If you haven't read V's post from yesterday, read it now.  Every single word of it spoke to me.  (especially the wrist guards).  But one thing that popped up in my consciousness after the book deal is marketing.  Now, there have been all kinds of articles and all sorts of debates about authors marketing for themselves, about social media marketing, about the need for authors to be everpresent on Twitter or to disperse all manner of bookmarks, bookplates, cards, t-shirts and swag.

It gets to be exhausting.

Especially for someone like me.  I'm perfectly happy to sit and listen.  But unless you give me a role to play, I don't tend to speak up in front of strangers.  I get an "I did it!" thrill every time I get a comment on the blog or @ mention on Twitter.  Because otherwise, I could just be talking to myself (something I do very easily, by the way -- part of that creative madness, I guess).

This is a roundabout way of coming to my Follow Friday:  Shrinking Violet Promotions.  Every Monday, R.L. LaFevers (author of the Theodosia and Nathaniel Fludd series) and Mary Hershey (author of the Effie series) post a incisive and helpful article about how to go about marketing your work when you don't naturally gravitate to the limelight.  Not only that, they also give helpful hints about how to spend less time on the blogosphere in order to optimize your writing time.  I love them.  They make me feel better about being an introvert.

You can also find R.L. LaFevers on Twitter

1. BE WHERE YOU ARE – When you get an agent, and then when you sell your book, there will be lots of hurrying to do something (such as meeting a looming deadline) and lots of waiting for something to happen (such as the release of your book.) With all of this waiting and hurrying, life starts to look like it’s happening on the horizon. The trick is to remember to be where you are all the time, which is in the present. Suggested tips for finding yourself now: Mindfulness Meditation. Walks, showers and playtime with kids and/or pets. Anything spontaneous.

2. SOME OF THE THINGS I HEARD BEFORE AREN’T TRUE –

a. Your book needs to be perfect before you query and/or go on submission. That is false. Your book actually doesn’t need to be perfect. Don’t get me wrong—make it as good as you can—but remember that when you get the book deal, you will be working with an editor whose job—nay, whose passion—will be to help improve your story. This is good to know because telling a perfectionist (like myself) that something needs to be perfect is like showing a puppy its tail and saying, Go get it!

b. Editors don’t edit anymore. Untrue. They do. At least in my very fortunate experience.

3. YOU MAY HAVE MORE THAN ONE OUT OF BODY EXPERIENCE (OBE) – Seeing your book cover for the first time may result in an out of body experience. Even if it is just a mock-up. Same thing can be said for: receiving and signing your contract, receiving your first payment as a professional writer, receiving your first editorial letter, reading a review of your book by a perfect stranger. From the minute you get agent interest until…. I don’t know when it ends yet, emotional whiplash is a daily possibility. See next entry for suggested tips.

4. IT HELPS TO KNOW HOW TO BOUNCE - Writing is different when you know people will read it. All of a sudden, it’s not just your internal critic breaking you down but that person on Amazon, or Goodreads, or at the grocery store, who might actually read your book. So the good news is your internal critique now has friends! Hey, if you can’t laugh, then… cry. Which may happen. But it’s all good. You bounce back from stuff eventually. So, yeah. Be ready to bounce. Suggested tips for bouncing back: Laugh, cry, eat chocolate.

5. YOUR CHARACTERS BECOME REAL PEOPLE. You will have conversations with people who have formulated whole mental pictures of your characters. People may even have feelings for your characters. They may even think one of your characters is hot, which is very satisfying because you do, too. I digress. The point is that you realize they (your characters) matter more than you (the author), which is a Really Good Thing.

6. AS WRITERS, WE ARE ALL ALIKE – We all have the same bug. We live in our imagination. We make up fake people and give them goals and problems. We like words and we love stories. Getting to know people in this herd is a Really Good Thing because:

a. It’s fun knowing people who know what WIPs and MCs and POVs and ARCs are without you having to explain. It’s kind of like being in the military, but different. Maybe a little less cool, but it’s still cool.

b. Your friends will celebrate with you and you will celebrate with them, and life is better when there’s lots of celebrating. That is a proven fact.

7. AS WRITERS, WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT - Contracts. Publication Dates. Author Photos. Titles. Websites. Every writer’s journey is unique. Play the comparison game at your own risk. While you can learn from your peers, your path is your own. So wear comfortable shoes and be fearless.

8. A GOOD WRIST GUARD IS ESSENTIAL – What? you say. All of this extraordinary insight and this is in here? Wait until you are making a six-week revision sprint, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. I like the Futuro, by the way. Fully adjustable, easy to wear for hours. Comes for left and right-handed, but why choose? Buy both, unless you type one-handed. If you do type novel-length works one-handed then we need to talk.

9. YOU JUST HAVE A NEW BELL TO RING NOW – I had this notion that getting a book deal was the equivalent of ringing the bell at the top of a rock wall. It’s not. There is a lot of work and worry that follows. You get a new rock wall, and a new bell to ring. Which is a Really Good Thing if you love to write, because now at least you’ve rung the bell once, and so your muscles are more limber and stuff, and you know about using your LEGS to climb and not your ARMS. In our case we are using our MINDS. Notice I said using them, not losing them, but that is also a possibility in this process. Don’t fear it. Embrace the insanity when you need to. (See reference to six-week revision sprint above.)

10. SOME OF THE THINGS I HEARD BEFORE ARE TRUE –

a. It’s all about the writing. I’d heard this before but it never resonated with me the way it does now. Writing is where it started for me and no matter where my adventures in publishing go, I’ll always have that. I’ll always have the ability to conjure up worlds and scenarios. There’s power in knowing that – in just the very act of doing something I love.

b. Patience, Persistence & Passion – Four score and seven years ago, during the welcome speech at my very first writing conference, literary agent Andrea Brown offered the three Ps listed above as the secret formula to getting published. She was right. These qualities seem to be crucial to just about every part of publishing, and really, all-around solid guidelines for life, wouldn’t you say?

And that is (almost) all. I’m following Talia’s lead. I leave you with apicture of Ivan, our new kitten. We get him in two weeks, at which point we will decide if he is Ivan the Great, or Ivan the Terrible.

Sometimes, I'm one of those glass half-full people.  You know the type.  The kind of people who always see the positive in even the bleakest situations.  The people who not only appreciate what they have, they celebrate it.  Other times, I feel like the liquid in the glass is disappearing before my very eyes.  Like it will evaporate before I even get a sip.

It's the story of my writing life.  The glass is never full.  There is always something more to work toward, something more to do make the manuscript better.  Another detour on the path to publication.  Another rung on the ladder to climb. 

Yet, there are days when writing is the most fulfilling thing I've ever done.  When getting a scene, a character, a line, or even a word just right is enough to make me feel blessed.  There are days when a story comes together and takes root in my heart, when I hit on the one thing that makes me want to commit to three hundred pages and then revise for the next six months.  There are days when I discover the secret the main character has been hiding, or the missing piece of the plot that brings everything together.  Days when I sit down to write at ten and don't get up until four, when I realize I haven't eaten anything.  And on these days I think, "I'm a writer."  Yes!  Love those days!


Other days, even opening the document feels like a monumental task, and if I manage that, I end up writing the same sentence over and over again.  Write, erase, repeat.  Write, erase, repeat.  Read some Twitter posts.  Hang out on the Blueboard.  Write, erase.  Read some blogs.  Walk the dog.  Send an email.  Hit refresh.  Hit refresh.  Hit refresh.  Write fifty words.  Plan a new book based on a shiny new idea. Call it a day.

There are worse days, dark days, when the glass is nearly empty.  When I wonder if I'll ever finish another manuscript.  When I wonder if I've used up all my good stories, characters, lines, words.  When I'm paralyzed by a white page and a blinking cursor.  Completely drained.  And on these days I think "I'm a fake."

So which is it?  Am I an optimist?  A pessimist?  A procrastinator?  A fake? 

I am a writer.  

The doubts, the fear, the dark days are as much a part of writing as the prolific days when the story seems to write itself.  For me, writing is a series of manic-depressive bouts that somehow coalesce into something resembling a story.  It's like childbirth.  As painful as it is, I can't ever regret it. And after a little bit of distance, I'm ready to do it all over again.  


That blinking cursor's got nothing on me.


*Yes, that is a random picture of the Saint Bernard of Doom playing basketball.*

I recently returned from a two-week vacation (read:  “research trip”) in England.  As Donna so eloquently writes, travel – and being away from my normal work space – disrupts the creative process.  But I had just finished a revision and hadn’t yet returned to Book 2, so seemed to be at a natural pause.

Or so I thought.  I knew I wouldn’t find any writing time – between travel, family, visiting friends and research, there was barely time to have a swift pint in the pub, much less create the time and energy buffer I need to put words on paper.

But I learned that it’s impossible to stem the flow of creative thought.  Especially when presented with so much available material in my surroundings.

I went to Lambeth -- the setting of the first third of GIRL IN A DIAMOND COLLAR.  It's very different now than it would have been in 1539.  For one thing, the house my characters grew up in is no longer there, replaced by a glass-and-steel office block and a fire station.  But I wanted to see what the Thames looked like, and Westminster across the river.  I took pictures of everything -- followed, for a time, by a group of Lebanese tourists who thought I was photographing something important.  I ended up snapping a picture of them, too, and they returned the favor.

I traveled with my family to some of the most incredible houses in England – Windsor Castle, Hardwick Hall, Syon House.  Places where some of the most dynamic stories in history occurred.  And where some of the most dynamic characters in history resided.  And still do.  The Queen was in residence when I visited Windsor – as testified by her standard flying above the tower.  Preparing for the wedding, no doubt.

But it was the stories of these places that fed me creatively.  My family remained infinitely patient as I stopped and scribbled notes on 3x5 cards every twenty minutes.  Notes like this one at Hardwick Hall:  LOST BOOK, hidden behind paneling in dining room – possibly after completed.  A catechism – probably belonged to a child, sometime after 1583.  Where did it come from?  Who hid it there?  And why?  Remarkably, it wasn’t found until a few years ago, in near-perfect condition.

And not only did I find material for future books, the down-time served as a petri dish for solutions to plot and structure issues in Book 2.  One minute, we would be driving along the Norfolk coast, and the next I got a brain flash on where my main character really needed to be heading (not the direction in which I was pushing her).  Halfway through the Tudor exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, I realized that I had started the book in the wrong place, and really needed to start it on page 50.  And just before stepping on the plane to return home, I wrote the first line.  (I think.  Since the book isn’t finished yet, this may change.)

Sometimes I feel that time away from my writing desk is wasted time.  That if I don’t write every day, I will struggle to get back into it.  And I will.  I know I will.  I’m writing a blog post and rather dreading opening up my Book 2 document.  But just because I break the habit of putting words on paper every day doesn’t mean my time is wasted.  On the contrary, I feel invigorated by the new ideas I’ve filed away for later.  By the hastily scribbled (and nearly illegible) notes I wrote on cards, receipts, an old grocery list and once on the back of my husband’s hand.  I know that when I open my file, I will cringe and squirm.  I’ll make another cup of coffee.  I’ll write three words and delete them again and again and again.  I may hit a total of 100 words today.  If I’m lucky.  I’m out of the habit.  I will struggle.  But I have the ideas to back me up.  I know where I’m going.  So maybe – just maybe – the pain is worth it.

The Muses have a monthly schedule we mostly follow. The first week of the month is a time to talk about books we've been reading and the second week of the month is something we call All About Me. Other weeks are left to discuss a wide variety of themes we are thinking about and topics that our readers suggest. The All About Me week, however, is always one of my favorites. It's a time for us to just get a little personal with our writing (and life) struggles.

Lately I've been traveling a lot for my job. A couple of weeks ago I was in Los Angeles, today I'm writing this from New Orleans, in a couple of weeks from now I'll be back in LA and then to DC after that. There are some thing I definitely love about traveling for business:

* The coffee that's delivered to your door with a quiet knock at the designated time
* The crisp, white sheets and tons of pillows that I don't have to change
* Not having to fight for space in a king sized bed with two chocolate labs and a cat that likes to do that kneading thing with his claws on my legs at 2 am
* The wide variety of foods and drinks (especially here in New Orleans)
* A huge variety of character and setting descriptions ( I just stopped writing this to go to my hotel window and watch a jazz band lead a wedding parade down my French Quarter street)
* The fact I don't pay for any of it :)

But there is also a problem with traveling. Location for me seems to be inexplicably related to writing productivity. I have the delusion I will find little coffee shops tucked away in new cities and write for hours. The truth is I don't get much writing done at all when I am on the road. Maybe it's the change in schedule or the excitement of new places, but I need to be "at home" to be at my writing best. I love bringing all my travels back to my stories, but I need to actually get home to write them. While it is sometimes frustrating, especially when I'm so close to finishing my WIP, understanding my own quirky process has taken years. So tonight I'll try to relax, take in the sights in New Orleans, and jot down some Quick Brief Character Descriptions (believe me, there are LOTS of characters out there tonight). I know it'll all be there for me, germinating inside my mind, for when I get home and back to writing.