"It's Got to Sing!"

As one of the network reps of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) for my area, I spent time last week getting ready for the guest writer we had invited to speak to our group. Verla Kay is an outstanding picture book writer, with seven published books and more on the way. I expected her to be a good speaker, but I didn't know that what she had to say would speak to my handbag hobby just as much as it did to my writing.

Two rules stood out from Verla's "15 Secrets about Writing Good Picture Books" talk:

1) Be patient. It still takes Verla YEARS to get a 32-page picture book of 150 words or so written and longer to get it in print.
2) Keep revising. You're not done until each word is the right word. "It's got to sing!"

It dawned on me that I make the same mistakes with collecting as I do with my writing--I'm totally impatient and I hate to revise. My impatience leads me to waste a lot of time thinking today's going to be the day I find the perfect bag to add to my collection and then trying to make it happen. Then, I hate to go home empty handed so I buy a lot of miscellaneous bags. A lot. And because I hate to revise, I have a lot of trouble letting go of those bags that don't fit in my collection.

Verla has found a niche in writing on historical topics in short, terse verse. She has defined her writing. My collecting lacks definition and discipline. Discipline--the thing that will keep me from buying a whole bunch of designer and name-brand handbags just because they're a deal. Definition--concentrating on a decade, a manufacturer, a style. I'm not sure I'm ready to limit myself like that yet, but I do need to build the discipline to stick to the vintage bags. And no matter how much I love handbags, it just can't be a good deal--it's got to sing.

As I gather these new skills, I'll be selling the bargains that have no place in my collection that I unearthed while treasurehunting . Don't get me wrong--there's nothing wrong with Tommy Hilfiger, Reaction, Perlina, Stone Mountain, Sak--they just don't sing to me. Check out my listings on eBay (RealDealPlus) for some of the castoffs. While they don't sing to me, they sure are cute, though!