To a new year, a new decade

Looking over my old posts recently, I realized it’s been over a year since I’ve posted anything. Shame on me [slaps own hand]. Bad writer.

It’s always harder to keep up with peripheral writing when your deep into grad school and book edits. But here I am again, everyone. Breathing in the fresh air of a new year and a new decade to come. The 2010s have been mostly kind to me as both a person and a writer. I got married, found a fur baby, entered graduate school, found a publisher for my book. There have also been some major downs, but I won’t dwell on them in this post. This is all to say that life has been happening to me but I’m still here. I’ve got some new goals to meet, goals I will be posting here to keep myself accountable so stay turned.

Happy Writing

NaNoWriMo 2018

This year I will seek to do the improbable, write the second book of my series in a month. I wrote my first book, Deus Ex Machina, last year during NaNoWriMo so you might ask “But you’ve done it before, why is this year so different?” Well dear writer let me tell you.

Last year I worked part time and had few other commitments. That meant I was able to devote many an evening and all four weekends of November to writing. No so this year. This year, not only am I still working part time but I am now a full time graduate student.

But I am not giving up hope. That is why I am posting my goal of writing 50,000 words in a month out here in public. It will keep me accountable to you all. I suggest you do the same. Put your goals out there and ask your friends and family to keep you on track.

Happy Writing! (and good luck to all you NaNo nuts )

No time like the present

Now that classes have started back up for me, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to find time to write. So what’s a girl to do? Well instead of bemoaning the fact that I can no longer spend a random Tuesday afternoon doing line edits, I’ve decided to make the most of my small blocks of time.

Do I have a twenty minute bus ride to class? Awesome, let’s bust out a scene of dialogue.

Do I have a walk from one building to another that will take ten minutes. Perfect, I can mentally plan out a story arc.

Do I need to do some research by reading a book that is similar in genre and/or tone? Good thing I have access to audio books and an hour long drive.

The point is that writing a book can be done in short burst of time here and there. It will take some getting use to but it can be done.

Happy Writing

Write what you (want to) know

Anyone who's ever had the desire to strike out and write something has probably spent more than a few hours looking for advice. Maybe it's about how to start a book, maybe it's about how to write said book in thirty days or less. Whatever the advice, some of it really sticks and some of it doesn't. The advice I hear most often (by authors and no nothings alike) is "Write what you know". 

I'm here to tell you that advice is...meh. Sure it will help your writing if you have some personal experience with the given subject but...meh. I prefer to write what I want to know. For example:

I know diddly nothing about STEM but the main character in my latest novel is a graduate-level biologist. Not only that but I have two supporting characters that are a computer hacker and a mechanical engineer. 

I cannot emphasize how little diddly I remembered about high school biology and Lord knows I couldn't hack my way out of a paper bag but dammit if I didn't learn to truck ton for this book. Most of it I will never write in my novel but I learned enough to give me some confidence when it comes up in a scene.

So...yeah. Expand those horizons and write about something you find interesting but you might not know a lot about now.  You'll never regret learning something new. 

Happy Writing!

The best kind of research

As a writer, I spend more then my fair share of time hunched over a desktop or browsing through library shelves on the hunt for the right information. In fact, I recently spent one glorious week sitting in a library doing research for my newest manuscript. However when I got home from a long day of page flipping I did a whole other type of research. Reading fiction.

There is nothing like reading a book from your favorite genre (in my case science fiction, fantasy and adventure) to really get the writing juices flowing. I love reading the prose and poetry that someone else has constructed. I find myself inspired by anything: from a word choice to an odd phrase to a heart pounding action sequence.

So next time you realize you've been staring at a blinking curser all week or when you just need a little inspiration to keep your spirits up and finish your novel, try the best kind of writing research. Reading. 

Happy Writing!

When the professional is wrong (or at least you think they are)

I recently received some advice about the length of a manuscript from an industry professional. She suggested that my novel, clocking in at just over 60k words, is about 40k words too short for my genre and demographics.

I was stunned, to say the least. 40,000 words! That's most of a NaNoWriMo goal, that's a whole other novella added to my existing manuscript, that's more than a few months of work. But most importantly to me, it seems that 40,000 words are more then a little unnecessary.

Now don't misunderstand me, I am not saying that my novel is perfect or even suggesting that something couldn't be added. But also understand that this particular story has been told. There is a clear, beginning, middle and ending with a resolution of the problems at hand. 

So what's an author to do? Do I jump headlong into basically creating another novel entirely or ignore the advice and give this agent the proverbial finger? 

Well, both...and neither. It seems unlikely this book will ever be 100,000 words for one simple reason. The creator (me) has deemed it such. But to ignore advice from someone who knows what they are talking about seems like a fool's errand. Instead, I will take her advice to heart and focus on more world building to fully flush out this new environment I've created. I will also take some time to make sure that the reader has a sense of forward motion, even if nothing is happening. 

Will I end up with 40,000 more words? Most likely not. But will my book be improved because of this advice I received? Absolutely. And that's what's most important. When it comes to your own work, remember that suggestions and advice are always good to have but that you are always the final word. 

Happy Writing! 

Rome was totally built in a day

But unlike building Rome, becoming a published, profitable author takes more than a day. It might take a whole week...or you know...maybe a few years (or a decades). 

Always keep that in mind when you feel your brain melting and your eyes start to hurt from looking at so many agents profiles. 

Or when you looked down at the clock and realize, "Oh [insert expletive here] I have to be a work/have the kids out of bed/end world hunger in four hours but I don't think I can stop in the middle of this chapter/line edit /internet search." 

You're in the long game after all, so step back when you feel yourself overwhelmed by your lack of progress and remember that running yourself ragged or beating yourself up could very well do more harm than good. 

Happy Writing!

Fake it till you make it

The other day, an acquaintance asked me why I have a website. Let's call this person Denver.

"It's not like you're JK Rowling or Stephen King, right?" Denver wondered aloud, "So do you really need a website where readers can buy your books or follow your blog? You're not published yet." 

Now I want to convey to you that there was no malice in Denver's tone, only curiosity. Denver genuinely wanted to know why I felt I needed to put in the time, money and effort to create a professional looking website. I thankfully had an answer at the ready. 

I told Denver that when JK and King became prolific writers, the publishing industry was a lion. It would chew you up, spit you out and wasted a whole lot of paper in the process. It was an animal but one that had looked similar to the way it has always been. Sure, tastes have changed but basically it all ran on the same system. With the internet however (and everything that comes with it) the industry is no longer a lion. It's the whole damn zoo. 

Unpredictable, filled with tons of choices and smelly on a hot day (maybe this metaphor is getting out of hand...)

There are more people than ever before writing books and trying to have them published. Few will make it with the Big Five, some will find success with medium or small presses and even more will self-publish and promote themselves. 

Authors can no longer wait around until they are picked up by a publishing house to start promoting (which includes websites). They have to do some of their own groundwork. Publishing houses aren't going to throw money at untested authors so we have to go out there ourselves and start building our platforms.

Things like word of mouth, email blasts, business cards, websites and a professional, social media presence are the new starting grounds for greenhorns. We can't expect someone else to take a chance on us if we aren't willing to go out there and do some legwork. We have to go through our days building our readership and getting people excited about our work. In short, we have to fake it till we make it.

Happy writing!

The Master Plan (Year 1)

Alright that was a little dramatic but that's what I'm going with. I've got 2018 planned and ready to execute. 

So some of this is way ahead of schedule (like my Twitter follower goal) and some of it is a little behind (like my word count goal). I have a separate calendar for any and all Twitter pitch contests so I can make sure to join in on those in the coming months. 

Just remember, it's far more important to set goals and have to shift a date then never to set goals at all.

Happy Writing!

The path to publishing

Now that we are deep into January, life has slowed down and it's time to start planning for the months and years ahead. I've been asking myself some important questions about a timeline for meeting certain goals.

Some of these goals are word count goals, some are research goals and others are the big ones like getting an agent or being published.

So I've come up with a two-year timeline on my path to being published. I'll post it here in the coming days so I can be accountable.

Do the same.

Put anything on your list. Maybe you want to finish your book. Maybe you want to craft a query letter. Perhaps you want to send your work out to twenty agents by summer or have character art created. Whatever your goal is, write it down and check in with yourself and your community.

Happy writing!