Is e-publishing the answer?

Kindle Publishing

I’ve been doing a little digging into e-publishing in hopes of figuring out if that’s the route I want to take with my novels or not. I haven’t submitted to nearly enough agents to give up on that possibility, but the more I think about it, the more I dislike the thoughts of getting involved in traditional publishing culture.

In all honesty, I didn’t write these crazy novels to get rich. That would be nice. I wouldn’t say no. But I wrote them because I had something to say and I had a story to tell, and I could find very few books in the world that actually peaked my interest. I like a specific type of book, one with a lot of complicated plot issues and lots of subplots and really intense character development. Most books I read aren’t complex enough. I try to figure out the way the story is going to end, and most of the time, the story ends far more simply than I imagined. And I am disappointed. A good new example of the type of book I really enjoy is Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles, The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear. Really satisfying reads, both of them, especially for a schizophrenic mind like mine.

And more and more it’s really difficult to get an agent’s attention. I know there are probably workarounds. And I know it’s a lot about networking. And it’s also very much about selling yourself. And I suck at all of those. I can sell other peoples’ work without any trouble at all, but ask me to promote myself? Yeah. I prefer to hide in a corner and try to convince people I don’t exist. Anonymity is my closest friend. I would rather make the works available to whoever wants them for as cheap as possible and stay in the background while they enjoy a really good, really random read.

I have a Kindle and I take it with me everywhere. I use it every day. And that’s probably the way I’m going to go.  I mean, after all, real marketing starts with grass-roots efforts, doesn’t it? Amazon has a pretty easy FAQ on their Kindle Direct Publishing web site. There are a lot of do’s and don’t's and a lot of formats to stick to, which I didn’t know about and will have to reformat everything to suit it. Oh, well. My devotional this morning was on diligence. I guess I can put pen to paper on that and see how it works out.

What really fascinated me was the concept of the Kindle Singles. They’re basically short stories or novellas. I wasn’t sure if they had a word limit or not, and they seem to vary from 5,000 to 30,000 words. So my plan is to try publishing one of my short stories to see how the process works and if it’s successful, I may follow through with a novel . . . or two . . . or three. =) I’ve got plenty to choose from that don’t fit the mold any publisher or agent wants right now, according to my reading and the people I’ve talked to. Actually, they don’t fit any mold.

 

Contests

In other news, I tried entering a self-publishing group’s contest. I thought I should give it a whirl. The contest was through Xulon Press, a Christian type of publishing group. Sounds nice. I’m sure they’re perfectly peachy. I didn’t win the contest, but I thought it was a good shot. I think they hold the contest every year, and the grand prize is a pretty sweet publishing package worth around $8,000.

 

Publications

And I was informed that I will have another piece of work published in February. Not fiction. And really more centered around my day job, but writing is writing, right? I actually get my name on the February edition of Plumbing Engineer with a piece about the domestic water installation in the LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City. Yeah. That’s going to look great in my credits . . . . a romantic short story . . . . and a plumbing installation article. Fan-freakin’-tastic. =)

Writing Goals for 2012 (a.k.a. professional multitasking)

Well, so much for updating this blog on a consistent basis. So far I’ve only been able to handle one blog with any consistency, and that’s my devotional blog. I guess that’s something. But I’m going to make a concerted effort to put something on here at least once a week.

I thought I would post about my writing goals for 2012 so they will be in print somewhere and I can look back on them and remind myself that I actually did make these promises to myself. Now, whether or not I’m going to accomplish all this is yet to be seen, but I’m going to give it my all.

 

E-Publishing

My biggest goal for 2012 is to e-publish a few things. I’m curious about it, and I have some pieces I haven’t been able to sell. It could be that they just suck. That’s a definite possibility. But the other possibility is that I’m a terrible salesperson. And that is also a definite possibility.

So, I’m going to try to publish and market a few pieces myself just to see how it goes. I have a short story and a novel, both of which are odd. So odd that most people I’ve given them to have no idea how to even begin marketing them to the industry. So, hopefully in a few months, you’ll see a blurb on here for a Kindle Single. And if that goes well, you might see another blurb for an eBook on here as well.

We’ll just have to see.

 

Novels

I have one novel that is a third of the way done with its first draft. I have a trilogy to complete. It’s almost done, but it needs tweaking. Then, I have two more trilogies to tweak. Plus I have a novel on Guatemala that needs revising. And I have a dozen novels I need to start. I’m trying to prioritize them, but they’re all marketable. So the issue is just buckling down and doing it.

That’s my novel writing goal for 2012 — Just Do It!

And I’m also playing with the idea of entering NaNoWriMo this year. I’d love to give it a shot, and I have a concept I’ve been dying to get down on paper but haven’t had the chance.

 

Short Stories

I am also aiming to write a new short story every month. This one is going to be super challenging. I have tons of ideas, but getting the time to do it while maintaining all of my other daily tasks is going to be killer. But we’ll see. It’s something I’m shooting for because my writing critique group is starting up again and I want to have new material for them to review, not just novel chapters.

 

Skits / Plays

We finally have a new worship pastor at my church! So that means that drama at my church is going to start up again in full swing for the first time in over a year. And that means we’ll need scripts. So I have started our writing team up again, and we’re going to start putting out material for consideration. Additionally, I want to write a full-length Easter play. I’ve had one percolating in the back of my mind for years, but I’ve never taken the time to put it down on paper. Well, this is the year.

 

And that’s about it. Is that enough? We’ll see how I do. I’ll probably look back at this list at the end of 2012 (assuming the world doesn’t end on December 21) and kick myself for thinking I could accomplish so much in just a year, but you never know. A lot of it is determination and discipline, which I’m working on. Obviously. It’s only 8am and this is the second blog I’ve posted on, and I’ve got dishes going in the kitchen and a pot of coffee brewing.

Multitasking. That’s the key.

Happy New Year, everyone!

 

Great environments to write

Are you a writer who is only productive when you’re writing in a quiet place? Or do you need the hustle and bustle of your local Barnes & Noble’s to inspire you?

I have moods in my writing when I want peace and quiet, especially if I’m working through a particularly emotional scene. I tend to talk to myself, and that just doesn’t really work when you’re in a bookstore or a coffee shop. I mean, you can. People just look at you funny.

When I was younger, I could really only write at home in the basement when it was quiet. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve discovered that I actually enjoy writing around crowds. It’s a ton of fun because if you get stuck on something, you can just people watch for a little while. And boom! You get unstuck because something you saw someone do or something you heard someone say helped you over the wall you ran into, and you know exactly what your character needs to do to get himself out of the mess he’s in.

So that being said, where are some good places to write? I’m in the Wichita, Kansas area, and contrary to popular opinion, it’s actually a pretty happening place. You just have to know where to look.

Of course, Barnes & Noble’s is the mainstay. They have coffee. They have cheesecake. They have books. They have quiet music in the background. And they provide a valuable opportunity to watch people from every nationality and personality.

Wichita also has a wonderful little coffee shop downtown. It’s locally owned and operated. Mead’s Corner is the name, and it’s also another great place to write. Good coffee. Good food. Pleasant atmosphere. High top tables and plenty of outlets.

I have also done some writing at Starbucks, but you have to hit Starbucks at just the right time to be able to find a seat and a place to plug in. Once I went to write at Starbucks, and it was so busy and full I ended up at the Wendy’s across the street. And that worked perfectly well too, although I got a lot of people staring at me.

I have also been told that The Donut Whole (and it’s recently opened tea shop, the Jade Pearl) is another great place to write. And they have donuts!

If I need quiet, though, and I can’t be at home, another place that’s great is a library. I’ve done the majority of my writing at the University Library at Wichita State University. I used to work there, and I knew where all the power outlets were. So on lunch breaks or in between classes, I’d just set my laptop up somewhere deep in the stacks and bury myself in whatever novel I was working on at the time. If you’re ever at the WSU Library, though, beware of the third floor. It doesn’t get a lot of traffic, and you never know what you might encounter. So I stuck with the basement. There’s actually a set of hidden shelves in the basement. That’s where I would eat my lunch many times, and that’s where I put down quite a good number of words.

But Wichita has a lot of libraries, although I can’t really speak for all of them. But I’m sure they’re all great for writing. After all, if you need to research a topic, you have all the encyclopedias you could want right at your fingertips.

And if you happen to like writing outside, Wichita has a beautiful little place called Botanica. It’s the botanical gardens here, and it’s beautiful. There are plenty of places to sit and lots of subject matter to tackle if you need to take a break from what you’re currently working on. There are beautiful flowers and a house of butterflies and trees and lakes. It’s gorgeous. Granted, I would only recommend it in spring and summer, and maybe only half the time in fall since Kansas weather is so weird.

But beyond any other place, I love writing at home. I have a little office set up in my old bedroom. It has neither central air conditioning nor central heat, and the temperature can range from 15 degrees to 95 degrees. In the summer time, I put my window unit air conditioner on. In the winter time, I bundle up and turn my quartz heater on. I can sit at my office desk and look out my south windows at rolling hills of winter wheat and alfalfa, and I can look down to the garden and watch the cats and their crazy antics.

And it’s quiet. And nice. And I can stay in my pajamas. And, I don’t know about you, but I find my comfort level directly proportional to my productivity.

What about you? Where do you like to write?

Love, victorious or vulnerable

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” ~ C.S. Lewis

First of all, let me say that this is a beautiful quote. I stumbled across it the other day, and it really made me stop and think. And I agree with it. I do. At least, I agree with it on one hand. But on the other hand, I struggle with it. Not in concept but in connotation.

To me, this is kind of a dreary take on love. It’s true. Yes, it’s very true.  And Love is a very serious thing. It’s very sobering. And it’s a huge responsibility. And it’s an action. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Check to all of the above. But love and joy go hand in hand. Granted, joy doesn’t always mean you’ll be happy, but even in the direst circumstances the truly joyful should be able to remain joyful. It’s all about perspective.

And that’s the way I feel about love.

Love takes perspective. If you don’t have perspective on love, you’ll think either everyone loves you or everyone hates you. You’ll see the world through rose-colored glasses or you’ll live your life in the gray shades of the abandoned.

Situation: Jane and Jill disagree on some topic (it doesn’t matter what it is)

Perspective 1: Jane knows Jill loves her 100%, and Jill knows Jane loves her 100%, and when they disagree, neither of them know how to handle it and their friendship falls apart.

Perspective 2: Jane thinks everyone hates her, and Jill thinks everyone hates her, and even though they’re friends, they’ve always been too scared to really share anything with each other because they assume they hate each other no matter how much each of them denies it. So not only do they not know when they disagree with each other, they never actually build their friendship, and they sink deeper into depression daily.

Perspective 3: Jane loves Jill, and Jill loves Jane, but they both realize the neither of them are perfect. So when they disagree (which happens a lot), they have faith in their friendship, that it will withstand the small bumps of life, and love each other enough to work through what they disagree on, and their friendship turns out deeper and stronger than it was before they disagreed.

It looks simple in writing but in practice it’s harder. And in a relationship that’s more like Jack and Jill (as opposed to Jane and Jill) it gets infinitely more complicated, but the same rules still apply.

Nobody’s perfect. And that means that no love is perfect either. But just because someone disappoints you doesn’t mean they love you less. And conversely just because someone does something nice for you doesn’t mean they love you more.

Absolute love is beyond the realm of human imagination.

And I think that’s where some of our trouble begins: we expect absolute love from each other. But people aren’t absolute. And trying to grasp the things that are absolute is impossible. The finite trying to comprehend the infinite is a wasted effort.

We can only do the best we can.

So let’s look at Mr. Lewis’s statement again. Basically he’s saying that if you don’t want to get hurt, don’t love anyone. Which is true. And he’s also saying that if you lock your heart away, you’ll turn into a big meany. Which is also true. I agree 100% with his entire statement. But I still hold that this is a far too stiff-upper-lip, defeatist mentality opinion of love to leave it at that.

Love is never defeatist. Love is victorious. And instead of focusing on how much Love hurts (which it does), focus on the Joy you receive from it. Maybe it’s not popular to be unswooning and steady in love. Maybe it’s not perceived as romantic to cry for a little while but then get on with your life. Maybe you’ll be thought of as cold-hearted if you are able to manage your emotions to the point where you can function in life when your relationship circumstances are less than perfect.

But that is victorious love, the kind of love Westley spoke of in The Princess Bride: “Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.”

And while I should probably be shot for using a quote from The Princess Bride to respond to a quote by the legendary C.S. Lewis, I still feel that they are relevant. Because you can look at Love either as a challenge in an opportunity or an opportunity in a challenge. But that choice is up to you.

Submissions update

Well, I have to admit I never thought this day would come. I actually wrote and submitted something that was accepted. It’s a little short story called, “Chris Maher’s Left Hand” and it was accepted for publication in True Story magazine, tentatively scheduled for their December issue.

The contract required me to sign over the rights to it, and I struggled with that decision for a while but decided it was probably worth it in this case.

I’m really excited!

In other news, my best buddy Katie Morford got her manuscript back from her publisher with some changes to it. I’m so excited for her! I know it sucks to have to change things you’ve written, but as long as it’s not main story elements I think it’s appropriate . . . and if it makes it more salable? Wow!!

A lot of exciting things going on!

Success? Really?

I was just checking my e-mail tonight and I had a message from a magazine I submitted a short story to, wanting a digital version so they could publish it.

What?

Seriously?

Wow.

And the real kicker is it’s a short story I wrote as a joke. Don’t get me wrong. It’s cute. But not in a million years is it something I thought anybody would publish–let alone buy!

I know at times like this a writer should probably be reserved and professional, but considering this is the very first time I’ve ever submitted anything that was actually accepted . . . I’m sure a bit of celebration is permissable.

YIPPEE!!!!!

Evoking Emotion in Writing Part 1

I am not an emotional storyteller. I like action and adventure. I like spaceship skirmishes and epic battles on fantastic plains of existence. I like Jedi light saber duels and Jackie Chan Kung Fu fights. Ask me to be emotional, and I cringe. But there’s no escaping the fact that the skirmishes and battles and duels and Kung Fu wouldn’t mean anything if there wasn’t emotion driving it.

If I didn’t care that Luke Skywalker needed to defeat Darth Vader (his father) to show him that he still had good inside him, the duel between them would just be two guys in weird costumes flailing around with glowing sticks. If I didn’t care that Aragorn was defending Minas Tirith as its rightful king returning to the throne after exile, the Battle of Pelennor Field wouldn’t be gripping at all; it would just be long.

So how do you effectively convey emotion in characters, especially when you are not an emotional person to begin with?

I attended a phenomenal writing workshop in June of this year. I plan to go back next year as I’ve never had such a good time while learning so much simultaneously. But one of the general sessions, led by Angela Hunt, was all about evoking emotions. So I thought I might share some of what I learned in that session.

One of her suggestions in evoking emotion is to tap into emotions your readers have already felt.

One thing about emotions is that they’re universal. Everyone feels, even Star Trek’s Vulcans if truth be told. So that is a reassuring thing to realize—all of your readers have felt sad or happy or alone or abandoned or disappointed or guilty or uncertain. Everyone has felt those things, so everyone can identify with them.

And the best way to communicate those emotions in writing is to draw from your own experience.

If you’re writing anger, think of the time you’ve felt the angriest in your life.

If you’re writing hurt, think of the time you’ve been in the most heart wrenching pain.

If you’re writing about being sick, think of the time you’ve been ill enough that you want to die.

And if you don’t have experience with these emotions, find someone who has.

Another method of dealing with emotion is the old “Show Don’t Tell” standby. You can have a character say, “I love you! I love you!” until he or she is blue in the face, but if that character’s actions don’t reflect that emotion, your readers won’t believe it’s actually true.

Let’s face it. If you love someone, you do things for them. You buy them chocolates. You rub their feet or their shoulders after a long day at work. You do the dishes for them. You take out the trash.

Alternately, if you hate someone, you avoid them. Or you throw rocks at them. Or you tell lies about them.

Conveying emotion in writing demands action because describing the emotion itself with mere words is impossible. You have to use metaphors. And some metaphoric language is great—but the best way to demonstrate what a character is feeling is to show us what that character is doing.

There’s a lot more to write, a lot more hints and tips that I picked up which I will continue in Part 2 if I get a spare moment.

But this one was probably the most relevant. Emotion requires action. So describe the action, and you’ll have a better chance of effectively conveying what your character is feeling.

The English language as a buffet

I have always said English is a weird language, and I really enjoyed this post from my local newspaper’s copy desk:

The world’s a smorgasbord for English

Just thought I’d share the fun with all you other wordsmiths and etymologists out there.

Submissions away!

I haven’t submitted anything for ages. It’s been so long I’d almost forgotten how. But no more. I got two off last night, and hopefully my wonderful assistant will help me get two more off tomorrow. Four separate pieces that are very different from each other:

1 – a short story about a young woman seeking independence who gets her car stuck in a snow drift (“Drifting”)

2 – a short article about the benefits of international mission’s trips (“Mexican Cement”)

3 – a fantasy about the danger of religion (“The One without a Book”)

4 – a short romantic comedy about a geek girl who falls in love with a guy who has perfectly symmetrical nostrils (“Chris Maher’s Left Hand”)

So . . . we’ll see what happens. This is the first time I’ve actually felt this confident about anything I’ve submitted, but that could be a bad sign.

Holding on to your voice

I’m not a published novelist yet. Someday I will be, but until then I’m just a student, trying to learn as much about the writing business and craft as possible. But I think sometimes I do too much reading on how to get published rather than the actual writing that will get me there. Anymore I’ve gotten so focused on all the mechanics of it that I think I’ve been ignoring the actual art and craft.

And I guess I just randomly remembered something yesterday. There really are no new stories.

It’s one of those things you know, but it’s easy to forget when you pick up a writer like Patrick Rothfuss or Suzanne Collins. Such amazing writers! They have such a different style and voice and perspective that it makes you feel like you’re reading something new, when in actuality all you’re experiencing is their unique personality brought to life on a page.

And that’s what makes a story new or unique or refreshing. The author’s voice.

Nobody can write something like I can. Nobody can write something like you can. Because we’re different people. We’ve lived different lives and seen different things and experienced different events that have shaped the way we look at the world. And the key is learning how to capture that individuality and work it into a manuscript.

The trouble with my own personal voice, though, is that it’s just a little unusual. But isn’t that good? Unusual voices stand out, don’t they? Well, I’m afraid mind stands out a bit too much.

But I think I’m done trying to correct it. Maybe it’s not wrong to begin with. Maybe it’s just not time yet.

And then I found this really interesting posting on agent Kristin Nelson’s Pub Rants blog. Her blog is a great resource to begin with, but this post was fascinating.

In any case, I’ve decided that I’m just going to stop picking at all the little details. Just because the silly manuscript hasn’t been accepted anywhere yet doesn’t mean it won’t ever be accepted. Maybe the rest of the world just needs to prepare itself for my strange, unique individuality. =)

In any case, I’ve got my voice. It took me long enough to find it, so I think I’ll hold on to it for a while. Maybe it’s a bad idea. Maybe not. Time will tell.