Ah, Publishing, How You Have Changed

Okay, so I started writing about 6 years ago. I queried my first book in 2008, and my second in 2009. I got an agent in 2009, and a publishing deal in 2010. My debut novel, Possession, was published in 2011.

And let me tell you, publishing is so much different today than it was in 2009, which was only 3 short years ago.

I've known this, of course, but I don't think it truly sunk in until this past week, when I went to a local book group. See, they were reading Possession, and they'd invited me to come talk about writing, and the book, and whatever.

Someone asked me how I got published, and I started telling the story. As I was speaking, I realized just how different things are today.

See, in 2008, the Kindle was still new. Ebooks were still a novelty. Everything about publishing was wrapped up in print -- and to do what I wanted to do, I needed an agent.

Well, now in 2013, the Kindle (and other eReaders) is not new. A lot of people have them, and digital books are commonplace. It's amazing to me how things can change in a relatively short amount of time.

So I found myself speaking about my publishing journey, and as I was, I realized that one thing has NOT changed. And it's this: No matter what you want to do in publishing - go out on your own, submit to a small press, a medium press, or try to land one of the big New York publishers - you have to first know what you want, and then be willing to work to make it happen.

At least that much hasn't changed.

What do you think? Have you seen publishing evolve over the last 5-6 years? In what ways? Has your perspective of it changed too? In what ways?

On Following Your Unique, Creative Self

Okay, so I'd never thought of myself as a creative person until I started writing. Over the course of the last year, I've realized just how incredibly creative writing is, how much energy that takes, and how in a creative endeavor sometimes we only see failure where this is much success.

I've tried to silence the part of publishing that calls for a commercial idea. I want to write for the love of crafting a story with the kind of words that draw emotion to the surface. Of course, I have to work on the commercial end of things all the time, but when I have a blank page, I don't want any of the words I try to be influenced by whether or not my novel will sell.

I've attempted to surround myself with articles and blog posts and friends who share this creating-for-the-joy-of-it philosophy.

My amazing and wonderful husband sent me this video -- he is an amazing and wonderful photographer, which is extremely creative and artisitic -- and it's just a fantastic reminder that we need to be true to our own selves. We need to follow our own creative vein.

This is a documentary on professional photographer Joel Grimes--and his photos are gorgeous. My favorite line? "Work from your uniqueness." (I especially like how he talks about trends, and hard work, and building a body of work, and rejection and the need for it, among other things.)

It's long, I know. But the part you really want to start watching is at the end. So drag to about 37:00 and watch to the end (If you want to see some of his photos before you listen to him, start at 35:10 -- they are awesome). That's about 10 minutes. Just put it on while you're answering email or something. It really is fantastic, and you can substitute any creative venture (writing, painting, dancing, music) when he says photography.



Are you working from your uniqueness? Are you enjoying it?

The (Dreaded) Backstory

Okay, so sometimes I know the history of my characters. Sometimes I don't. That makes for some awkwardness at critique group when I get asked questions I can't answer. 

That's been happening a lot lately, so I sat down this week and actually took notes. (Pick your jaw up -- it's been known to happen!) I discovered that it's the backstory that provides a lot of the little details that make the stories I like so memorable. It's what happened before the story starts that intrigues me, that I want to know more about, that I want to see the main character overcome in the story.

This might not be revelatory to you, but it was to me. I mean, I've known about backstory and sprinkling it here and there and that your main character needs to have a past they draw from to make future decisions. I've known it, but I'm not sure I've ever internalized it.

So as I've been working on this revision, I've really been trying to nail down the details of the past for my main character. I want them to be a whole person who has conflicts and brings baggage from their history into the pages I'm working on. I want to add those memorable details to create the kind of book I like to read.

So I'm thinking more and more about backstory and taking notes on my main character and using that history to round out the divots in my plot and character arc.

What are you working to improve in your writing right now?

Lessons From Being Critiqued: Flaws

Okay, so it's great to be back! I'm re-envisioning my blog (yes, again), so hopefully we'll be able to have some awesome discussions this year.

Up on tap today: Lessons from the Critique Trenches.

Receiving a critique can be hard. I think I've become completely desensitized to it somewhat. I get edited extensively from multiple sources, and I think I know how to look past what might hurt my feelings and into the novel to find the potential.

And some of that potential includes creating characters with flaws.

I'm terrible at doing this. If my main character isn't perfect, her boyfriend is. If he's not, her best friend is. Someone always is.

There are a couple of problems with this.
1. No one's perfect, and we hate that person who appears to be. You know, the one who decides to try out for the ballroom team and makes it, and then decides to run track the next and is the best? Yeah, that person. We hate them. Writing them into books isn't a good idea.

2. If the MC is already perfect, they have no character arc. And no arc = bad news for your novel.

3. If the MC has people around them that are perfect, what's the point of the secondary character? This is a question I've been asking myself a lot lately, trust me. I've cut entire characters from books before, so I can do it. It just makes for a lot of work, and sometimes I get frustrated that I haven't learned this lesson yet. I mean, seriously.

So lesson for today: Create flawed characters. Or at least be willing to revise them into that non-perfected, able-to-grow-and-change person they should've been when you drafted.

Do your characters have flaws? Do you actually think of these in advance or are you a non-perfector during revisions like I am?

Happy Holidays!

I'm going to be taking a little blogging break until 2013! I hope you have an enjoyable holiday season! Here's to many great things in the new year.

Taking the Time

Okay, so I've been doing this writing thing for 5 years now. I've been playing the social media game for nearly as long. All of it is starting to wear me to the bone. Perhaps you feel the same. Maybe you don't.

I do know I used to worry about how much time I spent writing. It never seemed to be enough, and at the same time, it was too many hours away from my family. I still constantly see people's word counts and notice them writing for many hours each day, neither of which I can replicate.

I used to work myself into a frenzy about this, thinking that "everyone" must write for hours every day, and if I couldn't, then I would not succeed.

You'll notice I've been saying "I used to."

I don't worry about those things anymore, and if you're worrying about them (or anything remotely close to this), now is a good time to stop. It's almost the new year, and many people set resolutions in their personal lives. I do too, but for the past few years, I've been setting some writing goals as well.

Maybe you'll try it this year, and maybe one of your goals will be this: Take one day off every week. One WHOLE day off. From writing. From social media. From marketing, cover designing, planning, blogging, emailing, all of it.

That's what I've been doing for this past year. Sometimes it's hard to maintain (I admit to checking and sending emails on my day off). Sometimes a deadline comes up and I have to work 7 days a week to meet it.

But more often than not, I don't. It's a choice I was making, and it was wearing me out.

So now I take every Sunday completely off. I lay around in pajamas, and go to church, and watch movies, and play games, and whatever. I do not write. Or edit. Or market. Or tweet. Or get on Facebook.

It is the best day ever.

What do you do to relieve some of the writing stress? Do you have any writing goals for 2013? Could you take an entire day off every week? 

DESTINED by Ali Cross

Today is a super-special feature for one of my long-time critique partners and friends, Ali Cross. She's released the third and final book in her DESOLATION series -- DESTINED!

I've read it, and it's a fabulous ending to an ever more amazing series. If you haven't checked them out yet, be sure to do that!

Ali is doing some pretty amazing things to celebrate the release of DESTINED. Until December 15, she's offering special prices on all her books (BECOME for only 99 cents, DESOLATE for $1.99, and DESTINED for only $2.99), and having an online signing party! 

Not only that, but today is release day for DESTINED, and Ali is having a party all month long! She's offering books, Desi-themed swag, and a digital prize package. Be sure to check it out. 

But really, it's not the prizes that are awesome. It's the books. So if you're going to spend any time doing something today, be sure it's ordering and reading Ali's amazing trilogy. 

BECOME: Amazon/Barnes & Noble

DESOLATE: Amazon/Barnes & Noble

DESTINED: Amazon/Barnes & Noble

Check out these dedicated websites for fan favorites, news, to order the books, and more!

The Desolation Series

Desolation Diaries on Tumblr (on Pinterest)

It's My Birthday!

Well, technically it's tomorrow, but I don't blog on Tuesdays, and I have something awesome planned for Wednesday, and who says I can't celebrate every day this week?

So I'm going to! Starting today! Hope you have a fabulous Monday, and that you're getting all geared up for the holiday season!

You know you want a piece of this Maple Bacon Birthday Cake...

Or this tribute to Elvis, which is a banana cake with peanut butter frosting and candied bacon. Um, yes please!!

Or I'll just take a few dozen of these Bacon Maple Bites.

Now I'm hungry -- AND old! Have a great day!

Writing What You Love

Okay, so as I prepare to finally look beyond my Possession series, I'm faced with every author's greatest nightmare -- which is also our greatest joy -- the blank page.

The possibilities are endless with a blank page. I can create a male main character or a female. Someone people will like, or someone who needs a lot of fixing before we see the goodness within. I can imagine a new world, or use one I'm familiar with.

Today, I just wanted to remind myself -- and all of you out there laboring against the blank page -- that we should be writing what we love. Trends come and go. But good writing and good storytelling always win out.

We should not be searching for "the next big thing." I believe artists of any kind, writers included, should be doing these things:
1. Always seeking to advance their knowledge of their craft
2. Creating what they love to create
3. Helping others along their path

So those are the things I'm preparing to do at the close of this year. I will attend conferences and workshops, continue to be critiqued and edited, and read my brains out to improve my craft.

I will continue to support the authorly community, both online and by buying books.

And I will write what I love to read. I don't really know what it will be yet (fantasy? Contemporary?), but I know that it will be the kind of writing I can be proud of.

Do you write what you love? What is that, exactly?

Bookanista Feature: THE IMMORTALITY EXPERIMENT by Miriam Conde

Man, I haven't done a Bookanista feature for like, ever. But today, I'm featuring Miriam Conde's THE IMMORTALITY EXPERIMENT, and Miriam was kind enough to answer some questions for me!

About THE BOOK:

The Twitter version: tell us about your book in 140 characters or less:
Alex doesn't know about the experiment’s victims. He wants to be a good friend, but helping Dr. Carr ensnares Alex in a perilous situation.

Why e-publishing? Why now?
E-publishing is basically free and I wanted to get my material out there as fast as possible. I would like to publish my books traditionally when I find the right agent.

What’s the one thing you learned about publishing this way that you didn’t anticipate?
I did not realize that marketing would be like a complex puzzle. Each day I try new techniques to reach more people. I am constantly learning which methods work best for me. Solving the puzzle of success is an exciting task.

What else are you working on? Secrets? Inside scoops? Give us the juicy stuff!
I’m working on two different projects. A sequel to The Immortality Experiment will take the characters from the first novel to a new level. I’m writing another sci-fi series starting with “Adessa’s Sphere.” I’ve been posting the story a chapter at a time on my blog, boldfiction.net. What my readers don’t know yet is that Adessa will lead her people, not just to other planets, but to explore glorious parallel universes. (They know now!) Among the group is an unexpected danger to be revealed at the end of “Adessa’s Sphere.”

Buy THE IMMORTALITY EXPERIMENT for only 99 cents!

About THE AUTHOR:

Have you always wanted to be a writer?
No. I wanted to be about a million different things before I finally decided that writing suited me best. I always liked writing in school. I even wrote a book nine years ago that collected dust for a long time. That book eventually evolved into “Adessa’s Sphere.”

What made you decide to go that “extra step” and seek publication?
I had told myself I would never self-publish. Then I read about Amanda Hocking, author of the Trylle Trilogy. Apparently she had posted excerpts from her stories on her blog, kind of the way I’m posting my stories. Reading about her success inspired me to put myself out there in the e-book world.

Quick! You’ve been chosen to be a contestant on Survivor. What luxury item do you take?
A blank notebook with a pen/pencil attached.

Tell us something about yourself we don’t know.
I want to be an astronaut! (Wow, this freaks me the heck out. You know there's NO AIR in space, right??)

And the most important of all: bacon or chocolate?
CHOCOLATE! :-D (Boo! But we still like you.)

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I hope you'll check out THE IMMORTALITY EXPERIMENT. I read it, and it was a great blend of thriller and science fiction that even the science-phobic (me) can understand. Miriam did a great job with it!

Oh, and be sure to check out what books the other Bookanistas are talking about this week:

• Katy Upperman gushes over LOVELY, DARK, and DEEP
• Jessica Love talks about CHOPSTICKS

What's on your holiday reading list?

Inspirational Message: Be Coachable

Wow, we had a great beginning to December with the YA Scavenger Hunt! Thanks to everyone who participated. I will email all the winners of the Possession paperback today.

Today, I wanted to talk a little bit about being coachable. I recently spoke to a class of 6th graders, which I think is a pivotal time in a young person's life.

I first talked about Michael Phelps. He didn't just show up at the pool one day and win 8 Olympic gold medals. He's been swimming and training for years. And years. And years.

And I ask: Do you think he achieved such greatness by himself?

I don't. Behind every great thing we see, there's a support system. I've watched enough 30 in 30's to know. (Don't watch this? It's an ESPN feature that I find highly inspirational. I love sports documentaries! My favorite one is about Tom Brady.)

Michael Phelps has a coach. Someone who tells him what he's doing wrong, what he needs to do to get better. Because in swimming, you can lose by 1/100 of a second. And a good coach can tell you how to turn at the wall faster, or dive into the pool faster. And that 1/100 of a second can mean gold or no medal at all.

I think writers can learn a lot from athletes. They are coached to the extreme. They're told ALL THE THINGS they're doing wrong and they're asked to get better, and better, and better.

Writers need to be coachable.

I teach elementary school children, so no one over the age of 12. They are coachable. I can train them to do exactly what I want them to do, and with a few exceptions, they actually feel bad if they make a mistake. Children are coachable, because they don't know everything, whether they know it or not.

Teens are, for the most part, uncoachable, because they think they know everything.

I hope we can be more like the little child, and not like the teenager. It's hard. We don't want anyone telling us what to do, because it makes us feel like a failure. But it doesn't have to be that way.

We need to surround ourselves with people we trust to coach us in our writing. If you can do that, you're destined to have a golden experience.

Do you have writing coaches? How's that working out for you?

YA Scavenger Hunt - Red Team Style!

Yes, it's that time again! I'm thrilled to be participating in the YA Scavenger Hunt again, after taking a break from the last one.

I am part of the RED TEAM scavenger hunt. Be sure to check out all the authors on this loop, because we have some wicked-amazing secret content up for a limited time only! Get out there and find something related to SURRENDER!

You can also follow along on the Blue Team hunt, and you can go here for all the hunt information and see all the books up for grabs!

Not only that, but the YA Scavenger Hunt is the best contest there is. You can win a plethora of books--one from every participating author! A plethora, I say! So be sure to collect the letters for the Red Team at each blog, including mine!

Today, I'm hosting the lovely Gina Damico! She wrote SCORCH, which is the second book in the Croak series.

ABOUT SCORCH: Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to Damn souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But now Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little town she calls home. To escape the townspeople’s wrath, she and her friends embark on a wild road trip to DeMyse. Though this sparkling desert oasis is full of luxuries and amusements, it feels like a prison to Lex. Her best chance at escape would be to stop all the senseless violence that she caused—but how can she do that from DeMyse, where the Grims seem mysteriously oblivious to the bloodshed?

Buy here!

Gina's secret content is a deleted scene from SCORCH. Read it below!
SCORCH deleted scene Winter YASH

ABOUT GINA: Gina Damico grew up under four feet of snow in Syracuse, New York. She has worked as a tour guide, transcriptionist, theater house manager, scenic artist, movie extra, office troll, retail monkey, yarn hawker and breadmonger. She lives outside Boston with her husband, two cats, one dog, and a closet full of black hoodies.

Visit Gina's blog here.

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As if that weren't enough, I'm giving away some goodies myself! These giveaways can only be entered here on my blog, by filling out the Rafflecopter widget below.
The giveaway ends at the same time the YA Scavenger Hunt does -- on Sunday, December 2 at Noon Pacific.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oh! And you'll need this number to enter the Red Team Scavenger Hunt prize package extravaganza. All you do is collect all the numbers from all the blogs on the Red Team, and add them up! (You can use a calculator, so no worries!)

The secret number is 11.

ENTER HERE.

CONTINUE THE RED TEAM SCAVENGER HUNT HERE, at Rae's blog.

What's one new book you've learned about on this YA Scavenger Hunt?

Show & Tell with Jessica Bell

Dude, that rhymes! I swear I didn't do that on purpose. But today, I'm hosting a friend of mine, Jessica Bell, as she talks about her new novella, SHOW, DON'T TELL. It's a pocket-guide, and everyone who writes needs it in their back pocket.

Jessica's here to talk about her new book, so let's leave her to it!

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Click to add me to Goodreads!

When I first started writing, the SHOW, DON'T TELL rule was something I often tried to ignore. "What do they know?" I thought. They don't write the kinds of stories I write. And take a look at all the telling in Great Expectations, in Pride & Prejudice, in Wuthering Heights!

But it didn't take long for me to realize that literature has evolved. And continues to evolve. Nowadays, readers want to be a part of the stories they read, not spectators. So who are we to rob them of this experience? Let's give them what they want.

When you show, rather than tell, this is exactly what you give them. An experience. Through Show & Tell in a Nutshell, I will help you accomplish this.

I wrote this book because when I started out I didn't understand the concept very well. I craved real examples. "How can you not see what's happening when I'm telling you it's happening?" I thought. Every writing craft book and blog would explain what it meant, but rarely would I see an actual example that showed me a transition from telling to showing that clearly demonstrated the difference. There still aren't any resources out there that focus only on this very important writing skill. Of course, there are writing craft books that include it, but the issue is more often than not bogged down with technical jargon, and other aspects of the craft that take away from its importance. I believe this book will allow an aspiring writer to block out all the "rules" and focus on this one thing that will teach them how to give their writing the colour it deserves.

Of course, you can't show everything. Sometimes you need to tell in order to move the necessary, but not so important, moments of your story forward. So when someone suggests you to "show" something, you need to evaluate whether this moment in your story deserves such undivided attention. It's something you will learn with practice.

How did you respond to the SHOW, DON'T TELL rule when you first started writing? If you are a beginner, have you completely understood the difference? If so, what brought about your AHA moment?

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She's a genius, right? I mean, what a focused little guide -- a gem! -- to have in your writing repertoire.

Purchase the paperback:

• $4.40 on Amazon US
• £3.99 on Amazon UK

Purchase the e-book:

• $1.99 on Amazon US
• £1.99 on Amazon UK
• $1.99 on Kobo

About Jessica Bell:

An Australian-native contemporary fiction author and poet, who also makes a living as an editor and writer for global ELT publishers (English Language Teaching), such as Pearson Education, HarperCollins, Macmillan Education, Education First and Cengage Learning.

She is the Co-Publishing Editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and co-hosts the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek Isle of Ithaca, with Chuck Sambuchino of Writer’s Digest.

For more information about Jessica, please visit: 

Website

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

Letting Things Slide

Okay, so here we are, in this crazy-blender world of publishing. There are a lot of ups, and quite a few downs too.

But if there's any lesson I've learned it's this: Sometimes you've got to let things slide.

What you imagined about your cover? Might not come true.

What you've been hoping for in terms of sales? Might not come true.

Deadlines? Might come and go without word. You might not be able to meet yours, because of whatever whatever.

Sometimes what we want to happen doesn't line up with what is actually happening. We can feel frustrated, overwhelmed, and even angry. We forget the good that we've enjoyed about publishing. The feel of typing (or writing) new words on a blank page, of bringing a character to life. 

Sometimes, the stress of publishing is just too much. And that's a definite time to let things slide. I've been on this roller coaster for a few years now, and here's what I do during the sliding times.

• Read my favorite books. Or a new book.
• Play Bakery/City/Restaurant/Farm Story. Oh, come on. You know you love seeing your T-bone steaks come out perfectly.
• Record too many episodes of whatever is on HGTV.
• Eat pepperoni -- plain. (Don't knock it until you've consumed a pouch of this stuff. It is powerful, and will change your life.)
• Download some new music.
• Try a new challenge -- right now, I'm trying to do a 30 ideas in 30 days challenge my friend, Dustin Hansen, inspired.
• Go to a live concert/performance.
• Plan meals (gasp!)

It's good to let the publishing angst slide off your back every once in a while. Otherwise, I think we'd all be shaking and muttering under our breath, and nobody wants to see that.

What do you do when you need a break from publishing?

Bad Hair Day!

Okay, so I can't believe I'm posting this today, when I'm not going to post the rest of this Thanksgiving week, and that means THIS POST will be up forever! But I am.

One of my author friends, Carrie Harris, just released her second book! I know what a big deal the second book is, and even more, I'm halfway through BAD HAIR DAY and you simply must read it! (Buy here!)

Carrie's having a contest to spread the celebration across the Interwebz, and it's super-easy to participate. All you have to do is post a picture of yourself having a BAD HAIR DAY. (Oh, and LINK HERE.)

So...

Yes, that's an 80s mullet. With fish. You're welcome.

For more about Carrie's books, including BAD YETI -- a hilarious short story set in the world of BAD HAIR DAY, go here.