Writer’s Conference Strategies: Sessions

Writer's conferences are wellsprings of information, but you can only attend one session at a time, so choose wisely. Any good conference will have a variety of sessions to choose from and your job is figuring out what's going to be most useful for you.

Craft:

“During 30 years of earning my daily bread as a writer I have learned many lessons about our craft. The most significant of those lessons is that I still have many lessons to learn about out craft.” ―  H.P. Oliver

You can never go wrong with craft. There’s not a writer out there who shouldn’t aspire to improve their craft regardless of where they are in their career. However, if you just finished or are still writing your first or even second novel, this is probably where you should focus most of your time. You may be a prodigy, but odds are that first novel isn’t a masterpiece. It’s a stepping-stone to growing as a writer. Like any skill, you aren’t born knowing how to do it right or when it's a good idea to break the rules. You have to learn the ins and outs of your vocation before you can advance through the ranks from apprentice to master. Craft sessions are there to help you on that journey. Take advantage of them.

Marketing:

“Content is King. Promotion is Queen” ―  Bob Mayer

Whether you intend to try traditional or independent publishing, marketing is something you’re going to need to learn. A great book that can truly sell itself is almost as rare as unicorns. Don’t hang your career on the hope that your book is going to be that fabled creature. Plan to bust your ass building your audience and make your book soar. These sessions will help you get ideas on how to go about that and what will work for you and your book.

Traditional publishing:

“If you wrote something for which someone sent you a cheque, if you cashed the cheque and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.” ―  Stephen King

If you haven’t decided how you want to approach publishing, these sessions can give you the knowledge you need to make that decision. If you’ve decided on a traditional approach, these sessions can give you an inside look on what agents and publishers are looking for and how the publishing process works in the traditional world.

Indie Publishing:

“Behind every novel is a greater story of how it came to be published.” ―  T.L. Rese

Again, if you’re not sure how you want to go about publishing your work, these sessions can help you make an informed decision. If you already know you want to go this route, the sessions will give you insight on what has and hasn’t work for others and help you figure out how to go about it.

Remember, don’t get ahead of yourself. If you only just started writing, focus on craft and worry about marketing and publishing after you’ve seasoned your skills. If you're ready to move on, keep in mind that in publishing sessions, the people presenting will likely be advocates of the route they’ve chosen. Learn about your options and don’t get caught up in someone else’s enthusiasm. Choose the publishing path that is right for your goals as a writer and the kind of writing you do.

Happy Conferencing!

Writer’s Conference Strategies: Volunteering

I just survived another great PNWA Writer’s Conference. With the event fresh in my head, it seems a good time to offer up a little of my experience for anyone who’s considering a similar conference for the first time or just looking for ways to better their experience at a familiar conference.

Writer’s conferences can be stressful, especially if you’re pitching a book to agents and editors. I picked up my agent, Emily Keyes, just before the 2012 PNWA conference. Since I was already registered and no longer needed to pitch, I decided to volunteer. I can strongly recommend volunteering for many reasons and suggest doing so even if you are pitching (or perhaps especially if you are pitching).

Benefits of volunteering:

• If you’re pitching, volunteering can help take your mind off that stress. If you’re not pitching, it can take your mind off other stresses like wondering if a publisher is going to make on offer on your book or if the blood work on the cat living in your shop is going to come back showing some horrible disease.
• Volunteering gives you a look behind the scenes. You get to see how things run and how much amazing work goes into putting a conference together. If you help with early pitch sessions, you can also get helpful insight into how those sessions are run before your turn to pitch comes up.
• You meet great people. Not just other volunteers and aspiring authors with their own fantastic stories to share, but also the agents, editors, and published authors sitting on the other side of the tables. They are great people and sometimes they’re just as nervous as the attendees are.
• In a business that can seem really lonely and unforgiving, you will be appreciated. It takes a lot to run a conference and more help is always needed. The conference staff will appreciate you for your help, as will the attendees and presenters.

The down side:

• You might miss a session you wanted to attend, but usually volunteer coordinators will try to work with you to find a time for you to volunteer that allows you to make the sessions you most want to attend.

As you can see, the balance is in the positive. There are many good reasons to volunteer and only one notable down side that I have run into. I strongly recommend the experience.

Have you volunteered at a conference? If so, how was your experience? If not, what concerns might keep you from doing so?

Happy conferencing!

Long Silence

The blog has been very quiet lately. Despite my best efforts, I can’t get my cat to write posts for me.

If I haven’t been blogging, what have I been doing?

Writing and editing books. Yeah, I know. Who does that?

I have one book that should be ready to send to my agent soon and another that will be ready hopefully by November (before the madness of NaNoWriMo because I will be doing that again). I have a third book that I may burn in frustration, but I haven’t quite given up on it yet, and a novella that I plan to start sending out in August.

But that alone isn’t enough to keep a blog in the black like this.

As I mentioned in my previous post Life Changes and Getting Comfortable with Spiders, I’m also getting my house ready to sell. This involves packing,

painting,

and many other frustrating, stressful and time-consuming tasks.

As if that weren’t enough, we had our last big 4^th of July party at this house. Along with the half-day party, 45-minute fireworks show, and live singer at intermission, we added a fire troupe performance by Dragon Steps to intermission this year.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAUy5wwauIE&w=560&h=315]

Add to that the simple tasks of life—apparently sleep is a necessary thing—something had to give. So what haven’t I been doing?

You guessed it. Blogging.

An Irish Ditty

The first part of the Europe trip I was either jet-lagged and/or sick, a state that I think came through all too well in my post about London (Walking in my Protagonist’s Shoes).The second part of the trip I wasn’t in such bad shape. I was on the upside of the cold and, although I was heading into a sinus infection, I was a bit more coherent. That part of the trip we spent in Dublin. What’s not to like about Dublin? You go out sightseeing around town and it goes pretty much like this. Sing with me if you know it!

A church and a pub and a church and a church and a pub and a pub and a pub.

That’s not really an Irish Ditty, but it should be. (Oddly, some pubs got blurrier as the day went on.)

Proper Irish breakfast for the next morning.

I don’t have any stories set in Ireland yet, but there was plenty of inspiration to be found, including some fantastic old castles and ruins.

One of my favorite stops was the Trinity Library because…

Books! Lots of books with lots of history woven into their dusty old pages. The best was the Book of Kells and its companions (of which I was not allowed to take pictures). This book is amazing both for the art and labor that went into its creation and for the efforts that went into keeping it safe (also, there is a great little animated movie that the book features in called The Secret of the Kells).

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMPhHTtKZ8Q] We also made it out to Knowth and Newgrange, two of the largest of many burial mounds originally constructed around 3200BC and around which there is still much mystery. Getting to walk inside Newgrange was truly an opportunity to walk into history (yeah, that sounds corny, but it’s so very true).

As I was looking at these magnificent structures, a new story idea came into my head of… Oh, sorry, no spoilers. ;-)

To wrap up, I wanted to share a little clip of live music from one of the pubs in Dublin because you always wrap up at a pub.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2fkM3AIx1g&w=560&h=315]

For a little more travel fun, you can visit these writer blogs answering the question: If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

• Cora Ramos
• Kim Moser Griffin
• Siri Paulsen
• Ellen Gregory
• Liv Rancourt
• Janice Hall Heck

Walking in my Protagonist's Shoes

As promised, I am posting some of my trip to London where my novel The Girl and the Clockwork Cat takes place. Since the setting for the novel is alternate history (steampunk Victorian London) modified for the purposes of the story many things don’t look the same as they did in my protagonist’s time and some things never looked the way they do in the novel. Still, getting a chance to walk down many of the same streets and see some of the places my protagonist would have seen was a magical experience. In spite of being jet-lagged and sick, I don't think we ever stopped walking.

Walking the streets my protagonist walked in the novel also had the comforting effect of proving that none of the distances she covered were unreasonable. Since she makes her dubious living as a pickpocket, she doesn't have the means to pay for transportation much of the time. I did considerable research on the distances, but on paper, things don’t always work the same as they do in reality.

Much of London’s history butts right up against the modern city, as you’ll see in many photos. In spite of this, you can still get a great feel for what the city looked like in Victorian times.

And, because I write science fiction and fantasy, I felt it only appropriate to pay homage to Douglas Adams while I was in the area.

Happy adventuring!

Writing Compromised and the Liebster Award

Ever have that experience where you’re editing a manuscript and you come across a section that’s horribly written compared to the rest. After some thought you recall that you wrote that section when you were sick with a bad cold, sinus infection, flu or whatever. You make a vow to yourself as you slog through trying to fix it that you will never ever again let yourself write while sick. Only you know, deep down inside, that when that time comes you’ll try not to work and big guilt-wielding fists inside your mind will beat you up over the work that isn’t getting done until you give in and start writing.

I’m at that point now, that sick point. In a valiant effort to mitigate damage, however, I am letting those guilt-wielding fists win in the form of a blog post because I have an easy one in the queue thanks to the fantastic Briana Vedsted who recently nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award. Thanks Briana!

The Rules

1. Accept the award, post the picture of the Liebster Award on the top of post, say who nominated you for the award, and list their blog site (see above).
2. List 11 random facts about me.
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers for the Liebster Award and list their blog sites.
4. Notify the bloggers of their award.
5. Ask the award winners 11 questions to answer when they accept their Liebster Award.
6. Answer the questions left for me by the blogger who gave me the award.

11 Random Facts about Me

1. I love stacking things to the point that if you put a board game in front of me I would almost rather make sculptures out of the dice and game pieces than actually play the game.
2. I love playing board games (Arkham Horror or Dominion anyone?), almost as much as I love stacking the pieces.
3. I also love video games. Single player RPGs mostly, though I can be talked into a good adventure game now and then.
4. I don’t drink beer, but I have discovered a soft spot for good cider.
5. I’m afraid of heights unless I’m in a cave.
6. I love history, especially in the form of historical structures and artifacts. The true stories behind such things give me a world of ideas.
7. I love to prompt conversation then sit back and listen (unless someone asks me about my writing, then I never shut up).
8. My favorite instrument is the violin.
9. I’m addicted to Burt’s Bees lip balm. Seriously. There are 2 by my bed, one in my truck, one in my purse, one on my desk, one by where I sit in the living room, one in my kayak emergency kit,  and a few in a drawer in the kitchen in case I run out.
10. I’m addicted to Science Fiction television to the point of throwing a Firefly screening party and loosing considerable sleep over the occasional Doctor Who marathon.
11. I don’t sing in the shower, but I do sing in my truck (all the time).

My Questions from Briana

1. What is your favorite movie? The Fifth Element maybe, or Howl’s Moving Castle, or How to Train Your Dragon. Too many great movies to choose from really.
2. What is your favorite book? Again, too many to choose from, but I think the Last Herald Mage trilogy would be one of the top picks (yeah, I cheated and picked a trilogy).
3. Do you like sunset or sunrise better? Sunrise. It marks the start of a new day with tons of potential.
4. Are you a cat person, or a dog person? Cats. Nothing against dogs, but I am very much a cat person.
5. Have you ever eaten any wild game? Yes. It has happened.
6. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be? I would be in less pain all the time I suppose (too many injuries).
7. Do you have someone in your life that is your best friend? Who is it? I’m fortunate to have many people in my life who I would call my best friends for varying reasons. I think different people play different roles in our lives so calling only one person a best friend is really rather misleading in a way. If I had to pick, I imagine my husband and my mom would top the list.
8. Where would you like to go on vacation? Just got back from London (where I finally got to see in person many of the places I wrote about in The Girl and The Clockwork Cat and get ideas for use in books two and three) and Dublin (where I got to see places that may show up in future books). I would like to go to Japan or Malta next.
9. Are you happy or sad when it rains? Depends on the day. Rain can be fun or depressing or indifferent depending on my mood that day.
10. What is your favorite food? Popcorn. That’s a dietary staple, right?
11. Do you have a hobby? What is it? I have many hobbies including kayaking, horseback riding, caving, dancing, iaido, and so on. Too many perhaps.

My Nominees

• Confessions of a Wordslut (http://confessionsofawordslut.com/)
• Kelly’s Eye (http://mrkelly2u.wordpress.com/)
• A Digital Magician (http://pathunstrom.wordpress.com/)
• Jason Alan. Writer, Character. (http://jasonalanwriter.wordpress.com/)
• A Fuzzy Mango With Wings (http://fuzzymango.wordpress.com/)
• DaphneShadows (http://daphneshadows.wordpress.com/)
• Shaven Wookiee (http://shavenwookiee.wordpress.com/)
• Catherine Johnson (http://catherinemjohnson.wordpress.com/)
• Ellen Gregory ~ To beyond and back (http://ellenvgregory.com/)
• Tami Clayton ~ Taking Tea in the Kasbah (http://tamiclayton.wordpress.com/)
• Elizabeth Fais ~ Where the awesome begins... (http://elizabethfais.wordpress.com/)

My Questions to those Nominees

1. What’s one odd quirk or habit you have?
2. Do you have any collections and what are they?
3. When you get free time alone, how do you like to spend it?
4. What’s your favorite season and why?
5. What’s your favorite instrument?
6. Do you prefer drama or comedy and what appeals to you about that preference?
7. Beer or wine (or something else entirely)?
8. What makes a party good?
9. What do you typically do on vacation?
10. Are you a morning person or an evening person?
11. My cat wants to know if you prefer sparkly toys or feather toys and why?

Next week I'll take you with me (virtually of course) on my adventure traveling through many of the areas of London that played prominent roles in my novel The Girl and the Clockwork Cat complete with many photos.

Happy living!

The Writing Group Misnomer

Writing is lonely work. Its long hours spent writing, researching, editing, building craft and questioning yourself. Is the plot good? Can people relate to this character? Did I use that word right? Does this story suck? When the work isn’t going well and the questions start building up in your mind, you can find yourself sinking in a spiral of self-doubt and frustration. It’s a destructive state of mind that can make it impossible to write and getting out of it alone can be challenging. Finding like-minded people to talk to and spend time around can be the key to keeping yourself sane as an author.

But where do you find these like-minded people?

A writing group of course and in these days of social media and endless online resources finding a writing group is the easy part. The problem comes when you realize not all writing groups are created equal. In fact, many writing groups aren’t actually writing groups at all. There are many different types of groups that claim that title.

The Critique Group – Groups that read and give feedback on each other’s work.

PROS: These groups are handy for writers who don’t have their own band of beta readers cultivated. They can also be useful simply to get the input of other writers, which is often a little different from the input you get from readers who don’t write. A good critique group can help you make your story great.

CONS: Can be sabotaged by writers only interested in getting feedback on their own work who don’t really care enough to give good feedback on anyone else’s work. Feedback also needs to be considered carefully. Not all writers in these groups are going to have the same skill level, genre, or understanding of different styles. Those variables need to be taken into account when determining what feedback is and isn’t worthwhile.

The Discussion Group – Groups that gather to discuss the craft of writing.

PROS: These groups can be great for any author looking to develop their skill. Some groups may discuss writing samples and even bring in guest speakers to discuss different aspects of the writing process. This can be a great way to improve your overall writing ability and the quality of your work.

CONS: Like with critique groups, the skill, genre, and styles of the attendees and speakers will vary. It’s important to take everything you learn and apply it only as appropriate to your work. Every author is a little different and that’s part of what makes books interesting.

The Social Group – Groups that simply gather to commiserate and support one another.

PROS: This group isn’t about writing or improving craft, it’s about sanity. We all need support in our writing. Sometimes, even when they support us, our loved ones and friends just don’t completely get what we go through as writers. That’s where a group like this is extremely useful.

CONS: Like with the critique group, self-focused individuals who really aren’t interested in anything but their own struggles can sabotage this well-meaning group. It’s important to find a balanced group that is willing to support one another. This group can also degrade quickly to random social chatter, but that isn’t necessarily bad. It's a social group after all.

The Writing Group – This group gets together to write. Really.

PROS: Writing for a predetermined amount of time outside of your normal environment can be a great way to get the creative juices flowing. There is also something about being around others who are writing that forces you to focus on your work because, at the very least, you feel guilty interrupting them. A good writing group is really a great way to get a lot of writing done.

CONS: Some writers don’t actually feel guilty about interrupting you. It can be hard to focus if some of the people begin to engage in social chatter while you’re trying to write. A disciplined writing group can be hard to find.

Many groups may combine elements. For me, the dedicated writing group is the most useful. I can learn craft on my own time and I’m fortunate to have a great selection of beta readers vetting my work. I get a ton of writing done when I go somewhere else and sit down to work with other dedicated writers doing the same thing. We set an amount of time to work and, when that time is up, we go have our social group at the pub.

The phrase ‘writing group’ can be a big misnomer. The important thing is to figure out what kind of group you need and try out some different ones. Don’t feel guilty about dropping out if a group isn’t meeting your needs. Somewhere there will be one that does and, if you can’t find it, gather some people and build your own. With all the social media, it’s easier than ever to find like-minded folks.

Now back to my crazy awesome work in progress! Happy writing!

Wonderstruck Guest Post

Between my books and several articles I'm working on for an upcoming publication, I haven't had time to blog much, but today I get a free pass thanks to a guest post I did for the wonderful S. M. Hutchins at her blog Live Wonderstruck.

Each Wednesday is Wonderstruck Interview day. Hearing other people’s stories is a great way to see things from a different perspective and perhaps find something new to apply to our own lives.

Today’s interviewee is writer Nikki McCormack.

You can see my Wonderstruck Interview here.

Happy Wednesday all!

The 'Not a Post' Post

This is not really a post. This is me trying to fill in a blank while I busily edit away at the next novel in my lineup. The holidays and life in general put my schedule off something horrible this year. I've finally found my author mojo again. Now I'm editing and trying not to angst over my out of date blog and my broken truck. As an act of charity, you are welcome to send me either a mechanic or someone with a truck who would like to empty my manure trailer. If you would like to engage in a more rewarding act of charity, there's a set of Stormdancer first edition, first printing hardcover, and The Little Stormdancer paperback with bookplate and bookmark signed by the excellent author Jay Kristoff up for bid on eBay (click here). All proceeds go to Worldbuilders in support of Heifer International. The auction ends in less than 4 hours so be quick.

Of course, by mentioning this here, I have guaranteed that my blog will be out of date again by the end of the day.

Ah well. In closing I leave you with a kitteh. Happy writing!

The Next Big Thing and the No Kiss

I was all ready to do my No Kiss Blog Fest entry (due today), then I was tagged by the wicked Tod McCoy (who’s really quite a pleasure to be around when he isn’t signing me up for extra work) for The Next Big Thing Blog Hop (also due today). The most logical thing seemed to be to combine these two into one post. The book I am working on is Clockwork Cat book three, but I’m going to focus on the Clockwork Cat series as a whole for the Next Big Thing and snag the almost kiss from book one of another series. Without further delay, here is my entry for The Next Big Thing Blog Hop followed by the much-anticipated (let me delude myself – I’m happy that way) entry for the No Kiss Blog Fest.

1. What is the working title of your book? Book three has no official title yet, it’s just book three. The first book is The Girl and the Clockwork Cat so Clockwork Cat has naturally become the series title.
2. Where did the idea come from for the book? The series started with an idea I had during a writer’s conference. I’ve gone into that in detail in Writing the Right Book so I’ll let you read that if you want to.
3. What genre does your book fall under?  I call it Young Adult steampunk, though the steampunk elements are not that heavy, especially in book one, which is almost more of a Young Adult alternate history. As the series progresses, the steampunk elements play more of a role.
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?  No clue. They are unique in my head and, at this point, I’d rather keep them that way.
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? I don’t have one that encompasses the series, but this is one of the less horrible versions I came up with for book one: After finding a cat with an unusual clockwork leg, Maeko discovers just how much a London street rat can accomplish when she decides to protect the cat and prove the innocence of a friend’s family by pursuing a murder investigation through the squalid streets of the city.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? The books are represented by Emily Keyes of L. Perkins Agency.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? The first draft of book one I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2010. Book two I wrote for NaNo in 2012. Book three has taken longer because I set it aside and rehashed some of the plot, which will now require a bit of rewriting before I finish the first draft.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Honestly, I’m not sure. It sticks more to the lower key alternate history style of steampunk in the nature of The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, but with more of a high-stakes adventure pacing… and a cat.
9. Who or What inspired you to write this book? Again, it was something said at a writer’s conference in conjunction with music from a Steampunk event I’d been to prior to the conference (oh, and a conversation with my mom in which the cat with the clockwork leg came to life and cemented the deal).
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? The main character, a half-Japanese girl surviving as a pickpocket in the streets of London, is a vibrant and determined individual who really seems to capture my readers. Also, everyone loves the cat.

Now, I shall tag these authors to answer the same questions for next Wednesday:

• DaphneShadows
• Mike Schulenberg - Realms of Perilous Wonder
• Simontall - Science fiction, writing and general musings from a tall Englishman

But that’s not all. Here, for your reading pleasure and for the No Kiss Blog Fest is an “almost” kiss from the first book in my dark fantasy series. It wasn’t easy to find one of these scenes. Apparently, I'm not much for “almost” kissing.

Perhaps it was her insatiable curiosity as a reporter, but she was strangely reluctant to leave him now that safety was so close. “I… I don’t understand.”

“What if I told you I intend to kill you now?”

“I…” she hesitated, torn between instinct and ingrained fear.

“Do not think about your answer. Say what you feel.” His eyes held her captive.

“For some reason, I wouldn’t believe you.”

He smiled and Dark swirled around him, giving a sinister, yet deliciously forbidden allure to the expression.

“I don’t understand,” she repeated. “I thought Dark sovereigns were dangerous. I thought they… tortured people.”

He stepped in close to her. “We are very dangerous,” he whispered, his lips so close to hers that she could feel the breath of his words tickle across them. “Sometimes, we just are not in the mood to play.”

“The dress,” she muttered, looking down at the gown she wore to escape his intense gaze and focus on anything other than the longing now raging through her.

“Wear it when you return.” His hands slid up her arms to her shoulders. “You are trembling again. Are you afraid now?”

“No,” she breathed.

His lips brushed hers, almost more of a caress than a kiss. Then he stepped back, releasing her, and the Dark folded around him. In an instant, she was alone.

Savoring the lingering tingle of his light kiss, she licked her lips and tasted blood on them. It had the familiar coppery tang, but was unusually sweet. She ran her tongue over her lips again, searching for a cut that would explain the blood. Again, she tasted the copper-sweet tang and licked it away, finding no wound beneath. The wound inside her lip from her fall had long since stopped bleeding. This wasn’t from that. Odd.

Swallowing the taste of coppery sweetness, she turned to go inside and stopped mid-step. A chill ran through her. What had Syberis told her?

The cat’s voice whispered through her memory. “We are bound in hisss blood.”