If you want to make it in the writing world then you must be kept abreast of the ever changing landscape
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and who’s who of agents, writers, and publishers. Sure this can a little overwhelming to the novice writer but you need to stay in the loop if you hope to market your book.
Yes, I’m not going to lie sometimes reading about other authors’ success can discourage you if you let it, or it can light a fire under you to get your work out there. The choice is yours.
Yeah it sucks when mommy porn and books by celebrities top the charts but you have to persevere anyways. Yes publishers are putting out fewer books each year and are less likely to take on unknown writers, and the self publishing market becomes more saturated with each passing day. But keep writing anyways.
The truth is the path to success looks different for every writer and you shouldn’t compare yourself to others. We’re all at different points on our journey and ultimately what worked for someone else might not be right for you.
Chasing fame is a fool’s errand. No one can predict who will make it on to the best seller’s list or become the next King, Rowling, or Grisham, and it will drive you insane if you let it. Instead keep a positive attitude and carry on working, because it is only when we stop writing that we have failed.
Pour your hear in soul into writing the best book you can and that way even if it doesn’t sell well, it won’t be because you half-assed it. If it takes years to write so be it, but don’t give up. If you’re persistent your work will find an audience, and though it may not be what you had in mind, having people read your work is what matters
Introduction
Life is full of hard work, but we must persevere if we are to live it to the fullest. Sure we can let every little thing get to us or learn to deal with it and roll with the punches. So often in life we get caught up in the petty minutia of things.
It’s like there is a new thing to be outraged against, but the truth is while there are legitimate things o get worked up over we have to realize we aren’t superman and can only do our part to fix the small corner of the world we inhabit. That’s on of the reasons I became a writer.
Yes while one person can’t change the world many people working in concert with each other can. Yet some people are so quick to throw up theirs hands and say fuck it at the first sign of trouble and give up without a fight. But if want to make it in life sometimes to have to fight for your happiness.
Trust me , dealing with depression has taught me that while life has its hardships, you can either let it get to you or pick yourself up and get busy living.
Whatever you’re dealing with it can be overcome if you give it your all and follow through on doing what you need to reach your goals. Don’t compare yourself to others, that’s an exercise in futility. Everyone is at a different point on the path and everyone’s experience isn’t the same.
Conclusion
The thing that gets me up in the morning and keeps me going throughout the day is knowing I have a message that resonates with others and it’s up to me get it out. Some of might not yet know your why, but if you keep at it day in and day it will reveal itself to you.
Coming out is a continuing process, whether it be your sexuality, gender identity, or mental health. Yes it can be a scary, but also liberating process. But today I want to talk about another coming out that is often over looked. That being coming out as a writer.
Coming out to yourself
When I first started to write I always called myself an aspiring writer as I had all these preconceived notions about what it meant to be to be a real writer. But I’ve since learned that the only qualification to be a writer is to write.
Once I started taking things serious by writing every day and commenting on blogs I found that the more I wrote and engaged people, the easier it became to call myself a writer and mean it.
Going Pro
This is what author Jeff Goins calls going pro. It’s when you clam your identity as a writer and take action by writing without fear of trying to please everyone. You instead focus on your ideal reader and pleasing him/her by producing the best work you can.
Coming out to others
Sure once you’ve gotten comfortable calling yourself a writer, you next need to own that title when interacting with others. When someone asks you what you do, don’t hesitate to say you’re a writer. Say it loud and proud and don’t qualify it either.
Yes people have a million preconceived notions of what it means to be a writer, but don’t let them pidgin hole you. If they ask you if you’re published, answer honestly and don’t feel bad if you haven’t, or if you’re self published. Not all writers are at the same place on their journey and there’s no shame in that.
Dealing with Negative People
You can’t control how people will respond when you come out to them. Sure some of them will be in awe that you’ve followed your dreams and become a writer, but there will be people who think you’re wasting your time and will never make it. Don’t let them shake your confidence. Kill them with kindness and move on.
Conclusion
You know you’re a writer and no matter what others think you know the path you’ve chosen is the right one for you. And whether traditionally published or self published you’re a writer. So embrace that and go forward into the world secure in the knowledge of your talents. For more tips on writing click here
Introduction
There a million programs out there promising to teach you the shortcut to success and fame overnight. Sure the
image by Stancu Alexandru via sxc.hu
re are great programs out there that will teach you a lot about the craft, but the truth is there are no shortcuts when it comes to writing.
It’s just you and a pen or laptop pounding away at your work in progress day in and day out, only to realize an even better idea on page fifty. It takes a ton of commitment and hard work to produce a readable book or blog post and even then there’s no guarantee anyone will read your work.
Dedication
Some 80% of American say they want to write a book but not many of them follow through on it. The truth is writing a book is damn hard work. It takes years of honing your craft to produce a publishable manuscript. And even if you are the one in a million who writes a book, you still have to contend with thousands of other books both traditionally published and indie/self published.
In order to stand out you need to produce the best book you can and that takes time. If you try and half-ass it this will show to readers and taint their view of our work going forward.
If you want to make it in the writing world take Stephen Kin’s advice and read a lot, and write a lot. If you don’t have time to read you don’t have the time or tools to write.
Sure it’d be nice if you were the next J.K. Rowling, E.L. James, or Stephen King, but in order to get where they are it took a ton of work, perseverance and a bit of luck. Rejection is par for the course so you need to develop a thick skin if you want to make it.
What Does Success Look Like
Say you’re the exception to the rule and your book sells well. What does this mean? Most books only sell a few hundred copies and never make back their advances.
While making it on the best seller’s list is a lofty goal, is it realistic? In 2011 alone an estimated 340,000 books were published, with 80% of them being either self published or published by small presses.
Why Write
With so much market saturation it’s no wonder many writers need day jobs to pay the bills. The truth is most writer don’t make enough to live on alone, so why write? The answer is you write for the love of it, because if you’re dreaming of making it big you may be in for a huge disappointment.
Write because it’s all you can think about. Write because a story is inside you and you can’t keep it in any longer. Write because it’s what you were born to do and nothing else will make you as happy or be as fulfilling. If you can stop writing and not miss it, then odds are writing is not for you.
Conclusions
Sure there are tips and trick to hacking headlines and producing engaging content, but it still boils down to
you sitting at your computer and getting the words on the page as often as possible. If you can’t do that then maybe you should be doing something else with your time.
So tell me which do you prefer and why? Stark Trek or Star Wars? Having watched both the original trilogy and the sequels I was not impressed with Lucas’s work. While enjoyable if you grew up on a steady diet of kung fu movies, and anime where the characters can wipe out entire galaxies with one attack, Jedis are weak sauce.
Moreover all Lucas did was rip off Asian mysticism and the larger culture. The Jedi are just Samurais, the Sith are ninjas, and the Force is a rehash of the concept of chi/ki. Love Yoda while I do, dude is a straight rip off of every wizen kung fu master ever.
And the conflict with the evil empire is nothing but Feudal Japan set in space. I do give Lucas credit where it’s due for creating a fun and engaging universe, but I don’t get what others find so special about it.
I always found Star Trek to be the superior franchise, save the original series which I couldn’t stomach because of its campiness and Shatner’s hammy acting, but I respect what Roddenberry was able to do with the series re: diversity and civil rights.
Prophets of Sci-Fi
One of the things I love about science fiction is the exploration it allows for. Thanks to authors like Arthur C. Clarke, Sir Cannon Doyle, Asimov, Heinlein and others much of the technology we have today exists because they dreamed it up. The internet wouldn’t exist if Clarke hadn’t proposed and then help design geostationary satellites. It was Orwell that dreamed up CCTV and the concept of the modern surveillance state in 1948.
While we still don’t have hover cars or light sabers, the leaps seen in technology in my life time alone are staggering. We’ve went from commodore 64s to tablet PCs, from the Atari 2600 to the PS4, from cell phones the size of a bread box to those that fit in the palm of your hand, all in less than thirty years.
Not bad all things considered. though it’d be sweet to zip around in a TARDIS. Who knows maybe one day a fan will build one like the physicist who designed a theoretical warp drive.
Deeper Questions
While enjoyable, when done well science fiction asks us to explore questions like what does it mean to be alive? What is the nature of reality? How do we live together without wiping each other out? Yeah the technology is cool but it is the exploration of these philosophical questions that keeps me engaged and coming back for more.
The other thing I love about sci-fi is it provides a construct upon which to question social norms and values. Growing up in the 90s the X-men was one of my favorite cartoons, however it wasn’t until I was older I got the subtext of the series. The Mutants were proxies for marginalized groups in our society. While the conflict between Professor X and Magneto represented to two approaches to gaining civil rights: Integration/pacifism and segregation/militarism. Girl Power
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was another favorite from my childhood. The way Whedon took the metaphor of high school as hell and made it literal, while being witty and irreverent, made my geeky heart swoon.
Buffy, and to larger extent Faith, are exactly the type of girls I love. Strong, independent without being a bitch about it, intelligent, and sexy. And I would be remiss if didn’t mention the fabulous Alyson Hannigan as Willow Rosenburg.
Excuse me for fan-boying but her character arc was one of the best of all times. Second only to Prince Vegeta’s, in terms of depth and enjoyment. The moment she becomes Dark Willow still takes my breath away to this day.
While the season ended with her being defeated with the power of “wuv,” Whedon gets a pass for his otherwise flawless execution.
Charmed was another guilty pleasure of mine, granted they used the monster of the week formula perfected by Buffy, the thing that differentiated from other shows in the genre was the research that went into the world building while Constance M. Berg was with the show runner.
As someone who studied magic and the larger occult, before settling on being an agnostic atheism, it was nice to see they paid attention to the little things. Like the difference between a hex and a curse, or that spells had to be recited at the proper time to have optimum effect. However Shannen Doherty’s departure started the long decline of the show and by the end it had gone from so bad it’s funny to plain bad.
The show closest in tone and theme since it went off the air is Supernatural. The thing best about the show is the chemistry between the siblings which drives the show. However much like Charmed when Eric Kripke left the show at the end of the fifth season it nose dived into recycling the same plots and villains.
I mean you can only slay so many demons before it gets boring, and if the Winchester boys died one more time only to be brought back I was going to lose it.
One of the best series to this day was First Wave. Sure alien invasion stories had been done before but not set to Nostradamus’ quatrains complimented with the conspiracy theories of protagonist Cade Foster’s side kick “Crazy”Eddie Nabulous.
And of course I can’t forget The X-Files. Beside Star Trek:TNG it was one of the few shows my dad and I watched together. Like the other shows listed in its hey day The-X Files was a joy to watch, when I wasn’t wetting myself in terror.
Conclusions
Though I’ve grown up and work replaces the time spent enjoying shows I haven’t lost my love for science fiction and Fantasy. It just takes more to catch and keep my attention. Like everyone else my attention span has shortened, so memo to the other writers out there: get to the point and make it interesting.
This doesn’t mean you have to create something new. Put a new spin on an old trope and you’re in business. But first and foremost don’t pander to us.
We’re smart enough to know an orc or vampire when see one and for the love of the flying spaghetti monster stop with this paranormal romance crap already.
So what things about Sci-Fi /Fantasy do you love/hate?
Introduction
Are you a dog or cat person? For me I’ve found dogs make the best companions and I have had several over the years, the last one being a purebred German Shepard named Minnie who sadly got into some rat poison and died.The memories I have of each of them are fresh in my mind and got me to thinking how does this translate to writing?
Loyalty
Dogs depend on us for everything and this breeds loyalty in them. They trust us wholly and will sometimes travel hundreds of miles to find us. Likewise when dealing with readers you want to build a platform and following by producing stellar content on a regular basis. Whether you post once a week, or three times a week like me, make sure it’s on the same day around the same time so readers begin to expect it.
Love
Dogs are affectionate and crave attention. I once had a miniature Doberman Pincher named Draco who loved to take socks and hide under the table so you would chase after him. He would do this all the time and after awhile I found if I ignored him he’d lose interest and move on.
Readers are similar in that they will move on if you don’t engage them. This is why it pays to have a landing page to build your email list. Without one you may get views but not readers who will returned to your site. Having them opt in for your mailing list gives permission for you to connect with via your newsletter.
Leader of the Pack
Dogs are pack animals and look at you as members of theirs. Fail to establish dominance over them and they will run roughshod over you.
When it comes to readers in order to build your platform you first must earn their attention and then gain their respect as a leader in our niche. You do this by reaching out to people and helping them. this builds trust and will eventually lead to gaining a loyal readership.
image by Swami Qweqwe via sxc.hu
Dogs are loyal, loving, and make for great companions if you put in the time and effort to train them right and take care of them. like wise building a loyal following for our writing takes the proper time and actions on your part to take care of your readers.
Introduction
I was 13 when I had my first episode of depression. I lost all interest in things I used love doing and didn’t want to much but eat and sleep. My parents thought it was funny, not know this was more than mere teenage moodiness, and I learned to deal with it on my own.
Over the years I dealt with depression off and on mostly during the winter and I am getting over the latest episode now. Writing has helped me make sense of my feelings and given me the confidence to pull myself out of the rut I’ve been in.
Start Small
One lesson I’ve learned is to start small. Things didn’t get to where they are overnight, so you shouldn’t expect them to change quick. Per my therapist’s request I started keeping a journal and that has helped me work through my issues get back in the groove.
Whether it’s morning pages or a snarky tweet commit to writing something every day. It doesn’t have to be perfect or pretty, just get your words in and go from there. If you’re struggling to write there are plenty of websites with daily prompts to get you started. Whatever you choose stick with it.
Celebrate Small Victories
At the height of my depressive episode I don’t do much besides eat, sleep, and shit. But I’ve learned any day I get out of bed is a small victory.
You have to stay positive and get your words in even when you don’t feel like it, because no one is going to live your life for you. You have to make the effort to change things and follow through on them.Set a time to write and show up to produce.
Break it Down
As I pull myself out of the funk I’m in it can seem like there’s so much to do that it’s overwhelming, but I’ve learned if you break things down into manageable tasks and do a bit each day that helps to alleviate a lot of my anxiety.
So whether it’s a blog post, article, or a novel you’re working on just do a little each day, and bit by bit you’ll get to where you want to be.
Commit to Finishing
Journaling has helped me tremendously to put things in perspective. it doesn’t have to pretty or make sense. I just write until I hit my 500 word count and then move on.
There will be good days and bad days. The trick is to commit to something until you’re done. Remember not everything you write will be good, but continue until the end anyways. Done is better than perfect, and it’s good practice.
Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
I’ve learned you can play it safe and stay isolating in your house, or choose to push yourself out of our comfort zone and start living life again. Sure it’s hard work at first the end result is worth it. This is true of writing too.
You can stay in your comfort zone and never push yourself out of your bubble. Unless you’re constantly challenging yourself to push your limits you’ll stagnant. Shot to do a little bit better each day and hold yourself accountable to a higher standard.
Conclusion
Dealing with depression has taught me sometimes you have to fight for your happiness, and push beyond your fears and worries. Sure it wont be easy and you’ll want to quit, but you have the keys to your success.
What are your dreams as a writer? Do you want to be a New York Times Best seller, hook an agent, or land a contract with one of the big five publishers? The truth is you’ll have to work to turn your dreams into reality, no matter what they may be.
There are thousands of other writers out there you’re competing with and you have to be willing to sacrifice for your dreams. What are you going to do to separate yourself from the others out there?
Will you get up an hour earlier to write, or get in another hundred words before calling it a night? Are you willing to risk failure to reach greatness, or will you let your fears cause you to play it safe?
The truth is you could be the best writer in the world, but if no one reads your work then what’s the point. You have to be in it for the long haul. You have to write everyday to find your voice and build a platform for your work.
Yes rejection sucks, but it’s how you deal with it that determines what type of writer you are. You can either get all butt hurt, or let your ego go, develop a thick skin and move on.
How many times have you started a piece but never finished it? If you’re like me then it’s probably a lot. It’s the fear of not being good enough that paralyzes us, but unless we risk failure we won’t reach new plateaus.
Writing like anything else takes practice. We must always push ourselves to new heights and go beyond our limits to reach greatness. It’s not simply good enough to do the bare minimum. We must shoot for perfection each time we write, and not get complacent in our work. That being said we mustn’t use this as an excuse so that we don’t write anything at all either.
Likewise we mustn’t let our quest for perfection sidetrack us from shipping our work. There comes a point when we must let the world see our work and this can be scary if we aren’t ready mentally for rejection. But we needn’t concern ourselves with what others think because that is outside of our control, so keep things in perspective.
We must experiment with new forms and genres, to grow our craft in new and exciting ways. To try new subject matters and write outside our knowledge base. We must be ready to approach these new topics in fun and unique ways. Sure we won’t succeed at everything we try, but that’s a risk we must take.
At times it will seem like a struggle but in the end it’s worth it when you create something that resonates with a lot of people. You must be willing to go outside your comfort zone and try new things with your work. You can’t let your preconceived notions cloud you from thinking in new and better ways.
We must be willing to take in the new and cast out the old where appropriate.
We must be willing to work our writing muscles in new ways to elevate our craft to the next level and the next beyond that. This means we must write everyday, no excuses, and try new things with words. If you normally write in first person point of view try third person, or vise versa.
If you generally write in one genre try another. If you write about one subject matter try a new angle, or a new subject all together. If you write mainly nonfiction try your hand at a short story, and if you usually write fiction switch to creative nonfiction. Only then can we be satisfied with our work.
Yes the hours will be long and the work hard, but this is the price we must pay for going beyond the average and making work that engages readers, and makes them question what it means to be human.
Your job as a writer is to add your verse to the poetry of life, and you can’t do that if you’re not going beyond the mediocre because you’re afraid of failing.We have to move beyond our fears and let the sky be our limit. Fear never goes away, it just gets easier to deal with in time, with practice.
What are your dreams as a writer? Do you want to be a New York Times Best Seller, hook an agent, or land a contract with one of the big five publishers? The truth is you’ll have to work to turn your dreams into reality, no matter what they may be.
There are thousands of other writers out there you’re competing with and you have to be willing to sacrifice for your dreams. What are you going to do to separate yourself from the others out there?
Will you get up an hour earlier to write, or get in another hundred words before calling it a night? Are you willing to risk failure to reach greatness, or will you let your fears cause you to play it safe?
The truth is you could be the best writer in the world, but if no one reads your work then what’s the point. You have to be in it for the long haul. You have to write everyday to find your voice and build a platform for your work.
Yes rejection sucks, but it’s how you deal with it that determines what type of writer you are. You can either get all butt hurt, or let your ego go, develop a thick skin and move on.
It’s rare to be good at new things, but we must try anyways or we may never discover new talents. Take writing for example. I did well in English class, but never thought I could be a writer because I didn’t think I was good enough. Truth be told I did have some talent, but I was far from being a professional. It was only when I committed to writing everyday that I started to see an improvement.
I used to think I could only write when the mood was perfect and I was inspired, but I have since learned that you have to show up and produce regardless of how you feel because that’s the only things will get done. Like Stephen King said, the secret to writing is sitting in your chair and not getting up until you’ve written something, even if it’s terrible.
Where I was once stymied by the blank page I now relish the challenge because I focus on getting the words down and worry about getting them “perfect” in the rewrite. Like Chandler Bolt says, done is better than perfect.
The truth is I used to agonize over every word choice and sentence structure choice so much it stopped the flow of my thoughts. I’ve since learned you have to write without letting your inner editor get in the way. You have to get it in your head that not everything you write will be good. Accept this and move on, for that is the only way you’ll get better.
Moreover, I’ve also learned you have to risk failure if you want to shoot for greatness. With my current work in progress there is so much I want to say with the work and so many issues I want to cover that sometimes the pressure to “get it right” is overwhelming and I don’t write out of fear of failing. But I’m learning you have to let that fear go and write anyways.
If you let your fears win then you’ll never complete that blog post, book, or whatever you’re working on. I’m not going to lie, sometimes it will be hard to get the words out, but you have to try anyways, because it is only when we stop that we fail. So soldier on because no matter how bad a piece might be you can always make it better. Because the rewrite is where the magic happens.
Great writing, like anything else in life doesn’t come easy. You have to go beyond your limits to reach new ground. This means putting in hundreds of hours and still not getting it right if you’re shooting for greatness. It means rewriting and rewriting until you’ve come as close to perfection as you can.
Yes it’ll be hard work, but it’s worth it if you want to create something extraordinary. It’s easy to become complacent and just do the bare minimum. This is how mediocrity creeps in, and you must constantly be on guard against it.
Sure failure is an ever present danger, but you have to risk it if you want to create a lasting impact on the world. Even if it kills you. It’s all or nothing, there can be no in between. You have to write every day, especially when things get hard, otherwise you’ll stagnate.
At the beginning it will be a struggle to put words to the page, but you’ll get better at it in time. Give yourself permission to fail and then try again. For it is only through perseverance that you will achieve your goal.
One of the difficulties of being a QUILTBAG writer is that you’re writing for a community that encompasses a wide range of people. For this reason it can be hard to include everyone’s experiences and trials.
It can be overwhelming to get things right for every reader. If you have a sex scene one person will complain about too much sex, another will complain about there not being enough sex. Have a feminine gay character and you’ll get complaints of being stereotypical from one reader, and compliments from another.
You can drive yourself crazy trying to please everyone, or you can focus on one person while writing: your ideal reader. I’ve found once you define who your audience is it goes a long ways to alleviate these concerns. Yes be true to your readers’ experiences, but don’t pander to them.
Your job as a writer is not just to entertain, but to inspire. When people read your work you want them to leave ready to take on the world and know they matter.
Remember your primary job is to tell a good story.
earn to deal with it and roll with the punches. So often in life we get caught up in the petty minutia of things.
