Writing, Reviews, and Motivation

It isn't difficult to find evidence of writers bemoaning harsh reviews, arguing over the validity of reviews, or blogging about what motivates them to write. The links I've posted in the previous sentence represent just one example of what is easy to find on the internet.

Why are these things so easy to find? Because we, as writers, really want to write. We love to write. But we doubt ourselves. The little devil of doubt sits on our shoulder whispering, But you have to clean up the living room. Your favorite TV show is on. You can write later. And it often works because we are afraid to fail. Afraid to write and not finish, afraid to write and be told it's not good, even though we know that we must write in order to finish and we must write in order to become better writers.

Harsh reviews of our work only magnify our fears. Yes, we can tell ourselves that everyone, even the best writers get bad reviews. And that is true. Yes, we can remind ourselves of all of the people who have been touched by our work and enjoyed it. But these reminders don't stop the little devil from using bad reviews as another whisper of doubt.

I recently read a quote by John Updike that encompasses these fears, but also gives a motivational answer to them:

"When I write, I aim in my mind not toward New York but a vague spot a little east of Kansas. I think of the books on library shelves, without their jackets, years old, and a countryish teen-aged boy finding them, and having them speak to him. The reviews, the stacks in Brentano's are juist hurdles to get over, to place the books on that shelf."

Find your motivational focus, one that can shut up even that little devil.

And feel free to motivate others by posting your motivation below.

Writing, Reviews, Blogging, Etc.

Latest update on all things writing and promoting the self-published novel:

1) eBook Architects, which I previously wrote about, is scheduled to have both a Kindle copy and a Smashwords premium copy (that can be sold to and read on Sony eReaders, through Barnes and Noble, etc.) of the S.O.'s self-published novel ready for launch on Dec. 7th. Exciting!

2) He is plugging away on the 2nd novel. He is a little over half way done. Once finished, the novel will undergo significant revisions before being sent out to agents for traditional publishing. Goal for Ready-to-Send-Out= Summer 2010.

3) Today I emailed Odyssey Reviews and Front Street Reviews to see if they have the interest/ room in their queue for reviewing said self-published novel. It was published in 2008 and is still selling well, but every bit of free advertising/ positive review helps! I haven't been able to help out much with marketing lately, so getting these two emails out felt really good. I will also be looking for reader review blogs whose owners would be interested in reading the book and reviewing it for their blogs.

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

Bad Reviews . . . and Bad Reading?

So, me and the S.O. got our first fairly negative review of his book (not such a big deal after several positive reviews from independent reviewers and many positive reviews from people who have bought the book). Because it's not such a big deal in light of the many positive reviews, I don't want to dwell too much on it. Only, I feel compelled to vent a little about one thing. The author of the review was under the impression that a human character in the book was a robot and spent a large part of the review discussing this. Other reviewers for sites such as PODBRAM or The New Podler did not have this reading issue. I also have never heard from anyone who read it that he or she mistakenly thought that any character was a robot (in fact, there are no robots in the book). So, how does one take that in a review? Lol

New Podler Update

I wanted to publish this comment to my previous post entitled "The New Podler" to make sure Podler's policies are clear to all readers of my blog:

Podler said...
The Podler does not charge for reviews. The site will experiment with advertising as a way to bring in some money and hopefully be able to pay reviewers who decide to join in the future.

You may also go to their website: http://thenewpodlerreviews.blogspot.com for more information on the group, their reviews, the submission process, etc., and also look specifically at the post entitled "Policy Matters," which addressed the debate/ confusion over charging for reviews that occurred in the past week.

The New Podler

Once again, for those of you who have self-published, there are many great resources available for getting your book reviewed. It can be difficult to get a self-published book reviewed. Many reviewers are overwhelmed with standard published books already and will not want to take a chance on a self-published book. In addition, many reviewers want to review books before they are released to the public; another dilemma for the self-publisher. I have written before about PODBRAM, but today Steven Reynolds wrote a review for John's book for The New Podler Review of Books. You can check out their website and book reviews at http://thenewpodler.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, The New Podler will now be charging self-published writers to review their books. Steven Reynolds has chosen to longer write for them since that is the case, although he is also cutting back on his reviews in order to have time for his own reading-for-pleasure list! You can read many of his reviews on Amazon as well, where he is a ranked reviewers.

For those of you who have done some sort of self-publishing, I would encourage you to look into the various organizations dedicated to reviewing self-published books so that you can get some objective book reviews.

Chocolat- latest Good Reads Review

Here is a link to my latest amateur book review for Chocolat, which I read in 2000, but just added to my growing Good Reads arsenal:


http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47401.Chocolat

Goodreads Review of Anticancer: a new way of life

On Goodreads.com, I recently posted a short review of Dr. Servan-Schreiber's Anticancer: a new way of life. My book reviews on Good Reads tend to be short blurbs, as I consider them social, personal reviews more than professional reviews, but I am posting the link for anyone interested in reading a review of this fascinating health/ lifestyle book, and interested in checking out my shelf:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52051423

PODBRAM Review on Amazon

I would encourage all new writers looking for book reviews to consider PODBRAM- a blog devoted to reviewing self-published books. John just received a 4-star, well-written review from one of PODBRAM's reviewers, Dr. Al Past, on Amazon. Hopefully, the review will also make it to their website: http://podbram.blogspot.com

Self-Publishing Review

New link for those looking for reviews for self-published books!

www.selfpublishingreview.com

Book Reviews and Book Talks

The Local Author talk at the Book Cellar went well, though the group was a bit mixed. John presented with 2 authors, and one wrote on Buddhism, which meant that many questions during the Q & A had to do with Buddhism questions, rather than writing questions, though he did garner a lot of interest in the action-oriented passages of his book and their adaptability for film. I wonder if this is a common dilemma for writers on panels when they are not perfectly grouped with other authors (topically).

On a secondary note, we have been successful in beginning to get his book reviewed through some online reviewers for POD or self-published books. For those looking respectable online reviewers of self-published books, here are some that I found:

The New Podler Reviews: http://thenewpodlerreviews.blogspot.com

PODBRAM: http://podbram.blogspot.com