Create More, Succeed, Make Money Being Creative with NO Blame!

FOR GAIN, NO BLAME

This post is about a problem that has been bugging me for, well, forever. In this world of social media, it appears to be growing every day, a monstrous cancer destroying creativity.

Okay, maybe not that bad. Except...when we blame ourselves, it destroys our creativity. 

I'm not talking about refusing to take responsibility for our own personal stumbles as in "I drank too much today to create." Also, there are tons of helpful advice available  I'm talking about the insidious, continual "blame game" that some "experts" use to sell their books, podcasts, seminars, classes online and off, even life coaching.

The blame game goes like this (for writing, I'm sure it's similar for other types of creativity):

Your published writing isn't selling? Then you must be blamed because:

Your cover isn't good enough. (Buy this and we'll show you how to have a great cover!)

Your content isn't good enough. (Let us show you how, buy this!)

Your social media marketing isn't good enough. (buy...) 

To be more specific:

You don't have a good enough website. (On sale now! How to have a great website!)

You don't have a good enough email list. (Buy now! Learn how to have a great email list!)

You don't have a platform. (Pay here!)

You don't have a brand.

You're not tweeting enough.

You're not posting enough on Facebook.

You're not doing enough ads on social-media-site.

You're not posting enough and/or posting correctly on your website.

And one more example: You're not posting on your blog enough!

Or even the dreaded shoulds:

You should be only traditionally published.

You should be only self-published.

You should be a hybrid author.

Then there's the more insidious blaming:

You have to do the newest online-whatever right now to sell, whatever it is.

You have to spend a certain amount of time every day selling.

You have to not spend too much time selling. Instead spend your time creating more and more, as quickly as possible. Make sure your creations are fabulous. 

You have to be exactly like the successful people that are used as examples. 

Can you feel your will to create evaporating? Depression setting in? Blaming sucks the life energy out of our creativity. 

Add to all of this one DIRTY ENORMOUS SECRET:

Most creative people are not successful at selling their creations. 

Most books don't sell. Most actors don't have a big career. Most artists never sell their paintings/sculptures/art. Most bands never make it big. It doesn't matter if you're a jewelry designer or a singer or a clay-embedded-fingernails potter, chances are you won't "make it big and make tons of money." 

Does this mean never take a class or read a book about selling your work? No, of course not! Many books, videos, podcasts, classes, etc. are very useful for tips and ways to sell. Ideas that may save you time and money. My only caveat: avoid blame! Realize and remember that you are doing the work. If you're not...give yourself a break. You're only human. 

Make your creative life a no-blame zone and discover energy, time and inspiration!

Promo, Passion and New Year's Resolutions for Writers

My first audio book, published December 26th and it's a Christmas Story!

It's that time of year when people with product to sell go insane with promo, promo, promo. I'm one of the worst. I grew up in the ski resort of Sun Valley, Idaho. There, the two weeks before Christmas are make or break for many businesses. Having grown up with this as a business model, it's difficult for me to remember what my good friend Kathy McIntosh, award winning author of Mustard's Last Stand said: "Readers will read the day after Christmas." Yet, it's true. Readers read. And no one knows what promotion works and how or even why.

It's that time of year when people look back and then forward, twisting their necks trying to do both. I'm one of the worst. Wry neck anyone? However, this year, instead of second-guessing and predicting and following old patterns, my resolutions are all about trying something new.

My resolutions (feel free to steal):

1. What, me worry? Since no one knows what works in this new publishing world and since it changes moment to moment, one of my resolutions is to not worry about it! Do what I can and let it go. Focus on the writing.

2. See above, especially focus on the writing. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the one major thing that leads to success for a writer: write better and write more.

3. See above, especially focus on the writing. Because it is also following my bliss and living in my passion.

SO my New Year's Resolution is: Relax, follow my bliss and enjoy the journey.

What's yours?

Being Fairy(ly) Unbalanced is Expensive

A Couple  of Glow in the Dark Fairies that I will be giving away at Fandemonium on top of one of my covers for The Mall Fairies: Exile.

I apologize for the stretch of a pun in my title. But it's accurate. What's happened to me since my 'tween novel has been released is ... well expensive. In a couple of different ways. Expensive in time first and foremost, not money. Okay, I'm a girl who loves fairies (obviously) and I believed writing about the fairies was the beginning and end of it. But I was wrong, very wrong. I've never considered myself much of a girly girl shopper--that was until I started thinking of ways to promote my title. Uh-oh. So many fairies and fairy related items, jewelry, clothing and ohmigosh, GLOW IN THE DARK FAIRIES. So cute! And I have the wonderful excuse--ahem--reason for shopping. For example, I'll be attaching one of these fairies to a postcard and giving them away at Fandemonium and Bouchercon and who knows where else.

But time spent shopping is not time spent writing the next in the trilogy. I remind myself often not to spend too much, but sometimes it's hard ...

So dear readers, do you have any thoughts, ideas or tips on how to go cheap? How not to get caught doing one more click on one more fairy-related item? I'd love to know!

Author Pratfalls and Great Social Media Wars

This upcoming Tuesday, July 17th, I'll be giving the luncheon speech at the Idaho Writers Guild in Boise. My talk's all about the various mistakes all writers make. I know I've made every single one, a number of times. Most of the problem is that I'm an author and therefore neurotic and unbalanced--as in swinging from one extreme to the other.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the new world of social media. Every writer I know (including myself) swings from one extreme to the other. Part of the problem is that no one is certain what works the best with social media--is it SEO? Part of the problem is that social media seems to operate as virtual word of mouth, but which mouths and when? Us authors drive ourselves wild figuring that out.

The unbalance comes from not knowing how much is too much and wasted time and effort, or possibly even annoying), how much is enough (we want to sell ourselves and our titles), and how much is too little (my mom always said, "If you don't tell people that you have a book out to buy, they won't know.).

So what's a writer to do? Here's a tip from my talk:

ALWAYS REMEMBER THE WRITING COMES FIRST! Or as my wise mom said too, "You need something to sell, and the more product you have to sell the better." I'd add that having more than one piece of writing published is very useful too, for cross-marketing.

So everyone, keep writing!

Anybody got a secret to sell millions of books? Please share here! Anybody got a rant about the life of a writer nowadays? Share here!

Speak up and Succeed...

...without panicking.

Into every author's life comes the moment when you'll be asked to participate in an event, whether it be a book signing, a talk, sitting on a panel or doing a workshop. People love to meet the author. I've done a lot of events and will be doing many this year as part of my promo for my upcoming novel releases--the first one February 24th!

Here's a few tips that will help guarantee a successful whatever and help take those anxieties away.

First, practice beforehand. Keep notes on what you're going to say. If you're giving a read, read your pages out loud several times until you're familiar and comfortable. Practice looking up from your pages. Speak out and slow down. If your audience can't hear you or understand what you say, then enjoyment is lost. Try not to worry about it being "perfect," we all flub up and many times the audience doesn't notice!

Be brief and to the point. My mom always said, "Stop talking before people stop listening." Consider what you would like to hear from an author. Remember there's no reason to prove to your audience that you have succeeded as an author by telling about every step of your journey, your struggles and every single failure and success. The fact that you're in front of an audience means you've succeeded. Pick one to three stories and keep it brief. Less is more and leave them wanting more. Both cliches because they're true.

Think outside the box. For example, I'm going to be at an event at the Ada Community Library. This event will be by the Pixie Chicks' Writers (a group I belong to) and will be about An Eclectic Collage I and II, anthologies written by the Pixie Chicks. Instead of reading from my work, I'm going to demo the exercises from my article in An Eclectic Collage I.

Most important, relax as much as you can. Remember, the people in the audience are on your side and people too. The more you relax the more they will too and then everyone will enjoy!

Readers, any other suggestions?

It's that time--resolutions that work

 

The cover of my upcoming novel release on February 24th.

 Yes, yes, it's that awful time of year, resolution time, ugh. But, it doesn't have to be painful and we don't have to fail. With three general tools success will be the key word for 2012.

First tool: PRIORITIZE. Instead of trying to: lose weight, stop smoking, exercise, eat only fresh food cooked yourself, write five new novels, learn Spanish and French, grow three inches taller even though you're 55 years old and ... well, you get the idea ... instead ask "What's most important to me to accomplish in 2012?" Focus on that one thing. That's why I have the cover of my upcoming novel as an illustration. My most important priority is to write the second in this trilogy: THE MALL FAIRIES: WAR.

Second tool: ORGANIZE. My mom called this "clearing the decks." There are a lot of ways to stumble and fall off the ship if your deck isn't clear. While organizing, refer often to your #1 priority and set up systems that will support that priority. For example, I like to work to self-imposed deadlines, so a calendar with those deadlines noted helps. Which brings me to the final suggestion ...

Third and perhaps most important tool: BREAK IT UP. Trying to do everything all at once is an automatic failure. Imagining writing 300+ pages for the new w.i.p. makes it seem an impossible task. Break up your first priority into manageable pieces. For myself, I can't write an entire novel in a month, I've done NaNoWriMo and never turned out 50,000 words total. BUT, I can often do 1000 words a day, or one scene a day. So I compute how long it will take (and give myself a little wriggle room) and impose my deadlines accordingly.

I hope this helps with everyone's resolutions. Readers, any suggestions? Any stories of what has worked for you?

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

SEE YOU IN 2012!

Merry Christmas! TAKE A BREAK!

Three views of my blooming Christmas Cactus!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! 

 

The title of this post comes from my noticing that several stores are OPEN Christmas Day--oh, for heaven sakes. Then I realized that us creative folk also often "stay open" every day. That only leads to fatigue and an empty well of creativity. So everyone, I suggest you take tomorrow off, regardless of your beliefs. Just cause.

 

And here's a video Christmas card starring Puck, our rat terrier, Puck the Puppy's Christmas Wish.

New Venture! New Market for Writers too!

Above is the logo for my newest venture, Barbarian Books.We are an eBook publishing company. 


Why would a well-published writer, with contracts with other great publishing companies, L&L Dreamspell, Muse It Up Publishing and Freundship Press, for example, open an eBook publisher? Am I insane? I'm a writer, so of course. But not when it comes to Barbarian Books. My permanent boyfriend Bruce came up with the idea to answer several important questions. E-readers mean that it's a new world for writers. With, I believe, some tremendous advantages for us writers.


Since I'm certain the majority of my readers know about the publishing world here's a couple of thing in brief: The big publishers are no longer taking newbies, or often even trusted mid-listers. Anyone can self-publish for e-readers. And many, many do. How does an author stand out in such a crowd? Unless you're someone like Jim Murdoch and you have a great blog such as The Truth About Lies or Dennis J. Smith and know all about social networking, it's a struggle to promote your self-pubbed e-book. 

And who do readers trust to find good reads at a reasonable price? 


The answer is: small publishers. There are a number of legitimate small publishers out there. If you've written a good book, there'll be a spot for it with a good small publisher.


This is the great thing about this new world--you can write what you want and it'll find a place. Every publisher is looking for something somewhat different. For example, Barbarian Books is looking for genre fiction (no children's or erotica). We're looking for novel length crime (including mystery), horror, romance, science fiction, westerns and cross genre. We'll open soon for other lengths and genres. And we're looking for that great, unclassifiable and unusual novel that might fit our philosophy that there are a great many readers looking for great reads.


So, if you have a finished product, do your homework (i.e. read the publisher's websites and contracts, go to Duotrope, Absolute Write and Preditors and Editors) and then submit!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL!

My favorite earrings to wear during October! Today is the day I prep for NaNoWriMo and try to stay out of the candy until the Trick or Treaters have come! The little ones provide oodles of inspiration for my characters. And since I work well to deadline, I always do NaNo. I have yet to write 50,000 words in a month, but I always get further along in my writing. How about you? Do you work well to deadline? Or does something like NaNo make you shudder in horror?

How do you celebrate the holiday? Or do you?

Sell! Sell! Sell! Outside the box.

Eclectic Collage II, the just released anthology I have a story in.

Loy Ann Bell, the president of the Twin Falls Idaho Writers League and me at my talk. Wearing purple was not a requirement.

 Another anthology I'm in that will be released in October.

Since I've got three (!) new anthologies (including Untied Shoelaces of the Mind) that I have a story in coming out or have just come out, this post is about thinking outside the box when it comes to marketing. Sure, you need to do what everybody else does, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon Author page, etc. etc. but it's also smart to do stuff that others might not do. You might discover other surprising connections. Here's a few ideas:

Most pages now have "like" (facebook) buttons on them, this includes Amazon Author Pages, blogs and websites. "Like" away everything you, well, like! Including your own work. )Even if you don't like your own work.) When you find a blog/website that you like to share, share it!

The publisher of Eclectic Collage, Jane Freund of Freundship Press says that the world has changed, bookstores are no longer the (only) place to sell books and may be the least effective to sell books.She's right. In a bookstore, you're title is one among many. Think of other places that might be interested in selling books. For example, my brother has a tea shop in Texas.The tea shop sells other little items. People who drink tea also read. What better place to place my titles? My mystery novel, "Starke Naked Dead" comes out next year by L&L Dreamspell. The main character is a jeweler. I love jewelry and jewelry stores. Am I going to be asking at some jewelry stores if they would like to have my titles? Have a signing?! You bet.

Book reviews--everyone says you need to get a lot of book reviews, but as my mom always said, "You have to give to get." All writers love to read. So review, often. It not only helps out other writers, but it's a great way to get your name/brand out there. (And of course be honest and straightforward with every review, no matter what. An excellent example of a good reviewer is Jim Murdoch at his blog The Truth About Lies. His reviews are interesting in and of themselves.

 And last, but not least, Kathy McIntosh of Well Placed Words suggested this great idea. In Boise, there's a Community Education. People volunteer to teach classes in....everything. This type of community service is common. Kathy's suggestion--teach a class in something! Great way to connect in a lot of different ways!

So, dear readers, any more "outside the box" suggestions?

Next my newest venture!

Miscommunications means missed communication and missed opportunity

 Me after the wedding

Recently, I almost missed a friend's wedding.Bruce mentioned work and then mentioned the wedding and I fused the two conversations in my mind. So I believed Bruce was going to the wedding of the daughter of a co-worker whom I'd never met, much less the daughter. Bruce thought it odd I didn't want to go, but I'm all grown up and can make my own decisions. Then a couple of nights before the wedding, Bruce mentioned something about our friend going to the wedding and I asked, "Why is he going?" When Bruce said, "Because it's his daughter getting married, of course," I was all, "Ohmigod, of course I'm going too!"

This story illustrates how easy it is to miscommunicate and miss the communication and miss an opportunity all in one. This happens more often than you'd think, even in fiction. Ask yourself how many times you've been stopped while reading something and thought, "What does that mean?" Or, "I don't think the author meant those words the way they do mean."There's where the communication has been missed. And the opportunity? Why, to keep the reader reading, of course! Getting bumped from a story is never good and can be catastrophic.

So how to avoid this problem? Beta readers and critique groups both are great--if they are the readers and groups that give solid feedback. Also, set aside the draft and return to it after a pause and you'll find a lot of these mis-communications. Finally, I have a friend who reads everything aloud and swears it works best. This, however, has never worked for me and drives me crazy.

What do you, dear writers, to avoid the dreaded "mis"?

Memorial Day

A Rose for Remembering

I'm back! It's been a while since I've posted because Google blogger has been having problems.Still a few difficulties, but at least it's back enough for me to post!

And may everyone have a day to remember those who have gone on. In so doing they live on, with us.Honor the dead this Memorial Day.

A Successful Week to Celebrate!

Okay, here's the fun part that writers often don't do. And the fun part that we need to do. It's the part that fills up the well for our writing. We all slog along and struggle with the work and then wince at the myriad rejections. So we all need to celebrate our successes! Here's mine this week, with thanks to members of the writing community for all their help and support towards these successes.

First: thanks to Aubrie of Flutey Words, who mentioned the market on her blog, I sold a short story to the anthology Fangtales.

Second: thanks to Su Halfwerk of Vivid Sentiments, who mentioned this wonderful promo market, Munaty Cooking, my incredibly delicious recipe is just released in their May issue. Writers if you like to cook, submit one of your recipes!

Third: The contract for my short story "Blood Tells" arrived for it's reprint in Big Pulp's June paper edition.

Fourth: My article, "Kiss a Garden" will be released in June's edition of Treasure Valley Family Magazine, both online and print.

AND LAST (does the big happy dance): I sold my mystery novel STARKE NAKED DEAD to L&L Dreamspell! Yay! It will be released in 2012, I can hardly wait! L&L Dreamspell also published my short story in their anthology Dreamspell Nighmares and it's been a pleasure working with them and I'm looking forward to doing that again.

And a big thanks to my friend and fantastic editor, Kathy McIntosh of Well Placed Words for her great help in getting the novel edited for submission! It worked!

So there you have it, my celebration. What do you have to celebrate? It can be a tiny success, writing a new paragraph on your w.i.p., for example. But celebrating creates success!

Next up: Nowadays, all writers must market, even before they submit. I've been doing this for a while, so I'll compile some tips and easy ideas and how to create an author page on Amazon.

Don't Niche Me Out

Yes the title is ungrammatical, but apt, as is the poster for the next signing of "An Eclectic Collage" next Saturday in Eagle, Idaho.I'm one of the contributors to "An Eclectic Collage" with both an article on exercise and several recipes.The Collage contains, well a collage of writing: short stories, poetry, articles and yes, recipes!

Which brings up the reason for this post. There's been a lot of e-talk about writers needing niches in this new world to succeed. Why? Because a niche becomes a brand which becomes the impetus for traffic to your publications. Of course, that seems to make sense. But I resist it. Why? See above. I'm one of those writers who are the definition of "eclectic." I like to write almost anything (even a little bit of bad poetry from time to time) and while I'm sorta/kinda in the genre (mystery, horror, fantasy) camp, some of my best short stories have been literary.

It feels like a niche would cut off some of my writing arms, to my dismay. Doesn't "niche" mean restricted to a small space? Or does it? Perhaps it just means that I'm a writer obsessed with dead things and bright shiny objects (many long stories, and short ones too, although not so much in my articles and recipes) and that's my niche. Now all I need to do is let readers know, right? Or?

What do you think? Is a niche like a brand or completely different? Is it a good thing...or maybe too constricting ala the writers who are forced to write books in the same series...forever. Or just another tool to get your words to the readers?

And those of you who live close to Eagle, hope to see you Saturday!

Film Cautionary Tale

Photos of Bruce and me at the recent shoot for my short film ENCORE. These were taken by Kathy McIntosh of Well Placed Words, thanks Kathy!

Recent shoot? On February 20?! And there lies the crux of this post. When I say "short film" I mean a page and a half of script, two characters, one location and silent--no dialog. A simple, easy, really short film. We even kept the cast and crew to a bare necessary minimum. So I kept a running tab of how long it will take start to finish for this film.

Around a 100 hours.

What?! How could that be possible? Why would it take that long? Simple. The process of making a film is long and complicated, with many different elements and myriad details. All of which take time and effort.

What's the cautionary part of this tale? My realization that this time sink is true of all creative projects, whether filming or art or writing or jewelry making or...And my realization that all creative people always underestimate the time it takes to create, start to finish. Why? Because it's so much fun! We're doing what we love to do!

The caution: remember it will take more time, effort and energy to create. Don't beat yourself up about it, just recognize it and try (try) to put a little wriggle room in your projects.

Do any of my readers not have this problem? Do any of my readers have some solutions to this problem?

Happy President's Day Let Freedom Ring

OUR FLAG FLYING FREE

And oh, how grateful I am that two great men struggled mightily so that I now live in a land where I pretty much live as I want! 

What do you do with your freedom?

BSP is hard to do

Above are a couple of examples of BSP. The first is a recipe card that is a teaser or taste (pun intended) for the second, a signing for the upcoming release of the compendium, "An Eclectic Collage." The recipe cards I make by cutting and pasting onto Avery White Quarter Fold Greeting Cards Avery 3266. I copy and paste till each section is filled and then I have 4 cards per sheet.Then the cards promote the book at the signing.

I've had the good fortune to be published several times lately and have an upcoming release, a couple of things in "An Eclectic Collage." So I've been attempting to promote my work. And finding it a bit difficult. Oh, not in opportunities to promote, but rather in the feeling that BSP is somehow a four letter word. Perhaps it's the word, "blatant," does anybody want to be blaring an accomplishment? Doesn't that seem egotistical? Then I remember what my mom always said, "If you don't tell people, they won't know." She repeated this often because my dad was an artist and, a very shy man, he hated gallery openings, media interviews, etc.He just wanted to go do his art. I think that may be true of many creative people.

So when I worry about mentioning something and I'm procrastinating about promoting I tell myself, "Maybe some people might want to know about this."

How about you, dear reader? Do you enjoy promotion? Hate it? Don't care? Care too much?

Merry Christmas from Puck the Puppy!

A Video Christmas Card, my first!

Here's hoping that all my friends out there in the net world have a fabulous and fantastic holiday! Everyone relax and enjoy and take a well-deserved break. I'll be baking a virtual pie for everyone.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A recipe request

Every Christmas season, I try new recipes. I find it keeps me in the creative mode. This one has been a hit.

Gingerbread Spiced cookies:
2 cups white flour
2 generous tsp. baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ginger
1/2 tbsp cloves
1 tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg or egg substitute
1/4 cup molasses
sugar in a bowl to roll cookies

Sift together dry ingredients. Beat butter and sugar until combined and add egg and molasses and beat until mixed well. Beat in dry ingredients. Roll dough into 1" balls and roll in sugar. Place on cookie sheets and press slightly. Bake at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown around edges.

Like many of my recipes, you can play a little with this one. Try adding chopped nuts. Or a couple of different spices, allspice or cardamom perhaps? This is also good filled with whipped cream and frozen or vanilla ice cream. Or come up with your own version! Create!

Tis the Season...

He's stalking me.

 ...to be overwhelmed. Isn't it? This year has been particularly frantic and frenetic. First, at the start of the month, we traveled to Texas for my niece's college graduation, which was fantastic, but took the first week of December away, so I started out behind. Second, two short stories of mine were published end of November/beginning of December from two different publishers, one in the anthology Dreamspell Nightmares and my story Changing Woman Ways. I've got another story coming out in another anthology soon, plus an article.This means I need to be promoting my new and soon-to-be releases and self promotion is so hard for me! Hmm...perhaps it is for every writer--and a subject for a separate post.

Is there anyone out there in blog land not struggling with the season?Of course, the entire world doesn't have the overkill (and I do mean "kill") of Christmas that we do here in the States... but many people do celebrate the season. How do you still write, create, survive? And perhaps even enjoy?

On a completely different note: I've had a few requests about how to add the "Share" buttons at the bottoms of my posts--I haven't answered these requests because I can't remember! I was ditzing around and fell upon the way to do this by accident and the buttons showed up! Can anybody out there help?