I spent most of yesterday transplanting roses from the backyard (where nothing is safe!) to the front yard. These roses are from my friend’s garden and I’m looking forward to making my own bouquets this summer. I have an unbelievable variety and many, many plants.
For today’s writing thread, I’m digging into my email basket and highlighting a nice piece from WereBear on creating a web presence to promote yourself.
From WereBear:
You’ve written a wonderful book. Now what? That was the position I was in when I listened to all the friends who urged me to “write a book” about the cat insights I had developed through years of running an amateur cat rescue. So I did.
I could not get an agent or publisher. Angry and exasperated at the process, I took it to the virtual streets. I started my own website, Way of Cats, with blog posts based on everything I had organized and crafted into the book. Was the publishing industry right, or was I right?
Turned out, I was. My blog became rather popular, and now (with delays from health issues slowing me down) I am polishing up that book with everything I learned from running the blog. Now that I have a fan base to sell it to, I no longer care about getting an agent or a publisher.
Self-publishing is really self-promotion. It is totally do-able thanks to the Internet, the Amazon Kindle system, and cooperatives like Smashwords. There’s even an inexpensive online shopping cart service like E-junkie, where I sold my first cat care manual, Cat 911, as a downloadable PDF with the purchaser’s email address embedded in it to discourage piracy.
How is it done? Like we say in the online marketing biz: the key is content. Generally, you want a website with a blog component. The rest of the website handles your domain, gives you an official email address, and offers pages about you, your qualifications, contact page, etc.
For non-fiction, you are informing, guiding, and problem solving. My blog posts appeared a few times a week on different aspects of cat care, training, and understanding. Search engines look for consistency of subject and timely updating. I share these on social media; Facebook (almost 20k followers,) Twitter (over 500,) and sometimes Instagram and Tumblr (I still have limited energy.)
Except for a few boosted posts on Facebook, this has been entirely organic; word of mouth and being high up in the search engine results. In my case, I write about subjects those general cat websites tend to gloss over. I’ve got more material on my blog about dealing with cat grief, cat conflicts, and understanding cat mental trauma than any other site on the web, and with a lot more specific advice. For instance, I just googled “why did my cat pee in my shoes” and bang! I am the top result.For fiction, you are not solving problems. You are offering a reading experience. So it is important to hang out with other readers and writers of the genre, so they get to know you and your work. Fan fiction sites are one way to get your samples out. Offer short pieces to other bloggers. Join an online writer’s group and reference your website in your online signature. Live Journal used to be the platform of choice for such writing; there were online communities for poetry and genres. Back when there was a market for short fiction, you would write short stories, build a magazine following, then write novels. Now, there are online versions.
The idea is to offer free content, create a fanbase, and then package your work into different formats for sale. People can read my blog for free; but if they want it all laid out in a book, or audiobook, it will be purchased. I also offer video calls as a consultant for tough cat problems.
Of course, there’s tons more to it. I am fortunate that I have always worked in IT; adding plugins, setting up cacheing and spam filters, and troubleshooting my WordPress installation with an FTP program; I can do these things. But that only became important and demanding the more popular the website became.
And, like they say in Brooklyn: you should have such problems!
What have you written since we last met? What obstacles are you facing? And finally, who has some good news for us?
Get to chatting…
WereBear
I am also here to answer questions as best I can.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
Congratulations, WereBear, on creatively addressing the issue, producing an online presence for yourself when traditional publishing did not at first pan out.
The arts are simply very different from other careers. You want to be a firefighter? Go to the academy, get an A.S. in fire science, interview well, BOOM, you’re in. I may be simplifying a bit, but the point is clear enough.
Brachiator
I spent a nice Spring day at the Huntington Library and Gardens. Currently on display is an exhibition devoted to Pasadena, California native and science fiction author Octavia Butler. The exhibit gives a chronological overview of her work, showing her school girl journals (I so recognized that notebook paper), works-in-progress, letters and other materials.
Information about the exhibition can be found here.
There is a guided tour of the exhibition in early June.
I don’t do creative writing (mainly technical material and lectures for tax professionals), but I have a fascination with how writers see themselves and approach their work. And so I really related to Butler’s declaration of her calling:
I also appreciate the general notes she made for herself as she wrote her stories. General reminders rather than specific story points
The importance of facts in her fiction is underscored by a letter that she wrote to her aunt, with some very specific questions about burn wards and burn patients. It was very interesting to see how much see wanted to have the story grounded in something plausible.
I get frustrated with the sometimes reductive focus on “world building” in science fiction stories and films, and chuckled at Butler’s possible rejoinder to an undue focus on this kind of thing. And so, she writes, “Build a World with Selected Detail.” Ultimately, it is the story that matters, and the story must move, not be a pretty imagistic travelogue.
Because, in the end, as Butler notes:
The biographical information you pick up while walking through the exhibit space is well chosen. There is a wonderful photo of a young teen age Butler. I did not know that Harlan Ellison, who could be a huge pain in the ass, was an early champion of her development as a writer. This was a nice bit of serendipity, since Ellison’s story and Outer Limits episode, “Demon With a Glass Hand,” has always been one of my favorite works of fiction in any genre. And it was cool to be reminded that Butler was the first science fiction author to win a Macarthur Award “Genius” grant.
The Huntington also had on display the usual suspects. A Gutenberg Bible, a Shakespeare First Folio, one of the copies of the Declaration of Independence. Stuff like that.
Anyway, I just wanted to bring this to the attention of folks I consider to be “real” writers. If you are in Southern California, or get a chance to visit, the exhibit is very much worth checking out.
And the gardens are so beautiful.
WereBear
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Thanks!
For all Amazon’s issues, their breaking open the Means of Distribution to all was a boon to writers.
Bill E Pilgrim
Exit polls are forbidden in France, but Belgian exit polling (of France) shows Macron 24% Le Pen 22%.
Take with a grain of salt as always, however it’s smack on with what pre-election polling showed. That same polling predicts Macron getting 63% and Le Pen 36% in the second round.
Iowa Old Lady
I know we have some romance writers, and a friend of mine recently pointed me to Swoon Reads. Swoon is an imprint of Macmillan that publishes mostly romance and mostly e-book, at least at first. They recently opened to YA in any genre.
The site I linked to allows you to post your completed manuscript and get comments. The manuscript is then exclusive to Swoon for 6 months. It’s possible to get a Macmillan contract from it (my friend did), but I suspect that for most writers, the comments would be what you’d get out of the experience.
I finished a YA manuscript a couple of weeks ago and needed feedback so I have it up there. I’ve been critting other mss, which I learn from doing if I choose the right ones.
WereBear
He’s only a huge pain in the ass. He’s not a bad person at all :)
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Brachiator:
Thanks for the review, Brachiator… I used to ride my bike to that library when I was a SoCal kid 45 years ago. Haven’t read any Butler but know the name. I will now check her work out.
Iowa Old Lady
@Brachiator: That exhibit sounds wonderful!
Your quotes from Butler remind me of one I saw from Jane Smiley yesterday, which went something like if you’re a writer, you can love the work or love the reward. Life is easier if you love the work.
Major Major Major Major
Congrats, WearBear.
I see I’m missing another writers’ chat due to timing, but this time it’s because it’s midnight! The joys of travel.
I decided not to write during my trip, or rather, not to work on my main novel. I have lots of notes and a few blog posts, and I figured out why I’d been feeling blocked lately too. It was a basic storytelling thing, my character’s motivations have gotten them through the first half, and will get them through the second half once they’ve updated them to account for something big that’s about to happen, but I’ve been futzing about in the doldrums of the interstitial area. An ironic metaphor since I’m trying to get them on a boat. I was having a hard time crafting scenes because except for a couple key moments that need to happen (like 2 pages’ worth of stuff), nothing else has to happen during that section. I realized that if I just tweak the scenes a little bit so there are blockages for the characters’ desires, even something small, they’ll finish themselves and have the heart I’m missing.
I’m also getting a Wacom drawing tablet with a comics software package for my birthday in a couple of weeks which I’m excited about. Somebody here (EBT?) inspired me to ask for it. I used to do a webcomic, years ago, and actually had enough of a following to sell some t-shirts and prints for a couple of runs, got some fanart, that sort of thing. I got said following by the described route of participating in comics forums, being active in the community, writing to people who inspired me, and all that. Easier said than done I suppose but if it’s something you’re passionate about then it’s easier. I hate the idea of doing it for my novel though, for whatever reason. Probably because I’m not starting as part of a community; I’d be jumping in with the purpose of cultivating a following, which feels like self-promotion for its own sake, which I don’t really do and hate and am bad at and hate.
But, well, gotta finish the book first.
I do post some stories online and share them in writers’ groups though. Hoping to start an online serial this year about a wizard named Dennis.
Bill E Pilgrim
Sorry not an open thread I just realized, consider my post above a chiron.
I am a writer but have to go get outside today since spring is finally here.
WereBear
Here’s a favorite author explaining how he found success with Amazon:
Mark Dawson on his John Milton series
He published two books, went not very far, got dropped by the publisher, parted ways with his agent, and figured it was over.
But the psychological boost of knowing he could put his stuff Out There by himself turned things around.
Major Major Major Major
@Iowa Old Lady: @Brachiator: I remember (could be false memory, or was false then) that Borges really hit his stride once he started writing the sort of stories he thought his friends might enjoy reading.
WereBear
@Brachiator: In addition, those not familiar with Octavia Butler’s work are in for a treat.
Oatler.
Linda Belcher’s sister Gayle would appreciate a cat philosophy book.
“Mr Business!”
WereBear
@Major Major Major Major: All of that sounds so promising!
I know the mental blocks about marketing and promotion. We hate it when others do it to us! How can we do it to anyone else?
However: the problem is that:
a) it is the only way
and
b) it flippin’ works
Mind you, it can be low key and tasteful. I ran for nine years on word of mouth and good content — but fiction, as I said, is different.
However, your art is a fine starting point for promotion your fiction, even if it doesn’t tie it together overtly.
Get your name out there. The fans will follow.
Greg
I’m currently chasing two MCSE certifications so my querying and writing slowed appreciably. There aren’t enough brain cycles left. That said, the next book I’m working on during the query process is an epic fantasy based off the Mahabharata with the battle at Kurukshetra being the overthrow of the pantheon by their semi-divine offspring. The overthrow breaks the wheel.
I’m stealing some themes from the Craft Sequence and American Gods, primarily gods need their worshipers or they cease to be but the land needs the gods or things go bad quickly.
I should be done researching and outlining by July or August and have a rough draft done by December or January. I’ll also be taking one certification exam per month until I pass the bastards.
Major Major Major Major
@WereBear: Good point. And I do narrative comics, so the tie-in is more obvious since it’s the same writer.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
Creative marketing is essential. I like a funny little music group called Steam Powered Giraffe. Check out their video for Honey Bee!
Anyway, they do videos, perform live, have a website and do the social media thing. They also have their own online comic. They appear on short vids for vloggers (such as with a vlogger visiting a steampunk clothing store).
It takes dedication, creative thought and passion for what you do!
jacy
I decided last week to finish my latest book. It’s been on hold for some time, waiting for….whatever. But recently my depression has started becoming acute again and I think I need to find some way to claw my way back out of it before it overwhelms me. I thought I would adjust better to not having my children with me, but there are days when it’s just so awful that I find myself at sea.
I have about 50,000 words done (the first 20 and last three chapters) and the good news is I’m very happy with what’s there. But that’s also the bad news, because I worry I can’t write the rest of it. Also, there are a lot of emotional issues tied up with the story, even though it’s a suspense/mystery with nothing to do with my life. Finishing it is going to be like saying goodbye to a lot of things. It needs to be done, but it’s going to be a little wrenching. But I need to do something, or I might as well just quit everything.
WereBear
Precisely. It is really a creative extension of what the work is. Funny tweets and pics, I put my blog posts on Facebook, etc.
And with four “employees,” (our four rescue cats,) each with their own name, character, and backstory, I have a constant flow of material, too.
WereBear
@jacy: Sounds like you are in the Deadly Middle.
Even without the perfectly good reasons you cite, Deadly Middles are a bit of a slog…
Remember what Winston Churchill said, “If you are going through hell, keep going!”
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@WereBear:
Yup. Build your readership, one set of peepers at a time.
Brachiator
A friend who accompanied me to the Octavia Butler exhibition is working on her first novel. We talked about outlining and note taking methods. My teachers tried to push outlining on me, and I always resisted. Before PCs and laptops I would have to outline using a typewriter, and it never worked for how my mind worked.
Currently when writing training material, I often fall into a method where I have a cursory outline but note related ideas as they come to me on various areas of a sheet of paper. So, one section might be a series of notes up near the upper right hand corner, another set of notes near the middle, another over to the left. This allows some room for expansion and re-arranging.
When I used an iPad I would alternate between and app called Index Card, and a couple of mind mapping apps. This would make it easier for me to work on various pieces of a project as I gathered material or as parts interested me more. But I would always start with a general idea of where I needed to start and where things would finish.
But in discussing this with my friend, we early on concluded that there was no such thing as a single best method. It always comes down to what works best for you.
Iowa Old Lady
@jacy: I find writing helps my depression too. That’s not surprising I suppose. Unless you’re just filling in a formula, we’re always writing from our own psyche. I hope it works for you.
ArchTeryx
Getting ready to actually get some writing practice in writing a particularly grimdark piece of fanfic, dressed up in the framing device of a spooky campfire story, for an RPG I’m currently running. Writing ain’t easy for me, but I think it’s a very worthwhile endeavor.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m not sure about that. It’s funny. My friend who went with me to the Octavia Butler exhibit is working on a novel. But she talks about writing to please herself.
I think you have to have an audience in mind and be willing, eager, to let your writing go, and be out there in the world.
But it’s still your stories. I cannot imagine how you can reliably know what other people want to read. But I can see how Borges could play with that idea.
WereBear
@Brachiator: Index Card is a fine app! I used it for the first three chapters of a cozy mystery series on my iPad (with keyboard cover.)
Then, Scrivener came out with their iPad app… I love Scrivener.
Also in the Apple Store, a fine researching notebook called Notability.
WereBear
@ArchTeryx: Sounds great! Someone close to me is working in horror, and I think he’s off to a fine start.
WereBear
@Brachiator: I write the kinds of stuff I like to read :)
schrodingers_cat
@Greg: The battle of Kurukshetra is between mortals, what pantheon is being overthrown? I am not sure I follow.
schrodingers_cat
@WereBear: Congratulations! Your book looks awesome.
StringOnAStick
I have to tell Werebear that I love her blog, and I want to express my gratitude on her “when to say goodbye” posts, they helped us make a tough decision that I now think we should have made sooner but we were blinded by our deep love for her and fear of her passing. Your posts helped us see clearly and do the right thing. It has been a year and a half and I still choke back tears every day about our sweet girl. I’m hoping soon to be able to add a kitty or two back into our lives; we’ve got a lot of traveling on the list for this summer so autumn is looking like the best time.
Greg
@schrodingers_cat: I know. I’m basing it, loosely, on Kurukshetra. Call it inspiration. It’s set in an analog for the sub-continent, an analog for Earth.
WereBear
@schrodingers_cat: Thanks!
WereBear
@StringOnAStick: I’m so glad I was able to help. It’s a tough topic, and one I don’t see addressed nearly as much as it should be.
Peter
I’m in LA right now on phase two of our book tour. Anybody in the area looking for a good time should join us at Animal on Tuesday. We’ll be doing some signings and another meal in the Bay Area next weekend. It’s time-consuming, and not inexpensive, to travel and schmooze and maybe sell 20 books at a time, but it’s essential to get out in the world and generate some momentum (and press).
Andrew Johnston
So having written eight novels over the last few years that went precisely nowhere with either agents or self-publishing, I’ve now moved on to selling short fiction. It’s faster than waiting for agents but not by much. Almost all of what I’m shopping around is genre fiction, as there are numerous markets and I’ve already written plenty of genre shorts (mostly science fiction). But while I’ve got some tiny amount of momentum here, it’s hard to see it as a stepping stone as I hate long-form genre fiction and have no interest in writing it. Even if I beat all odds and developed a following for SF, it likely wouldn’t translate well to my mainstream/realistic long-form material.
Also, I now have so many genre pieces out right now that I’ve glutted most of the serious markets, so there’s that.
I’m trying to move back into my last incomplete novel but it’s not easy. It’s the third book in a series where I’ve tried shopping the first book several times with no success. That’s pretty mindboggling given that the first one was A) set in the community in which I live, which did not turn out local support like all the self-pub “experts” suggested, and B) concerns itself with issues that are highly relevant and topical. It’s hard to find motivation to work on a project that’s #3 in a sequence in which no one cared about #1 or #2.
Anyway, that’s my own situation.
WereBear
@Andrew Johnston: Book of short stories? They are making a comeback.
Mustang Bobby
As a playwright, the goal is more toward getting a play produced; publishing is the icing on the cake. But that doesn’t mean it’s not something we don’t seek out, and in that light I’m happy that a group called Qommunity has selected a play of mine. “A Life Enriching Community,” for their anthology “Hashtag Queer Vol. I” to be published later this year. The anthology includes short stories and essays as well.
Just to be clear, I would seek out a publisher for my plays as well; the more they’re out there, the better.
WereBear
@Mustang Bobby: I imagine that is how theaters find them?
ArchTeryx
@WereBear: It’s basically John Carpenter’s version of The Thing (with a very heavy dash of the original story, Who Goes There?) written for the My Little Pony universe. My RPG is with bronies.
It’s heavily derivative, but it’s good practice, and my players have never seen the movie or read the original story, so they’re going to get the horror full blast.
My NPC is a storyteller and trader-griffon, and “campfire stories” are a favourite of his, so uncorking this one is going to be a lot of fun.
(“The White Changeling.”)
Joyce H
@WereBear:
Me, too. Problem is that I like to read so many different genres. I’ve been writing Regency for a few years, and all the conventional wisdom says to pick a genre and stick with it, build a readership there, but I want to write ALL the things. Regency, cozy mystery, and chick lit, but also sci-fi, fantasy, and adventure.
I’ve got my stalled Regency (stuck for a year!) moving again, and I’m also converting an old screenplay of mine into a novel (or serial?). It’s contemporary sci-fi action adventure, and my heroine is a wounded Iraq War vet. Gotta say, after writing 4 1/2 Regencies, it’s such a naughty thrill to be able to let my heroine curse!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I haven’t gotten anything written in a year. I’m not sure quite what’s wrong. Some combination of depression, the let down of getting a multiyear project done and published. A lack of . . . not quite ideas, but the guts that would turn some raw ideas into full stories, and basic lack of drive. I want to restart; I just don’t. What I keep telling myself is that most people that say they want to write a novel never manage to get the first one published, so even if I never write anything else, I’ve already beaten the median.
I am winning awards for it, though. Bronze medal for Best Regional Fiction – Midwest in the IPPYs, and two from the eLit awards: silver for best Literary Fiction and bronze for Best Sports Book. I’m amused that I did better in the literary fiction category than in sports.
WereBear
@ArchTeryx: That is a cracking good tale, all right!
ArchTeryx
@WereBear: They really have no idea what they are in for, which is always a load of fun if you’re a GM OR a writer.
As research, I actually dug the original movie out of my archives and rewatched it. It’s sheer power to horrify and nauseate hasn’t decreased one iota since I first saw it as a teenager. Now, introduce that into a Sugar Bowl universe.
I consider the original the closest thing to H.P. Lovecraft as has ever appeared on the big screen.
WereBear
@Joyce H: That sounds awesome!
I am doing a cozy mystery series under my cat blogging name, because it has cats in it, but I plan other genres under different pen names.
WereBear
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: That is awesome!
Rest after a huge endeavor, perhaps?
Joyce H
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
What is your health situation like? 2016 was a Lost Year for me, and I think a lot of it was due to my health. I stopped exercising and gained a lot of weight. My sister says it’s superstition (“Dumbo’s Magic Feather”), but I’m convinced that there is a weight over which I cannot write. This year I’ve cracked down on my myself, been going to the Y four times a week, have lost about ten pounds (still a LOT more to lose) and added back a lot of muscle. And I’ve started writing again. I’ve started ‘thinking writing thoughts’, and getting ideas and writing them down. It’s such a relief!
I’ve also started taking my dog back to classes, so she’s perked up too. We’re doing agility!
WereBear
@ArchTeryx: By original film you mean the one with James Arness?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Joyce H: My health isn’t any different than it used to be. I’m overweight and dealing with fibromyalgia, but neither of those is new. If it’s a health issue, it’s probably mental health.
schrodingers_cat
@Greg: I don’t really know how much of the Mahabharata you know. I just marvel at how subversive it seems with respect to present day India. An epic that has no clear heroes or villains. Its seem modern in its tolerance for moral ambiguity. Compared to Mahabharata, Ramayana just seems like a children’s tale with cardboard cutout characters.
There is a lot of fiction based on Mahabharata in many Indian languages. Yayati by V S Khandekar comes to mind.
Besides the main story of the battle between cousins, which brings forth the futility of battle, even for a so-called just cause. The many branches and sides stories are fascinating too.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I’d really like to find a good writers group to share and critique. That might provide the accountability to get writing again. The problem is that I can’t be in a group made up of people just writing for fun, because I can’t dial my critiques back to the level that would be helpful for them. I need to find a group of pro level writers, which is a level I’ve been told I’m at even before winning awards, but I can’t find one looking for new members.
ArchTeryx
@WereBear: Heh. I class The Thing From Another World in a very different category then either John Carpenter’s film or the short story (which JC’s film was far more heavily based on). Both social mores and FX wouldn’t allow the story to be told the way it was written in the 1950s. it was just the product of a different time.
Of course, it all dates back to H.P. Lovecraft. It may have been an alien spacecraft instead of the Necronomicon that the Antarctic researchers cracked open, but the hell that was unleashed was the same.
WereBear
@ArchTeryx: Oh, I agree. It’s a marvelous movie and we own it, we love it so much.
WereBear
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Funnily enough, I’ve never been drawn to writer’s groups. For some people they work marvelously, but I don’t think I’m one of them, based on classes I took in college.
ArchTeryx
@WereBear: Which one, the 1950s film or the 1980s film?
(I don’t want to rag on the 1950s film; I just consider it apples to the 1980s film’s oranges. It was a different story for a different time. Not that the 1950s couldn’t do grimdark at all; the George Pal / Byron Haskin epic War of the Worlds, despite having little in common with the original novel, is just as horrifying and grimdark today as it was 60 years ago, with FX that hold up remarkably well).
WereBear
@ArchTeryx: Both. I do love that Carpenter went back to the original.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
When I was writing training or technical stuff I found that I had to just outline it in my mind, one step at a time. If I did that I could then write it down and start the editing process so that others could see whatever logic I was trying to explain. If that logic didn’t appear it was not because of the process, but because the logic wasn’t there. IOW I had to separate out the process from the story. It’s for sure not the way everyone works but for me and my training in other stuff I find I’m process orientated and I have to separate the process and the goal or I get lost in the middle.
Ruckus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
I’ve been working on a novel for about 15 yrs. Actually I’ve worked on it for about 1 yr over a 15 yr period. But every time I pick it up and work on it I get stalled out after a bit. Sometimes life intervenes, sometimes I’m just stuck, but right now I’m going through some health issues and have little motivation to accomplish much of anything. I get pissed at myself for doing nothing, and then continue doing it. If you find a way to get moving, let us know, I could use a kick in the butt.
Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian
Tissue Thin Pseudonym, congratulations on finishing your book, getting it before readers, and winning awards! You’re entitled to rest on your laurels, of course, but I’m sure inspiration will come to you soon.
Does your book lend itself to a sequel?
marv
@jacy: I just wanted to send out a shout out to you, Jacy. I’m 64 years old and just went thru a first bout with what I would call real depression – like a thing I couldn’t get away from. I’m a little bit of a writer, have published stuff about baseball (I used to be a professional baseball player) in small, earnest magazines over the years. Also over the last few years have written substantially on another topic, which I want to finish off this year and combine improbably into my one book of a lifetime. But the depression thing for better or for worse intruded, so your post here resonated for me and just wanted to say all the best to you.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Snarkworth, short-fingered Bulgarian: No sequel. I’ve said everything I have to say about that set of characters. It isn’t even in a genre I’m likely to write in again; everything else I write is science fiction/fantasy.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
I understand your frustration. I taught composition and literature for 14 years at the community college level and have been a contributing co-editor for two newsletters written for a professional readership. I am not yet a paid professional writer, but I am beginning the process of, I hope, becoming one.
I enjoy and receive inspiration and some very useful perspectives from the group we have here. We have accomplished writers here, too, but I wish we could somehow do some workshopping on projects as well.
WereBear
There have been some past threads with online resources to do such. If we have enough people weighing in on that, it could happen that way.
Carol Van Natta Author
Once again, I’m late to this thread. I really must remember to set a calendar reminder for it, because I enjoy reading them.
My current work in progress (WIP) is book 5 in my space opera series. I’m treading water instead of proceeding because I just realized my outline is missing a fundamental driver for why the action starts at that particular time and location. I’m mulling over the answer to that (probably requires going backward in the timeline and figuring out what one of the main characters was doing after the events at the end of book 4). A novella that is destined for an anthology is with my beta readers.
I applaud everyone who is working on the fiction and non-fiction books, and am thinking encouraging thoughts for you. I find that, even if I just write one paragraph on my current WIP per day, it’s easier to keep the momentum going, than if I give myself several days off. I’ll admit it sometimes feels like cheating to say “there, I wrote the paragraph about the spaceship,” but it does keep my easily distracted muse mostly on task, instead of coming up with plot bunnies for other books and other series.
Workshops or writer groups can help with motivation and accountability, the way that going to the gym with someone can help keep you from making too many excuses. I’m not suited to either one (writer groups of gym buddies). I might be interested in a writer’s group if I could find participants with similar work ethics and skills at constructive (vs. destructive) critique that’s for the good of the story. IMO, the best critiques point out problems, but leave it up to the writer to solve them.
Mnemosyne
Sorry I missed the thread — I spent the day at the LA Times Festival of Books, shopping, volunteering, and attending the romance writers’ panel. I ended up not only buying one of the author’s books, but spotted her walking past our RWA booth and dragged her in to meet people.
JMN, I would really encourage you to join one of the professional writers associations in Minneapolis — I’m sure that Science Fiction Writers of America has a chapter in your city. Going to meetings and meeting other writers will help a lot, I think. If you did think you wanted to pursue more stories along the lines of “Phoebe,” I would tell you to join RWA, because they’re super-supportive and the chapters have at least 50 percent published authors, but it sounds like you’re not interested in writing another book along those lines.
Mustang Bobby
@WereBear: Some do, but mostly they find them through agents or submission requests posted through various sources such as the Dramatists Guild and nowadays through some on-line resources such as the New Play Exchange, which is part of the National New Play Network. Play publishing usually happens after a play has been produced and made a name for itself so there’s a chance the script will sell.
(Sorry to be so late in responding. I wrote my first comment when I was in the Tulsa airport waiting for a flight and just now got home.)
WereBear
Thank you TaMara and all participants: since this is “my” thread I just wanted to let everyone know that you can visit my site periodically to see this thing happen in Real Time, and I can be reached that way if anyone has questions.
It is a tough mental transition to “sell yourself” but that is what it takes. You can try to get someone else to do it, or you can do it yourself while singing “My Way.”
Either way, it must be done.