Blogging and Moving and Blogging....

Greetings and Salutations, 

Although, we're about to get to that all over again in a minute...

I started finally using the blog feature over at MySpace as well as exploring profiles and friending many-o-person to explore common interests. Well, one of the four people reading it is a little less than enthusiastic about MS and spends a great deal of time here. As I already had a profile gathering dust, there seemed no reason not to use it. 

So this will be blog 2.0 with duplicate entries for those on LJ rather than MS. As I found myself exploring the communities and getting interested in some journals here it seemed all the more reason to come on over and set up house. 

It'll take a bit to get into the groove of using it and picking a layout and such so bear with me. For now it'll be a matter of relocating all of the MySpace entries and working from there as the mood strikes. 

So...onto it already....

Baby Steps and Beginnings (Wednesday January 31)

Greetings and Salutations;

I shouldn't be up let alone messing around with journaling. I haven't been to sleep yet from yesterday but that seems to be one of my most inspired times to do all the things I shouldn't be.

I made lots of plans for this blog. I was going to document writing my first manuscript. Then I was going to document the process of getting published. Then I was going to whine about writing synopsis because that was really killing me. 

But eventually I realized it didn't matter what I wrote about as long as I wrote. I'm admittedly and unapologetically anti-social. And in ways it perfectly suits me to practice the solitary craft of writing. Of course, where writing may be a solitary craft, publishing isn't

You have agents, editors, booksellers, and if you're lucky, eventually fans. All of these people expect some part of your attention, interaction, and even affections. I'm okay with the attention, and the affections, but the interaction is something I can only take so much of at time. 

I'm a Drifter. You all know one. That friend who has your back and will stomp someone down for you if they had too, but you can easily loose track of them for six months at a time because they're off reading and writing and in general drifting off to be solitary.

I'm in the tenth year of a relationship so there's only so solitary that I can actually be in our tiny one bedroom apartment, but I get as close as possible. What makes it so bad is that I often don't even notice.

But noticed or not, I know this about myself so I started with babysteps. I joined a friend at a writing site in hopes of cultivating a regular writing habit as we built a World In Progress. From there I started daily ICQ conversations with one of the writers/players at the site. I also joined some health sites to work on all of that as well get in the habit of posting a few places regularly.

Eighteen months  worth of plots and rp arcs at the writing site built the habit and led to  being ready to start a manuscript last July. The health sites led to, well, getting healthier and getting use to showing up regularly. And the ICQ convos got me used to checking in and connecting on a regular basis.

Then I had a job change.

A seasonal gig with people I really wanted to shake until their teeth rattled out of their heads led to a great deal of stress. Worse it was right after another great stress just a month into writing my book. But needed the money and did what I had to do. And yes, I also Drifted. I lost site of my health boards, I stopped writing plots and nearly stopped all rp, and although I kept up with the IM conversations, it took a lot to do so.

I was stressed dealing with people I couldn't smack about. I was depressed because progress on the manuscript ground to a near halt with no more than a sentence or paragraph a day for twelve weeks. And in general I was reminded that I really don't like people.

I love individuals. I love deep and strong with some individuals in particular. And I'm inspired and motivated and truly moved by other individuals. Some of which I haven't even met. So I love individuals.

But I hate people. People suck.

Individuals just want to be happy and move through life in as positive a vibe as the world will allow. They do their own thing, let anyone who isn't hurting someone do their own thing in turn, and get on with their lives.

People are about drama and issues and managing everyone elses business because they don't have enough of their own.

Most folks in your life are People. May you be blessed with more Individuals.

Having shaken off the "people", the stress and the depression I finished my manuscript on the 5th.  I did content edits, format edits, more content edit, more format edit. I crafted to styles of query letter. I researched agents and publishers. I submitted a short story in the same world for an anthology and semi-sorta-somewhat did the synopsis for the manuscript with plans to submit on the first. (See, this ramble was circular and had a point)

Having submitted the short story and preparing to submit queries for the ms, it hit me...some of the folks I approach with my work are going to be People and some are going to be Individuals. And if I'm to keep the Indivs even with the stress of the Peops, I'm going to have to get back in the practice of showing up and getting it done.

I never wanted to start a blog I was going to drift away from and leave unfinished. Mostly because I've been irritated deeply reading the path of someones life only to have it abruptly stop and not know what happened to them and where they are.

So, this is my launch to interaction and the building of consistancy. Maybe only four people will ever read it and comment and keep me accountable. But hey, that's a 400% increase in my current accountability online or otherwise. You don't get returns like that on too many things.

My goal is weekly posts here and on a health site I'm returning to. Initially however I'm expecting a honeymoon period of daily to every other day. If by March 1st the honeymoon isn't entirely over I'll know I was more ready than I knew and will up it to twice a week, adding a day every six weeks I consistantly beat the former goal.

Ultimately four days a week, even if its only long enough to say "Boo" is what I want. Because when you do something that touches people as personally as writing, you need to be there for the emotion you create as much as viable. As I'm working on book 2 (literally, book two in the series) and outlining an entirely different book, I know that my viable is variable, but eventually a rhythm happens and you always find yourself more capable than you ever knew.

Here's to learning.

X

And So It Begins (Thursday February 1st)

The emotional rollercoaster  has taken off, cue the music....

I was expecting to be a little anxious today. I sent off the first query to an agent for my Urban Fantasy novel. It was a self-imposed goal date and I knew it was coming much quicker than it should have been. Then suddenly it was here.

Now, I didn't sleep well and there were too many errands to do to make up for it. So we're looking at anxious and tired. Throw in grumpy and we have just under half of seven neurotic dwarves running through here.

Well, I get passed not wanting to do anything but lay down when I get home and comb over my query letter six or seven more times. This is after I've gone over it for a solid week. But still, I found changes I wanted to make before I was finally able to just let it go. (OCD Much? Why yes, yes I do)

All calm and composed and ready to be done with it, I open my email (I love eletronic query submissions) and my entire composure is blown. Sometime during my research and link-o-plenty accumalation in January, I found an open call for short stories for a summer anthology. I squeaked in just under the deadline of Jan. 31 by a day. A Day.

So to have sent something off on the 30th and have something back on the 1st, from a publisher whose site says 8 to 10 weeks...well it didn't seem good. I just knew it was going to be a "I don't know who you think you are strolling in here at the eleventh hour thinking you were going to be in my anthology".  It wasn't. Not exactly.

The short story will NOT appear in the anthology. However, the editor enjoyed it (her words. I would have preferred "thoroughly enjoyed it" or "Utterly enjoyed it", but enjoyed isn't loathed and thus is great) has now passed it on to another editor in consideration of a different project. I'll be gotten back to in a few weeks I was told. So now I'm waiting.

Technically, I was already waiting, but now I know I'm waiting whereas before I just thought I was waiting. And now that I know I'm analyzing the message like a teenager reading into a voicemail after a first date.

She said a few weeks. Did she mean a few weeks? And is it a few weeks? Or is it whenever its gotten around to? Or is it more like the "allow 4 to 6 weeks for shipping and handling" that always shows up a week later kind of few weeks.

At least its a short story and it was a full ms submission so its in hand and I don't have to worry about bringing the goods on a partial submission request. That gives me something because I've read enough writers blogs and articles to know that passed along and accepted aren't by any means the same thing.

Still....she said a few weeks....

Yeah, I got issues. So in the spirit of having fewer of them, I'm going to let it go again just as I did when I first sent it off. Just like I let go of the agent query. And just like I'm going to let go of all the queries and submissions to come. The bonus is that being tired makes it rather easy because I don't want to do anything but go lay down. Which I think I'll do.

Another time,

X

Something in the Air (Friday February 2nd)

Every place I've looked today there's been someone getting good news about publishing. Let's hear it for good news!

My godsister took second place in the Creatures of the Dark contest at Stardust Press. It came with a $100 prize and a contract. WOO-HOO! She also heard from another publisher enthusiastic about a second book. Double-Dunk!

I know that things are only at the beginning for her and one should always wait on the champagne for the release date, but a little virtual bubbly is more than due.

The others celebrating now aren't personally known to me but I'm happy for them all the same. May they enjoy their happy news and have much more to come.

May the rest of us still pending with projects and polishing that ms breathe deeply of the "Accepted" vibe.

Sleep has not been my friend this day, or really this week. (Not since I was nine really, but not the point at hand) I'm thinking this honeymoon period of the blog will end sooner than I thought and the once-a-week routine will settle in pretty quick here. For now though, I'm plodding along and cultivating the habit.

Sleeplessness has led to a great many blog readings and the accumulation of resource sites. Insomnia working for me rather than against for a change. It however is not working for me right this moment and I'm forced to keep this short as everything else I was going to share has fled me.

But hey, that leaves more for tomorrow and another day to add to the habit. It all works out in the end.

Til Later

X

Too Much of a Good Thing (Monday February 5th)

I have to say that although I'm grateful beyond words for the resources on the internet, there's such a thing as too much of a good thing.

The fact that new novelist stay sane and mildly coherent with all the contradictory advice out there is a miracle. I salute my fellow pre-published newlings out there. Yes, pre-published rather than unpublished, it's all in how you language a thing.

For those of you out there with your heads spinning on everything from ms format to agent vs. unagented submissions; take a breath, step back, and refocus. I know that it's confusing so instead of trying to guess which advice to follow, customize your queries and ms to the specific people you're sending them to.

You should already be looking up agents/editors online for the titles they've published, and what they're currently looking to take on. Along with this, if you search you'll usually find a blog or agency site blurb that will tell you exactly what the agent/editor wants. If its not specific, then there is often a email or address and/or number where you can mail or call and double check which format they want.

Take notes and then you can take an easy breath that format of all things will not be the obstacle you have to overcome.

A comment on rejection...

Don't be afraid of it. Fear of rejection is in fact a fear of not being liked. Agents and editors don't know you, they don't have a chance to like or dislike you based on a few pages you sling their way.

They're not in the business to like or dislike you and most know that you're probably a wonderful person who makes great chocolate chip cookies. But their business is to look at what you have to offer and decide whether or not they're the one who can sell it. If they aren't that person the best thing they can do for you is tell you that and let you move onto the next person on your list.

It's better to have a definite 'no' in a week than a tenative 'maybe' that drags out for months and then still ends in searching for someone else.

Now I freely admit that I've never received a form letter rejection and I can't speak to what it means  to not even warrant a personal response. However, statistically its just a matter of time if I cast my net wide enough. Some agents and editors simply do not have the time to personalize their replies. Worse, many who have bothered in the past have gotten nasty or snarky replies in turn that don't make it seem worth it.

If you really think your form letter was wrong then try an empathy building skill. Anyone with a friendlist of 100 or more send out a bullentin and asks everyone to email you and expect a speedy reply. Now spend 8 to 10 hours fulfilling all your other obligations because they're urgent and then get go to deal with your email box and begin to reply. You start to get a sense of how busy these people are and why any response at all is at leat the blessing of knowing your query/pages were received and have been evaluated.

This is not to say that your project, your baby that you've sent out into the world isn't important. The time and creative energy we spent on our mss is worth a reply. But where we're worried about one ms, the person or people we're eagerly waiting to hear from have twenty sitting on their desk and 200 queries still to answer. Being anti-social and unloving of being rushed, I sympathize with the stress of the situation.

But back to rejection itself...

If everyone you know likes you from work to your neighbors to the guys at the corner coffee shop, then you're the spawn of satan and I'm not talking about you. For the rest of us, there are many people we see regularly who don't like us. Most don't actively dislike us, but they don't care one way or another what's going on in our lives. But they see us and interact with us and don't feel obligated to hang on our every word without reason.

Editors and agents are the same. They have a very brief moment in time to encounter our writing and must make a "snap" decision. And they haven't even met us in person! So just like your life goes one when they guy who makes your morning latte doesn't smile and ask about you day....you're life will go on after an agent or editor turns you down. Embrace the process and don't let it own you.

I've received compliments and enthusiastic praise on my writing since my first AP English class from friends and virtual strangers alike. It's grown more enthusiastic and interested as my writing and subject matter have matured. I don't have to impress and woo every agent and editor out there. I just need one of each who agree (maybe five if dealing with junior associates who need approval from a committee, but still,) with personal teachers, random professors, contest judges, unobligated internet readers of varied blogs/threads, and my admitted semi-obligated friends.

The people I've encountered aren't from other planets so they can't be that hard to find others of similar opinion. The same is true of many others. As long as we keep looking and keep polishing our style, we'll eventually get the right words in front of the right eyes and things will go from there.

Ramble over, discuss amongst yourselves. (All four of you)

X

This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race..(Wednesday Feb. 7)

This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race"

I am an arms dealer
Fitting you with weapons in the form of words
And don't really care which side wins
As long as the room keeps singing
That's just the business I'm in, yeah

This ain't a scene, it's a goddamned arms race
This ain't a scene, it's a goddamned arms race
This ain't a scene, it's a goddamned arms race
I'm not a shoulder to cry on
But I digress

I'm a leading man
And the lies I weave are oh so intricate,
Oh so intricate ~ Fall Out Boy

Publishing novels isn't a scene, it's a ***damn arms race. Thank you Fall Out Boy for speaking the gospel for your industry and mine as well.

As writers we don't get too many songs that fit and this one was perfect for my mood and current take on things. In seeking to write full time as a career I'm in fact looking to get paid to lie for a living. Wonderful intricate lies that make life a little more bearable for the person swept up in my words for time. But this isn't a new perspective and has been said before by more eloquent scribes than myself. I'm merely expanding on an idea for my time.

As a writer I am an arms dealer fitting the reader with weapons in the forms of words. Weapons that protect them against the stresses and tolls of a mundane world.

My goal is to get the words to the publishers as quickly as possible while the model I'm hawking is still hot and I can get top dollar. I will supply equally for whomever is willing to shell out the money for as long as they are willing. I'll pit them against each other if it what gets me what I need, it's all the same to me. As the middlemen between me and the buyer I don't really care which side wins as long as the room keeps reading....that's just the business I'm in.

What put me in this mindframe you ask (besides drowning in the FOB video)?

I got a request for a partial and I found a handful of contest I'm planning on enterring while I work on book 2. It's all about getting my name out there and getting feedback on the things that trip through my head in the dark of night when it seems no one is looking. I'm learning my audience. I'm finding out if the same things that brought me to paranormal fiction brought them as well. In the face of what they have I'm learning how to arm them with more.

Urban Fantasy is barely recognized by some and immediately brings squeals of delight from others while the rest nod and are afraid to ask questions. Let me break down what I mean. Urban Fantasy is contemporary fiction in setting that brings in paranormal elements, vampires, shifters, ghosts, wizards, witches, psychics, etc.

Some prime examples of authors who excel at UF; Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, Patricia Briggs, L.A. Banks. Sometimes it's more recognized as Paranormal Romance (which is its own subgenre, but mirror twin of UF) this would MaryJanice Davidson, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Lynsay Sands and so many others.

I fall under UF rather than PR because I don't have the typical heroine and hero who get together at the end. Relationships are the main focus and there's love found in the end, but its not with just one and it's not with our primary "Alpha Male" in the story. But that's okay, its what worked for me and for the story and we'll see where it goes. I'm still all about PR as much as UF because I love the twin genres. I even managed a PR short story, but it involved a trio so still not traditional but just as valid a romance.

I've read things that said the subgenres are dying off and both UF and PR are seeing their last days. At the same time on places like the Romantic Times blog I see readers just getting into it and discovering Urban Fantasy and its concepts outside of romance. At the same time I read threads where UF fans are finding their vampire/shifter fix in the romance aisle while their favorite UF writers work diligently on their next books.

With the hunger to supplement their favorites readers are making new favorites all the time. The genres aren't dying, they're still finding their groove and I think there's still plently of room for my and other new voices to become those filler stories between the established voices. To build and deliver and become new favorites. I know my shelves exploded when I ran out of one author and snatched up every anthology I could get my hands on to discover new (to me) authors.

Don't sing the dirge for the vampire, as usual the news of its permanent demise is greatly exaggerated. Weep not for the werewolf for he still has more than a few quick changes to keep readers guessing. And ghosts, well, lets just say they are much more substantial than you've been led to believe. The audience is still there, some jus't don't know it yet.

~This ramble has been called on account of bloodsugar issues. I return you to your regularly schedule evening drift of thought.

Another Time,

X