Making Connections - Day 47 on Day 71

There are two stereotypes of authors I see floating around on the internet.

1) We love to write, but hate marketing and are terrible at it.

2) We’re introverts and the idea of having to leave our little cozy hobbit writing hole is terrifying.

I can admit I relate to both of these, and the first more than the second. I’m that weird author who is both an introvert and an extrovert. When I’ve taken the Meyers-Briggs personality test, I’ve always been borderline introvert and extrovert but falling more on the extroverted side of the spectrum. The introverted writer side of me loves nothing more than a quiet day at home where I can cozy up at my desk or in a comfy chair to slip away into fantastical worlds I’ve created in my head and read books by some of my favorite authors. (I also have a new puppy at home, so the excuse to stay into cuddle with him is always welcome.) Then… the extrovert in me comes out. If I’m home on my own for too long without human interaction, I get antsy and lose my motivation. One of my favorite things in the world is when my social life and my write life collide.

Sometimes, social media can help fill that void. The Internet has a lot of pitfalls, but it’s also an awesome opportunity to connect with both other authors and readers. I’ve made some amazing friends over the years from all of my different Internet adventures. Some that I’ve known now since I graduated college and still text with on a near daily basis.

Talking about my day to day life is my favorite part of social media. It’s just people being people. But when I have to use it to market my books? ::shudder:: Some days I’m not too bad, and even get excited to share my upcoming releases and come up with fun videos to share about my characters and world. Or I’ve done a few live chats and interviews and readings lately, which have been such an awesome opportunity to connect with people I never would have before.

Other days…. it’s more of a chore than anything. I know there are a lot of authors who can relate.

But that’s when in person events come into play, and those, I love.

Over the past year I’ve been able to do a handful of local events, my most recent being the Oak Lawn Public Library Fan Fest at the start of May. I did this event last year too, and it was one of my first ever. Along with me last year were a couple of other local authors who had never done an event before either.

This year we all came back, and I have to say, it was so fun to see how much we’d grown since then. The way we can draw people to our tables, the number of books we have on display, the set ups, we’d all grown and learned over the past year.

I was a little nervous going into this one. It was the first I’d done since my dad passed, and only the second event I’d done so far through the year. It sort of snuck up on me and I wasn’t sure if I was ready. But once I got started, I remembered how much fun these things were. Being able to talk with readers, getting to know the other vendors around me, and this year it exploded with local authors! I was able to meet with a few I’d only seen online, and others I just met that day. Some readers who stopped by my table were even returning people who’d read my first book and were ready to start books 2 & 3, and one who’d met me last year but had no interest and now turned around and purchased all three!

I’ll be 100% transparent, sometimes having a table isn’t super profitable. Depending on what sort of crowd they draw, it may or may not be the audience you’re looking for. But even then, it’s worth it. Being able to connect with people face to face and not just comments and likes on posts is one of the things that makes my heart soar and gives me that motivation to keep going.

It was a day where I was able to remind myself that “oh yeah, I’m an author.” This isn’t just a thing I do as a hobby or alone at my desk. I can connect with other humans with writing and stories and a shared love of fantasy. That’s the beautiful thing about any art form, it brings people together. For me, that’s one of the best things about the creative life, connecting with other people.

No More - Day 44

As a person who writes fairy tale retellings and listens to musical cast records all of the time, what’s one of the most “on-brand” things I can do? Go see a musical that’s a bunch of fairy tale retellings.

Into the Woods has been on of my all time favorite musicals ever since I was a kid and far too young to understand or appreciate it outside of seeing fairy tale characters running around on stage. (Particularly to be seeing the Wolf’s costume. I mean… how did my mom allow me to watch this?)

But, I came away from the musical not noticing that particular costume and it’s anatomy until I was older (praise Jesus), and usually skipping over most of Act 2 because it was “too depressing.”

Which is fair. It gets pretty dark and if you want to only imagine your favorite fairy tale characters having happy endings then you might want to skip this particular show.

I hope you don’t though. Because the older I got and the more I watched this musical, the more I understood and appreciated the darkness of act 2. I love the exploration of how these characters have to navigate a dangerous world and having your wishes come true may not have the consequences you think they will. There’s one particular song I remember always skipping as a kid because it was “so boring.”

Which is another fair point. In his darkest moment The Baker signs a song called “No More” and out of all of the songs to come from Broadway… this isn’t the most exciting one. It’s quiet and long. Most people would likely say that for the more serious and emotional songs of this musical, there are others which are superior. But yet, as I sat in the Nederlander Theatre in Chicago watching Into the Woods, it was this song that stuck out to me and touched me.

“No more giants / waging war! / Can't we just pursue our lives, with our children and our wives, /' Til that happy day arrives, how do you ignore / All the witches, all the curses, / All the wolves, all the lies, the false hopes, the good-bye's, / The reverses, / All the wondering what even worse is still in store! / All the children. / All the giants.. /No more.”

This musical came out in 1987, and here in 2023 the words still ring true. I think for a lot of us, especially since 2020, can relate. I can’t count the number of times when I’ve wondered “Can’t I just write?” or “I just want to live my life!” There was a time when I thought I could change the world. But now, more often than not I’m just tired. The news can be on for five minutes and I’m ready to shut it off because I’m exhausted of hearing about wars and injustice and violence and tragedy.

When I first started blogging again back at the end of March, I was already dragging myself out of a writing slump. I’d lost my dog who was 15 years old in February, and even before then I’d been in a slump. Then, with the release of The Forest’s Keeper, I was getting excited for my author career again.

Then, April 1, my dad passed.

It was both expected and entirely sudden, making April the longest and shortest month of my life.

When I watched Into the Woods for the millionth time this past Sunday and seeing the characters experience loss and death and hardship, I felt a kinship to the Baker I hadn’t before. I understood his desire to just say “no more.” Oddly, it was comforting to remember that people have always experienced these things and these emotions where it’s all too much.

It’s one of the reasons I love fairy tales so much. Reading the old and original versions of some of these tales, the problematic elements and plot holes are so big they almost slap you in the face. But yet, there’s something about them that still speak to our world now. Overcoming impossible odds and facing lifes challenges in the hope that we’ll all get a “happily ever after” in the end, whatever that might look like for each person.

““Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.””

— GK Chesterton

I’ve always loved that quote. Fairy tales don’t only teach children that dragon can be killed, but they teach us adults too. Sometimes we need to remember that while yes there are terrible things in life, those terrible things can also be overcome.

So, here I go again. Trying to slay those dragons and keep writing. It’s slow and not as often as I’d hope. But, the words will come.

A Year In the Life of an Author - Day 1

Today, my third book was published. Naturally, I thought “This is the perfect time to start blogging again!”

I was never known for having the best or most thought through ideas.

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Some history:

It’s been years since I’ve blogged, and even longer since I blogged regularly. When first started blogging, (I’m talking with an actual website and thought out posts, not just my emotional ramblings on Xanga in my college days. Did I just age myself? Yes, I did.) it was back in my early 20s when I was living on my own for the first time and navigating the world in all of the glory only a recent college grad can have. Thankfully, I found on the internet a bunch of other people who also were in their early 20s and blogging.

Honestly? It was a blast. Maybe this is my nostalgia talking, but we had a ton of fun writing about whatever we felt like and sharing all of our random stories and thoughts. Then, as time went on and social media grew, so did our relationships with the internet. Blogging wasn’t just for fun anymore, it was branding and marketing and having a certain vibe to your Instagram photos and finding sponsors.

It was exhausting, and while it made me some wonderful friends and I learned so much about the publishing industry and ultimately led to my own books being published, by the time that happened I was running out of ideas of things to write about on the blog all of the time. Besides, I wanted to conserve my writing energy for my novels. I think it has done me well to be quite honest.

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And now here we are. Three books deep into my romantic fantasy fairy tale retelling series (I really need to find a way to shorten that), The Cursed Queens, and seemingly out of nowhere I’m back!

For awhile now, Instagram has been my main “home” on the Internet for all things books and writing. Twitter has fallen by the wayside, and while I have a Facebook page and group for my writing, that platform is mostly me asking for recommendations from friends and family on various things I want and need to buy, and my Youtube channel is collecting dust. TikTok… well… that’s an adventure. But I feel like the people who are thriving on there have the same feelings I did when I first started blogging and exploring the Internet and it makes me happy for them.

But I’ve wanted to expand more. It hasn’t felt “right” to stay in my one tiny corner. Not just for my own marketing and books, but for myself too.

Last night I was talking with my therapist, (about something entirely different but it’s what got me on this ridiculous train:, and she told me “You’re writer! Just write!” Which… makes sense. She knows it’s what I want to do and what makes me happy. I’m not a photographer or graphic designer or video editor or director. I’m a writer. It sounds so simple, but oddly, harder than you’d think.

But, also oddly feels write. I like sharing my thoughts and putting them into words. There’s so many avenues I’m in love with for telling stories and sharing my heart. Music, theatre, and sometimes the occasional fuzzy photo on Instagram. But words on the page (or screen as the case may be) has always been my defualt, and always will be.

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There you have it. I want to talk about my life now. As an author with three books out and still feels like she’s beginning and figuring out how to navigate this.

So, a year in the life of an author. In an ideal world, I’d post every day. But… I also don’t want to set expectations too high. I will try to post and share this journey as often as I can. Likely, I’ll talk about writing and books the most. But I’d like to talk about other things too. We’ll see where this goes.

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Oh… and I guess you should read my books too. Because you know, marketing.

Most Common Pitfalls for Newer Writers with Janet Walden-West

It is my pleasure to host Janet Walden-West today! She’s another author with my publishing house, City Owl Press, and writes Contemporary, Paranormal, and Urban Fantasy. She’s a Pitch Wars alum and Pitch Wars mentor and is here to share with you some of the insights she’s learned from the query and submission process for new authors.

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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a writer in possession of a completed manuscript must be in want of an agent and/or book deal.

When the world is turned upside down, books and other forms of creative expression are especially important. It’s perfectly understandable if a writer’s reaction to the stress that is 2020 if stepping back from writing. However, it’s equally okay to dive even deeper into words as a form of self-care and therapy. 

Keeping an eye on industry statistics shows that with people in self-quarantine, or venturing out far less and with fewer events available, book sales have picked up in some genres and formats. Readers are reading, agents are signing, and publishers are acquiring.

So for those of you wondering if it’s possible to query now, go for it.  But learn from our, and other new writers’, mistakes.

In the past 13~ months, I’ve participated in a large mentoring program, as well as tried to pay it forward with manuscript reads, and critiques of query packets for multiple projects and relief auctions.

After going through well over two-hundred packets, I saw a number of issues and common problems that might result in an agent/editor rejection.

The very first is jumping into querying too soon. FOMO is a thing—I get it. Patience isn’t my friend either. However, agents and publishers will still be there, in some form, in a month, six months, a year. 

My best advice is finding critique partners, and not just asking them to read for you, but swap manuscripts. From my group’s experiences, it can be much easier to spot problems with plots, character arcs, and pacing in someone else’s manuscript. Personally, my writing leveled up as much from identifying things done right and things gone wrong, and having that light bulb moment of identifying the same flaws in my story, as it did from actual reader critiques. 

Along the same lines—unneeded prologues and slow first chapters. It’s difficult to overstate how important first pages are. Those few paragraphs are often all an agent reads before hitting send on a form rejection.

From my reads, in most cases the first pages were well written. But they did nothing to draw a reader in either because there was nothing but backstory going on, or the opposite and they started mid-fight. In the first instance, if there’s no anticipation, no tasty question of what happens next, readers will close the book. In the second, jumping into a life-or-death situation without giving readers an emotional attachment to or reason to empathize with a character can have the same result.

Aside from the manuscript, the next most common pitfalls involved the query. 

Queries are no one’s favorite thing. They are tricky, frustratingly short, and utilize a different skill set than that of writing the story itself.

The biggest stumbling block I saw was confusing the query and synopsis. The query is the stage on which to showcase and tantalize, dropping juuust enough information to get the reader wanting to know how the central conflict plays out. Make sure to highlight the thing(s) that makes your story unique, or subverts the expected trope. 

Save the point-by-point plot wrap-up for the equally dreaded synopsis. It’s incredibly difficult to get both voice and plot arc into a synopsis, especially the standard short synopsis. Best practice is to prioritize plot over pretty.

The final reason I identified was simply writers not understanding the genre they thought they were writing. Make yourself aware of expectations in your genre–happy ever afters/happy for now in romances, centering the heroine(s) journey in women’s fiction, resolving the main mystery in mysteries. As a loose rule of thumb, if you can’t find similar books to compare to yours in your genre, think about taking a beat and researching where your manuscript meets or fails to meet genre standards.

I hope my quick and dirty notes are helpful on the journey to publication.

Stay safe, y’all.

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Janet Walden-West lives in the southeast with a pack of show dogs, a couple of kids, and a husband who didn’t read the fine print. A member of the East Tennessee Creative Writers Alliance, she is also a founding member of The Million Words craft blog. She pens diverse Urban Fantasy and inclusive Contemporary and Paranormal Romance.

A 2X PitchWars alum, 2019 Pitch Wars Mentor, and Golden Heart® finalist, her debut multicultural Contemporary Romance, SALT+STILETTOS, released in April 2020 from City Owl Press. She is represented by Eva Scalzo of Speilburg Literary Agency.Find her at:

Website: https://janetwaldenwest.weebly.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janetwaldenwestauthor/​Twitter: @JanetWaldenWest

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janetwaldenwest/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Janet-Walden-West/e/B07DD9FNQ5/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/janet-walden-west

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18062729.Janet_Walden_West

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I’m over on her blog today too, talking about what I’ve learned as a debut author. Check it out!

My Writing Goals For the Year

Writing goals for the year… I’m sure you’re looking at the title of this post and then glancing back at your calendar thinking “But… it’s May. Shouldn’t you have figured out your writing goals by now? That’s a January thing!”

Well, I’m here to tell you that you can set your goals for the year whenever you want! Especially with this whole pandemic going on and people staying at home all of the time, time and days have no meaning anymore. Besides, what better time than now to do some goal resetting, right?

Right.

Besides, since I’m new to this whole “my book is actually going to be published” thing and am still figuring out the ropes, I haven’t had much of an idea of the sort of timelines and goals I should be giving myself with my writing. I’m starting to get a little better vision of how things go, which makes me much more comfortable to figure out what I want to do.

Even beyond that, I think having goals is helpful right now. I need things I can obtain and accomplish so when I look back at this time spent I can say “I did that!” I definitely have a lot of relaxing time too, and if you’re in a place where you don’t feel like you can be motivated and do ALL THE THINGS that’s okay too! But, I want to go for it.

Look at me all ready to crush those goals, sitting naturally at my desk for the camera. I even put on lipstick for the first time in about a month. #pandemiclife

Top Priority: Edit The Night’s Chosen and Prep it for Publishing!

This should be a no-brainer. Everything is going to come second to this. I want my debut novel (and any novel I publish for that matter) to be the absolute best it can be. Yes, I want to accomplish other things too, but if they need to be set aside for me to revise and edit The Night’s Chosen, so be it. It’s also the goal I’m most excited and scared for. The pressure is on now!

Next Up: Knock Out the Synopsis’ for The Next Book (or two)

A majority of the time your second book is sold on synopsis. Since The Night’s Chosen in my head is the first in a potential series, I want to have a rough outline and synopsis done for the sequel - maybe even the rest of the series! That way when the time comes, I can have it ready to go to pitch it to my editor instead of rushing to do it at the last minute.

Then: Write a Freebie for my Newsletter Subscribers

Yup! This has been on my list for a looooooong time. I want to be able to give away a downloadable short story or novella for my newsletter subscribers. If you’re already subscribed, I’d send it to you early. Then all new subscribers would get it when they sign up. The problem? I can never decide what I want to write about! All of my ideas end up becoming bigger and would do well as full length books instead of something shorter. But, it will happen. This goal is always in the back of my mind and I want to have it for you all as a thank you for all your support.

After That: Write More Short Stories

This is a skill I’ve wanted to hone for a long time. I started to awhile back with my flash fiction pieces, but then I fell off the wagon. (Probably around the time I stopped blogging in general. ::facepalm:: I want to do this for a few reasons. 1) So I can post more of my fiction writing to this blog and share it with you all! 2) A great way for me to get my writing out there in the world is to submit to magazines and anthologies and for those you need shorter pieces. 3) It’s just a good skill to have in my author tool belt.

And Another Thing: Keep Up With my Blog and Social Media

This blog has been on the back burner for far too long, and I want to keep up with it again. Only one post a week, but keep it active and up to date. I want this site to be the “main hub” for anyone to go to when it comes to my writing and what I’m up to.

AND ANOTHER: Keep Learning About Writing

This is a goal I’m continually doing because I need to keep learning about my craft and honing it so I get better. I want my first book to be amazing, but I don’t want to stop there. I want each book I write to be better and better.

But I’ve noticed how lax I’ve been. For example: I listen to the podcast Writing Excuses every single week and I love it. These writers are so knowledgeable and have such a wealth of wisdom to share! I love soaking it all in, even though the episodes are only 15-20 (sometimes longer) minutes long. The thing is… I never do the homework. Ever. It’s terrible! My editor had me take a class a couple weeks ago and I thought a lot of the concepts I already knew, but when I started to do the exercises and homework I realized that I could know all the information about metaphors and poetic language that I wanted - but if I didn’t actually practice writing them I was never going to get better. So, I want to keep up with taking classes, reading books, and watching videos about writing while actually doing the practice items the instructors give.

Finally: Think of More Novel Ideas!

I have a few of these floating around in my head and my journals have little notes and thoughts jotted down in them. But I’m getting excited to dig deeper into them and see if there’s anything more I can make of them. As much as I love The Night’s Chosen and the world I’ve created with it, I want my author career to go past it whether it’s a stand-alone book or a full series. There are more characters and worlds to create and I want to explore them!

Okay… looking at all of these feels like a lot. But, the idea isn’t to do all of them at once. This is for the whole year. When I get my notes back from my editor, I’m going to only be focusing on that until it’s done. After I turn in that round of revisions, I’ll look back at my list and pick another goal to focus on for a bit.

We’ll see how well I actually do, but for now I’m super motivated and ready to go!

Anyone else have goals they want to accomplish this year?

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