Learning from the Creative Community: 3 Places to Start

As in any industry, continuing to develop your skills regardless of how other people perceive your abilities and success is fundamental to achieving your career goals. What's that mean for someone in a creative field?  That means you have to study the art and the business. This week's topic is about from whom we learn: teachers, mentors, and other resources.

KAK's Top 3 Resources for Being a Better Career Author

1. Fellow Authors:  From their works to their social media to workshops they offer, I look to my peers to fill in my knowledge gaps. That means I read widely, I "follow" outside my "clique," and I participate in author-groups. One of the many nice things about genre authors is that they freely share their advice and experiences in public forums. The diversity of our backgrounds and experiences usually means there are some great nuggets of useful information to be had amid the banter and inanity. Find them on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, etc.

Where to start? Pick 6 authors outside your circle-of-norms, and check their websites for where they hang out online. Choose:
--> 2 authors who are current commercial darlings (1 debut, 1 established)
--> 2 authors who are critical darlings (check the lists of award winners--Hugos, Ritas, Gemmell, Locus, Stoker, etc--for the last 3 years)
--> 2 authors who are industry veterans that other successful authors respect.

2. Reader Groups: There are numerous reader-groups on the Web discussing my genre and its many sub-genres. I've joined a few to listen, NOT to hawk my wares. What do they like? What do they care about? What annoys them and what are they hoping to find? Maybe it's a legacy from my marketing days, but these communities are the best focus groups for which an author could ask.

Where to start? Look to Facebook and Reddit for great reader communities. Yes, the quantity of discussions and daily messages can be overwhelming. Using the sites' digest settings, filtering, and mute tools to manage the deluge.

3. Other Creative Professionals: While publishing likes to think it's a snowflake, there are a lot of issues and opportunities that are common across the greater creative industry. There are also a lot of innovative solutions that can be tweaked to improve your processes and business. Pay attention to discussions about tech, tools, laws, sales, marketing, customer expectations, predators, pirates, etc. Also take note of the tips for mental and physical health, refreshing the creative-well, and humor rooted in the common struggle for respect and recognition.

Where to start? Social media of course. As for who to follow, well, that's a bit more complicated. You're looking for creatives who actually share that "behind the scenes" information on their feeds. I find illustrators and designers are as forthcoming as authors, while actors and musicians are bit more guarded. They often share the pretty and the product; less so with the process and business. To build a list, check the awards nominations from #1 above and look to their retweets/shares.

Dear reader, if you have a follow-favorite, let me know! 

I'm always looking to learn from new perspectives.

Three Ways I Learn to Be a Better Writer

Pretty excited to see the flyer up for my book signing with Minerva Spencer on July 8 at Page 1 Books in Albuquerque. This is her debut, so I expect it to be a fun party!

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is: Who do you learn from? (Teachers, mentors, resources for skilling up.)

It's an interesting question because a huge part of growing as a writer - and probably in any self-driven profession - is learning when to trust yourself and when to listen to others. As a newbie writer, we all really need to listen to advice from others. Even when we think we don't need it. Maybe even PARTICULARLY when we think we don't need it.

As with all wisdom, recognizing what you don't know is a great step toward truly improving.

And, as with many endeavors, but especially creative ones, there comes a point where taking classes, getting critique, etc., simply are no substitute for DOING THE WORK. Some people throw around the number "one million words" that you have to write before you've cleared the pipes and can really lay down fresh and clear prose. I don't know about one million, but I'd believe it. It takes a lot of just writing writing writing to get there.

So, once you're a more experienced writer - even one, like me, teaching others how to write - how do I learn?

Three things:

1) First and foremost I study other writers. I read widely in all genres, and I deliberately check out those books that win awards, that people love and talk about, and that sell well. (I think these are three different aspects of a "good" piece of writing. Very rarely does a book hit all three.

2) I have select critique partners. At this point I'm blessed to have a lot of author friends, and I hit them up at various times for various stories. I bet you can guess how I decide. Reference #2 above - I ask those writers who are really good at the thing I'm hoping works or am pretty sure needs to get fixed.

3) I learn from the world. Part of being a creative person is taking in the world around us and giving our answer to it. I try to experience all kinds of storytelling in different media, or different arts altogether - music, movies, painting, architecture, philosophy, nature. I'm a Taoist, so I believe that our lives are a long path of growing and refining ourselves. Writing is just one piece of that for me.