Claire, I Love You And Your Writing. As A Writer, How Do You Support Yourself Financially? Emotionally?

Everything You Wanted To Know About Book Sales

Great article currently doing the rounds, worth reading:

Everything You Wanted To Know About Book Sales But Were Too Afraid To Ask

Yes, I’ve been internet-dead for the last two months. Sorry about that. I’ve pretty much been life-dead too, so you know. Rah? O:)

Everything You Wanted To Know About Book Sales was originally published on Amy Laurens

After I get the spark for an idea, I get bored by it. How could I work it out so I can get into it and write something? I never finished anything because it's not interesting anymore.

 Almost every author I know has had this issue.  The minute you sit down to work on a project, ten other, apparently more attractive ideas will bob to the surface.

This isn’t a quintessentially fun solution, but the answer is to build a habit of commitment.  Jot down the shiny new ideas that pop up (or devote a separate time allotment to working on them, if you work best that way), plow ahead, and finish.  If you’re overwhelmed by the length of your current projects, try shorter ones.  You don’t have to like the final result, but you’ll be a stronger writer once you get in the habit of finishing projects.

The thing about us authors is, our stories are always more cinematic in our heads.  As we’re planning them out, we’re immersed in an opulent world that we want to share, and can only do our best to convey one word at a time.  So be patient with yourself, set reasonable goals, and build that habit!

I hope this helps, and happy writing.  <3

Hanleia + Your Ships that Were Probably Inspired by Them  » Sparky [Stargate Atlantis]

All the time….

“Getting” yourself to write

Yesterday, I was trawling iTunes for a decent podcast about writing. After a while, I gave up, because 90% of them talked incessantly about “self-discipline,” “making writing a habit,” “getting your butt in the chair,” “getting yourself to write.” To me, that’s six flavors of fucked up.

Okay, yes—I see why we might want to “make writing a habit.” If we want to finish anything, we’ll have to write at least semi-regularly. In practical terms, I get it.

But maybe before we force our butts into chairs, we should ask why it’s so hard to “get” ourselves to write. We aren’t deranged; our brains say “I don’t want to do this” for a reason. We should take that reason seriously.

Most of us resist writing because it hurts and it’s hard. Well, you say, writing isn’t supposed to be easy—but there’s hard, and then there’s hard. For many of us, sitting down to write feels like being asked to solve a problem that is both urgent and unsolvable—“I have to, but it’s impossible, but I have to, but it’s impossible.” It feels fucking awful, so naturally we avoid it.

We can’t “make writing a habit,” then, until we make it less painful. Something we don’t just “get” ourselves to do.

The “make writing a habit” people are trying to do that, in their way. If you do something regularly, the theory goes, you stop dreading it with such special intensity because it just becomes a thing you do. But my god, if you’re still in that “dreading it” phase and someone tells you to “make writing a habit,” that sounds horrible.

So many of us already dismiss our own pain constantly. If we turn writing into another occasion for mute suffering, for numb and joyless endurance, we 1) will not write more, and 2) should not write more, because we should not intentionally hurt ourselves.

Seriously. If you want to write more, don’t ask, “how can I make myself write?” Ask, “why is writing so painful for me and how can I ease that pain?” Show some compassion for yourself. Forgive yourself for not being the person you wish you were and treat the person you are with some basic decency. Give yourself a fucking break for avoiding a thing that makes you feel awful.

Daniel José Older, in my favorite article on writing ever, has this to say to the people who admonish writers to write every day:

Here’s what stops more people from writing than anything else: shame. That creeping, nagging sense of ‘should be,’ ‘should have been,’ and ‘if only I had…’ Shame lives in the body, it clenches our muscles when we sit at the keyboard, takes up valuable mental space with useless, repetitive conversations. Shame, and the resulting paralysis, are what happen when the whole world drills into you that you should be writing every day and you’re not.

The antidote, he says, is to treat yourself kindly:

For me, writing always begins with self-forgiveness. I don’t sit down and rush headlong into the blank page. I make coffee. I put on a song I like. I drink the coffee, listen to the song. I don’t write. Beginning with forgiveness revolutionizes the writing process, returns its being to a journey of creativity rather than an exercise in self-flagellation. I forgive myself for not sitting down to write sooner, for taking yesterday off, for living my life. That shame? I release it. My body unclenches; a new lightness takes over once that burden has floated off. There is room, now, for story, idea, life.

Writing has the potential to bring us so much joy. Why else would we want to do it? But first we’ve got to unlearn the pain and dread and anxiety and shame attached to writing—not just so we can write more, but for our own sakes! Forget “making writing a habit”—how about “being less miserable”? That’s a worthy goal too!

Luckily, there are ways to do this. But before I get into them, please absorb this lesson: if you want to write, start by valuing your own well-being. Start by forgiving yourself. And listen to yourself when something hurts.

Next post: freewriting

Ask me a question or send me feedback! Podcast recommendations welcome…

If Marvel movies were written by women

-Peggy Carter’s funeral would have been more than 3 minutes long.

-Tony Stark would have given a eulogy to Peggy, having grown up admiring her, his dad’s colleague of many years, a tremendously strong female role model (the woman who approved Pepper’s hire, of course).

-Steve Rogers would not have put the moves on Peggy’s niece within a day of burying Peggy.

-Black Widow would have gotten her own movie by now.

-A big part of Bucky’s backstory/flashbacks would have been told through Natasha’s viewpoint, her memories of either working with or against The Winter Soldier in Russia and the East. 

-Pepper Potts would have been in Civil War, speaking for herself.

-Wanda’s grief over her brother would still be very present.  Her feelings of loss and mourning would be front-and-center for her character.

-Black Panther’s woman bodyguard would have had more than one line. 

-Natasha would have told Steve that she was at Peggy’s funeral in part because she didn’t want him to be alone, but also in part to pay respects to the great Peggy Carter.

-There would be way more women in these movies.  There would be women of many ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and nationalities in these movies.  There would be many scenes of women talking to women.  There would be many more scenes of women talking.  And doing.  And feeling.  And being. 

Is micro fiction the same as one- shots?

It’s really just different story lengths.

Super Novel: 120,000+ words Novel: 80,00-120,000 words Young Adult Novel: 30,00-70,000 words Novella: 15,000-30,000 words Short Story: up to 15,000 words Flash Fiction: up to 1,000 words Micro Fiction: up to 300 words

And that’s just one list I found. There are several others with small variations, one change being they listed flash fiction as being up to 100 words but no more. There’s room to be flexible, and they’re really just guidelines. 

YES 100%. I love Peggy. I love the people working on this project. A privilege and an honor to bring her back to the fans. I’d shoot on the weekends. Blue serum. Whatever it takes.

Hayley Atwell on Agent Carter being saved by Netflix. (via fuckyeahatwell)

How to Get Motivated After a Long Break

I haven’t written in a while. I had some life stuff going on and I forgot how difficult it is to get back into writing after a long break. There’s a manuscript waiting for me to edit it and another story idea waiting for me to flesh it out. What’s the best way to approach this?

First, make a list

Start by getting everything in order. Grab your favorite notebook (or designate a new on to 2016) and starting listing what you want to work on this year. Is there anything you need to finish up? What are your goals? What do you want to accomplish by 2017? These plans don’t have to be anything grand, they can be small steps toward your goals. Be realistic and know your limits.

Focus on tying up loose ends

The first thing I’m going to do is finish up the novel I’m in the middle of editing. Do you best to finish projects first before moving on to something else. Engross yourself in that story again and try to continue where you left off. Try to reread what you already edited to familiarize yourself with where you were going. It feels great to finish things. It will get you motivated for your next project.

Get yourself excited again

It’s hard to work on something that doesn’t motivate you. If it’s been a while, try to figure out what excited you about that project in the first place. Reread old notes. Look over your story and focus on characters. Why do you like them? What motivated you to write this story? Try to tap back into your excitement and get back into the same mind frame you were in when you were writing.

Toss stale projects

Sometimes a story just doesn’t work. You lost your passion for it and you’re unable to get a back. The story feels old and it doesn’t speak to you anymore. That’s fine. Not everything is going to stick and you need to know what you should move on from. If you’ve stopped writing because you’re just not excited about your story, maybe it’s time to move on. However, if you’ve stopped writing because life got in the way, there’s a chance you can still motivate yourself to work on that story. The decision is up to you.

-Kris Noel

writing is either

or

there is nothing in between.