Protecting Your Mental Health
Hello to our wonderful #PBRisingStars community!!!
And welcome to our first ever PB Rising Stars blog post!
We are SO happy to be starting this new endeavor and look forward to a monthly post.
Last year, it felt like we disappeared right after mentee announcements, and didn’t return until it was time to announce the new mentors for this year. And we really missed the connection we have with you all during the application process. So we asked ourselves…
How can we keep this community involved and thriving?
How can we continue to give back, even outside of the application period?
How can we stay connected to our followers in a meaningful way?
Our answer?
The PB Rising Stars Blog!
Woo Hoo!
This is how it’s going to work: Every month, we will host a guest blogger, one of our past or present PB Rising Stars Mentees or Mentors. They will each be sharing a new idea, perspective, writing tip, inspirational story, funny anecdote, a peek behind the scenes of the mentorship, or something else writing or illustrating related.
We’re really excited to not only share these important topics, but also to introduce you more fully to the creators working with PB Rising Stars.
And SURPRISE!!! At the end of every blog (starting in JULY), we will have a “Ask a Rising Star” segment where we will answer a subscriber’s question about KidLit, publishing, the mentorship, you name it!!! We want to hear from YOU! Click here to submit and have your question featured.
For this first post, we’re thrilled to have one of our current 2023 PB Rising Stars Mentees, Cristina Raymer! Cristina is currently working with Audrey Perrott and we can’t wait to see all that she accomplishes. So please join us in welcoming Cristina with this very important and timely topic!!!
Protecting Your Mental Health
||
Protecting Your Mental Health ||
Written by Cristina Raymer
Children’s Book Author and 2023 PB Rising Stars Mentee
I am honored to be kicking off the PB Rising Stars blog post with a very important topic: mental health.
When I began writing seriously about three years ago, I immediately became enraptured with everything the writing community had to offer. There were Twitter pitch parties, writing contests, and mentorship opportunities, and it felt like every writer who wanted to be traditionally published would participate in each and every one of these. Advice flooded social media to “take your shot” and “you never know if this will be your ‘yes’.” So, I took my shots. I spent hours glued to Twitter, pumping out contest entries, and perfecting applications. When I started querying and the rejections rolled in, I told myself to keep it up;
the next agent I queried might be my “yes”!
This state of mind carried me through the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021. I stopped querying to work on a middle-grade novel but still participated in every event I heard about.
Then, in March of 2022, I crashed harder than an old computer hard drive. Inspiration and motivation vanished into the dark web, and the thought of pursuing a writing career no longer sounded attainable. I did what I thought equated to failure for an author:
I stopped writing.
For three months, I stepped back from social media and did not participate in any writing contests or pitch parties. Instead of forcing myself to write every day like I thought was mandatory for success, I read books for pleasure, baked a ton, and spent quality time with my family.
Then one morning, I woke up to rays of inspiration and an idea beaming inside me. That’s when I realized my decision to stop writing for a while was not a “failure”; it was what I needed to recuperate from mental exhaustion. It was a break from the belief that to succeed I needed to partake in every opportunity thrown my way.
So, I started writing again, but I did not engage in every pitch party or writing contest. When an opportunity came knocking, I took a moment to evaluate my mental state. Around this time, the 2022 PB Rising Stars Mentorship was announced. The writing community was very excited about it because, well, it was the PB Rising Stars Mentorship! But, after everything I had just gone through, I decided, for the sake of my mental health, not to submit a mentee application. Skipping this chance wasn’t going to harm my writing career; overstraining my emotional stability would.
After this, it was easier to say “no”. I gave myself permission to take breaks to recharge and writing became what it used to be: enjoyment.
Your mental health is your most important asset. I learned this lesson the hard way. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and thrill of a writing event and to become convinced this is it! This is my chance!
I am here to tell you it’s okay to not participate.
If the thought of entering a contest, engaging in an upcoming pitch party, or sending out another query feels like a rhino planted itself on your chest, don’t do it. Take a break. Listen to a podcast, watch a writing webinar, or read a craft book instead! If inspiration and motivation have fluttered away, do something rejuvenating: practice yoga, go for a hike, or treat yourself to a massage. Taking this time for yourself is important not only to maintain a healthy state of mind but also for your creative process.
As Ebony Lynn Mudd says,
“Your art is the prize™.”
Opportunities will always be around. Protecting your creative process is what’s going to produce your best work, and that is the true prize of this craft.
About Cristina Raymer
Cristina has had her nose in a book or a pen on paper since she was six years old, leading her to a master’s degree in literacy and a career teaching high school English. Now, she’s chasing her dream to become a published kidlit author and provide children with books that touch their hearts and make them laugh.
When Cristina isn’t reading or writing, she can be found in her kitchen in Upstate, NY, whipping up desserts for her husband and two young daughters.
Follow Cristina on Twitter @Cristina_Raymer.
Protecting Your Mental Health
||
Protecting Your Mental Health ||
***
W O W!
Don’t you just love everything about that?! We think that reminder is so very important. There is so much out there in the writing community, and you honestly have to decide where to focus your time in a healthy way. And we love that after taking that time away and saying “no” to a number of opportunities, Cristina was ready to say “yes” this year to applying to the PB Rising Stars program. And is now working with Audrey Perrott! What a testament to the importance of taking that time for mental health and then selectively choosing what to say “yes” to when you are ready.
THANK YOU, Cristina, for that important reminder and wonderful example. And reader, we hope you’re all headed out to a yoga class, spinning group, going for a hike, meeting a friend for lunch, or doing something that fills your cup and brings you JOY today!!
Now…
Every month we will also be pulling back the curtain on what we, the co-founders of PB Rising Stars are up to, and how you can connect with us. (And don’t worry… a giveaway opportunity is coming after this!) But first…let’s show some tangible support to our co-founders!
Ebony Lynn Mudd is about to LAUNCH her full line of merch AND her picture book writing courses are about to start up again, but this time in an exciting new way as a monthly membership!! Join her for a fun night of celebration this Juneteenth!!
Ebony Lynn Mudd's Business & Bday LAUNCH PARTY
Celebrate Ebony's TWO businesses and her BIRTHDAY! What better way to spend your Juneteenth this year than to support a Black-owned, woman-owned KidLit business??
Monday, June 19th
8:00pm - 9:30pm Eastern Time!!
What to expect:
+ Ebony's YOUR ART IS THE PRIZE merch full collection drop!
+ The Voice Roadmap writing courses on demand launch and demo!
+ Special guests, KidLit games, and GIVEAWAYS!!.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL…
Kailei Pew is about to start her series of FREE webinars connected to the preorder campaign for THE MONSTER ABOVE THE BED!
The first of the series is Playing the Long Game: A Deep Dive Into the Business Side of Publishing and Creating the Career of Your Dreams
Support Kailei’s debut AND get a chance to attend this exclusive class for FREE by preordering today!!
TUESDAY, June 20th
8:00-9:30 PM Eastern Time!
Kailei will be diving into several topics like: envisioning the career you want, finding an agent who matches your vision, going on submission, and SO MUCH MORE!
Wait… does this mean you could spend TWO DAYS IN A ROW WITH US??
Yes… yes it does! And you know you want to. So, order that merch and preorder that book! Because honestly, we could not run our businesses without YOU! We are so grateful for this PB Rising Stars community, and we love giving back as much as possible. But we couldn’t do it without our businesses also growing. So, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU for your support!
And now…
The moment you have been waiting for!
***GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY***
We will be offering one lucky reader a FREE spot in one of Kailei’s upcoming webinars (no preorder or library request required)!
To enter:
Comment on this blog post below letting us know how you liked this topic AND confirming that you’ve done all of the steps above (you must be subscribed to all THREE newsletters to be entered…or just let us know if you were already subscribed!)
For Bonus entries:
Follow Cristina, Kailei, and Ebony on Twitter (one bonus entry per follow.)
Like, Retweet, and comment on THIS tweet (one bonus entry per item.)
Thank you, friends, and good luck! Winner will be announced on Twitter and via our newsletter on June 22nd.
ABOUT PB RISING STARS
The #PBRisingStars Mentorship program started with a tweet, a huge response from the KidLit community, and two authors with book deals looking for ways to pull other picture book creators up the turbulent publishing ladder.
This program pairs agented picture book creators that are knowledgeable about querying, agent calls, author-agent relationships, being on submission, book deals, and contract language, with the next generation of children’s book authors and illustrators for an immersive, custom-made mentorship experience that is more than just a critique.