It's All About the Writing: ROW80 Round 2 Wrap-up

I struggled in Round 2. Life took a swing, and my battle to get back on my feet was draining. I am looking forward to Round 3, because I need to prioritize my writing life. To do so, I have to focus on my editing jobs and writing my two novels. Other things will have to take a back seat. And above all these... I am a wife and mother.  

In all honesty, without the wonderful writers (and family) in my life I would have given up this round. But whenever life attacked or I doubted myself, the writing and blogging communities, particularly A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80), brought me back.

Thanks to the wonderful people who commented on my post about insecurity, My Monster Rises, I'm facing down my monster and opening my heart to my muse.

♫♫♫♫ I get by with a little help from my friends ♫♫♫♫

Some of the lovely and inspiring comments...

Melissa Maygrove said... Isn't THAT the truth! No matter what, don't let the monster win. ;) Are you part of Alex's Insecure Writer's Support Group? (They post the first Wed. of every month. And I'm still making my way down his list.)

Somewhere, at some time, I had heard about Alex's group. I need to check it out for those low moments.

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell said... Right now I'm doing a 15-day "workshop" with Jeff Goins which is aimed at making one believe in oneself--and boy do I need that! The closet was so much more comfortable, but I need to get out there, no matter how scary it is :) Shall we all hold hands and jump together?

So bummed I missed joining this workshop. But I'll be checking out Jeff's book.

Annette Gendler said... I'd say it's part of the writing life! That twinge of jealousy creeps up on me as well when I hear of a friend signing with an agent, or finally publishing that book. But then again, I think that jealousy helps us figure out our priorities. If we feel that jealousy, clearly this is something we want. Insecurity, I think, behooves every artist. Otherwise, we wouldn't work continuously to improve our craft.

Lisa Cherry said... Use the monster as a friend rather than a destructive enemy. As a monster, its damaging your confidence and self esteem and self belief, as a friend, it's asking you to just check that you are on course and that you must demand that you give your best of yourself (which it very much sounds like you do). Re frame the monster! There are many different routes to the mountain and many different mountains.

Sonja Haller said... I agree with Annette, the highs and lows and jealousies are part of the writing life. And I sure relate to this: "I'm left wondering, who the hell do I think I am?" My guess is that so many other writers believe that to. You're inspiring just because you continue to write on!

The Daring Novelist said... Here's a secret: Classes and writer's groups do something different for you than you expect: they don't teach you how to write nearly as well as they teach you how to deal with the insecurity monster.

The fact is, even the nicest sweetest, least demanding group is going to give you criticism. And much of the time that criticism (especially the mildest stuff) is wrong. And when it's right, it hurts AND it feels good too, because you suddenly know something you didn't.

Ruth Nestvold said... No, no, no! Don't compare yourself with other writers (because naturally we only compare ourselves with those who are more successful). Do your best to concentrate on achievable goals like hours spent writing or words produced.

Rebecca J Fleming said... I think all writers suffer a bit of envy at some point, but it just motivates us to make our own writing better. Good work on the progress, every bit counts :)

 

Eloise said... I know this feeling even though I just started. Send story into contest and poof, nothing. Mine must end up on the editor's floor/recycle bin. It's even more mystifying to read the winning story and wonder what about it was special. I know that sounds like sour grapes, but I don't mean it that way.

I'm reminded of an article you sent me some time back by a writer who submitted the same story *unchanged in any way* to the same competition he sent it to the year before, and won. First go-round, he didn't even get a mention.

I  comfort myself (thin comfort at times) with the knowledge that even Dorothy Parker was insecure...

Jo Michaels said... Try this: forget you wrote a book. It's whatever, right? Who cares if the next one you write falls on it's bum, never to be a decent seller? You wrote it. You did that. You didn't write it to make millions of dollars but because you had something to say, right? You write so others can read, right?

Remember that. If people don't want to read what you have written, it's their loss. Many people go their whole lives without realizing a single dream. You realized your dream and published a book. Dream achieved. The rest is just gravy, baby.

Kim Switzer said... Hug your monster and bring her some tea. She's just trying to protect you. But then, after you give her some tea, send her to a movie or something. Talk back. Tell her "thank you, but I don't need to hear from you right now." (You don't necessarily have to be so polite, of course.) It's not what the monster says to us that's the problem, it's what we do with those words. Talk back to them, refute them, see them as the smokescreen they are, the thing keeping you from your writing love. You *are* a writer. So tell the monster to hush up and leave you to your words!

Julie Glover said... Beat back the monster, hold the muse hostage, and write. :)

 

Thank you! Sure, the insecurity monster will rise again, but knowing I'm one post away from support and encouragement is all I need.

 

I hope these words will inspire others to keep moving forward, no matter what.

One more piece of encouragement before I go. I recently read and reviewed Michael J. Fox's book, Always Looking Up. In the following passage, Fox is talking about Parkinson's, but it can apply to so many things:

I feared it most when I least understood it… Respecting it, however, doesn’t mean tolerating it. And you can only vanquish an enemy you respect, have fully sized up, and weighed by every possible measure.

My journey, with all its bumps, has taught me so much. I'm ready to vanquish the enemy of insecurity and fear and focus on what I know I love... writing. Sometimes building my author platform has gotten in the way of writing my next book. Round 3 will be about finding the right balance with a focus on writing novels.

Thanks again to those who take the time to encourage others.

Making the Most of Time

I'm always complaining about time, or more specifically, lack of time. But one thing can be said of time... it's fair. Every day we get 24 hours. It's up to us to use it in the most efficient way possible.

This week, two of my fellow bloggers referenced Laura Vanderkam and her book, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast. Both Michelle Rafter and Mikaela at La Belle Dame de Merci discussed Vanderkam's thoughts on time management.

One thing I know about myself... I'm most efficient in the beginning of any day. As each hour passes, more distractions and unexpected issues arise. The more things I can accomplish before the emails start dinging and the phone starts ringing, the better.

But, similar to Mikaela's musings, I am not always at my wittiest and most inspired first thing in the morning.

What to do. What to do.

In her post What Successful Writers Do Before Breakfast, Michelle Rafter took it a step farther and interviewed successful writers to find out what they try to accomplish before breakfast. I found the answers further inspired me to buy Vanderkam's book and consider a new morning routine.

I just downloaded the book to my Kindle. As soon as I read it, I will write a post on my thoughts and share my new morning routine.

Do you ever get to the point where you know what you ARE doing isn't working, but you aren't sure what to change to make real improvements? I'm there. But I usually make things worse by trying too many new things at once.

My new focus, thanks to some excellent advice by my wonderful ROW80 friend, Kim Switzer, is to take things in small chunks. As small as ten minute increments. I hope to combine this concept with Vanderkam's morning ideas. Wish me luck.

What do you accomplish before breakfast?

For some quick guidelines from Vanderkam's book, please visit her post on Fast Company: What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast.

Evolution of Book Covers

Yesterday on my Mom in Love with Fiction site, my blog devoted to good reads, I discussed the evolution of book covers in an eBook-focused world. I wanted to run the post here today to get additional feedback, since I find the subject so fascinating.

My thoughts were prompted by a Musing Mondays question on Should be Reading: Do you think the book cover is “dead”? Do you care whether the “covers” on digital books exist or not?

I've been pondering this subject for awhile. Should be Reading referenced Craig Mod's article, Hack the Cover: Covers, Covers--Everywhere. It offered some amazing insight on how the popularity of eBooks has affected the marketing importance of book covers.

Let's be honest, covers were an important marketing tool in bookstores. When readers browsed, the cover was their first impression of a book. A striking cover could compel me to pick up any book, taking away any preconceived notions I had about what I liked and didn't like in story or genre. A great cover backed up by a wonderful back cover summary was all I needed.

Fast forward to the Amazon world of eBooks and online shopping. Now I browse by genres and authors I like. Then I go to the book's page and notice the cover. Sure, I'm still influenced by the cover's allure, but it's not my first impression anymore unless I'm standing in Barnes & Noble or my favorite independent bookstore, Novel Places, close to my house.

Once I purchase an eBook, the cover is gone. I choose the title on my home page and go right to the first page of the book. The cover is gone from my memory and has little influence on my imagination. Every time I pick up an actual book to read, I see the cover and its images affect my mental picture of the characters and/or scenery.

But like all things, does the cover just need to catch up to technology? Jump over to Craig's article for some amazing pictures on old-style, possibly future-style, book covers. We just need the hardware to catch up so that digital covers are still what we see and part of the reading experience.

I say... long live covers. I hope they stay around but evolve with the books they so lovingly adorn. Otherwise, we might as well go back to Kinko's-printed manuscripts or Microsoft Word documents and read words without the beauty and visual.

And who wants that?

How do you imagine the future of book covers?

The Moment of Reentering Reality

I saw this on the The Reader's Nook Facebook page. This has happened to me so many times, but only with really good books.

Before children (affectionately known as BC in my house), my husband and I lived in a northern suburb of Chicago and commuted into the city every day for work. For this very non-city gal, it was heaven because I had 45 dedicated minutes to read twice a day. I read so many books during that time.

I'd become so engrossed in my read that I'd almost miss my stop. One time I did. Thanks to having three children, and the brain cells they have destroyed my subsequent memory loss, I can't remember which book caused that. Wish I could.

Even when I'm reading at night, the only one in the house not sleeping, I will get to a part in the story and want to wake someone up to tell them. When I finish a great book late at night, I feel thrust back into reality and sleep becomes an impossibility.

Recently, I bought Fifty Shades of Grey. Pure curiosity got the best of me. There's a book I definitely wouldn't want to be reading on public transportation! What a great benefit to having a Kindle... nobody knows what you are reading.

The best books take us so far out of our own reality that it's an adjustment coming back.

When's the last time this happened to you?

The Gold Thread of Fathers & ROW80 Update

There's something like a line of gold thread running through a man's words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.

John Gregory Brown

This is how I started my Father's Day post last year: A Day to Celebrate Dads. Please take a moment to hop over and read it. It's quite sweet, if I do say so myself.



Dad with my first baby

I love this quote. My writing centers around women... their issues, relationships, communications. I find figuring out women a lifetime task, especially since I am one of three sisters and now mom to three daughters.

There haven't been many important men in my life. I met my husband at 18, and I don't have brothers. I credit my dad and husband with opening my eyes to the beauty of men, especially as fathers to girls.

I credit my dad for finding humor in the world around me, such an important part of making it through life's ups and downs. He also taught me a strong work ethic. My dad never lessened his expectations for us just because we were girls. He always told us we could be anything we wanted. Those threads are such a part of who I am. He is now a wonderful Papa to my girls, and adds to their tapestry like he added to mine.

My amazing hubby with our girls

My husband has taught me patience and calm, okay he is still teaching me. He is a rock and supports my dreams while downplaying my failures. When I said I wanted to write, he said to write. When I said I wanted baby #3, he bought me a puppy but was thrilled when baby #3 was announced a month later. When I wanted to publish a book, he asked how he could help. He reminds me to put the work down and play... to never forget how short life is.

My girls are blessed to already have two wonderful male influences. This generation of men beware: you have a lot to prove to impress my girls!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Never forget the importance of your role!

*****

My A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) Update

OMG! Is it possible that Round 2 ends next week. How did that happen?!

Sorry I missed Wednesday's check in. I rarely miss one, but we were at the beach and fun times were the only progress I was making!

Writing: Back on track. I printed out the 150 pages... yes, I did say 150 pages, it felt so good to see it all printed... so I could reread and reconnect to my WIP (after taking some time off, both planned and unplanned). I'm happy to say, I like it! I'm excited to sink my teeth back in this week and spend some time thinking about my writing goals for Round 3 ROW80.

Blogging: Daily. In July and August, I'm going back to a 3-4 days a week schedule so I can focus on writing. I posted twice last week on Mom in Love with Fiction.

Reading: I give myself at least 30 minutes a night to read. I need to start earlier or set a timer. The books I've been reading have been good and are keeping me up way too late.

Editing: Spending a minimum of an hour a day on editing projects. Sometimes I break it up, especially if I hit a couple of spots that stump me.

Social Media: Here's where I need a real schedule. I'm so far behind, especially now that I have so many blogs I like to read. I haven't found the solution for staying on top of it.

I hope all my ROW80 friends kick it this week as we cross the Round 2 finish line.

Surprises, Challenges, and Marketing

Catching up with some more Author Blog Challenge prompts.

The prompt process has been therapeutic for me as Mom and I are working on the follow up to Depression Cookies.

I have learned so much about publishing, marketing, author platforms, editing, book covers, story strengths, etc. I can't wait to put all this newfound knowledge to use in our second book (and the young adult book I'm working on).

Day 13 Prompt: What has been the most challenging part of your book process: writing, building the book, printing, distributing, marketing, etc.? What do you wish you'd known before you began?

Marketing, because it’s been such a learning curve and I don’t consider myself a salesperson. Early on in my mommy career, I tried my hand at selling Pampered Chef. I enjoyed the products, but I quickly realized sales was not my future. Fast forward ten years, and I was faced with selling my book. I knew nothing about social media, building an author platform, or any other marketing trick. I threw myself into the world of marketing, but I wish I had done it all at least six months BEFORE the book came out instead of waiting until publication.

I also wish I had known how easily I could access a writing community. It never ceases to amaze me how open and encouraging writers can be.

DAY 14 What has been the biggest surprise about writing/publishing your book? What has been the most enjoyable or most memorable aspect?

Meeting so many other wonderful writers and feeling like I am part of their circle. I was a closet writer before publishing, and now I have so many resources for my next book. I have also really enjoyed reader reactions. I’m still amazed by readers who take the time to contact us and tell us how much they loved the book. It’ll never get old.

Day 16 Did you publish your book as a traditionally printed book, an eBook, or both? How did you come to your decision? Which company(ies) did you use for printing and distribution? How did you select them?

Our book is available in paperback, Kindle, Nook, and soon on Smashwords. Originally, we were picked up by a small publisher. Unfortunately, the owner passed away suddenly before our book could be published. We were ready to go, and chose to publish with Xlibris. Thankfully, we had already been professionally edited and had a lot of great advice, because that company was little to no help (other than the actual publishing). I would not go with them again, especially knowing all I know now.

We now have our books printed through a wonderful company, Market Source, in Atlanta. And soon we’ll be on Smashwords.

DAY 17 Describe the market for your book – to the tiniest detail (e.g., childless divorced women past age 50 who want to remarry). Why that demographic? How do you connect with them to market to them?

Mothers and daughters, but specifically moms who have daughters. Since our story is a mother-daughter tale written by a mother and daughter, it makes the most sense. But really any woman, since they’ve been a daughter, whether they are a mother or not. We hope the book will open up a dialogue between women about the way we deal with relationships, how we process loving our bodies, how we deal with each other, and why we need other women.

We really love the idea of mothers and their preteen and up daughters reading it together and discussing how we can walk the same path and still view it so differently. Again, it's the idea of opening up a dialogue. As the mom of three girls, the oldest of which is 12, I know how important it is to have open and honest relationships with our children.

If you ask agents, and we did, this isn't the most ideal market to be in. We don't have vampires (or other paranormal elements), we miss the 20s crowd (they don't want to remember being teenagers or quite consider themselves "women"), and it's not a Danielle Steel-esque romance. But we wouldn't change a thing.

What has surprised you about the writing/blogging community?

532 Miles of Books: Fun Facts Friday

Today's Fun Facts Friday post is dedicated to interesting facts about books. Why? Because they bring me much happiness, as do Fridays.

Largest Library in the World

The Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA contains 28 million books and has 532 miles of shelving. The British Library in London is the second largest.

If you were driving at a constant 70 mph in a car it would take you just under 8 hours to pass them all.

I live near DC, and I haven't been there since I was a kid. Guess who just added a summer field trip with the kids to her summer plans?!

Best Selling Fiction Authors of All Time

1. William Shakespeare
2. Agatha Christie
3. Barbara Cartland
4. Danielle Steel

Best Selling Kindle Author of All Time (to date)

Suzanne Collins, greatly aided by Hunger Games.

World's Most Expensive Book

From a 12/7/10 LA Times article: Naturalist John James Audubon's "Birds of America" sold at auction in London on Tuesday for $11.5 million, making it the world's most expensive book. The book, which was sold by the auction house Sotheby's, was purchased by Micahel Tollemache, a London art dealer who was present in the room.

"Birds of America" is oversize -- more than 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide -- with 435 illustrations. When first published in 1827, the images were printed in black and white and then hand-colored by specialists.

If you could have any book-related item, and money was no object, what would you want?

My gut answer: I'd like to sit down with Judy Blume and pick her brain, along with my preteen daughter. Then I'd have her sign all the copies of her books that I still have from my teenage years.