Wedding Blog and Writing Updates

I am still in a period in my life (and the same goes for the writer-fiance) where real life gets in the way of writing.

Right now he's getting back on the bandwagon with his writing after falling off for awhile during Spring vacation, a friend's wedding, March Madness, etc. I, on the other hand, have hardly been able to get back on the wagon, as evidenced by my sparse blogging. My job and other commitments are still kicking my butt, in addition to the fact that sometimes, when you're plugging along writing and waiting to get finished and start querying, there's just not as much to report on! I'm continuing to survive on an attitude of self-acceptance (or forgiveness?) and hope that when the school year ends I'll have more time to start blogging regularly again.

In the meantime, I have started one new project in an effort to get myself writing more again, even if it isn't about writing and publishing. I have joined Chicago Wedding Guide's Sassy Chicago Bride blog to start blogging about my wedding planning experience and other wedding and engagement related details. If you're interested in that subject, check out http://sassychicagobrides.blogspot.com. My entries can all be found by searching "SassyChiBride." My first entry is a simple introduction to me and the background of my wedding planning (for June 18th, 2011). Also, wedding-related updates and info (for me and others) will be posted on my new Twitter account, @sassychibride.

My personal writing lesson for this is that when life kicks your usual writing in the butt, find other creative outlets to keep you going until you get your desired routine back on the ground. :)

Submission/ Critique Contest with Suzie Townsend of FineLit Print and Elana Johnson Book Contest

Or, as I would like to title this entry: Beat Monday Blues, Win Books and Other Cool Stuff

Back to work Mondays aren't always the happiest of days. But this one is getting a bit brighter with fab new contests.

First, go to Elana Johnson's blog to win one of SEVEN autographed books!

Second, go to Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins' blog, Shooting Stars, to win an agent critique, a tote bag, books or Enstrom's toffee. Yum!

Follow the links to enter. And Good Luck!

Evolution of a Blog

So, I've been blogging for the past month or so about once a week. Really, I'd like to be blogging more frequently, but as this blog originated to vent the frustrations and celebrate the triumphs of my and my S.O.'s venture into writing and publishing, I've realized that, as with everything in life, there are droughts and floods. My writing has slowed (this week= zero blog entries. sad.) with my own busyness AND simply with a slow period for either frustrations or triumphs. The S.O. is writing. I am waiting to hear about the e-book copy of Novel #1. I follow the blogs of writers and agents. I keep up with my Twitter. Between these different events and circumstances, I'm not always bitten by the writer's bug- a feeling shared by all those out there who are actually working on writing short stories, novels and poetry, too, I'm sure. So here is what I will be attempting during the month of December (and it will take time, folks! No promises of instant success;)):

1) I am going to push myself, like all writers must, to work more on consistency, relevance, and quality of my own blog posts.

2) I am going to pursue interviews with writers, especially new writers, who will have something unique to offer my audience.

3) I am going to pursue guest bloggers from different areas of writing and publishing, which will also bring new, relevant and interesting information to my audience.

4) I am going to seek out requests from my audience on this blog and Twitter regarding what readers would actually like to read about.

As per #4, please comment below or email towriteandpublish@gmail.com regarding any requests for a blog entry or interview.

Thanks!

You are a Writer, and other positive stuff

Today I was reading Janet Reid's most recent post, Less than Zero, she railed about a person whom she had met at a conference who referenced himself as not being a "real writer" because his novel was published through one of those "book printing mills." I'm not sure if he's referencing self-publishing, vanity publishing or what here, but the point is that because he wasn't published by a larger, traditional publisher, he felt that he didn't qualify as a "real writer" yet, even though he'd written and published a whole novel!

I love Janet's response: "Don't let anyone, particularly some snotty so-called publishing professional, demean this achievement. You've written a novel = you're a writer."

The reason this particular post struck me was because too often the online blogosphere (and real world) devolves into negativity. Writing is TOUGH world; anyone reading this blog knows that. Sometimes, traditionally published writers or publishers will tear down self-published writers as a whole. Because there is a lot of poor writing that gets self-published, they'll stereotype all self-published writers as second-rate writers- even in the midst of this ever-changing publishing world! Sometimes, you'll see people who have written and published a novel saying that you're not really a writer until you've published something in some form.

Here's food-for-thought: Emily Dickinson published NO poems during her lifetime. None. Nada. Nil. She wrote poems for herself, shared some with family or friends, and after she passed away, her neatly-written and bound collections were found, and the world discovered this now canonical writer. Was she a writer before she was published? If a tree falls in the world and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound? I say YES!

If you write regularly, whether for private or public consumption, for free or for profit, if you love fluent, concise, florid, creative, or purely functional words, and you try to create your own fluent, concise, florid, creative, or purely functional words, you ARE a writer!

And if someone wants to nitpick with you before you've been published, traditionally published, or met some other goal that hangs menacingly over your head threatening to validate or invalidate your status as a writer, remember Richard Bach's words, “A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.”

Backword Book Contest Winners

Okay . . . I'm a little late on this one, which is doubly embarrassing since I'm one of the winners- THIS is evidence of how crazy my life's been lately!

The Backword Book Contest winners for blog entries on self-publishing was published Oct. 2nd. There are 13 awesome entries listed. Check them all out, including my original entry if you care to.

Backword Book Contest Winners

Weekend Inspiration

A brief post, yet again, but I am taking time in this crazy schedule to pass on inspiration and advice for writers.

Earlier this week I saw a tweet (I can't even remember who now!) about a fabulous compilation of "best" blogs for writers. The link below contains a top ten list, advice for aspiring writers, fiction writers, poets, those looking for improvement, publishing advice, and more. Check it out!

http://www.onlinedegreeshub.com/blog/2009/100-great-blogs-that-young-writers-should-read/

Publetariat- Check it out!

As a follower of thecreativepenn on Twitter, I was directed today to a wonderful post on a site called Publetariat: People Who Publish.

The post is a wonderful post to read for food for thought. It's called "Should You Blog? And If So, What are Best Practices?" The post is geared toward newbie writers (whether newbie published or still unpublished), and is a great read for those of you considering blogging or somewhat timid about the idea.

This is the second time I have clicked on an interesting link to Publetariat, so I took a bit more time today to look through the site. I recommend that readers of my blog do so as well in case it is a site you would like to follow. The group is dedicated to burgeoning small press authors and publishers, and if you go the "About" page, you will see this impressive list of contributors:


John Backes - co-founder of The Children's Book Insider

Alan Baxter - Blade Red Press

Mark Coker - Smashwords

Nick Daws - freelance writer/consultant

Guy LeCharles Gonzales - Spindle Magazine & Loudpoet.com

April L. Hamilton - author, and founder of Publetariat

Michael R. Hicks - author

Highspot, Inc. - consultants to authors and publishers

Jude Johnson - Scorched Hawk Press

Hugh McGuire - Bookoven, Librivox, earideas & datalibre.ca

Joanna Penn - The Creative Penn

Dana Lynn Smith - The Book Marketing Maven

Joshua Tallent - Kindleformatting.com

Heidi M. Thomas - author, writing instructor, consultant

Zoe Winters - author and indie publishing consultant


Reading the above list made me positive that I will be checking in with this site from time to time for some great advice!

The Backword Book Contest- My Entry

For those of you who haven't heard of this through other writer-publisher Twitters, The Backword Books Blog, a collective of self-published authors, is throwing a contest in order to create more buzz/ dialogue on the very, very broad topic of self-publishing. The rules:

The rules: We want to hear your thoughts about self-publishing – a blog post about the merits of self-publishing and how it might change the face of publishing in the future. What will self-publishing look like 25 years from now, 50 years from now? How has self-publishing made strides in recent years? That sort of thing. The drawbacks of self-publishing are welcome as well, but a scathing attack on self-publishing probably isn’t going to do it for us. Basically, we want to know: What’s your opinion about self-publishing?
(Rule #2 includes making them aware of your posting- visit the original post for details.)

SOOO, here goes. There is so much I have read about self-publishing and so much to say, so I am going to limit myself to addressing how self-publishing has made strides and the drawbacks of self-publishing.

Years ago, self-publishing was viewed as a fall back for people who weren't skilled enough to be traditionally published. If you don't know how tough it is for any writer to get published, this would be a natural assumption. In addition, the fact that anyone can self-publish means that many sloppy or unskilled writers do self-publish, which reinforces the stigma of self-publishing.

The drawback to self-publishing is that the stigma has not entirely died. However, it has most definitely lessened. There are a number of authors, even if they are a minority,who have used self-publishing to gain recognition and eventually had their self-published books or subsequent books traditionally published. In my s.o.'s experience, self-publishing has helped him to gain recognition as a serious author and led to a book award that agents have said will go a long way in a query letter to influence them to look at future work.

On the downside, a self-published writer still has to do all his own marketing, which is both time-consuming and costly. Yet, many traditionally published writers who are published through smaller presses are put in the same boat. Newer authors in this situation may initially be under the illusion that all the marketing will be done for them, and struggle when the book does not get much press. For a self-published author, there is no illusion. Again, based on personal experience, what I and the s.o. have learned about marketing and networking through our self-publishing experience is not only helping now, but will continue to be a resource we will tap into when he has a future book (fingers crossed) traditionally published.

Also, as a final thought, there are plenty of writers who would like to get their ideas out there, leave stories for their families, etc., who genuinely don't care about going through the work, and ups and downs, that it would take to *possibly* become the next big seller. For people in this situation, self-publishing is exactly what they need.

I'm what I like to all a recreational poet. I don't have the time or discipline to make poetry my life. Maybe one day I will, but for now I value my teaching career; I like to fence in my spare time; and I love traveling, watching movies and good TV and spending time with family and friends. If down the road I eventually had a book of poems, but not the time or inclination to send them out again and again to journals and agents, I would definitely consider self-publishing for the joy of seeing them in print and gleaning even a handful of sales.

As for the future of self-publishing, it's not going away, but I have no idea exactly where it will go! I guess we'll just have to wait and see. :)

Book Review Sites for Authors and Readers

A Twitter friend recently alerted me to an amazing resource both for self-published authors looking for book review blogs that will review their books and for readers simply looking for great blogger/ book reviewers. The site is Step-by-Step Self Publishing and this particular post contains links to MANY blogger book reviewers. While the blogs listed will review self-published books (if that is your interest), most that I checked out review all kinds of books all the time, so they appeal to any reader. Also, the site gives a descriptor for each site, as some cater to certain genres, which is also helpful to know. Have fun! http://www.stepbystepselfpublishing.net/free-book-reviews.html

Giveaways: Peeking Between the Pages

I just became aware of a great book blog through coffeelvnmom's Twitter: Peeking Between the Pages. Peeking Between the Pages has drawings for multiple free books from publishers. Check it out and see if you're interested in any of the titles!

Mad Men and other great shows . . .

Nathan Bransford's post yesterday was on the tv show Mad Men. Although he proposed much food for thought culturally, I wanted to focus simply on his emphasis on the quality of Mad Men as a show.

In the past 10 years, many TV shows have emerged as some of the best writing of their time in the film medium. In a 2009 summer podcast, Bill Simmons actually suggested that the best films of the past 10 years may not be movies per say, but some of the TV shows, such as The Sopranos, The Wire, etc., which have graced certain cable channels.

What TV shows are you addicted to for the writing? Or for the art? Or both?

On a related note, I have noticed that the intros to some shows have gotten arguably more artistic than in the past. Are there any intros that blow you away? (Mine are Dexter, True Blood and Mad Men)

Nathan Bransford Blog Entry

Hi all! Just a reminder to check out Nathan Bransford's blog this Monday. He'll be posting my blog entry, "Working with your Partner, the Writer."

Click here for Nathan's blog

On a side note, keep your eyes open for the launching of John Lacombe's website later this week at http://www.authorjohnlacombe.com

New Blog Alert

Okay, it's not a writing blog. But it is the blog about a girl on a journey to learn about life, health, and herself. She is an old friend of mine, has a great voice, and you just may find her blog interesting, too.

Check it out: http://whereineedtobe-marissarose.blogspot.com

What Author Blogs Do You Enjoy?

In the vein of my own blog, I'm always interested in discovering new blogs by authors, agents and others in the literary field. So my question to readers- what blogs do you follow? Please post responses and links!

Sarah Rees Brennan- Author to Watch

As I work to teach myself about writing and the publishing industry, I am always interested in finding new blogs that are interesting/ entertaining to read and also informative. The most recent blog I've discovered is that of Sarah Rees Brennan. She is a longtime writer from Ireland who is finally having her first novel published- The Devil's Lexicon. She writes a blog that has had a popular following for some time, though I must say her archive may be thin right now as her blog was recently hacked and erased (see Pub Rants blog today). She has rallied though, took back control of her space with help from tech-saavy friends, and is continuing to write. You can follow her journal as she talks about getting this first novel published.

http://sarahtales.livejournal.com/

New Writers, Great Blogs, and Conferences

I recently discovered a great blog from a writer who is getting her first novel published in August. The great thing about her blog is that she really is organizing it to be a useful resource for other up-and-coming writers. Check out her blog (and her fun video: Editing Letter) at:

http://larawrites.com/blog/

Also, go to this site for information on a great writers conference where you can meet with agents to pitch your ideas:

http://www.bksp.org/content/section/12/36/

Publicity and Rejection

Today has been a great "writing" day. John spoke with a publicist who recognized his affable nature. Hopefully, something positive will come of it, but either way at least he got to have a pleasant conversation with a 3rd party about his book and background.

I also read a fantastic blog posting by J.A. Konrath on The Leaf Blower blog. It's on the numerous rejection letters Konrath has received over the years, and his responses to them. It is ultimately an inspiring, optimistic blog entry. The link is below:

http://theleafblower.blogspot.com/2009/03/rejection-konrath-style.html

I would also encourage viewers to check out Brian Crawford's other postings on The Leaf Blower, which is his blog. He has an interesting writing background, and I know I will enjoy following his journey as a writer.