Whether you take writing classes in college, nightschool, online, or from a private instructional course, almost from the first word you write you are going to be told, "Join a critique group." At the least, have a critique partner.
Of course, you are also admonished that this critique partner or partners should never be friends or family members, or even co-workers, because all they are going to do is tell you how wonderful your writing is. You need to have people who are objective, and willing to point out errors as well as the good things you write.
This is all well and good IF you can find a ready-made critique group to work with, AND if you find you fit well into that group. But it's not as easy as it seems. I joined one group when I first started taking the ICL courses, and left after little more than one month. There were 9 women in the group...and that's way too many...and everyone was supposed to submit something to be critiqued each week. That meant that you had 8 other stories to critique, as well as have something ready yourself every single week. It left no time for my own writing with respect to doing ICL assignments, and to say nothing about having time for the rest of my life!
The second group I joined was made up of 4 women, who did nothing but vehemently criticize each other's work, and tell them what terrible writers they were. These 4 were friends who'd been together for some time. Friends? I left that group the seond week.
The third group was my own. I went online to every writers' forum I could find, and asked for people to form an online critique group. The first group was 6 women, including myself, and 5 of us have been together for the last 5 years. One finally left several months ago, due to other responsibilities, we now have 2 new members, and we all work very well together.
So why have a critique group? What do they do for an individual writer, or what should they do? The first thing, and possibly the most important, is to show support for one another. Writing is a lonely profession if you are in it to become a published author, and it's almost necessary to have people who know and understand what you go through. Families often don't. They often think of your writing as a hobby, and "when are you going to quit that and do something more productive?"
Another reason is to have someone point out any inconsistencies you might have, in terms of days, dates, time of year, where one character is at a specific time so that you don't put him, a couple of chapters or scenes later, somewhere else. Unless you are a very organized writer ( which I'm not), it's easy to forget little things like times or days when you have written something in one chapter, and then have to go back to that later on in your story. My partners have caught me on those things so many times, and it saved me so much time and effort.
Then there is the ever-present voice! Our voice has to be consistent throughout the story. Dialogue is one area where a lot of writers get messed up. In my first novel, one of my main characters spoke perfect English...'perfect' in the sense that she never used contractions, such as "I don't", "you haven't", and so on. It was always "I do not," "You have not,"etc., and I was fine until about 2/3 of the way through the story. Then in one whole chapter, she was using contractions in her dialogue. A dumb mistake on my part, but my critique partners caught that immediately!
Pointing out holes in your plot is another area where critique partners are necessary. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own words, as well as the anxiety about getting that darn story finally finished, that we leave big holes in our plot. For example, in the last chapter or two, do you ever find one of your main characters suddenly spouting off a lot of dialogue that is nothing more than an information dump? He or she is giving the reader information, through dialogue, that should have come up earlier, or been accounted for through scenes and action. As the author, you've just realized that you didn't explain an incident, so now the MC has to do so.
Or how about those last two secondary, rather minor characters that you introduced in Chapter 5, who've suddenly disappeared but without any reason or explanation? They were there, they had dialogue and action, but now there's no trace of them at the end of the story. What, they just evaporated into the atmosphere?
Then there's that mystery you've been dying to write. Your MCs stumble upon a dead man in a car on a secluded street, and this leads them into a fantasy maze of death, destruction, and terror before they finally find their way through the maze, solve all the crimes and problems, and return to their normal lives. EXCEPT! Who was the man in the car, who killed him, and why was he the key to this new fantasy world with all the problems? If you haven't explained that, it is a huge hole in your plot.
The point is: critique partners are very valuable entities for all writers. Granted, sometimes it takes awhile to find just the right group, but once you do, they can save your bacon on more than one occasion! No writer should ever presume that we don't need someone to oversee our work, to provide help and guidance along the way, to keep our voice, our characterizations, our dialogue, and so on, on the straight and narrow. We need new eyes, fresh ideas, and certainly objective and honest criticism about our work. Obviously, in the long run, our work is our work, and we need to take from our critiques only that which we feel will add to our story. But, also in the long run, we need the accountability that a critique group gives us.
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
Tuesday's Thoughts: Suspension of Disbelief
We all know what the literary term "suspension of disbelief" means, right? But did you know that the term as I wrote it lacks one important word? "Willing." Yes, that is the important word: it is not the suspension of disbelief, it is the willing suspension of disbelief.
Let's go back to the origin of that term. Most people, writers, screenwriters, playwriters alike, believe the term was coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1817, when he wrote his biographical sketches of his literary life. And who is Samual Taylor Coleridge?
Coleridge was born in 1772, died in 1834, and was perhaps one of the most influential poets and literary giants of all time. He and his good friend, William Wordsworth, found the Romantic Movement in England. Coleridge's greatest works are the "conversational poems,"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan."
When he wrote Biographia Literaria, which were sketches and opinions of his own literary life, he coined many literary words and phrases, among them the willing suspension of disbelief. Here is the statement in his work which, supposedly, originated that term:
"In this idea originated the plan of the "Lyrical Ballads," in which it was agreed that my endeavors be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith."
Frankly, I had to read that statement over several times to figure out what he was trying to say. I think what he was getting at was that as people read his work, or watched the plays during his time, they had to be able to believe what they were reading or watching, and in order to do this, they had to set aside their own knowledge and perception of what was real for the duration of the book or the play. And he termed this ability the willing suspension of disbelief.
The willing suspension of disbelief is one of the most important narrative functions in books, plays, movies, and TV. Without it, no story, no matter the format, would ever be successful. This suggests that every person of every age has the ability to suspend disbelief: that must be true, because don't we see it every day with our children? They read ( or are read to) fantasies and fairy tales, they read about puppies who talk and bunnies who dress up in human clothes. Yet they know their own puppy doesn't talk to them, and the bunnies who eat up Mom's early spring garden aren't dressed up. They believe because they want to believe. And so do we, as adults.
As writers, it doesn't matter if we write fantasies, science fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, contemporary stories, or what; it doesn't matter if we make up whole new worlds or create gigantic steel spiders bent on inhabiting our planet or merely write about today's teens undergoing the horrors of drug and physical/ sexual abuse, our stories have to have that elusive ingredient that makes the reader willing to suspend his/her disbelief in what is on that page, and accept for the moment that real life is as it is written. As to what that ingredient is, each and every writer must find it for himself/herself.
We have to create a compelling plot, strong, believable characters, realistic conflicts, dialogue that rings true for each character, and a climax and resolution that reflects all of the above and is consistent with the plot. It is only then that our readers are willing to suspend their disbelief in what they know is real, and what they know cannot possibly happen as they are reading it, and still hang in there to the end, hoping for a good read and plausible ending.
If we don't give all of this to them, in every story we write, they are not going to be willing to suspend their disbelief, and our writing careers will be over.
By the way, Coleridge is NOT the first person to use the phrase "suspension of disbelief." Aristotle, who lived between 384 and 322 BC, wrote a book called Poetics, in which he says:
The plot is an arrangement of events derived from an unbroken chain of cause and effect. The beginning, middle, and end must have causal connections comprising a holistic whole to ensure audiences do not suffer from a suspension of disbelief or become disengaged from the plot.
How's that for being around a long time?
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Let's go back to the origin of that term. Most people, writers, screenwriters, playwriters alike, believe the term was coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1817, when he wrote his biographical sketches of his literary life. And who is Samual Taylor Coleridge?
Coleridge was born in 1772, died in 1834, and was perhaps one of the most influential poets and literary giants of all time. He and his good friend, William Wordsworth, found the Romantic Movement in England. Coleridge's greatest works are the "conversational poems,"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan."
When he wrote Biographia Literaria, which were sketches and opinions of his own literary life, he coined many literary words and phrases, among them the willing suspension of disbelief. Here is the statement in his work which, supposedly, originated that term:
"In this idea originated the plan of the "Lyrical Ballads," in which it was agreed that my endeavors be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith."
Frankly, I had to read that statement over several times to figure out what he was trying to say. I think what he was getting at was that as people read his work, or watched the plays during his time, they had to be able to believe what they were reading or watching, and in order to do this, they had to set aside their own knowledge and perception of what was real for the duration of the book or the play. And he termed this ability the willing suspension of disbelief.
The willing suspension of disbelief is one of the most important narrative functions in books, plays, movies, and TV. Without it, no story, no matter the format, would ever be successful. This suggests that every person of every age has the ability to suspend disbelief: that must be true, because don't we see it every day with our children? They read ( or are read to) fantasies and fairy tales, they read about puppies who talk and bunnies who dress up in human clothes. Yet they know their own puppy doesn't talk to them, and the bunnies who eat up Mom's early spring garden aren't dressed up. They believe because they want to believe. And so do we, as adults.
As writers, it doesn't matter if we write fantasies, science fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, contemporary stories, or what; it doesn't matter if we make up whole new worlds or create gigantic steel spiders bent on inhabiting our planet or merely write about today's teens undergoing the horrors of drug and physical/ sexual abuse, our stories have to have that elusive ingredient that makes the reader willing to suspend his/her disbelief in what is on that page, and accept for the moment that real life is as it is written. As to what that ingredient is, each and every writer must find it for himself/herself.
We have to create a compelling plot, strong, believable characters, realistic conflicts, dialogue that rings true for each character, and a climax and resolution that reflects all of the above and is consistent with the plot. It is only then that our readers are willing to suspend their disbelief in what they know is real, and what they know cannot possibly happen as they are reading it, and still hang in there to the end, hoping for a good read and plausible ending.
If we don't give all of this to them, in every story we write, they are not going to be willing to suspend their disbelief, and our writing careers will be over.
By the way, Coleridge is NOT the first person to use the phrase "suspension of disbelief." Aristotle, who lived between 384 and 322 BC, wrote a book called Poetics, in which he says:
The plot is an arrangement of events derived from an unbroken chain of cause and effect. The beginning, middle, and end must have causal connections comprising a holistic whole to ensure audiences do not suffer from a suspension of disbelief or become disengaged from the plot.
How's that for being around a long time?
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Wednesday's Wanderings: Looking Back...and Forward
The year of our Lord Two Thousand and Eleven is over, and I for one am so glad! It was not the best of years for me and my family, so I think 2012 can only be better.
I learned some things this past year, however, that are probably going to change the way I look at the future in terms of my writing. I received a lot of rejections last year, but the "good" part of that is that most of them were personal notes of rejection. I learned that for the most part, agents like my writing. They like my characters, they like my plots, they like the way I develop the story, how I arouse emotion from sympathy to anger in just the first few pages, how vividly I paint an imaginary picture. But the answer is still a 'no.' For a variety of reasons: just accepted one similar; not quite what I am looking for; don't have the "stomach" to go down the road of slavery right now; and the one I liked best: I loved it but didn't "fall in love" with it. And there were other reasons.
What does that tell me..or you? I think agents are looking for a SURE thing, and how can they be "sure" of that with a new author? All of the agents I queried were ones who were looking for new clients, at least according to blog interviews and Query Tracker. But it seems that new clients doesn't equal new authors, in many cases.
Publishing has changed drastically in the last couple of years, due to the bad economy and to the advent of ebook publishing. The "Big Six" publishers in New York are only going to publish those books that are going to bring in a lot of money, and possibly make the New York Times Best Seller list, and very few new authors are going to do that. Well, unless you're the next JK Rowlings or Stephanie Meyer, that is. And most of us aren't, even if we'd like to think we are!
Consequently, agents have to deal with publishers who are being extremely choosey about what they publish, so agents also have to be extremely choosey. Most of them are no longer willing to take chances on new authors, unless they truly believe you have a blockbuster of a novel. The exception to this 'rule' is the few agents who are aiming for the smaller, less-well-known publishers, rather than the Big Six or any of their imprints.
(Big Six: Hachette Book Group, formerly TimeWarner, many imprints including Little,Brown, and Co; HarperCollins, with 50 imprints; MacMillan Publishers, dozens of imprints including St.Martin Press, Tor, Farrar,Straus, & Giroux; Penguin Group, second largest trade publisher in the world; Random House, largest English-language trade publisher in the world; and Simon Schuster, with dozens of imprints.)
From what I've been reading on several published authors' blogs, the Big Six are looking for younger writers who are truly outstanding, who are writing series instead of independent novels, and with whom they can have a long-lasting relationship. So where does that leave the, er, not-so-younger writer? Are we all nothing more than chopped liver, in terms of our writing? According to the personal rejections I've been getting, I'm not exactly chopped liver, I'm a "brilliant writer" but I don't have the demographics the Big Six are looking for, so I'm not what the agents are looking for, either.
That was then, this is now. 2011 is over with, 2012 has just begun, and for me, that means changing my direction, changing my thoughts, and changing my career path. I'm a grandmother, and proud of it! And if I have to frame all of those "glowing, thanks but not thanks" personal rejections, and hang them up in my study to prove to myself that my writing is "brilliant," I will do so. But I'm not giving up, just changing things around a bit.
This year, I'm going after the small, independent publishers. NOT, repeat, NOT the vanity-type where you pay them to publish your book, but the smaller, less well-known publishers who do a lot, if not most, of ebook publishing. Why not? Ebooks are now being published from picture books to middle grade, young adult, and adult. Ebook publishing no longer has the stigma that it did when it first came out, and although you don't get an advance, your royalty percentage is quite a bit more than through traditional, print publishing.
You do have to do a lot more of the promotion yourself, but in today's economy, you also have to do much of it even with the Big Six. Websites, blogs, interviews, school visitis, smaller independent book store signings ( if you get into print), are all easy and inexpensive ways to promote your book.
Another thing I'm going to look into is self-publishing. Again, not the kind where you have to do all the work and pay someone else. But I've been reading about highly successful authors, including some who have made the NY Times Best Seller list, whose best-selling books are self-published. It can't be all that bad. At least, it's an option to look into.
Does that mean I'm going to stop querying agents? Not at all. But it does mean that I'm not taking days and days of doing research on them, it means I'm sending out queries to many at a time instead of only a select few, and it means I'm not going to be heartbroken over rejections, personal or otherwise.
And in the meantime, I'm going to be querying as many ebook and smaller, independent publishers as I can for the coming year. I'm looking forward with a smile to 2012. 2011, you're in the trash can!
Are you looking forward to what this new year will bring? What are your feelings about ebook publishing?
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
I learned some things this past year, however, that are probably going to change the way I look at the future in terms of my writing. I received a lot of rejections last year, but the "good" part of that is that most of them were personal notes of rejection. I learned that for the most part, agents like my writing. They like my characters, they like my plots, they like the way I develop the story, how I arouse emotion from sympathy to anger in just the first few pages, how vividly I paint an imaginary picture. But the answer is still a 'no.' For a variety of reasons: just accepted one similar; not quite what I am looking for; don't have the "stomach" to go down the road of slavery right now; and the one I liked best: I loved it but didn't "fall in love" with it. And there were other reasons.
What does that tell me..or you? I think agents are looking for a SURE thing, and how can they be "sure" of that with a new author? All of the agents I queried were ones who were looking for new clients, at least according to blog interviews and Query Tracker. But it seems that new clients doesn't equal new authors, in many cases.
Publishing has changed drastically in the last couple of years, due to the bad economy and to the advent of ebook publishing. The "Big Six" publishers in New York are only going to publish those books that are going to bring in a lot of money, and possibly make the New York Times Best Seller list, and very few new authors are going to do that. Well, unless you're the next JK Rowlings or Stephanie Meyer, that is. And most of us aren't, even if we'd like to think we are!
Consequently, agents have to deal with publishers who are being extremely choosey about what they publish, so agents also have to be extremely choosey. Most of them are no longer willing to take chances on new authors, unless they truly believe you have a blockbuster of a novel. The exception to this 'rule' is the few agents who are aiming for the smaller, less-well-known publishers, rather than the Big Six or any of their imprints.
(Big Six: Hachette Book Group, formerly TimeWarner, many imprints including Little,Brown, and Co; HarperCollins, with 50 imprints; MacMillan Publishers, dozens of imprints including St.Martin Press, Tor, Farrar,Straus, & Giroux; Penguin Group, second largest trade publisher in the world; Random House, largest English-language trade publisher in the world; and Simon Schuster, with dozens of imprints.)
From what I've been reading on several published authors' blogs, the Big Six are looking for younger writers who are truly outstanding, who are writing series instead of independent novels, and with whom they can have a long-lasting relationship. So where does that leave the, er, not-so-younger writer? Are we all nothing more than chopped liver, in terms of our writing? According to the personal rejections I've been getting, I'm not exactly chopped liver, I'm a "brilliant writer" but I don't have the demographics the Big Six are looking for, so I'm not what the agents are looking for, either.
That was then, this is now. 2011 is over with, 2012 has just begun, and for me, that means changing my direction, changing my thoughts, and changing my career path. I'm a grandmother, and proud of it! And if I have to frame all of those "glowing, thanks but not thanks" personal rejections, and hang them up in my study to prove to myself that my writing is "brilliant," I will do so. But I'm not giving up, just changing things around a bit.
This year, I'm going after the small, independent publishers. NOT, repeat, NOT the vanity-type where you pay them to publish your book, but the smaller, less well-known publishers who do a lot, if not most, of ebook publishing. Why not? Ebooks are now being published from picture books to middle grade, young adult, and adult. Ebook publishing no longer has the stigma that it did when it first came out, and although you don't get an advance, your royalty percentage is quite a bit more than through traditional, print publishing.
You do have to do a lot more of the promotion yourself, but in today's economy, you also have to do much of it even with the Big Six. Websites, blogs, interviews, school visitis, smaller independent book store signings ( if you get into print), are all easy and inexpensive ways to promote your book.
Another thing I'm going to look into is self-publishing. Again, not the kind where you have to do all the work and pay someone else. But I've been reading about highly successful authors, including some who have made the NY Times Best Seller list, whose best-selling books are self-published. It can't be all that bad. At least, it's an option to look into.
Does that mean I'm going to stop querying agents? Not at all. But it does mean that I'm not taking days and days of doing research on them, it means I'm sending out queries to many at a time instead of only a select few, and it means I'm not going to be heartbroken over rejections, personal or otherwise.
And in the meantime, I'm going to be querying as many ebook and smaller, independent publishers as I can for the coming year. I'm looking forward with a smile to 2012. 2011, you're in the trash can!
Are you looking forward to what this new year will bring? What are your feelings about ebook publishing?
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Thursday's Thoughts: Christmas Is Over, Now What? Part 2
Christmas is over, the new year is two days away. About this time of year, people start making New Year's Resolutions, setting goals, sometimes making decisions about their lives that may or may not be productive throughout the year.
When I was in my teens and early 20s, I never gave a thought to "new year's resolutions," and from what I saw of older people around me who did, it seemed pretty silly. Those resolutions never seemed to come true, or were even talked about much beyond New Year's Day. So why bother?
As I got older, with a husband and children, I tried to set some goals for myself, or even for the kids, to have something to work towards. Again, it never seemed to work out the way I wanted. And then I began to wonder why. If you take the time to set out some goals for yourself, why don't you accomplish them? I decided to start asking people about their resolutions, and if they actually followed through with them during the year. What I found surprised me.
One person told me that in the middle of a New Year's Eve party, standing in front of a gigantic table loaded with delicious, extremely rich food, she told everyone around that her number one resolution for the next year was to lose weight. That year she gained 25 pounds.
Another young lady told me that at midnight on New Year's Eve, she looked around and saw most of her friends kissing their boyfriends, while she stood by, "kissless." Her number one resolutions was to not only get a boyfriend, but to be engaged or married by the following New Year's Eve. The following New Year's Eve, she did have a boyfriend...but not the kind you'd want YOUR daughter kissing!
A male friend told me his resolution for the coming year was to invest for the first time in the stock market, because many of his business associates were making a lot of money. When I asked him if he knew anything about the stock market ( I don't), he said no, but it seemed easy to learn about. He lost a lot of money that year.
What does this all add up to? Making decisions on the spur of the moment, calling them "New Year's Resolutions," and not putting any thought into what that resolution actually means. It appears that a good many people, of all ages, make their "resolutions" exactly the same way. They get caught up in the excitement of the New Year's moment, and whatever comes to their mind becomes a "resolution."
If you have something you truly want to do during the coming year, why make an off-the-cuff decision about it? Why not take the time to think about it, make it a goal to be accomplished, and then think about what it's going to take during the coming year for you to accomplish what you want?
Suppose you have a story started, and you want to turn it into a novel, finish it, and get it off to a few publishers by December 1st. That's your goal. What are the steps, or objectives, you need to take to accomplish that goal? You need to think that through...how much time do you actually have to write each day? Don't set a certain number of words or pages for yourself that you have to struggle to get down. Be realistic in what you can accomplish on a daily basis, and each step will become much easier.
The point is: when you make a New Year's Resolution, give it some time and thought. Is this really what you want to accomplish this coming year? Is it a realistic goal, given your personality, your attitude, your willingness to overcome whatever obstacles might come up during the year, including things like your "real" life: outside job, family, children, etc. You need to consider all of this before commiting yourself.
If it is important enough to say, This is my goal, then it is important enough for you to take the time to think it through, and come up with the steps you need to take to accomplish the goal. Just be sure you are realistic. Don't set yourself up for failure by deciding that you HAVE to do something each day that simply may not be easily done, due to your other obligations. And LIFE! LIFE has a way of coming at us at the most inconvenient times and under the most inconvenient conditions, so be sure to make allowances for the things you can't control, and make the most of those things you can control.
Make a goal plan, follow that plan to the best of your ability, but don't let it get you down, and don't allow yourself to become discouraged if you fail to do something in the time you've set for yourself. Remember, without failure there is no success. Hmm...somebody famous said that, but I don't remember who!
Happy New Year, everyone, and Happy and Realistic Resolutioning!!
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
When I was in my teens and early 20s, I never gave a thought to "new year's resolutions," and from what I saw of older people around me who did, it seemed pretty silly. Those resolutions never seemed to come true, or were even talked about much beyond New Year's Day. So why bother?
As I got older, with a husband and children, I tried to set some goals for myself, or even for the kids, to have something to work towards. Again, it never seemed to work out the way I wanted. And then I began to wonder why. If you take the time to set out some goals for yourself, why don't you accomplish them? I decided to start asking people about their resolutions, and if they actually followed through with them during the year. What I found surprised me.
One person told me that in the middle of a New Year's Eve party, standing in front of a gigantic table loaded with delicious, extremely rich food, she told everyone around that her number one resolution for the next year was to lose weight. That year she gained 25 pounds.
Another young lady told me that at midnight on New Year's Eve, she looked around and saw most of her friends kissing their boyfriends, while she stood by, "kissless." Her number one resolutions was to not only get a boyfriend, but to be engaged or married by the following New Year's Eve. The following New Year's Eve, she did have a boyfriend...but not the kind you'd want YOUR daughter kissing!
A male friend told me his resolution for the coming year was to invest for the first time in the stock market, because many of his business associates were making a lot of money. When I asked him if he knew anything about the stock market ( I don't), he said no, but it seemed easy to learn about. He lost a lot of money that year.
What does this all add up to? Making decisions on the spur of the moment, calling them "New Year's Resolutions," and not putting any thought into what that resolution actually means. It appears that a good many people, of all ages, make their "resolutions" exactly the same way. They get caught up in the excitement of the New Year's moment, and whatever comes to their mind becomes a "resolution."
If you have something you truly want to do during the coming year, why make an off-the-cuff decision about it? Why not take the time to think about it, make it a goal to be accomplished, and then think about what it's going to take during the coming year for you to accomplish what you want?
Suppose you have a story started, and you want to turn it into a novel, finish it, and get it off to a few publishers by December 1st. That's your goal. What are the steps, or objectives, you need to take to accomplish that goal? You need to think that through...how much time do you actually have to write each day? Don't set a certain number of words or pages for yourself that you have to struggle to get down. Be realistic in what you can accomplish on a daily basis, and each step will become much easier.
The point is: when you make a New Year's Resolution, give it some time and thought. Is this really what you want to accomplish this coming year? Is it a realistic goal, given your personality, your attitude, your willingness to overcome whatever obstacles might come up during the year, including things like your "real" life: outside job, family, children, etc. You need to consider all of this before commiting yourself.
If it is important enough to say, This is my goal, then it is important enough for you to take the time to think it through, and come up with the steps you need to take to accomplish the goal. Just be sure you are realistic. Don't set yourself up for failure by deciding that you HAVE to do something each day that simply may not be easily done, due to your other obligations. And LIFE! LIFE has a way of coming at us at the most inconvenient times and under the most inconvenient conditions, so be sure to make allowances for the things you can't control, and make the most of those things you can control.
Make a goal plan, follow that plan to the best of your ability, but don't let it get you down, and don't allow yourself to become discouraged if you fail to do something in the time you've set for yourself. Remember, without failure there is no success. Hmm...somebody famous said that, but I don't remember who!
Happy New Year, everyone, and Happy and Realistic Resolutioning!!
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Monday's Meanderings: Christmas Is Over, Now What?
Christmas is over! I wonder how many of you feel as I do, that it was great while it lasted, but I'm glad that it's over? I love the preparations for Christmas: the decorating of house, tree, and the outside, planning the menu for Christmas dinner. But I don't love the shopping in all the crowds, and I don't even like wrapping gifts. I just like seeing the finished project sitting under the tree, all bright and colorful and shiny.
But then it's over. The last guest leaves, the first load of dishes is in the dishwasher, and there's a mountain of food left over to be wrapped and put in the freezer, or made up into "care" packages. There are still a few gifts to be sorted out and put away; the Christmas table that was so beautifully set is a mess, remnants of dessert on cheery Christmas paper plates to be thrown away; soda cans to be made sure they are empty before putting them in the recycle sack; and the lovely tablecloth, place mats, and napkins have to be washed, ironed, and put away for the next year. All of this is the 'real' work of Christmas. To say nothing of finally taking down the tree and putting away all the lovely, funny, and quirky decorations!
In my house, the latter means carefully storing away 15 large doll-sized Santa Clauses, each from a different state and/or part of the world that I've been in. It means taking 7 Snowdens ( remember them as Target's Christmas symbol during the lat '90s and early 2000's ?) and lovingly wrapping them up and putting them in their own packing boxes; it's bubble-wrapping my 7 piece Victorian village so none of it gets broken...a major job with all the little people, horse-and-carriages, trees, street lamps, and so on. And then there are all of my furry creatures to put away: 3 mooses, 2 reindeer, one singing mouse, 20-some bears of all sizes including several very large ones; one large, standing Tigger, one small talking Tigger, 3 dogs of various sizes, and one lion who surveys his kingdom every year. There's also the nativity scene, several china and porcelain Santas, all of my Santa paintings, and my other Christmas wood paintings. And I've probably forgotten some.
All the excitement and music and glamour and anticipation, and even the work is over, and slowly but surely the "normal" world comes back into focus. Now what?
We'll talk about "now what?" in my next post.
Until then,
That's a wrap.
But then it's over. The last guest leaves, the first load of dishes is in the dishwasher, and there's a mountain of food left over to be wrapped and put in the freezer, or made up into "care" packages. There are still a few gifts to be sorted out and put away; the Christmas table that was so beautifully set is a mess, remnants of dessert on cheery Christmas paper plates to be thrown away; soda cans to be made sure they are empty before putting them in the recycle sack; and the lovely tablecloth, place mats, and napkins have to be washed, ironed, and put away for the next year. All of this is the 'real' work of Christmas. To say nothing of finally taking down the tree and putting away all the lovely, funny, and quirky decorations!
In my house, the latter means carefully storing away 15 large doll-sized Santa Clauses, each from a different state and/or part of the world that I've been in. It means taking 7 Snowdens ( remember them as Target's Christmas symbol during the lat '90s and early 2000's ?) and lovingly wrapping them up and putting them in their own packing boxes; it's bubble-wrapping my 7 piece Victorian village so none of it gets broken...a major job with all the little people, horse-and-carriages, trees, street lamps, and so on. And then there are all of my furry creatures to put away: 3 mooses, 2 reindeer, one singing mouse, 20-some bears of all sizes including several very large ones; one large, standing Tigger, one small talking Tigger, 3 dogs of various sizes, and one lion who surveys his kingdom every year. There's also the nativity scene, several china and porcelain Santas, all of my Santa paintings, and my other Christmas wood paintings. And I've probably forgotten some.
All the excitement and music and glamour and anticipation, and even the work is over, and slowly but surely the "normal" world comes back into focus. Now what?
We'll talk about "now what?" in my next post.
Until then,
That's a wrap.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Wednesday's Wanderings: Time Flies...or Not
Aaarghh! Where does the time go? It's been a week since my last post, and I really didn't intend that to happen.
'Tis the season, and all that, but really, does time seem to go faster during the Christmas holidays, or does it stand still? As kids, I guess we all thought that time was standing still, and Santa's "day" would never get here. As adults, we never have enough time to do everything we want and need to do before the Big Day.
Where does that leave us with our writing? I marvel at some of my younger writing friends, those with outside jobs and/or young children: they not only find the time to write, but to post regularly on their blogs. Then, of course, I look at myself and say, "Self, you are retired. You have time. Much time. What is your problem?" Unfortunately, Self never has a good answer.
I've tried the schedule bit, tried writing down everything I have to do in one day, then making myself a schedule ...7am to 8am, get up, shower, get dressed, get dog up and outside; 8am to 8:20am, brush dog; 8:20am to 8:30 am, feed dog, cat, and parrots; 8:30 to 9am, feed husband and self. Good grief, by the time I've written all this down, I'm exhausted just thinking about it, and I haven't even gotten past 9 o'clock in the morning. Obviously, scheduling doesn't work for me.
All joking aside, in the busiest season of the year, how does one find the time to write, post a blog, and carry on with all the seasonal 'asides' that you have to do? You know, those 'little' things like Christmas shopping, baking cookies, sending out cards...the list goes on.
For me, the earlier in the morning I work on Christmas 'stuff,' the better. Getting the house decorated, shopping for gifts or cooking, actually doing the baking, and so on. I try to get it all done by 1pm. If Possible. From 1 to 3pm I write, and nothing better get in my way. Except, of course, the kids stop by; neighbors drop in; the phone rings and hubby is conveniently out with the dog or puttering in the garage and the person on the phone is a telemarketer who won't take 'no' for an answer; or it's a long-lost 'friend' ( who hasn't stayed lost long enough) who just decides to take that time to catch me up on everything that has gone on in her life for the last 3 years that I have not heard from her. Thankfully have not heard from her. And so the day goes. Writing? You've got to be kidding!
How is your writing day going? Smoothly or with more bumps, twists, and turns than usual? Do you blame it on the season, or do you accept it more gracefully than I do? ( Well, age does have its privileges, ya' know!)
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
'Tis the season, and all that, but really, does time seem to go faster during the Christmas holidays, or does it stand still? As kids, I guess we all thought that time was standing still, and Santa's "day" would never get here. As adults, we never have enough time to do everything we want and need to do before the Big Day.
Where does that leave us with our writing? I marvel at some of my younger writing friends, those with outside jobs and/or young children: they not only find the time to write, but to post regularly on their blogs. Then, of course, I look at myself and say, "Self, you are retired. You have time. Much time. What is your problem?" Unfortunately, Self never has a good answer.
I've tried the schedule bit, tried writing down everything I have to do in one day, then making myself a schedule ...7am to 8am, get up, shower, get dressed, get dog up and outside; 8am to 8:20am, brush dog; 8:20am to 8:30 am, feed dog, cat, and parrots; 8:30 to 9am, feed husband and self. Good grief, by the time I've written all this down, I'm exhausted just thinking about it, and I haven't even gotten past 9 o'clock in the morning. Obviously, scheduling doesn't work for me.
All joking aside, in the busiest season of the year, how does one find the time to write, post a blog, and carry on with all the seasonal 'asides' that you have to do? You know, those 'little' things like Christmas shopping, baking cookies, sending out cards...the list goes on.
For me, the earlier in the morning I work on Christmas 'stuff,' the better. Getting the house decorated, shopping for gifts or cooking, actually doing the baking, and so on. I try to get it all done by 1pm. If Possible. From 1 to 3pm I write, and nothing better get in my way. Except, of course, the kids stop by; neighbors drop in; the phone rings and hubby is conveniently out with the dog or puttering in the garage and the person on the phone is a telemarketer who won't take 'no' for an answer; or it's a long-lost 'friend' ( who hasn't stayed lost long enough) who just decides to take that time to catch me up on everything that has gone on in her life for the last 3 years that I have not heard from her. Thankfully have not heard from her. And so the day goes. Writing? You've got to be kidding!
How is your writing day going? Smoothly or with more bumps, twists, and turns than usual? Do you blame it on the season, or do you accept it more gracefully than I do? ( Well, age does have its privileges, ya' know!)
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Wednesday's Wanderings: Thoughts on Publishing an Ebook
Well, finally! I've been locked out of my blog for the last few days for some reason. I was getting very annoyed, and ready to take on Blogger when today it seems fine. The workings of the Internet I'm afraid will always be a mystery to me.
Yesterday I took a somewhat scary step towards publishing. I sent off my historical novel, The Freedom Thief, to an ebook publisher, MuseItUp Publishing. I thought that would be the end of it, until I received a reply saying they either would or would not be interested in publishing the book. Instead, I received an email from the President of the company accknowledging receipt of my manuscript, and telling me I should hear again from them within 6-8 weeks, or perhaps sooner. What a pleasant surprise!
I said this was a scary step for me. My novel has a 13-almost-14 year old boy as the protagnonist, and with seemingly every publisher having his own definition of what makes a middle grade or young adult read, in terms of age, I have no idea if the story is middle grade or young adult. I still have misgivings about a middle grade story in an ebook format, so it's scary because I don't know if it will sell as an ebook or not.
In today's economy, it seems to me that for the majority of parents, buying their kids a Kindle or a Nook or whatever other kind of ereader is out there would be one of the last items on their Christmas list...or any kind of gift list. Especially if the kids are only 10 to about 12 or 13 years old...the age my story is aimed at. Yet a lot of writers are going this route, not only with MG and YA stories, but even with picture books and short chapter books for elementary grade readers.
Perhaps the initial cost of the ereader overrides the ongoing cost of buying books from a bookstore, even Amazon. If so, publishing as an ebook makes a lot of sense. However, there are also many parents today who are saying to their children, you have to go to the library because I can't afford to buy you a book. So there are two sides to this issue of ebook publishing for kids.
I just hope I've chosen the right side ! Of course, first I have to find out that the manuscript has been selected for publishing, then I'll have plenty of time to worry about how well it's going to sell.
What are your thoughts on ebook publishing? Do you think this is a viable alternative to fighting the battle in finding a traditional print publisher, and if so, have you taken this route or are planning to?
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
Yesterday I took a somewhat scary step towards publishing. I sent off my historical novel, The Freedom Thief, to an ebook publisher, MuseItUp Publishing. I thought that would be the end of it, until I received a reply saying they either would or would not be interested in publishing the book. Instead, I received an email from the President of the company accknowledging receipt of my manuscript, and telling me I should hear again from them within 6-8 weeks, or perhaps sooner. What a pleasant surprise!
I said this was a scary step for me. My novel has a 13-almost-14 year old boy as the protagnonist, and with seemingly every publisher having his own definition of what makes a middle grade or young adult read, in terms of age, I have no idea if the story is middle grade or young adult. I still have misgivings about a middle grade story in an ebook format, so it's scary because I don't know if it will sell as an ebook or not.
In today's economy, it seems to me that for the majority of parents, buying their kids a Kindle or a Nook or whatever other kind of ereader is out there would be one of the last items on their Christmas list...or any kind of gift list. Especially if the kids are only 10 to about 12 or 13 years old...the age my story is aimed at. Yet a lot of writers are going this route, not only with MG and YA stories, but even with picture books and short chapter books for elementary grade readers.
Perhaps the initial cost of the ereader overrides the ongoing cost of buying books from a bookstore, even Amazon. If so, publishing as an ebook makes a lot of sense. However, there are also many parents today who are saying to their children, you have to go to the library because I can't afford to buy you a book. So there are two sides to this issue of ebook publishing for kids.
I just hope I've chosen the right side ! Of course, first I have to find out that the manuscript has been selected for publishing, then I'll have plenty of time to worry about how well it's going to sell.
What are your thoughts on ebook publishing? Do you think this is a viable alternative to fighting the battle in finding a traditional print publisher, and if so, have you taken this route or are planning to?
Until next time,
That's a wrap.
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