{"id":101,"date":"2008-08-22T10:42:02","date_gmt":"2008-08-22T17:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/?p=101"},"modified":"2010-10-21T13:01:16","modified_gmt":"2010-10-21T20:01:16","slug":"will-write-for-wine-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/?p=101","title":{"rendered":"Will Write For Wine (Part Two)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tribute to two awesome (drink!) ladies!<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

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We’ve all had those moments. \u00a0You know the kind where somebody has made a comment or you’ve discovered a piece of information that’s turned out to be life-changing? \u00a0You can feel it in your bones. \u00a0It’s like the Earth has shifted on its axis and you just know that life, as you know it, will never be the same again.<\/p>\n

I’ve certainly had my fair share. \u00a0There was the moment during Yom Kippur services when my mother leaned over and whispered that I should spend my junior year of college in Israel. \u00a0There was the day I found out about a program that would allow me to teach and get my teaching certification at the same time. \u00a0There was the flyer I found at the Columbia Teachers College Bookstore that advertised an intensive MA program in Instructional Technology and Media.<\/p>\n

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And then there was the day Lani Diane Rich<\/a><\/span> and Samantha Graves<\/a><\/span> did a podcast<\/a><\/span> about NaNoWriMo<\/a><\/span>. \u00a0Writing fifty thousand words in the month of November? \u00a0There was no question. \u00a0I didn’t even think about it. \u00a0I was in. The next thing I knew, at the advice of Sam, I was making playlists and collages as inspiration for my story.<\/p>\n

In the months prior to that, I’d quit a horrific job, gone to Greece to deal with a family crisis and been rejected for job after job. \u00a0At the time, I was only working one afternoon a week. \u00a0I was also applying to a graduate program that would later reject me. \u00a0And, I was months away from turning 30. \u00a0If you’d done a Google search for “Quarter Life Crisis,” you probably would have found a picture of me, wearing ragged sweat pants, desperately searching Craigslist for the job that would help me feel like a grown up. \u00a0Oh yeah, and pay the rent.<\/p>\n

(Psst! \u00a0If you’re one of the people who’s told me you love books but aren’t a writer, listen up. \u00a0You never know what can happen.)<\/p>\n

The only reason I was listening to Will Write For Wine was that I’d followed Lani over from Literary Chicks<\/a><\/span>. \u00a0I was a reader, not a writer. \u00a0Sure, I’d always loved to write and I sort of planned to write a book someday, but my aspirations weren’t any more serious than my childhood plans to become a princess. \u00a0I liked WWfW because it was funny and I thought it was interesting. \u00a0But I felt like an outsider and a fraud because like I said, I was a reader. \u00a0Not a writer.<\/p>\n

Little did I know what my life would be like almost a year later. \u00a0So, in tribute to Lani and Sam on the very last day of WWfW, I’m posting the top twenty ways Will Write For Wine and the Will Write For Wine Forums<\/a><\/span> have changed my life:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0I listen to Adrienne Pierce and Alison Krauss<\/div>\n
2. \u00a0I read wine notes<\/div>\n
3. \u00a0I can’t say “awesome” without saying “drink”<\/div>\n
4. \u00a0I’m on Twitter and MySpace<\/div>\n
5. \u00a0I’m always looking for chances to use “killer words”<\/div>\n
6. \u00a0I love coding sites in WordPress<\/div>\n
7. \u00a0I use Scrivener<\/div>\n
8. \u00a0I listen to Grammar Girl<\/div>\n
9. \u00a0I’ve read romantic suspense (and loved it!)<\/div>\n
10. \u00a0I can use and define terms like “GMC,” “POV” and “headhopping”<\/div>\n
11. \u00a0I create characters who drink a ton of wine<\/div>\n
12. \u00a0I’m crocheting for the first time in years<\/div>\n
13. \u00a0I’m a member of RWA<\/div>\n
14. \u00a0I won NaNo<\/div>\n
15. \u00a0I went to RWA Nationals<\/div>\n
16. \u00a0I’m addicted to Bubble Shooter<\/div>\n
17. \u00a0I’ve met three out of the six Literary Chicks<\/div>\n
18. \u00a0I have my very own blog<\/div>\n
19. \u00a0I have a completed manuscript and a query letter, almost ready to be sent off<\/div>\n
20. \u00a0I’m part of the most awesome (drink!) writing community ever!!!!!<\/div>\n
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I feel like the end of the show is sort of a graduation. \u00a0Lani and Sam guided me through the entire process of writing my very first novel, and gave me the tools I need to send my book off into the big, scary writing world. \u00a0Even if I never get published, it’s all been worth it. \u00a0Writing has given me a type of joy and satisfaction I’ve rarely experienced, and I will forever be indebted to them.<\/p>\n

So, thanks Sam and Lani! \u00a0I wish you both the best of luck with your exciting plans for the future!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tribute to two awesome (drink!) ladies! We’ve all had those moments. \u00a0You know the kind where somebody has made a comment or you’ve discovered a piece of information that’s turned out to be life-changing? \u00a0You can feel it in your bones. \u00a0It’s like the Earth has shifted on its axis and you just know […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nanowrimo","category-writing-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":857,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melinakantor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}