Trouble in Paradise

It's been a while since I've posted on the blog.

Most probably assume that I've been busy. I have been. I'm not going to lie. I'm a stay at home mom with three kids, a dog that doubles as a pony and I deliver early morning paper routes. I'm also the go-to babysitter for all of my friends. I've started a book club in my area, I'm trying to plan a girls night dinner for my friends and I volunteer regularly at my kids school.

It's not why I haven't posted.

The last time my turn came up, I didn't know what to write.

No. Let's be honest. I was afraid to write. Afraid to the point it slipped away.

I want to be honest with you on where I'm at. The last two years have been hard. I signed with an agent. I started editing. I did more editing. I found a second manuscript with a small press that I'd forgotten about and informed my agent. We started editing the second ms, pushing the first aside. I continued to edit. I've been editing for the last two years. It's been a never-ending circle of re-reading the same two manuscripts over and over. To the point of frustration. To the point I don't want to write anymore.

The feedback is always the same. This isn't right, it isn't getting better. Read this. It will help.

Your relationship with your agent should be a working partnership. A give and take where you both discuss and understand your goals, and where you want to be. It should be somewhat of a friendship. You should feel like you're able to talk to your agent. Shoot them an email with concerns, let them know when you disagree with a decision that both of you are making about your work. If your agent isn't allowing you to talk to them, or listening to you when you do talk, it's time to re-evaluate the relationship.

Deciding whether or not an agent is right for you is hard. It feels like that agent may be your only chance. So you don't speak up. You don't voice your opinion. You don't want to offend your agent. While you're watching your career spiral into nowhere, you're losing your voice because you're afraid to use it in the first place.

Don't be.

Stand up for yourself. It's easy to get in a circle that goes nowhere. Because this is your only chance. Only, it's not. There are plenty of agents out there. There is one that will treat you with respect and listen to your opinions, wants and needs. They won't hold onto you out of pity. They'll guide you through every decision and push you to be the best. They'll become a friend as much as they are your agent, because guess what? Their career rides just as much on you as yours does on them.

Don't get sucked into the void. Don't be sucked in by the right words. It's hard. Some agents are smooth talkers. They know what needs to be said to get the deal. Sometimes those words don't amount to anything but empty words. Sometimes an agent seems right from the get-go, but you just don't mesh. You have nothing in common. It happens. Don't be afraid to voice how you feel.

It's difficult. I know. If you're anything like me, you feel guilty. Guilty for the work put in, guilty because you feel the way you do, worried you'll offend, but it's your career. It's your work. And if the person promising to help you to the best of their ability isn't, you need to step back. Take a hard, long look at where you are and what you want. They'll understand. Talk to them. Resolve the issue before it gets so out of hand you don't want to follow your dreams anymore.

Becasuse there is someone out there who wants you just the way you are.

Critique Partners and the Art of Revising

This month I’ve been revising my NaNo project. For those of you that don’t know, #NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. It's in the month of November and carries the lofty goal of 50,000 words. I didn’t “win” but I did get close.  

I know they say close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. But what do “they” know, anyway? Let's see *them* write forty-eight thousand words in a month. <scoffs>

Slapping 50K words in a month means every single word will have to be revised. Revision is key. If I tried to fire off my NaNo Draft (which is probably even lower caliber than a First Draft) to agents or editors I could expect silence. If I sent it to my Critique Partner, I might expect a scathing reply along the lines of; “Did you send me a (swear word) First Draft?!”

I always try to remember that a first draft is just that—a first attempt. 

While writing is rewriting, it can't be done alone. A good critique partner is worth their weight in gold.  I interviewed Lane Buckman, the Lane of Robyn Lane Books, to talk about writing and critiquing.

1. How long have you been writing with a purpose?

I have been writing with a purpose since elementary school.  I got an early start with a specialized program to develop young writers through Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Virginia.  I took my first write-for-pay job doing campaign scripting when I was fourteen, and have been working freelance since then.  I do a lot of technical writing for hire, a lot of op-ed, and dabble in marketing materials.  Now, as far as writing novels goes, I got serious about that in the early 2000s.  I sold my first novel in 2010, then followed up in different genres in 2013, 2014, and 2015.  Now, I focus on my work as a publisher, so I spend most of my time offering editorial notes to the fantastic writers we have found.

2. What’s the best thing a critique partner can tell you?

The best thing a critique partner can tell me is, "This doesn't work."  If they can back that up with why it doesn't work, that's a lot more helpful, but if something isn't reading well, I need to know--no matter how painful.  The most painful feedback I've ever gotten was, "Oh, Lane.  Just...no.  No."

3. What’s the worst thing a critique partner can tell you?

The worst thing a critique partner can tell me is, "This is perfect!"  Because it never is. 

4. What’s one piece of advice you’d like to offer new writers/new critiquers?

Don't ask your friends to read you to critique is my advice to new writers.  Your friends love you, and they won't tell you the problems with your work.  Find a reader you respect, and ask them to read as though they were going to review it to recommend to their most esteemed colleague.

My advice to those new to critique is pretty simple.   My critique motto is:  Imagine it's your work.  I offer the feedback in a way I would want to receive it.  That is, honestly and respectfully.  I don't pull punches, but I am kind.  Writing is hard work, and whether I'm reading James Joyce, or E.L. James, I keep that in mind, and I offer my feedback with respect to the effort, and the human being who did the writing.  We're all in the same boat, hoping for the same success, and we can all afford to be kind in how we deliver our messages.

5.  How many critique groups have you been in? What will keep you engaged? And what will have you running for the door?

I am active in three groups.  Each group was carefully cultivated (either by me, or another group member) to include published authors, copy editors, and people who love to read within the particular genre.  My favorites are the people who love the genre because they will tell you right off the bat if you are missing the mark.  Feedback keeps me engaged.  I run for the door when someone asks me to add in some erotica because I can't write that without laughing.

6. What can a critique group/partner offer that a writer can’t accomplish on her/his own?

  

Critique groups and partners offer honest, objective opinions in a safe environment.  I can't speak for anyone else, but my greatest fear in publishing is that my manuscript is the one the editorial team cracks up over because it is so bad.  I would rather run my work through thirty flesh-stripping critiques, than have one publisher laugh at me.  A friend recently posted that she'd just joined a critique group, and was thoroughly embarrassed by the feedback she'd received, but she was so glad she hadn't sent the book out to a publisher, or agent that way.  Critique groups help you hone your work, and help make you better.  I really can't say enough about how important it is to have someone else read your work.

KM Weiland has a great list of questions for Critique Partners  

Used with permission from Debbie Ridpath Ohi at Inkygirl.com

What do you like to ask for in CPs?

THIS IS WHY WE DO IT! by Janice M. Wilson

I am often asked how I do it or how I get my inspiration (easy – nature!), but once in a while someone will ask WHY do I do it?  Usually followed by a question of have I been published (yes) and how much money I make (not much – yet!) but it seems unfathomable to many that I can sit for hours and just………..well, write.   Usually for no monetary reward.

Well, the idea!

I guess many consider it a chore, or they don’t think they have it in them. Do they mean to finish something or write an epic bestseller?  Probably both, because both require commitment, talent and luck.  Or maybe they simply don’t like to nor have the time to write.

But I ask them who wrote all those books in libraries and bookstores?  They read them, or at least see the latest movie made from the latest bestseller novel.  Yes, those books. Someone else can make the time to sit and write them. I can too.

Who writes?

Ordinary people like you and me, and out of those – the diligent who didn’t give up get published!

About WHAT?

There really are only 7 main topics of life to write about:

1.     man against man

2.     man against nature

3.     man against himself

4.     man against God

5.     man against society

6.     man caught in the middle

7.     man and woman

It’s all been said before.   So why bother?

Because we continue to live it all.  Over and over again – all of them. And as long as man continues to live them, the questions of overcoming them are pondered, experienced, and reflected. With success or failure, the cycle never stops.

Hence – we write.

We write to vent.

We write to share.

We write to understand.

We write to create.

We write to educate.

We write to escape.

We write to capture time.

We write to feel/be felt.

As long as we live and breath in love, fear, joy, sorrow, faith, pain and hope – we all speak through our souls about life somehow.  Some of us do it in affection, gifts, touch, words.

And some bare their souls through ink.

It’s what we do.