There are certain issues about which I'm intensely passionate, and one of them is the subtle ways in which our culture not only harms all people, but women and young girls in particular. We live in a society that tells women they are supposed to be physically perfect, to the extent that even celebrities are airbrushed and Photoshopped until they're no longer human. Want an example of what I'm talking about? These animated GIFs tell the tale in a stark and shocking fashion. Watch as Jennifer Lopez, Anne Hathaway, and other celebrities are morphed from people into dolls, all through the wonder of photo editing software.
Unfortunately, like many women, I have a tendency toward Body Dysmorphic Disorder. If you're not aware of what Body Dysmorphic Disorder is, Mayo Clinic has a good summary here. This is a deeply personal issue for me, one that is painful to talk about, and one that informed the way I wrote the character of Melinda. I've struggled with weight most of my life and have had periods when I was extremely thin. But I've never reached that magic place where I accept the way I look and make my peace with it. It's a daily struggle for me, one in which I look at myself in the mirror and find many, many things to criticize. I wish I could say I'm the only woman who feels this way, but I know I'm not. I also know there are men who feel this way, and I by no means want to minimize their experience. But our culture treats men and women in very different fashions. Want a good example? Just take a look at this Google search, which lists links to articles about Rex Reed's offensive slurs against Melissa McCarthy. What about Seth MacFarlane at the Oscars? I could cite more examples, but frankly I'm tired of it. The whole issue can be summarized like this: more emphasis is put on how women look than on what they do.
When I wrote Phoning It In, part of my goal was to tell the story of a character who suffers from body image issues, but not to make the entire book about that. Melinda's feelings about how she looks are just an aspect of her personality. What was more important to me were her feelings about her life, how she felt like a failure because she hadn't accomplished the things she'd wanted to accomplish. Her looks were incidental, and a lot of her issues with her appearance are of her own creation. At one point, her best friend Lou explicitly tells Melinda that she knows Melinda would never treat another person the way she treats herself. To me, that's one of the most important scenes in the book.
One thing I knew I would not do with the story was have Melinda lose weight, with the result of that magically fixing all of her issues in life. Because, the fact of the matter is, when you have a problem like Body Dysmorphic Disorder, the answer isn't as easy as shedding some pounds. As Melinda herself notes, her weight has fluctuated throughout her life but, no matter how thin she got, she always sees a fat girl looking back at her in the mirror. Even if I'd made Melinda a size two by the end of the book, it wouldn't have changed how she felt about herself because her real issue is with what's in her head, not with the number on her scale.
Another reason why I chose not to have Melinda lose weight is because her weight doesn't define her. It's not who she is. Her success with her career, with her relationship with her sister, with her luck in romance does not hinge on her jeans size, it hinges on the choices she makes. In order to be successful, she has to focus on finding a meaningful career, on trying to find common ground with her sister, on learning to accept that love is complicated. I strongly feel--and always will feel--that Melinda deserved success because of who she is inside, not because of how she looks. This applies to every person on the planet: none of us should be defined and/or judged solely on our physical appearance. We should all be judged on how we act, on the things we do, on the way we treat others.
To the readers who have written reviews expressing delight with Melinda as a character, I want you to know that your words have touched me. To know that I could connect with you on that level, give you a character with whom you feel you can really identify, is incredibly meaningful to me. I look forward to the day when this isn't a rarity, when people are celebrated for who they are and what they have accomplished rather than the size of their thighs.
Showing posts with label Monday Musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monday Musings. Show all posts
Monday, February 25, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Monday Musings: That pesky background stuff
So you want to be a writer? Well, my biggest advice is this: fire up Google 'cause you're going to be doing some research! And I'm not talking about research in the sense of boning up on the Tudor period in England for your work of historical fiction, I'm talking about everyday things that come up when you're writing about completely imaginary worlds and people.
One of the biggest challenges I face as a writer is writing about careers about which I know nothing. I try to stick to stuff that I'm at least somewhat familiar with, but I think it might get boring if all of my main characters were teachers and writers. I found this aspect of writing very complicated when it came to Contributor, and I don't anticipate it getting much easier with the next two installments. I don't know anything about engineering, but my main character is an engineer, so I needed to make things at least sound feasible when she was in her work environment. This is something I never considered before I sat down and started writing.
Next up is inventing products. Yep, inventing products. Now, this isn't something that every writer will have to do, but there may come a time when you need to figure out something for your main character or one of your secondary characters to invent. In my case, as I work on Committed, I decided I wanted to come up with a product for Masato, the groom-to-be, to create. The series notes that he and his friend are partners trying to start up their own tech company, and it occurred to me last night that I should come up with something specific for him to be working on, in order to flesh out some aspects of the story related to his job. I looked at my husband and asked him what kind of app he thought would be useful for a smart phone, and with his help, I came up with something for Masato to invent. Or did I invent it? It's complicated. You can read all about his product in episode four.
Names are another area I've found surprisingly difficult. For instance, when I wrote Contributor, Dara's name was not originally Dara Morrow. Her first name was the same, but her last name was different, and I thought it sounded too close to the name of a character in a popular YA series. I didn't want to look like I was ripping the name off--even though I came up with it long before the other book was published--so I changed her name.
Company names can be even trickier. The company Melinda works for in Phoning It In was originally named something else. When the novel was complete, I pulled up my trusty friend, Google, and found there already was a business with that name, so that was a no go. I then spent probably a good forty-five minutes typing various business names into Google until I managed to search for one without results.
Place names aren't always a piece of cake either, especially if you're creating a big, expansive world. No joke, parts of my manuscript sometimes look something like this: "Are you talking about the king of DESERTCOUNTRY?" I did this with Asleep, as I worked on it during NaNo '12. It looked ridiculous but, as anyone who has done NaNo knows, time is at a premium, and I just didn't have time to name all the characters and places I was using in the story. Names would sometimes pop into my head as I was writing and I'd go back and replace the placeholder names with the names I'd thought up, but I'm pretty sure there's still a placeholder or two in the manuscript.
This can all be frustrating, and I sometimes feel like I ought to sit down for hours making up lists of character names, place names, etc. But I always have to weigh things like this: do I want to spend time making up names of countries, or do I want to write? Usually the answer is that I want to write. That's not to say that coming up with names, doing research, etc. isn't important because it goes without saying that it is. It's just that, when I get a story in my head, I have to get the story out onto my computer screen because I'm terrified I'll forget it. And sometimes I do forget things. I'll have a scene all plotted out in my head and then, when I sit down to write it, it's gone. Zip, zilch, zero. Maybe it means the ideas aren't as good as I thought they were, I don't know. But it's not a good feeling, I can assure you of that.
Then again, there are times when it's fun to just let my imagination run wild and think of character names, what a city on the coast in my fantasy WIP would look like, etc. I spent plenty of time drawing up a map of the kingdoms for Asleep, proving to myself that I had a good vision in my head of what my world looked like--and that my cartography skills are tragically poor. It is imperative for world building to be well done in a spec fic novel, but sometimes that world building comes after the story because the story shapes what the world looks like. Or vice versa. It's a chicken and egg question, really.
Still, I'm grateful to be a writer in this day and age. I can't imagine what a pain it must have been to do this kind of research without the Internet waiting to fetch you all the info you need. I remember what it was like to have to go to the library and thumb through book after book trying to find helpful info, and I'm grateful I now only have to do that when I need in-depth knowledge about something. The digital age, she is a glorious thing.
One of the biggest challenges I face as a writer is writing about careers about which I know nothing. I try to stick to stuff that I'm at least somewhat familiar with, but I think it might get boring if all of my main characters were teachers and writers. I found this aspect of writing very complicated when it came to Contributor, and I don't anticipate it getting much easier with the next two installments. I don't know anything about engineering, but my main character is an engineer, so I needed to make things at least sound feasible when she was in her work environment. This is something I never considered before I sat down and started writing.
Next up is inventing products. Yep, inventing products. Now, this isn't something that every writer will have to do, but there may come a time when you need to figure out something for your main character or one of your secondary characters to invent. In my case, as I work on Committed, I decided I wanted to come up with a product for Masato, the groom-to-be, to create. The series notes that he and his friend are partners trying to start up their own tech company, and it occurred to me last night that I should come up with something specific for him to be working on, in order to flesh out some aspects of the story related to his job. I looked at my husband and asked him what kind of app he thought would be useful for a smart phone, and with his help, I came up with something for Masato to invent. Or did I invent it? It's complicated. You can read all about his product in episode four.
Names are another area I've found surprisingly difficult. For instance, when I wrote Contributor, Dara's name was not originally Dara Morrow. Her first name was the same, but her last name was different, and I thought it sounded too close to the name of a character in a popular YA series. I didn't want to look like I was ripping the name off--even though I came up with it long before the other book was published--so I changed her name.
Company names can be even trickier. The company Melinda works for in Phoning It In was originally named something else. When the novel was complete, I pulled up my trusty friend, Google, and found there already was a business with that name, so that was a no go. I then spent probably a good forty-five minutes typing various business names into Google until I managed to search for one without results.
Place names aren't always a piece of cake either, especially if you're creating a big, expansive world. No joke, parts of my manuscript sometimes look something like this: "Are you talking about the king of DESERTCOUNTRY?" I did this with Asleep, as I worked on it during NaNo '12. It looked ridiculous but, as anyone who has done NaNo knows, time is at a premium, and I just didn't have time to name all the characters and places I was using in the story. Names would sometimes pop into my head as I was writing and I'd go back and replace the placeholder names with the names I'd thought up, but I'm pretty sure there's still a placeholder or two in the manuscript.
This can all be frustrating, and I sometimes feel like I ought to sit down for hours making up lists of character names, place names, etc. But I always have to weigh things like this: do I want to spend time making up names of countries, or do I want to write? Usually the answer is that I want to write. That's not to say that coming up with names, doing research, etc. isn't important because it goes without saying that it is. It's just that, when I get a story in my head, I have to get the story out onto my computer screen because I'm terrified I'll forget it. And sometimes I do forget things. I'll have a scene all plotted out in my head and then, when I sit down to write it, it's gone. Zip, zilch, zero. Maybe it means the ideas aren't as good as I thought they were, I don't know. But it's not a good feeling, I can assure you of that.
Then again, there are times when it's fun to just let my imagination run wild and think of character names, what a city on the coast in my fantasy WIP would look like, etc. I spent plenty of time drawing up a map of the kingdoms for Asleep, proving to myself that I had a good vision in my head of what my world looked like--and that my cartography skills are tragically poor. It is imperative for world building to be well done in a spec fic novel, but sometimes that world building comes after the story because the story shapes what the world looks like. Or vice versa. It's a chicken and egg question, really.
Still, I'm grateful to be a writer in this day and age. I can't imagine what a pain it must have been to do this kind of research without the Internet waiting to fetch you all the info you need. I remember what it was like to have to go to the library and thumb through book after book trying to find helpful info, and I'm grateful I now only have to do that when I need in-depth knowledge about something. The digital age, she is a glorious thing.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday Musings: Back in the saddle
While spending the last week on the couch did wonders to make me feel better, it really did nothing for my email inbox or any of my other online obligations. So I apologize for the disappearing act and will try hard to catch up.
Despite my sinus infection's attempts to beat me into a pulp, I did manage to remain productive last week, doing some more edits on my Kindle, so my schedule for Phoning It In is still a go. I'll be hitting "publish" by December 22, for sure. The closer it gets, the more excited I am, because I'm really looking forward to seeing what readers think of the novel. Depending on how it does, I'm even thinking about doing a sequel of sorts, though I'd focus on one of the secondary characters.
I've got some big things coming up over the next couple of months. First up, I'll be featuring an interview exchange with T.S. Welti. Early in 2013, I'll be participating in a group speculative fiction promo. During that promo, The Eye of the Beholder will be one of 18 books available for $0.99. I'm also looking at expanding my use of Google+, and setting up a mailing list so that I can keep fans up to date on new releases, as well as offer some extra goodies such as members-only giveaways, character naming contests, exclusive excerpts, etc. Stay tuned for more details on that.
So there's a brief post to bring you up to speed on what's coming up. Once Phoning It In has been published and I take a break from working on novels, the blog will return to regularly scheduled programming and will feature some book reviews, etc. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things!
Despite my sinus infection's attempts to beat me into a pulp, I did manage to remain productive last week, doing some more edits on my Kindle, so my schedule for Phoning It In is still a go. I'll be hitting "publish" by December 22, for sure. The closer it gets, the more excited I am, because I'm really looking forward to seeing what readers think of the novel. Depending on how it does, I'm even thinking about doing a sequel of sorts, though I'd focus on one of the secondary characters.
I've got some big things coming up over the next couple of months. First up, I'll be featuring an interview exchange with T.S. Welti. Early in 2013, I'll be participating in a group speculative fiction promo. During that promo, The Eye of the Beholder will be one of 18 books available for $0.99. I'm also looking at expanding my use of Google+, and setting up a mailing list so that I can keep fans up to date on new releases, as well as offer some extra goodies such as members-only giveaways, character naming contests, exclusive excerpts, etc. Stay tuned for more details on that.
So there's a brief post to bring you up to speed on what's coming up. Once Phoning It In has been published and I take a break from working on novels, the blog will return to regularly scheduled programming and will feature some book reviews, etc. I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things!
Monday, December 10, 2012
Monday Musings: Being sick while on a deadline sucks
Well, folks, I'm nearing the home stretch and, just as the stress has hit the maximum, I'm getting sick. Ugh. So, in the interest of not boring you with my pathetic whining about how yucky I feel, I'll try to keep this post to a minimum.
I'm hitting all of my targets for Phoning It In and will make the December 22nd publication date. In fact, I may even publish a bit earlier. If I do, I'll announce it here.
I've been spending some time on Google + lately and I am really liking the new Communities feature. I've joined several communities and it's fun to have the chance to chat with like-minded people. The truth is, I find G+ a much more user-friendly and overall more pleasant place than Facebook, and I'd love to interact with more people on G+. To be honest, FB makes me rage a little.
I've also decided to set up a mailing list. I resisted at first because I HATE spam and did not want to spam my readers as a reward for being awesome and buying my books. However, I've come to see what a great tool they can be for getting the word out about new releases, and I also like the idea of using a mailing list to do special promotions and feature extended excerpts from my books, amongst other goodies. I solemnly swear, though, that anyone who joins the list will only be subject to monthly email newsletters from me, along with the occasional message to announce a new release. Just like I don't want spam or DRM inflicted on me, I will never inflict them on my readers.
Also, I have an exciting bit of news: I recently read T.S. Welti's mind-blowing No Shelter trilogy and she and I will be exchanging interviews on our blogs. I'll post a better review of T.S.'s trilogy soon, but believe me when I say that you'll be chewing over it for days after you finish it--I still am.
As if that wasn't enough indie awesomeness, the incomparable SM Reine gave me a completely fantastic gift: a cover for Asleep! If you've never seen one of her book covers, do yourself a favor and look because they are gorgeous. I mean, just look at this cover for Damnation Marked and this one for New Moon Summer!
That's it from me. I am now going to plant myself on the couch with a book and rest so that I can get back to editing tomorrow. More details on my mailing list will be forthcoming, so stay tuned.
I'm hitting all of my targets for Phoning It In and will make the December 22nd publication date. In fact, I may even publish a bit earlier. If I do, I'll announce it here.
I've been spending some time on Google + lately and I am really liking the new Communities feature. I've joined several communities and it's fun to have the chance to chat with like-minded people. The truth is, I find G+ a much more user-friendly and overall more pleasant place than Facebook, and I'd love to interact with more people on G+. To be honest, FB makes me rage a little.
I've also decided to set up a mailing list. I resisted at first because I HATE spam and did not want to spam my readers as a reward for being awesome and buying my books. However, I've come to see what a great tool they can be for getting the word out about new releases, and I also like the idea of using a mailing list to do special promotions and feature extended excerpts from my books, amongst other goodies. I solemnly swear, though, that anyone who joins the list will only be subject to monthly email newsletters from me, along with the occasional message to announce a new release. Just like I don't want spam or DRM inflicted on me, I will never inflict them on my readers.
Also, I have an exciting bit of news: I recently read T.S. Welti's mind-blowing No Shelter trilogy and she and I will be exchanging interviews on our blogs. I'll post a better review of T.S.'s trilogy soon, but believe me when I say that you'll be chewing over it for days after you finish it--I still am.
As if that wasn't enough indie awesomeness, the incomparable SM Reine gave me a completely fantastic gift: a cover for Asleep! If you've never seen one of her book covers, do yourself a favor and look because they are gorgeous. I mean, just look at this cover for Damnation Marked and this one for New Moon Summer!
That's it from me. I am now going to plant myself on the couch with a book and rest so that I can get back to editing tomorrow. More details on my mailing list will be forthcoming, so stay tuned.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Monday Musings: NaNo angst and big news!
Well, tomorrow I will hit the 50k mark for NaNoWriMo, and I am overwhelmingly relieved about it. I've been able to hit my target word count every day, but I'm feeling so insecure about this draft that it's making me a little nuts. It doesn't help that I really, really want to get Phoning It In done and just haven't had the time to devote as much editing time to it as I'd like. Once I hit the 50k mark tomorrow, I'm going to take a bit of a break from Asleep so I can get Phoning done, and hopefully I'll be a saner person for it!
I'm really starting to gear up for the Sci-Fi Spotlight promotion I'm participating in, in honor of Cyber Monday. I'll be offering Contributor for 99 cents from November 26-30 as part of the promo. If you're a fan of science fiction, you won't want to miss the promo because it's your chance to snap up 15 free books, as well as 15 books priced at 99 cents. And, if you haven't already, be sure to enter the Sci-Fi Spotlight giveaway for your chance at $175 in Amazon gift cards, along with autographed books and swag!
In honor of Sci-Fi Spotlight, my blog theme for November 26-30 will be "Why Sci-Fi?" Each day, I'll feature new indie authors participating in the promo. They'll explain why they chose to write a sci-fi novel, and I'll include their book covers and blurbs. Hopefully, this will help you discover some new favorites.
On Wednesday, December 5th, I'll be revealing the cover for Phoning It In here on the blog. I'm very excited about releasing the novel, and plan on having it out before the end of the month, though I'll announce an actual publication date once the novel is ready.
And, somehow, in the middle of all this, I'll find time to plan birthday parties, spend time with my family, and just generally enjoy the crazy ride that is the holiday season each year. I can almost taste the turkey now!
I'm really starting to gear up for the Sci-Fi Spotlight promotion I'm participating in, in honor of Cyber Monday. I'll be offering Contributor for 99 cents from November 26-30 as part of the promo. If you're a fan of science fiction, you won't want to miss the promo because it's your chance to snap up 15 free books, as well as 15 books priced at 99 cents. And, if you haven't already, be sure to enter the Sci-Fi Spotlight giveaway for your chance at $175 in Amazon gift cards, along with autographed books and swag!
In honor of Sci-Fi Spotlight, my blog theme for November 26-30 will be "Why Sci-Fi?" Each day, I'll feature new indie authors participating in the promo. They'll explain why they chose to write a sci-fi novel, and I'll include their book covers and blurbs. Hopefully, this will help you discover some new favorites.
On Wednesday, December 5th, I'll be revealing the cover for Phoning It In here on the blog. I'm very excited about releasing the novel, and plan on having it out before the end of the month, though I'll announce an actual publication date once the novel is ready.
And, somehow, in the middle of all this, I'll find time to plan birthday parties, spend time with my family, and just generally enjoy the crazy ride that is the holiday season each year. I can almost taste the turkey now!
Monday, November 12, 2012
Monday Musings: My characters have a life of their own
This NaNoWriMo, I'm noticing the same phenomenon I noticed during last year's NaNoWriMo: my vision for what the story would look like and the way the story began to take shape aren't necessarily the same thing. This is something I think most writers can identify with. Usually, I don't consciously realize a story would work better if I did it a bit differently. For me, it tends to be more unconscious. I'll write something, read it, and think, "Oh, that does make more sense, doesn't it?"
I think a big part of my anxiety over this project comes from the fact that The Eye of the Beholder has been a lot more successful than I'd imagined it would be. I'm thrilled I've found an audience, and I am very grateful for my readers. However, I'm also aware that having this audience may lead to expectations. When I wrote just for myself without ever knowing if anyone else would really read it, I didn't worry too much about the turns my stories took. I just let my characters do their thing while taking me along for the ride. But now I'm afraid that if I deviate a lot from the style I used in The Eye, I may let my readers down.
I didn't feel this same level of anxiety with Contributor or with Phoning It In, because they were different. I'm interested in a lot of genres, and I knew some of my readers might like one genre in which I write but not another, and that's perfectly understandable. It also frees me from having to worry about expectations, because I've already set up the expectation that what's coming is going to be different from what's already out there.
However, Asleep is meant to be my second in the Fairytale Collection, and it's shaping up to be a different book from The Eye. The Eye was my take, but it was still pretty much a straight up retelling of the beauty and the beast story. My inspiration for Asleep is the sleeping beauty story, but the tale I'm telling is far, far different from the Disney version. There are elements I've straight up left out--the fairies--and elements that I've inverted--the princess being the rescuer while the prince is the rescuee. So, while Asleep is also inspired by a fairytale, it doesn't stick as closely to the fairytale as The Eye did.
The major difference between this year and last is this: I'm having trouble letting go. When Contributor started to turn out a lot differently than I'd anticipated, I went with it and was happy with the result. I'm more nervous about Asleep because I've got something out there for it to be measured against. At the end of the day, I need to be faithful to the characters and the way the story wants to progress. I think any writer will say that if you fight this and try to make the story fit your original vision, the end result will be something that's not worth reading.
I'm gaining a new perspective on being an author with at least one published book. When I first plunged into the world of publishing, I worried what my readers would think when they compared my work to that of other authors. Now, I worry more about what my readers will think when they compare my previous novels to my newer ones.
I think a big part of my anxiety over this project comes from the fact that The Eye of the Beholder has been a lot more successful than I'd imagined it would be. I'm thrilled I've found an audience, and I am very grateful for my readers. However, I'm also aware that having this audience may lead to expectations. When I wrote just for myself without ever knowing if anyone else would really read it, I didn't worry too much about the turns my stories took. I just let my characters do their thing while taking me along for the ride. But now I'm afraid that if I deviate a lot from the style I used in The Eye, I may let my readers down.
I didn't feel this same level of anxiety with Contributor or with Phoning It In, because they were different. I'm interested in a lot of genres, and I knew some of my readers might like one genre in which I write but not another, and that's perfectly understandable. It also frees me from having to worry about expectations, because I've already set up the expectation that what's coming is going to be different from what's already out there.
However, Asleep is meant to be my second in the Fairytale Collection, and it's shaping up to be a different book from The Eye. The Eye was my take, but it was still pretty much a straight up retelling of the beauty and the beast story. My inspiration for Asleep is the sleeping beauty story, but the tale I'm telling is far, far different from the Disney version. There are elements I've straight up left out--the fairies--and elements that I've inverted--the princess being the rescuer while the prince is the rescuee. So, while Asleep is also inspired by a fairytale, it doesn't stick as closely to the fairytale as The Eye did.
The major difference between this year and last is this: I'm having trouble letting go. When Contributor started to turn out a lot differently than I'd anticipated, I went with it and was happy with the result. I'm more nervous about Asleep because I've got something out there for it to be measured against. At the end of the day, I need to be faithful to the characters and the way the story wants to progress. I think any writer will say that if you fight this and try to make the story fit your original vision, the end result will be something that's not worth reading.
I'm gaining a new perspective on being an author with at least one published book. When I first plunged into the world of publishing, I worried what my readers would think when they compared my work to that of other authors. Now, I worry more about what my readers will think when they compare my previous novels to my newer ones.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Monday Musings: My mind is a playground
Ever since I was a kid, I've loved roaming around in my imagination. It has always been my favorite playground. And what's awesome about my life now is that my job is to wander around my imagination and see what I can find in it. There are days when I honestly have to drag myself away from the keyboard, lest I end up with a serious Vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sunlight.
Today is one of those days where I'm having tons and tons of fun frolicking through my imagination. As some of you know, NaNoWriMo is coming up (and if you don't know what that is, check out the link!), and you may also know I'm planning on working on another Elizabeth Darcy/Fairytale Collection book during November. Today, I started laying some of the groundwork for that novel. I didn't write any of the novel yet--that would be cheating, and cheating makes puppies cry, something to which I am vehemently opposed! But I did start working on character and setting sketches.
So far, I've sketched out my main male and female characters, and I'm just going to come out and admit it: I'm already kind of in love with my male protagonist. I'm also very happy with the way my female protagonist is shaping up. I spent some quality time with Scrivener, using their nifty character sketch sheets to help me get a picture of what each of them will be like. I'd already been working on my female character in my ol' brain, but I now feel like I have a much better idea of what makes her tick, and what her relationship with the male protagonist looks like.
From there, I started working on setting sketches, and that was so much fun! The place templates in Scrivener really got my ol' imagination working. I got to imagine what the settings looked like, what made them special and distinctive, and that inevitably led to me picturing lots of castles and beautiful vistas and other fun things.
Basically, what I'm saying is, I was in nerdtopia today.
My writing style has always been distinctively pantser, but it only took me one attempt at NaNo to realize I needed a little focus or I risk ending up with a stream-of-consciousness mess that looks nothing like a manuscript--and that's exactly what I had at the end of NaNo 2010. Last year, I started out by doing some background world building before I ever typed a word, and it made the writing flow a lot more smoothly. The product of NaNo 2011 was Contributor, and I have lots of fond memories of drinking copious amounts of coffee while pounding that story out.
During the month of November, my blog will become something of a NaNo journal, complete with excerpts from the work in progress, which I'll post on Feature Fridays. You'll get a first peek at the uncut version of Asleep, my reimagining of the sleeping beauty tale. If you're planning on tackling NaNo this year and want a writing buddy to urge you on, feel free to add NCiacchella. Good luck and happy writing/reading!
Today is one of those days where I'm having tons and tons of fun frolicking through my imagination. As some of you know, NaNoWriMo is coming up (and if you don't know what that is, check out the link!), and you may also know I'm planning on working on another Elizabeth Darcy/Fairytale Collection book during November. Today, I started laying some of the groundwork for that novel. I didn't write any of the novel yet--that would be cheating, and cheating makes puppies cry, something to which I am vehemently opposed! But I did start working on character and setting sketches.
So far, I've sketched out my main male and female characters, and I'm just going to come out and admit it: I'm already kind of in love with my male protagonist. I'm also very happy with the way my female protagonist is shaping up. I spent some quality time with Scrivener, using their nifty character sketch sheets to help me get a picture of what each of them will be like. I'd already been working on my female character in my ol' brain, but I now feel like I have a much better idea of what makes her tick, and what her relationship with the male protagonist looks like.
From there, I started working on setting sketches, and that was so much fun! The place templates in Scrivener really got my ol' imagination working. I got to imagine what the settings looked like, what made them special and distinctive, and that inevitably led to me picturing lots of castles and beautiful vistas and other fun things.
Basically, what I'm saying is, I was in nerdtopia today.
My writing style has always been distinctively pantser, but it only took me one attempt at NaNo to realize I needed a little focus or I risk ending up with a stream-of-consciousness mess that looks nothing like a manuscript--and that's exactly what I had at the end of NaNo 2010. Last year, I started out by doing some background world building before I ever typed a word, and it made the writing flow a lot more smoothly. The product of NaNo 2011 was Contributor, and I have lots of fond memories of drinking copious amounts of coffee while pounding that story out.
During the month of November, my blog will become something of a NaNo journal, complete with excerpts from the work in progress, which I'll post on Feature Fridays. You'll get a first peek at the uncut version of Asleep, my reimagining of the sleeping beauty tale. If you're planning on tackling NaNo this year and want a writing buddy to urge you on, feel free to add NCiacchella. Good luck and happy writing/reading!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Monday Musings: Author Website
One thing that's important to know for those who are thinking of delving into
the indie business is this: you're going to work a lot and you're going
to make very little money. See, the thing about going it alone is you
have to go it alone; meaning, you're going to be responsible for all
your own marketing, you're going to have to manage all of your social networks yourself, you're going to have to either make or find someone to make all of your cover art, you're going to have to edit...oh, and you're also going to need to write a book somewhere in the midst of all this.
My biggest frustration with being an indie is figuring out how to prioritize what money I do make. There are so many things I'd like to do but, because I don't have unlimited fundage, I can't do them all. I'm only now reaching the point where I may break even. Up until now, I've been plowing all of my royalties into things like writing and business-related software, taking some classes, buying a few ads, and paying for cover art. I'm certainly not complaining because I'm frankly thrilled with every penny I make, but it's incredible how quickly costs can add up, especially if you don't practice some restraint.
An expense I am starting to think seriously about taking on, however, is the expense of an author website. I have this blog and am active on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, but none of these things allow me to centralize information the way I'd like. I'd love to have a bibliography so readers can see all of my available books at a glance, would love to have somewhere to run polls (such as having readers vote on which book I should work on next), would love to have a one-stop site for all info about me as an author, with my social media platforms as something extra.
I also have some ideas I'd like to implement. I've been kicking around the idea of doing a series but, if I do, I want there to be a central place where readers can post feedback and suggestions for future installment, and I really think a website would be the best solution for that because I can centralize all that on one page instead of readers having to click through multiple blog posts. I'm even contemplating making a sort of "choose your own adventure" series in which I'd conduct regular polls and let the readers decide which direction the story will go. Another thing I'm thinking about doing is writing free short stories periodically. And, last but not least, I am the author of a certain fanfic that has been fairly popular over its somewhat lengthy existence, and I'm thinking about claiming it publicly and hopefully even finishing it, as that's something I've yet to do. It's also the most epic thing I've ever written, which has quite a bit to do with why it's not yet done.
Really, the overall big picture here is that I want a central source I can use to interact with readers. It's difficult to try to reach out to people over multiple platforms, and it would be more efficient for me and easier for my readers if I had a central site where all of my important information is housed. Plus, I just think it would be fun. I love the flexibility I have as an indie, particularly when it comes to things like collaborating with readers to help me shape stories. While I'll still write more traditional novels, I am 100% in love with the idea of creating interactive narratives. To me, it's a really exciting new form of literature, and I'm eager to explore it.
So there's an idea of what I'm looking at doing on the horizon. My big goals for 2013 are to get an author website up and running and to make some of my books available via a print on demand service--most likely Createspace, as that will allow me to distribute on Amazon. If you have any thoughts, opinions, or ideas, I would love to hear back from you.
My biggest frustration with being an indie is figuring out how to prioritize what money I do make. There are so many things I'd like to do but, because I don't have unlimited fundage, I can't do them all. I'm only now reaching the point where I may break even. Up until now, I've been plowing all of my royalties into things like writing and business-related software, taking some classes, buying a few ads, and paying for cover art. I'm certainly not complaining because I'm frankly thrilled with every penny I make, but it's incredible how quickly costs can add up, especially if you don't practice some restraint.
An expense I am starting to think seriously about taking on, however, is the expense of an author website. I have this blog and am active on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, but none of these things allow me to centralize information the way I'd like. I'd love to have a bibliography so readers can see all of my available books at a glance, would love to have somewhere to run polls (such as having readers vote on which book I should work on next), would love to have a one-stop site for all info about me as an author, with my social media platforms as something extra.
I also have some ideas I'd like to implement. I've been kicking around the idea of doing a series but, if I do, I want there to be a central place where readers can post feedback and suggestions for future installment, and I really think a website would be the best solution for that because I can centralize all that on one page instead of readers having to click through multiple blog posts. I'm even contemplating making a sort of "choose your own adventure" series in which I'd conduct regular polls and let the readers decide which direction the story will go. Another thing I'm thinking about doing is writing free short stories periodically. And, last but not least, I am the author of a certain fanfic that has been fairly popular over its somewhat lengthy existence, and I'm thinking about claiming it publicly and hopefully even finishing it, as that's something I've yet to do. It's also the most epic thing I've ever written, which has quite a bit to do with why it's not yet done.
Really, the overall big picture here is that I want a central source I can use to interact with readers. It's difficult to try to reach out to people over multiple platforms, and it would be more efficient for me and easier for my readers if I had a central site where all of my important information is housed. Plus, I just think it would be fun. I love the flexibility I have as an indie, particularly when it comes to things like collaborating with readers to help me shape stories. While I'll still write more traditional novels, I am 100% in love with the idea of creating interactive narratives. To me, it's a really exciting new form of literature, and I'm eager to explore it.
So there's an idea of what I'm looking at doing on the horizon. My big goals for 2013 are to get an author website up and running and to make some of my books available via a print on demand service--most likely Createspace, as that will allow me to distribute on Amazon. If you have any thoughts, opinions, or ideas, I would love to hear back from you.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday Musings: Competitiveness versus collaboration
The older I get and the more I think about the way I wish the world worked, the more I study things for patterns. It's simplistic to suggest that all of society's problems can be boiled down to one specific thing, but I do think there are certain behaviors that are indicative of the culture at large, and one of the ones I find most disturbing is the way everything seems to have become a competition. It makes me wonder: are we so busy competing with one another that we've forgotten about the power of collaboration?
You can learn a lot about a society by studying its popular culture, and I think part of the reason why dystopian young adult literature is so popular is because it explores this theme of life as competition. The Hunger Games is the most specific example, of course, but there are others as well: the Divergent series, the Partials series, and many others I could name. While many of these books don't explicitly talk about competition in so many words, it's one of the central themes in the books. In essence, these books show, there is an "us versus them" mentality that can have a very insidious effect on our world.
When I came up with the idea for the Contributor series before NaNoWriMo 2011, I thought I'd write about education and how it's becoming more of a competition by the day. Students are under a lot of pressure to be the highest performers, to be the quarterback or the class president or the captain of the girls' swim team. Teachers are expected to compete with other teachers, and oftentimes their job performance is judged based not on how much their students have improved, but on how they stack up against their colleagues.
However, as I wrote, I realized that this cultural shift has applications outside of the classroom as well. Rather than providing her with an education, Dara's schooling is more like a training program for how to be competitive in life. Everything in the world of Contributor becomes a competition: who's the best performer, who gives the best presentations, who can contribute the most to their Job Creator?
But is this the best way to look at the world? When we're so focused on individual achievement, are we overlooking what can be accomplished if we form teams? Speaking as a former teacher who witnessed how overbooked many of her students were, I think a lot of teenagers are tired of the constant competition--and they haven't even made it to college yet. I think that's why many teenagers like reading about the struggles of characters in dystopian novels. It's satisfying to think that it's possible to buck the system and win.
Yet, it's not as if adults have this figured out either. It's hard not to be aware of what's been going down on Goodreads and the books blogosphere if you happen to be an avid reader, as I happen to be. I find it perplexing that some authors view other authors as "competition". I find it strange that authors feel their competitive edge is threatened by readers who happen not to like their books, and who write reviews to express their negative opinions.
This makes absolutely no sense to me. First, because tastes in reading are subjective. It hurts when someone doesn't like one of my books and is critical about it, but it also helps me to grow as a writer to read their critiques and reflect on them. Chances are, I can learn something from those critiques. And, secondly, if a reader dislikes what I write, it doesn't automatically mean every other reader will dislike it as well. Part of the beauty of the way the book world is turning is that there's more choice than ever, which means authors get to tell the stories they want to tell and readers can read the stories they want to read. Everyone wins. There's no need to think of it as a competition.
I guess what I'd like to see in all walks of life is for people to take a minute and to reflect, really reflect on what benefits the world most. Of course we need to have those extraordinary people who stand out, who can achieve big things. But not everyone can be that extraordinary person. And that is where collaboration comes in. By working with others, by thinking about their opinions and their ideas, we can create things that no individual could ever have created on their own.
Now, I'm not saying that I'm perfect and I'm above it all. I'm as guilty of engaging in unhealthy competition as anyone else, but I know this, and I want to change it. When I think about my particular corner of the world, I see readers and writers who can work together to make books and stories that are better than ever. I love the way the publishing world is changing, and I'm eager to take it all in and benefit from it as much as I can. That's why you'll see me promoting other authors' works or writing reviews of books I particularly enjoyed. I want to promote other people and, hopefully, they'll want to promote me as well. That is the effect that collaboration can bring about.
You can learn a lot about a society by studying its popular culture, and I think part of the reason why dystopian young adult literature is so popular is because it explores this theme of life as competition. The Hunger Games is the most specific example, of course, but there are others as well: the Divergent series, the Partials series, and many others I could name. While many of these books don't explicitly talk about competition in so many words, it's one of the central themes in the books. In essence, these books show, there is an "us versus them" mentality that can have a very insidious effect on our world.
When I came up with the idea for the Contributor series before NaNoWriMo 2011, I thought I'd write about education and how it's becoming more of a competition by the day. Students are under a lot of pressure to be the highest performers, to be the quarterback or the class president or the captain of the girls' swim team. Teachers are expected to compete with other teachers, and oftentimes their job performance is judged based not on how much their students have improved, but on how they stack up against their colleagues.
However, as I wrote, I realized that this cultural shift has applications outside of the classroom as well. Rather than providing her with an education, Dara's schooling is more like a training program for how to be competitive in life. Everything in the world of Contributor becomes a competition: who's the best performer, who gives the best presentations, who can contribute the most to their Job Creator?
But is this the best way to look at the world? When we're so focused on individual achievement, are we overlooking what can be accomplished if we form teams? Speaking as a former teacher who witnessed how overbooked many of her students were, I think a lot of teenagers are tired of the constant competition--and they haven't even made it to college yet. I think that's why many teenagers like reading about the struggles of characters in dystopian novels. It's satisfying to think that it's possible to buck the system and win.
Yet, it's not as if adults have this figured out either. It's hard not to be aware of what's been going down on Goodreads and the books blogosphere if you happen to be an avid reader, as I happen to be. I find it perplexing that some authors view other authors as "competition". I find it strange that authors feel their competitive edge is threatened by readers who happen not to like their books, and who write reviews to express their negative opinions.
This makes absolutely no sense to me. First, because tastes in reading are subjective. It hurts when someone doesn't like one of my books and is critical about it, but it also helps me to grow as a writer to read their critiques and reflect on them. Chances are, I can learn something from those critiques. And, secondly, if a reader dislikes what I write, it doesn't automatically mean every other reader will dislike it as well. Part of the beauty of the way the book world is turning is that there's more choice than ever, which means authors get to tell the stories they want to tell and readers can read the stories they want to read. Everyone wins. There's no need to think of it as a competition.
I guess what I'd like to see in all walks of life is for people to take a minute and to reflect, really reflect on what benefits the world most. Of course we need to have those extraordinary people who stand out, who can achieve big things. But not everyone can be that extraordinary person. And that is where collaboration comes in. By working with others, by thinking about their opinions and their ideas, we can create things that no individual could ever have created on their own.
Now, I'm not saying that I'm perfect and I'm above it all. I'm as guilty of engaging in unhealthy competition as anyone else, but I know this, and I want to change it. When I think about my particular corner of the world, I see readers and writers who can work together to make books and stories that are better than ever. I love the way the publishing world is changing, and I'm eager to take it all in and benefit from it as much as I can. That's why you'll see me promoting other authors' works or writing reviews of books I particularly enjoyed. I want to promote other people and, hopefully, they'll want to promote me as well. That is the effect that collaboration can bring about.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Monday Musings: The importance of routine
It's everyone's favorite day of the week again! While I don't hate Mondays like I did back in the days when I wasn't fulfilled by my job, I am sorry to see my husband go back to work. The truth is, I kinda like to have that guy around. But what I do like about Mondays now is they mean it's time for me to focus on my passion: writing.
However, there's not much writing going on here at the moment. This is partially because I just published Contributor and, friends, I need a bit of a break once a book comes out. It's hard to describe how completely it takes over my life, but suffice it to say that my brain needs a bit of a rest before I put my nose to the grindstone and start working on the next book.
What I have come to realize throughout this endeavor, though, is how important routine is. Since I started staying at home with my kids, I admit that I pretty much hate routine. I want to roll out of bed when I feel like it, drink some coffee, and ease into my day. Granted, that's tough to do when you have kids, but I do get a chance to indulge in some of that during the summer and on the weekends. But the fact of the matter is, when I do have a routine, I get more done. Without routine, my attention is fragmented all over the place and, half the time, I can't even remember what I did all day long.
My intent for next week is to start settling into my routine. I want to establish a regular schedule for when I write, when I blog, when I do social networking, etc. My biggest challenge over the summer was finding the time for all of these things and, now that school is in session and I have someone coming to clean my house, I don't really have any valid excuses for not being more organized and productive. Unfortunately for me. I may be a perfectionist, but I'm also a procrastinator. It's like the two sides of me are constantly battling, and it ain't pretty.
I want to take a second to thank everyone who downloaded a copy of Creators during its free run on the 7th. At one point, it reached #69 on the top 100 list of free books in its subcategory, which frankly shocked me. I felt like I was in one of those dumb movie scenes where the unattainable boy points at me, and I do that thing where I turn around to see if he's pointing at someone behind me, but find he's actually pointing at me. OMG! *squee* Seriously. Forgive me for being a super nerd here, but it really shocks me in a fantastically awesome way when I realize that people are buying my books. Hopefully you're liking them too, because that's even more important to me.
I also want to give a big thanks to everyone who has purchased my books. It's 100% the truth that I couldn't do this writing thing without your support. So thank you very, very much for giving me a reason to sit in front of my PC all day angsting over each and every word I type.
Starting on Friday, I'm planning to post some tidbits from my latest work in progress, Infiltrator. It's the second book in the Contributor trilogy, so there may well be some spoilerific moments if you read the excerpt without having read Contributor. For that, I sincerely apologize, as I'm one of those people who really hates it when the surprises are spoiled for me. I'll try to keep the giant revelations under wraps. Happy Monday!
However, there's not much writing going on here at the moment. This is partially because I just published Contributor and, friends, I need a bit of a break once a book comes out. It's hard to describe how completely it takes over my life, but suffice it to say that my brain needs a bit of a rest before I put my nose to the grindstone and start working on the next book.
What I have come to realize throughout this endeavor, though, is how important routine is. Since I started staying at home with my kids, I admit that I pretty much hate routine. I want to roll out of bed when I feel like it, drink some coffee, and ease into my day. Granted, that's tough to do when you have kids, but I do get a chance to indulge in some of that during the summer and on the weekends. But the fact of the matter is, when I do have a routine, I get more done. Without routine, my attention is fragmented all over the place and, half the time, I can't even remember what I did all day long.
My intent for next week is to start settling into my routine. I want to establish a regular schedule for when I write, when I blog, when I do social networking, etc. My biggest challenge over the summer was finding the time for all of these things and, now that school is in session and I have someone coming to clean my house, I don't really have any valid excuses for not being more organized and productive. Unfortunately for me. I may be a perfectionist, but I'm also a procrastinator. It's like the two sides of me are constantly battling, and it ain't pretty.
I want to take a second to thank everyone who downloaded a copy of Creators during its free run on the 7th. At one point, it reached #69 on the top 100 list of free books in its subcategory, which frankly shocked me. I felt like I was in one of those dumb movie scenes where the unattainable boy points at me, and I do that thing where I turn around to see if he's pointing at someone behind me, but find he's actually pointing at me. OMG! *squee* Seriously. Forgive me for being a super nerd here, but it really shocks me in a fantastically awesome way when I realize that people are buying my books. Hopefully you're liking them too, because that's even more important to me.
I also want to give a big thanks to everyone who has purchased my books. It's 100% the truth that I couldn't do this writing thing without your support. So thank you very, very much for giving me a reason to sit in front of my PC all day angsting over each and every word I type.
Starting on Friday, I'm planning to post some tidbits from my latest work in progress, Infiltrator. It's the second book in the Contributor trilogy, so there may well be some spoilerific moments if you read the excerpt without having read Contributor. For that, I sincerely apologize, as I'm one of those people who really hates it when the surprises are spoiled for me. I'll try to keep the giant revelations under wraps. Happy Monday!
Monday, August 20, 2012
Monday Musings: Writing is my business
I've been an aspiring writer pretty much ever since I learned how to write. I've always had stories in my head, a notebook in hand, and have spent countless hours scribbling and typing away. However, I also suffered from crippling insecurity that made me really loath to share anything other than papers I wrote for high school and college. I poured so much of myself into my writing that I was terrified of someone criticizing it.
It took me a long time to get over that fear. Along with that, I constantly reminded myself that writing wasn't practical, so I had a series of more practical jobs. Of those, teaching was the only one that was fulfilling for me, because I loved working with students. Still, there was something missing from the equation. I felt like I wasn't really getting out of life what I wanted to get out of it.
After much research and agonizing, my husband finally helped convince me to self-publish. I won't lie: a really strong voice in my head told me not to do it, to instead query agents and to try to find a publisher. I wanted the sense of validation that I thought a publishing contract would bring, and I also wanted to realize my childhood dream of standing in a bookstore next to a copy of my book. However, I had reached a point in my life where I knew I was going to need to start looking for another career, and I was tired of taking meaningless jobs just to pay the bills. I didn't have years to devote to trying to get a publishing deal, so I decided to take the plunge and self-publish. I wanted to see if I could make a go of writing as a career.
So far, the results of my self-publishing endeavor have exceeded my hopes and expectations. I thought maybe I might be able to sell 100 copies of The Eye of the Beholder in a year, so imagine my surprise when I reached that goal less than three months after publishing. Every time I see the book on someone's "to-read" shelf on Goodreads, or I look at my sales figures on Amazon, I have this sense of unreality. People are actually reading my book. They are actually spending their hard-earned cash on something I wrote, they are reading it, and they are taking the time to write reviews and/or rate it. That truly blows my mind. What's more, I wouldn't even have tried to shop The Eye because I'm pretty sure no publisher would have chosen to take a chance on it. If it wasn't for self-publishing, The Eye would have remained a book that only a few people had ever seen. Since it took me more than seven years to finish it (between the actual writing and the editing), it makes me really sad to think of it languishing on my hard drive.
The other thing I've realized about self-publishing is that I love having control over the process. I love that I don't have to completely redo a manuscript with which I am happy. I don't doubt that many editors can and do take works and make them better, but it hurts to think of being compelled to make changes to my story that I wouldn't really want to make.
Another huge plus for me is having complete control over my cover art. I can say quite confidently that I am the world's worst artist, so I've reached out to talented people to design my covers, and I love working with them and watching the cover take shape. I love being able to pick which elements I want on the cover. Had I been traditionally published, I would have had absolutely zero say in this part of the book's production.
But the real icing on the cake is my ability to write whatever I want. I don't have to be confined to any one genre, and that's a good thing for me. There's nothing wrong with being devoted to a single genre, but I want to dabble in several different ones. I love that I can write some fantasy, then some science fiction, and then maybe a mystery, all without being under a contractual obligation to deliver one type of book and one type only.
I'm not trying to say that self-publishing is all fun and games. It's also very stressful, and a ton of work. I hate promoting my work but, then again, even if I'd been published by a traditional publisher, I'd likely have been responsible for doing a lot of my own promotion. Still, I'd love to have experienced marketers on my side since I am seriously lacking in that area.
At the end of the day, though, hitting that "publish" button on Amazon was one of the best things I've ever done. Who knows if I'll ever reach a point where my writing provides a living wage. I hope it does, but what really matters is that I am finally able to share my stories with others, which is what I've wanted all along. Even if I do have to go out and get a practical job, I won't stop writing--and I won't have to. I have my readers to thank for that. There really aren't enough words to say how much I appreciate you. With every sale I get on Amazon, I'm more and more inspired to sit down and write, write, write. Thanks to you, I'm now a more productive writer than I've ever been in my life--and I'm also happier than I've ever been. So thank you for giving me the chance to truly live my dream.
It took me a long time to get over that fear. Along with that, I constantly reminded myself that writing wasn't practical, so I had a series of more practical jobs. Of those, teaching was the only one that was fulfilling for me, because I loved working with students. Still, there was something missing from the equation. I felt like I wasn't really getting out of life what I wanted to get out of it.
After much research and agonizing, my husband finally helped convince me to self-publish. I won't lie: a really strong voice in my head told me not to do it, to instead query agents and to try to find a publisher. I wanted the sense of validation that I thought a publishing contract would bring, and I also wanted to realize my childhood dream of standing in a bookstore next to a copy of my book. However, I had reached a point in my life where I knew I was going to need to start looking for another career, and I was tired of taking meaningless jobs just to pay the bills. I didn't have years to devote to trying to get a publishing deal, so I decided to take the plunge and self-publish. I wanted to see if I could make a go of writing as a career.
So far, the results of my self-publishing endeavor have exceeded my hopes and expectations. I thought maybe I might be able to sell 100 copies of The Eye of the Beholder in a year, so imagine my surprise when I reached that goal less than three months after publishing. Every time I see the book on someone's "to-read" shelf on Goodreads, or I look at my sales figures on Amazon, I have this sense of unreality. People are actually reading my book. They are actually spending their hard-earned cash on something I wrote, they are reading it, and they are taking the time to write reviews and/or rate it. That truly blows my mind. What's more, I wouldn't even have tried to shop The Eye because I'm pretty sure no publisher would have chosen to take a chance on it. If it wasn't for self-publishing, The Eye would have remained a book that only a few people had ever seen. Since it took me more than seven years to finish it (between the actual writing and the editing), it makes me really sad to think of it languishing on my hard drive.
The other thing I've realized about self-publishing is that I love having control over the process. I love that I don't have to completely redo a manuscript with which I am happy. I don't doubt that many editors can and do take works and make them better, but it hurts to think of being compelled to make changes to my story that I wouldn't really want to make.
Another huge plus for me is having complete control over my cover art. I can say quite confidently that I am the world's worst artist, so I've reached out to talented people to design my covers, and I love working with them and watching the cover take shape. I love being able to pick which elements I want on the cover. Had I been traditionally published, I would have had absolutely zero say in this part of the book's production.
But the real icing on the cake is my ability to write whatever I want. I don't have to be confined to any one genre, and that's a good thing for me. There's nothing wrong with being devoted to a single genre, but I want to dabble in several different ones. I love that I can write some fantasy, then some science fiction, and then maybe a mystery, all without being under a contractual obligation to deliver one type of book and one type only.
I'm not trying to say that self-publishing is all fun and games. It's also very stressful, and a ton of work. I hate promoting my work but, then again, even if I'd been published by a traditional publisher, I'd likely have been responsible for doing a lot of my own promotion. Still, I'd love to have experienced marketers on my side since I am seriously lacking in that area.
At the end of the day, though, hitting that "publish" button on Amazon was one of the best things I've ever done. Who knows if I'll ever reach a point where my writing provides a living wage. I hope it does, but what really matters is that I am finally able to share my stories with others, which is what I've wanted all along. Even if I do have to go out and get a practical job, I won't stop writing--and I won't have to. I have my readers to thank for that. There really aren't enough words to say how much I appreciate you. With every sale I get on Amazon, I'm more and more inspired to sit down and write, write, write. Thanks to you, I'm now a more productive writer than I've ever been in my life--and I'm also happier than I've ever been. So thank you for giving me the chance to truly live my dream.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Most inconsistent blogger ever!
So I'll just come right out and say it: I suck at consistently using this blog. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the bottom line is that I always start out with good intentions of keeping the blog going, but then become overwhelmed.
In order to try to remedy that, I've decided that I'm going to change up the format, which will make it easier for me to keep the blog updated regularly but won't place a lot of demands on my time because, frankly, as much as I sometimes enjoy blogging, I want to focus my writing time on creating that next book (because you have NO idea how many fun, fun plans I have for more books!).
To that end, here's the plan for the blog going forward:
Mondays will be Monday Musings in which I'll reflect on a random topic. It could be something specific to writing, it could be related to an article I read, etc.
Wednesdays will be Woohoo Wednesdays. Confession time: I have a tendency to be neurotic at times, so I think this feature is excellent because it helps me pause to think about all the awesome things in my life.
Fridays will be Feature Fridays in which I'll showcase whatever manuscript I'm working on. This is where you'll find excerpts from upcoming works, juicy tidbits about where I'm taking it next, etc.
In addition to this, I'll do occasional features about other authors, book reviews, and any random things that strike my fancy. But at least this way I'll be consistently updating my blog three times a week.
Be sure to check back on Sunday, when I'll be featuring an interview with author Darian Wilk as part of the blog tour she's doing to spread the word about her upcoming book, Reinventing Claire. She is an awesome, sweet lady, so I hope you'll all show her some love!
In order to try to remedy that, I've decided that I'm going to change up the format, which will make it easier for me to keep the blog updated regularly but won't place a lot of demands on my time because, frankly, as much as I sometimes enjoy blogging, I want to focus my writing time on creating that next book (because you have NO idea how many fun, fun plans I have for more books!).
To that end, here's the plan for the blog going forward:
Mondays will be Monday Musings in which I'll reflect on a random topic. It could be something specific to writing, it could be related to an article I read, etc.
Wednesdays will be Woohoo Wednesdays. Confession time: I have a tendency to be neurotic at times, so I think this feature is excellent because it helps me pause to think about all the awesome things in my life.
Fridays will be Feature Fridays in which I'll showcase whatever manuscript I'm working on. This is where you'll find excerpts from upcoming works, juicy tidbits about where I'm taking it next, etc.
In addition to this, I'll do occasional features about other authors, book reviews, and any random things that strike my fancy. But at least this way I'll be consistently updating my blog three times a week.
Be sure to check back on Sunday, when I'll be featuring an interview with author Darian Wilk as part of the blog tour she's doing to spread the word about her upcoming book, Reinventing Claire. She is an awesome, sweet lady, so I hope you'll all show her some love!
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