Thursday's Children Blog Hop: Keeping Your Tip Up

Source: firstfairytale.tumblr.com via Laura on Pinterest

"In the race for success, speed is less important than stamina." -B.C. Forbes

It's been a long couple of weeks.

I finished the edits for my baby- er, book- close to a month ago now.  In the life of an author, that's huge.  I mean like "getting married", or "we're pregnant" huge.  When you've invested so much time and energy into pouring a piece of your soul onto paper (or computer screen), that moment when you realize it's finally done is a bit like giving birth.

Of course, the journey isn't over just because you've had the kid.  In fact, after the afterglow wears off, it hits you (at least, it hit me): now the real work begins. 

As every parent knows, it's not enough to just birth the baby.  You have to raise it.  Polish it.  Set it up as best you can to give it a decent shot in life.  With a book, the concept is the same.  Just like no good parent would just abandon their child to face the world on their own, no author worth their salt would do that to their book, either.

So this is where I am in the process right now.  I've spent the past few weeks setting up business accounts, working out marketing details, getting my book to review blogs, and just overall playing Puppetmaster.  To be honest, it's not a role I'm entirely sure I was born for.  And I've never been more exhausted.

All the same, I've learned lessons and gained insights about myself that are truly priceless.  I've found that I have it in me to finish a book.  I've met friends via Twitter that I never would have had the privilege of knowing otherwise.  I've discovered people interested in my writing and my novel.  I've tasted the satisfaction and pride that comes with being an entrepreneur.

Like the above quote suggests, what it comes down to is stamina.  Writing and self-publishing is a long-game.  To succeed (or even just survive), you have to find a way to keep going even when the journey seems endless.  Which it often does.  Read for fun, take bubble baths, disconnect from the world when you have to.  Guard your time and don't over-commit yourself, even if it's for people you adore. 

If you reach a point when you can't even form a simple sentence and your brain feels like it's turning to dust, it's time to take a step back.  Don't feel guilty.  You might lose a little time in the present, but you'll be ensuring your ability to continue in the future. 

Work hard, but don't run out the batteries.  Inspire yourself.  Stay juicy. 

Succeed.

Another Week, Another Wednesday...

Happy Burlesque Wednesday, guys!

Thursday's Children Blog Hop: For The Love Of Punishment

“The scariest thing about dredging, is the threat of not making enough money to keep doing it.” -Zeke Tenhoff, "Bering Sea Gold"

Ideas come from the strangest places.

I am a slut for the Discovery Channel.  Everything on there gives me ideas.  It's like the network execs traverse the globe looking for the biggest, baddest, most hardcore people they can find, and then make a show about them.  This fits my "tender love stories, tough people" ethos perfectly.

I love these people.  They're the kind of badasses I like to think I could have been if I hadn't settled down and had a kid.  From commercial lobstermen to miners to that guy who wrestles monster fish week after week, they are my kind of folks.

Oh, and gold dredgers.  Mustn't forget them.

"Bering Sea Gold" follows several crews of rag-tag, nuttier-than-fruitcake gold dredgers, each struggling to make a living at what is easily the craziest job on the planet: mining for gold on the floor of the Bering Sea.  It takes place in Nome, Alaska, a former gold rush boomtown that has long since lost its "boom".  There are no roads that lead to Nome from the rest of Alaska- to get there, you have to either fly or swim.  Summers last all of three months, and winters are long, dark, and bitterly cruel.

The first time I saw this show, an idea hit me so hard I nearly fell off my bed: what an awesome place to set a romance.

To be a gold dredger, you have to be tough, stubborn, and a little warped.  Just the kinds of characters I love to write about.  And people who wind up in Nome are usually there because they've exhausted all other possibilities.  What better backdrop for a love story?

Hey, I never said I wasn't a little nuts, too.

 

Burlesque Wednesday

Get 'em while they're hot...

I'd Like To Thank The Academy...

 

...Or more precisely, Rhiann Wynn-Nolet, who nominated me for this.  Against her better judgement, I have no doubt.

Like most things in life, this award comes with a few responsibilities ("rules" is such an ugly word).  Here they are:

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate up to 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.

I'm not even sure there are seven interesting things about me.  Even if there are, most people can only take about three before their eyeballs explode.  But for the courageous of you out there, here's what I've managed to come up with:

1)  When I was 10, my mother and I went on a mission trip to a Russian orphanage.  We lived there for 2 weeks and put on a summer camp for the kids.  I had never seen what real hardship looked like before that, and it totally changed my worldview.  Not to mention my life.  

2)  I was adopted at birth.  I met my birth family for the first time almost two years ago now, all except for my birth mother, who died in 2001.  My sister was the matron-of-honor at my wedding.

3)  I love long-distance swimming.  In the water, I can pretend I'm graceful. 

4)  I don't believe in God, but I'm also not militant enough about it to call myself an "atheist".

5)  Since finishing my novel and starting on the self-pub process, I have developed an eye twitch.  I like to think it's one of the Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.

6)  For Christmas a few years ago, my grandmother gave me her old metal hip replacement joint.  I still use it as a paperweight.   

7)  I sing.  Lots of things, but mostly jazz, blues, and indie rock.  And I actually don't suck.

Embarrassingly, I don't have as many people as Rhiann to nominate for this.  I'm new to this scene, okay?  But here are a couple people who have caught my eye so far:

Rose D'Andrea
Jeff McGown

Shitty First Drafts

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere." Anne Lamott, Bird By Bird

I can be a bit of a perfectionist at times.

Okay, that's just a nice way of saying I'm anal-retentive.  When I do something, it's go big or go home.  There are certain activities I won't even attempt- mini golf, pool, bowling- because I can't handle how badly I suck at them.

This carries into my writing as well.  When I was working on the first draft of my novel, hours upon workable hours would go by while I "fixed" what I'd written the previous day.  The funny thing is, once I got to the actual editing phase, none of those previous polish-ups mattered.  My completed first draft, while not total shit, came pretty close.  I had been working my head into a tizzy over individual words and sentences, when entire paragraphs, entire scenes, needed to be reworked.

That was my first valuable lesson: there's a reason everyone tells you not to edit while you're writing.  

Fortunately for me, there is a time and a place for perfectionism.  Once I finished my first draft, it needed work.  A lot of work.  More than I expected.  Thanks to some honest feedback and more than a few stiff drinks, I pinpointed where the problems were and fixed everything I could.  It was a task of herculean proportions, and my anal-retentive tendencies proved themselves incredibly useful.     

Now I'm nearing the end of this leg of my journey.  I'm pleased with my work, and I've grown through the process.  I've learned a lot about the craft of writing that will serve me well on my next novel.  There's still that pesky "time management" thing to deal with.  Working on that one.

But I think the biggest lesson I've learned is how to let go a little.  There came a point about halfway through my first draft, when I realized there were problems with it.  Significant problems.  It hit me that if I went back and tried to fix them before continuing on, I might never finish the book.  That's when my mindset switched from pseudo-editor to writer.  "Fuck it," I said.  "I'll fix it when I'm done."

I did.  And I finally have something I can be proud to put my name on.

Still, don't invite me to play mini-golf.

The Out-Of-Town Preview...

 

 Excited to report the amazon.com preview for my novel, All That Glitters, just went live!  Come on over to read the whole first chapter!

All That Glitters Preview