Publication Day!

When are you “done” writing? When the first draft is finished? When the manuscript is complete? When you land an agent or publisher or find the right independent publishing path for you? When you hold a hard copy of your book? When you see it on bookstore shelves? When the reviews pour in? When you actually sell a copy or a thousand? When you decide about a sequel or series for your book? When you think about starting another story? When is writing done?

Yes to all of the above. The best (and worst) thing about writing is how personal it is. There is no magic path to follow, no formula, no one right way to do this. So if you write your first draft and you’re happy? You’re done. If you write a complete series and that’s the end? You’re done. 

Understanding your end point, whatever it is can help you better appreciate the journey—because if feels like there’s always more to do. This whole writing business can so easily get away from you! 

So for me, today, August 30, 2022, is me be done. Not with writing forever! But with Evangeline’s Heaven, my first published novel. Yes, I’m planning a trilogy and I have dozens of other ideas in my head. Yes, I have other novels ready to query, but for now, for one day, I’m going to celebrate my accomplishment. I’m going to stop and say, wow, look what I’ve done. 

Happy Book Birthday, Evangeline’s Heaven. 

Writing Is the Future

I read a book on capitalism. It was fascinating because way the author describes capitalism is trust in the future. Capitalism works on credit. If I loan you money to start your business, I trust you’ll produce something of value to repay me.

Writing is trust in the future, but writing isn’t a business. Publishing is a business, but not necessarily writing. You can write for yourself without spending a dime. No money earned to be reinvested in the economy. But that’s often how we define “value”, right? If something earns money? If your house goes up in value, you’ll have more money when you sell it. If you provide a specialized service, you charge more because what you offer has value. 

But we often don’t think of books or stories as having any value until they’re published. Selling copies. We say our goal is to touch readers, but how do we determine if we’ve succeeded? Sales data. Numbers. Money earned. 

But writing is valuable. Just as other non-tangible things in our lives. Family. Community. Connection. Try as our society may, we still can’t actually put a price on those. That’s the same with writing. You may make a million dollars on your writing or you may not. But whether you do or don’t, your writing has value. 

Because you trust in the future. You trust your readers—whomever they may be—will read your story when you’re finished. Here’s to the future!

Keep the REAL Target in Mind

Let’s talk terms: If a goal is something we strive toward and effort is what drives us forward, then success is often defined as when we meet that goal. 

If your goal is to get a novel traditionally published, then the effort is what it takes to write, then pitch your novel. Success comes only when that novel is traditionally published—a challenge given how much is out of your control. 

But what if we redefine these words in terms of what we can control? What if our goal is to write a book and put forward our best effort to get it out into the world? Then wouldn’t success come from what we do? 

It’s a mind shift, and it’s not easy. It may even feel like a cop-out. If I want to be a successful author, how can I define “success” based solely on what I want?

Because writing is a choice. (Even when it feels like it isn’t!) We need to do what our bosses tell us to keep our jobs. But you are the boss in your writing career. Absolutely, learn from others! No boss was born the perfect leader; no writer was born the perfect writer, either. But you don’t have to play by their rules. Their rules are only one way to meet your goal.

Because ultimately, getting traditionally published isn’t actually our goal, is it? Our true goal is getting our story into the hands of readers. So, Boss, get creative. 🙂

Our Value

Recently, I attended a convention for the TV show Supernatual. It aired for 15 seasons—327 episodes! We went at the behest of my teen daughter, a huge fan. I was also interested in meeting the actors, but I am, of course, a jaded cynic. How much could I really get out of a 10-second photo op?

I’d heard the lead actors, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles were kind, generous people who truly cared about their fans. I never doubted it. Still, they’ve seen thousands upon thousands of fans; how much could they give every stranger?

A look in the eyes and a smile, as it turns out. During our photo op with Jared, we said hi, he said hi, he put his arms around us, the photographer snapped the picture and I thought that was it. I turned to say thank you and he met my eyes and offered me a smile. In a millisecond, this actor who doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall, made me feel seen. 

We do the same thing when we write. We make our readers feel seen. We may never literally look in their eyes or smile at them—but our characters do, metaphorically. Our stories and our words can connect with readers in important ways.

And you don’t have to be a famous actor to make that difference. Any of us—all of us—can be that connection to that one (or more) reader. As long as we keep writing.

And What They’re “Supposed” to Be

I was kinda embarrassed not too long ago. To my great surprise, my husband—a cyclist, not a runner—came on a run with me. I took him on my usual route, where he exclaimed, “Wow, I can’t believe you can see the Gatineau Hills from here.”

I followed his gaze. He was right. The hills weren’t far but in all my years of running that route, I’d never noticed. How had I never noticed? How could I have missed a something as obvious as mini-mountains?? I’m supposed to be a writer! I’m supposed to be observant. That’s what everyone says. Carry around a notepad; jot down everything interesting you see and hear. I never have. And, it seems, I wouldn’t have anything to write down even if I had paper!

Instead, I live in my head. Not just my characters and my stories, though they fill up a lot of space up there, but musing over everything. My daily chores, how my kids are doing, how to figure out the meaning of life… Turns out I’m not one for mindfulness—being aware and present in the moment. Or observation, for that matter. 

But I’ve written a bunch of books now, some of them I’m even happy with. 🙂 And all the while, I haven’t been observant the way I thought I was supposed to be. Which means maybe you don’t have to be observant. Maybe you just have to be you. Work to your own strengths. Find what you are good at to help you write. Ultimately, that’s all that matters. 

But let me tell you, every time I go for run now, I notice the Gatineau Hills. 🙂

As a Writer, Be Yourself

Writing is personal. Even if we write the most commercial of commercial fiction, we pour our heart and soul into our work. We bleed onto the page. Writing isn’t for the faint of heart. 

But is writing autobiographical? Even if you’re writing a memoir, how much of yourself do you actually put on the page? How much of the people in your life end up as a characters? And is that fair to them? To yourself?

We often hear “write what you know” (which, in concept is great, but much too limited in its advice, in my opinion). We know ourselves, our experiences, our friends, our family. We know their experiences, and maybe that’s why we write, to share their stories and ours with the world. 

But remember we want stories, not anecdotes. Not lists of ancestors or sequences of epic events. It’s not the what happens that matters to readers; it’s the why those events matter to the protagonist. 

And we can’t know the why until we dive deep into our characters. Since we often learn how to dive deep by learning about ourselves, I believe the most real, most relatable characters come from within. 

It can be scary to open a vein, to graft parts of ourselves onto our characters, into our stories—especially memoirs. But every book reflects its author, and that is exactly what we want. So be brave on the page. Be yourself. 

Money Matters

Everyone in my life warned me I could never be a career author, given how little money, on average, writers make. Not exactly morale-boosting, right? 

The problem is, they weren’t wrong about the challenges. A lot of writers don’t make a lot of money. The statistics alone would drive anyone to bury their quill and parchment. 

Then there are the success stories. Writers who self-publish a single novella, which then goes viral, and Hollywood comes calling. 

It’s tempting to think if they can do it, so can I! And what’s wrong with optimism?? If no one else will believe in us, then we will!

But the reason you hear about these writers is because they’re the exceptions. Not all of us can be the exception. If you bank your whole writing career on defying the odds, you may be disappointed.

So what to do? Listen to people who say you can never make it? Or listen to people who say you can make millions? 

Neither. You write the best book you can. You choose your publishing path. You market your book to the best of your ability. That’s it. The rest is up to everyone else whether they buy it. It’s not a recipe for financial security, true. But nor is it a death knell for making a bit of money, either. 

And if you’re still not convinced you should invest in yourself or your writing career? Just remember there’s a reason so many people are in the writing game: stories matter.

Celebrate Each One!

What’s the hardest part about writing? Coming up with an idea? Brainstorming? Outlining? Writing the first draft? Revisions? Sending your story out into the world? 

Trick question. 

The hardest part about writing is whatever part you’re on. If you have only a vague idea, it’s the hardest. If brainstorming gives you a headache, it’s the hardest. If you have nothin’ for your outline, it’s the hardest. If you can’t get words on the page, it’s the hardest. If you can’t improve your story, it’s the hardest. If you let other people read your book, it’s the hardest. 

So, uh, is anything easy about writing? Yeah. When you’ve completed each step. 🙂

My favourite writing quote, attributed to literary icon Dorothy Parker: “I don’t like to write; I like to have written.” That implies you won’t enjoy the whole writing process until your book is a bestseller. But that’s a long way off (without any guarantees). Instead, accept the challenges of each writing stage and face them head on. Then, once you’ve won that round, you can pause before you move onto the next step. Wow, look at what I’ve done! I have an idea. I have research notes. I have an outline. I have a first draft. I have a completed manuscript. I have people reading my story. 

Celebrating the completion of each stage is tremendous encouragement. That way you have to fortitude to dive into the next step. 

That you already know will be hard. 🙂

You Don’t.

Failure is all very well and good, right? You learn from your mistakes, you grow as a person, you get stronger, better, wiser. 

Not going to disagree. 

But here’s the flip side. Failure has consequences. They may be minor (here’s hoping!) or catastrophic. The consequences may be financial, or a loss of time, energy, heart, motivation and faith in your yourself. 

The writing gig is chock-full of failure. Stories that go nowhere, rejections from agents and publishers, books that don’t sell… It almost feels like we set ourselves up for failure. By declaring ourselves writers, we stake our ground: I will fail! 

So how do we cope with the consequences? How do we pay our bills or find time to write or continue to believe in ourselves? 

The short answer is perseverance. When you feel like your writing life is mired in failure, you just keep going. 

The long answer is eyes-wide-open. When you can see the potholes coming you can brace yourself. When you anticipate the consequences, you can prepare. And then repeat after me: Failure sucks. You don’t. 

Or Half-Full?

I am the pessimist of our family. My husband is the optimist. (Yes, his chipper, upbeat outlook is exhausting…) I say why look to the future for sunshine and roses when you’re as likely to get rainstorms and mud? (He would say the roses need the rain and mud never hurt anyone. See what I mean? Exhausting.)

It’s hard to defend your world view in the face of such optimism. (Don’t worry, I try, I try). So when the inevitable question comes up, is the glass half full or half empty? I answer with a snark: “Neither; it’s almost always empty.” 

But we’re never all one or the other—pessimist or optimist. We’re never half of one thing or half of another. We’re all sorts of things all at once—emotions, perspectives, outlooks, advice—and so are our characters. So are our stories. You can write a tragedy with my glass-almost-empty approach, or you can write a cheery happily-ever-after romance with my husband’s sunny optimism. But I assure you, you need some cheer in your tragedy and you need some tragedy in your cheer. If you don’t have anything good in your tragic hero’s life, they have nothing to lose. If life is a saccharine rainbow for your two lovers, how can they grow? 

So to create engaging, interesting stories, let’s ditch the half-empty/half-full glass altogether. 

Just drink out of the wine bottle instead. 🙂