RESEARCHING AND THE WAITING GAME

Hey All!!!
So, as always, it's been way too long since I last posted. I definitely have to get better at this regular posting thing. In the months since I last spoke to you guys, nothing much has happened. I got comfy in my day job, got financially stable for the first time in a few years, and am feeling more like my good ol' writing machine self. I have a new story that I'm working on, while querying the one I just finished polishing. I've amassed what feels like a ton of rejections, but I know that that's the business and will keep on trucking (said while putting all feelings of failure in a box so I can completely ignore them =) ).

The biggest issue I'm having right now is with really getting into my new story. I always have what I like to think of as a lull in excitement/activity when it comes to my writing. These lulls happen right as I start a new project - before the main character's voice starts taking up serious space in my head - and when I'm about 3/4 of the way through - when I'm having to trudge through to the end. But I have to say, the sense of anticipation that I get while waiting for the character to really start speaking to me is both tortuous and exciting all at once.

So what do I do while I wait for this roller coaster ride to start up - why, research of course! Since I know my main character is Pakistani, I'm going to look up everything I can on that culture - food, clothes, religion, etc. I want to know what it's like for those who live in Pakistan, and those who have migrated to other countries as well. What are the issues that face a young Pakistani girl in this day and age. And I have to say I've been very inspired by the tale of Malala Yousufzai, a young girl who was shot in Pakistan for daring to continue with her education and for speaking up for young Pakistani girls there. In doing this searching, I'm hoping that Alana will begin speaking to me and my story will begin to take shape.

What do you do when you hit a lull in your writing? How do you break the surface of a new tale.

Until next time - and hopefully it won't be as long!!!

THE PATHS TO PUBLICATION: SELF PUBLISHING VS TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING AND THE ALL POWERFUL DEBUT TITLE

Hey All!!!
As I previously stated, I went to an amazing writers conference this weekend in Houston, hosted by the Houston Writers Guild. There were a variety of speakers with a wealth of information, and I'm happy to say that I made a few friendly contacts that I hope to keep for many years to come. But one of the most valuable lessons I learned while soaking up the knowledge around me was that while self publishing is definitely a more acceptable alternative to traditional publishing now a days, choosing that path comes with consequences all writers need to consider. Those consequences have everything to do with the affect it has on being considered a debut author.

See, in publishing there's nothing more precious than the "debut" title...and when it comes down to it, folks, you only get it once. Whether it be with a major publishing house or self publishing with Amazon, you only get the benefit of the doubt that comes with being a debut author that first time your name graces a cover. And that benefit of the doubt can make or break your shot at representation or at obtaining a contract.

From what was explained, one of the ways the publishing gods determine whether or not they'll work with an author is by determining how profitable they think that person will be. The way that profitability is shown is either one of two ways:

• Publishers knows that they'll make a particular profit on a hardback copy of a book, something along the lines of $12.



• If you've already done the self publishing route, they'll take the number of sales you've acquired (whether it's 500 or 5000) and multiply that number by the $12 they can expect to make per book.



• This can be a problem if your sales don't amount to a profit they want. It could cause publishers to decide against taking on your project.



• If you're a debut author, publishers will take a well-known author with a similar book and use an estimate of their sales for this calculation. This number will often be advantageous to the author and can push the publisher in a positive direction when deciding to take on the project.

As you can see, this method for determining profitability can definitely impact an author's ability to get on with a traditional publisher, and is something we all should think about.

Like many writers, I've been seriously considering the self publishing route. Though I'm not considering it for my current project - one that I absolutely love and hope that the publishing community will love as well - I've been thinking on it as a possibility for my earlier works. As I continue to learn about the various facets of this industry, my thoughts and feelings continue to change, making my head spin with all of the possibilities. What I do know is that I have to be diligent in learning as much as I can about the industry before I make any major moves. And I hope that once I do jump it's with as much foresight and understanding as possible.

THE LIFE OF THE PARTY, I AM NOT: MY STRUGGLE TO NOT SUCK AT SOCIAL MEDIA

Hey All!!!

So, today I got slapped. And I don't mean the light tapping that you give your rambunctious two year old...no, I got the real deal, knock the taste out of your mouth, good ol' slapping.

See, I participated in The Houston Writers Guild Conference today - side note, if you're serious about writing and live in the Houston area this conference is a really good resource - and they spoke a lot on the importance of social media and reaching out to your audience. The speakers talked about how you should build a platform and a brand and how talking to you all on a regular basis was something I must do...and all I could do at hearing that was to hang my head in shame.

I've never been good with the whole "social thing" as I liked to call it in high school. Sure, I was a cheerleader and all, but I got that mostly based off the fact that I had seriously sharp motions, killer jumps, and halfway decent tumbling skills. If it had been the popularity contest it was in my mother's day I would've been toast - no matter how sharp my motions or how superb my jumps were. The life of the party, I am not.

I started getting down on myself in the conference main hall, thinking on how I have this blog that I'm not good at updating and how I need to do better, to be better, and I had one of my awesome ah ha moments.

What I need to do is to put blogging into my routine. I need to have some time framed out at least three times a week to really focusing on you all, and on imparting some sort of information into the void. So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Come Hell or high water.

We'll see how this goes...and wish me luck!

THE TROUBLE WITH DEVELOPING A WRITING ROUTINE

Hello All!!!
So, today I woke up for the third Monday in a row for my 5:20 am workout. I groaned at the early hour that my alarm had the nerve to go off at, mumbled as I got dressed for the grueling pain I was about to put myself in, and moaned as I made my way through the first minutes of the work. I spend my early mornings on Mondays and Tuesdays with good old Jillian Michaels, and that woman kicks your butt for real! So when my alarm goes off and I anticipate the world of hurt I'm about to go through, I think of going back to sleep...every single time! This thought today made me think on how difficult it is to establish good routines in everything we do...especially in writing.

Getting that much needed and desired writing routine can be so difficult. Ask anyone, getting yourself to sit down for a specified amount of time every day can be such a pain once you've had other things come into the mix and mess with your established schedule. For me, moving to New York, moving back to Houston, dealing with a period of sadness (ie: can't write cause I'm too upset), then finding a new job completely messed up my good old, tried and true schedule. Now I'm working to get that new routine in gear.

It's taking a lot of trying new things and throwing them out once I find that they don't work to find my new process, but I feel sure that I'll find it soon. And the benefits of all of this searching and trying new things will definitely come in time.

What processes to you all work with? How long did it take you to find a routine after a drastic change?

Happy Writing!!!

USING OLD, INTENSE EMOTIONS

Hey Everybody!!!
So, I've been out of the game for a while, but that's mostly due to me having to get my life back together. After a rough year, I've finally found a good and stable job that's fairly stress free, have a good man who appreciates me, and more room in my head to think of the awesomeness that is writing and creating =). I'm still working on getting my writing groove/schedule back, but I figured that will all come in due time, so without further adieu...

Yesterday some idiot in Africa hacked into my Facebook account. It didn't cause me too much strain, but it did make me have to go and change a lot of my passwords to protect my private, for lack of a better word, stuff. I was going through one of my old bank accounts and realized how drastic of a shift in pay I'd taken since my little...let's call it a journey...to New York and back. And it made me a little angry. Who am I kidding, I was peeved! And I mean seriously seething. With one motion I was reminded of everything I gave up and sacrificed, and of all the emotions that came with it. But instead of letting myself get caught up in the wave of it, I decided to note it, to jot down the physical and emotional effects of what I'd felt, and use it at a later date.

When it comes down to it, crap happens in life that you can't plan for. All you can do is learn from your experiences and move on. Me, I plan on using these events to make my characters more real and life-like, because that's part of my job as a writer. I'm not only supposed to come up with interesting story lines and plots that keep a reader on their seat, but characters that feel and react in a way that the reader can truly relate to. And that is how I plan on turning the proverbial lemon into lemonade!!!

How do you all turn your bad situations into writing gold?

FINDING YOUR WRITING PROCESS

Hey All!!!

So, this past week we added a new addition to our critique group. Her name is Laurie and she's super awesome because she also loves and writes YA!!! Now, I love all of my group members, but it's just going to be exciting to have another kid at heart in the group.

As we were going through the interview process to decide if we'd let her join (we're a tough group like that), the idea of finding ones writing process came up. When it comes to plotting and developing a compelling story, each writer has their specific process for getting their ideas from their brain to the page, but finding that process can be much more difficult than any of us can think. Laurie is in search of her process now and it got me thinking on how I'd found my own.

When I first started writing, I did what I thought all writers did, I sat at my computer and typed out my chapters as they flitted across my mind. I've always been a person who outlines, but I thought I had to just follow my outline and put those ideas onto the computer screen - and I utterly failed. While the story was plotted well, the draft that began to take form wasn't nearly what I knew I could produce. So I went back to the drawing board and thought on how I used to handle writing when I was doing a lot more of it - back in college and high school - and I realized one important fact - I used to write everything in long hand before typing it out at a later time. This one small change made all the difference. The words began to flow and when I did type it out I was able to edit myself and make my first draft even better. In turning back and re-evaluating my process, I found something that really worked well for me.

Each of us, as writers, have to find what works the best for us when it comes to transferring the stories in our minds to the stories that can be seen and read by others. It may take a bit of patience and a whole lot of work, but if you spend the time and focus on the task at hand, the reward will more than be worth it.

Happy writing!!!

GETTING MY GROOVE BACK: PART DEUX

Hey All!
So, things have been slowly coming into place in my life and it got me thinking on writing and how it's hard to get a routine down once you've lost it. See, a year ago I was on a roll. I had this cushy job that provided me with a good amount of time to write in between busy spurts, not to mention those hour long lunch breaks that I'd take at my desk either reading some inspiring tale or, better yet, writing a gut wrenching story of my own. It was great. It was glorious. I was a writing machine!!!

But then I moved to New York, and my focus shifted from creating to worrying about finding a new job. That anxiety crushed my creativity like a beast taking out a delicate butterfly. Though I tried day in and out, it was hard to be productive when I didn't know how I would pay my bills in a few months.

Then things fell apart (Thankfully!) and I was back in Houston, still job searching, still worrying about my finances. Then, as if that wasn't difficult enough, I had to deal with the loss of my relationship. If my anxiety crushed my creativity, then combining it with my emotions completely tore my writing ability to shreds. I was completely unproductive. And the worst thing was I had a killer story in my head, just waiting to get out. But I couldn't write.

Then something turned around for me. It was slow at first, each piece coming into place bit by bit, but I started to see light at the end of my tunnel again.

I got a job. It wasn't perfect, and still isn't, but I slowly began to feel secure again in my finances. I met this guy friend who actually got me excited about the possibility of dating again. My friends here started dragging me out more and more, reminding me that life is out there, waiting for you to experience it. And slowly, ever so slowly, I began to want to write again.

Now it was hard as hell. And I don't know what I would've have done without my critique group and other friends encouraging me along the way, but I'm finally at peace with life now. And that's when I started to think about the routine of writing. It's hard to get to that place...to find that groove where you write almost every day and you don't have other pesky things interfering with your muse, but I'm slowly getting there.

And the only thing I have to say to the universe is that the writing gods better get ready...cause, like Stella and her groove revival, I'm back!!!

Happy writing everyone!