Is it good enough?

For me this is a question I ask myself often. Is my writing good enough? It is good enough to get published or am I wasting my time?

I love writing don't get me wrong, its probably the only other thing apart from my family that has kept me going when everything else screams at me to give up. And in the current publishing climate (when publishers are not taking anything from newcomers) it becomes a very valid question. Is my manuscript good enough to convince an editor to take a chance on me?

All writers would aspire to the bestseller lists as footballers would to the AFL. But how do footballers know if they're good enough? If they win games, kick goals, tackle well? For those reasons, in my non-sporty opinion, it is easier to distinguish great from average. If you can do all the above, it is reasonable to aspire to play in the big leagues. But what about the less than finite terms of the writing world. There are plenty of books out there that I don't like, don't read or don't think are good enough to get published. But they appealed to someone at some point and are judged to be excellent books. So how do I know if I am good enough? And where do I set my expectations based on that? The local game, a state level, national or the arena of the international world? And if I only get to play a backyard game, is that going to be good enough?

Sporting metaphors aside, all I know is that there can only be a certain more amount of time for me to turn down lunch or the movies in favour of writing for a pipe dream. Perhaps then I'll discover if life without writing is good enough.

Ramblings of a maudlin writer in the throes of a crisis...

The Pen is mightier than the Keyboard

I have a confession to make. I know computers are meant to make life easier, and sometimes they do, but I love to write my very rough first draft longhand, with a pen and an exercise book.

Many of you will now be cringing and wondering what on Earth would drive a writer to such a hellish place. Surely the days of ink stained fingers and pages and pages of scrawling handwriting are long gone, replaced by the crispness of 12 point Times New Roman with one inch margins.

And that’s the point. Something about writing, and by this I mean the creative part when I first meet the characters and explore their world, on the computer sucks the fun out of it and makes it serious. The creative part of my brain shuts down and goes oh its work time. On paper it’s fun. I jot notes, do random world building, and build scenes that I then squish together into a story.

However when I have my first draft done, typing it into the computer is fun. I’m not worried about character goals, motivations or even how they speak. That’s all there, all I have to do it make the words sparkle.

And yes, I wrote this blog on paper first.

Shona

Promotion: What? Why? How? and When?

WHAT are we promoting?

Our books of course. My first novel, “Kiss and Tell” comes out in less than 5 months, so I decided it was about time I looked into this whole promotion thing. I asked a few of my fellow Avalon authors how they had previously promoted their novels. In return I received a long list of promotion ideas that I’ll definitely be using. I’ve collated the best ones for this blog.

WHY Promote?

The simple reason: to sell as many books as you can. Unfortunately, in more cases then not, the publisher leaves most of the promoting up to the author. You could say the amount of books you sell is in your hands. So don’t let the opportunity slip by.

HOW do you promote?

Okay, here’s the top five ideas. I say, they are the top five because they’re free or relatively cheap to do and have made the most sales for authors.

1. Get a website and keep it fresh. A stagnant website or website that never changes is useless. You want a following, so give them something to follow, which leads to the next point.


2. Blog as much as you can. Blogging showcases your writing. If people like reading your work for free, they’re more open to buying your book. They’ll know they’ll probably enjoy it because they like you and the kinds of things you write about.


3. Use a mailing list. Every time you tell someone about your book, whether it be family, friends, some stranger at the supermarket, ask them if they want to be on your emailing list. Email the latest news about your books to everyone on your mail list.


4. Get into your local or community newspaper. People love to read about and support their local heroes. So ring up your local paper and ask them if they want to do a piece on you.


5. Organise a book signing. Promote yourself and your books at your local bookstore.

Here’s some more ideas. These ones are still good. But they’re more expensive, reach less people and don’t make as many sales as the top 5.

• Flyers or Bookmarks advertising your book. The best place to put/send these is at writers conferences, book club meetings, community centres, your local library or any where you think your target market might frequent. If you feel like it, you could also include them in your Christmas cards.


• Give your book away. Maybe as a prize on your website, maybe to a magazine editor. Basically, you’re hoping that they’ll read, love it and spread the word.


• Do a free workshop about writing at your local library. Again, if people enjoy your workshop they’ll be inclined to buy your book or recommend it to someone else.


• Free Promo goodies with your name on it. I’m referring to pens, magnets, badges, notepads, lollies etc. You can hand these out at book signings, conferences, and community centres. Personally, I think these are a waste of money. Have you ever bought a book because you received a free pen? I haven’t. Loved the pen though!

WHEN do you promote?

It depends on the type of promotion. Having a website and blogging is an ongoing process. You can start as early as you like with these. As for everything else, I’ve heard that you should promote a maximum of two weeks prior to your book release. Promoting as close to your book release as possible is best though.
The fact is, you can promote too soon and if you do so, your book may become old news before it’s even on the shelves. Think about it. Ever read a flyer, or gone to a workshop, or seen an article about an author and then waited five months before you buy their book. Of course not. As soon as your interest has been caught you want to buy that book pretty much immediately otherwise you’ll probably forget about it and move on to the next great book that takes your fancy.

Anyway, I hope my research has benefited you as much as it has benefited me. See you round on the marketing wheel.

Loretta

For more information about my first book KISS AND TELL, see http://www.lorettabrabant.com/

Romance Roadshow 2009

The RWA Romance Roadshow returns to Perth later this month with a great line up of speakers and tutorials. Last year the focus was on craft development for aspiring and experienced writers. In 2009 we take a walk on the dark side with Keri Arthur, open the sealed section with erotica author Denise Rosetti and amp up the sizzle with Kelly Hunter.

May 23, Good Earth Hotel. See you there.

Information and registration at http://www.romanceaustralia.com/roadshows.html

Lesley

Casting Characters

I love plotting, all those GMC charts and ideas floating around until gravity forces them to collide and turn into a story. By the time I’m ready to write I know my characters. I know what they hate, what they love and what they need (even if they don’t know it), and I know what they look like-or at least I thought I did. Then I was introduced to casting.

Flick through any magazine and it is filled with pictures of people ready to be your next hero, heroine or villain. But its not just about looks, other wise all tall, dark and handsome heroes would be very similar. Would your hero really smile like that? Is that a dress your heroine wouldn’t wear even for a million dollar bet?

Somehow the picture has to convey the essence of your character.

For my latest WIP I needed a detective. An unsmiling Jensen Ackles summed up my hero’s grim attitude towards life, in my mind I added a decade to make him the right age.

My heroine was trickier. She had to have blond hair and blue eyes, but she needed to be both confident in her abilities and searching for approval. A ‘guess’ girl fitted the bill, she looks a little vulnerable even as she stares at the camera.

So I stuck my two main characters to the wall near my writing desk in the hope they would inspire vivid character descriptions.

Did it help? No. Because no picture can ever match the character that lives in my imagination, or the readers.

Was it fun? Yes. And I got to call the search 'productive writing time'.

Will I do it again? I already have :)

Shona

Maintaining the power

In his recent e-zine Michael Bungay Stanier http://www.possibilityvirus.com/blog/2009/01/20/otl-tbe-keeping-power-losing-power/
gave some great advice about building and maintaining power so that you can do Great Work.

1. Get clear about your Great Work.

Unless you know what work really matters to you, what impact you want to have in this world, it’s hard to decide what to say Yes to and what to say No to - ultimate expressions of your power. Know what you want. Ask for what you want. (Knowing the answer may be “no”.)
Resource: Find Your Great Work

2. Remember that feedback is not the truth.

Mostly, it’s just someone else’s opinion of you, and more often than not, that’s a mix of judgment, projection and hypothesis. When someone gives you feedback, take what’s useful and ignore the rest.
Resource: Non Violent Communication

3. Go easy on yourself.

One of the places our power leaks out most conspicuously is through our own self-judgment. Our capacity to beat ourselves up - the notorious “inner critic” - constantly diminishes who we are.
Resource: Taming Your Gremlin

4. Stop taking it all so damned seriously.

Hands up if what you’re doing is life and death. I thought so. OK, hands up if what you’re doing will really matter in 100 years time? Yep, the same. It’s one of the paradoxes of Great Work - it’s both important and in the big scheme of things, not that important. Remembering that can free things up nicely.
Resource: The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun

WInk has made New Year’s resolutions and if the quantity of material at the critique group meetings is anything to go by we have decided to put our writing towards the top of the list.

For us our writing is our ‘great work’.

It’s easy to forget that as the year moves on, we have to take up the responsibilities and tasks that we put aside during the holiday season. By defining our writing as our ‘great work’ it’s easier to make decisions about how we should spend our time.

Michael’s second tip is about feedback. As writer’s we need it. It is too easy to own the stories that we want to tell and even the individual words on the page. Probably we have to own them to some extent for writing to be our great work. There is a space between denial and confusion where we can take advantage of feedback without allowing it to damage our ‘power’. The value in feedback is also in delivery; Confucius has some great words about the power of ‘no’ when it is kindly meant.

The inner critic can be our most savage; for me, it is the source of my procrastination. Being confident that I can put work out into the supportive environment of my critique group has given me the power to battle (but not yet defeat) the inner critic.

And at the end of the day our writing has to be fun. Why would we work so hard if we weren’t enjoying it?

Lesley

The Waiting

The Waiting

A lot is said in writers’ circles about ‘The Call’ and ‘The Rejection’. I am in the stage before that, which is ‘The Waiting’.

I finally bit the bullet on the weekend (excuse the cliché) and sent my first three chapters of my manuscript to the publisher who requested it. The Waiting can be quite a marvellous time. You can dream about what could be, you can hope, you can believe that anything is possible.

It can also be a terrible time. What if she replies within a week and says thanks but no thanks? If she does that, my writing must be pretty bad. What if she replies within several weeks and stills says no thanks? That’s even worse, because the realisation of anything’s possible has planted alfalfa sprouts in your brain and and then she’s thrown a cement block on it.

I’ve decided to be positive about The Waiting for as long as I can and keep my fingers and toes crossed.

Wish me luck,
Donna