Post image for Dress code for first draft success

Clad in gray from head to toe (gray yoga pants with a hole in the thigh, gray tank top, and gray sweatshirt with yes, gray socks), my hair falls limp around my face. Just a couple days ago, my hair was shiny and bouncy and definitely not this dirty.

This is my new, totally improved, and uber-fabulous writer look.

My artist look was more glam (see picture on left). High heels and retro dresses. Cat-eyed glasses. Cropped bangs. Cherry red cell phone. Of course, I did wear Dansko’s and jeans like everyone else. Sometimes.

Today when I looked at myself in the mirror, I kinda gasped. These days I slink to my writing office (aka table stacked with books in my bedroom) in the same things I wear to the gym. And to make dinner in. And to pick up my kids in from school.

Oh, no.

I’ve slid so far down the fashion pole that I even sheepishly missed Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner’s YOU ARE WHAT YOU WEAR: dress the inner you. I didn’t even need to show up in person. I could have hidden behind my computer, where I’ve been parked for a year and seven months.

But I have a first draft!

575 days after my NaNoWriMo writing blitz, I wrote the last scene of my YA novel. Soon I’ll be facing that deep, cavernous, special place called revisions (with the unflagging help of my writing interventionist and a whole lot of patience).

To celebrate limp hair and first drafts, I’m going to buy a dozen writing books on editing, and window shop with a writer friend who wears mommy jeans and chases after a toddler, too. We made a vow to look, try on stuff, and get our rusty style sense back into gear. I’m going to predict we’ll end up skipping the racks of clothes, find a cute little cafe filled with people more stylish than we are, and talk about books. Or success. Or diapers.

When does lo-fi style serve you in your pursuit of happiness?

{ 12 comments }

Undercover blogger

by rosedeniz guest blogging
Thumbnail image for Undercover blogger

Going undercover. Guest post round up.

Read more here →

52 weeks of breakthrough

by rosedeniz creativity
Thumbnail image for 52 weeks of breakthrough

Ready for your very own personal adventure?   Sometimes something comes along right when we need it. Right when we need that push. Or nudge. Or maybe even just that whisper in our ear to trust our instincts, don’t hold back, stretch out into our truth. A Year With Myself is that very thing that [...]

Read more here →

A Quiet Day {Soul Compass #ayearwithmyself Prompt}

by rosedeniz creativity
Thumbnail image for A Quiet Day {Soul Compass #ayearwithmyself Prompt}

Where do you find your soul’s compass? Goddess Leonie asks on #AYearWithMyself. This is my answer. {Photo: Pinterest Kelley Pye-Dancer}

Read more here →

I’ll stitch you the moon and stars.

by rosedeniz creativity
Thumbnail image for I’ll stitch you the moon and stars.

Next year I’ll stitch you the moon and stars.

Read more here →

Coiffed. Are You?

by rosedeniz creativity
Thumbnail image for Coiffed. Are You?

I was 21, a junior in college, and living across the street from the Thai restaurant that gave me and both of my roommates indigestion whenever we ate it (weekly), when I found my first gray. Where were you?

Read more here →

While my husband was away, I drew this.

by rosedeniz drawing
Thumbnail image for While my husband was away, I drew this.

A story in pictures.

Read more here →

This room is boobytrapped. {Look for the pink lines.}

by rosedeniz creativity
Thumbnail image for This room is boobytrapped. {Look for the pink lines.}

Last week it was my makeup splattered on the bathroom floor. This week it’s the living room – boobytrapped with pink string.

Read more here →

Sometimes the love…

by rosedeniz drawing
Thumbnail image for Sometimes the love…

A little testimonial love for a book illustration project.

Read more here →