Song Sung Blue

Why is it I am only inspired to write under certain circumstances? (Don’t get me wrong, I write rather or not I am inspired!) Generally those circumstances are under intense emotion such as sadness. I have the urge to write when I’ve had coffee or with a glass of whiskey, particularly a good scotch.

I have a difficult time expounding on the background of my novel. Who cares what color the tablecloth was? Why do they care how the house looked or where the furniture is arranged? I have difficulty putting emotion into my writing unless I am feeling what the character would be feeling at the time. Many times my writing inspires that emotion in me if I really let myself go.

Personally, I have trouble letting myself go because the emotions of my writing, when I really let myself feel it to write, bleed out into my everyday life. If my character is stressed and overwhelmed and angry, that carries through. In a job where we provide peace and tranquility and work to actively de-stress people, it seems like a contraindication.

Drinking lowers inhibitions and gives false courage. When the whiskey dries up in the morning, the emotions dry up with it. We can go on about our day to day lives and live.

Or can we? Does anyone else experience the three day crash after drinking? We drink. We have a good time. We talk to people we otherwise wouldn’t and do things we normally wouldn’t like dance instead of standing at the sidelines or make silly jokes because we no longer fear the social repercussions. We go home that night and sleep like a baby. Work the next day is great. We had fun and we’re refreshed!

Then the crash hits. If my character is intensely sad, I become intensely sad. I start to doubt myself and all the aspects of my life. The world is terrible and everyone hates me! I’m a talentless hack. I can’t write. My day job sucks because people are always whining at me. I’m hyper sensitive to everything. And in the pit of this sensitivity, we look back at our writing.

My MC (main character) loses her best friend into a potential pit to hell. At first she is angry. Then she moves into the fiercely determined phase. And then she devolves into frustration and, finally, hopelessness.

The fiercely determined phase isn’t so bad, but the other two leave me with coworkers scratching their heads and clients sometimes picking up on the energy. But is there a way to write emotionally intense scenes without letting it carry over? Or do we need to let it flow through our pores and let the raw emotional nature pour into the page?

And won’t we just take it out in editing anyway?

Do you write drunk? Or do you have some insight to writing emotion without letting it creep into your life? I’d love to hear it.

 

A few articles I found poignant while searching for actual medical science to back up my crazy idea:

• Why do we love drunk writers also entitled Shut up and pour the bourbon already
• 7 Mistakes to Avoid as a Beginning Writer
• Writers who Drink or Drinkers who Write

Twelve Questions Answered

A few days ago I posted Four Character Sheets to the Wind about the 12 Questions Mette Harrison suggests asking yourself about your magic system. I sat down and wrote out my answers. I’m not sure I answered everything the way the creator intended, but this gives me at least some guidelines for the system so I don’t pull a fast one on myself.

Image courtesy of [digitalart] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

Twelve Questions to ask yourself about your magic system:

• How is it learned and executed?

Most people in the world don’t know magic exists. Children are more easily able to access magic when young because they’re creative and have grand imaginations. The sky’s the limit. Not every child can use magic inherently, but it can be taught in a limited scope to most toddlers. If they show aptitude, it can be coaxed through their school years. As long as they practice, they can keep the talent. If they lose interest, they become banal to it like everyone else. Magic isn’t often taught to anyone without a specific aptitude, especially since the majority of the world doesn’t believe in it. When one loses their sense of wonder and falls into the monotony of everyday life, they can lose the ability to cast easily.

When those with aptitude are taught, magic is executed through force of will. Using spells, enchantments, circles, etc can make it easier. Once you’re practiced enough, the bells and whistles aren’t necessary. Through force of will and thought, magic happens. Meditation can aid in magical workings, freeing the unconscious mind from mundane thoughts. When in a meditative state, the caster has a limited focus. They can work with the things they went into meditation with, but it’s harder to switch gears.

• How is it accessed?

Through the mind.

• Does it have a will of its own?

The only part of the magic system to have a will of its own would be thoughtforms. When created, they can become almost aware and can grow out of control if not checked and released by their creator. Elsewise magic is simply an ambient force in the world waiting to be taken advantage of.

• Is it restricted in space and time?

Magic is more powerful the more people who believe in it. If they were to go back to the middle ages, magic would be much easier to control. However, there is the constant threat of being burned as a witch as well.

• What does available magic do?

Available magic can do anything the caster can imagine strongly enough. If they want to set someone on fire, they can set someone on fire. If they want to turn them into a lawnchair, they could turn them into a lawnchair. The more unrealistic the spell cast, however, the more effort it takes. It would be easier to turn a human into a troll than it would be to turn them into a lion.

• How does it relate to the character, plot and theme of the book?

The characters in the story who use magic come from a magic using family. They use it to hunt demons, bind spirits and the like. Magic is uncommon but extremely useful against enemies most of the world doesn’t see.

• What is the cost of magic?

When magic is used, it is mentally fatiguing. If the mental fatigue becomes too much, physical symptoms can exhibit. To most people, it appears as dehydration and physical exhaustion. Some magic users may have the diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue or Fibromyalgia. If magic users become too exhausted, they can die. As a channel for magic, the body won’t shut down as it would in other fatigue cases. They will literally burn themselves out and die.

• What can it not do?

Magic can’t bring people back from the dead as they were before they died. They become zombies.

• How long does it last?

The effects of the spell will last as long as the caster can keep concentration on the spell. In cases of setting someone on fire, the fire will burn until it no longer has fuel. If the caster continues focusing on the fire burning, however, it may not be snuffed by traditional means or it may relight after being doused.

• Who can use it?

It can be used by anyone with an aptitude who has been trained. It can be self-taught, but sometimes with questionable results.

• How do others react to it?

Most people don’t know magic is real. Those who see it will probably gloss it over and think it was a hallucination. Those with an aptitude are more open to magic being real, but if they’re groomed to believe magic is impossible, they will eventually believe it.

• Why haven’t people with this power taken over the world?

There are incredibly few magic users in the world. Those who use magic don’t want to become a test subject. They are careful to keep it hidden wherever possible. In the case of resurrecting the dead, there would be charges for desecrating graves/remains. Even if they could prove their power, they would be locked up. That, however, doesn’t apply to villains once they amass enough power. 🙂

 

Are there aspects of my magic system I may have missed? Does this make sense to you? If not, leave me a comment. I’m up for suggestions!

Instant prologue: just add crit and edits

I put my first bit of work for my crit group to dissect. I looked for obvious errors, then set it loose in the wilds of other writers and waited. Within a week, five people posted. For your perusal, I will post my first draft as it was submitted to my crit group. Once I’ve gone through my edits, I will post the updated version. Said version will be re-submitted to be sure I’ve gotten what needed done. Sometimes when you crit, you’re so tripped up by certain aspects you miss others.

Here is the first draft:

Rose tripped over an overturned dresser drawer, the duffel in her hand skidding across the floor and dumping contents like a breadcrumb trail toward the doorway. Leaving it behind, she skittered through the bedroom and into the upstairs bathroom, crawling quietly into the bathtub. Making herself as small as possible, she hid behind the shower curtain, every tiny sound echoing through the empty house. No heater hissed, no pipes clanked. Only the dull thunk of boots against worn carpeting, the creaking stairs as her pursuer came closer, the hiss of his jacket as it brushed the door frame when he passed. Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, his steps neared, slowed and stopped just as his heels clicked against the thick white tile. The surprisingly loud click flooded the room with the overhead light and Rose shrank back, trying to stay out of sight. Why hadn’t she hidden under the bed? She could have run when he came into the bathroom. Instead she was stuck inside with no way out.

Slowly he advanced, every step echoing until he snatched the shower curtain away. Rose cowered, arms wrapped protectively around her body. He lashed out, grabbing her arm hard enough she cried out. There would be bruises in the morning. Putting all her weight behind her, she tried to keep her backside against the shower wall. Another thick hand grabbed her other arm and hauled her up to her tiptoes, his breath hot on her cheek when she turned away. He inhaled, short stubble scratching tender skin. Her head hit the shower wall and a tear slipped free, the whimper uncontrollable as she forced her mouth further from his.

A figure loomed in the doorway, shadows darkening his skin. Its spine stood out, the skin sunken around the processes and between his ribs. It paused on all fours, its back too long, its arms to narrow and its legs bent at strange angles. Her eyes locked with ebony pools and she shuddered.

“Help. Please,” she whispered, watching the strange being cant its head and lean closer.

Her aggressor turned to face the creature. “What the fuck is that thing? Some kind of fucked up dog?”

Its face was too human as it loped into the bathroom and looked up at the man. Its dark eyes swiveled from him to her and back again.

The man dropped her, turned toward the creature and puffed his chest. Brandishing a knife from his belt, he advanced. The creature pulled back, brow drawn and cheeks pulled taut.

Rose summoned her voice. “Run!”

The angular face turned to her just as the leather-clad man struck, drawing a started cry from the creature. Its face contorted in rage and it took a pair of steps back, rising to its full height. Its arm oozed thick black from the thin gash across his bicep. With a hiss, it grabbed him by the throat and snarled in his face, long canines bared and glistening in the light. The creature grabbed the robber’s arm, twisting it back until it crunched and the knife dropped from his hand. A shadowy forked tongue traced the man’s neck as he spit obscenities. The noise stopped when sharp fangs touched skin. Despite fighting the creature before, the robber now held very still. Rose crawled over the tub edge and grabbed the weapon, every movement slow to avoid the creature’s attention.

With a crush of strong jaws, the man’s howls echoed against tiled walls. The creature’s mouth closed and its throat moved, swallowing as the man first struggled and then went limp. Dropping the lifeless body to the floor, the creature turned to Rose and crouched down, red-black eyes watching her intently. Long ebony nails clacked as they settled against the stark flooring, its hands between its feet. Rose shivered, expecting it to attack. She clutched the knife, the hilt against her solar plexus.

Instead of coming toward her, the creature circled the corpse, snuffling his neck and shoulder. Giving a quick glance back at Rose, it nosed the head toward her in a macabre offering. When she didn’t respond, it picked up an arm and hauled it toward her. A squawk of terror rose from her throat and she violently shook her head. With its brow drawn, the creature took a large bite of flesh, then shook the limb at her. Rose screamed, turning away from it and covered her head with her hands. The knife clanked against the tub floor and settled near the drain. A heavy thunk was all the response she received. Rose peeked over her shoulder at it. With a shrug, the creature hunkered down and licked at its hands like an overgrown cat, the ends of its tongue cleaning the crevice of its nail. When she shifted, its long, pointed ears flicked but it otherwise ignored her. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt her. She stared at it, watching as it worked from one finger to the next. It made a face as the pungent scent of human excrement filled the small space, but returned to its grooming.

Something was familiar in its face. Despite the hard angles, she could see human features. As if sensing her stare, it turned and looked at her, watching her for a moment before returning to its tongue bath. Something in its eyes reminded her of someone she knew.

No. It couldn’t be.

Slowly reaching out to him, she called him by name.

The Beauty in Critique

I’ve recently been reading through a self-published novel by a supremely awesome person I met on Twitter. She gave me a free copy of her novel to do a review for her and I’ve been cruising through while juggling NaNoWriMo prep, setting up a writing area, working crazy hours, keeping my house up, trying to get through the crap in our basement and, in general, find time to spend time with my family around everything else I’m doing. I’ve found the novel engaging and I find the gem of a great story therein, but I can’t help but think about all the advice I’ve read about self-publishing and not rushing. Now before I go too much further on this ramble, please understand I am not saying this novel is bad. I am not trashing the author because I really am enjoying her book. I just think she could have used a strong critique and someone to wrangle her plot, commas and repetitive sentences before she published.

Editors are expensive. Really expensive when you’re broke and publishing. Unless you know someone who works for peanuts or pad thai, affording that necessary kick in the pants is difficult. Sometimes, when we write better than our peers, it’s difficult to find someone who will give us honest feedback on our novel. Friends and family know it’s our baby and they sugar coat and pat our hands, telling us it’s better than it is.
With my own writing as an example, my friends aren’t really good at the “OMG WTF is this CRAP?” Well… some of them. I needed someone to sit down, point it out and tell me why.

I posted my first crit piece for my crit group. I went in with a sense of trepidation. Some of the critters told me flat out when they introduced themselves they crit hard and pulled no punches. It took me a week to go over the prologue I was relatively happy with and finally post it for review. I knew they were going to find errors. I had no doubt. What I got was something different than I expected.

No one told me it sucked. Everyone was, while firm, not mean about it. I was worried some of them were going to make me cry. Not a single tear. I went in, read over their edits and nodded along with most of it. A couple of them apologized ahead of time and one member who hadn’t reviewed my work sent a private message and gave me a pat on the shoulder.

Surprisingly, I didn’t need it. I joined a crit group, I put my work out there and they were critical. That’s what a crit group is for. I expected much worse. They could turn up the intensity and I would still be okay. They might have been gentle since I’m the new kid, but I was pleased. Someone critted for me AND it was helpful without any “OMG STOP WRITING NOW”.

I think I know why I haven’t been published before now. I needed a group of people to go “Okay, honey. Really. No. I know this is your baby, but no.” Maybe now when I post my stories to different publishers they won’t toss it out without reading more than the first three lines. With a little self-editing, I’ve got a shot.

I would honestly love to see the above mentioned author join my group. She’s super awesome and I really think she could add to the group. Now I just need to figure out how to suggest it without being a jerk.

National Novel Writers Month is creeping in

I’m sure everyone has seen a post or thirty about NaNoWriMo coming around again. Every November catches me with my pants down around my ankles as I scramble to try and find venues for write-ins and plot-ins. Thankfully my fellow Municipal Liaison has done some of the footwork already for write-ins she’s holding. I’m the one lagging behind! Monday will be my big phone call day in which I chase down those in charge of places for people to do things and get them to confirm dates.

I’ve seen several posts about how to be successful during NaNo, how NOT to be successful, some books that will help and people’s general thoughts on how they make November successful. One of the girls on our forum said she’s NaNo Nesting. It’s a really good term for preparing for the month. People are plotting, jotting scene ideas, making premade meals so they can just toss them in the microwave and have dinner for the family when they need to write… anything it takes to make navigating November more successful. I, personally, eat more takeout and spend a LOT of time at write-ins. I spend lunch breaks at work furiously writing either on the laptop I bring with me or in Googledocs on the work computer. My house looks like an absolute disaster, usually just before Christmas. I let laundry go. I let dishes go. I let showers go. Yes, I said it. I forgo one shower a week in order to write more.

The biggest thing it comes down to is writing. Just write. Sit down, bang out some crap and call it done. It doesn’t matter if it’s good. That’s why you edit later. You should be aiming for 1667 words a day every day for 30 days. If that works, great. If you have to sit down on a Saturday and beat out the week’s worth of words, do it. Whatever gets those words down on a page, do it. Create a general road map, sit down and write. Make time.

And that’s the biggest hurdle. Make time. That’s really the secret to writing at any time of year. Sit down and write. Put words on page and WRITE. Yeah, yeah, stop calling me Pot, Kettle.

If you want someone else’s strategy, you can always check out Kevin Kaiser’s NaNo 30 day survival guide. Chris Beatty, the guy who started all this insanity, has a few books on sale in the NaNo store about writing. All the proceeds go to funding future NaNo goodness. Savvy Authors is doing a NaNo Boot Camp and it’s free for their premium members. Blog writers everywhere are starting their posts (like this one) and are gearing up for the insanity. The wonderful Chuck Wendig has a really sound blog post about NaNo with a lot of links, so make sure you’re ready when you open this one.

I’m going to take my happy ass onto the forums now so I can see what else is going on. See you all on the other side of November.

Self Marketing for Writers: Professional Bio

I am absolutely horrible when it comes to writing any sort of bio for anything. I hate talking about myself, I hate talking about myself in the third person and I either give too much information or too little. Just when I think I’ve got a winner, something comes along and changes it in three months and I have to update. I never know how to truncate my bio for something like twitter where I have only a few characters to tell you all about me.

The writers at The Undercover Recruiter suggest having three different bios to fit different size limits.

The smallest of your bios should be able to fit in your twitter bio, so fewer than 160 characters. It should be one or two sentences telling everyone how you’re unique. If someone’s twitter bio doesn’t reach out and grab me, I’m hard pressed to go in and look at their tweets to see if they’re someone I want to follow. In the business world, this brief statement about yourself is called a “brand statement”. It should have a mixture of shock and delight, according to the Undercover Recruiter, and be simple enough an eight year old can understand it and tell you your value.

To pick what should be included, sit down and write out your key attributes on a paper. Pick those that make you unique and write it out telling people what value you provide, how you do it uniquely and who you do it for.

While you’re cruising through Twitter to update, make sure you link your personal sites, have a good profile pic and your location data is in your profile so people can find you. If you live near someone, they’re more likely to follow you.

Once you’re done with the short and sweet version, you’ve already done some of the setup for your longer, one page bio. This is a nice little story about you that tells everyone who you are and what you do in a way they’ll want to read it. It’s generally done in the third person so it’s like someone else is writing about what a great author you are and what kind of fun things you do.

Included in this one page babble about yourself, you should include:

1. Your name in the first sentence (so people know ‘who’ if they jump from Google.)
2. Where you’ve been published or featured (link to it if possible)
3. Any awards or acknowledgements for writing
4. Education or credentials, and not just for writing
5. Hobbies or interests
6. Contact details

Be sure you have someone read over your bio to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything important and you haven’t forgotten a word or punctuation. Editing isn’t just for novels. They also suggest cruising through your biography monthly just to make sure nothing has changed. You don’t want to forget a recent publication or public appearance and have someone skip your page thinking they’ve found the wrong person.

Any biography posted with a picture gets more views. Make sure pictures you use for promotion are of professional quality, aren’t reminiscent of a My Space photo you took at the bar and wouldn’t make your mother blush to see it on the back cover of your novel (unless that’s the image you’re going for).

Get out there and wow them! (And give me a link to check it out if this blurb helped you.)

Resources:

• The Undercover Recruiter
• 7 rules of professional brand statements
• How to craft your personal brand statement
• Why your bio is more important than your resume
• 8 steps to writing a bio like a pro
• 7 profile pictures you should never use

Self Marketing for Writers: Personal Brand

As stated in my last post, a lot of publishing companies are requiring writers to market for themselves. Rather this is to keep costs down so publishers don’t have to charge as much for books or if it’s to keep small and indie presses flowing smoothly, it’s something we all are going to need going into the future. How do we market ourselves? In the research I’ve done, it seems like a pretty simple thing. All we have to do is what the business world calls a “Personal Brand”.

A personal brand is simply the face we put forward into our professional scope. To create a personal brand, you really only have to do the things you’re already doing.

• Blogging

How many of us don’t have a blog nowadays? Most everyone has a blog, including inkslinging monkeys banging their face against a keyboard and leaving it for the world like some primate Picasso. I have this blog  for writing and storytelling. I have another for cooking recipes and yet another for my gaming woes. When you’re working with your personal brand, you need to add regular content. When your readers can rely on a post, they’ll come back for more. By the time you start talking about your next novel coming out, the established reader base you already have is going to be there waiting.

This means, however, that you’re going to need a reader base. There are a few simple things you can do to draw people in. Go to other blogs and Twitter feeds. Read their stuff and comment. Open a dialogue between other readers and writers like yourself. Post reviews of the books you’ve read on Goodreads. You can do guest posts for other people’s blogs. It’s like a vicious cycle that isn’t vicious. You learn things, they learn things and people follow people. Easy, right? (Just don’t be “that guy” and go everywhere spamming that you’re a writer and you have a great book everyone needs to read. We’re all pretty sick of hearing that already.)

On that topic:

• Be active in social media

Twitter is like an addiction for me. Since I use Tweetcaster paired with Readability, I can cruise through my Twitter feed, read all about people’s lives, save interesting articles to read later and keep up on what’s coming and going in the world of writing. I can comment directly in Readability and others who use the site can see what I’ve written. I retweet like a fiend when I’ve found an interesting bit of online knowledge. Most of what I post on Twitter posts automatically to my Facebook page. I can keep several options open.

Don’t do like I did and join all the things. Stick with the social media sites you’ll actually use. My twitter feed posts to Facebook, but I actually have to check in on Facebook to see if anyone is replying to what I’ve written and do it sooner rather than later. There’s nothing worse than feeling connected to an author for some reason or another, leaving them a little post and never hearing from them. You get lost in the floe of posts coming to those popular people and carried away. It could be what makes or breaks a connection with someone else.

I post not only a lot of retweets (which I do too much sometimes) but also content of my own, what’s going on in my life, pictures of my animals, my new haircut… You get the idea. I take what I enjoy reading about other people and I do the same thing. I’m active there and when I publish, I might actually have a few people who are genuinely interested in hearing what I have to say. I’ve posted once about what annoys me on Twitter and another on what I want to see in writer blogs, but it bears repeating: Don’t be “that guy”. We want to know some things about you personally just as much as we want to know what you’ve written.

• Do a meetup

Many people I’ve talked to have spoken on attending writer’s groups for people to bounce story ideas off of, get information and research, cover angles you haven’t thought of and to get good, honest critique before you ship your babies off to be cowboys or, in the case of bad writing, hamburger. Do a quick Google search of writers groups in the area.

My favorite meetup is NaNoWriMo. For those of you who may not have heard of it before, it’s a month of crazy writers drinking too much coffee and writing a terrible 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It’s all self-paced and nominated. There are no judges, no one who picks whose novel is best or worst. A bunch of us crazy people get together in coffeehouses, restaurants, bookstores, libraries and even grocery stores and write throughout the month of November. I love it enough I work as a municipal liaison for Columbus. Previously I worked as ML in Findlay. I have met some wonderful, incredible, horribly knowledgeable people who have given me the best advice and invited me to so many fun things. It really is an experience you should try at least once. If nothing else, it teaches you to sit down and write a little every day.

The most important thing in developing your personal brand seems to be just getting out there and having a good time with other people. Do guest blog posts. Record a video blog. Do some blogging of your own. Come stalk me on twitter. Read the articles I’ve saved to read on Readability. Check out my reviews on Goodreads. Talk to me about your books. I’ll even do reviews for you. Without sounding too desperate, I LIKE hearing from people and I LOVE making new friends. Let’s improve our brand (and our chances at getting published) together.

Resources:

• The Undercover Recruiter
• How to keep your personal brand present
• In her blog, M.J. Pullen gives some great tips on self-promotion without feeling like a complete skeeze.

Self Marketing for Writers: Email Presence

When I started searching for publishers a few years ago, there weren’t many of them who mentioned having an online presence. I was always under the impression your publisher would help you with your professional presence and promotion when you were signed for publication. In the last few months of reading and research, more companies are requiring writers to have their own marketing plans and online presence; many requesting an established online presence.

Thankfully before this all came about, I jumped the gun and started with my web presence while I’m still penning my book and well before I even started editing. I figured that would be the easy thing to keep up on while I was writing and somehow someone would stumble upon it and think I was interesting enough to follow. I mean, how hard could it possibly be to create an online presence? That’s easy! Put it out there and you’re gold! Write a bunch of stuff in a blog, post on Twitter and you’re set. Easy Peasy. That was before I started actually reading up on a decent web presence and the work it takes to actually keep it going.

A few of the recent articles I’ve found helpful are from the Undercover Recruiter page. While a lot of this is geared toward job searching, much of it also applies to writing. Since there’s a lot of information, I’ll probably do a series this week about everything I’ve gathered. I’m super excited! We talk about email signatures, photo tips, what kind of biography you should have (you should have three), your twitter profile updates and quite a bit about your personal brand.

I’d never thought about the importance of email signatures. As a matter of fact, I figured just my personal email would work just fine. According to the Undercover Recruiter, businesses require a strong email signature not only for those working, but those seeking employment. What are writers if not constantly seeking employment? Submitting manuscripts and queries is a job search. It also serves a double duty in case you forget to put something in your email.

In the article I read, the first thing they stress is a professional email. We get away with a little more since we’re artists and not applying to be an executive at Macy’s, but it does make sense not to have an email like deadlinemisser at yahoo when you’re emailing a potential employer. Plus it would be hard to keep your business and personal email straight. For business, they recommend using your first and last name. Keep the silly names for personal use. They also mention making sure your first and last name are what the email is sent from in your email settings. Clarity seems to be best. I use my first and last name with “writes” after it since, for some reason, my first and last name were already taken. Strange but true.

For the signature proper, they suggest

• Repeating your first and last name. If your query is long, repeating your  name isn’t a bad idea, especially since repetition aids memory. The more times we see something, the more likely it is to stick in our brain candy.
• Include your email and phone number. This would be okay as long as you weren’t using that email to handle fan email as well. Fans can be crazy sometimes, even when you’re not well known yet.
• Website and Blog links. If you’re showing a prospective agent or publisher you already have an established web presence, you’re already on the way to piquing their interest. Those of us they can clearly see have a foot in the door are more likely given a shot.
• LinkedIn and Twitter hyperlinked icons- Twitter I definitely agree with. LinkedIn, not so much, but that’s a personal complaint with the site. I never use it, so I don’t see a point in linking to it. If you do update it, go for it.

They recommend giving it a visual appeal with indents, fonts and other fancy word processing feats of strength. Just don’t go too crazy. If your editor’s eyes are burned out of the sockets by horrible fonts and colors, they can’t very well read your manuscript.They also mention creating a tag line or a catch phrase of some sort. This seems cheesy to me, but in reading further into their tips about your personal brand, I think your personal brand statement might just be the ticket for this if you decide to throw it in there. It’s like the little one line blub you put on a business card. Some quirky, quick phrase that sticks in people’s mind.

When in doubt, it’s best to follow my daddy’s K.I.S.S. rule. Keep It Simple, Sweetheart.

Resources:

• The Undercover Recruiter
• How to create a professional email signature for your career or job search

Strange Blessings

I am thankfully blessed with a job that allows me hour long lunches while working as a therapist and allows me to read during my time spent manning the front desk. Despite the times I’m interrupted by my coworkers’ chatter or the phones ringing, I am blissfully able to read, write and blog during my time on the clock.

Before you ask, my boss is aware. He even has software set up so he can log on and monitor what we’re doing while he’s miles and miles away. He might even be watching me write this right now. (*waves* Hi, Ray!)

Regardless, I am blessed with the ability to be able to do pretty well whatever I want as long as the clinic doesn’t blow up and I’m actually doing my job so my coworker doesn’t drive the ten miles from her location to mine and beat me with a brick. Not that she would really do that. She would probably just call me up and chew my ear, but that’s beside the point. I can listen to crazy piano renditions of Taio Cruz and Nirvana while I cruise through an advance reader’s copy of a book. I can write scenes that pop into my head while I’m taking crazy phone calls or after I get off the phone with a needy customer. I can sit here and write out blog posts to keep people reading (hopefully) about my strangeness. I can catch up on my housework when I get home instead of trying to wrangle my schedule to allow me more time to do things I want to do.

Or need to do. Like the gym.

What about the rest of you? What do you guys do to squeeze in another half an hour of writing or be able to update your blog? How do you people smash time for the treadmill without a Tardis? I am in awe of what you do and if you have some words of wisdom to impart, please do.

… I think I would have a lot more time to do other things if I wasn’t hooked to WoW for three hours a night. I know where my vices are.

First Edits

A few weeks ago, I sent out a test “first” chapter to an editor to look over. She read through the first five pages and gave me some suggestions to slay the early writing demons. I was rather pleased that she took the bite at my book to begin with, especially with as disjointed as my description was. She was intrigued and she warned me ahead of time she was a harsh mistress. I took it as a good sign.

I can see how she could think I would hate her. She’s harsh and direct but it isn’t mean-spirited. She honestly sees problems and is making suggestions for me to improve. All of the suggestions she makes I can at least understand, even if a couple of them I believe are wrong. She is ruthless with unnecessary words, which is something I am HORRIBLE at. She also made suggestions for my entirely too wordy run-on sentences. She didn’t re-write my book for me, which is what a couple of other editors have tried to do for me in the past, but she made firm suggestions.

All in all, the first chapter I had in mind isn’t going to be a first chapter. As she said, it would be too harsh to put in all at once at the beginning of the book. It really IS kinda horrible as far as treatment of the character and I can see the point. The people I’ve had read through everything are…. um. How do I put this? … my friends are freaks, weirdos and geeks. Most of them aren’t horribly put off by Baby’s treatment because they can read beyond it. Pushing it off onto another reader who is woefully unprepared would turn them off entirely. Small chunks would be easier to handle throughout the book. I’m taking her suggestion and going to go through with a hacksaw and machete and clear out some of the dead stuff from the work. At least that much I will have done and ready to go so I can copypasta work in instead of having to re-write it later.

My editor also read through five pages of something that made her very uncomfortable and gave me good, strong feedback in the middle of that. I can’t tell you how greatly I appreciate that. The chapter borders on non-consensual and involves a character that is barely, barely legal. She was a hell of a trooper and actually thanked me for letting her read. I sent a letter back thanking HER for reading. She gave up her time without pay to look over a book she may or may not be interested in taking on as a project. That honestly means so much to me, I can’t even put into words how appreciative I am. I tried in the email and ended up deleting it because it sounded like I was painting her up to be some kind of Goddess, but I NEED this kind of feedback! All of my friends want to encourage me, but none of them stop and go “You know, this might be too much” because they’re freaks and weirdos like me. I have the knowledge that Baby will be okay. The reader doesn’t. Fresh eyes can see.

I will be going back through and writing, maybe posting good snippets. I am at least encouraged by the fact she didn’t say “burn it with fire” or “never contact me again”. She actually encouraged me to bother her later and said I looked to be on the right track. I’m stoked beyond a shadow of a doubt. It has encouraged me to actually write again because I might might MIGHT have a chance at publication.

A day or two after I sent her a message thanking her for her time, she sent back a message a day or two later asking me if I was interested in a con-crit partner. Yes, I’m VERY interested, especially if she is interested in the same thing I am. This author also does urban fantasy and horror, she’s also into LGBT relationships and she’s pretty passionate about what she does. As the editor said, I hope we both work out together because if there’s one thing I need, it’s someone who isn’t going to sugarcoat everything and blow smoke up my ass. I need someone who will give me actual honest to gods good, strong feedback. I want someone to say “This just isn’t working. Maybe try this.”

I’ve found, through my blog, two very nice people who have commented with suggestions so far. Starting up this blog again has been one of the best things I’ve done in awhile. Sticking my neck out and actually doing something for once has been a positive thing. I’m almost tempted to start going to a writing group and listening in on what they’re working on, what they’re doing, how they’re plotting and planning.

I don’t have enough time in my day to go to the gym or to sit down and write most of the time, so I don’t know where I’m going to be pulling my time from, but it’s at least something more than I’ve been doing. If I want this, I have to DO this. This is a step in the right direction.