I love conferences and conventions (yes they're different) and consider them a part of my writing life. Sometimes I can't wait to get to them and sometimes I dread every second leading up until I actually walk in the door. Knowing what to do/why you're at these events can make the difference between having a great time and being miserable the entire time you're there.
So get your battle gear on and let's prep for heading into the throngs of people at your next convention!
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I've written about rejection several times before and here we go again. Why? Because it's a huge, annoying, disheartening part of any writer's life. No one escapes unscathed from rejection, and most writers will deal with it hundreds of times before they even find success.
There are days I feel like I'm in a Disney movie during the musical number after everything has hit bottom and I've been exiled. Kovu knows this feeling.
Read MoreSo on Monday I talked about the importance of not giving a damn. Today I'm jumping to the opposite side of that argument and telling you to give more of a damn. The truth of the matter is I've gotten lazy in a lot of things lately because I've gotten so caught up in not caring so much. The problem with that is that caring is important in putting out a good product (and I mean generally in life). I've made stupid typos, not reviewed work for errors, and generally not cared about the proper layout of the English language. (I still stand firm in my internet speech of deliberately mess-ups like 'It are me.')
So where does that leave me? Well, it leaves me embarassed when I get called out on careless errors, and regretting not reading over an essay before submitting it. No one will ever care about your work as much as you do. You are the champion of your work and if you don't care enough to read it 300 times until you can nearly recite it from memory, who will?
One of the biggest wake up calls for me was when I got the finall layout proof for The Bone Queen versus The Pulptress. My first thought was 'Meh, I'm sure it's fine.' and I nearly just sent it back without even looking over it. I know, I know. I want to slap past me too for even thinking that. But, I forced myself to sit down and read over every damn page, and you know what I found? A section where the layout person's cat had walked across the keyboard and left a string of gibberish in the middle of the page.
If I hadn't cared enough to read over the proofs, would that have been caught before print? The truth is I don't know. My publisher did an amazing job with edits, but a publisher is handling more than just your book. They're having to care about a lot of books. You only have to care about yours, and that means you care more than anyone else. It was a massive wakeup call for me.
I'm still working on it. I want to write my first draft, do one round of edits and call it done. That doesn't fly for me. (I'm sure there is someone out there that does work for and good on you.) Now, I'm spending a lot of time on outlines then starting a first draft. I'm going to take my time, go at a speed that works for me, and edit, edit, edit before a second set of eyes even sees it.
It's easy to get lazy. You wrote the words, why on earth do you then have to spend months staring at them more? Because you need to care enough to take that time to sculpt those words into the best shape they can be. You need to care about your project more than anyone else ever will because it's yours. At the end of the day it's your name, your reputation, and your words on the line, no one else's.
So don't give a damn when you're getting started but you sure better slow down and care a whole lot once that end comes into sight.
Writing is a lot of ignoring everything else around you. You ignore the lure of the television, video games, and even time with friends or family for the chance to get those words down. That's a struggle but what tends to always freeze me is when I start caring way too much about what I'm writing. I can't progress the story because I'm hung up on what color my main character's eyes should be. When I start getting too caught up in the little details, I have to remind myself, all of this is going to change anyways.
When you're first drafting, it's okay for the character to go from green to grey eyes in the span of a chapter. Stop giving so much of a damn about your words that you get paralyzed and write nothing.
It's easy to feel like every detail and word you write is worth stressing over, but if you spend your entire life writing the same page over and over again then you've not really accomplished anything. If your goal is to get your words out into the world you have to stop giving so much of a damn about them and just worry about getting them done. It can be liberating to let go of the worry and just write.
Lately I've gotten hung up on worrying about if what I'm writing will ever sell. What if no one wants to read this? What if no one cares? I worry and think about that so much I get nothing writte and instead I just circle the drain of self-pity and wallow in a gallon of ice cream. What I've had to remember is that while thinking about market and sales is important, you have to remember what you're passionate about and write that story. Sitting paralyzed because you're too concerned you're never going to sell anything doesn't help either.
Maybe the market isn't supporting your paranormal romance right now but write it. If it doesn't sell, put it in a drawer and move on to the next project. Trying to write to the market is like letting a blind, drunk elephant guide you through the plains. You're going to end up lost in the grass and eaten.
Writing's a strange mix between having to care deeply, and having to not care. There are points in the process where caring is more important, so here I'm talking specifically about getting down your first draft and organizing your thoughts. You need to let go of the idea of the perfect, just-right-for-the-market, flawless story that exists in your head and start writing it. There's no shame in writing an awful first draft and then taking the time to carve out the story in your mind, but without that first block of clay there's nothing to even sculpt.
That image of the story that exists in your head can never reach this world if you keep it locked up because you're too afraid to make it.
The quote I've found that almost always keeps my butt into creating is the incredibly popular quote from Ira Glass on creativity: "Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
Starting out it's painful to realize that what you have in your head is not going to be as awesome as what you like, and what you see. You have to keep going, not give so much of a damn and get through all the crap to find the diamond buried in your own work.
For a long time I've been scared to have a strong opinion. I like to try to make everyone happy, and that means not disagreeing, not sharing things I agree or disagree with all because I want everyone, down to strangers on the internet to like me. It's meant that I keep quiet when I'm in situations that make me uncomfortable, when I see something that upsets me. It means I've kept my mouth shut when I needed to be speaking up.
I've let people walk all over me. I've bent over backwards to help people who don't deserve it and I've watched friends fight battles alone because I was afraid of the reactions.
And I'm so tired of being afraid. Fear has become a small part of my life and I'm so over it.
So now every Friday I'm going to share an opinion piece. Looking forward to it!
Writing is known for being a solitary pursuit. While there are writer’s groups and ways to create a network around writing, the work itself has to be done alone. Chatting with friends cuts into writing time. It’s easy for a write to tumble into THE ANTI-SOCIAL BUBBLE aka the thunder dome where no one makes eye-contact or speaks. It’s even easier when the creative life takes a nosedive and depression crawls in.
Read MoreImagine your favorite book but different.
No. Try again.
Nope.
Okay, that's not even a book.
Imagine if your favorite book were about a man in a tan jacket carrying a deerskin briefcase.
Closer.
That's good enough.
Writing can be an incredibly isolating and challenging task. It's hard to find help, and sometimes it's hard to even know where to look to find help. Sometimes, it's hard to even know what's good resource versus a bad one, and sometimes you don't even know what you don't know to even ask about! That last one seems to be the story of my life.
So, here I've compiled some of my favorite resources that I use on a regular basis and I think would be helpful for writers all along their journey, whether you're just starting out, published, lost, or just curious.
I downloaded a sample of PaperHearts with not an intention of buying it. I've read tons of writing advice books and wasn't keen on adding any more to my collection but then I read:
The first thing out of most people's mouths after you tell them you wrote a book is, "when will it be published?" Falcon punch these people in the throat and tell them to calm the heck down.
And I knew this was the kind of advice book I needed in my life.
I bought it and fell straight in to a book filled with some of the realest advice on writing I've ever seen. Revis is totally blunt about her struggles, about her numerous failed novels and exactly how much money she spent on her writing attempts. There are straight forward looks at what being a writer is like for someone before they break it big.
She also gives great advice on plotting (I love the three humps plot layout) that I cannot wait to try out in my novels. She's funny, irreverent and also very serious about her writing. I went ahead and bought her other Paper Heart books because I loved her tone. I didn't feel like she ever talked down, or made fun of anything. She's very clear on what works for her and that everyone has a different way of writing and that finding what works for you is an important part of writing.
It's rare that a writing advice book makes me laugh, but I giggled through a good part of the book. I highlighted and took notes. I alreayd know I'm going to be going back to reread this and I cannot wait. So far, out of all the books I've read on writing (a fair number of them at this point) Paper Hearts holds a spot at the top of the list because of the relatability of her words. It feels like I'm just having a conversation with Revis in the bar at a local convention; it's advice I can relate to and that I can actually impliment. She makes me feel not along in my struggles with writing, querying and finding my way in the wild world of publishing.
You can buy Paper Hearts here or order from your local Indie bookstore.
No writer has the same path to publication, and there is no right or wrong way to get published (aside from getting snagged up in a vanity press scam I'd say).
My path to my first publication begins in college. As a student studying creative writing I submitted to my college's literary magazine and ultimately ended up with two poems and a short story accepted and published before I graduated. I can still remember the total rush with that very first acceptance letter that sent my heart pounding. I could hardly believe the words and wanted immediatly to feel it again.
After I graduated, I kept submitting my work, but writing started to fall to the side as I struggled to find a job and a stable life outside of college. In 2011 I made a New Year's Resolution to focus more on my writing and decided to kick that off by attending a convention with what looked like a great set of panels about writing. In February I went to Connooga and attended almost every panel on writing. I met a lot of new friends and had an amazing time, learning and asking questions.
I went to a few more conventions with writing tracks that year and eventually got brave enough to ask one of the writers I'd met, Sean Taylor, to read over my work. He enjoyed my short story enough to recommend me to Pro Se Productions, a publisher looking for writers for a new character, The Pulptress. I accepted and fell in love with the character, and the world of pulp writing.
I learned a lot while working on my first story for The Pulptress collection. The biggest lesson was recovering from disastor when my drive corrupted and I lost 80% of my story and had to start over with the deadline on top of me. The editor, Tommy, worked closely with me on the story, and when the book came out I could hardly believe it was real. Me with my name in a book on Amazon!
Around this time I made the decision to hide on to graduate school for my MFA in Poetry. The Pulptress did well and I was approached about writing two standalone books about the characters I'd introduced. I couldn't say yes fast enough. Again I learned a lot of valuable lessons as I struggled to balance writing my first digest novel, The Bone Queen, with grad school. I dropped out of the MFA program and switched to an MA degree where I could spend more time researching. I got a dreadful stomach flu that knocked me out for nearly two weeks. Crisis hit, and I just barely turned in a draft ahead of the deadline.
And boy it was a bad draft!
Rather than tossing me out on my butt, Pro Se worked with me and together we came up with a digest novel I love. That digest novel wouldn't be what it is without all the time and effort Tommy put in with me and I'll always be insanely proud of it. The cover turned out incredible and for the first time, I really felt like an author. I sat on panels as a panelist. People asked me questions; people could buy my books at conventions. It was a dream come true.
The next digest novel went smoother as I learned more about writing under a deadline. I finished grad school, got a new job, moved, and found a routine. I sent out short stories, and started working on more projects. By the time my next digest novel, The Pulptress versus The Bone Queen, came out I felt more confident as a writer and had started to figure out myself as a writer.
Writing taught me a lot about myself, and a lot about how I operate. I've learned I'm tough and that I will do everything in my power to meet deadlines. I've learned how to take critiques and roll with them to make a better story. I'm still finding my voice, but I feel much more sure in it than I ever have before. While I've move into other genres, I'll always be thankful to the start the pulp, and Pro Se gave me. I wouldn't be the writer I am without the time working with some amazing editors and publishers.
It seems appropriate starting a new year by looking back at where I've come from as a writer and I'm amazed at how far I've come since just 2011. It's only been 5 years but I feel like an entirely new person.
Here's to seeing where 2016 takes my writing and my life!
Happy New Year!
Me with the first copy of The Pulptress!