 

(Also, publishing. Who among us doesn't have delusions of grandeur? I'm totally guilty as charged.)

To which Elphaba replies:
"I'm through accepting limits
'cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I'll never know!
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost!
I'd sooner buy
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down."

See? See how this applies to publishing? "I'm through accepting limits, 'cause someone says they're so." I absolutely love that line. And there are things in publishing that we don't understand until we try them. And things we're afraid of, and things we miss out on because of those fears.

Then Elphaba and Glinda have their little goodbye, and Elphaba sings:
"So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Everyone deserves the chance to fly!"

And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me

Tell them how I am
Defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in reknown
And nobody in all of Oz
No Wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!"

Again, love. Because everybody DOES deserve the chance to fly, even if it's solo.

So today, I am getting on my broom and hoping it'll fly. I'm letting you know that I will be self-publishing a novel of mine on February 18, 2014. It's called ELEVATED, and it's about a girl who gets stuck in an industrial-sized elevator with her ex-boyfriend. It's a YA contemporary novel-in-verse.

That's right. Poetry. Every word.

And my good friend, Erin Summerill is making the cover with some exclusive photography she shot--and she is brilliant!

And in case you haven't heard of WICKED or Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, you really should watch it.

Don't you think everyone deserves a chance to fly?

I Have Been Changed, For Good

Yeah, I'm going totally musical on you today. Particularly from the musical Wicked. See I love Wicked. I like all the songs, but none as much as this one.

Today's song: For Good from the musical Wicked.

Lyrics that inspire:

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

I have many stories of people who have helped me in my life. Reminded me of who I am. Who I am not. Shown me that good exists inside of people. They have all touched my life, molding and forming me into the kind of person I am today.

So what does this have to do with writing? Well, it could be applied in any number of ways to character development. But I think it has to do with the community of writers I've been lucky enough to "meet" and "know" online. We really are led to each other in remarkable ways. We help each other, lift each other up, change each other

And that's just kewl

Thus ends writing lessons from Wicked.

What do you think about your fellow writers? Aren't they WICKED awesome? Do you think you've been helped in your journey in some way by those around you?