Blog Tour: THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED

Hi :) I'm leading off a short five-stop blog tour for THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED this week. I decided to do a themed tour and talk about five of the challenges I had while writing and revising the novel. Here's the whole schedule:

Monday July 10
Author Paula Stokes: Intro + challenge of writing a book quickly

Tuesday July 11
Gabriella M Reads: Challenge of incorporating real places into the book

Wednesday July 12
That Book Gal: Challenge of incorporating the internet into the story

Thursday July 13
The Book Bratz: Challenge of incorporating a romance into the plot

Friday July 14
We Live and Breathe Books: Challenge of writing my first "issue" novel


Here's the story about writing books quickly--it's hard, but it's doable. You probably know that after a book is announced there's usually one and a half years or more before it's published. But what you might not know is of that one and a half years, the author might spend only about three months writing the book. Another few months are shared between author and editor in revision and editing. And then usually a hardcover title for a major publisher is completely finished, aside from in-house proofreading, ten to twelve months before the publication date.

Obviously this varies from house to house, book to book, and writer to writer. Paperbacks often have a shorter lead time. Some writers spend five years writing each book, but in that case the book is finished before it's announced or that release date is getting pushed back quite a bit. A delayed release generally results in delayed payments, and sometimes a delay in being able to sell more books. If you've read any of the "writer finances" blog posts I've tweeted lately, you know the only way to survive on a writing income is to sell, sell, sell.

So basically what happened with this book is that I hit a wall with the previous book, Jack of Hearts. I sold that book on proposal, meaning in this case that my publisher bought the title based off an outline (sometimes a proposal involves a lot more than that.) I was already behind schedule with it and the sequel to Vicarious, because my anxiety had derailed the revision process for both of my 2016 releases and I spent way too long on final edits for them. But then I got halfway done with Jack of Hearts and I was just...stuck. I hated the main character, I didn't like the plot, and I felt like I had so many loose ends floating around it was going to end up as a 150,000 word contemporary novel. I tried to fix it--I really did. I went on a retreat, I signed up for an online writing class. I even went back to Copenhagen for inspiration! But nothing helped, and in late October of 2015, just two months before my manuscript was due, I asked if I could start over with a new book.

My publisher said yes, what did I have in mind? I polished up a couple of my favorite ideas (contemporary romances, as that's what Jack of Hearts was so I figured that'd be best) as well as a couple other ideas--a Liars, Inc. companion novel with a speculative element, and the plot for This is How it Happened, back then called Shattered Hearts. I expected them to pick one of the contemp romances or the Liars companion, but they picked Shattered Hearts. Guys, I had literally come up with this idea a few days before. And now I had to outline it, write it, and revise it in about four months, and two of those months were November and December.

My publisher offered me the chance to bump the book back a year, but that would have likely meant bumping half the payment back a year, which at the time was simply not a financial option for me. So I outlined the whole story ASAP so my editor could preview the plot and point out any major issues with it. Once I got approval on the outline in early December, I had about two and a half months to write and revise the book and turn it in by the beginning of March to meet the publication deadline. Oh, and I also had the sequel to Vicarious due to my other editor at the end of January, and a week trip to Seoul in mid-January.

Long story long, I wrote the first draft of This is How it Happened in about six weeks. It was 85,000 words. It was also pretty terrible, as you can imagine. I had to go to NYC in April to sign Girl Against the Universe for Uppercase Box, and while I was there my editor and her assistant were like "Wow, your new manuscript is really compelling!" I just kept apologizing. I was so horrified that multiple people had read it. I got about a month to do a major revision and another week or two to do a second revision. Then (as I often do) I continued to tweak and rework the book at copy-edits...and first-pass pages [Newbie authors: This is a bad habit. Don't read this and think it's how it's normally done.]

I haven't read the whole book since I got printed copies because I know if I do I will see things I want to change. I will think "If only I'd had more time. If only I could have done a couple more revisions." The reality of professional writing is that there is not always more time, especially not when you're trying to do it as a career, not when paying your bills depends on meeting deadlines. Alternatively, sometimes your book publication date is bumped back months to years due to in-house scheduling issues, even though your part is completely finished. In that case, you might feel like there was too much time. For the most part, writers do not call the shots on their books' publishing schedules.

So...how did I write the book so fast? First, I had a tight outline. If you're writing on a time crunch, a detailed outline will save you because you won't have to stop to untangle plot problems or fill in plot holes. I also felt really strongly about the subject matter. I didn't have to stop and think "oh, but how would this character respond to that?" because I had been interested in internet shaming and its effects since 2005 and watched shaming dramas play out so frequently online. So it helps to be emotionally invested in your plot.

 Beyond that, I basically worked all day, every day until I was finished, giving myself mini-breaks to check Twitter or go for walks around the block. No TV (okay, I did watch iZombie), no movies, no hobbies, no social life. Thanks to tips from my friend Christina, I pretended like I was a resident doctor. Do you know what a resident doctor does for fun? They sleep. I got into a routine for eating--cereal in morning, sandwich for lunch, frozen thing for dinner--all easy to fix things requiring minimal thought. All my thought and effort went to the book. It's not a fun way to write, guys. But if you ever get into a situation where you feel like you have to get X pages done in Y days, whether it's a novel or a research paper for college or whatever, you can do it.

More tips. If you've got friends and family nearby, ask for help. If your family is pretty needy, ask for patience. (I am not advocating anyone neglect their children, or perhaps overfeed their extremely needy cats on a regular basis, even though I might have done one of those things.) Find a mantra. Something you can repeat in your head when you start to get distracted or despondent. Mine was: "What matters most is how well you walk through the fire." That's the title of a Bukowski book of poetry. I haven't read it, but I saw that line on Instagram and it spoke to me. I just kept thinking that writing isn't supposed to be easy, and that if I could survive the next few weeks I could survive anything Publishing threw at me. Also, tiny rewards. Even if all you can do is set an alarm for five minutes and spend that time with your cat, or take ten minutes to walk to the store for a cupcake. Cut yourself some slack on your diet and exercise plan because it's only for a limited time and you need to minimize other stresses as much as possible. But drink water and get sleep and eat something vaguely healthy now and then--even if it's just buying a bottle of Green Machine and chugging out of it.

And then, when you make it, because I know you will, CELEBRATE! You earned it :)

Have you ever had to write something quickly? What are your tips for surviving the process and ending up with a solid finished product? Share your experiences in the comments!

Want to win a copy of THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED or any of my novels? Enter the Rafflecopter below. And look for tomorrow’s blog tour stop about the challenge of incorporating real setting into novels at Gabriella M Reads.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About This is How it Happened:

When Genevieve Grace wakes up from a coma, she can’t remember the car crash that injured her and killed her boyfriend Dallas, a YouTube star who had just released his first album. Genevieve knows she was there, and that there was another driver, a man named Brad Freeman, who everyone assumes is guilty. But as she slowly pieces together the night of the accident, Genevieve is hit with a sickening sense of dread—that maybe she had something to do with what happened.

As the internet rages against Brad Freeman, condemning him in a brutal trial by social media, Genevieve escapes to her father’s house, where she can hide from reporters and spend the summer volunteering in beautiful Zion National Park. But she quickly realizes that she can’t run away from the accident, or the terrible aftermath of it all.

Incredibly thought-provoking and beautifully told, Paula Stokes’s story will compel readers to examine the consequences of making mistakes in a world where the internet is always watching…and judging.

THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENED  is available July 11th in the USA and on July 18th overseas. Read the first four chapters now or check out the discussion guide!

Finding Happiness as a Writer: MANAGE YOUR PANIC

If you’re new to the series, you can check out all the posts here. (Start at the bottom.) If you’re not a writer but struggle with anxiety, this is a post that you might still find helpful.

Let’s talk panic. Welcome to your crisis post, the one that coaxes you down from the ledge. [Small print: I am a licensed RN but nothing in this post should be considered official medical advice. If you believe you are ill, you should consult a medical professional in your area or 911 for emergency transport.]

Today's musical selection: ANXIETY by The Black Eyed Peas. For whatever reason, there's no licensed Youtube clip [I hate when that happens] so if you're hankering for readalong music, pop in your Elephunk CD or check it out on Spotify (track 12). Basically, if your train of thoughts is more like a runaway train, if your anxiety is worse than bullets from Uzis, that's a problem.

I’m not going to lie guys—sometimes I get stressed—like trembling fingers, racing thoughts, chest tightness kind of stressed. Usually it’s when I’m looking at my to-do list and thinking “Ahahahahahaha. Why did I agree to write fifty-six guest blog posts and teach a class and edit two full manuscripts while I'm trying to draft, revise, and promote three different books? OMG, I wish Fiona Paul was real so she could help me with all this work.” But then I do some push-ups and the shaking stops, and I attack the list a bite at a time. I make to-do lists and a plan. [Plans help me a lot. Monthly, weekly, hourly--I make lots of plans.] And then my breathing returns to normal and slowly everything starts to feel manageable.

Panic attacks come in many types. If you’re having chest pain or are unable to function, please call 911 or have someone take you to the emergency room. I used to date a paramedic and some of his calls involved going out to the same house once a week to prop up an elderly man who slipped down in his wheelchair. The man's wife wasn’t strong enough to do it and they couldn’t afford home health so she called 911. I am telling you this because most of us think of paramedics like we see them on TV, always responding to gruesome car wrecks and shootings, much too busy to deal with our piddly little issues. NO. JUST NO. That is not real life. Your issues are part of their job. You are not doing anyone a favor by trying to drive yourself to the ER if you are shaking and losing it. And if there is even a tiny part of you that thinks “I might need the ER” then go to the ER. Sometimes a panic attack is a heart attack. People die every year because they don’t get a $25 EKG or $175 in bloodwork that can definitively diagnose a heart attack. Don’t be these people. Your life is worth more than 200 bucks.

But what if you’re stressing but not quite at that level?

If you’re hyperventilating, you’re blowing off too much carbon dioxide which can mess you up internally. Try these hyperventilation tips from Web MD.

If you’re not hyperventilating, but you’re breathing rapidly or you feel physically anxious—like you’re in “fight or flight mode”—try square breathing.

1. Breathe in for 4 seconds
2. Hold air in for four seconds
3. Exhale for four seconds
4. Hold lungs “empty” for four seconds 

This type of breathing is taught in emergency response classes as a way to calm your whole body. It’s also used by military snipers to calm their minds and reduce trembling of extremities. At least that’s what Parvati [my LIARS book-girlfriend] told me. I square breathe a lot. A lot. It can also just help you learn to use your lungs more efficiently.


Okay, but what if you’re feeling stressed but it’s not necessarily manifesting in your vital signs? 

I also sometimes do what I call the DESTRUCTIVE THOUGHT SPIRAL. Here’s an example: Editor likes option manuscript but tells agent she has to pass because the book is too similar to something else on publisher list. Do I have anything else she can read? I immediately do something like:

1. OMG, everyone hated my submission.
2. Passing on the sub was a nice way of telling me I’m finished at publisher.
3. My editor doesn’t really want to look at another project.
4. She won’t buy more books from me ever.
5. No one will buy more books from me ever.
6. Publisher probably won’t even do much for current book there since they passed on sub.
7. Basically, my career is over.
8. Which means I will be miserable FOREVER.

That’s a slight exaggeration of my spiral, but not as much as I wish it was >_< Let's all agree this is serious drama queen action. It’s one thing to be aware of the worst case scenario. It’s another thing to assume it’s inevitable every time things don’t go your way. I mean, what if you got caught in traffic and arrived home two hours late to find your husband packing his things because he assumed that your traffic jam was an affair and you were obviously going to leave him so he was packing to get out of your life forever since clearly you don’t love him anymore. Not okay, right? Rule of thumb: Try not to behave in a way that you wouldn't tolerate from other people. You might run across a lot of ledges in your writing career. Don't crawl out on the ones you have no business being on. [The reality of that spiral is that the editor bought other books from me and the book she didn't buy sold to someone else. Oops, don't I feel silly!]


Things NEVER to do when you are seriously anxious or caught in a destructive thought spiral:

• Email your editor
• Post on social media
• Make huge life/career decisions

Instead you might try:

• Talking to a friend or your agent [Note: a friend is not a 285-person writer message board. Groups like this can be great, but I caution you from getting too venty with them, and I'll tell you more about why next week.]
• Yoga or stretching
• Push-ups
• Walking
• Running
• Music
• Inhaling lavender or rosemary
• Writing therapy
• Complete distraction [movie with friend, drive to the beach etc.]
• Emotional freedom techniques [sort of like self-hypnosis]
• Licensed cognitive or behavioral therapy

Butterfly is soothing, yes? Perhaps you need a therapeutic trip to Costa Rica.

I did my Master’s project on reducing test anxiety in nursing students, and there’s empirical evidence that music can not only reduce blood pressure and heart rate, but also cause people to report lower levels of anxiety. For some people loud angry music works best and for other soothing classical music helps. The deciding factor seems to be the kind of music you like.

Inhaling lavender or rosemary also resulted in lower heart rates and lower reported anxiety scores. Writing therapy [If you haven’t figured it out, this whole blog series is writing therapy for me], in which anxious students spent ten minutes journaling about their anxiety prior to taking a test, not only resulted in lower reported anxiety, but also in higher test scores. [Hey, maybe this blog series will make me a better writer!] Other things that work according to the research I did include emotional freedom techniques and licensed therapy.

Speaking of therapy...When I was in nursing school, I was that kid who got all As on the tests but was scared to touch the patients. I had particular anxiety about inserting IVs because when I get nervous, I shake, and no one wants a shaky IV inserter, right? I talked to a LCSW through our student assistance program. That’s the only therapy I’ve ever had and I went because I was really suffering and because it was free. And it helped me. And I got to do my senior practicum in the Cardiothoracic ICU, one of the scariest places to work. I later graduated with an “Award in Clinical Excellence.” Me—the girl who was afraid to put in IVs. 

My insurance is crap now and I can’t afford any kind of counseling, but if I could, I would probably go. I mean, why not? Who among us couldn't use an unbiased listener to help us navigate the stresses of life? I would say probably 30% of the writers I know have told me they take antidepressants, anxiolytics (anti-anxiety meds), and/or see a therapist regularly. And that's lower than the real number because not everyone feels comfortable talking about their mental health. YOU ARE NOT WEAK IF YOU NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE. You are not even unusual. I’m betting plenty of your writer pals are also seeing someone and/or taking meds too. Just because they don’t tell you doesn’t mean it’s not happening. It goes back to the introductory post: We writers are a sensitive bunch and writing can be really unpredictable and scary. Get help if you need it.

As far as meds go, I don’t take antidepressants or anxiolytics, but it's not because I'm the picture of mental health >_> Mental health is a fluid thing and I definitely have days where I feel emotionally labile or frail. I'm only telling you all that because it feels disingenuous to say there's no shame in taking medication and then not be straightforward about myself. I can say as an RN that these meds work really well for a lot of people, and if you have a side effect from one (weight gain, cloudy thoughts, etc.) there are lots of other options. Finding what works for you might take a couple tries.

If you have situational or social anxiety that only bothers you occasionally, you should know there are pharmaceutical options that aren’t psychotropic that you can take on an as-needed basis. Beta blockers are cardiac meds sometimes prescribed off label to lower your heart rate and blood pressure if you’re like me and shake/sweat when you’re anxious. Beta blockers are used a lot by classical musicians and stage performers, and I have taken them to survive school visits and store events because these things are really hard for me. [Note: hopefully this doesn't need to be said, but taking any kind of prescription drugs while not under the care of a healthcare provider is illegal and dangerous. Don't do it.]

Okay, so to recap:

1. Get help if you need it.

2. If you're doing okay, try some things on your own, but then

3. Get help if you need it.

Next week we're going to talk about building a support network, and yes that involves more than just joining one of those huge 285-person online writer forums. Depending on who you are, it might even involve reducing the time you spend on one of those. See you then :-)

Finding Happiness as a Writer: CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN

New to the series? Check it out from the beginning. You’ll have to start at the bottom and scroll upward if you want to read the posts in order.

Okay so last week I told you (or reinforced) all the terrible truths of publishing and I know you might hate me a little. This week I’ll try to win you back with actual strategies to combat those issues. It’s all about seizing control (or perceived control) where you can. If control is not your thing because you’re totally comfortable with the plan God has for you, or you trust the universe implicitly, or you’re fine if you never sell another book, etc. you might want to skip this post. [And since this is the interwebz where things get misinterpreted, let me clarify: I mean that previous sentence completely seriously. I’m not snarking on anyone’s religion, faith in destiny, or writing goals.]

Low control authors should probably just keep on keeping on—living life, writing more books. Man, I wish I were low control because that sounds pretty awesome ;-) But if that’s not you, let me take you back through last week’s points with strategies on how to make them hurt less.

If only it were that easy, Janet.

Writing isn’t fair.

The first way to deal with this is just to figure out if you can accept it. Are you okay with the idea that you might never achieve your personal definition of success? Are you okay with the idea that you might spend your whole life trying to be traditionally published and never even get a book deal at all? You're either someone who will think "Hey, at least I never quit fighting for my dream" or someone who will think "I wish I hadn't wasted so much time." It's best to figure that out sooner rather than later.

The second way is to realize that money and marketing don’t guarantee anything. Plenty of shiny debuts with six-figure marketing budgets and all the publisher bling you could dream of never become bestsellers. And then other books break out against the odds. ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, CODE NAME VERITY, and ELEANOR & PARK, to name a few, all achieved huge success despite not selling in massive deals. Barry Lyga and Rachel Harris both put out several books before becoming bestsellers. Someone told me Charlaine Harris sold the first Sookie Stackhouse book for a few thousand dollars. I'm sure at that time no one imagined it would become an international sensation and the TV series True Blood. And just last week I read a post where Victoria Scott mentioned how she started with a small publisher and her first royalty check was for $21. Now, four books later, she's with a major publisher and her latest royalty check just bought her husband a fancy new car. Great things can happen when you don't give up.

The third way to deal with this is to work your ass off. If you’re not getting print advertising or a national book tour or a commercial to run before the last Hunger Games movie (and 95% of books don’t get these things), make sure everything you do get is as good as it can be. Thing #1: YOUR BOOK. Don’t run out of gas during copy-edits and say “Yeah, okay, whatever.” Make sure the story is the best it can be. You’ll thank yourself later. Work with your editor to hone your flap copy to perfection. Make sure your Amazon and B&N pages are typo-free and display your positive trade reviews. Set-up online promotional opps like contests or blog tours and try to come up with something fun or different to promote your book. There is a lot you can do for free or on the cheap. Does it help sales? I don’t know, but it feels like it might, and sometimes that's comforting.


Publishing is a business.

Again, first, recognize. If you just want to write without doing any of the other work, um…marry rich? ;) Seriously though, there are ways to make this more palatable. Budget your time. I try to spend one day a week on administrative and promo things, five days a week writing, and one day a week off. You can do that same schedule even if you work full-time, you’ll just be spending fewer hours each day. Use technology to your advantage. I am all about Google forms and spreadsheets to stay organized. Limit the amount of time you spend on social media. Choose your promotional opportunities wisely. I love bloggers but before I commit to guest posts, I drop by websites to see if they look professional. And by that I don’t mean the wording of the reviews, but just is the page readable? Does it appear well-maintained, etc. If you take the time to write a guest post or set-up a giveaway, be sure to promote it. You can use tweetdeck to schedule tweets that promote your posts.



Some people will hate your work.

Dealing with book-loathing is tough. I remember seeing all the anger over the end of the DIVERGENT trilogy and thinking: Why are we so mad about a book when there are egregious human rights violations being committed all over the place? Where’s the outrage for that? Thing is, people have a right to get mad about whatever they want. People have a right to hate what you’ve written or misinterpret your words—purposely or intentionally—and then write scathing reviews. The alternative, a world with only positive reviews, would be like having no reviews at all, since no one would believe them. And no reviews at all would be bad for books.

Recognize that since you like some books and dislike other books, it’s kind of arrogant to think everyone will like your books. Go to your favorite books and read some of their scathing one-star reviews. Re-read the reviews of the people who love your books and remind yourself that their opinions are just as valid as those of your detractors. Realize that people bring their own histories, prejudices and feelings to each book they read and just because your book triggered a negative response in them doesn’t mean it’s bad. “Good” and “bad” are meaningless terms for the most part when it comes to fiction—as far as I know, no one is the high priest or priestess of book judgment. Bad reviews are something that will always kind of sting, but they do get easier with time. And you can always opt to seize the ultimate control over them by not to reading them.


You are not the boss of your book.

You, your agent, your editor, and your publisher all have the same end goal: for your book to be the best it can. Before you sign a contract, make sure you’re open to other people pushing you to improve upon your work. If you disagree with an edit suggestion your editor has pitched, that’s fine. When an editor pitches a revision idea, it’s because he/she thinks something in the story didn’t work as well as it could have. You can fix the area with your own solution if you want. Your editor just wants you to either address the problem or justify why it’s not a problem. Don’t be afraid to communicate. Remember, you’re all on the same team.

Can I play too?

Also, make sure your editor is aware upfront that you’d like to be consulted in matters like cover design. Don’t assume she knows this. If you have specific ideas, you can definitely feel free to send them along to her. If there’s anything you really don’t want, it’s okay to mention this too. Just realize that the design team might come up with something completely different from what you've envisioned.

When you are emailed a cover, try not to look at it like “That’s not what I wanted.” Look at it like: “Is it appealing in a way that will stand out on shelves and webpages? Does it accurately convey the story I wrote?” If you have legit concerns about either of these points, talk it over with your agent. If you don’t have an agent you can politely mention these concerns to your editor to see what she thinks. It’s also totally fine to ask for tweaks like changing someone’s shirt color or eye color to match the book, so don't be shy.


Success is somewhat out of your control.

I could write thousands of words about things that might help you hang onto partial control of your writing success, but I’ll try to keep this brief and give you a few overarching ideas. They’re all “best guess,” because like I said in the first post, it’s all about the perception of control—none of us really knows for sure what works. I just know I feel better when I’m working toward a goal, not just sitting back and hoping for the best.

Promote like a boss, like your new book is the best book ever. This is adapted from a tip from Sara Raasch, the kind of thing we all should know but might need reminding. You have to have faith in your work. Even if you have doubts, you can’t sit around biting your nails and thinking your book isn’t good enough because readers pick up on that sort of thing. Also, theme your contests and posts to match your books whenever possible. I have a #MysteryTwitterTheater event happening in March that should be super-fun for everyone involved and will hopefully reach mystery lovers across Twitter that might not have heard of LIARS, INC. Promote on and offline. I sent out postcards promoting LIARS to 100 indie bookstore buyers and a few found me online to tell me they were ordering the book. At least one read it and wrote a review for IndieNext. Sure, they might have ordered it anyway, but like one buyer told me: "You're smart to remind us because we see hundreds of new books every month." And if more of them read it then maybe more of them will recommend it to readers.

Diversify your writing portfolio. Loyalty is awesome. Loyalty to a publisher or editor is a beautiful thing. But your editor is not your spouse. If he or she gets a better job offer, they’re probably going to leave you. And that’s okay, because we all have to look out for ourselves. There’s nothing wrong with trying a new genre or going for a second publisher (as long as your contract allows—talk to your agent if uncertain.) There’s nothing wrong with branching out from YA to MG or NA or adult. There’s nothing wrong with doing a work-for-hire novel, a collaborative book with a friend, or self-pubbing. Maybe none of these alternate paths lead where you want to go, but you’re still allowed to explore them, and doing so—or at least embracing the possibilities—is another thing that might make you feel a little bit more in control.

Keep writing forward. Maybe you think it was total crap for me to talk about how some authors struggle to sell a second book when I sold four books last year. What you might not know is I sold them all before THE ART OF LAINEY came out. LAINEY’s sales are okay, but she’s definitely one of those “middle of the pack” horses. If had waited until LAINEY released to shop more books/proposals, there’s no guarantee I’d be in the same place I am now. If you want to do this long-term, you should always try to write forward. And writing forward has the added benefit of taking the pressure off your debut or most recent novel. Once you see the possibilities in a new story, you’ll realize that even if things don’t work out with one book, that doesn’t mean they won’t with your next.

There’s one more major thing we moderate to high control people should strive for in our writing pursuits, and that is to control OURSELVES—our anxiety, our negative thoughts, our self-destructive impulses. And that’s next week’s topic. In the meantime, have a happy week :-)

Finding Happiness as a Writer: ACCEPT THE UNACCEPTABLE TRUTHS

If you’re new to the series, check out the beginning. You'll have to scroll down and read the posts from the bottom if you want to go in order because I'm too lazy to link to them individually ;) #SorryNotSorry

Okay remember how I told you that the info you wrote down about yourself last week would come in handy later? Later is now. 

This week is going to deal primarily with people who have a high need for information. If you read the last post and decided you are someone who does better without all the info, then you might want to opt out of the bulk of this post. If you are someone who thinks that writing is this romantic endeavor where you sit by the fireplace at your secluded lake cabin and idly pen a few sentences each day while sipping wine bought with your huge advance, and you prefer to cling to that illusion, consider yourself low information. I don’t want to kill Santa Claus for anyone.

[Just imagine there's a GIF of Stewie Griffin 

saying: "I'm going to KILL SANTA!" here.]

People with a low need for info might also want to consider:

• Not reading all their tweets. I have periods where I only read my @ feed and even that can get taxing when I get tagged in a long conversation.
• Telling their agent to withhold rejection information and their editor to withhold bad reviews/bad news. (This is totally acceptable and in most cases they will do that for you.)
• Not reading every message posted to their debut group/FB group/author newsboard. There are a ton of groups like this now for authors at all stages of publication, and although they can be supportive, they can also be overwhelming. It’s okay to opt-out, temporarily or permanently. You have to take care of yourself.
• Not sharing rejections or sales numbers with other writers.
• Staying up on the publishing industry by reading a minimal number of blogs. I recommend YA Highway’s Field Trip Friday. I can go AWOL from the interwebz for a whole week and if I catch the posting of FTF I feel like I haven’t missed a thing.

"With the lights out, it's less dangerous."
(Bonus points if you can name the song.)

People with a moderate need for info:

• Hey, look at you. You sound very healthy and well-balanced. Will you be my friend? ;-) As far as the post goes, I’d look over all of it and decide what works for you. 
• P.S. Tell us your secrets in the comments area.

And now for the rest of us...

Before I went to nursing school, I asked some medical professionals their opinions on nursing. Almost all of them told me not to become a nurse--even the ones who had been nurses for twenty years. They told me it was hard, thankless work. Long hours, physically demanding, everyone from patients to doctors yelling at you, lots of bodily fluids and possible TB exposure. [This was before Ebola. I can only imagine what they'd say now.]

But I went to nursing school anyway, because I listened to what they said, accepted the information as likely to be true, and decided I was okay with it. Don't get me wrong, I've never been all like "Yay, feces!" or anything, but being warned about the potential grossness of nursing made it easier to deal with the occasional Code Brown. [Yeah, that's what we call, well, you know.]

And yeah, people with books out already will probably just nod their heads sadly to most of this info, but this is all the stuff I didn’t know going in that I wish I had. [Warning: some of it might hurt.]

Writing isn’t fair.

Not in an equity or an equality kind of way. Let’s say you get hired to make $30/hour as a nurse. You’re thinking that’s pretty decent money until you find out your friend, who has the same years of experience, is making three thousand dollars an hour. That’s a ludicrous scenario, right? Not when it comes to publishing. Some debut novels sell for $3000. Some sell for $300,000.

I am not going to pour Haterade all over this post and say that anyone who sells in a major deal “got lucky.” I believe everyone who achieves traditional publication has worked hard and produced a book that industry professionals think will find a readership. Plus, some of my best friends sold in ginormous deals :) [Full disclosure: VENOM sold in a three-book major deal, but as the work-for-hire writer I made a small percentage of the money from the sale.]

But I am going to say that sometimes you can set a "major deal" and a "nice deal" manuscript side-by-side and not necessarily tell a difference. You might prefer the cheaper book. Critics might prefer the cheaper book. [So far, most critics prefer my cheaper books.] Sometimes the cheaper book even outsells the expensive book. No traditionally published book is a hundred [or a thousand!] times “better” than another published book, so I do believe there is an element of luck in writing the right book and getting it to the right agent who gets it to the right editors at the right time to have publishing economics work to your best advantage.

I know if you don’t have an agent or a book deal, part of you is screaming “I don’t care about money!” but you probably do care about your future as an author, and disparity isn’t just about cash. Disparity also exists in cover creation, marketing support, promotional efforts, etc. and these things can impact your sales numbers. This is also why you can’t compare yourself to other authors. A book with a gorgeous foil cover that gets a US tour and a TV commercial should sell more copies than a book that gets none of that. And maybe you're still screaming that you don't care, but it can be tough to see giant tables full of some other writer's debut book at B&N when your book isn't being stocked in a single store, and yeah that happens. If you like information, it’s better to know going in that the treatment your book gets and the treatment the book next to it gets might be completely different.


Writing is a business.

Businesses often come with long waits, seemingly inefficient processes, colleagues you will like to varying degrees, and a lot of administrative work that has to be done by somebody. Regardless of whether you pub indie or traditional, your workday might consist partially of sending emails, packing up prize books, mailing things, balancing accounts, understanding tax laws, doing design work, doing market research, promoting your product, maintaining a website, etc. The time I spend doing the not-writing work of writing is often more than the time I spend writing. Before I got published, I naively thought I could just hire someone to deal with all of this—an accountant for my receipts, a publicist for my social media, a web-designer, etc. Yeah, no. If I hired someone to do all the stuff I don’t want to do, my writing income would be negative.


Some people will hate your work.

I don’t know what it is, but each time ARCs go out for a book and I start to get early reviews on Goodreads (I always read the very early reviews because sometimes reviewers bring up legit problems that slipped past everyone else), some arrogant, delusional part of me thinks “Maybe this’ll be the book no one hates.” I’ve gotten over the idea I can write a book everyone will love, but a book that no one despises enough to write a huge scathing diatribe about—I mean that’s possible, right?

Probably not. There are a ton of factors that go into why people love or hate a book, some of which have more to do with the people than the book. Either way, just as all of us probably have extremely negative feelings about a small number of books, expect that a small number of people will have extremely negative feelings about yours. Those people might write reviews that make your face burn when you read them--they might even make you cry. [Truth time: my Kirkus review for VENOM made me cry.] Be prepared, but if it happens try to let it roll off you, because more people will like your book than hate it, and those are the people who might have some say in impacting your future career.


You are not the boss of your book.

If you want to be the boss of your book [*gestures at high-control people*], you need to self-publish. When you sell your book to a publisher for an advance or for the promise of royalties [not all books get advances], you relinquish a lot of control. You can suggest a title, but if the publisher wants to replace it with a different one, they can. Sometimes your publisher will take your ideas for a cover into consideration, but other times you are not even consulted until the cover is basically done. Your publisher can also switch your cover and/or title when going from hardcover to paperback. They can redo your cover mid-series, even if you don't want them to. [They're usually doing it in an attempt to reach more readers, so you should probably just be glad they're spending additional time and money on your book.]

During edits, your editor might want you to change something that you don't want to change. Generally author and editor can find a compromise, but you should know that you being paid depends on delivering a "satisfactory manuscript" and it's within your publisher's power to refuse to publish your book if you and your editor can't agree. It's also generally within your power to walk away, but that means giving back the money you've been paid and probably burning a bridge with that publisher.


Success is somewhat out of your control.

OMG guys, this is the HARDEST thing for me and the thing no one tells you. You work your ass off for years trying to get an agent and a deal and then when you do you think “Yay, I’m an author now. The hard work is over.” Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the hard work is just starting. Unless your first book rockets onto the NYT bestseller list or outsells publisher projections, selling your next book will be just as hard—or harder!—than selling your debut novel. A debut author is like a thoroughbred racehorse running its first race—so exciting, so many possibilities. After that horse runs for a year and consistently finishes in the middle of the pack, people are less willing to bet on it.

Essentially, writing comes with all of the risks and responsibilities of being a small business owner. You can create a quality product, market that product effectively, provide good customer service, and still “go out of business” because for whatever reason enough people don’t buy your book. There’s no job security until your books have theme parks. I don’t tell you this to depress you. I tell you this so you won’t get punched in the face by any of it later. Also, you can make responsible choices about your finances, your day job, the time you invest in your writing, etc. If you read all this and you're like I was with nursing: "Bring it on. I'm informed and I'm still all-in," that should give you power and confidence as you progress through your publishing journey

But if you are depressed, never fear. Next week we’re going to talk about how you can take back some of that control, how you can compensate for some of that disparity, what you can do to maximize your chances for success. 

In the meantime, people with a high need for info might want to:

• Ask yourself if there’s anything you can do with the data you want. I am hugely high-info it it’s data I feel like I can do something about, but not so much when it comes to stuff I can’t control.
• Sign up for an Amazon author account to access Bookscan data
• Share sales data with trusted author friends
• Become a GR author so you can edit your GR page and use GR (responsibly) for market research and promotion
• Become active in author online communities

And then finally, my last tip and the place where I admit embarrassing things about myself:

• Go ahead and email your agent/editor with that nagging question. Don't ask your debut-group pal who doesn't know. Don't ask twitter. Ask the person who probably has an answer. Better to ask than to let your brain spin worst-case-scenarios to the point where you can’t function. Awkward revelation: Doing this is hard for me. I still sometimes cower when I email my agent questions that I’m not sure I should be asking, like: “OMG, she’s so busy, I shouldn’t bother her. OMG, she emailed back. What if it’s a lecture about being too needy or neurotic??? I think I need an internet break! *hides under bed*” This has everything to do with me being a ninny and nothing to do with my agent, who is the most awesome agent ever and has never yelled at me, not even once or twice when she probably should have. If you need to know, just ask. Even if the answer is "I don't know" or “there is no real answer to that question,” you’ll feel better after putting it out there.

Happy rest of the week! See you next time :-)

Finding happiness as a writer: KNOW YOURSELF

I'm doing an ongoing weekly series about staying happy as a writer. Check out the introduction to the series here.

So there’s this part in The Art of Lainey [Shameless plug: it's worth reading just for Micah :D] where she’s reading a passage in The Art of War about how if you know yourself and you know your enemy you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. And Lainey, being kind of clueless, scoffs a little because she thinks that of course she knows herself and her ex-boyfriend. But then later:

If you asked me whether I was the type of person who liked trying new things or preferred sticking with what was familiar, I would have told you I’m the second girl. The if –it-aint-broke-don’t-fix-it girl. I also would have told you plays were lame. It suddenly occurs to me that I don’t seem to know very much about…me. It’s a weird feeling, like maybe a stranger is inhabiting my body. Or maybe a stranger was, and I kicked her out. --The Art of Lainey

Today’s tip is about figuring out YOU. Maybe you’ve got yourself all figured out, or maybe you only think you do. From what I’ve seen, writers come in all different flavors. Some are introverted while others are gregarious. Some are hot-tempered at quick to argue while others are conflict avoidant. Some are obsessive and neurotic while others are flexible and laid back. The kind of person you are matters, because you can use that knowledge to make decisions about the writerly behaviors that will maximize your happiness. It's also important to recognize that your friends might have completely different writer-personalities and coping mechanisms, so it's okay if something that doesn't bother them bothers you. It doesn't make you weak or inferior.

This post is going to deal with four major writer personality traits: need for information, need for perceived control, willingness to sacrifice, and definition of success.

NEED FOR INFORMATION

If you came for the graphics, you're in the wrong place.

A great way to decide if you're low, moderate or high on this scale is to consider your behavior at the doctor's office. When he tells you that your gallbladder needs to be removed, do you sign the consent form without a second thought and schedule the surgery, do you ask about possible complications, or do you expect him to give you an entire lecture on the etiology and pathophysiology of cholecystitis, and then go through the steps of the surgical procedure?

I have a writer-friend who doesn't want to know about things like reviews or sales figures, so she doesn't even have an Amazon author account [Note: Amazon gives authors their Bookscan sales numbers, which are inaccurately low, but are generally the numbers used by industry professionals outside of your publisher to judge your book's performance.] And then on the other end of the spectrum, I have a friend who tracks her sales rankings at five different Amazons, B&N, and Book Depo multiple times a day and inputs the data into some kind of statistics software looking for trends. Two completely different ways to cope with the hard data of being a published author.

Writers who are low need for info might:

•  not read ANY reviews, not even trades                     
•  not track sales/rankings                   
•  not read PM/pub blogs,            
•  maintain minimal social media,
•  avoid Goodreads,
•  not ask your agents/editors things they don't want to know, just because some of your author pals have the data--things like real print run, whether the book will be in B&N, etc.

Writers who are moderate might:

• only read trade reviews and a limited number of reader reviews 
• restrain themselves to occasional rankings checks
• limit themselves to reading a handful of publishing blogs
• resist the urge to ask questions of their agent/editor

Writers with a high need for information might:

• obsessively Google their books
• read all the reader reviews on GR, Amazon, blogs and ask their editor about trade reviews
• check rankings multiple times a day and read scads of industry blogs
• ask many questions of their agents/editors

There are no right answers here. It's easy for people to assume that moderation across all spectrums is the healthiest place to be, but we are who we are, and you deserve happiness regardless of where you fall. Often it's easier to accept ourselves as-is and work with what we've got than to try to become someone else in our quest for writerly peace.

Also note the usage of the word "might" and the awesome arrow graphics. I in no way mean to imply that these categories are discrete or that people can't be a mix of traits from all three. The idea is to figure out your average, where you would plot yourself on the continuum.

NEED FOR PERCEIVED CONTROL

Microsoft Paint, FTW.

You probably know if you're a bit of a control freak [guilty!] or not by the time you're old enough to start writing books, but if not here are some characteristics of low, moderate, and high need for perceived control.

Low need for control authors might:

• not go to any conferences unless sent there by publisher
• not feel the need to participate in flap copy creation
• only do interviews and guest blog posts for the bloggers who reach out to them
• accept copy-editor suggestions without question
• trust their publisher without worry throughout the publication process

Moderate need for control authors might:

• want input in their cover and flap copy
• do less intense self-marketing
• go to local or affordable writing conferences
• do everything high need for control authors do, but in a scaled-down manner

High need for control authors might:

• self-publish
• give their agents submission lists of desired editors/publishers
• want to write their own flap copy/design their own covers
• create street teams and complex marketing plans they implement on their own
• reach out to librarians, magazines, newspapers, bloggers, booksellers for promo opportunities
• pay their own way to all the major literary conferences
• micromanage each step of the publication process
• question a lot of content and copy-editor suggestions

Again, falling into any of these categories is fine. This is just about recognizing you might be different than some of your writer friends and knowing yourself so you can make the best choices for YOU. Note that this is perceived control. I'm not getting into debates on God, free will, destiny, etc. I know what I believe, but even with free will, it doesn't mean that anything we do really makes a difference. Maybe sales figures and writing success are predetermined by the stars, or maybe they're determined by completely random public whims outside of our control. We'll never know. But what I do know is that for me it helps to do some things that make me feel like I'm a little bit in control.

WILLINGNESS TO SACRIFICE

Oh hai.

Ah, sacrifice, we do love to glamorize it, don't we? I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to writing I'm all in. I'll write 80 hours a week sometimes, skipping exercise, skipping human interaction, skipping shopping, existing on a diet of Mike & Ikes and RedBull. And then when I'm dealt a writing setback, I'll double-down and work harder and skip even more things. [ETA Mom/Mom-types: this is a bit of writer hyperbole and I promise I'm eating more than Mike & Ikes or I'm at least eating the fruit-flavored ones :D No seriously, don't worry about me--I'm happy, I really am. It's okay to be a workaholic if it makes you happy :)] I'll scream stuff in my head like YOU WILL HAVE TO DRAG ME BLOODY AND BROKEN FROM THE FIELD, PUBLISHING. YOU WILL NEVER WIN BECAUSE I HAVE NO QUIT!! But before you applaud what is probably insanity on my part, step back and recognize that this trait correlates highly with obsessiveness, and there are other ways to be successful.

Low sacrifice authors might:

• almost always put their friends and family first
• have no desire to ever leave their day jobs
• say things like "I want to be a writer, but not if it means jeopardizing the other important things in my life."

Moderate sacrifice authors might:

• skip social outings to work more
• reduce work hours or take a different job in order to write more
• say things like "I am going to keep trying until I get published/sell five books, etc."

High sacrifice authors might:

• work excessive amounts of hours
• ignore their friends and family in favor of work
• quit their day jobs/give up benefits in order to write more
• go without luxuries (or in some cases necessities) to write more
• say things like "Being published/being an author is the most important thing in my life."

And I know I'm beating this point hard, but it's difficult to read those categories and not feel judgy so again--it doesn't matter where you are. Olympic athletes are often high-sacrifice individuals, and that's an honorable thing. Not ignoring your family and finding a healthy work-life balance is also an honorable thing.You don't "deserve" a book deal or a bigger advance if you're a high-sacrifice person. No one "deserves" a book deal--it's just not one of our unalienable human rights.

Technically Eminem, success is not your only option.

DEFINITION OF SUCCESS

This one doesn't get an arrow because I don't think how people feel about success is as linear as the other traits. Here are some possible ways you might measure your writing success:

Intrinsically:

• it's about the journey/process
• just feeling happier when writing
• knowing your work is making other people feel happy

Single Achievement:

• finishing a manuscript
• being signed to an agent
• selling one book to a publisher
• being able to quit your day job
• making the NYT Bestseller List

Quantitative Achievement:

• selling [x] thousand copies of a book
• selling [x] books to publishers
• making [x] thousand dollars a year with your writing
• earning out on your books so you make royalty checks

I'll be the first to tell you, that once you start writing for editors and contracts and advance payments and trade reviewers, etc., it can be painfully easy to forget why you started writing in the first place. Once you achieve what you were using as a measure of success, it's almost automatic to raise the bar. Figure out what success in writing means to you now, today. That way when you start wallowing about what a failure you are because you haven't made the NYT List you can remember that once upon a time you didn't need quite so much to feel successful.

Were you able to figure out where you stand on these four traits? Write down the info or put it in your phone or something because we'll use this data in the upcoming weeks. Note that your position might change as you progress through your publication journey. That's totally normal--just keep track of when and why you change, if you can determine it.

What other writerly traits do you think we should analyze in ourselves when deciding how to balance our writing and our happiness? Add your thoughts in the comments. Have a happy rest of the week! ;)

Introduction: Finding happiness as a writer...

This is not a New Year's Resolution post. I don't make resolutions because I feel like if you want to do something, go do it. Why wait for the beginning of the year? Why turn it into a ceremony? To me, January is the worst time to shine up some new goals because the classes are all filled up, the gym is too crowded, etc.

But like many authors, I've struggled in the past with being happy. Compared to other occupations, writers are at a higher risk for problems such as alcoholism and suicidal ideation. Some of that is probably due to the sensitive people drawn to the field and/or the fact that a lot of us can't afford good health insurance so we don't get help when we need it. 

But some of that is because writing is its own kind of punishing work. Not punishing like ditch digging or trail building, which I've done. Not punishing like cooking 386 omelets to order in five hours for Easter Brunch, which I've done (and am weirdly proud of). Not even punishing like giving someone chest compressions and then watching them die. Yep, you guessed it--done that too. Writing is punishing in an isolating, self-doubting, creatively sapping, judged harshly by strangers, always uncertain, financially capricious kind of way. 

Then again, writing is the best job I've ever had, and one of the only things that makes me truly happy. When you land your agent or a book deal, when you wake up to a message from a fan who found your story to be heart-healing, man it doesn't get much better than that. 

Check out this picture:

This is coarse ventricular fibrillation, a heart rhythm we medical types like
to call "incompatible with life."

Unfortunately, this graphic is also a pretty good depiction of how my emotional status used to fluctuate on a regular basis. I was going to fill in some points:

• Several editors pass on a submission.
• I struggle to complete revisions on time, doubting the quality of my manuscript. 
• Publisher buys two books for slightly more money than previous deal. 
• Bestselling writer pal opts not to blurb my book.
• Blogger emails me to tell me my book helped her get over a breakup.
• Total stranger reviews my book in a 4000-word diatribe, implying I'm racist, intolerant, and a bitch. 
• Kirkus gives me a starred review. 
• Foreign publisher buys rights. 

But do I need to? You can see where those situations would fall on the chart of highs and lows. Sometimes several moments like this can occur in a single day. And note that all but one of these situations involves my feelings being altered by the actions of others, people over which I have no control. 

This kind of emotional rollercoaster is also probably incompatible with life, at least with any life I want to live. And a lot of people need four or five high points to mitigate the pain from one low point (think about it--the last time you read a scathing review, how many good reviews did you need to read before you felt better?), which means even when we're doing pretty damn good in our writing lives, we're still predisposed to feel unhappy. 

Last year I sold four books...and I still wasn't happy. (And I know how messed up that sounds to most of you, believe me). I was good for a while. They all sold in the same month so I felt like quite the rock star for a few weeks. Sure, some people had much bigger advances and fancy bling that I didn't have, but I had four more chances in 2016 and 2017 to build an audience backed by the support of major publishers.

And yet after the congratulatory tweets and glow of the new books deals faded, I felt vaguely...uneasy. Don't get me wrong, I knew I was in an enviable position. I knew that even though I'd busted my ass writing and promoting to get where I was, there had still been an element of luck involved. I was grateful for everything that happened and recognized the roles that other people--from bloggers to beta readers to editors--had played in my success.

So then, what the hell was my deal? I think, for me, it was that I still didn't feel stable. Even with nine books under contract, I still didn't feel like a career writer, like I had job security, like I could downshift from overdrive into a gear that allowed me a little more time to breathe. And honestly, I still don't feel like that. What the publishing industry giveth, the publishing industry sometimes taketh away at the worst possible moment. [ETA: The same day I posted this, I learned of Egmont USA's closing, which means several of my friends have just had their contracts canceled and their 2015 books--already edited in many cases--won't be distributed.] I live with that knowledge every day, and the only way it doesn't make me crazy is because I channel it to make me work harder and be better.

And I'm proud to say I did recapture my joy last year, and aside from occasional bouts of fleeting anxiety I would now describe myself as happy :) I decided to share part of my process, partially to help other writers who might be struggling, and partially to reinforce things for me. 

My original plan was to organize the posts into twelve steps and post once a week from now until April. But that felt kind of rigid and overly structured. Besides, who am I to tell people not only what to do, but also in what order to do it?

So instead I'm going to run this blog series as a collection of happiness-seeking tips until I get bored or run out of things to say, posting roughly once a week, at intervals that don't hamper my creativity, make me excessively cranky, or prevent me from going outside to chase sunbeams on those rare winter days when they scamper past my window. 

We love sunbeams, yes we do. We love sunbeams, how about you?

There are awesome bloggers who can handle a topic like being happy as a writer in a single blog post, but for me this was a process that took months--I didn't just choose to be happy and turn off my self-destructive feelings like a light switch. There was a lot of introspection, reflection, and admitting to myself that I needed to make changes. My process was about self-awareness and seeking balance and pitting reason against emotion repeatedly until reason won. 

We're all different, so not all of my tips will work for everyone, but if you're struggling right now, I hope you'll come back and check out more of the series. Please feel free to share some of your own tips in the comments. We're all in this together. 

And on that note, if you've arrived at this post and feel you may be suffering from depression or anxiety, or are engaging in self-harming behaviors, please seek the help of a trusted friend, family member, or clergyman. If none of those are options for you, you can also go to the closest emergency room. They will treat you and get you resources even if you don't have medical insurance. I'll try to find some reliable online resources to post at the end of the series, but right now I don't want to post links without vetting them. Just know that you're not alone, and there are people who will help you.

Eight great websites for writers

First of all, mad props to anyone who is cranking out 50,000 words this month. I don't ever officially do NaNoWriMo (which I inexplicably pronounced na-no-wree-mo for several years #fail) because I'm more productive if I revise every few chapters. I've definitely churned out 50,000 words in a month before, and although doing so makes me feel like an all-powerful writer goddess, the idea of 50,000 crappy hastily written words to revise makes me want to crawl in a hole and die. So if NaNo is not for you, rest-assured you're in good company...assuming you consider me good company :D

But in the spirit of NaNo (and to give you an excuse to slack off rest your weary fingers), I thought I would share with you some of my favorite writing-related websites. There are a bajillion great blogs and pages for writers, but the following are the ones I frequent heavily for kitten videos advice on craft, motivation, business stuff, and industry news.


1. terribleminds
If you're not comfortable with swear words or occasional frequent gross/graphic metaphors, you should probably stay away from Chuck Wendig's blog. Everyone else should drop by on the regs for hilarious, insightful, and motivational writing advice. Like this, from his NaNo tips post:

Give less of a shit. Relax. Ease off the stress stick, cowpoke. You’re not Superman saving a busload of precious orphans. You’re writing a novel. You can still give a shit — but set aside the baggage and expectations. You’re not Humanity’s Last Chance.

Word. Not only does Chuck provide encouragement in a way that will make you laugh at yourself and then go back to your manuscript energized and hopeful, he also provides such material at an alarming almost-every-day frequency. You scare me a little, Chuck, but I liked to be scared.

2. YA Highway

If you're a writer and you only read one blog post a week, I recommend reading YA Highway's Field Trip Friday. Each Friday, YAH staff (usually the phenomenal Kate Hart) rounds up all of the crucial publishing news, broken down into categories like "Big news", "Writing", "Reading", "Publishing", and "Other stuff." Let's say you spent all week on a deserted island or in a revision cave or even in a freaking coma. FTF will catch you up completely. YA Highway is helmed by an impressive crew of YA writers and also features other great craft and industry-related posts throughout the week.

3. Jennifer Represents

I might be biased since Jennifer Laughran is my fabulous agent-tiger, but her helpful blog makes my list for a couple of reasons. She has a wide knowledge of publishing from multiple angles--she's an agent with an impressive sales record (she sold 4 books this year just for me) and she's also a part-time bookseller. But more importantly, Jenn addresses what she sees are gaps in people's knowledge and she gives it to you straight, often sharing the insider info she's gleaned from years of publishing experience. You might not always like what she's got to say, but you don't have to wonder if she's spinning a nicer version of the truth or just telling you what you want to hear. Jenn = real.

4. Kid Lit

Agent Jenn's former colleague Mary Kole left agenting to be an author and freelance manuscript consultant. Whereas Jennifer generally focuses on the publishing industry, Mary focuses more on writing craft. She's written a fabulous book about writing irresistible kidlit, and her blog is a collection of tips and helpful pointers for writers at all stages of their careers.

5. Intern Spills AKA Hilary T Smith

Before Hilary sold WILD AWAKE, she worked as an editorial intern in NYC. Currently she posts more about her own writing journey, but see those 200 or so archived posts over in the right sidebar? Those are all gold for aspiring authors who want tips for writing and querying or just a bit of inside information on how editors think and do business. I still re-read some of Hilary's craft-related posts like "How Books Work: The Hunger Games" and "The Electric Kool-Aid Conflict Test" when I'm struggling with a revision.

6. Query Shark

I am only going to say this once--EVERYTHING you need to write a solid query can be found on this website. In fact, IMO this is a lot more info than you need. But if you read agent Janet Reid's guidelines and deal-breakers and then read 100 or so queries and her feedback, you will be able to write a decent query. Please keep in mind that the quality of your first 5-10 pages of your manuscript matters more than crafting the world's most perfect query letter. I do query critiques for Manuscript Critique Services and I routinely run across people who think that what is essentially a cover letter for your manuscript matters more than your actual story. No, just no.

7. Writer Unboxed

I honestly just stumbled across Writer Unboxed the other day and what a delightful and informational rabbit hole it is. Sometimes I feel guilty when I get sidetracked while working and sometimes my inability to focus feels like serendipity. Finding WU was one of those latter times. WU includes posts on industry, craft, and inspiration by everyone from pre-published writers to bestsellers.

8. Pub(lishing) Crawl

Pub crawl, despite being alcohol-free, is one of my favorite writerly sites because its contributors are a mix of writers, editors, agents, and sales/marketing people. As you might imagine, people in different corners of the publishing industry have different knowledge and see things a little differently. With Pub Crawl you get the best of all the worlds!

Had enough? If not, here are few more epic writing websites:

The Daily Dahlia

Nathan Bransford

Adventures in YA Publishing

Nelson Agency's Pub Rants

Forever Young Adult (for fun!)

What are your go-to places for writing information and motivation? Share them in the comments :)

How to engage your critics (if you must) in a safe and productive way

Here's a thing about me--I hate hurting people's feelings. I hate it even worse than having my own feelings hurt. This isn't because I'm a super speshul snowflake or anything. It's just how I'm wired--overactive conscience, conflict-avoidant, poor ability to deal with guilt. Because of all that, I'll admit it--I struggle to understand people who write mean-spirited book reviews. What I don't struggle to understand, is that they have the right to do so.

If you have a twitter account, you've seen at least fifty tweets from authors and bloggers in the past couple of days saying that the correct response to a negative review is to just keep rolling, brush it off, write more books. They're right, and this is what I do most of the time. However, I have responded to critics on multiple occasions--four that I can remember--and all of those interactions produced positive outcomes where both parties walked away with a greater respect and understanding for each other. So a friend asked me to blog about how I do it, and I thought I'd give a few tips. NOTE: I still believe the best response is usually to shut the review window and write more books, so please do not take this blog post as a recommendation to engage your critics.

Also, I am paraphrasing review quotes and actual correspondence with reviewers out of respect for privacy, but the people I'm talking about are more than free to elaborate in the comments section and share their links.

Tip #1: Utilize a cooling off period.
I recommend at least three days. You might need longer. You need to wait long enough that you've stopped physically shaking. You need to be able to fall asleep at night without obsessing for hours. A writer-friend once pointed out a blog post about book packagers and work-for-hire writing. This blogger had only just discovered the concept and to her it was kind of suspect. "Why would anyone want to develop someone else's ideas?" she wondered. "Don't these writers have their own ideas?" [paraphrased] This article went on to mention my work-for-hire pseudonym by name, like "How does Fiona Paul feel about [this] or [that?]" My immediate response was rage, because all I could see was someone calling me out in a blog post without bothering to try to contact me, and then presuming that I was a lesser writer because I opted to write for a book development company. After I calmed down a little (okay, a lot) I realized the article wasn't accusing me of anything--it was asking questions. I didn't like what it was asking, but they were legitimate questions from someone who wanted to know. And if she wanted to know then other people wanted to know. And people think all kinds of bad things about book packaging, but a lot of them aren't true. So with the blessings of Paper Lantern Lit, I contacted her and offered an interview. I ended up writing a three-part series about WFH in general and my experiences in particular. And even though my books are probably never going to make this blogger's favorites list, she has made my favorites list as an unflinchingly honest voice in a sometimes all-too-fake world. I like to think she feels similarly about me.

Tip #2: Recognize it's not all about you.
Even if a review calls you racist, sexist, homophobic, intolerant, unintelligent, etc., it's not a review of you because this person does not know you. They are often incorrectly attributing your character's words and actions to you. Even if your villain says something reprehensible and ten characters call him/her out on it, some people will still take offense to particular words or actions, and that's their prerogative. I tend to agree with what Stephen King says in On Writing, [paraphrased] that my characters do and say offensive things because that's who they are and I'm merely transcribing their words and thoughts. But many reviewers have "hot button issues" so if you included violence against women, violence against animals, two much swearing, a love triangle, etc., they are going to hate your book on principle. I am not saying you are "right" or that reviewers who hate your book are "wrong." There is no right and wrong. You can write about anything you want, but unless you write about a glass of water sitting on a table, chances are your work is going to offend some people.

Tip #3: Recognize it might not even be about your book.
It might be 100% about your particular writing and story. Or it might be about the ten love triangle books someone read before yours, and yours just happened to be the one that made them snap. It might be because they're sick or currently suffering and your character is being a whiny baby about problems that pale in comparison. It might be because your main character reminds them of a girl who tormented them in high school. It could be a whole lot of things that they may or may not even realize. We don't read books in vacuums.

Tip #4: Figure out why you want to contact them.
Wrong answers:
--To yell at them.
--To tell them they hurt your sensitive feelings.
--To tell them they have gotten a fact, or plot point, or theme wrong.
--To explain to them how they missed your point and clarify the awesomeness that is your book.

Possible right answers:
--To thank them for spending time reading and reviewing your book, IF you mean it.
--To clarify a point, IF they asked for clarification in their review.
--To apologize if they pointed out something that personally offended them, and after careful consideration you agree with them and wish you hadn't written it. I would tread carefully here though, because as I mentioned, it's really hard to write an authentic book without anything that could be construed as offensive. Books are usually about people. People say and think and do offensive things sometimes. Such is life.

Tip #5: Recognize and strive to reduce the perceived power differential.
This one is hard for me because I feel like I'm about as intimidating as Mary Poppins. I'm just one single chick holed up in a tiny apartment cranking out stories on a kitchen table that is actually patio furniture. But bloggers don't intuitively know who's a well-connected, high-powered NYC writer and who's not. Bloggers might not even know that some writers are paid $250 for their first book and others are paid $250,000, even though when you set the books side-by-side you can't necessarily tell the difference. But even though I'm not a super-successful Manhattan hotshot, I'm still an author with books on shelves and access to publicists/industry insiders. And that means seeing a Goodreads response or email from me in an inbox after a negative review could cause some anxiety. [NOTE: Never engage publicly on twitter or in a comment thread--that will always feel aggressive.] I personally strive to treat reviewers as equals. I'm not a better person because I'm an author. I'm not necessarily even a better writer. And in many cases, I'm less informed about the publishing industry. I'm not embarrassed to admit that and I'm grateful to bloggers and reviewers for what they've taught me.

Tip #6: Make sure both parties can potentially benefit from contact.
You don't know until you do it, but if your desire to reach out is all about you needing closure or answers, stop right there. Reviewers aren't spouses or bosses or family members. They don't owe you an explanation for anything. I reached out to a girl who wrote a somewhat scathing review of VENOM, my first work-for-hire book. Among other things, she detailed a lot of anachronisms, specifically with the dialogue and voice. Now some of this was what I was asked to do to make the book accessible (use contractions, etc.) but some of it was just fail on my part. Even though the book had several editors and a Renaissance expert, this reviewer brought up a lot of very solid points we all missed. My thought process went something like "Waaaaah. Poor me... Holy crap this girl is smart...I wonder if she'd be interested in reading the third book before it goes to the printer..." She was. I couldn't afford to pay her, but I sent her the very first ARC, thanked her for being a "delta-reader", and offered to write her a research reference if she ever needed. It turned out to be a win-win-win. A blogger felt heard and respected by an author. A book became better. And this girl is now my friend, supporter, and publishing colleague.

Tip #7: Recognize the potential for harm to your career.
You can do everything "right" in contacting someone and still manage to piss them off. Back when the internet was just a baby, I worked retail and restaurant work and remember my managers saying something like "A happy customer tells an average of 7 people about their experience. An unsatisfied customer tells approximately 23." Dude, I don't know what the updated figures are, but I can imagine. I still do not believe that a single person can "ruin a career" (except, perhaps, for an author ruining their own career) but there is always a risk in confronting someone, so be sure to weigh the potential costs and benefits before proceeding.

Tip #8: Err on the side of being overly polite and non-argumentative.
The first critic I ever contacted was when I was brand new to Goodreads. It was 2011. The sale of VENOM had recently been announced. And sure enough, someone gave me 2 stars before ARCs had even been printed. I didn't know back then GR permitted people to rate books based on how excited you were for their release. I didn't know anything. I had clicked "I accept the terms and conditions" without bothering to read them (we all need to stop doing this.) If I had it to do over this is one contact I would not have made, because frankly it was none of my business if she chose to rate my book without reading it. But back then my neurotic author brain was like "Who is this hater and why is she trying to sabotage my book?" and then "OMG, what if there are pirated copies of some crappy first or second draft floating around?" Either way, this 2-star rating had me panicked. (Naive, yeah, I know.) So I sent her a message like: "Hi. I'm brand new to GR and saw that you rated my debut novel. I was just wondering how you managed to read it so early. Basically I'm hoping there aren't copies of one of my old drafts floating around on the internet." She responded, very kindly, that she was a reader for a foreign publisher who had access to my latest draft. She went on to tell me her feelings about the book, including both positive and negative feedback. She ended by saying that perhaps it was wrong of her to post her rating almost a year in advance and offered to take it down until closer to publication date. I declined this offer and thanked her for responding. And I felt silly for doubting her. And then I got back to work. Can you imagine how differently that would have played out if I had been aggressive or accusatory? I could have burned a bridge with a major foreign publisher for all eternity. [ETA: a good rule of thumb is not to write anything you wouldn't be okay with the whole world reading.]

Tip #9: No answer is an answer.
If you reach out and get no response, let it go. Again, this isn't your spouse--it's a stranger. It's the equivalent of someone who viewed your profile on a dating site and clicked no thanks. You asked for a conversation and they politely declined. Who cares if that's not how you do things. The reviewer doesn't have to play by your rules. Move on, already. Don't you have a dog to walk or some laundry to catch up on or a hobby or maybe another book to write? Live your life, or seek help from a confidante or mental health professional if you can't.

Tip #10: Know when to say no.
There are some people it does not make sense to ever engage. Some reviewers are building a brand, and their review is more about their internet platform than it is about your book. People who DNF'd your book are not going to pick it back up because you tell them to (though they might pick it back up if a friend tells them to, as long as you don't act like a total psychopath first.) Most of your 1-star reviews will come from readers who either hated your plot (too late to tweak that), hated your writing style (I don't recommend changing that for 1 or 10 or even 200 people), or just deemed your book "not for them." Liking or not liking a book has an emotional component to it and even the most logical or impassioned argument in your book's favor isn't going to change someone's mind. When's the last time Fox News or the liberal media, depending on your leanings, changed your mind about something? I rest my case. Save your breath. Save your time and energy for your next book. Or better yet, why not engage with some of the people who wrote good reviews? You know, your FANS. In the end, aren't they the ones who really matter?