Tag Archives: newbie writers

May 27, 2014 · 8:19 am

Failure, Part II

“Develop success from failure. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” Dale Carnegie

For those of you who don’t know who this influential and superbly brilliant man was, I suggest you GOOGLE him or open the name link above. Many of Dale Carnegie’s teachings in his breakthrough book How to Win Friends and Influence People can be directly related to whether or not you consider yourself and your writing as successful or as failures.

As I mentioned previously, take ten writers and ask them what success means to them with regard to their writing and you will get ten individual, different answers. The same can be said of failure. I was at a writing conference recently and an agent said that if you have a writing blog, you need to have at least ten thousand hits per week to be considered a success if you are querying a publisher.  Ten thousand. Per week. I’ve had this blog up since february and I’ve had a grand total of 584 hits since then. So, am I considered a failure by this agent’s guidelines? Yup.

At that same conference I attended a session about social media. The maven at that one stated categorically that you need a minimum of ten-to-twenty thousand followers in order to promote your book through TWITTER. Anything less than that and you won’t generate any buzz about your books, which will translate into not making any money from non-existent sales. Again, I’m a failure in her eyes.

I left the conference considering my choice of writing as a boondoggle.

By the time I got back home, that thought went the way of the dinosaur and disappeared from the face of the earth.

Social media is a very powerful tool this days. I’ll admit that freely. If and when I have a book published I will certainly take advantage of my Twitter followers ( all 80 of them!  )and my Facebook friendships to help generate buzz and sales. But I certainly don’t consider myself as a writing failure because I don’t have hundreds of thousands of people checking in on a smartphone to see what I’m up to. No. Taking the above quote into consideration, I will post my successes along the way and HOPE two friends will tell two friends, who will tell two more friends, and so on and so on.

I still believe in my heart and mind that the best way to get people to read your work is to write a good story that they can’t put down and don’t want to. Everything else will fall  from that. I am not a failure if I write a good story.

Thoughts?

 

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May 26, 2014 · 12:48 pm

Failure?

“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Henry Ford.

This has to be one of the easiest quotes I’ve found so far to relate to writing! Read on and see if you agree.

In my last post I asked what it means to you, as a writer, to have success or to be successful. Is it publishing a novel? Finishing one? What defines success to you? Every answer is a correct one because every writer is unique.

Failure, I feel, is the same. Just as every writer defines their success individually, I think  we define our failures in the same manner. For instance, if I enter a contest and don’t win it, isn’t that generally considered a failure? I failed at winning. But what if I told you I didn’t  get the overall win, but that the editor who scored me liked my premise so much she asked for a full manuscript? Wouldn’t that negate the idea that I’d failed?

To take that thought further, I submit the manuscript only to have it sent back to me with the explanation, “you need to do certain things to this before it will be acceptable for publication,” and then the editor details what I need to do for satisfaction. I failed at getting that story published as it was originally penned, but now I’ve been given the opportunity to revise it, to make it better, with the thought that if I do, it may be good enough to be published. So again I failed, but I was given an opportunity to succeed. Hence, the above quote.

I consider something as a failure when I haven’t seen it to fruition. When I haven’t finished a story. I can make excuse after excuse why I didn’t complete it, but the end result is the same. I failed to give full birth to an idea that appeared promising. I also consider it a failure if I don’t accept opportunities that present themselves to me. Every writing contest I enter has the possible end result that I will not win, that I will fail. But every contest I enter is filled with learning opportunities. Editors and agents usually make comments about every facet of the piece entered. I would only consider myself as failing if I didn’t take the constructive criticisms and do something positive with them. And the most positive thing I could do would be to make the story better.

I don’t even consider myself as  failure since I’ve never had a fictional adult novel published yet. I would only see myself as failing if I stopped trying to reach that goal.

Any thoughts?

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May 24, 2014 · 11:49 am

Success

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas. A Edison

What does the word success mean to you with regard to your writing? Do you consider yourself successful if you have sold a story or a novel? Are you a success if you’ve made a certain amount of money with your writing? If your writing has afforded you the ability to “quit your day job?” Are you successful because you were able to write 2500 words today and every day for the past week? ( That’s a goodie!) Would you consider it a success if you got a poem or article published in a local magazine?

What defines success to you as a writer?

I’ll bet if you ask ten writers this question you will get 10 different answers. I consider this a good thing, because we shouldn’t adopt the cookie cutter definition of the word when comparing it to your writing.

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines success as follows: SUCCESS: noun

  • the accomplishment of an aim or purpose
  •  the attainment of popularity or profit
  •  a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity

For me personally, as a writer, success has several definitions. I consider any day as a success if I get some kind of writing done, be it this blog, my new WIP, or even journaling. The act of recording my thoughts I consider a success.

I also feel successful with regard to my writing when I finish a tough paragraph, chapter, or article. Writing for me is more than just thoughts on the page. I put a great deal of energy into getting things worded just the way I want them, so that they convey exactly what I mean to say. I’ve got a dog-earred thesaurus on my desk that actually has pages breaking away from the spine because I’ve used it so much.

Whenever I complete and post a blog entry I feel a great amount of internal success because I’m living up to the goal I made for myself earlier this year when my website went live. I vowed to write a bare minimum of three times per week – more if I could – and post. So far I’ve been successful at doing this.

Take a look at your own writing.  By your own definition, are you successful with it? Are you having doubts about it and thinking of giving up on it? Reread Edison’s quote above and then decide what makes you and your writing successful.

Any thoughts?

 

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May 22, 2014 · 8:59 am

An evening with Lisa Gardner

Last night I was privileged to attend a meeting at my local Keene Public Library,  featuring guest speaker Lisa Gardner. Ms. Gardner is an uber-bestelling author in the crime/suspense/thriller category and if you haven’t read anything by her, get started today. I’ve been a fan since her first major novel and have eagerly waited every year for her newest arrival on the bookshelves. Lisa  spoke for over an hour and detailed her writing career journey that started when she was in high school and continues on to this day, and I must say, I was highly inspired by her words. I can see why she is such a great writer because she is an amazing speaker, and I’ve always felt the two go hand in hand.

The underlying theme of the talk was that she always felt she was someone born to write. She  loved putting pen to paper, creating characters and moving them along complicated and thrilling plot-lines since she was little more than a child. She penned her first novel during her senior summer in high school – not too small a feat. She kept writing throughout college, even though she didn’t major in english, and then onwards into her career life. She never stopped. Her writing was something she simply did because she had to, wanted to and felt compelled to.

How many of us who write can make that statement truthfully? I’m not talking about the desire to write or the hope to write when our lives slow down and  finally give us time to. I’m talking about that driving need, that all consuming compulsion to get our words committed to paper ( or laptop). That mental toughness that compels us to keep at it, no matter how much – or how little – time we have to devote to it.

I’ve shared before how I’ve always written. I’ve never stopped since I learned how to use a pencil, pen, typewriter then computer/laptop. Nothing has stopped me. Not when life intervened and I had to go back into the workforce; not when I had my child; not through sickness, tragedy, plague,pestilence or war. Okay, those last three don’t apply to me, but you get the idea I’m trying to convey. I write. That’s what I do. I’m a writer. That’s what I am. Nothing can stop me from doing what I love. And nothing will.

As writers, we need to network, talk to one another, and share our ideas, our journey’s, our goals and our triumphs. Listening to Lisa Gardner’s journey and  how she  navigated through her writing career was a very soul searching hour for me. It made me appreciate all the hard work and sweat I put into my writing even though there are days I know no one will ever read what I’ve written,  or maybe not like it if they do. I write because I love it, I am compelled to do it, and I get so much satisfaction out of doing it.

Any thoughts?

 

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May 20, 2014 · 2:43 pm

Reading

“The first time I read a new book, it is to me just as if I had gained a new friend; when I read over a book I have perused before it resembles the meeting with an old friend.” Oliver Goldsmith 

This quote resonates with me because I have been known to read and re-read books, sometimes yearly. I’ve read Gone with the Wind once ever year since I was in college. I read every Nora Roberts book when it is first released and then when it is re-released. The joy I experience when I read The End in a book, is only surmounted by the joy I feel when I start a favored book again. It doesn’t matter that I know the outcome. What matters is that the story being read is a good one. And, like  Goldsmith alludes to in his quote, the meeting of the words again is like meeting up with an old and treasured friend.

Why do I write? I’ve explored this topic before, but today I can answer it in a little more depth by asking, “Why do I read?”

Why do we read? What compels us, as a civilized people, to record our words? Many reasons come to my mind, not the least of which is to be entertained. I enjoy losing myself in a book, its characters, its plot lines and twists. A good story, like a good story teller, is a commodity. Anyone can write a book. All you need is a basic command of the language and a plot. But to write a good story, one that lasts, tests the passage of time, that entertains, educates, and makes one think, that takes talent. I read nowadays to be entertained. In college, I read to be educated. When I was in grade school, I read in order to learn how to read: what the definition of the words were, what the punctuation meant. As a baby I was read to in order to calm me down and prepare me for bed.

When we only had real bound books and paper products to read, such as newspapers and magazines, reading was something we usually did in the privacy of our homes or at school. The techno-age, which  may end up being the death of paper, has allowed our civilization the  freedom to read at any time, any where, and to read anything. Books, magazines, periodicals, blogs, diaries, history, spreadsheets, anything that can be printed that needs to be read can now be uploaded and stored on a myriad of personal devices. People now read while standing in line at the grocery market, waiting for trains and plains, even while walking down the street – which can prove hazardous! And we still read for all the same reasons: to be entertained, educated, informed, enlightened, stimulated, and calmed.

I have a Kindle, a Kindle app on my Ipad and a Kindle app on my phone so I am never without my current reading material. NEVER. I remember a time when I went on vacation and had to limit myself to one hardbound book so as not to take up too much of my suitcase room. Now, I take my Ipad and I have thousands of books at my fingertips any time I want.

So. Back to why I read. Basically, I like to lose myself in characters that bare no resemblance to me and into plots that I will never find myself  embroiled in. For a few stolen hours I like to imagine worlds where love does concur all, good always triumphs over evil, and greed is not good. So because those are the sorts of books I like to read, those are also the sorts of books I like to write.

There’s an old adage that states “Write what you know.” If I were the one penning that concept, I would say, “Read and write what you like.”

I do.  Do you?

Any thoughts?

 

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May 19, 2014 · 10:40 am

Individuality

“If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t have to sing at all.” Billie Holiday.

Have you ever heard Billie Holiday sing? Not the Diana Ross version of her voice, but a recording of the actual songstress?Click on this link to get a sample of what she really sounded like. Billie sings. Now that you’ve heard her actual voice you’ll  understand why I put her quote up today. No one. Let me repeat that: No.One. Sounds like Billie Holiday. When you hear her sing you know instantly that it’s her. You can probably say that about a handful of singers. Instant recognition. The voice, the way the song is sung, the way the lyrics are expressed, all aid in helping you know the voice immediately.

How does this relate to writing? Easy. Think of your favorite author. Now think about why they are your favorite author. It’s probably because of the way they tell their stories. The language they use, the descriptors, the way they convey the emotions of the love connection. This is the author’s voice. I’ve blogged about voice before but today it’s from a different slant.

The rules of romance writing – like the rules in life – are guidelines for existence. Life rules help guide us through…well…life. The rules of writing romance are the same. You want to get your characters from point a to point b and then to a happy ending. Along the way you’re not supposed to roam through everyone’s head, allow secondary characters to become primary actors in your work, and you should never make it easy on the love interests to get together.

Now, my favorite authors of every genre break that head roaming rule, and every other “rule” out there. This is why they are my favs. I’m nosy. I’ve said that before and it’s true. I like knowing what’s going on in every character’s mind. It helps me understand the story. I write this way as well and I know – from the multiple editors that have mentioned it – that it is verbotten in a newbie author. But, this is MY writing voice. My individual style. The way I want to tell a story – much like the way Billie Holiday  tell stories with her songs. The trick to doing the verbotten correctly is to make it seem like it’s not wrong. Only a handful of truly gifted authors do this well. Some day I hope to be included in that lofty group!

Be yourself. In your life and in your writing. That’s my take-away from today’s quote.

Any thoughts?

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May 13, 2014 · 9:50 am

Self doubt

“Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears.” Rudyard Kipling.

This is a beautiful quote. Really. Look at the way Kipling works the words. He takes something as fundamental, complex and intrinsic to all mankind as the emotion fear, and calls it, quite simply, a liar. A teller of an untruth. A false statement or thought.

Why does this quote resonate with my writing? Because I am loaded, chockfull, with fear about what I write. I never think : it is good enough, worthy to be read by others, humorous, sad, though provoking, etc. Simply, I am constantly afraid my writing is not up to par and, that has kept me from allowing others to read what I’ve written and stockpiled for decades. My fear renders me incapable of sharing or even discussing my work. Most of my friends and co-workers never knew I wrote for pleasure until last year and even then I was loathe to tell them I wrote romantic stories.

The fear of not being considered good enough can be traced way back to my childhood. Parental abandonment, overweight issues and family mental illness all helped shaped me into the fearful young adult I became. Don’t ever let anyone tell you the experiences of your childhood don’t lead to lasting traumas in adulthood. How we deal with those traumas, and hopefully move beyond them is key. My family life was a melodramatic gothic novel waiting to be published and I finally realized that in my thirties and was able to push through it to become the strong willed, confident ( most of the time) person I am today.

But the one thing I’ve always kept locked away was my desire to write and be published. The fear of showing what I wrote to professionals and then being judged and rejected was too much for me. I never considered they would actually like something I’d written, or see some kind of potential in it. No, I knew it wasn’t good enough,so I just saved it to the hard drive and that was it.

Until last year.

Last year I was finally able to reconcile my fear of public knowledge about my writing and began pursuing options. I joined a writing group, something that had terrified me for years. I knew they would be much more polished writers than I was, published and well known with large reader followings.  They would recognize me immediately as not worthy of being in the group. I had nothing to add to the discussions about publishing and writing. What I never imagined, though,was that they would be so warm and welcoming to a new member. That they would bestow wisdom and encouragement and support to someone nowhere near as far in a writing career as they were.  First lie proven untrue – you are worthy and welcome – first fear overcome.

Then I started entering contests. Because I never had to face the judges across a table or room, I thought that when their negative comments came about my work – and I knew they were going to be negative – I wouldn’t feel as upset as I would have if it were given to me in person. Second lie dispelled – you aren’t a good enough writer – I got a great deal of positive comments and even got asked for full manuscripts from some editors. Second fear overcome.

I started traveling to writing conferences and began to feel as if I really did belong to this elite, special group of people. Third fear gone.

Every day when I write something I still agonize about whether it is good enough to be viewed by other people. I don’t worry they will laugh at my work, or me, though anymore. I don’t dread the thought of negative comments if they are tempered with constructive criticism. And I have even begun to start answering the question, “What are you working on?” with some confidence in my voice.

So, back to the quote: read it again and determine if your fears – and the lies that they are made of – are worth dispelling. For me, they were.

Any thoughts?

 

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May 12, 2014 · 9:05 am

Motivation

The dictionary definition of motivation is the act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something (Merriam Webster).  Deb Dixon, in Goal, Motivation and Conflict, tells us “Motivation is the “why.” Why do characters want something? The motivation is what drives characters to achieve their goals.” She also tells us that motivation is both an internal and an external concept.

Your characters  must be motivated towards a goal. Otherwise, they will just be dancing around on the page, happy and carefree with no worries. How do you spell b-o-r-i-n-g? They need to be moving towards or working towards a goal and the reason for that goal is what is motivating them. I think this holds true in real life as well, not just simply in our fictional characters.

Some days, when the words are flowing through my mind faster than my typing fingers can keep up, I never question what motivates me to write. To me, writing is like breathing: I have to do it or I will surely die. My tag line for this blog is Writing is my oxygen. I mean that.

Then there are days where I can’t get my mind to tell my fingers what to type. My brain is clouded, cluttered, and non-cooperative. But even on those frustrating days when the words don’t come easily, I still never have to question my motivation to write. I just have to or I know I will die. Sounds melodramatic, doesn’t it? Yeah, that’s me:  Melodrama’s my middle name. You thought it was Mary, didn’t you? Na-uh! Margaret-Melodrama Jaeger.

If I were a character in a novel and Deb Dixon was analyzing my character motivation, it might go something like this: External motivation: needs to write in her blog everyday so she doesn’t die. Internal motivation: writing is the one thing that is mine and mine alone, that gives me unlimited pleasure, and makes me feel worthy of living. I need to write just like I need to breath.

I think I’ve got this one; no worries. Now, applying it my characters may be a tad more difficult. And it should be. Otherwise my characters will be – here’s that word again –  boring!

My quote from today is from ubersuccesful writer Barbara Kingsolver: “The very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is to live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance, but live right in it, under its roof.”

What I hope for is the ability and freedom to write until I take my last breath. Seems to me like my hope and my motivation are pretty much the same thing!

Any thoughts?

 

 

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May 3, 2014 · 9:46 pm

Conference end

Days like today always remind me why I love being a writer and attending writing conferences. Shared experiences, instilled knowledge, networking. This is why you come to conferences and why you should.

Today’s schedule included a class on finding your voice as a writer and how to use humor in your writing. I’ve done a previous blog on finding your writer’s voice and this class reiterated to me why it’s so important to be true to yourself and your writing style. It is distinctly yours and the more your write, the better it gets.

For our luncheon speaker today we had Cara McKenna take us through her journey to published author and gave us some advice on how to navigate through the sometimes tortuous waters of the publishing industry. With some colorful phrases and through a few tears, she made every writer in the room feel as if their journey was a worthwhile endeavor.

I attended a very good workshop in  the afternoon by Megan Frampton titled, Angst and Affability: Using Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice to Craft New Adult and Contemporary Romance. She drew comparisons and contrasts between the older books and their contemporary usages and it was quite fascinating.

Oh, and I did my two pitches. And survived! Suffice it to say, I had a VERY GOOD outcome with them. More will follow  ( hopefully) on that in the future.

I encourage everyone who writes to attend a writing conference at least yearly. I go more often because I can and, let’s face it,  want to. Even if you learn one thing you never knew before about writing/publishing/editing, whatever, or meet one person who can help change your life, the expense is always worth it. I’m going home armed with a new energy and desire to write. I have new writing goals for myself and am determined to see them through.

One of the most important things I learned this weekend was to keep at it. Keep writing and reading what you love. Don’t be discouraged if it isn’t your time to be discovered – it will be one day! Just keep at it and keep loving it.

Good advice.

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May 2, 2014 · 5:02 pm

Conference – Part 2

So it’s the first day of the NECRWA conference in Burlington. After checking in I received my “goodie bag” complete with program, name lanyard and my scheduled editor appointments for tomorrow morning. I get to “pitch”  my newest work in an 8 minute diatribe to two powerful editors at two distinct publishing houses. How do you define nervous? I’ve done this before at other conferences and that feeling of nervous anticipation coupled with sweat-producing dread never seems to go away. I know I have nothing to be nervous about – after all, I talk for a  living. But I think it’s that little nugget of self doubt that always permeates my soul when I talk about the stuff I write. Will the person like it? WIll they understand the story line I’m talking about? WIll they think I’m a complete illiterate moron? Will I stutter, falter, spit?  And God forbid – will I forget the story line I am pitching? All  these things run through my mind when I think about the pitch.

I’m a confident woman. Really. I know myself and I know my stuff. I can articulate – most of the time – well. I write fairly well, or so I’ve been told. But when it comes to talking about my writing with a complete stranger – who, by the way,  may be  my ticket to publication – I turn into an inarticulate, thread of thought losing toddler. That’s just dumb!

I’m not going to think about it for now. For today I’m going to attend the meetings I’ve chosen, learn from the masters, and just relax and enjoy the moment. I’ll think about the pitch later…probably all night long…and I won’t sleep, and I’ll be bone tired tomorrow and then then  I really will forget the story line, or falter, or stutter, or spit.

Oh god! What have I gotten myself into?

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