My Agent Told Me To Make A Blog

I'm very fortunate that the non-writers in my life take me and my work seriously (for the most part). Many are not so lucky. If you have a writer friend, here are some gentle reminders... Writing is hard work. - I don't know why writing isn't given the same respect as say, practicing to be a concert pianist or a gourmet chef, but it does require just as much practice, training, understanding of theory, and hours of hard work. It's not as simple as sitting down and transcribing your thoughts onto the page. It's a complicated craft, and a single sentence can represent years of studying theory and wordsmithing. We need community, critique, lots of books to read, and if possible, events and mentors IRL. If you know someone who is working on a novel, respect how much time and dedication it requires. Writing takes a long time. - Similarly, but a slightly different point: a novel takes a long time to write, especially if it's your first. Practiced writers take mo...

I gotta talk about something that I encounter on a daily basis from both writers and non-writers: not taking the industry seriously. This presents itself in many forms. Today, I need to gripe about the writers. Let's be clear, I mean writers who want to be published, not innocent hobby writers who want to have fun, share with friends, enjoy some fanfiction, and generally have no expectations for their work. I'm talking about when someone decides they have a story to tell, sit down to write it out, and then expects some publisher to fall at their feet. All of this comes from personal experience and many, many conversations with aspiring writers. Consider it an open letter to all those I've met who are stagnating in their writing careers, yet refuse to listen to the advice given by many (not just me! a dozen other people might have tried to get the same points across!). "I revised it once, I'm good to go."   - A lot of people start writing because they th...

I planned to write this post ages ago, but I had a hard time deciding what to say. Then, as time passed, my daily schedule kept changing, and kept changing, and I still have no idea what I'll ultimately settle into. I decided that rather than making one post about my process, it would end up an ongoing series of updates with what I've tried and what I've liked. Because, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, writing really doesn't like to obey a schedule. When I still had the Day Job, I often daydreamed what my perfect writing schedule would be like. I'd start every morning with a critique, to get the engines warmed up, then have several hours of writing time. After lunch would be an hour or two for dog walks, parrot training, house work, groceries, and all those menial not-writing things, then back at it for afternoon writing. In the evening I'd practice the cello somewhere after dinner, and read for an hour before bed. And I totally wrote out this whole thing very ...

Aksdfajhdslkfalksfkjs I don't know what to say. I'm at a loss for words. I edited, and edited. I got an agent! And we edited more, and even more. We fixed the middle, the ending, the main character, the love interest--then we fixed all the problems created by accident while doing so. I got tired of friends and coworkers constantly asking if I'd sold my book yet. The last round of revisions took me more than five months. Some of that included job-quitting and house-moving, so technically more like three months. Still, there was a lot of rewriting, stitching together, throwing out chapters, and a constant worry of, "Oh god I've made it worse, she's going to hate it." It's probably 90% changed from the first draft by now. After I sent it back to Agent, my timing was so wonderful, two other clients also sent manuscripts back at the same time, and on top of it Agent had to go and get married, sheesh! Understandably, mine took a while to get to. Wh...

Writers are quirky, hermit-like creatures who talk weirdly and follow trains of thought off cliffs. I think we would all admit this. It's interesting, however, to see how writers are depicted in film. Some writer-characters are hilariously accurate, with constant drafting, throwing out those drafts, and being "almost" done forever. Also with the "this is totally for my writing" excuse for literally every bizarre thing they/we do. But I want to zero in on a specific characteristic I noticed that irks me: when we get examples of how amazing their writing is, it's ridiculous. This may step on the toes of the "literary is the only quality writing" debate, but sometimes I feel like these script-writers haven't heard the other side of that argument. Because every example of a character's "great" writing is... the most over-the-top, flowery, metaphorical purple prose you've ever seen. I'm sure I'm overgeneralizing; I do t...

I've finally realized what the worst, hardest, most frustrating thing about writing is for me. It took a few instances across a few different projects, but I've just noticed this is consistently the thing that sticks me in one place for weeks on end. Editing a chapter to finally work, then realize it doesn't work and have to scrap it. Multiple times in a row. Ending of my first book? A month of rewriting and throwing out chapters. Beginning of my second book? Another month of rewriting and throwing out chapters. In the drafting stages, I can get through it by reminding myself that I can fix all this crap later. In the editing stages, it is "later," and time to fix that crap. It's never the same issue twice, so it's not like I can predict and avoid. I suppose it's related to the fact that I largely "discovery write," and ideas crystallize as words form on the page. I may write through an entire scene, and then realize near the end there...