A Writer's Diary

When I started writing, I idolized writers like John Updike, Erica Jong, Raymond Carver, Margaret Atwood, and Alice Hoffman. I still do. I have always loved to write, and when I started writing those first tentative novels, I assumed my career, if I was lucky enough to have one, would be something like they had. On a much less grand scale. But it would work the way their careers did. They wrote the book and their agent and publisher and publicity agent did the rest.

That is all I wanted. Just to write. Very 20th century thinking. Little by little, just about the turn of the century, I became aware that publishing was changing. I was right in the middle of what seemed like a revolution. I blogged so I wouldn’t be blown away by the new winds. In real time, I found it difficult to keep up. I still mostly modeled myself after literary writers, publishing stories and poems in magazines. But my novels weren’t literary. They weren’t romance or any other genre, either. I saw genres come and go and stay way too long and still could not find a place in the tornado of novel publishing.

Finally, an editor took me in hand and showed me exactly how to write a romance. She had me cut a subplot, create a meaty conflict, make the hero more alpha, soften the heroine, let the reader in to their emotional lives. Then, after I’d done all this, she offered me a book contract. That book contract happened when I thought I’d finally found my tribe among the indie contingent.

So I decided to go ahead and self-publish my indie novel (which is not a romance) to Kindle while signing a more traditional contract with The Wild Rose Press. The first thing I noticed is that my indie novel went public way before the traditional, still unpublished novel. I like the speed and ease of indie publishing. I don’t like making my own covers, promoting my own books, or formatting my manuscripts to Kindle.

One thing these two deals have in common is that promotion is all down to me. I’m slowly learning the marketing ropes with the help of a wonderful community of indie writers I have found on Twitter. Yes, Twitter! Who knew? Not me. I’m still learning. And I’m learning mostly from indie writers I found on Twitter, my 21st century classroom.

I’m so excited! Just got the cover for The Paris Notebook which means we are getting close to a pub date. Plus I love this awesome cover by the very talented Angela Anderson! The main character is a teacher, so she put an apple on the books! Too cute. And she also used my favorite color: pink! I know. So many !!!!s

There is something so charming about the image of a writer insulated from the world, creating fantasy towns and people in her mind. But if you’ve been a writer for any length of time, you know those charming moments are rare. You may also know that there is more to writing, when you really get serious about publishing your work, than writing.

Submitting my work to editors and agents was the first non-writing hurdle. I had to learn to write non-fiction things like cover letters and synopses. Linda Gardner has a great lecture series on writing a synopsis in her writers’ toolbox. Learning to articulate your story from a one line pitch to a full out proposal is only the beginning. The real work starts when you’re published. Congratulations and get ready.

Now that I am a published writer with two books available, more writing business has been added. In a word: marketing. This blog, which I still think of as a fun way to vent about the non-charming aspects of writing, is a marketing tool. I’ve seen “blogging” listed as the #1 marketing tool for writers. That was happy news since I was already doing it and it is (for me at least) fun.

Although I’m not working on my novel for the next few days, I am still working at the business of being a writer. This weirdly includes grocery shopping and menu planning for my critique group meeting here tomorrow. I was in critique groups before I was published. It’s not always comfortable, but I don’t see how writers do without that feedback, especially indie writers like me.

The other huge business writer thing in my life that you’ll be hearing more about, I’m sure, is the 2012 conference for my writer’s group, Detroit Working Writers. If you live in Michigan consider joining DWW, which has been around for over a hundred years. You will get a great rate at the conference.

I am chairperson of the conference. This turns out to be fun and also intense work but so far only in short spurts. For the past few days the executive board and conference committee members have been finalizing our plans to present to the membership. I kept track of 5o or so emails regarding revisions to be made to early draft of documents.

Not only are we having a conference in September, but we are holding a state-wide writing competition with some pretty nifty cash prizes.  You do not have to be a member to enter the contest or come to the conference. Writing groups are great for networking and conferences even more so. This is marketing 101. Every person at that conference will receive a gift bag with a copy of my writer’s manual (and other good stuff like chocolate) in it. That’s layering marketing on marketing.

So I guess I don’t suck at marketing so much after all. Although I have yet to do a blog tour or post a guest blog, I am active on Twitter and getting comfy on Goodreads. Turns out I adore Twitter and spend way too much time on it. Not marketing, making friends who are also indie writers. But there’s a subtle sort of marketing going on whenever and wherever I post about writing. It’s not in your face BUY MY BOOK but you get to know people and like their blog and before you know it, you’re buying their book. At least that’s what’s happened to me.

I had a long fun day yesterday and today I’m tired. Not in the mood to work on my new novel. Can not get movtivated. So I typed “motivation” into my own archive search box and deja vu! I have been here before. Think I’ll take my own advice and start fresh Monday since I have a ton of non-writing things to do this week leading up to the weekend, when the writers descend upon my dining room chairs.

And also things worked out just fine after that post. Was offered a contract with TWRP. (Still no pub date yet). I finished Luke’s #1 Rule and though it didn’t hit Harequin’s sweet spot, I still like it, it is in really good shape, and want to do something with it soon. I’ve got a few ideas. Maybe indie again. So today I’m just going to meditate (or, as some people call it, nap) and do yoga and watch that episode of Parenthood I taped the other day. Then it will be time to cook dinner in my new blue kitchen.

It was sure a fun week giving away books. The aim of giveaways is to pull people to your website and in that regard, I messed up. The link I sent was directly to Amazon. I should have sent people to my site and then had a little blurb and then they could click on Amazon. Live and learn.

Have a new lead on another marketing possibility. Goodreads. Also, I should be finding people to review my book. I am working both of these angles but at heart, I am just not a bookseller. I am a book writer. That’s okay. I saw a significant jump in my numbers for both books.

Really? I think all the Twittering and Goodreads reviewing in the world won’t help much. And that is down to me. I am just not aggressive in that way. I am persistent, so I’ll keep trying. And really, I’m better off before the giveaway than after it. So it was a good thing. I’d do it again.

Amazon lets people who publish with them exclusively to have giveaways every 90 days. Next time I’ll do it right:) Off to Goodreads to talk about the juicy new Lee Childs I just finished.

This is the last day to get my writer’s manual Your Words, Your Story free on Kindle. It’s still #1 in creativity, so that feels good. This past week, I have felt more like a marketing newbie more than a seasoned writer with a stack of clips behind her. As I watching my book’s rating ebb and flow, I thought of my teachers. And I found one marketing game that feels way more like fun than work.

I took a creative writing class in college. We mostly wrote bad poetry to which the professor gave effusive praise. That was 30+ years ago, and if I did learn anything about writing, I don’t remember what it is, except that it feels good to be in the presence of other writers, talking about writing. My real first writing teacher probably didn’t realize I would so zealously follow her instructions. She was an assistant to an editor at Harlequin. She sent back my manuscript with two comments. The first was “you need to learn craft” and the second “your query was much better written than your novel.”

At the time, these words stung. I had just taken a year’s leave from teaching writing (talk about irony) and I have always loved to learn so I took her words to heart. It just so happened that a new to me writer was giving an intensive week long seminar in fiction writing down in Ohio, not too long of a drive from Michigan. Jenny Crusie’s main instruction to me was “needs conflict.” She also told us about conflict and character and plot. I took a few more classes from Crusie, some in person in Ohio and then later online in a group she’d formed to help writers.

I also took other courses, attended conferences, and read books on creative writing. I did this for five years, always trying to improve the new book (I wrote 4 books in 5 years). Then my husband asked me if I was ever going back to work. With a gloomy economy, looming retirement, and not one sale, I said yes. I returned to teaching on my own terms, choosing the local community college who needed a new creative writing instructor over the more lucrative university that only wanted me to teach kids to write college essays.

Those first creative writing classes were my first drafts of the book I am now giving away for one more day on Amazon. I got to hold that first book in my hands, see it on bookstore shelves, use it in my classroom. I had arrived. I was an indie writer. This was my solution to the non-interest of publishers and agents. I’ll sell my books myself.

That’s such an easy thing to say, but it’s really hard to do. I write. Mainly, that’s what I like to do. Just write. But an indie author has to be a cover artist and editor and PR person and someone who can format with code. They need a platform. Website, Facebook page, Twitter user, and also, someone just told me, use Good Reads.

I just started on Good Reads but I love it. Twitter is great too except really it’s not a marketing tool as it is a way to hang with other writers. And Facebook, I keep that for my friends and not put too much writing stuff on there because most of my friends and family are not writers, although the guy I hired to paint my kitchen has a great idea of a fantasy novel. I gave him a copy of my book.

I like giving books away, it turns out. A Writer’s Diary was here from the start and that’s due to my wonderful son, who like me is a writer. I write novels. Mike writers code. He suggested one day 10 years ago I should start a blog “I’ll do everything else, you just write the posts.” I said, “isn’t blogging sort of going away?” he said “nope.” Ha. He was right but I bet he wishes now he was wrong, because he’s still handling everything on this website not directly related to writing posts. Oh, except I found the little bluebird of happiness & the FB like banner. I had to email him “See what I did?” I was so proud. He said “How did you know…” I said, “I just kept clicking things until something worked.”

That’s all life is, really. Trying this and that, seeing what works. I think Good Reads is going to work for me. Maybe not as a writer, but as a reader who is having a great time filling my virtual bookshelves. And did I say this is the last day my book is free on Kindle? (There is just a little bit of a hawker of wares in me now. I should go back to normal tomorrow.)

Since I last wrote, my free (until Sunday 1/15) Kindle writing manual, Your Words, Your Story, has gone from #3 million to #184. I am simply amazed, in awe, and grateful. In case you’ve ever wondered, it feels way better to give than to receive. I have just been bouyed by this effort far beyond my expectations.

Long time readers of this blog saw the first tiny spark of an idea grow into what I used to call “my little book.” It wasn’t a novel, so that’s the way I thought of it. I’ve gathered all the posts from the journey of my little book here. And thank you all for clicking “buy” on my free book.

I am so excited!!

My first book, Your Words, Your Story, a creative writing manual with a splash of memoir, will be free for all Kindle users (not just Prime members) for five days, starting tomorrow (1/11) and ending Sunday (1/15). I have no control over what time the “free” promo begins and ends, so make sure to check the price before you buy. If it doesn’t say FREE check back.

If you have been wanting to write that novel or short story, now is the time to grab the motivation and direction you’re seeking by loading my book to your Kindle for free. I wrote it in response to a creative writing course I have taught many times at my local community college, so it’s got homework. You don’t have to do it, lol. No grades either. Yippee!

I’m so excited! Did I already say that? I’m emulating Mike Wells here. Thanks for the advice, Mike! I took it to heart.

I have met some pretty interesting people on Twitter, but Mike Wells, who teaches creative writing at Oxford, really tops them all. Read the story on his website about how his first novel Wild Child went from a trash heap (literally) to #1 on Kindle. It is a fascinating and true tale of what one person can accomplish if they dream big enough. Here’s another thing about Mike: he gives away free books. All the time. Which is how I ended up reading one of his many titles, Wrong Side of the Tracks.

Wrong Side of the Tracks is set in the teenage hell known as high school. It took me a while to figure out this was a novel meant for younger readers because Wells’s skillful and compelling writing immediately hooked me into the classic love triangle of Stephen and Kristine, who are 14 years old, and Kristine’s older football hero boyfriend, Ray. But adroit storyteller Wells gives readers more than the wonder and torment of first love, even as that plot unfolds with skill and compassion.

After his parents’ divorce, Stephen and his mom move to the other side of the tracks, away from Kristine and Ray and their perfect world of fancy cars and huge homes. Stephen could have been an instant target for bullies if not for Ben, a complex teen with a bad reputation, who stands up for Stephen and becomes both bodyguard and friend.

When Stephen decides to give Kristine a birthday present, Ray hits the high school roof and almost takes Stephen down. Then Ben steps in and makes quick work of the spoiled jock. Particularly his nose. Before the beatdown, Ray throws Stephen’s gift to Kristine back in his face. And something about that returned gift strongly hints that all is not well between Kristine and Ray.

Although Stephen’s attraction to Kristine is sweet, the really interesting character here is Ben. There are rumors about his dysfunctional family, some of which Stephen witnesses first-hand. Ben leads a pack of dare devil misfits and he can be brutal, but he also has a soft, artsy side he rarely lets others see. As a reader, you never know what Ben will do next. He’s the wild card of the novella, so that even as we long to see what becomes of Stephen and Kristine’s relationship, we turn the expertly executed pages with trepidation about what Ben will be up to next.

How many of you bought the People issue that features folks who lost a ton of weight? I did. I always do. The stories inspire me, but that doesn’t mean when I read them I am made over into a totally new woman who has a fail-proof weight loss plan and the willpower to go with it.

I started my last weight loss effort in May. I lost 17 lbs. in 5 months. I even lost weight on vacation. My diet was simple but not easy. I bought an app for my phone to track my daily calories, what I ate and when I went over. That worked really well for awhile. Then it didn’t. I gained back 9 pounds over the holidays, which for all yo-yo dieters starts with the candy on Halloween and ends after the Rose Bowl.

It was like I had turned off a switch. I stopped recording my daily intake because I felt bad that I kept going over. I still checked in with my weight loss group, who supported me through a series of gain a pound one week, lose a pound the next, gain three the next…everyone who has been on the diet-go-round has experienced this. Some people plateau, I ping pong.

Finally turned my app back on and am recording every bite again. It’s the only way I lose. It’s not about working out harder or trying a juice detox. Yoga is my preferred exercise, and it’s not known, at least in the gentle form I practice, as a huge weight loss boost. I just bought a juicer but I’m not counting on a quick fix detox. It’s about the daily menu, what I choose to eat, how much of it, and what I refuse.

Trying to get back to lots of good habits, not just with eating. Slacked off on the novel-in-progress too during the holidays. Can’t quite push myself into the book again although yesterday I bought a necessary research book (a real book! at an actual bookstore!). As I grapple with my 25 year struggle to keep the weight off, I realize that my novels (I have one due out soon and another for sale for a buck on Kindle and Nook) always have at least one character who is overweight. We are real. We exist in the world. Although I don’t see many overweight folks in fiction, I need to keep it real, so I channel all my own diet woes onto these characters.

And every once in a while, my characters teach me something about how to be better-at dieting and at life.