Archive for June, 2007
I Can’t Make This Up
Seressia June 26th, 2007
I stole this from the Smart Bitches because they are smart, and they are bitches.
I’m not going to spoil your fun– you have to see this site to actually believe it. I’m not sure, but I think they’re selling wrinkle cream. Or boy toys.
Writing: Samhain Best First Line Contest
Seressia June 25th, 2007
You may not know this, but I recently participated in Samhain Publishing’s Best First Line Contest. I made it three rounds with my werewolf story, but alas, didn’t make it to the fourth round (which began this morning).
Some of you might be wondering why I entered the contest, seeing as how I have four full length books, one novella, and one mass market reprint all currently in print, and another full length and two novellas coming out between September and February. I’m more than happy to explain it to you, in no particular order:
- Diversification. I’ve mentioned before on this blog how important it is as a writer to diversify your portfolio. You may have a falling out with your house, your editor may leave, or the house may collapse. Having all your eggs in one basket is no longer practical, especially if you’re mid-list or less. You can’t even scramble that mess if the system crumbles.
- It’s Samhain. Whether a publisher is recognized by RWA or not is immaterial to me. There are quite a few who have been in business for years, decades even, who aren’t. What is important to me is how long they’ve been in business, what they’re putting out, and what their distribution is, what their business outlook is, how they pay, etc.. Samhain has made some very smart decisions over the last few months, including their Kensington deal. They have awesome covers. Their website is professional. Their print books are racked together at the end of the romance section, so getting in with them would get some of my stories out of the “special section” of Borders and Waldenbooks (which leads back to point one, diversifying—in this case, my placement in a store).
- Curiosity. I wanted to see if I could hold my own with other writers. This contest is judged by editors, so skill and talent win out, instead of a popularity contest in which you see how many of your friends you can get to vote for you, or how many dummy accounts you can create to vote for you. Every line was on trial for its life, and it forced me to look at each word and each line in a way that I frankly haven’t before.
- Attention. It was an easy way to get my work in front of an editor, which is what we all want, regardless of publishing status. There are a bunch of contests I can’t enter because I’m already published, RWA rules notwithstanding. I was able to hold the attention of Samhain’s editors for three lines. Sometimes you don’t even get that.
I’m glad I made it as far as I did, and I did enjoy the experience. Am I upset that I didn’t make it all the way? No, because I don’t consider this a negative mark against my writing or a closed door to submitting to Samhain in the future. Part of diversifying is having multiple irons in the fire. Not moving forward in the contest just means that there is one less thing to juggle at this moment, and I’m okay with that.
It was fun though!
A different sort of Book Video
Seressia June 25th, 2007
Author Stephanie Bond (http://www.stephaniebond.com/) has posted a book video on You Tube for her book, Body Movers. It’s a decidedly different take on the whole book commerical, and one I enjoyed. Check it out!
Time Management
Seressia June 24th, 2007
For a printable copy, click here
Writing a novel is a terrible experience, during which the hair often falls out and the teeth decay.
–Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964)
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80:20 rule: 80% of unfocused effort generates only 20% of results. Conversely, the remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of effort.
How can you manage your time? Here are a few exercises.
1. Keep a time journal. Like a food journal, this will show you how you spend your time. Journal out your hours, days, then a week. At the end of the week you should be able to see a pattern of idle time.
2. Discover where you have idle time. If the time journal doesn’t make it clear, here are some possible areas:
a. Waiting for the kids
b. Riding public transportation
c. Doctor’s office
d. The hour(s) between sending the kids to sleep and your own bedtime.
e. 6 a.m. Saturday morning
f. Driving/Commuting
g. Waiting in the airport
h. Walking the dog
i. On the Stairmaster
3. Now that you’ve uncovered that time, you need to optimize that time for writing. Here are a few tools every writer can use to optimize idle time:
a. Small notebook and pen
b. Tape recorder (perfect for the car)
c. Post-its. Great for when you’re at your day job.
d. AlphaSmart. Can’t recommend it enough!
4. Two things are critical to optimize your time, idle or not. You need to identify your primetime and your downtime. Primetime is when you’re “on,” when you’re at your highest energy level. If you’ve always described yourself as a “day person,” then your primetime is probably morning to midday. Conversely, if you’re a “night person,” you probably don’t think clearly until the sun goes down.
5. Prepare to-do lists. This is critical for time management, and believe it or not, it is also a necessary component of the writer’s toolbox. As a writer, you need four to-do lists: one for your life, one for your story, and one each for your prime and down times. It sounds like a lot of work, but even a tornado—chaos personified—has structure to it.
a. The life to do list. This is the list for everything you do. The amount of activity in your life will dictate the length of time this list covers, be it daily or weekly. Rank everything by has to be done ASAP, has to be done today, and can be done anytime, but today is good.
b. The story to-do list. This will cover the entire life of the book, from high-concept to promoting the finished product. Using a mind map or Work Breakdown Structure will help manage the genesis of your novel. Of course, this will require sub-lists, which is why you need the primetime and downtime lists.
c. The primetime to-do list. Since your primetime is your most active, this is where you’ll schedule the major components of your book. Plotting, character development, brainstorming, outline and chapter breakdowns—all of these are primetime activities.
d. The downtime to-do list. For your low-energy time, schedule things like re-reads, cold reads, and editing. Even research can go here.
6. Sometimes you have to trick yourself. Let’s face it. We’re visual creatures. If you have four things on your daily to-do list, you’re going to believe you have plenty of time to get things done. WRONG. What you will do is complete the one or two easiest things. What’s left? The hardest, most unpleasant task. The one you’ve carried over from yesterday’s or last week’s to-do list. The one that you REALLY need to get done. The one that if it’s not completed soon will create:
7. The deer-in-the-headlights syndrome. You’re cruising along and you’ve checked off three of the five things on your checklist. You’re feeling good about things in general and then wham! You realize the item that’s still undone is the one that will take you the longest to complete, will use up the most brain cells. The project that you’d trade for a bikini wax or teeth cleaning any day. But now you’re spiraling into your downtime, and you can’t possibly get it done when you’re not at the top of your game… Don’t let this happen to you! Rule number one of to-do lists: Tackle the hardest or most unpleasant task first.
8. Maximize your writing time. Some practical do’s and don’ts to maximize your hard-earned valuable time:
a. Set a realistic goal. Don’t say “I’m going to do twenty-five pages” when you know you’re average output is usually around five. Aim for six.
b. Reward yourself for achieving that goal. Your normal output is five pages, you aimed for six and actually made it to seven? Grab the tequila! (or the Dove chocolate, or the can of Pringles…you get the idea.)
c. Make your workspace clutter-free. The old motto of a cluttered desk being the sign of a cluttered mind is true. You cannot write in chaos. Even if you have to sweep everything into a sort box for later, keep the desk surface clean. Use desktop sorters or storage drawers for pens, paper, and print cartridges. All you need on your desktop beside your computer are a pen, post-its, your calendar, and your beverage of choice. A dictionary and thesaurus also work, but I prefer to use the online versions.
d. If you like listening to music while you write, make it instrumental. Save Aretha and Aerosmith for laundry day. You can’t hear your characters talking to you if you’re singing “Chain of Fools” at the top of your lungs.
e. DO NOT play Solitaire, Taipei or FreeCell to “loosen your creativity.” You’ll only lose valuable writing time. I have been known to play Solitaire for five hours straight. That’s easily two chapters’ worth of time I’ll never recapture.
f. Don’t wait for inspiration or creativity to strike. There will be days when you’ll wait a long time for inspiration, and that day can become a week or a month very quickly. Sometimes your muse will not speak to you, and you’ll have to accept that. THERE IS NEVER A RIGHT TIME, so you have to make the time you have, the right (or write) time. However:
g. If inspiration strikes, milk that cow for all it’s worth. You may have experienced this. You’re trying to drift off to sleep or you’re in the grocery store, and an idea pops into your head. Suddenly you’re buzzing with scenes, dialogue, and the perfect ending. DO NOT SAVE THIS FOR LATER. Use your recorder or post-its, but get it out. If it’s in the middle of the night, get up. Write it down or fire up the computer, then work until you hit the wall. For most of us, these divine strikes are few and far between. That being said, managing your to-do lists will help you manufacture inspiration.
h. Build contingency time into your to-do lists. Unexpected things will pop up. That’s life. Flexing your time allows you to handle emergencies or inspiration by shifting tasks and priorities.
i. Delegate what you can. Mommy doesn’t have to do everything. There are microwaveable foods and sprays that make it look like you ironed. Designate a laundry day. Buy more undies if you run out. Use paper plates. If you family complains, show them how the broom, vacuum and can opener work, then retreat to your writing space.
j. Make sure people respect your writing time. Whether you have a day job or not, writing is your career. If you take it seriously and approach it professionally, so will those around you. Do not answer the phone. Do not flip on the TV. Do not let others interrupt you until your designated time is up.
k. To reiterate, this is your career. Published or pre-published, do not think of writing as a hobby. This is your business and you are the sole employee putting out your product.
9. Know when to walk away. Sometimes you have to give yourself a break. The difference is making sure you’re walking away because your body needs a break, not running away because you don’t feel like tackling the project.
I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
– William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act 5, scene 5.
Reality Check: Reviews
Seressia June 22nd, 2007
A lot of bloffle is going around Romancelandia about reader’s reviews and review sites. Authors complaining about mean reviews, getting all sour grapes over some site I’ve never even heard of, how only professionals should write reviews, or “please go write glowing reviews to drown out the 2-star review I just got on Amazon.”
Ah, chickies, if only I could get half the review sites that you bitch complain about to even consider reading my books.
This is what I get for reading Monica Jackson’s blog before posting to my own.
Guess what? If anyone has a right to review a book, it’s the flippin’ reader. ESPECIALLY if s/he actually BOUGHT THE DAMN THING.
If someone didn’t like your book, GET OVER IT. Better yet, WRITE ANOTHER BOOK. Or, and this is a really novel concept, STOP READING THE FREAKIN’ REVIEWS.
Stop crying in your freakin’ cheerios. At least your book is getting reviewed. How ’bout those sour grapes?
Blog Me
Seressia June 21st, 2007
So, read any good Romancelandia blogs lately?
I know you haven’t here, but then I was on vacation, but just in case you missed it, here are a few…
Tina Engler, AKA Jaid Black and founder of Ellora’s Cave, talks about her unconventional marriage. which was supposedly in response to being attacked by someone who took ofeense by what she wrote in her own blog on June 6th.
Then there is the whole Triskelion thing (December Quinn has a good take on this) and the whole Carol Lynne thing. Readers basing authors. Authors bashing readers. Authors of one genre bashing authors of another.
I’m sure there’s been more than that out there while I was on vacation–hey, RWA’s visiting Publisher Recognition, PAN eligibility AND it’s Rita/Golden Heart contest categories all at the same time!–but frankly, I’m way too mentally exhausted to go out and check. I do have a question though:
Is all of this fun?
I suppose it’s entertaining, but really, when do people have time to read–or more importantly, write–if they’re avidly following all this stuff?
I think I was much happier with my writing career before I joined writing groups, Yahoo lists, and other online forums. I enjoyed the bliss that thinking Romancelandia was a happy, frothy place with champagne wishes and caviar dreams. (I’ve since found out that that only applies to people without permanent tans, but that’s another story.)
Is the stuff I linked above really what readers want on authors’ blogs?
Ah, the Day Job
Seressia June 9th, 2007
“Work is an essential part of being alive. Your work is your identity. It tells you who you are. It’s gotten so abstract. People don’t work for the sake of working. They’re working for a car, a new house, or a vacation. It’s not the work itself that’s important to them. There’s such a joy in doing work well.”
-Kay Stepkin, U.S. baker. As quoted in Working, book 8, by Studs Terkel
This week wasn’t a bad week at the day job. I actually really like my day job. This week, however, I resented the hell out of it.
Why? Because I was on a writing tear, I mean a good writing tear, and I kept having to interrupt it to GO TO WORK.
Ah, but what light through yon window breaks? (Or something like that) That word that causes schoolkids to squee and part-time writers to sigh?
VACATION.
The old Go-Go’s tune is running through my head this weekend, and I’m trying not to grin like an idiot.
After a brief stop in the office to make sure the burning embers do not becoming towering infernos, I will be on vacation. Tuesday morning, I hop a plane to go have some quality time in a cabin on a river where no cell phones work. Sheer bliss.
I suppose you’re curious to know what I’m taking with me besides No 99 sunblock. Three books actually:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
Creepin’: Payback Is A Bitch\The Heat Of The Night\Vamped\Balancing The Scales\Avenging Angel
I had the HP book for more than a year, forgot I had it, and bought the trade size too. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it before Book 7 hits the shelves. Variable Star I’m taking because a friend let me borrow it a few months ago and told me I would enjoy how Spider Robinson meshed his voice and style with Heinlein’s. I’m partially through both books and I’m enjoying both of them.
Creepin’ I’m taking because I know most of the authors in this book on sight–we’ve all breathed the same air in the same hotel at one point or another. Gotta support my sistahs. I’m also taking it because, even though it’s put out by Harlequin, it’s not a romance, and I’m quite curious about it. Third, I’ve read these women, and they can write their tails off.
No romances, which is deliberate, because I’m also taking pens and paper and plan to write when I’m not reading and relaxing. Don’t get me wrong, this will be a real vacation–the hardest choice I’ll be making will be whether to put on a bra or not. But not having to stress over the day job means my mind will be busy elsewhere, and that “elsewhere” is where the writing comes from.
My rule is to never read a romance while I’m writing one, unless it’s completely outside of the subgenre I’m working on or I’m not on a deadline. Since I’m working on three anthology-length stories in three subgenres , no romances can come with me. What are they, you ask? Well, I can’t tell you that yet. Let’s just say that I’d hoped to ramp up my writing production, and the Universe answered in spades.
So what are you planning to do on your summer vacation?
And the winners are…
Seressia June 4th, 2007
In no particular order, here are the winners of an autographed copy of the Vegas Bites anthology:
Kim (who says being the 13th poster is unlucky?)
Anya
Sophie Danu
Stacia
Congrats, ladies! Send me an email with your mailing address and the book will be on its way to you!
Everyone else–I have lovely Vegas Bites bookmarks with poker chip keychains. If you didn’t get one at RT, you can get one now. Send your address to letters at seressia dot com and I’ll put one or two in the mail to you as well.
Thanks everyone for participating. I’ll have another contest before Labor Day when my full length paranormal, Dream of Shadows, hits the shelves! Until then, be happy!