To be, or not to be, a mentor.

Are you:

1. working your way through NaNoWriMo and your first book
2. querying or researching the indie track
3. have a book or two out in the world, ready to create the next one
4. been in publishing long enough you feel confident in the ins and outs

For the A’s - I’ve got loads of encouragement, and a slew of cheesy quotes if you’re interested. 

For the B’s - I’ve got encouragement and some tips on where to find information. 

For the C’s - I’ve got encouragement and a pretty good set of reader’s eyes. For the D’s - I’ve got encouragement, and a few questions. 

When I started writing, I believed it was a solo expedition, but then I realized that I wasn’t an astronaut. Lone wolf is the term more frequently used, but wolves operate in packs because the strength is in the pack. And that’s true of authors as well.

That understanding changed the game for me. Instead of being alone in a void, I found a writing community filled with people as clueless as I was, only the members were at all levels of their careers. Even when I didn’t think I could contribute I found people coming along behind me looking for suggestions on things I’d just done or gone through, and my voracious reading matched up with others needing a fresh set of eyes on their work.

No matter which letter you picked, you’ve got something to offer. Did you notice I listed encouragement with each one? That’s because everyone, no matter their level of achievements, has bad days, rejections, doubt, and thousands of other life challenges. So join in, even if it’s to offer a smile. Because if we’re all out there together, we may as well be having fun.

When life drowns the writing

Hoh boy. This week on SFF Seven we're talking about how to stay motivated when life "spirals downward" (<-- poetic way of putting it, yes?).

If you have suggestions, please do feel free to pass them along.

Truth is, I'm a bit under water right now -- family health emergencies, pre-teen drama, pet emergencies, home repair problems, kind of you name it and I'm dealing with it. (You don't want to hear the litany of despair. You really don't.) It would be amazing if I could say the writing was keeping me going or even that I have been able to write whole stories despite.

But it's not and I haven't.

I wake up in the morning with stories in my brain. Sometimes I scribble in the notebook beside my bed. Sometimes I thumb-type dialogue on my phone while I'm waiting in a doctor's office or hospital room or vet clinic or school pick-up line. Back when the words were coming and life was being kind, I got used to assigning a multi-hour stack of time for writing, during which I could deep dive into the story, but nowadays I'm having to train myself to take stories piecemeal, scribbles here and emailed snippets there. It's like I'm rewiring the whole structure of how I work.

And honestly? If this goes well, if I manage to train myself to write books on the run like this, that will be a perfect kind of magic.

Because I don't want to make writing the center point of my universe. My family is already there, I love them, and I have made promises to them. Comparatively, I've promised writing very little -- I have no contracts or deadlines and very few expectant readers, and I can choose either to be depressed about that lack or to be grateful I don't have yet another competing commitment.

I choose to be grateful. Because managing the spiral is about understanding your priorities, and right now, writing is not my priority.

5 Reasons Projects Are Abandoned

No one likes to say "I give up." We're taught from a young age that quitting is a horrible character flaw. On the other hand, the older we get, the more we understand we can't do everything. Our time, energy, and resources are limited.

Therefore, here are 5 Reasons I Abandon Projects:

1) Don't fit the schedule
My analytical project manager brain always assigns priorities, rankings if you will, to projects. A leftover from my dot-com days that says if dates slip then features drop. Features, in this case, could be a free short story to include in a newsletter or a perma-free novella told from an alternate POV to boost sales to a series.

2) No longer the right solution to a goal
When planning projects for the next year to 18 months, things change. ~gasp~ Meanwhile, I'm learning more about the business through classes, shared best practices, or trial and error. What was once the best strategy has to be revised. If my goal is to increase sales by 8% over 6 months, how I get there can absolutely result in me dumping one strategy if a less resource-demanding solution comes along.

3) Increase in price
Inflation is real. Budgets are necessary. P&Ls are good business practices. Market changes happen. That awesome resource that was affordable in the planning stages but has since increased its fees so its now out of budget? That kills a project toot sweet. Then are the projects for which I budgeted X but didn't properly account for all the inputs, so it should never have been in my plans in the first place. ~doh!~

4) Unnecessary
It was a genius concept when it was hatched, but it had a window of opportunity that closed, the strategy was trashed in favor of something else, or a third-party stepped up to provide the service/solution/alternative means (aka I'm not the one who has to do the work anymore, woot!).


5) Sailing A Sinking Ship
If it's a group project and key players are flaking out--barring a legal or financial cost of non-delivery--I'm not going to stick around to salvage the project. I spent a lot of my corporate days being the fixer, the catcher, the patcher, and the cleaner. If I'm not being paid handsomely to play those parts, I am not assuming ownership of someone else's failures. Similarly, if it's a group project and it comes to light that asshats abound, I will bail. It's not worth having my brand/reputation dragged through the mud on a crap product associated with crappier people. Harsh? Maybe. Too damn old to care. 
Note: It's not to say I'll run away if things get complicated; I take my commitments very seriously. However, I've been in this game long enough to recognize collaborative and creative abuse.

There's no shame in reevaluating a project for its usefulness, its cost (opportunity and financial), or its ROI. That's just smart living. Needs evolve. Strategies evolve. Projects are dumped while others are picked up. If it's not the right project for the goal you want to achieve, then kill it and move on.

Look to the Stars

Humanity and the world of science lost one of our brightest, sharpest minds. Professor Stephen Hawking made some of the most arcane concepts of physics accessible. So when I seek inspiration, this is where I turn.

"It matters that you don't just give up." Professor Stephen Hawking

PS: If you haven't checked out the Roddenberry FB page, do, and scroll to March 14, 2018. 100% worth it.

Motivated by the positive

When I read the topic this week – writing quotes that are inspirational or motivational – at first all I could think about was that Steven Wright quote: “I’m writing a book. I've got the page numbers done.” Which, you know, isn’t extremely motivational. (Even it is so true.)

Then I thought about Dr Seuss. If Seuss isn’t a kick in the hiney, I don’t know who is. So I read through Oh the Places You’ll Go and … it was actually a bit of a downer. Every time he builds up to a “yeah, you rock, kid,” he follows on immediately with, “except, no. Just kidding.” I think the thing we’re supposed to take from the book, overall, is that life ain’t easy, but it’s worth it? Or something like that?

I’d like to be the sort of person who stubbornly, spectacularly defies criticism, is fueled by rejection, who gets knocked down but then gets up again, just like in that song (which may now be in your head for the rest of the day; sorry). But I’m not that person. Negative sucks the motivation right out of me and leaves me a pile of donut-eating who-even-cares.

So, what does work?

I’ll be honest, I don’t have a wall-sticker over my desk that motivates me, and I’m not huge on personal goal-making and aiming for the bleachers and peppy stuff like that. What I do have is a file folder with a bunch of emails and screenshots in it. In those files are comments from contest judges, critique partners, agents and editors who rejected my work kindly and had nice things to say, agents and editors who didn’t reject and also had nice things to say, professional reviewers and all their pretty stars, readers who were entertained enough to tell me about it … basically, a bright, blooming collage of positivity.

This is my go-to treasure box when my self-confidence gets low. I can pull out these priceless words, read them, and think, hey, maybe I don’t suck. Maybe this adventure is worth it. Maybe someone, someday will want to read this steaming pile of work-in-progress. That person might even like it. Might even like it so much that they sit down and type out a note to me, letting me know the pile isn’t quite so steamy. Or at least the in-a-good-way kind of steamy.

I guess that’s it for me, then. The good. I celebrate all the good, even several times, because once is never enough. Every nice word, I tuck it safe in my file folder of happiness, and it motivates me for days, weeks, years, always.

In other words, if you’ve taken the time to send an email or to leave a review or to contact me at all, Thank You. You have no idea what your gift has meant to me.

---
p.s. - This has nothing to do with the topic, but a super cool thing happened yesterday and I am celebrating -- BECAUSE WE MUST CELEBRATE ALL THE THINGS: my debut book, Wanted and Wired, was released as an audiobook. The narrator, Johanna Parker, performed the Sookie Stackhouse books and is so amazingly talented. I've grabbed a copy and can't wait to see what Ms Parker has done with the interpretation.

Writing? Stuck? 3 Tips to Make Progress

Firstly, for our US readers, it's Election Day. Please, vote. Even if there's nothing more than a pair of issues on the ballot. Your vote matters. Care enough about your community, your local government, and your state government to have an opinion and to have it logged for the record.

Now, to the topic of the week, "When the Story Stops Coming: 3 Tips to Get Unstuck."

I'm going to share an ill-kept secret, I hit the "stuck" part in the beginning of the book. 

Every.Single.Book. 
~headdesk~

I'm currently at that stage in the fourth book of my upcoming Urban Fantasy series (pre-orders go live for Book 1 at the end of the month!). I've spent a week with my wheels spinning in the muck. It's frustrating as hell. I know why it's happening; I don't have the right inciting incident. I write to chapter 5, then cut all of it, because it's still not right. The characters aren't on the right trajectory. Last night, just before my brain settled into slumber, I think I finally figured out the right opening. We'll see. Give me to the weekend to be certain.

In that short bit of snivel and whine, is my first tip to getting unstuck.

1. Keep Writing, but Try Different Perspectives
Put. Words. On. Page...a slight variation on what Jeffe suggested Sunday that still reinforces the habit and ritual of writing. Instead of forcing yourself to go forward and gain word-count, allow yourself to indulge in what-ifs as you rewrite the last scene that worked from a different state of mind for your character (or a different POV altogether if you're writing a multi-POV book). Something as small as changing the POV character's attitude/emotional state could unclog the blockage and help you roll into the next chapter.

2. Change a Core Element
If a scene just isn't working--and you're positive it's a necessary scene--change a core element. Change the setting, the characters surrounding the protagonist, the nature of the challenge, or the means by which your protag achieves the goal of that scene. Maybe what you thought should be a physical battle works better as a battle of wits. Maybe a private scene should be very public. Maybe you need to change the weather. Hey, you're God of your world. Make your characters act out/up during a wicked thunderstorm. Not everything has to happen on a sunny day or a foggy night.

3. Exercise
Take an hour to boost the oxygen flowing through your system. Whatever your level of preferred exertion might be--Ashtanga yoga, rock climbing, stroll around the neighborhood--whatever gets you up and moving. Go without the earphones. Skip the playlists, the phone calls, the other distractions. Just you, your brain, and your body; reconnect with yourself. Might be surprised by the sort of ideas that'll come to you...some might even be relevant to your WiP.

Good luck!