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Posts tagged ‘Inspiration’

Jun 22

Critiques vs. Reviews

How much weight should writers give reviews?

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Feb 17

My Dream – A Year Later

A year ago, I had a dream that pushed me to take action on my writing career. In the dream I was trying to cross a wide chasm. On one side a footbridge that looked unsafe. On the other side was a steep ice cliff with only hand holds to get myself up to higher ground. Neither one was the “correct” way. Both had their pros and cons. The point was that I had to make a choice.

I’m old enough now to know that inaction is the worst action you can take. Standing still never gets you anywhere. And sometimes, if you don’t make a choice, one will be made for you.

That dream prompted me to take action on my writing career. I leaned into submitting some of my short stories and I ended up getting two published in 2024. I also started my novel and wrote more than I had in 2022 and 2023 combined.

I also got busy joining Instagram, YouTube (really AuthorTube), and added a few more short stories to my Amazon author page.

Today is President’s day in the US. Everyday the news is terrible and as a federal contractor to the HHS, I expect one day the news will be bad for me. The things I can do, protest, boycott, call my Congress people are all great.

But mostly, I need to figure out how I’m going to survive.

What can I do to daily make my (and others) lives easier as we navigate this world? What can I do to manage my stress and anxiety about the world?

I think it is fitting that now, a year later after the dream, I find myself having to make more decisions about my future. So far, I have dug in my heels. I will show up for my job as long as I can. I will do my best to stay healthy (mentally and physically), because now is not the time to fall apart.

And I will write my stories.

Not only is it a respite from the world, but it is also important to me. Being a storyteller has been a guiding part of my life and a core principle in the make-up of my identity. To give it up now would be dumb. Now more than ever I need to show up for myself. I need to remind myself that the world is not going to push me into line and make me give up my dreams. Times are hard and they will get harder.

Don’t give up on yourself.

Feb 1

The Hard Work of Writing

“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die.”

Google has attributed this quote to a few people, so I’m not sure who said it first. Maybe Steve Jobs or maybe boxer Joe Lewis. I think the first time I heard it, Tupac said it (at least I think it was him). Either way, I’ve been mulling over this idea for the last week.

To me, this quote shows the difference between those who think about doing something and those who actually take action. Everybody wants to be a writer, but not a lot of folks actually start writing. Plenty of people say, “Oh, one day when I have time I’ll sit down and write.” Some might even start. Soon enough, they realize it’s more than buying a fancy pen, sitting in a coffee shop all day long, and sipping a fancy coffee. Writers write. Period. Thinking about writing, talking about writing, and even setting up an office are NOT writing.

I’m reminded of this reality this past few weeks as I try and finish my first draft. For the first time in years, I got a head cold and spent a few days taking painkillers, flu meds, and resting. None of those things were writing. I’m back at it now, but I know that even though I needed to rest, I was not writing.

The hard work of sitting down day after day is the “death” of this metaphor. Lot’s of people want to be writers, but not a lot want to sit down day after day and face that page. I’ve been doing this for decades with only a little success. Sometimes I wonder what I would’ve done if I didn’t write.

Honestly, I have no idea.

This identity is so ingrained in me, that I can’t see another version of myself. I did write a story once, unpublished, where I had a fictional twin who went off to become an actor. Even in that story, I didn’t feel like a true version. Still, seeing myself in a different way was an interesting exercise.

Perhaps, I’ve been doing this so long being a writer has imprinted on my DNA.

And what is “heaven” in this scenario? Published book? Famous writer? Rich writer? Sucess is different for everyone. Some want to be a full-time writer, but for others just having a book on the shelf is an achievement. I suppose earning a lot of money as a writer is the goal, but I know that it’s not my motivation. If it were, I would be writing romantacy (romance and fantasy combined), or I would move over into non-fiction writing (ghost writing, copy writing, etc.). Those places pay a whole lot better than weird genre bending fiction.

Heaven is different for us all. The important thing is to do the work.

And “heaven” will reveal itself to you.

Jan 1

2024 Writing Recap & 2025 Writing Goals

It’s 2025! Happy New Year!

But before I launch into my writing goals for the new year, I thought it would be best to have a brief overview of what I wrote and accomplished this year.

2024:

  1. I set a goal to publish 6 short stories this year. Four were self-published and two were traditionally published. I had been saying for years that I wanted to self-publish some of the short stories that I had written and published years ago. This goal pushed me to do so and also got me back into submission mode. By April, I had my 2 acceptances and the rest was me sitting down to do the other four. Happy to say, I did it and knocked this goal out.
  2. Write a finished draft of my WIP novel. Well, this I didn’t accomplish. My WIP is still not finished, but I am moving into the last third. I think if I hadn’t take the time to finish two other stories I might have made the deadline. No worries. I haven’t given up and will plow ahead in the new year with this novel.
  3. Wrote 13 blog posts! The total words was 7, 135. In the past, I have barely updated this blog, but this year, I had lots to talk about and I tried to put myself on a schedule.
  4. I finished 1 new story and rewrote 1 older story. The new story is turning out to be a longer work, but I’m happy that I finished one new project this year. Also the short story I rewrote had been neglected for too long and I had hoped to submit it at the end of the year, but I’m still not quite happy with it. (See 2025 goals for my plans.)
  5. I started a Youtube channel! As of this writing, I have 14 videos and 12 (?) subscribers (I got a few in the last day of the year.) I’ve had fun filming and learning the ropes. If you haven’t seen my videos, here is the video of my 2024 recap.

Goals for 2025

  1. The first half of the year, I want to finish a draft of my novel that I feel comfortable submitting to literary agents. Yes, I want to pursue traditional publishing for my novel. I consider myself a hybrid writer and will continue to self-pub some stuff, but for my novel, I want to try the traditional route first. So, hopefully, by the end of January, I will have finished the 1st draft and will be planning on how I’m going to rewrite. The beginning has changed since I started, so I already know where changes are needed. Six months feels like a good amount of time.
  2. Rewrite and submit out the 2 short stories I have in the wings. One of those stories is mentioned above (the one I rewrote at the very end of the year) and the other is a story I haven’t looked at since very early 2023. I plan to rewrite them and start subbing them this year.
  3. The second half of the year will be for the new work (probably a novella, maybe a novel) I finished in 2024. The story was supposed to be a long short story, but I had so much to write and ended up cutting out a lot of scenes. When I workshopped it, my fellow writers said that it felt like a longer work and I agree. So, July 1 – Dec 31 will be devoted to whatever this story wants to be. It would be hilarious if it ended up being another novel. The girl who spent that last decade or so writing short stories, now can’t stop getting novel ideas!
  4. Read 24 books this year. My reading has fallen off! So, 2 books a month and maybe I can whittle down my TBR pile this year.
  5. Commit to 2 blog posts a month. The 1st and 15th of every month will have a new post. Along with that, I am joining Substack to start a newsletter which will go out on the same day. If you already follow this blog, no worries. It will be the same posts, but if you prefer a Substack, it will be available. I will be setting it up on January 1, so over the weekend of the 4th and 5th, I will update with the link in the About page. (I have to work the 2nd and 3rd, so I may not have the time.) I’m doing this to grow my audience and there are a lot of writers on Substack, so I will try it out. For now, everything will be free. If I decide to charge in the future, there will always be a free tier. (But for now, I’m not even sure if it is right for me.)
  6. Commit to 2 videos a month on Youtube. I would love to be monetized this year, but I don’t have control over that. Instead, I will do my best to be consistent and post regularly. However, the fiction writing has got to come first. If I don’t write, I don’t have much content. So, writing will always be the priority.

Here’s the video version of my 2025 goals:

*Bonus Goal:

If I find myself crushing my goals, I may lose my mind and self-pub a collection of short stories. My mom mentioned a few months ago that it would be great to have a physical copy of my stories, so I got it in my head that I should do that one day. If I do this, it wouldn’t happen until the summer. The priority is the novel-in-progress. Maybe I want a palette cleanser after the novel and before I start on the other longer work. Not sure, but it is in the back of my mind. Mostly because I wouldn’t need to write any new fiction. It would be more of a formatting and organizing writing project. We will see. I’m not so sure this is a good idea, but I’m not going to completely dismiss it.

Well, that’s it. My 2024 achievements and my 2025 goals. It was a great year, and 2025 is shaping up to be an ambitious year too. If you fell short of your goals, please don’t feel like you didn’t do anything. Trust me, I’ve had those years where just making it to the end is an accomplishment. You survived 2024! Take time to celebrate that and see how you can make 2025 better.

Don’t compare your chapter one to my chapter ten. Writing is an accumulation of small steps and before you know it, you are much further along than you realize.

Here’s to a great 2025! Happy Writing.

Dec 15

How to Deal with Writer’s Rejection

If there is one piece of advice I can give any writer it is this:

Be professional.

It is easier said than done when you have a mound of rejections. It’s hard to stay motivated, to not take it personally, and most of all to not quit when you see the rejection after rejection of your stories.

You’ve spent months, or even years, writing something that you love and now you have the task of trying to get it out into the world. To work so hard on something and invest time with no reward coming in site can discourage even the most motivated writer.

Publishing is a business. Often rejections have nothing to do with writing. You may be a great writer, but the publication, or agent, just isn’t a good fit. I’ve been rejected because my work was too long, too short, or the very common “not right for us.” *Sigh* We’ve all been there, and if you haven’t because you’ve just started your journey, you will be there.

But rejection can be good too.

It’s good for the ego. You may think you are the next Hemingway, Baldwin, or Atwood, but really you are not there yet. Your work is derivative, or not polished enough. The diamond is still struggling to come out of the coal. Getting rejected may force you to take another look at that story. Is it still your best work? Can you improve it somehow?

Also, it takes time to find where you fit. You writing style develops over the course of years and finding the right place to showcase your work hardly happens overnight. Okay, I’m sure there are some writers who got their dream agent and dream publisher on their first try, but most of us are not lucky like that. We have to try and try and try some more to get a “yes”. I’ve had story rejected 10, 20, or more times. Some writers have more than me.

I read a meme somewhere that read, “Rejection is evidence of trying.” If you have a inbox full of rejections, congratulations! You are putting yourself out there and trying to be a published writer. You are going further than a lot of other people.

I met a young woman a few years ago at a writing class. She told me she took class after class to get inspired to write. I was a bit horrified, but I politely told her that nothing will motivate you to write, you have to just sit down and do it. I realize now that she was scared to put herself out there. So she didn’t even try to write and was caught in an endless loop of taking classes and thinking about writing.

Don’t be like her. Start writing. Don’t be afraid to get rejected.

Rejection may also make you a better writer. If I had my first novel published at nineteen, I don’t think I would be the writer I am today. I know I wouldn’t be the writer I am today if I had my novel accepted back in 2008. That rejection is what made me go to grad school and focus on my craft more. It takes time to find your voice, develop as a writer, and get that experience under your belt. Now rejection is not fun, but I don’t let it affect me.

The good news is that every year someone decides they are going to start a literary journal, become a literary agent, or go work at a publishing house. That person may love your work and want to give you a chance. There is always hope and as long and you let rejection fuel you and not discourage you, you may see great results.

I hope everything is going well with your writing. Next post (around the end of the month) will be a recap of my 2024. So Happy Holidays (if you are celebrating) and everyone keep writing!

Dec 1

Burnout

We’re coming to the end of 2024. For some, the end of the year is exciting, but for other, it can be stressful. Did you accomplish all that you set out to do back in January? Did you move forward with your goals? Just thinking about it may conjure exhaustion, and you wouldn’t be alone. I’ve been hearing and seeing a few people online and IRL, who are feeling the burnout.

I had my own phase back in 2022. If you scroll back, you’ll see that I wrote in January 2022 that I was going to finish my novel by March 2022, or quit the book all together. I didn’t even make it to March. By February, I was done and I limped to my March deadline with no interest in the book. I then decided I needed a few months to reassess and decide what I wanted to do with my writing career. I never thought I would quit writing, like I did in 1997 or 2008, but I needed to take a step back. Did I want to really pursue serious publication to build a sustainable writing career, or did I want to just keep this a hobby?

I spent six months thinking about it. I tried reselling and exploring other parts of my life. I wasn’t just a writer. No one should be all one thing. I learned a lot about myself, like that I wasn’t lazy (I had the hustle mentality to hit the thrift stores every weekend, list the clothing, and then drive 3-4 times a week to the post office) and that trying new things can lead to new interests and surprises. Around September 2022, I got an idea for a new short story and, with that, I eased my way back into writing.

I spend 2023 working on new material, got a promotion at my job, and by the end of the year, a new idea for a new novel. This novel is what I’m working on now and I hope to finish the first draft by the end of this year.

I have a friend who was experiencing burnout and I suggested that she live a little more life. I hate that writing is sometimes romanticized into a mysterious act that one can only do when they are locked away from the world. The reality is usually very different. People are writing on their lunch breaks, early in the morning before work or school, late at night after kids have down for the night, or only on the weekends because weekdays are way too hectic. The luxury of solitude and peace happens in spurts, not an everyday thing.

So if you are feeling burnout, live a little life. Get curious about the world around you. I believe that curiosity feeds creativity, so learn, or do, something new. It can be a small as trying a new restaurant, or as big as trying to start a business. You will learn about yourself and maybe have a fresh perspective on whatever you are in the middle of. I know that is easier said than done, but try. I think you will be better for it.

I hope all your writing projects are going well and you are taking care of yourself.

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