First Rejection Letter!

Hi all.

I received my first rejection letter this past week. Of course, I would rather have been asked to send in my full manuscript, but a first rejection letter is what I was expecting.

Woohoo! I've taken another step in my writing career and have officially entered the query phase! :D

The rejection letter was from Dragon Moon Press. Form letter. Very polite. They even apologized in the form letter for sending a form letter. I thought that was kind of cute.

Anyways, onward and upward. I thought I would feel devastated when I got my first rejection letter, but I don't. Thank you to all you publishers and agents and writers who blog about these things, otherwise I would not have known what to expect.

Update on experiment:
I tried writing 'til it hurt my brain, pushing past my normal 'I want to stop' moment. Conclusion: I hurt my brain.
But I did get some writing done and I think there's a good focus that comes from the other side of the push. I'll continue the experiment this week.

How much is too much?

When I write, I find I'm only good for about two and a half hours at a time, and it's pushing it to do more than one session of two and a half hours.
For whatever reason, I always reach a magical point at which it gets significantly harder to think of words to put down.

In the past I've always stepped away from my computer and said "That's good. I just wrote for two and a half hours and I have something to show for it. Time for mindless distraction!"
But I've recently started wondering if I should push through it and force myself to write beyond that point.

So this week I'm going to try an experiment. I will write until I come to my finishing point, and then attempt to write some more. Next week I'll examine my writing and see if writing past my finishing point makes me write better or worse.
Also, I'll see if there's a golden valley of muse-inspired words after I push myself past that point. Maybe there's a second wind that comes if I push myself.

There was one day last year when I wrote for nine hours straight. But that was for NaNoWriMo when I turned myself into a strict word machine. This experiment pertains more to the entire writing process: not only adding to my word count, but editing, contemplating, researching, and doing all the little things that go into a polished novel.

Check back next week to see what happens!

I am not a brand

They say to market yourself as a writer, you need to turn yourself into a brand.
I get where they're coming from, but honestly, I'm not a brand. I'm a person.

That's all I hope my readers ever see me as, and all I ever hope to convey to them. To me, 'brand' sounds like I'm something other people mindlessly consume without paying attention or thinking for themselves about what they want.

When I reach for a more expensive brand of a product instead of the cheaper thing, it's because I've been taught brand loyalty and I expect a certain quality from the brand name. So it DOES make sense that readers should come to expect a certain quality of writing from a book with my name on it.

But I still can't stomach the fact of marketing myself as a brand. I don't want people to mindlessly  consume what I write. I don't want to come off as some super famous writer who deserves their attention. I just want them to see my book, take it off the shelf, and enjoy an afternoon because they read something that made them satisfied. The attention should be on the book, not on me.

Making myself into a brand makes it seem like I'm conditioning readers to come to me and give to me, when really all I want to do is give to my readers.

I have no doubt that in the future I will end up marketing myself as a brand. It's part of the publishing game. But I hope it doesn't come off as commercialized, cheapened, or like I have some kind of angle I'm working. I just want to make people happy through what they read. I hope it comes off more as "I loved her voice in her last book so I'm going to buy her next book too."

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

For anyone who has a completed manuscript and likes to enter contests, Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award might be of interest to you.

The contest started last night at midnight and will run until Feb. 6th OR until they receive 5,000 entries in each of the two categories.

I have no idea if those 5,000 will fill up quick, but I wouldn't risk it if I were you and had a finished novel you thought had a decent chance. The prize is awesome. I haven't decided yet if I'm entering. I feel I need a bit more time to work on my novel but then again, don't we all?

Tunnel Vision

Sometimes imaginative people display behavior similar to that of people with ADD. I know I do. I'm easily distracted by something that has 'scope for the imagination' (as Anne of Green Gables would say).

But I've realized recently writers can often get the opposite of ADD, and it's because of their creativity: tunnel vision.

Tunnel vision is like looking through a paper-towel tube: you don't see anything on the sides. You only see what's right in front of you. For focus, that's a good thing. Focus on our writing is great. It keeps us going and helps drag us through writer's block, writer's angst and those I-has-a-dumb days.

But extra super focus on writing happens often as well. As Sara King put it on her blog, the opposite of ADD: Interrupt Me And Receive A Spoon Through The Eye.


Life is what we write about. We need to live it.
Tunnel vision is great for focusing on something that needs to get done. But make sure you have someone around to snap you out of it.


Someone once asked me "So what do you like to do other than writing?" and I hadn't a clue. That's when I realized I needed to put away my writing more often and get out.
It almost seems like there should be an annual holiday when writer's abstain from writing anything, even e-mails. *shudder* That sounds impossible challenging.

Story Bible

Some writers like to keep track of the information and ideas behind the scenes of their novel in a story bible.

A story bible can consist of anything relevant to the story. Maps drawn on napkins, outlines, chapter bullet points, character charts and art, a to-do list of everything that each chapter needs to accomplish, etc.

I've been trying for awhile now to search for ideas of how other people put their story bibles together. But due to the generic nature of the words 'story bible' it's time consuming to wade through all the entries of 'Children's Story Bible' and such.

But I was finally able to find some good posts on story bibles and what works.

Enjoy!

From the Write Thing
From Nathan Bransford
From Catherine, Caffeinated
From Storyfix.com

Have any other cool links about story bibles? Post 'em in the comments!

Different Hats

I was reading a book last night. It was one of the many books I have about the craft of writing and I hadn't picked it up in awhile. When I started reading, I was surprised to find I had not even read it yet. So I hunkered down in my big bowl chair with the cat and was surprised even further: this book was about how to write non-fiction.

When did I buy a book about non-fiction? All I write is fiction. Non-fiction is my day job as a technical writer.

But for some odd reason I kept reading. I even read the introduction. It was then I realized this book was great advice for writers of all genres.
It's called "Thinking Like Your Editor". I found it useful to me in a way that other writing books about how to write fiction have not been: it focuses on the business side of writing.

Sure, I've read fiction advice books that give some aspect of the business side of writing. But none of them seem to be so applicable and have the edge that this one does. So I read on.

It seemed like every page was saying something like "When I worked as an editor for x number of years..." or "When I was an agent for x number of years..." It sounded like this person had worn every hat in the publishing business. She even talked about how she envies bookstore workers (the one thing she hasn't done) for getting to work so closely with the reading community.

I realized there are so many different ways to get involved in the publishing industry, and no one has to be limited to just one thing. Writers can become agents, agents can become writers, editors can become writers, etc.

And I finally felt like I was allowed to dare to think that perhaps someday I might be more than just a writer as well. I've always thought it would be awesome to be an agent. Or an editor. Or maybe even a bookstore owner. To me, all those jobs sound like they're the same thing: Get paid to read books. How could that not be awesome?

Just for fun, pretend you have your pick of any job in the publishing industry. What would you be? Do you ever dream of owning your own bookstore? Of being an agent? Of being an assistant to someone in the publishing business? Or is becoming a published writer enough of an ambition right now?