GENREALITY

No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness.
- Aristotle

Here on GenReality we’ve talked about writers organizations, and had discussions about the pros and cons of conferences. For me personally, I’m not a big fan or organizations, or of the pressure to go to confrences as a career move. However, I am a big believer in going ot conferences to connect with others.

You see, I live in northern Alberta, Canada. There are no local writers groups in my city, and none of my friends have any interest in writing. My friends and family try to be supportive of my writing, they congratulate me on releases, and ooh and ahh over new covers if I flash them around enough. They occasionally ask how the writing is going, and they listen when I whine about something not working right for me. But they don’t really get it.

To me, this is why I go to conferences. So I can hang out with people who get it. Friends who get teary eyed when, without a word, I show them a copy of the May/June issue of Complete Woman magazine, and they see my book cover in the bottom corner. They get what a feature like that means to me. Friends who can talk about characters like their real people, and who understand when I have a panic attack at the thought of actually plotting out a story. Collegues who come up to me and congratulate me on getting an Honorable Mention by a National Leather Association.

Hanging out online is great, without the internet I’d have long ago driven myself insane trying to be a writer. But once a year I make sure to attend a big conference in the US so that I can remind myself that no matter how alone or disconnected I sometimes feel, there are others out there who are going through the same thing. Other writers who often feel that no one really understands what they’re going through. Other writers who need to get together with like minded adults, and let loose. And not just other writers , but readers too.

All writers, booksellers, editors, agents and reviewers are Readers as well. We all love stories and we all love books…it doesn’t matter if someone doesn’t like historicals, or erotics, or whatever. All that matters is that we all love books, and we’re together for that week to celebrate that. Many conferences I’ve attended have had drama of some sort or the other, but I have to say, this year RT rocked. And it was perfect timing for me, because the past year has been especially hard for me career wise. I’ve been waffling on a lot of decisions that I needed to make, and wondering if I was really meant to be a writer. Strangely enough, I didn’t talk alot of writing this past week at that conference, (I did talk some, just not a lot), yet I am now home, refreshed and renewed and ready to tackle several projects.

To me, that is the best reason to go to a conference. – to remind yourself that you’re not alone, and to get re-energized with your own personal goals. We let our creative sides come out on paper all the time, but every now and then we need to live it up, and remind ourselves that there is more to being a writer than just writing, and business. If you can’t enjoy life, how are you supposed to write about it?

With that in mind, I’d like to share with you the slideshow I made with my photos from this years Romantic Times conference. I think it sums up the vibe/energy of the event, and will hopefully show you that it’s not only okay to have fun with your career, but also necessary.

I have a question for folks.  Some explaining first.

When I was first starting out, one of the good pieces of advice I got was to write every day.  I heard it from lots of people, and it made a lot of sense.  Getting in the habit of sitting down every day and writing is one of the best ways to learn to write, to learn to write lots, and to learn to finish what you write.  Over the course of my years as a struggling writer, I’d write every day some years, and not write every day in others.  The years when I wrote every day were always better.  I didn’t necessarily produce more, but what I produced was better, and got better feedback.  I kind of got superstitious about writing every day, because good things happened when I did — I sold more stories, wrote better stories, and so on.  This last stretch, I’ve been writing every day since February 2004.  I’m afraid if I stop all the success I’ve had the last couple of years will go away.  (I also, coincidentally (?) landed my agent in February 2004, sold my first novel in August 2004, and so on.)

Now, I have a very loose definition of writing every day, which makes it much easier.  I don’t have a set word count.  Writing in my journal counts.  (I’m sure someone looking through my journal would find at least a couple of entries that say, “Can’t write, too sick, blaurrgghh!”)  When I travel I keep a trip journal rather than try to work on fiction.  Brainstorming and outlining count as writing for the day.  So does serious revision.  But I do something that involves putting words on the page every day.

So.  Writing every day.  Good advice for writers just starting out.  But I’ve noticed something: a lot of the pros I know don’t write every day.  They take breaks between books, or breaks for other reasons, or take weekends off.  At this point, I’m not sure I’d know how to take a break from writing.  As I said, I’ve become rather deeply superstitious about it.  Writing is a self-fulfilling ritual.  If I want to keep writing, I have to keep writing.  Irrational, I know, but there it is.

Now the question, especially for the working pros and nearly-pros:  Do you write every day?  Do you take breaks?  How do you decide when to take a break?  How hard is it to get back into the groove?

I love my job, but there are plenty of days I don’t feel like writing, and I have to drag every word out of my brain kicking and screaming, painfully. (I just had a couple of those days, which is what brought this up.)  But if I didn’t write when I didn’t feel like writing, I’d never get anything done.

I’m out of town for the Romantic Times Conference this week, so I’m reposting an old one from my own blog. A version of a Workshop I did last summer.

WHAT IS VOICE?

Voice it what makes an author stand out. It’s what makes a reader go out and search for an author’s backlist after reading one book, and what makes them anticipate the next story. Yes, readers fall in love with characters, but what makes the character come alive is the author’s voice – the way in which they describe the characters, the setting, the happenings. It’s the way they tell the story.

Voice is the natural storyteller in you, and we all have it. Did you hear that? Your author voice is natural to you. The key to the magic of it is…finding it, trusting it, and using it to make your stories shine.

And it’s a lot harder than it sounds. Why? Because voice is the “it” factor. It’s invisible, and it’s instinctive. If you don’t find your own right away do NOT get discouraged! It is a process, and one that, at times, requires a lot of faith in yourself.

In order to find your voice, and build on it, you need to know yourself.
What do you read?
What do you want to write?
What do you write?
How do you feel when you write?
What are your strengths as a writer?
What are your weaknesses as a writer?
Are you a fan or workshops and craft books for writers?

Who is your favorite author? Why?

Personally, I love writing for Berkley and Aphrodisia because they allow me to write the way I want to write. To tell the story the way I want to, and I’m not trying to fit into a style or line that isn’t natural to me.

This is one of the huge points I try to emphasize, when I do workshops on writing Hot. You can heat things up if you want, but if it’s not a natural thing for you, if writing sex or pushing the envelope isn’t something that you want to do naturally, you won’t be truly successful. Everyone has strengths, and they need to find them, and capitalize on them. One of my strengths just happens to be I’m fascinated by human sexuality.

It seems that Fear is a weakness for many of us. And let me just say, those of you that realize that you have that fear, are already a step ahead. Now, let me tell you that Fear is the worst enemy of Voice. Why? Because it makes you doubt yourself, and your natural ability.

I admit that when I started writing, I knew nothing about the industry. I didn’t know anything about all these online author communities, and I never read any craft books. I just decided one day I wanted to be a writer for a career, and I started to write. To me, that is why I found success right away. I sold my very first story I wrote, and have sold every one since.

But, I was fearless. I wanted it, I went after it and I got it. But, I was fearless because I didn’t know any better.

I know this train of thought is a bit wonky, but stay with me.

Kids are fearless. They want to do something, anything from drawing a picture to attempting a somersault on the trampoline or a 360 on their bike. They are fearless, they try it. They fail; they get back up and do it again. Because they don’t know what fear is until society teaches them that failure is bad.

Have you ever seen a child fall down, and start to cry, then realize no one was rushing up and cooing and making sure he was okay, then stop crying? Society has taught us that we need to always show only the good, only the end result, and that the journey, the learning, the failures, are something to be hidden. And I disagree.

I look back on some of my earlier writing, and I see that it’s not my best, but you know what? It’s a learning process. When I finished WICKED, which was my fourth story for Berkley, in my mind, at that time, it was my best work ever.

When I’m done each story, I hope to feel that way, but it doesn’t always happen. That doesn’t mean I stop trying.

You need to realize that what you are writing now does not have to be perfect to be good, or engaging, or even great! It just has to be best you can do right now. That means you have to try, and that means ignoring any fears you have, and doing what you want …which is to write.

Make sense?

The good news is, you can turn it around by using your fear. Once you acknowledge it, it loses a lot of its power. As long as you don’t feed it. That means, stop giving in to it. It means focus on the goal, eyes on the prize. We all have fears, find what yours is, introduce yourself, acknowledge it, and then slam the door on it.

Denial has always worked well for me.

*****

And for fun…

You Should Be a Film Writer

You don’t just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your story on the big screen!

Or not.

Happy April Fool’s Day!  The obvious thing for me to do would be to post a bunch of really bad writing advice.  Unfortunately, lots of sites already do that, every day, and pass it off as the real thing.  Like lying on your cover letter.  Dude, just don’t.

This LA Times blog article shares some gems of bad writing advice:

• Remove all your commas. Editors don’t like commas and they pull the reader out of the story.
• The first page of your novel MUST include the protagonist’s sex, age, physical description and location. Preferably, this is all revealed in the first paragraph.
• Worst advice: Your character should experience only one emotion per scene.
• Narrative is what makes a good story.  Get rid of all the dialogue.

Gawd, that’s awesome.

I could write a parody article.  But this industry offers so many opportunities to make fun of itself, it’s hardly worth the effort for me to try.  Especially when so many people are already doing it better than I could.  The Onion, God bless ‘em, conducts much mockery on our behalf.  My favorites stories are probably “Author Wishes She Hadn’t Blown Personal Tragedy On First Book” and “Author Too Much Of A Pussy To Kill Off Characters.” Thank goodness I’ve never had that problem.  Killing off characters is so much fun!

Slate tells us how to write a fake memoir without getting caught.  Those of us on Genreality have solved that problem by writing, you know, FICTION.

And everybody’s heard about the Atlanta Nights sting operation from a few years back right?  This wasn’t an April Fool’s Day joke, but it could have been.  A group of science fiction and fantasy authors got together to purposefully write the worst novel ever:  Atlanta Nights, by Travis Tea.  And then PublishAmerica accepted it.

I’m going to end with some good writing advice.  Good, and snarky.  You know, the kind of advice that makes you think, “Um, yeah, I might have done that a couple of times and I probably shouldn’t.”  It’s John Scalzi’s Even More Long-Winded (But Practical) Writing Advice, and it’s one of my favorite writing advice articles.  Here’s the summary:

1. Yes, You’re a Great Writer. So What.
2. I Don’t Care If You’re a Better Writer Than Me.
3. There is Always Someone Less Talented Than You Making More Money As a Writer.
4. Your Opinion About Other Writers (And Their Writing) Means Nothing.
5. You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop, You Know.
6. Until You’re Published, You’re Just in the Peanut Gallery.
7. Did I Mention Life’s Not Fair?
8. Don’t Be An Ass.
9. You Will Look Stupid If You’re Jealous.
10. Life is Long.

I’ve known a couple of writers who’ve been offended by the attitude here. For my part, I’m not sure how anyone survives in publishing without a very healthy sense of humor.  Now, go forth, laugh at yourself and this crazy business, and have a wonderful day.

“I’d rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I’d rather be a has-been than a might-have-been by far; for a might-have-been has never been, but a has-been was once an are.” – Milton Berle

I found that quote on the internet, and it gave me a bit of a kick in the pants. You see, for the past year I’ve been struggling. I’d like to say I’ve been struggling with being creative, with balancing life and work, or even with the business of writing for a living, but that’s not really true. What is true is that for the past year I’ve been struggling with myself.

It seems clichéd to blame it on the fact that I’ll be turning 40 later this year, especially since I’m someone to whom age has never mattered, but I can’t fight it anymore. You see, when I started writing my goal was to be feeling confident in my career as an author by the time I turned 40. I was smart enough to know that you can never be completely secure as an author, but I wanted to feel like I was doing my job, and moving forward. And therein lie my problem. Little by little, things were eating into my confidence that my career was moving forward, but I kept burying my head and pushing onward, because it had always worked for me in the past. And when it didn’t work, I stopped dead to try and figure out why.

So here’s what I’ve figured out.

There is no figuring it out. It is what it is. There will be good days and bad days. Days when I love what I do, and days when I hate what I do. Days when someone’s careless and hurtful words in a review can make me cry, and days when a reader letter can make me feel like a Rock Star. Part of being an author is accepting that there will be times I struggle not to put my fist through my computer screen, and others when it feels like magic is flowing from my fingertips. You know what else I figured out?

All Glory Comes From Daring To Begin.

Yep, that’s another motivation saying. One of two motivational posters that I’d had mounted for my walls over ten years ago. Last summer, when I was repainting and decorating my condo, I figured they didn’t look as nice as my other artwork, and they didn’t fit, so I gave them to a friend. Now I think that might’ve been a mistake because that was about the time I stopped pushing myself. So, I’ll be taking my camera out next week to take some shots that inspire me, and I’ll be putting my two favorite saying on them, and putting them back on display. What was the other saying that always kept me going?

Success Doesn’t Come To You. You Go To It.

Have you got any mantras that help keep you on track?