“Love Pats” of The Ultimate Cat Lover Book won for Essay

“Deadly Inked” of Deadly Ink Anthology 2008 won for Short Story.

A website is a necessity in today’s world. “What’s your website address?” is one of the most asked questions when you meet anyone in publishing – writer, agent, editor… Now I have an answer. www.mitziflyte.com

I have to admit that I fell under the “spell” of the bestseller, The Secret. In fact after I read it, I gave away two copies (one to Heather and one to Olivia, my surrogate daughter) because I found the message so meaningful – and that was before Oprah had a show about it. I know lately there have been experts who have been discounting the message of the book and that’s okay. As with everything else (except maybe medication prescribed by a physician), take what resonates with you and leave the rest.

Resonate is the appropriate word to use for explaining the secret in The Secret. Resonate means reverberating, resounding, or vibrant, vibrating. If something resonates, it vibrates within you.

The complicated science behind the secret of The Secret very simply explained – if quantum physics can be explained simply – is this:

All energy vibrates at different frequencies. Everything is made of energy. Everything vibrates. Our thoughts are energy. Our thoughts vibrate. Different thoughts vibrate at different frequencies. Frequencies attract similar frequencies. Therefore, bad thoughts attract more bad thoughts. Bad energy attracts more bad energy. The old idea of karma made new again. This has also been called the Law of Attraction.

Now you’re thinking that drummer that I march to is really off-beat – in more ways than one. But hear me out.

Think of why you are around people with the same belief systems, the same values, the same dreams and goals. You feel better around these people. You learn and grow.

Let’s look at the opposite. Have you ever had a morning when nothing goes right? You think, “Well, this is sure gonna be a lousy day.” And guess what? It turns into a lousy day. Instead of thinking, “it’s going to be a lousy day” when you get up late, your hair looks like crap and you can’t find a clean blouse, think, “The rest of today is going to be great.” And believe it – it’s not just the thought, it’s believing in the thought that makes the difference.

Okay, maybe you’re with me for part of this. After all you’ve heard of the Power of Positive Thinking and Self Fulfilling Prophecies. But just how does this mumbo-jumbo work with your writing.

Every rejection (and Lordy, don’t we writers get them?) is bad energy – negative vibrating frequencies that tell us we’re no good. We’re bad writers. We’ll never get anywhere with this, so why try. If we concentrate on that negativity – guess what? You’re just going to get more back. If you dwell on the fact that you were rejected, then you’ll attract more rejections.

Okay, Miss Smarty-pants Mitzi, how do I NOT think of a rejection as a rejection?

Every rejection, every single one of those lovely things is proof that you’re a writer, proof that you’ve finished a manuscript and proof that you had the guts to send it out.

Rejections are proof that you are following a career path.

Rejections are not, never have been and never will be a bad thing. They are good things. In fact they may be the best things in the world.

Rejections are proof that you haven’t given up.

To paraphrase the great Brian Wilson, “Rejections are giving you good vibrations.”

And that’s the real secret.

I finally gave myself a big virtual forehead slap when I realized that I was missing the one thing that could get me through a lousy day: I could write. Unfortunately, when I realized that I was driving down I 78 on my way to Pittsburgh. Being a fairly good driver I pulled into the Grantville rest stop. After visiting the ladies room and paying way too much for bottled water, I went back to my car, pulled out a notebook and wrote.

First I wrote about the things that were “bad” in my life and next to each one I wrote about what was “good” about those things. I didn’t want to drive to Pittsburgh. I didn’t want to work all week on a 280 page nursing policy and procedure book. I wanted to stay home and revise MY book. My good and bad list didn’t seem to be working to get me in a better mood.

As I was writing I noticed a scraggly, dirty man wandering around the picnic area. There had been a beat-up back pack and bedroll sitting on one of the benches; the back pack had a crude cardboard sign with the words “To CA” written in crayon.  I connected the man with the backpack and, knowing I didn’t want to do what I had to do, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have the freedom to come and go – no responsibilities?”

I abandoned the bad and good list and began to write a short essay about freedom versus security. I written almost two pages, knowing that this was not going to be for any publication and maybe not even on my blog  when I “heard” the gravelly voice of Janis Joplin singing, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to do…”

Well, I had plenty left to do. I put away the notebook and pencil and drove away from the rest stop. What had started out as writing a bad versus good list had turned into an essay which had turned into…

My feeling better about life.

Not all your writing is for an editor or agent. Some of it is just for you.