Wednesday Is For Writers...

Shake it off… Shake it off…

Bad reviews getting you down in the dumps??

Let's face it, nothing hurts a writer as much as a bad book review. 

We pour our heart, blood, and soul out into our work and someone comes along and diminishes our sense of worth with just a few harsh words. We are crushed, defeated and sometimes really pissed off,  lashing out at the naysayer with a vengeance. 

Sometimes the bad reviews may be warranted and the criticism is just. And these reviews we must strive to learn from and make our writing better.

And sometimes the nasty review is nothing more than the ugliness that the anonymity of the internet provides. 

We've all been there, done that, and have the battle scars to prove it so this week I am sharing some of my favorite quotes that remind me there is life beyond the Haters.

Haters gonna hate after all… Thanks, Taylor.

The loudest boos come from the cheapest seats.

                                                       

                                                                 - Babe Ruth

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
                                                                 
                                                                - Confucius

You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
                                                                 - Walt Disney

The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and

nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to

your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me,

or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya

hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.

                                                             – Rocky Balboa


Remind thyself, in the darkest moments, that every failure is only a step toward success, every detection of what is false directs you toward what is true, every trial exhausts some tempting form of error, and every adversity will only hide, for a time, your path to peace and fulfillment.

             

                                                              – Og Mandino

Wednesday is for Writers...

Sorry I missed last week folks. It was an insane day complete with router burnout!

So, we are back this week with a couple of my favorite posts regarding promotion of your hard work, i.e. your novel!!! 

In an online world that now includes overly public platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc., we often find ourselves drowning in options for self-promotion that may or may not be worth spending what precious little time we have remaining to us on this earth.

That being said, here are a couple of authors that are willing to throw you a life raft and help you save your publishing career, as well as your self respect.

Enjoy, have a giggle or two, then go forth and prosper!!


Chuck Wendig ~ Terribleminds
10 Commandments of Authorial Self-Promotion

"It is time to speak about the sticky subject of self-promotion. You’re a writer. You’ve written a book and somebody — you, a big publisher, a small publisher, some spider-eating alley hobo — has published it. And now you want to know how you promote the book so that the world can fling money at your face in order to greedily consume your unrefined genius. But it’s not easy. You don’t know what works. What makes sense. You don’t want to just stand on a street corner barking at passersby and hitting children with your book. But you also recognize that you’re just one little person, not some massive beast of marketing and advertising, hissing gouts of pixelated steam and vacuuming up potential buyers into the hypno-chamber that is your belly.

What do you do? How far can you go? What should you say?"



Kristen Lamb's Blog
Selling & Social Media, DON'T Be a Personal Space Invader

"We writers are kinda weird…okay, a LOT weird. We can drift to extremes if we aren’t vigilant. Either we are the non-stop All-Writing-All-The-Time Channel or we’re afraid to mention we have ever read let alone written a book lest we offend anyone. I get it. I struggle, too. We are artists and “selling” feels…ookey.

Yes, ookey is a word.

Marketing feels especially weird in The Digital Age. But why? Also, why is the ROI (Return on Investment) so dismal with traditional marketing tactics? Facebook ads are a notorious waste of money and I doubt the guy who programmed his Twitter to mention his new book five times an hour has seen a massive uptick in sales.


Perhaps death threats, but not sales."

Wednesday is for Writers...

Daily Word Goals…yay or nay??


I recently read an article by James Clear regarding the difference between setting goals and simply having a process or plan in place that would ultimately achieve your goal. It is an interesting theory and worth the read.

I am participating in Camp Nanowrimo this month. It is a little more laid back and relaxed than the regular Nanowrimo in November and usually helps me get the cobwebs out if I am struggling to get something written.

I want to write 25,000 words this month and finish up a novel that I have been working on for nearly two years.  While this is lower than my normal word goal of two thousand words a day, it is still a hefty sum of words to put out there. Honestly, it is about eight hundred and thirty four words a day which in all truthfulness, should be very doable. Unfortunately procrastination is my middle name and eating chocolate instead of writing is my favorite game.

So tell me, have I stopped worrying about my ultimate goal and just set a process in place of writing eight hundred and thirty four words a day? Or have I simply traded one goal for another? I have no idea but I have stopped eating as a way to procrastinate.

I love Chuck Wendig's Blog, "Terribleminds" He talks about writing, he talks about his family, he talks about his books. I happen to believe that he is a genius when it comes to cutting through the crap of what makes a writer, well, a writer. He gets to the heart of what it takes to put out a novel without blowing smoke up your arse.

I keep him in my Feedly feed.

His blog post, succinctly entitled,  "How To Push Past the Bullshit and Write That Goddamn Novel: A Very Simple No-Fuckery Writing Plan to Get Shit Done" is a wake-up call. Read it and then do it.

And for all of us whiners out there complaining about low word counts on any given day, his blog post, Counting Words is a kick in the pants. And a smack upside the head just when you need one.

His recommendation? "Shut up and write."

Good advice.

Wednesday is for Writers...

Rejection.

One of the worse feelings for a writer. Thinking that your work isn't good enough. Wondering what you could have done better.

Everyone who has ever been a writer has been rejected from one place or another. This is one of those times when one thinks to ones self - I wouldn't belong to any club that would have me as a member. However, as it turns out, this particular group also happens to have the best and the brightest of writers, living or dead.

I have writer friends who become fatalistically discouraged after receiving their latest (and of course, most devastating) rejection notice. There are no words that can console and no opinions that matter at the moment other than that one editor or publisher who didn't find their work a good fit. Their writing careers are over, its time to hang it up and go back to work in the lucrative world of the service folk.

They have been weighed and measured and have absolutely been found wanting. 

At least at the moment, and at least in their own mind.

I don't know why as both readers and writers we can't seem to fathom that people (even publishers, editors, fans, and agents) have different tastes. I, for one, don't care for Science Fiction or Romances. I don't know why exactly, even the most well written story is simply not my cup of tea. Start talking about aliens or space ships or bodice ripping men and I look elsewhere for my entertainment.

I like horror, and detective and legal dramas. I like Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson. Stephen King and Michael Connelly. John Grisham and Scott Turow. Dean Koontz and the late and great Terry Pratchett.

Why would we believe that anyone else would NOT have a preference? So you don't like my story, yes I am a little hurt and slightly disappointed. But there has never been a writer that could please everyone. Not in this life and not in the next. Nor it is ever going to happen either.

We all have different tastes.  That is why there is chocolate ice cream, vanilla ice cream, and ice cream sandwiches. Almond Joys and Mounds. Dark and Milk chocolate. There is no One-size-fits-all when it comes to what we enjoy. Not in our desserts, and certainly not in our libraries.

So fellow writers, take your rejections for what they are worth and learn from them what you may.

Tomorrow is another day after all.