Done in Six

To say that life’s been a bit crazy these past few months is an understatement. I haven’t had much time to finish my WIP—I haven’t even had time to write up my blog posts. I also haven’t been able to make my last couple monthly critique group meetings (which was keeping me on track of at least getting a chapter done a month).

I’ve been working on this book for 3 years. I have a boatload of reasons why I’m not getting it done, and some of them are actual reasons rather than excuses. However, there are some things that I could be sacrificing for my writing.

I currently have just over 83k words done. That’s a legit novel length. The end is within reach, yet if I don’t make a point to push past all the obstacles currently in my way then before I know it summer will be here, then my daughter’s birthday, then the start of school, then the start of my daughter’s activities... Yeah, and before I know it another year is gone and the book is once again not done.

And that’s just not acceptable.

So I’m saying it here, for public record—I WILL complete the first draft of this book by the end of May.

I have no idea how many words I need to bang out to get to the end, but I know if I make a goal of one chapter a week then I’ll get there because I honestly don’t think the story has more than six chapters left in it.

There. It’s done. Once I publish this post I’m on the hook and you all will be expecting me to give you an update in my next post on May 21st.

Now I’m off. I have some distractions to tie up so I can crank out that chapter over the next few days.

~Carrie

Writing a Book...as told by emojis

For today's blog post I give you:

I've slogged through the middle 80% and am in the final 10% of my WIP. I can finally see the finish line! But there is still a lot ahead of me . . .

How does your process compare?

12 Days of (a Writer’s) Christmas

To have a little fun this holiday season, I bring you the 12 Days of Christmas—writer’s edition. The traditional song has a lot of repetition, so I’ve gone straight to the final verse.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my Writing Angel gave to me:

Twelve Months of Drumming

(Fast fingers, drumming on the keyboard for a solid year will lead to an impressive word count.)

Eleven Pipers Typing

(One for Facebook, one for Twitter, one for Instagram . . . This could work. If rats follow when they pipe, maybe readers will follow when they type.)

Ten Lords a-Loving

(I don’t really need these for my genre, so I’ll re-gift them to a historical romance author friend.)

Nine Ladies Leading

(Oh, I like strong female leads. I’d better get writing and give them all a novel home!)

Eight Maids a-Cleaning

(They clean, I write.)

Seven Scripts a-Swimming

(Maybe more like treading water in my mind, staying cool and patiently waiting for their turn in the spotlight.)

Six Hours a-Lying

(I need at least 6 hours of sleep to be creative, which has been hard to come by these days, so YAY!)

FIVE STAR RATINGS!

(And they’re legit—not the kind you pay for!)

Four Calling Agents

(Does this mean I don’t have to deal with rejection letters?)

Three French Chefs

(They cook, I write.)

Two Turtle Doves

(One to distract the cat + one to distract the dog = fewer distractions for me.)

And a #1 Spot in a Bestselling Tree

(I’m not too picky about which tree it is. It’s not so much about the title as it is the reach it represents.)

May your writing angles bring you many wonderful gifts this holiday season!

~ Carrie

The 10 Con Commandments (for Exhibiting Authors)

A post by Mary Fan

Many authors choose to exhibit their books at conventions and other events as a way of reading new readers. I've lost count of how many cons I've gone to over the past four years, and I've seen a lot of fellow exhibiting authors fail to meet a certain level of... basic etiquette. 

So here are 10 Con Commandments to follow:

1. Thou shalt not interrupt a fellow author while they are pitching their book to a customer.
2. Thou shalt socialize with fellow authors when the dealer's room/exhibit hall is dead. It gets boring in there.
3. Thou shalt offer to watch a fellow author's table so they might run to the bathroom or obtain food.
4. Thou shalt tell a fellow author if there's an issue with their display (slipping posters, tipping books, etc.).
5.  Thou shalt not walk around to other authors' tables to sell them your book, for they are here to sell their books, and thou art wasting their time and costing them potential opportunities to pitch passing customers. Especially if thou dost not haveth thy own table.
6. Thou shalt not block a fellow author's table, even if thou art there to chat with the author. Stand to the side.
7. Thou shalt not badmouth any aspect of a fellow exhibiting author's book.
8. Thou shalt share tips for setting up display; there is no sense in being weird about it when a fellow author asks where you got your cool poster or book rack.
9. Thou shalt recommend thy fellow authors' works where possible. For instance, when thou hast finished a sale, direct the customer to also check out thy neighbor's works. Or if the customer stops and chats but is not interested in your genre, but may be interested in thy neighbor's genre.
10. THOU SHALT NOT POACH ANOTHER AUTHOR'S CUSTOMER. When a potential customer stops by an author's table, thou shalt not engage this customer until that author is done pitching their book. Thou shalt not attempt to direct the customer's attention to thy own book instead. AUTHORS WHO POACH FROM FELLOW AUTHORS BURN IN A SPECIAL CIRCLE OF HELL.

5 Things No One Told Me About Being an Author

Many writers are currently pushing themselves for NaNoWriMo. I’m not. I keep saying maybe one year. Apparently, this wasn’t my year. Again. I think part of it is I’m always in denial when November comes around. I refuse to accept another year is almost over. Anyway, I figure those who are participating don’t have time for a long blog post (which I seem doomed to write). So here’s a quickie for you to enjoy during a break from your literary madness.

5 Things No One Told Me About Being a Writer

1. Reading would take on a whole new dimension.

Just about every established author tells the newbies they need to read if they want to be a strong writer. I considered it to be the best perk of being an author—justification for why I couldn’t take my nose out of a book. What no one said was that I’d start reading those books in an entirely different way. I can no longer just get lost in a story. I have to critique and edit and analyze the entire time. The way I rate a 5-star book these days is if it can make me forget I’m an author and pull me into the story.

2. My verbal communication skills would diminish.

This is especially noticeable for me since I no longer work outside the home, and I don’t get to practice my verbal communication as often. More often than I’d like to admit, I find myself in a conversation wishing I could run to my computer and send an email instead. My fingers have replaced my mouth and it’s a struggle. Maybe if I tried typing on an invisible keyboard while I talked. That wouldn’t be weird at all.

3. I’d become a creepy observer.

I always enjoyed people watching, but now it’s a required job skill. I am observing, taking mental notes of nervous ticks, mannerisms, reactions to situations—really everything you are doing, I’m watching. While creepy, I assure you I’m harmless. Unless you see me whip out my phone and start making a note. Then you may need to worry that I’m plotting your fictional demise.

4. I’d spend a lot of time on Google, researching weird facts.

Was there a full moon on October 10, 2014? What year did INXS become popular? Does a fire extinguisher leave a smell or residue? Do people say soda or pop in Colorado? On and on and on . . .

I had often chuckled at the search suggestions Google would pull up when I started typing in the search box. I’d think, “Who is researching this stuff?” Then I became and author. Click.

5. I’d become Dug.

You all remember Dug from the movie Up, right?

Yeah, creativity is like a magnet for distractions. I’d sit down to type and suddenly I’m rearranging my desk. I’d start researching some weird fact and then fall down a rabbit hole of fascinating useless facts. I’d go to answer emails and get sucked into blog post after blog post. I’d get on Facebook to post to my page and—SQUIRREL!

~ Carrie

4 ways being an author can help you in your day job

A post by Mary Fan

"Don't waste time on this writing business! You'll never make any money, and you should focus on
your real job!"

Pretty much every writer has heard some variation of this line at some point in their life, whether from a friend, a family member, or the little nagging voice at the back of their heads. And pretty much every writer with a day job (which is pretty much every writer who isn't a) independently wealthy b) married to someone independently wealthy c) the child of someone independently wealthy or d) that one in a million famous author who actually makes enough to live on) has wondered to themselves: Should I tell my employer I write?

I'll admit, I was hesitant about letting my employer and coworkers know about my writing back when I was first starting out, about 4ish years ago. I was worried they'd see it as some kind of conflict, a sign that I wasn't taking my work with them seriously. For similar reasons, I was hesitant about putting all the work I do for my books on my resume. But then I decided to go for it and, you know what? It turned out to be a good decision.

Of course, every employer is different, and there are certainly reasons some writers might choose to be more discreet. However, the next time someone (or that nagging voice in your head) says that all this writing business is taking away from money-making business-business, here are four ways being an author can actually help you in your day job.

4. It makes you better at written communications, which makes you look extra smart.

Pretty much every office job involves sending out gazillions of emails, and even if you don't work in an office, you probably still had to use written communications during the job-hunting process. Fact is, people judge people based on their writing, and the only way to get better at writing is to, well, write a lot. So if you can build a world and lives and stories out of words on the weekends, you can certainly make that note to your boss sound extra-intelligent.

3. It makes your resume stand out.

Here's the thing: Most people have decent resumes. In my world, the office job world, they all tend to look pretty similar. Business major at blah-blah respectable university. Internship at blah-blah respectable firm. Previous positions at blah-blah respectable companies. But say add "author" on there and suddenly it's like, "whoa! Now that's different!" Also, it demonstrates an entrepreneurial spirit--you built something out of nothing. You finished that damn book (which most people only talk about doing), and you sent it out into the world. If you did it through a publisher--awesome! "Published author" sounds hella impressive. If you did it independently, well, all the better for bragging about your entrepreneurship. And leadership skills if you're coordinating with editors, artists, and graphic designers.

2. It teaches you unexpectedly useful skills

Unless you win the marketing lottery at a big publisher, chances are, you're doing everything yourself. You're booking your own signings, making your own promotional materials, and crafting your own sales pitch. All this project management, coordination, and general getting-things-done-ness is really handy at the office. And before you even got to that point, you had to organize your time in a way that allowed you to finish writing a book while working, taking care of family, etc. Hey look, time management skills!

And then there's all the random stuff you learn how to do out of necessity... I figured out how to make PowerPoints real pretty while designing my own web banners. I also learned how to speak in front of large groups of people while doing con panels and readings... and how to interrupt in a way that lets me get my words in when someone else is hogging everyone's ears. After that, meetings were noooo problem.

1. It makes you more confident

Because after you've had to pitch your book baby, that piece of your soul that makes you feel utterly naked every time someone looks at it, to dozens of strangers, nothing can scare you anymore. And confidence makes SUCH a difference in both job interviews and work itself.