When You're Reading to an Empty Room

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Please go to our renovated blog, THE SFF SEVEN.

Why I Like Being Hybrid

Happy Mother's Day to everyone, whether your mom was good or terrible, still with you or not, and whether anyone's ever acknowledged your own mothering. Special love and gratitude to both my own mother - the blonde in our family photo there - and to my second mother, my aunt sitting next to her. I'm blessed to have you in my life!

Secondly, we have a winner in the WORD WHORES REBRANDING BAKEOFF! Okay, no pastry items were involved (more's the pity), but we sorted through name suggestions from numerous sources and voted on our favorite.

The new name?? THE SFF SEVEN.

I like it a whole bunch! The change will kick in next Sunday, May 15. We'll keep you apprised!

In the meanwhile, we have seven winners! People who kindly brainstormed name ideas are:

Sullivan McPig
Stacy McKitrick
JanetLee
Heather
Kevin Reitz
B.E. Sanderson
Lynne Facer

You get to pick any book from any of the SFF Seven! Comment here to let us know the book and format preferred, along with a way to privately contact you to send it. Thank you, everyone, for playing!

In other news, to celebrate the upcoming release of THE PAGES OF THE MIND (and the concurrent release of THE CROWN OF THE QUEEN), Book One of the entire series, THE MARK OF THE TALA, is on sale for only $2.99. If you've been thinking about getting caught up on the series, now's a great time to get started!

Amusingly (or not, really) I saw a customer review somewhere that said they'd bought the book at the sale price, but then "the author raised the ebook price to $9.99 for the subsequent books." So, yeah, I know that MY PUBLISHER, Kensington, has the standard ebook price set at $9.99, which is a lot for the current market. I can't do anything about that. That's a drawback of traditional publishing - which is having a publisher, like mine in New York City - that was established before newer publishing models, and focuses on print book production, distribution and sales.

It's kind of interesting to me that self-publishing has become so well-established and prevalent these days that readers assume the authors set prices. But I also understand that these things are not transparent to the average reader. 

This week, we'll all be discussing the different forms of publication and which work best for us. We've got a variety of publishing paths in this group, so there should be a nice variety in the discussions. 

For my part, I consider myself to be hybrid at this point - which means I have books both with my traditional publishers and that I self-publish. I'm ever so grateful that I have the option to do both. A lot of authors who've been successful in the traditional publishing model had difficulties with the drawbacks there - price-setting, yes, but also long lead times, corporate politics, books going out of print, never to be resurrected, etc. With self-publishing so much more accessible and acceptable these days - and here I'd like to tip my hat to the intrepid writers who truly blazed this trail and made it so smooth and even for later-adopters like me - being a hybrid writer makes a great deal of sense to me. 

There are a lot of things I do like about traditional publishing, and I'm forever glad I both took that path and had the opportunity to do so. That's something important to remember - many authors who self-publish took that path because the doors to traditional publishing remained firmly closed to them, for a variety of reasons. For them, it wasn't a "choice" so much as the most viable alternative.

Similarly, however, authors who did take the traditional path are not stupid. And I feel I have to say this because I've been told to my face by more than one person that I'm stupid for going with traditional publishing instead of self-publishing, where I could have more control and make more money. I have many good reasons for making the decisions I did. One of them is that money isn't everything. It's not even the most important thing. 

Also, we decisions we do for complex reasons, many of them in the privacy of our hearts and minds. Chuck Wendig once said that, when people criticize him for going with traditional publishing when he could be making more money self-publishing, he feels like they're saying he should have married someone other than his wife.

I asked him if I could quote him here on that because that's a perfect analogy of how it feels. Nobody else can make these choices for us, these powerful decisions that affect the course of our lives. Second-guessing those choice, particularly by someone who hasn't been inside our skulls, hasn't walked in the quiet of our hearts, is simply inappropriate.

So, this week, as you hear each of our seven weigh in on the various publishing paths, keep that in mind. The kind of publishing that will work best for you is the one that works for YOU. Educate yourself. Weigh the options. But choose according to your heart, mind and gut - not someone else's.

After all - you'll be the one married to your decisions. 

The Books That Sent Me Down This Path

1990

This week's topic in the soon-not-to-be-a-bordello anymore - new title and contest winner to be announced soon! - is the book(s) that got us started on our genre.

This is always a hugely difficult question for me to answer because it feels like squeezing decades of reading into less than a thousand words.

Probably because that's exactly what we're trying to do.

But I'm trying this topic's particular focus on which books really sent me towards my niche genre of fantasy romance. I've discovered an interesting trend through this reflection on my past.

1991

A bit of history first. I trace my decision to become a writer to November of 1991. This is easy for me to look up, because my epiphany hit in the middle of the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans. (They have a convenient and nicely organized sidebar of past meetings that I check any time I need to confirm the exact date.) Actually, as epiphanies sometimes do, mine came in the form of a complete meltdown, in which I burst into tears in front of my PhD adviser and ran from the building.

At this point I discovered that pursuing my life's ambition should probably not make me that crazy. And that maybe what I really wanted out of life was something else entirely. To my vast surprise, it turned out that the "something else" was to be a writer.

1994

During that convention I was reading Anne Rice's The Witching Hour. I remember it vividly because my mom, who went with me to that convention, was reading it also. We even hunted down the house in the story and discovered Anne Rice actually lived there. I'd been a fan of Rice's since I received a copy of Interview with the Vampire in my Science Fiction Book Club shipment. This book, though, it wrapped me up, masticated my heart into tiny pieces and tucked them back inside me, totally changed. Yeah, I was already an emotional wreck - a lot happened to me that year, including meeting David, who turned out to be the love of my life - and that book was part of it.

It planted the seed of what I really wanted to write, without me even knowing it.

1995

Because I'd *always* loved to read anything paranormalish. From the time I picked up Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsong in 5th grade - not coincidentally the same year I read Interview with the Vampire - I consumed everything along those lines that I could find.

Two things, however, kept me from writing in that genre at first. Actually, I should say publishing. I did start writing this fantasy THING. It involved terrible fragments that went nowhere because I had zero craft or support in that direction. This is key, I think. My first publication was an essay, in 1997, and I came to write it because I took a class called Essays on Self and Place in 1996.

1998

Note how many years it took me from epiphany to publication.

1996

So, because I didn't know anyone who wrote genre, and there weren't visiting writer classes I could take in it, I didn't get focused on writing fantasy. Also, being in an academic environment, I thought I needed to write "important" things, not genre.

Alas.

But all during these years, that's what I was reading. It's interesting to review the books and series that pop into my head as formative - and then see the progression of dates. I've added them in as captions so you can see, too.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I *did* become an exhaustive reader. I didn't read all of these exactly when they came out, but pretty damn close. I haunted my local Hastings Book Store (because the indie book stores didn't carry genre), which had a rack of these books. I picked up Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart based on the cover and started in on Anita Blake because a colleague and similar fan of romance/paranormal crossover recommended them. And we'd both glommed onto Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books.

2002

A couple of things happened in the early 2000s. "The turn of the century" I liked to call it, but nobody thought I was funny. My first collection of essays (Wyoming Trucks, True Love and the Weather Channel) came out in 2004, to critical acclaim and practically zero income.

2002

Also, I became very aware of my unadulterated addiction to a number of series. I spent vast amounts of money on my autobuy books - JD Robb's In Death books, Gabaldon, Carey, Laurell K Hamilton and a few others. A good friend who'd begun to manage one of the local indie bookstores - and who was savvy and unpretentious enough to recognize book buyers like me - fed my addiction. She knew when my next autobuy book was coming out before I did and would have it ordered and waiting for me.

2005

Of course I couldn't resist.

Then, one day, she handed me Twilight. I wasn't interested. She said, no, really - my editor friend in NYC said she just spent the weekend reading this book and was spellbound. My friend thought I should at least read it, because early indicators were that it would be big. Then she asked me why wasn't I writing this kind of book, as much as I loved them.

At least I didn't cry that time.

But it was a second epiphany. I dug out those horrible fragments and began to play with them. It took several more years - and a lot of learning the craft of both writing novels and learning genre - but here I am, with my books right in there.

Pretty cool!

How a Vicious Review Opened My Eyes

This is one of my favorite photos from the RT Booklovers Convention in Las Vegas last week. Darynda Jones and I were on a panel and I think we were laughing here about people dissing fantasy heroines as unrealistic while loving Conan.

Hard to say, but it makes me smile every time.

Speaking of problematic labels... It's come to our attention here at the Bordello that our moniker, while entertaining in a snarky way, has become a problem. Apparently most firewalls object to the use of "whores" in the URL and, well, everywhere else on this blog. So, while we shall remain forever Word Whores in our hearts (and elsewhere), we've decided to rebrand.

And we're looking for suggestions for a new blog name! Put your ideas in the comments and we'll select our favorites, then run a poll in the sidebar. The winner will receive their book of choice from each of the seven of us! Caveat: our selection will strongly depend on domain/blog name availability, so you might check on that if your eyes are on the prize.

This week's topic is: Reviews.

Just that, and only that. Not like it's an enormous topic or anything, people.

The first thing that springs to mind is my very first encounter with a book review. Not a book report, which I feel like I began writing with a #2 pencil when my first grade teacher asked me to put into words all my feels about a book. No, this came a bit later, sometime after I was forced in 6th grade to read The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. (A book I loathed with the fire of a thousand suns - also a first for me.) I felt alone in my hate. The teacher who forced me to read it certainly didn't understand - and did not appreciate my mouthy opinions on the topic. Everyone else who'd already learned to loathe reading didn't understand either. My parents, friends, everyone I ranted to, responded along the lines of, "So? Everyone has to read books for school that they hate." But I never had read a book I didn't like before.

A horrible thing to discover.

At any rate, some time later - maybe a year or two - I came across an essay by Mark Twain called, "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses." (Apologies in advance for some of the racist language in it - you know how Twain was.) Reading that terribly snarky essay LIT UP MY WORLD, people! Twain detailed everything I hated about The Deerslayer and taught me more. Through his eyes I finally understood why I'd loathed the book.

This is what a good review does.

These days it's anathema for one author to so viciously criticize another. It's not even acceptable, in many circles, for a reviewer to completely eviscerate an author's work this way - though it can and does happen. A huge difference here is that Twain does so with wit and incisive intelligence, which not all modern reviewers can lay claim to, particularly of the internet troll variety.

Still, a well-thought out essay on why a book did not work for a reader can be a wonderful helping hand. From Twain I first began to understand how a book could go wrong for me. He walked me through how to parse prose from plot, character from ... well, whatever Fenimore Cooper used to transmit dialogue.

Do I like it when I get a scathing review of one of my books? Of course not. But a well thought-out discussion of why a book didn't work for a reader reveals important qualities of the story to other readers. And it makes us think, which is always a good thing.

Words and Pictures to Inspire

I've just slithered in from the RT Convention in Las Vegas. I don't know if this counts as inspiring, but here's a video of my acceptance speech for Best Fantasy Romance of 2015.

Are Pay-to-Play Published Book Contests Unethical?

To celebrate that THE TALON OF THE HAWK won Best Fantasy Romance of 2015 from RT Book Reviews, I got this amazing tattoo of Ursula's sword. I'm thrilled with how it turned out. (Freshly finished and a little red here - it looks even better now!)

If you haven't yet signed up for my newsletter, one went out today with an exclusive, never-seen-elsewhere, juicy deleted scene from TALON. If you sign up today, you can still see it. Yes, I'm totally luring you. Is it working?

You'll see this in the newsletter (hint, hint) - Kensington is sponsoring a Goodreads Giveaway of 25 copies of THE PAGES OF THE MIND. Hie thee hence to enter!

This week's topic in the Bordello poses the question of whether book contests you pay to enter are immoral or unethical. I confess that this was a topic I suggested, so it works out well for me to kick off the topic this week. I'm posing the question to the rest of the Word Whores and I'm really interested to hear their answers.

Allow me to explain a bit.

I entered the fiction-writing world via Romance Writers of America (RWA), and the highest award there is the RITA. It's essentially the Oscar of the romance-writing community. There's even a golden statuette! The RITA is open for anyone with a published novel or novella to enter. The author (or publisher) pays $50 and provides five paper copies of their book. Judges are sent packets of usually six to nine books to read and score, and the top scoring books are the finalists in their categories.

In contrast, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), which I joined later because their membership requirements are stiffer, have the Nebula Awards. To have a book nominated, it must be first put on a recommended reading list by SFWA members, then nominated by a certain number of those members, with the top contenders becoming the final nominees. (The nominees don't HAVE to be on the reading list first, but it helps.) The salient point here is that authors cannot enter their books - they can only provide copies for the reading list. The Hugo Awards for science fiction, fantasy and horror work much the same way, with "members" of the WorldCon convention that year nominating and voting.

What came as a surprise to me was that it came out in conversation with other members of SFWA that they look down on the RITAs for being "pay to play" awards. They see the Nebulas and Hugos as having greater integrity because the authors cannot enter the books - someone else must nominate them. However, to me this feels like a perpetuation of cliques and old-boy networks, with certain authors always nominated while others are overlooked for various reasons. Also, as we've seen with various scandals like Sad Puppies, these awards are subject to slate-stacking for various political purposes.

The RITA system, however, is far from perfect also, with bias against authors who cannot afford to enter and judges reading subgenres that are not ones they necessarily love. However, I do like that I can at least enter my books in the RITAs, even though they have yet to final. I suggested that SFWA entertain the notion of a new award where authors could pay to enter, which would be an excellent fundraiser - RWA made upwards of $100,000 on this year's contest - and was met with withering scorn. I'm not kidding. The phrase "withering scorn" was used in comment responding to my suggestion.

This is how strongly some members of SFWA feel.

So, I'm curious - what do you all think of this issue? I frankly don't get the withering scorn, but is that just me? Feel free to comment! And I'll be following with interest this week to see how my Bordello-mates weigh in. 

Crit Partners vs. Beta Readers

This week's topic in the Bordello is critique partners (CPs) - why we do or don't have them.

It's surprising to me that, while many aspiring and newbie authors use CPs, it seems like many authors gradually grow away from them over time. Particularly if they are working with editors. Also, more and more these days I hear writers refer to "beta readers" more than CPs, which I think indicates a few trends.

First off, let's define some terms, as they are in the Jeffe-verse. Your mileage may vary, but this is how I see it.

CP

A CP is someone who reads your work with a critical eye and provides feedback that might range from light edits to recommendations for exhaustive revisions. Usually this person is another author, who may or may not write in the same genre that you do. This relationship is usually reciprocal, where you act as a CP for their work, too. In fact, it's usually better that way, because having one person provide all the crit can cause problems for both. On the one hand, it's not fair to the person providing all the work and getting no benefit, on the other, a person who provides crit without subjecting themselves to crit in return can become callous and even mean.

Beta Reader

At the risk of being all GET OFF MY LAWN, when I first turned my dewy newbie author eyes on the shiny goal of becoming a career writer, I never heard the term "beta reader." Later I began to hear it used by established authors, who used it to mean a group of select (usually devoted readers of a series) people who would read the finished book with the expectation that feedback would be mild or high level. Then I heard more self-publishing authors adopt the term - and they seemed to use it in place of CP. To me (and I could be wrong), this reflects a trend of thought among self-publishing authors that critique kills voice and originality. A beta reader relationship can be reciprocal, but is more often one-sided.

Editor

I'm going to say that an editor is a paid, professional position - whether paid by a publishing company or a self-publishing author. (I have both. In fact, my editor from one of my traditional publishing houses works freelance also, and I hire her to edit my self-pubbed work, too.) An editor of this type typically provides developmental edits, which can range from mild tweaks to exhaustive revisions. A second stage, line-editing, handles less substantive issues - grammar, wording, continuity, etc. Note that copy-editing and proofreading are different! Those should not address content, but focus on formatting, grammar, typos, etc. This relationship is almost always entirely one-sided.

Okay! All of that said... do I have CPs?

Yes, indeedy, I do!

From the very dewy-eyed beginning, I have valued my CPs, and nothing has changed that. One of them is sister Word Whore Marcella Burnard. We've been CPs for ... wow, Marcella - six years? And sister Word Whore KAK has been a CP off and on. Several of the Word Whore alums have been CPs, too - though sadly are also CP alums at this point. People move on, yanno? These days I have two steadfast CPs who see almost everything I write. I also have several other author friends who I can send stuff to, depending on what the story is (since I write in multiple genres). My author assistant, Carien, acts as a beta reader at times - particularly on questions of series continuity.

My CPs are the ones who make sure I don't turn in complete shite to my editors. They read for me and we can talk out plot arcs and world building points. Some of my CPs skip reading and we just brainstorm plots with each other.

But all of this is by way of saying that I value crit highly - whether from CPs or editors. I think my editors can do better work if I've run things through my CPs first, because they can then focus on the higher level stuff and not have to fix basic structural/world/story issues.

As for the idea that critique can ruin voice or creativity... No, I don't believe it. Sure, an author has to winnow through the feedback she receives. It's key to learn what's an individual preference and what's going to matter to a lot of readers. But the one thing I'm sure of - almost no CP or editor ever sets out to kill a book and force it to conform to some standard. If you do encounter a toxic person like that - run, don't walk in the other direction. And know that it's the person, not the institution.

Good CPs are gold. They keep me humble, willing to examine my own work in depth, and on the course of ever-improving.

Thanks ever so much, ladies!

Life, Death, and Long-Term Planning

So... this happened last week, but I hadn't shared here yet. THE TALON OF THE HAWK won Best Fantasy Romance of 2015 in the RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Awards!!! Look at that amazing company. I'm just thrilled that this book won. Not only because, well - winning! - but because this particular story really gutted me to write and remains a special book for me.
This week's topic in the Bordello is Long Term Plans - when to stick to the script, and when to deviate.

I'm going to tell you all a story. This should come as no surprise.

I should caveat that I have a precarious relationship with long-term planning. I absolutely believe in having a vision for my life. I have many long-term goals - they're simply not tremendously detailed. Those deals where you lay out one-year, five-year, ten-year plans? Mine tend to be along the lines of "visit Maldives, snorkel at Lord Howe Island and be BFFs with Tina Fey." I am decidedly NOT the person who sets salary goals, etc. I've tried. It doesn't work for me.

This is why.

David and I have been dealing with a THING these last weeks. It's not really about us, but it's impacted us both on profound levels. A few years ago, David's brother (who I'll call R for privacy) was diagnosed with lung cancer. A really bad kind. The news hit David particularly hard as it came not long after their father died. A couple of weeks ago, we found out that, after years of treatment and remission, the cancer was back and it didn't look good.

I haven't seen David cry many times, but this was one.

This threw us into a limbo of uncertainty. R was hospitalized a good thousand miles away from us, in a part of the country where it's both ridiculously complicated and outrageously expensive to fly. This means a thirteen-hour road trip. Moving to Santa Fe has come with this price for us. We're no longer a two- to four-hour drive from family. We agonized over what to do. David spent a lot of time on the phone with his other brother and one sister, along with our son, daughter and daughter-in-law. Plans were made and discarded any number of times. We made decisions and changed them as the news changed. David wanted to see his brother, but the brother would be in surgery, or too out of it to see anyone.

This ever-changing window of opportunity, a moving target at the end of a road trip that would consume at least three days, maybe more, was further complicated by a planned trip to Tucson Festival of Books, an eight-hour drive in the other direction. I'd cancel if I had to, but it was a huge professional opportunity for me - I was on a panel with Terry Brooks! - and it was also my mother's birthday. In addition, David just started a new job in Socorro, NM, about two hours south, in an acupuncture practice there. Newly made patient appointments would have to be canceled. We'd make the sacrifice without question, but only if it made sense to do so.

Finally the brother said he most needed to be left alone and not be bombarded with company and we respected that.

We went to Tucson last weekend and it was even better than I'd hoped. Everyone I met was wonderful. And Terry Brooks, one of the most gracious superstar writers I've yet met, read reviews from THE PAGES OF THE MIND to the audience before the panel started and gave me the most incredible boost. David and I had a lovely weekend enjoying the Tucson sunshine. News was that various surgeries had gone well, so all seemed well.

This last Thursday, David was in Socorro when we got the news that all was NOT well - the doctors gave the brother days to live and he was being sent home. Again we made massive plans. David would be back in Santa Fe by midday Friday, we'd drive up to Denver, pick up our daughter and grandkids, drive up to Cheyenne, stay the night with David's sister, then all make the final trip to northern Wyoming. Then a major winter storm hit Colorado on Friday, dumping heavy snow from border to border. We revised the plan to leave super early Saturday morning.

Now, I had tickets to see Amanda Palmer in concert Friday night at the grand opening of Meow Wolf, George R.R. Martin's art complex. I'm one of her patrons on Patreon, so I knew she and Neil Gaiman, another of my writer idols, had been in Santa Fe for over a week. She'd done a Q&A for patrons on Sunday night, but alas - we were in Tucson. When we decided to head to Wyoming on Friday, I scrapped the concert plan. I was going to give them away, but I couldn't find the email. When we scrapped that plan to go early Saturday, I didn't even think about the concert. Staying up late was the last thing we needed and, while I really wanted to meet Amanda, I was ambivalent. The timing felt bad, it seemed unlikely I'd get to talk to her at a gig like that, and the whole meeting-your-heroes thing. I'd had a great experience with Terry Brooks and didn't want to ping the universe for too much, you know?

So we went to bed early, and David and I got up at five am Saturday morning (yesterday), ready to be on the road by six. We turned on our phones to find voice messages that David's brother died during the night. His other brother said we might as well hang tight for funeral plans.

At a loss, up far too early, already caffeinated with no particular plans, we hung around for the morning. It was good, actually, to simply rest. David talked with family a lot. I read a book. I told David anything he wanted to do with the day was good by me. He suggested we go have lobster pizza and wine in the sun at Rooftop Pizza, raise a glass to his brother, and celebrate life.

We headed into town and the historic plaza was mobbed on this beautiful spring break weekend. Our favorite parking lot was full, as was our second favorite. Between the tourist drivers and pedestrians, it took a long time to wend our way back around. Then we nabbed a meter spot a few blocks away - hooray! - and walked to the restaurant. As we approached the street corner where there's this little courtyard area, I saw a redheaded woman changing a baby's diaper and singing.

We continued to cross the street, but I said to David, "I think that's Amanda Palmer."

I wasn't uncertain if I should go say hello, but David talked me into it, saying I'd regret it if I didn't. We crossed back. She'd just finished changing the baby and handed him off to a sunbathing guy who I knew must be Jason Webley.

I said, "Are you Amanda?" She smiled and said yes and I told her I was one of her patrons. She asked if we came to the concert last night and I said no, that we had tickets but... And in there she asked for our names. David had been hanging back, as he figured this for my deal, but I had the strange urge to explain, so I introduced him and said that his brother passed away that night so we didn't make it.

She was genuinely stricken and asked David it was unexpected and he said cancer She told him she'd just lost someone to cancer and that it was the anniversary of her brothers death - and she hugged him, long and hard - like a full minute. It was extraordinary because David doesn't like hugging strangers, but they connected in this and his whole body softened with the shared grief. And it hit me that he'd needed this.

Then we talked about death a little, and how David and I were going to eat lobster pizza and drink wine in the sun. She said that was the perfect thing to do. It was kind of surreal and awesome.

And perfect.

By the time we got up to the balcony a few minutes later, she and her friends had moved on. Our timing had been serendipitous.

You all know how I feel about serendipity.

So all of this is by way of explaining why I'm not much for long-term plans. I'll make them - but I'll also discard them in a flash, because some of the best moments come as gifts from the universe, bestowed on a schedule not our own.

As we ate lunch, we talked about how this is a wonderful thing about living in Santa Fe, that we could run into Amanda Palmer on a street corner. And David said, "now you just need to make Tina Fey be your friend."

Totally in the plan!

And always in the plan to savor this beautiful life we've got.

Flash Fiction: The Lost Hour

Wow, I go to the Tucson Festival of Books and my shoes are all stretched out, chopped-off toes strewn around my closet floor, and KAK and Jim toss up amazing bits of flash fiction that set the bar really damn high.

I did get to be on a panel with Terry Brooks, however. And I may have squealed unbecomingly when he held up my book and read reviews from the front. Forever thanks to faithful reader Lynne Facer for grabbing this truly epic photograph.

And now, my contribution to the week's flash fiction challenge, filling in what happens during that hour we lose by springing forward.

**************************************

Too restless to sit, he paced a tight circle around the park bench, checking his watch yet again. Not quite yet 8 a.m., so he shouldn’t be impatient for her arrival.

Still, he couldn’t wait to see her again, to see her beloved face, to tell her he finally understood what she’d tried to explain in all those arguments, both shouted and hissed. Since receiving her note, he’d practiced all the apologies, the promises to change. He would do it, for her.

This early on a Sunday morning, very few other people graced the park, so he’d see her arriving from a ways off. He recited his resolutions again, in time to his footsteps, shushing through the damp grass.

 

I’ll change. I won’t be a Luddite. I’ll get a smartphone and learn to text. Computers aren’t evil, only the way they’re used. I won’t be jealous of your social media friends. I won’t tell you only paper books are real.

Even though he might privately still think so.

The watch hands ticked into place, 8:00, on the dot. Any moment she’d arrive. Even if she was late, he wouldn’t say anything. He was a changed man and could learn to live with her lack of punctuality.

You’d think, though, that for such an important meeting—one that she arranged—she would have made extra effort to be on time. That just showed respect for each other. If she didn’t spend so much time looking at her phone, chatting with people who weren’t even her real friends, she wouldn’t run behind. He loved her and he was real, flesh and blood. She should value that.

8:05. Officially late. Tamping down the irritation, he reversed his circles around the bench. Here she’d said she’d only give him fifteen minutes for the apology he’d beseeched her to accept and she’d blown five of them.

8:07. Edging into irresponsible. Couldn’t she understand how it hurt him for her to abuse his time this way? He didn’t ask so much. The careless bitch. Probably reading one of her trashy ebooks and forgetting all about him.

By ten after, he began to question if he had the right day. Fishing the note out of his pocket—on fine stationery, even, proving that she’d considered his sensibilities—he read it for the hundredth time.

Dear Steve,
Yes, I have received all the letters you sent me. I feel like you’ve already apologized, already made all the promises. We’ve been around this block too many times to count. I loved you—maybe I still do—but we’re simply not compatible. You’re an old-fashioned guy, which is okay! But I’m a modern woman who works in tech. I can’t feel bad about who I am anymore.
Still, because it means so much to you, I’m willing to see you one last time. Meet me Sunday morning, March 13, at 8:00 a.m. I promise to be on time if you will. But I’ll only wait fifteen minutes. I strongly advise you to carefully check the time.
With hope,
Julie

8:15. She hadn’t shown. Irritating that she’d advised him to carefully check the time. She knew he did, ritually winding his grandfather’s watch every night before bed. Setting the alarm on his mechanical clock, the sound of ticking minutes a comfort through the night, though she had complained of the noise. She who slept with that blasted phone on her nightstand.

Fuck her anyway, that she’d taunt him this way. Whether she forgot, overslept or was simply paying him back for all those imagined insults, he didn’t care. She was too picky. Completely selfish and self-absorbed.

He couldn’t believe that she’d done this to him.

I promise to be on time if you will.

He held the watch to his ear, the ticking reassuring him that he was in the right. He’d been on time and she hadn’t.

“Watch stop?” A man slowed his jog, glancing at the display on his wrist. “I’ve got 9:25.”

Steve frowned at his watch display. “8:25, you mean.”

The jogger grinned. “Time change. Spring forward. We lost an hour.” Speeding up, he disappeared around the bend.

I strongly advise you to carefully check the time.

He'd lost far more than an hour.

Social Media Sin #3

Phoning it in because you think you SHOULD. I mean. Everyone else is doing the Social Media thing! Taking the online world by storm. Or at least maybe talking to people. Via pixels. But hey! Selling things ulterior motive!

No. No. No. This is beaching yourself on the shores of social media hell simply because you envy someone else's easy, pithy style and/or number of followers. Yeah, I had to reach for a metaphor to match my photo. Work with me.

In echo of what Marshall said so well yesterday, the social media thing isn't compulsory. There are absolutely people who have just enough extroversion in their generally introverted little hearts to make the social media thing look easy. But, you know, do you. If watching your Twitter feed scroll gives you hives, don't do it. If Facebook or Pinterest or Tumblr or anything else is a black hole mysteriously swallowing hours of your day, you have a problem and should probably cold turkey that crack.

Here's the rule I apply to me: If fun = yes, then go. If fun = pulling teeth, then no. Okay. There is an ancillary rule: Word count for the day must be achieved BEFORE any social media. Because writing is my job. Social media is a tool, yes, and fun - but it supports the writing, not the other way around. Why such simple rules?

It goes back to Jeffe's theme on the subject: Engagement. I find that me yelling BUY MY THING is as much fun as slamming my fingers repeatedly in car doors. It's off-putting when someone else fills my feeds with desperate buy links, I have no intention of doing it to someone else. Now. Annoying people with cat photos? Or with ridiculous, nerdy memes? Or comically awful nihilistic end of the world scenarios? Sign me up. Yeah. I know. I need to work on my definition of fun, don't I? The thing is a sense of enjoyment translates. If the person behind the social media posts is genuinely having a good time posting, that comes through. And there's nothing like a bit of fun to draw people in to engage with you. At least, that works for me. Sure. There are people who attract attention by posting outrage over this cause or that cause. I'm glad there are people who do that - the unexamined dark corners of humanity could use a little light shone into them. If that's your thing, more power to you. But that's the point: Do what matters to you. Make room for having a good time.

Shoulds are boulders. They'll crush you if you let them.

Social Media Sin #1

Megan Hart and I at the Day of the Dead mixer at the Coastal Magic Convention. Those skeleton hands temporary tattoos were super cool - and hell to get off again. Oops.

But I'm here today to talk about virtual communities and circles of social media hell. Which do I pick as my current #1 Social Media Sin?

Abusing email loops.

I'm on a number of email loops, most of them various author groups. Some are authors who all write for a particular publisher, some are RWA chapter loops, some are loops for group blogs. They range in size from maybe a dozen members up to probably 500 or more for one of them. But the point remains that all of them are specific-purpose loops, for authors to interact.

And some people can't seem to get past sending emails about their latest blog post, book release or what-have-you to these loops. One gal is on three different loops with me, so I see her send several-weekly blog post announcements to all three loops. Over and over and over.

So, let's talk about why I'm sending her to this circle of Social Media Hell to be punished for eternity or until she reforms her ways. (Guess which outcome is more likely?)

Problem #1 - She's pinging the same finite audience with promo messages, over and over.

Pretty much only the people on that email loop will see the message. The exception would be if someone forwards a message off loop, which is usually against group policy and they're unlikely to forward your promo anyway. She must feel like she's accomplishing something, but she's broadcasting to the same people all the time. This is not building engagement. It's returning to the same billboard week after week to slap up a flyer in a slightly different color and leave again.

Problem #2 - She's irritating people.

Okay, she's irritating me. But I've heard other people mention her practice on this, too. Since these missives are pretty much the only things I hear from her - because I never click through to her blog posts - my entire association about her now is a sense of irritation. Sure, it's easy to delete and I do, but every time, a bit of that irritation builds. And it's not making a pearl, I can tell you that.

Problem #3 - She's talking to other authors, not to readers.

So, yes - authors are also readers. But we're not on those loops as readers. We're there to talk about our common profession, not to sell books to each other. I know a lot of you who read this blog are authors, particularly posts like this, which are more about author practices. But I'm talking to you about author things, which theoretically helps my overall reputation. I'm not yammering at you to buy my books. This is really key - know why you're talking to what group.

Problem #4 - She's broadcasting, not engaging.

Nathan Lowell is a newish friend of mine and has really smart things to say about marketing. One of the points he's made is that social media is about engagement and influence. It's a DIFFERENT kind of marketing than traditional advertising which works by way of broadcasting. A cereal brand puts commercials on TV or puts up billboards in the hope that a certain percentage of people who see those ads will respond by buying the product. Effective social media, however, is about creating communication with people who want to hear your message. Ideally everyone in your network who receives your message is someone who has opted in and is happy to hear it. Not irritated. (See #2.)

Problem #5 - She's oblivious to the purpose of the email loop.

By sending her blog post messages to the group - especially the same one to multiple groups - she's effectively telling us that she doesn't care about us or our common profession. She's making it clear that she's there to promote her career, not to form relationships with us or offer her expertise. She's telling me that she's not my friend. Which makes me feel like I'm not her friend either.

I've picked on one particular example here, but the principle applies to all interactions on email loops. They are not your street team or newsletter subscribers! If you abuse your email loops, then yes - you will find yourself in the circle of Social Media Hell that I rule. My demons will bombard you will email messages until you weep for mercy.

Until you promise to mend your ways.

Now, go forth, my people and pay attention to who you're emailing and why.

When My Creativity Needs a Kick in the Ass, I...

We had some coyote visitors the other day. I took this through our glass front door. They look happy and healthy!

This was an interesting topic for me to contemplate, largely because I don't really regard myself as a creative person. People react weirdly when I say that. I mean, I know that writing is a creative process. Hell, it's called "creative writing," right? But maybe it's all those years of scientific training and working for an environmental consulting firm. Scientists for the most part don't regard themselves as creative.

To be fair, maybe they aren't.

One of my all-time favorite teachers, the late Professor David Hadas at Washington University in St. Louis, looked at creativity through a spiritual lens. He taught religious studies (my other major, besides biology) and was my honors adviser, so he had a profound influence on me. He once told me about a public appearance he did, discussing how creativity is an expression of the soul, of transcendence. (He called himself a non-practicing Orthodox Jew, which is a joke you may or may not get. Suffice to say, he had a fairly non-denominational view of concepts like the "soul.") At any rate, at this event, he'd explained that creativity took effort, not unlike disciplined religious practice, and that not everyone could do it by any stretch. This one guy said, "I don't know - I like to think I play a pretty creative game of tennis." In relating this story, Professor Hadas said, "See? He was so desperate for some connection to creativity that he grasped at straws."

He told me that story probably twenty-some years ago. Funny that it came back to me now.

I suppose it floated up in my head in response to me asking myself what I do to boost my own creativity. For the most part, being creative feels to me like getting out of my own way. When the writing feels best, it's like taking dictation from elsewhere. The things I love best in my books - and interestingly that readers point out as their favorites - are all elements that stream in unexpectedly from elsewhere. I think Professor Hadas would say that's connecting with the divine.

I'm only just realizing, in writing this, how much of my ideas about writing come from what he taught me.

At any rate, this is what I do if I'm feeling like the words aren't flowing:

1) Power Through

Because I feel like the words come elsewhere, very often I find that the act of writing allows the creativity to flow. So I keep typing away, pushing at the wall until I break through.

2) Take a Break

If I can't break through that wall, sometimes it means I need to take some time away. That might mean work on something else, it might mean doing some manual task like gardening, to let my brain recover.

3) Clear Away Noise

Probably because I got my ideas about creativity from Professor Hadas, I revert to concepts I learned from religious studies, about clearing the mind, meditation, and focus. Noise of any kind interferes with that - internet, TV, worries - anything that keeps the mind from being like a still pond. So I turn everything off. I might meditate, I might do some Tai Chi. Whatever it takes to eliminate the chatter.

4) Refill the Well

Enjoying someone else's art can stimulate my own enthusiasm again. I'm lucky to live in a beautiful place with tons of wonderful art. Sometimes I go look at the galleries, or just stare out at the view.

5) Have Fun

It's easy to get very serious about a story - especially during dark moments in the book itself - and forget the joy. But creating something should be joyful at its core. If I'm not having fun, I know it's time to take a step back and try steps 2-4.

Looking forward to more great tips on this from my sister and brother whores!

Tips and Tricks for Great Titles

I took this pic several weeks ago - just love how the Santa Fe light works, with the highlights and shadows, and the looming mauve fog bank swirling in to shroud it again.

This week's topic in the bordello is The Joy and Agony of Coming Up With Titles.

I'm not really sure where the joy comes in - unless it's the zing of knowing you've finally landed on the right one. Or, sometimes, that you don't have to think about it anymore.

One question writers ask each other a lot is whether they title first, then write, or write and title later. Most fall into one of those two groups. This is further complicated, however, by two factors:

1) In this age of computers, we're forced to save our file as SOMETHING, so this makes us commit to a title sooner than we might otherwise. There's always using a placeholder, sure, but if multiple works all have placeholder titles, it can get dangerously confusing. Which "draft" is that??
2) If traditionally publishing, the author might not even get to decide the title. Even if self-publishing, an author might not choose the title they love. This is because titles are part of a book's branding, it should communicate genre to readers. This is why we often talk about "working titles," because we know it will likely change.

I tend to fall into the first camp, though more so in the past than recently. Not sure what that change indicates. Actually - maybe I do. I'll get to that.

When I first began writing seriously, I almost always knew the title before anything else. For example, I knew the title "Wyoming Trucks, True Love and the Weather Channel," - which also became the title of the collection - before I knew exactly what I'd say in the essay.

Some of my early titles all stuck. The Facets of Passion books, Sapphire, Platinum and Ruby, were all original titles. I'd wanted to call Five Golden Rings "Oro," instead, but my publisher thought no one would know that's the Spanish word for gold. I was disappointed about that. In retrospect, however, I think maybe that whole series suffered for those titles. I love them, but they don't communicate genre very well. They don't scream erotic BDSM.

For the next set of books in that genre, we titled very deliberately, choosing the series name Falling Under, and the titles Going Under, Under His Touch and Under Contract. Those communicate genre better, but suffer from sameness - it's easy to mix them up. A lot of romance titles suffer from this, and it's not necessarily bad - they communicate genre and that's key. Incidentally, those books all had "jewel" titles originally in my working notes - Emerald, Amber and Adamantine, respectively. (Amusingly, the Italian title for Going Under is Sexy Games.)

For the Twelve Kingdoms books, the first was The Middle Princess to me for a LONG time. All the way until my editor at Kensington felt the title was too YA, which I could see. He suggested the title, The Mark of the Tala, which I immediately fell in love with. I suggested the following titles - The Tears of the Rose instead of The Flower Princess, and The Talon of the Hawk instead of The Sword Princess.

I've learned to let go of titles, is what I'm saying. So much so that my current work is called "Story" and is filed under "New FR series." I think this shows changes in me as a writer in a few ways:

1) I trust my craft and inner storyteller better, knowing that the title will emerge eventually.
2) I'm not so attached to titles. What's important is conveying genre and the story itself.
3) I've found that other people are sometimes far better at suggesting good titles for my work.
4) In some ways, knowing the title ahead of time can constrain the story, as if it creates too many lines.

Also, along the way I've discovered a few tricks for titling that I'm happy to share here:

1) The lovely and insightful Grace Draven taught me this trick: use a line from a poem. This is how we settled on the title for our duology out in May, For Crown and Kingdom, and how I picked the title for my story in the Devil's Doorbell anthology out in April, Exact. Warm. Unholy.
2) Choose a line from the story itself. This worked particularly well for essays. But that's also where my editor got the title The Mark of the Tala, because that was a recurring phrase in the story.
3) Look at other titles in the genre and make lists of them, break them into the composite words and brainstorm synonyms.

What other titling tricks do you all suggest?

What It Means to Write Drunk and Edit Sober

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! This photo is from a couple of weeks ago, celebrating 25 years with my valentine. Never imagined I'd find someone who is such a wonderful partner for me, or that we'd be together so long. Every day I give thanks for him.

This week's topic in the Bordello is how our personal vices actually aids in our writing.

I have a little trouble with the concept of a "vice." It's defined as immoral or wicked behavior. Coming from a Catholic background, I have plenty of voices in my head willing to chime in on what the Church views as immoral. And my Celtic pagan ancestors are happy with anything the priestly immigrants would have deemed wicked. Really, I regard my vices as those things I love to indulge in that are not so great for my health. Especially if I overindulge.

I have a terrible sweet tooth, I love to laze about in the sun and drinking alcohol is one of my greatest pleasures.

Seriously, I love to drink. I gave up beer years ago because it made me fat, but I love wine of all kinds, whiskey, vodka, brandy, champagne. Mmm... One of my favorite treats is a long lunch with plenty of wine. A martini finishes the day off perfectly. Fortunately those same Celtic ancestors blessed me with a strong constitution, but I do have to be careful not to overindulge.

But I do think it helps my writing.

That is to say, I never write drunk. Not that I wouldn't if I could, but I simply can't. The focus isn't there. A poet once told me that one beer makes the words flow and two dams them up for the duration. I've found that even one drink - say a glass of wine at lunch - means no words for me that afternoon.

People often quote Ernest Hemingway as having said, "Write drunk, edit sober." Apparently this is a misattribution. While he was famous for his drinking, Hemingway was also a morning writer and his family says he never wrote past the early hours and always drank later in the day. Which matches my own experience.

So why do I say this particular vice helps my writing?

I think what this advice is getting at - and it clearly resonates on some level or it wouldn't be passed around so much - is that drafting and revising require two different states of mind. People are sometimes surprised that I am organized about my schedule and word counts to the point of keeping Gantt charts, but that I don't pre-plot or outline in any way. This is because, for me, drafting uses a very different part of my consciousness than more critical-thinking activities like editing, revising or schedule-planning do.

Thus I very deliberately let go of those considerations when I'm writing. As much as possible. To my mind, this is much like letting myself enjoy drinking. I'm perfectly aware that my grandfather was an alcoholic who died of cirrhosis of the liver. The critical part of me keeps track of my consumption and whether it affects me in a negative way. But the other part, the hedonist in me, the part that loves the feel of a well-made glass in her hand, the flavor of good alcohol and the dreamy buzz of liquor - that's more my writing self.

I need both parts in equal measures.

Also, I'm teaching a webinar this week on Navigating the Lines of Consent in sex scenes. Should be big fun!

Essential Writing Tools

Thanks to KAK for posting on Sunday, while I was off at Daytona Beach watching ripped young men from the Embry Riddle Air Force ROTC do crunches. Oh, and being on panels, etc., at the Coastal Magic Convention. Damn, I love my job!

One question - why are my hats all out of order??

I'm going to weigh in on what KAK said, as she rounded things up nicely on our topic this week of our favorite writing apps. It's interesting where she and I do and don't overlap.

Before that, however, I want to address the overall topic, particularly as Jim and Linda have already indicated that they have little to nothing to say on the subject. They use Word and that's it. You'll also note that KAK listed Word first in her post. So did I.

It's important to remember that's because we are all established writers with habits and routines we've formed over years of work. Of course this is kind of a "duh" answer to us. But, it's worth pointing out that this is a question I see A LOT from newbie writers. I think the question arises partly from wanting to do things the best way and partly out of cultural conditioning, particularly in the U.S.

The man and I have a running joke, in fact, about how Americans love to "gear up" for new enterprises. Like the person who takes up biking and has to buy not only the bicycle, but all the color-coordinated gear, from socks to helmet. Or the one who decides to learn to paint and acquires the full-studio set of artistic supplies.

I think we're really inured into thinking that we need special tools to launch new enterprises. So, what are the essential writing tools?

Imma let you in on the secret!

YOU NEED TO HAVE: something to write on and something to write with.

Seriously. I'm not oversimplifying here. The beauty of being a writer is that we can get away with virtually zero overhead. A stubby pencil and scrap paper will get you by. Oh sure, eventually you're going to want to put those words into some sort of word-processing tool, because that's what everyone uses - whether you'll digitally format to self-pub or send to agents and editors.

Given those considerations, my five favorite ACCESSORY tools are:

1) MS Word:
I write in Word, edit, read for crit partners, etc. It's the industry standard and works just great for me.

2) MS Excel:
Me too on tracking All The Things. Submissions, sales, word count, project plans, P&Ls, etc.

3) Dropbox*:
Also on KAK on this one. I write all my manuscripts in Dropbox. It's a great relief to know I can rescue them from anywhere, should I need to.

Now she and I part ways.

4) Alarms and Clock --Windows 365:
I keep this window open for various timed events - 15, 20, 30, 45, 60 and 90 minutes. This lets me limit my social media time and pace my writing sprints throughout the day.

5) Calibre:
Terrific for converting, organizing and backing up my ebook library - including my own books. This is what I use to send manuscripts to CPs and beta readers, to send giveaway books to readers and reviewers, and to track what I have. Highly recommend!

Writing to the Market - Is It *Always* Anathema?

This is like one of those "Can you spot the X?" photos. Can you spot the quail in this pic? While the others in the covey are scratching around and eating, one will get in a high spot and be the lookout for predators. At first I thought I hadn't gotten a good photo - several were out of focus - and then I zoomed in and wow!

Love how he's looking right at me, too.

Our topic in the bordello this week is when should you write to the market?

Which is an interesting question, really. That's a hugely common piece of advice, to NOT write to the market. The reason for this is because if a writer targets a book for what's hot RIGHT NOW, then by the time the book is written, revised, polished, sold and published, that will be what was hot a year ago at best.

Of course, this is advice is predicated on two ideas. 1) Writers are slow and it takes a long time to write a novel, and 2) that the book will be traditionally published which has very long lead times.

With the advent of digital and self-publishing, the long lead times are no longer the rule. Sure - if a writer goes for a traditional publishing contract, with paper copies to be produced, that can go a year or two out. But a digital publisher can turn a book around in a few months - and the self publisher can put up a book as soon as it's edited.

And I think we know that not all writers are slow. That's a false construct, in my opinion, but also a whole other topic.

So, all that said, if you write fast and can self- or digitally publish, why not write to the market?

Well, lots of self-publishers do that very thing! In fact, in one group I belong to, writers talked about scouring the top ranked books on Amazon and copying the premises of the ones selling well. They'd write their own version and put it up within weeks, capitalizing on that popularity. I have no idea how well that works for them, but people are sure doing it.

I also stopped going to that group, in part because of that conversation.

Let me first say that I'm not one of those who decries "selling out" or who thinks art should be done for its own sake. I think artists of all types should make money and be able to make a good living. I like money, and having things like food and a nice place to live.

That said, I also believe in the story. I often say that there are easier ways to make a living. If I'd wanted a direct path to wealth, I would have majored in finance and become a stockbroker. Lots of my friends in college did and they made heaps of money.

I wanted a different kind of life. I wanted a career where I felt I was contributing both something valuable to the world and feeding myself as a human being.

(I'm not saying stockbrokers don't feel their careers do this. For all I know, they do. That kind of thing just doesn't work for me.)

So, while I do consider the market in choosing my next writing project - as in, what I'm pretty sure is on down cycle and would do better for being back-burnered for a while - the idea of copying a premise that's selling well... That goes against my grain. It feels like the opposite of why I wanted to be a writer. I want to tell my own stories, not tweak someone else's.

I dunno - am I alone in feeling this way?

Five Ways to Combat Bad Writer Habits

This week I put out on Amazon a short read. It's a true story I wrote some time ago, that was originally published in a literary magazine, about one of the most unsettling experiences of my life. A brush with the unseen that I don't care to repeat!

So, our topic this week is "My Bad Habit as a Writer."

Which took some thinking about, really. Not that I'm ALL THAT or anything... but I have rather ruthlessly weeded out my bad habits over the many years. An aspiring writer in LERA, my local RWA chapter (which rocks and you should totally join if you're anywhere in the New Mexico neighborhood - we have people who drive 3-4 hours to come to the meetings) messaged me this morning and said admiring things about my productivity. I replied that I've spent *years* building up the habits and skills to be at this point. Like... twenty years.

And I'm still a work in progress, which I suppose is part of the point. So, rather than focus specifically on my own bad habits, former, existing or future, I thought I'd give five ways that I've developed to identify and eliminate bad habits.

1) Own Your Process

I put this first because I think this is the most vital thing for us to discover about ourselves as writers. It trumps all other advice. If writing every day doesn't work for you, fine. BUT, learn what *does* work, own it, and hold your own feet to the fire. This takes a lot of writing, self-examination and ruthless honesty. There's a reason so many tales hinge on seeing oneself in the mirror or seeing oneself truly. The best thing any writer can do, in my opinion, is to concentrate on learning how they write best - and then holding themselves to that standard.

2) Kick Excuses to the Curb

Excuses are like opiates - they soften the edge of ambition. They make everything okay. Believe me, I hear such a huge range from aspiring writers. Family is usually a huge one, from kids to aging parents. There's something notable right there. Kids grow up and parents age, which means there will *always* be someone who seems to need you. That's not a bad thing, but their need can easily become an excuse. Again, this takes brutal honesty with oneself. Sure, some days the writing has to defer to something else - health, business, other priorities. But that's the key word: PRIORITIES. Have a strong prioritization list and don't change it. Many successful writers with kids put "somebody is bleeding" over "finishing wordcount," but everything else falls below that. It's salient to me that the productive writers I know never offer excuses for not getting their work done. They might bemoan failing to reach a goal, but they take solid responsibility for it. No excuses!

3) Listen to Your Editors - and Learn

I hear editors complain sometimes that their authors turn in book after book with the exact same elements that need correcting. A good editor/author relationship should be ever-evolving. I don't expect to receive edit letters on the drafts I turn in to say, "Perfect! You've done everything with such excellence that I have zero editorial comments." (Okay, maybe I fantasize about this - a girl can dream, after all - but I know that's not at all likely.) BUT, I really hope that I won't get the same editorial comments over and over. Working with an editor should improve my craft and skill as a writer. A good editor should help us grow. That can only happen if we're willing to learn.

4) Study Successful Authors

By this I mean anyone who's doing well. Sure some are flukes, but be wary of dismissing a popular book as beneath your notice. Even if it seems the prose isn't up to some standard, hundreds of thousands of people don't read "bad" books. Read at least some to discover what IS appealing to readers. Pay attention to the books *you* love to read, too, and learn from them. Take workshops from authors who are doing good work. Study what other writers are doing that makes them successful. There's always room to learn something more.

5) Keep a List of Recurring Tics

I've talked about this before, but it's worth revisiting. No writer is perfect. We all have various tics and crutches. I keep a list of words I tend to overuse, grammatical errors I often repeat, and punctuation bugaboos that escape me while drafting. Before I send to my editor, I spend usually an entire day searching my novel for these common mistakes. Over time, I've gotten much better about some of them. "Now" and "just" don't turn up nearly with the frequency that they used to. (Though when they do, they're inevitably in little poisonous nests, with several in one paragraph, or sometimes in the same sentence!) This loops back to #1, Owning Your Process. I don't worry about these things while drafting, because they're incidental to my process. I do, however, need to fix them at some point. No excuses for that.

Five Things I'd Tell My Newbie Writer Self

This is our neighborhood roadrunner. She comes by fairly frequently and checks things out. Not easy to get a good pic of her either! This isn't the best shot I got (too much background, not *quite* in focus), but I love how it captures her purposeful stride.

Speaking of purposeful, our theme this week is: What I wish I knew when I started writing. 

So. Many. Things.

But, as with a lot of life, I think we learn things when we need to. Sometimes we're simply not ready to absorb a lesson that's staring us in the face. Everything below I heard many times over the years. All of them didn't sink in until much, much later.

Like, yesterday, even.

Still, if I could go back to my twenty-something self, on the day Past-Jeffe decided to be a writer, this is what I'd tell her. Even knowing full well she won't really understand.

1. Agents are just people.

Frequently they are crazy people. When they tell you that they didn't love the book enough to represent it, they really mean that. These are people who fall in love with books. They work on commission, which means the younger ones (the ones who will actually consider your query) are living on ramen, handouts from their parents, and love. Not people love, book love. They really do want to love your book, but if they don't.... well, it's not you, it's them. When you find the agents who do love your books - and actually they'll find you - they'll do great things for you. You waited to find true love in life. Wait for this, too. It will be worth it.

2. Having a regular writing ritual will make all the difference.

You're going to fight this, Jeffe, for far too many years. Yes, I know you're crazy busy. I know that a lot of the time you don't know what to write and often feel a creeping dread about sitting down to write. It's crazy making because you really WANT to write, so why do you hate the idea of doing it? Don't worry, this is totally normal. The only way around it is to write anyway. All those people advising you to prioritize writing, to try to do it every day at the same time? They're right. Things won't really kick into gear for you until you do this.

3. It will take a long time before you can make a living at it.

I know you think you know this - but you're young. You think a long time is maybe three years. It's going to be a lot longer than that. And that will be okay, because you need that time. Over the years, you'll learn many skills from your day jobs that aren't being a writer. You'll learn to juggle projects, to manage deadlines, to work with difficult people. All of this experience will be useful.

4. Your writer friends will be your salvation.

Ultimately these are the people who will help you the most. Yes, they will come and go and you'll mourn the loss of the ones who drift away. It's a tough business and jealousy can take its toll. But those friendships will sustain you along what can be a difficult journey. There are things only your writer friends will truly understand. The ones who stick with you will be the most generous, supportive and encouraging people you'll know.

5. Despite the rejections, set-backs and many tears (and there will be a lot of all of these things), you will never regret this decision. 

Seriously. Every time you wonder if this is the right decision, know this. Being a writer is every bit as wonderful and amazing as you hope it will be. Even with the many uncertainties, it will feed your soul as nothing else ever has.

Hmm. I've kind of choked myself up here.

Anyone else have things they'd tell their younger self, if they could?

Also, if you haven't yet read THE MARK OF THE TALA, it's on sale at Amazon for only $2.51. Great time to pick up a copy!