A Medley of Words to Create, Entertain & Inspire

Sometimes I wonder why I like to write. I still remember the first moment I understood symbols made words, words made sentences and sentences made stories. Learning to read left me feeling like I’d won the lottery. I felt as though I’d entered an amazing new world. I don’t have that kind of memory at all when it comes to writing. Still, every now and then, I find clues from my past and I do remember the thrill of creating a story as a child.

One of those clues comes in the form of the very first book I ever wrote. I can’t quite remember how old I was–maybe 3rd grade? I’m not even sure how it all came about and I certainly don’t remember writing my little book. What I do know is that some amazing person–maybe the mom or dad of one of my classmates–owned a book binding business. This lovely person gave each of us the opportunity to write a book and have it “published.” My sister very kindly typed out my story on our family’s Corona typewriter. This was long before personal computers people. I did the illustrations myself. I remember thinking a good book definitely needed illustrations. I remember the thrill of seeing my name on the cover of a book.

Every now and again I think of the person or persons who made this possible for a class of young children. It was an amazing act of generosity. I wish I could offer a proper thank you after all these years. I also wonder about them. Did they love books? Did they hope to spark the creative spirit in a group of kids. Were they a writer? I’ll probably never find out but that’s okay. When I read my book  I laugh and smile at the story that came out of my young mind.

My first “published” book still brings me joy after all these years.

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I recently read a book from an author whose work I generally enjoy. I’m going to call the book I just read “Early Work” even though that’s not the real title. I was aware when I bought the book that it was one of this author’s older books–you know one from before the best-selling books that came later. Early Work was pretty bad. In fact, I doubt I would have bought another book by this author based on Early Work. After reading it I can certainly see the glimmers, the sparks, that would come out in this author’s later work. Still, I’m not sure I would have ever gotten there based on Early Work. Obviously, a publisher believed in this book enough to publish it–either that or they released it after this author’s other books really became popular. I’m not sure which is true.

I know there are a lot of writers who are either self-publishing to print-on-demand or straight to ebooks. The above scenario really got me thinking about this. I wrote a book called Visions of Justice. It was professionally edited by an editor who works with published authors–many of whom are mid-list or higher up the publishing food chain. The editor really liked it. (Of course, I did pay them to edit the whole book so it kind of reminds me of that line from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, “You probably think strippers like you too.”) Also, it was good enough to snag an agent. It didn’t, however, snag a publisher.

Part of me keeps thinking about just putting it out there as an ebook. At least that way it will get out there and people can read it. Maybe people would even like it–that would be really gratifying to experience. Still, another part of me thinks what if it just wasn’t quite good enough to get published? If that’s the case then do I really want to put it out there? I think about the scenario I described above with Early Work. If that had been the first book I read by that author I wouldn’t have given them another chance.

I think fiction self-publishing is a risky thing because of this very issue. Whether a book is “good” or “bad” is so incredibly subjective. Maybe “good” or “bad” aren’t even the right words. There are a lot of best-selling books out there that I haven’t like at all.  There are other books that have gotten poor reviews that I really love. I think it’s incredibly hard for authors to be subjective about their own work. Someone tweeted recently that thinking that your book doesn’t suck any more than what’s getting published shouldn’t be the criteria by which you write or judge your writing. I agree. I also know that most published authors have anywhere from 2 to 10 books tucked away at the bottom of a drawer that were never published. I’ve heard many writers say that in retrospect they are very glad those books were not published—even though at the time they thought they were good books.

I think part of the issue is that it can take so long to break into traditional publishing that writers get frustrated. They start to think why not just put their work out there. What difference does it make?

I’m wondering what other writers think about this issue. Do you think the ease of self-publishing, especially ebooks, is a good thing? Do you think it’s okay for writers to put their early work out there for the world to see? Do you think writers risk losing long-term fans by self-publishing early work that may not be all it can be?

As you can see I don’t have any answers, just a lot of questions.

Photo Credit: Flowery *L*u*z*a*

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Starting today, and hopefully for many Thursdays to come, I’m going to share stuff I heard about on twitter. This “stuff” may be links, authors, blogs, or even a tweet.

Carolyn Jewel
What can I say about this author? I’m not sure how I came to follow her on twitter. She probably replied to someone I was following–back when you could see everyone’s @replies. She’s one of those people whose tweets I look forward to. I really enjoy the way her mind works and that’s very much in evidence through her tweets. I was looking forward to buying one of her books until I went to Amazon and saw she wrote (insert gasp of dismay) historical and paranormal romance. I have this idea that I hate reading both those categories. Still, the more I followed @cjewel’s tweets the more I was convinced that I had to break down and read one of her books. I finally downloaded a sample of Scandal to my Kindle and once I started reading it I couldn’t stop.* As I suspected all along (and probably many of you already knew) she is a wonderful writer and I blame her for my current lack of sleep. I’ll be reading many more of her books. Here’s her website: http://www.carolynjewel.com/

*This is one of the things I love about ebooks. I downloaded the sample and after reading a couple of pages I knew I’d be buying the book.

Laurie R. King’s iPhone App
I’d seen the tweets about turning your blog into a phone app and thought it was a pretty nifty idea. Seeing an author actually do it, and do it well has been a real treat. I downloaded Ms. King’s phone app last week. It’s true I could just follow her blog in my reader–I follow a lot of blogs that way. Why bother having the app? I dunno there’s something I just like about it. I see it on my phone, think of Ms. King, and check it just to see if there’s anything new going on. Psychologically it feels much more like a direct link to the author than having the blog pop-up in google reader amidst the many other blogs I read. Maybe this will create a tiered system of information–blogs or authors I really like will make it onto my iPhone while others will stay in my reader. I’ll give you an update on my usage over time. You can find the app in the iPhone app store by searching for Laurie R. King or check it out here: http://appshopper.com/news/laurie-r-king . I believe it’s also available for the Blackberry.

Favorite tweet this week comes from @SmartBitches: Snow day: from the Greek meaning, “Behold, your living room has never been so messy.”

Photo Credit: artbwf

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Fiction writers working towards publication often get this advice–create an online presence and author platform. This suggestion seems to pop-up everywhere and is usually in all those “top five” lists for aspiring writers.

I’m going to break with tradition here and say that I strongly disagree with this advice.

An online presence usually consists of one or all of the following: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, personal or group blog. What does each of these have in common? They take up time that aspiring writers could use for well. . .you know. . .writing.

If you want to be on Facebook or Twitter to keep up with writing friends, see what other authors are doing, or stay up on the latest industry developments, that’s great. Just don’t feel obligated to do so because you think you need a social media presence. After you sell a book it generally takes a year for it to be published. For the sake of argument let’s say your book only takes six months to get sold and published. That’s still plenty of time to attend conferences, start a blog, and hit Twitter and Facebook every day if that’s what you want to do.

I think it’s really important to think about what your motivation is for having a presence online. What happens if your first or second book doesn’t snag an agent or sell? Will you still be willing to keep your blog going? Are you still going to want to spend as much time online?

I firmly believe that published authors benefit from including social media in their overall marketing plan. I don’t think writers working towards publication need to be concerned about marketing a product they don’t currently have to sell.

If you love to blog or enjoy Twitter I say go for it. However, don’t buy into the idea that you “have to” do it in order to create an online presence for a book you haven’t sold yet. Time is a precious commodity and the best thing you can do as a fiction writer is to write fiction.

At least that’s what I think.

Photo Credit JMT-29

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Yes folks it’s been many, many, many months since I last posted here. Probably no one but me has wondered what the hell I’ve been doing. Well, if you’re reading this then maybe you do have some passing interest in what I’ve been up to and for that I thank you.

Well, a couple of things happened to create a kind of “perfect storm” in my life. We moved from Bellingham, WA to Portland OR. In our case that meant selling and buying houses. Getting a house ready to sell takes a lot of time and effort so most of my attention went to that project. Once the house sold we had a very short amount of time to find a new home in Portland. There were some tense moments but everything worked out just fine. I’m loving Portland despite the rain and grey.

Meanwhile, a great debate was brewing in my soul. After really putting my heart into writing two novels, getting an agent with one of them, and then having it all just disappear, I just couldn’t bring myself to start again. I tried. I started two books in fact but I just couldn’t stick with it. At the same time I also realized that I REALLY can’t count on writing fiction as a way to bring in money to the household. So I’m re-focusing on my current career options.

In addition, I’m in a new town and would like to meet new people, make some friends, and become part of this great community. All this takes time away from writing.

I thought long and hard about whether to fold up this blog, stop writing and slink quietly into the sunset. After all, a blog that isn’t updated regularly isn’t really going to have much of a readership.

Doing that just didn’t feel right. Not writing didn’t feel right. So here I am again, starting over. I’ve started working on a new book and I’ll let you know how that goes.

One thing that has become painfully clear through all this–I have to write what I want to write. Before I tried more to take in what’s popular right now and offer my version of it. Does that make sense? Previously I listened to what editors supposedly were looking for and tried to incorporate that into my story. This time I’m just going to let the story I have in mind unfold without trying to emulate what’s popular or what editors are possibly looking for right now.

I know what you’re thinking, “You can’t just write whatever you want. You have to at least try to write a book that is marketable. Where’s your business sense?!? Writing is a business after all!”

Well, maybe you weren’t thinking that but that’s what I heard in my head. Been there done that and it didn’t work so I need to try something else. I’ve decided to write a book that I want to write. Maybe it will get published eventually and maybe it won’t. . .oh well. I have to keep writing so that I can try to become a better writer. I actually do believe that if I write a great book it will get published in one format or another. Still, it’s hard not to feel defeated before I start. When I think of all the successful, published authors I’m privileged to know I feel like a loser. I’m fighting against that kind of thinking because it paralyzes me. One thing I know for sure is that if I stop trying I absolutely won’t get published.

So, I hope to offer you some more regular posts in the future and I’ll keep you apprised of my fiction writing progress. It’s all about baby steps for me right now.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. Your time is valuable and I appreciate you sharing it with me.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreyww/ / CC BY 2.0

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I can clearly pinpoint the moment I felt like a “real” writer—it was when I signed with my agent. At that moment I felt it in my bones. Why yes Virginia there’s a Santa Claus and I’m a writer for real. It didn’t seem to matter that my nonfiction articles had already been published in national magazines. Somehow that didn’t count as “real” writing.

In that moment of feeling legitimized I caught myself thinking wow how sad. You’re the same person you were before the agent wanted to sign you, the book is the same, and yet somehow now you’re a “real” writer. Hmmm that’s some screwy thinking.

The thing is the book didn’t sell and I have no idea whether or not I still have an agent. None of that matters. I’ve figured out what makes someone a “legitimate, real, yes you can call yourself one” writer. Drum roll please. . .you’re a writer if you write. That’s it. I’m going to leave out any discussion of whether the writing itself is good or bad since all writers are constantly learning and hopefully perfecting their craft.

In my book, if you write, you’re a writer.

That’s why, right now, I’m not a writer. I’m kind of a writer-in-waiting. There’s been some major changes going on in my life. I’m in the middle of trying to sell our house and move to Portland, OR. That in itself takes up a lot of time. Then comes the little issue of being completely devastated when my book didn’t sell. That threw me for a big, long, in the bell jar, ugly loop. It also made me realize I needed another day job to support things while I try to break into writing.

In truth my whole attitude about writing has changed. For awhile there I wasn’t sure if I was even going to continue with it. Lately though I’ve started writing things in my head while I’m on the treadmill or in the shower. Thoughts about the two books I started have begun to slip into my mind. And finally I’ve come back to this blog and am writing a post again.

I think somehow I needed to hit the reset button and reboot. It’s taken me longer than I would have liked but writing is teaching me patience.

So to all your writers out there–keep writing, write well, have fun with it.

Photo Credit: byrdiegyrl

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