GENREALITY

We have another theme week for you:  writing spaces.  Where we write, and what it means.

Here’s my space:

My office is a second bedroom in the house.  I do most of my writing at a desk, working on a desktop computer with a rather small flat screen.  The desk is full of chaos, because my brain is a bit “out of sight, out of mind,” and if I don’t want to forget about something — story outline, bills that need paying — I have to keep it right there where I can see it.  I know how to find everything, honest!  Stuff I want to keep out of the way, but still visible, I pin to the bulletin board.  My goal lists and project lists go there.

I put a lot of fun things in my office — I like having it be a warm and happy place, so that I like spending time there.  Lily the dog usually naps under the desk, which is lovely.  And my life-size cardboard Thor is quite the inspiration to me, I must say.

For a stretch of time a few years ago, I wrote a bunch on my laptop, spread out on the sofa.  I finished a couple of novels this way, because sitting at my desk was a drag and I had to change location to get things done.  Then I invested in a much better office chair — and I haven’t left my desk since.  That was a great lesson for me:  good, comfortable equipment, can make a huge difference.  Uncomfortable equipment makes me fidgety, and I won’t get work done.  So, invest in the good stuff, keeping in mind that what works for someone else may not work for me.

Lately, I’ve been trying to shake things up a little, to make working on the road easier and more productive.  I’ve done a bunch of traveling over the last three years, and I’ve learned that it really cuts into my output.  I’d like to change this, if I can.  I’m not fond of carrying a laptop with me, and I usually don’t — it’s the issue of comfort, again.  The laptop, while it has its uses, drives me bonkers, so I usually leave it at home.  This year, I’m going to try something else:  I got an iPad and a Bluetooth keyboard to go with it.  The keyboard is the size of a standard laptop keyboard, and works great.  (I never had a problem with the laptop keyboard, it was lugging the damn thing around that I didn’t like.)  I found a word-processing app that’s compatible with Word, which is what I usually use.  So far, I’ve found that this setup is much more portable than a laptop.  I don’t have to take it out of my bag to go through airport security.  I can set it up on my lap without feeling the need to move to a desk or table.  I even brought it to a coffee shop once.

Writing space and location is another one of those variables that really does make a difference, and it behooves us to experiment to find the arrangement that makes us the most comfortable and productive.

Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely, and the likely definite. – Robert Half

I’ve had several conversations in the last week with other writers that surrounded the subject of doubt demons, dealing with stress, and career paths. I’m sure part of it is that January was fast coming to a close, and if they’re anything like me they’re thinking… “Damn, time is just whipping by…again.” and if others are like me they’re thinking maybe they need to revise their goals for the year. But I think the other part of it, the bigger part, is that we’re writers, and no matter how much you write, how many sales you have, or how well your last book did, we still have doubts.

It’s funny because I know me and my friends fight these demons off to somewhat regular intervals, and I often hope that someday I’ll get to that point where I don’t doubt my skill/talent/or drive anymore, but I doubt it. Yes, there’s another doubt.

Because it seemed to be such a prominent topic of conversation I figured I’d share some thoughts of my own, as well as some that I’ve seen elsewhere that have stuck with me.

Carrie Vaughn’s post a while back called A NYT Bestseller has a meltdown really hit home with me, not just because of what she said, but because of who she is. I’ve been a fan of Carrie’s for years, and think she does a fabulous job on every Kitty novel, as well as her other stand alone’s.

The truth of it is, we all have doubts, and it’s not always a bad thing. Doubts are very bad, when you let them cripple you, or worse yet, stall you altogether. Doubts are bad when you give in to them and let them take over. But I believe if you acknowledge them, and consciously work to run right over them on your way to the finish line (whatever that is in your case) that they can be a both of a good thing because doubts mean we care about what we’re doing. That we’re not just churning out the same thing again and again in some sort of formula that once worked and we think will work again.

Like most things in this often crazy business, doubts are all about how you use them.

If you want more reinforcement that you’re not alone in having self doubt…check out this articles, that quote’s some pretty well-known authors voicing their doubts, and gives some great advice for dealing with doubts.

I’m going to leave you today with a couple of steps from a post I found on romance writer Kelly Wolf’s blog
1. Keep writing. You won’t want to, but you can. It’s all in your head. Really. Just do it.
2. Read a book on your craft.
3. Write some more.
4. Check out blogs by your favorite author or other writers with information on your craft.
5. Write again.
6. Read. And then read some more. Remember why you love books.

Want to read more… click here 12 Step Program for Writers Doubts by Kelly Wolf.

This week on Genreality, we’re all going to be posting on the same topic:  annual goal setting in our writing careers.

I’m a big fan of setting goals, writing them down, and making plans to accomplish them.  Having the goal isn’t enough — making a daily plan to take care of the steps that will get me to that goal is the important part.  I’ve been writing my goals down since I was a teenager, and the start of a new year is a natural time to review the previous year, reassess my plans, and think about what I’d like to accomplish in the future.

In the past, I’ve used a system where I think about what I want to accomplish in the long term (5-10 years), the middle term (1-2 years), and in the near term (6 months – 1 year).  Ideally, the near-term goals are stepping stones to accomplishing the long term goals.  For example, if the long term goal is “have a successful career writing science fiction novels,” then a good near-term goal would be “finish this novel manuscript by the end of the year.”  The writing life is particularly suited to this kind of goal-setting because many of the steps we have to accomplish are concrete and attainable:  writing every day, submitting stories, attending conferences, reading a certain number of books, finishing a certain number of manuscripts, and so on.  It’s so wonderful being able to check off a step once you’ve accomplished it!

I also think it’s important to differentiate between goals and hopes.  Goals are the steps you have direct control over — writing, revising, getting your work out, educating yourself.  Hopes, or milestones, or wishes, are the parts of a writing career that we’d love to accomplish, but may not have any direct control over.  You might have your heart set on placing your book with a certain publisher — but if that publisher doesn’t buy your work, what do you do?  Landing on bestseller lists, winning awards, getting starred reviews, are all great milestones to aspire to, but be careful about setting your heart on something that you don’t actually have direct control over.  It’s better to focus on what you can actually do.

The last couple of years have been strange for me and my goal-setting process.  Namely, I’ve accomplished the big long-term goal that’s been on my list since I was a teenager:  I’m making a living as a writer.  The day-to-day goals have become habit, and haven’t really changed in years, which sometimes makes me feel like I’m in a bit of a rut.  Rather than look at those daily goals as “goals” anymore, I need to look at them as the good habits that help me accomplish my goals.  And what are the new goals?  In some respects, I’m having to take stock of my whole career:  How do I keep up the momentum I’ve generated?  How do I build on what I’ve accomplished?  Those steps aren’t so easy to pin down.  It’s not like when I was starting out, and the goals on the road to selling my first story were so clearly defined.

I’m still working on my goals for the coming year, but they fall into a couple of different areas.  Business-wise, I want to work on my time management skills so I can maintain the prolific pace I’ve established.  I have many books I want to write, and I want to continue to write short stories as well.  I want to try some new promotional strategies to expand my readership. I want to do new and interesting kinds of promotions, not the same kind of stuff that everyone does.  I need to think about what that would entail.  On the creative side, I have some pie-in-the-sky projects I’d love to tackle:  I’d love to write a comic book and a screenplay someday — entirely new forms of writing I’d have to practice.  I’m still learning and growing as a writer, and if I’m going to keep developing my career I need to keep working on being a better writer.  I have some ideas on how to accomplish this.  Another big goal I have is to pay attention to the rest of my life:  make sure I stay happy and healthy so I can better enjoy my beloved writing life.

You’ll find plenty of lists online of things writers should and shouldn’t do, and they can be good guidelines for how to get started.  But I think it’s important to take a little time for introspection, to really think about your life and what you want to accomplish with your writing career.  Goals shouldn’t be chores you have to slog through — they should be the things that are going to help your dreams come true.

Happy 2012!  I hope your year is getting off to a good start.  Me, I have been perusing the words of wisdom of others:

“If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.”

–Emily Dickinson

“Technique alone is never enough.  You have to have passion.  Technique alone is just an embroidered pot holder.”

–Raymond Chandler

“How physical the sense of triumph and relief is!  Whether good or bad, it’s done.”

–Virginia Woolf

“Who would write, who had anything better to do?”

–Lord Byron

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

–Winston Churchill

May your coming year be filled with passion and success.

It’s a draft.

I turned in the latest Kitty novel yesterday.  Woo!  By my count this is the eighteenth novel I’ve written.  It’ll be the fifteenth published.  (This doesn’t count the three or so I wrote that never saw the light of day.)  That blows my mind. I know I’ve been busy and productive, but as I’ve mentioned before, I sometimes have a hard time focusing on what I’ve done, because I’m always looking at what I still haven’t accomplished.

Eighteen novels, and I feel like I’m still learning.  Exhibit A:  I took a blurry picture of my hardcopy rough draft (a very industrious person could probably suss out some actual text from this, but you’ll hurt your eyes doing it).  I still like working on paper, and here you can see why:  I make a lot of notes.  (I also clipped each chapter together separately to get a sense of length and structure.)  All that red writing — revision notes.  This is a normal part of my process.  I rewrote the book once when I got to the halfway mark and figured out what was really going on.  Then I did it again to make sure everything fit.

For people who ask if it ever gets any easier…well, no.  But I’m a bit calmer about the work, now.  As difficult as the process is, I’ve had plenty of evidence that it works, so I can get through it without pulling my hair out.  Much.

I’ve given myself the next two months to write whatever I want to, before I need to start work on my next contracted novel.  I have a couple of short stories and a couple of novel proposals I want to finish.  I’m really looking forward to working on something new.