A look at January, and ebooks are up!

I know it's pretty late to be looking back at January, given we're well into February, but better late than never, right?

In January I wrote 19,712 words of fiction.  That doesn't include my weekly column but it does include a short story I wrote for an upcoming workshop.  If I can keep up that kind of pace I'll hit my goal of 200,000 words for 2011.  My short story goal is 12 short stories this year, though I'd love to write more than that.  Any tips on how I can meet these goals?

You'll notice a new link to the left that says, "Ebooks."  All my current ebooks are listed there, with links for those who want to purchase them.  All are short stories and priced at 99 cents each.  Why not check out a couple?

If you can think of anything you'd like to see on this blog, don't hesitate to drop me a line!  I'm interested in what you think and want to make this a blog you want to read!

Update and a coupon!

I wish I had a good excuse for not updating in almost two months.  The short answer is, I have no excuse.  I hope readers will forigve me and not abandon this little blog of mine.

One of the things I've been doing is putting some of my short stories up for sale online.  With Kindles and Nooks and other ereaders flying off the shelves, it is time to enter that market.  I will be adding those stories to my bibliography in due time.

Meanwhile, I thought you'd like a free peek at a story.  I'm giving away a coupon for my short story, "Goodbye Home," that will enable you to get it for free.  Go here and buy it, and type in the coupon code FY68J at checkout.  The coupon expires on February 7th, so act fast.

And if you like the story, would you please post a review saying so?  And don't forget to check out the other stories I have up there. 

I will work hard to update the site more frequently and I look forward to hearing from you!

Of Nanowrimo 2010

Three things have helped to delay updates to this blog.  Two are Xbox 360 games - Fable 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.  All I will say about them here is that they are great games that make time race by without you realizing it.  Not always a good thing when you're trying to keep up a blog.

The third thing that has taken copious amounts of time is National Novel Writing Month, commonly referred to as Nanowrimo or Nano.  The premise is a simple one: During the month of November, start a new book, and write the first 50,000 words before midnight November 30th.

That number is not a typo.  Fifty thousand words.  If you do the math, it comes to about 1700 words or 7 pages a day.  That is a lot of words.

I've been participating in Nano since 2004.  I pulled off the 50,000 word count in 2005 and 2006, then went through several years when I didn't even come close.

I vowed 2010 was going to be different.

So what did I do?  And did I make the goal? 

One thing that was very important: I wrote EVERY DAY.  Given that my fiction writing was spotty to the point of non-existent in October, this is a big deal.

Every day in November, I packed up my laptop and headed to my favorite coffee shop where I sat and wrote.  On Saturdays when the coffee shop was closed I went to our local Panera's and wrote there.  But each day found me adding words to the work.

On my worst day I only wrote 581 words.  My best day? 3,345.  Those happened in the same week, by the way, which probably means something funny but I can't think what.

Another thing I did was work off a proposal.  I'd gone to a Marketing Workshop in October and we had to come up with proposals for novels we wanted to write.  A total of five, if I'm remembering correctly.

The one I chose - "Oracle of My Enemy" - was a fantasy proposal.  Reading it over, I felt I'd given myself enough of a foundation with what I'd outlined that I could dive into it headlong and blast out the 50,000 words.

Maybe you can just dive into a novel and chug along.  I need at least a foundation, lest I get to the middle of a novel and find myself lost in the wilderness.  Having the proposal was something for me to lean on when I asked myself, "What happens next?" - but was flexible enough I could change things if they didn't work in the story.

I also am blessed that I have a husband who has at least a glimmer of understanding about what Nano meant to me.  Don saw to it I got out of bed early in the morning so I could get out and get the writing done.  He was understanding that some things, such as exercise and housework, fell by the wayside while I went on this quest.  And he asked me how it was going, cheering me on when the wordcount was good, encouraging me when it wasn't what I wanted it to be.

You can have a writing career without your spouse's support, but let me tell you it's a lot easier when they're behind you all the way.

I typed the 50,000th word on November 28th - two days early.  It was a very emotional moment for me, accomplishing this goal after weeks of struggling with my creative brain.  I'd done it - I'd won Nano.

Was it worth it?  Was it worth pushing myself like I did, for a victory that to many would be merely symbolic?

Well, I now have more than 1/2 a novel (that I'm working on finishing).  I also have some confidence in my creative abilities restored after wondering if my creative brain had broken. 

And I've proven that, if I have to, I can pound out 50,000 words of new fiction in a month.

So yeah, very much worth every minute.

Did you do Nano?  Let me know what your experience was like!  Just leave a comment below...

Happy Thanksgiivng!!

I hope all my readers have a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday! 

Sorry for being so quiet - I blame National Novel Writing Month - but I hope to be posting again soon!

Writing and Learning

Please forgive the two-week silence.  I was away at a writing workshop for 10 days and busy this week resting up and catching up with things on the home front.

The workshop, run by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, was about marketing.  We discussed the state of the current publishing market and ways to better market ourselves and our work.

It was quite interesting.  I got a lot of tools for my writing toolbox and information that is encouraging and exciting at this time.  I even put up my first e-pub - a short story.  You can check it out here if you have a Kindle, and here for other ereaders.

But I want to focus for a moment on writers learning their craft.  Yes, what we do is art, but there are still a lot of things to learn about that art.

When I started taking writing seriously, I could tell a story.  But my craft flaws kept readers from getting to and enjoying the story.  So I had to learn the craft of writing - and learn it well enough it went into my subconscious and came out my fingers.

My craft is a lot better than it was five years ago.  It still needs work - I just put aside a book I was working on because I realized I don't have the skill yet to write it.  I'll try it again next year, and learn more in the meantime.  Learning is an ongoing process - no good writer will say they know it all.

So how do we learn?

•  Books.  There are some good books about writing out there.  I recommend Stephen King's On Writing to anyone interested in getting serious about the craft.  Look for other books written by successful writers. 

• Workshops.  A good workshop can help your craft along and speed your improvement.  Conversely, a bad workshop can set you back and teach you stuff that'll slow down any progress.  Do your homework when it comes to workshops.  Find out who's running it, and what their qualifications are.  Ask good writers you know what workshops they would recommend.

• Practice.  I don't know why we writers shy away from the word practice.  But it's something we need to do.  Use a short story or novel you're working on and practice something - maybe this time it's getting in the 5 senses every two pages, next time you're working on character voice, and another time you're focusing on cliffhangers.  But pick something and work on it.  And realize every word you write can be practice, so write a lot.  The upside?  Sometimes we can sell our practice sessions to an editor.

That's all about learning for now.  Is there a topic in writing you would like me to talk about?  Leave me a comment.  I look forward to hearing from other writers about these things.  Good luck, and don't be afraid to learn!

Rules # 4 and 5: You Must Send Out What You Write (and keep sendiing it out)

I hope you've been enjoying these posts of mine.  I don't claim to be the most knowlegable writer on the planet but hopefully there's been some nuggets of wisdom here and there.

I'm combining the last two rules because they are closely related.  Rule #4 states you must send out what you write.  Rule #5 says that when it comes back, you send it right back out the door.

Send out what we write?  To, like, editors?

Yup.

It takes some courage to send out our work.  We put part of ourselves in what we write.  Sometimes when we give it to someone else to read it feels as if we're sending our baby to school for the first time.  Will they like it?  Hate it?  And what if they reject it?  Doesn't that mean they hated it and us?

Nope.

Ive sent stories out to dozens of editors.  I have a large collection of rejection slips.  I'm not saying they don't give me a twinge of disappointment at times.

But here's what I've learned - a rejection simply means an editor is not buying your story.

It has nothing to do with you.  It might have nothing to do with the quality of your story.  Stories are rejected for a variety of reasons.  Maybe it didn't fit the idea they had in mind.  Or they just bought something that was similar.  Or any of a number of reasons that have nothing to do with quality.

If you send out a story, the worst thing  that will happen is the editor will reject it.  That's it.  No one dies, your family willl still love you, and you are still a writer.

Sometimes we tie our self-esteem into our stories and their fates.  We can't do this.  If you are going to succeed in the business of writing you are going to hear "no" a lot more often than you will hear "yes."  And the writers who succeed in the business are the ones who persevere through the "no's" to get to the "yes's."

That's why you keep sending out even if it comes back.  So one person didn't want it - how do you know someone else won't?  Everyone is different.That's why you don't give up just because someone doesn't buy it.

I was recently concentrating on fulfilling rule #5 because I'd let a lot of stories pile up at home.  So I made an effort to research markets and shove everything out the door.  The result?  As I type this I have 3 novels sitting on various editor's desks, and  56 short stories (if I'm counting right).

That's a lot of words out there.  I'm hoping that in all that there's a "yes" or two in all that.  If not, I know what to do - keep sending it out!

Okay, so send out, but where?

Here are free two websites that are worth checking out for short story markets: http://www.duotrope.com/controlpanel.aspx
http://www.ralan.com/

For novels, consider subscribing to http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/ .  It's $20 a month but chock full of information concerning publishers. 

http://www.writersmarket.com/ is another subscription site for both novels and short story publishers.

Do your homework, write your best, and follow the rules!  You do that and you will find yourself a published writer at some point!

Rule #3: You Must Not Rewrite (unless to editorial demand)

This is a tough rule for some writers to get their heads around.  Before I weigh in on it, you need to read two very excellent posts on the topic, both on Dean Wesley Smith's blog: here and then here.  Go read them, I'll wait.

Okay, everyone back?  Let's chat about this.

I don't know why people get angry about this.  But apparently they do.  Can someone explain it to me?

Maybe it doesn't bother me because I was blissfully ignorant of this myth for the most part.  I get the reasoning as well.  Writing and rewriting require two different knds of thought processes, and the two of them don't get along.  If you go back over your work with your critical brain running the show, you will probably kill all the special parts of your story.

Remember my tale about the story I wrote that I thought was garbage but everyone else thought was great?  If I had gone back into the story with critical voice, I would've changed all kinds of things.  And I'm willing to bet it wouldn't have been nearly as good as it was.

But does that mean all first drafts are great stories?  Not at all.  The best way to understand it is to think of a manuscript as a tool.  You are using that tool to tell your story that's locked in your brain.

Sometimes the manuscript you write is the wrong kind of tool for the job.  Like using a screwdriver when a hammer is called for.  There's no point in trying to change the screwdriver into a hammer - the right thing to do is to find a hammer.

So if you write a bad manuscript the first time around?  Well, you take the idea and go for the correct tool.  In other words you redraft the story, writing it again from the beginning.  And when you do that you're still working in creative mode, which is the mindset you need to be in when you're writing your fiction.

  But why the editorial exception?  Couple of reasons. For one thing, an editor can give you money for your work, so it pays (pardon the pun) to listen to them.  And an editor knows how to tweak a story to make it sell.

That doesn't mean you have to do all they tell you.  If you disagree with something an editor says, you should think twice about making the change.  But I've found often I'll see an editor's suggestion and think, "hmm...good idea there."  And it makes the story better.

Again, I'd really like to know why some people freak out over this rule.  Maybe a reader can clue me in?