More Words of Wisdom -- Listen Carefully My Children

And that about covers it. 

*points* 

I'll be over there, making my dreams come true. 

#3 How to Be An Author: What Personal Information Do You Share?

I have some dirt to dish. Some secret details about me that may just shock you. Brace yourself. Ready? Need a fortifying sip of tequila?

Okay. Here goes.

Despite the fact that the very first question on my nearly three year old interview series, Crawl in Bed, is about the sheets…I don't actually care about the thread count of the cotton I sleep on. I don't use silk or satin sheets either, because my SO says they're too hot and make him sweat. I indulge him, because it doesn’t matter.
What does matter to me is towels.
Thick, absorbent, soft, huge, fluffy towels.
Towels are important. Sheets are not. (Just ask Ford Prefect)

When I first joined the literary online world, I thought I'd share some of who I was, connect with readers and other writers personally as well as professionally. Then, all kinds of epic shit storms started hitting the interwebs. I was aghast.

I couldn't believe my innocence, my naiveté. I found myself being stalked, more than once. Mea culpa. I deleted all personal data and information about myself from my profiles everywhere. My SO took one look at some of the crap I was dealing with and had a meltdown.

He didn't want any part of a fishbowl existence, even just as an ambiguous accessory, my E. So, we hammered out some guidelines, some rules, to protect our privacy as a family and our position in the community.

As an author, that's for you to decide. YOU get to figure out how much of your personal data you put out there. Some readers and bloggers will try to make you believe you owe them a photo of the inside of your underwear drawer because they bought your book. Ignore them.

They'll scream long and loud, but the fact of the matter is that they are a minute portion of your audience. Most of the world doesn’t really care what size shoes you wear or whether you prefer boxers over briefs. If you want to show off your neatly rolled socks and starched cotton boxers, go for it. If you don't, your choice.

Most of the people you meet online, or at conferences and signings, don't care about that. They just want you to write another book because that's what attracted them to you in the first place.

Just one caution, and this comes from my heart. People love reading good news, your new releases, your good reviews, your latest contracts signed…They LOVE to see that.

But there are things they aren't going to love.

If you're having a bad day, week, month or whatever, people are going to be sympathetic. Of course they are! But if all you're sharing is the misery…the agony…the failure of being a writer, don't be surprised if there's no jump in sales.

I have an online acquaintance who updates her newsfeed periodically with "no books sold this month" and all sorts of sighs and whimpers and poor me's. At first I tried to be encouraging, to say the sales will come, that she just had to be patient. Then when the woe is me story continued, I tuned her out. And most likely, so did her other prospective readers.

So there's my caution, the lesson I learned. Share as much or as little as you're comfortable with, but remember that there is truth in these two old adages:

Familiarity breeds contempt

You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

#2 How To Be An Author: Publishers…Yay…

Way back in that long ago October, when I was first starting out, (and let me re-iterate here, I am by no means declaring that after three years I know all there is to know about this crazy writing world, or am an expert on marketing, or any other aspect of being a professional author) I finished my first manuscript, and started a new one right away while I tried to figure out what to do with my baby.

I started with some of my favorite ebook publishers.

Read their submission requirements, which were written, btw, with a lot more tech savvy individuals in mind than I was then. I reformatted to the best of my ability, labored over synopsis and summary, and query letter and …

Paid attention to that little phrase "We do not accept simultaneous submissions."

So, being the law abiding, rule following sort who can get lost finding my way out of a paper bag, I sent it to one publisher at a time.

It took six weeks to find out that the first publisher wasn't interested. I moved on to the next publisher on the list, and finished my second manuscript. I started the third, as it was a second book in a series.

Six weeks later, I'd finished first drafts for two more books in my series, and hadn't yet heard back from the second publisher about my first story.

I started looking for a third choice, and you know what? Almost all of them had variations in how they wanted material submitted. But they all had that little phrase, "No simultaneous submissions." Then, I decided to explore other options for my first book while I focused on the second, third, etc.  I decided to self-publish my first book (oy, Lessons learned there, in a separate post, coming along one day.) in order to move on with the publication process on my series.

And I made a few other decisions too.

1.  I formatted my documents in Times New Roman, size 12 double-spaced. That is a perfectly legible font used frequently in academic circles; it's easily read, and when submitting, for consideration, that OUGHT to be the publisher's sole guideline. (Why? Because if a publisher is going to nitpick the use of font, hidden formatting objects, and so on…then they may not have the flexibility to work with the directions I wanted to pursue…which didn't always fall strictly in the boundaries of what was "right".)
2.   I sent my submission to as many publishers as I wanted to, all at once. (Why? Because it's my right to do so as an author. I don't have to sit back and wait, subbing consecutively just because the publisher says so. Publishing isn't a one sided activity. I could be sitting here, sending out A Beautiful Silence every six to eight weeks, three years later, one publisher at a time, letting them decide before I moved on. You don't have to do that. In truth, I seriously doubt if until this moment, any of the publishers even knew that I sent Keeping House to six publishing houses at once.)
3.    The publisher is a partner in your book – not your boss. Seriously, he's making money off your work. Don't be so thrilled to be offered a contract that you forget that you are THE KEY ELEMENT to the success of the venture.

Now, those were all decisions I made without experience, no contacts, no real knowledge of the ebook publishing industry. Since then, I've learned a bit.

For instance…You know why each publishing house has its own little nit-picky guidelines for how they want your submission formatted?

            Because then they can make it harder for you to send a blanket submission. In the long run, while you will have to change all your tabbed indents to automatic, and your font to whatever they prefer, the fact is, that is something that can be fixed in minutes during your first round of edits or even pre-edits. Adjusting the formatting to house standard ought to occur after acceptance. It just makes more sense, doesn't it?

            Why would they want it to be harder for you to send a blanket submission? Because then you are more inclined to cheer and cry in delight and accept that contract they offer you. Because let's face it, if you have to receive a contract, then sub again, then wait six weeks to get two offers to compare? That's not going to happen. Odds are, you're going to accept that first offer, and it might take a few before you realize there might just be something better out there.

            You see, like a lot of people, publishers want the option of accepting or refusing you.  They have hundreds of submissions, and they want to choose the ones they think will sell best. They want the power position.

You don't have to give it to them. By sending your ms to a variety of publishers, you share power. You are choosing, not just waiting to be chosen. You have the option of looking at contract terms and publishers and deciding which one you want to work with.

            The publisher isn't your boss. He's your co-worker, your adviser,  your partner. He may have a contract for your work, but he doesn't own it. Don't think you have to accept everything he says as a mandate from heaven.

            The bottom line is you can get your book out there without a publisher. Without an author, a publisher has nothing to sell. 

Dear Editor: Just Because It's Not Active...Doesn't Mean It's Passive

Good morning. *sips coffee* Welcome to my humble abode on the web. I've been writing for three years now, having started back in October of 2010. I've learned a lot in that time. Many things I struggled to learn on my own (marketing, finding my voice, time management) and many things I've learned from other authors, industry professionals, and editors. Please excuse me if the following comes off as arrogant. Or just snort and drink your coffee and think I'm an idiot for quibbling about inconsequential things. Totally up to you.

Everyone is full of advice for writers; even people who have never written a word want to tell me how to write. I listen, weigh, and use what I believe is valuable.

It's easy to dismiss some things, especially when you consider the source.

It's harder to say that a publisher or an editor is wrong, especially when you can tell that there's a kernel of truth in what they're saying. Sometimes, as a person with a degree or two in the English language, I stare at the comments on my manuscript pages, dumbfounded.

More than once I've said WTF?

More than once I've taken your comments to my colleagues and asked for an interpretation.

More than once, I've shaken my head and rejected your suggestion, because it just didn't make sense.

I've received comments that sent me off to find the CMOS, or any other grammar guide for elucidation. Sometimes I've searched in vain, and had to accept that things aren't the way they used to be, just because you said so.

But sometimes, it's not me; it's you.

For example... I occasionally get comments of "passive" in my margins. ( Is there a term for heavy reliance on "state of being" verbs? Maybe we ought to come up with one that's not already in use?)

Passive vs. Active. - Passive and active writing does not mean what you think it means. In order to BE passive, a verb must first BE active. An active sentence is one in which a subject performs an action. A Passive sentence is one in which an action is performed on the subject.

He ate peanuts. (ate is an action verb)
Peanuts were eaten by him. (were eaten is a passive construction of the action verb eat)

A BEING verb, does not convey action and cannot be passive.

He was nuts. (Nuts was he... hmmm rather poetic but hardly sensible.)
He appeared nuts.

I did not FIX the passive nature of that sentence by changing the verb from was to appeared. Appeared is a BETTER word choice, but it is still NOT active. It's a linking verb (expressing state of being), and any word I substitute for was in that context will serve the same function. Otherwise, the sentence doesn't make sense. (Now, shouldn't I be showing you that he's nuts and not telling you? Sure, but that's an entirely different post.)


I even have a list of verbs from one publishing company that they have deemed "passive". What they meant, of course, was "These words are commonly overused in one way or another so please don't use them in your manuscript more than once or twice."  I know this because I know that watch, listen and think are action verbs. I can use them in active sentences. I shouldn't use them in my ms, but for an entirely different reason than their supposed passivity.


The problem: When you tell me something is passive, you aren't actually referring to the voice. You're referring to the lack of action. Do I know what you mean? Well, I do NOW!

The solution: Tell me my passage is heavy on linking verbs, or that lengthy descriptive passages are boring. Tell me to break up the dull passages with actions, but don't tell me that it's passive. In grammar, passive does not mean simply inactive.


Simply put, an editor needs to use correct terminology. Otherwise, I think you don't know what you're talking about, and I don't trust your suggestions. 

Writing Help

Sometimes, I just need a little boost to get me going and keep me on track. 

Sadly, this one didn't work, though I did spend ten minutes jotting down notes for a short story he inspired. 

Perhaps he'd be of more help to you? 

______________________________________________________________________

Sage Advice #2

Oh! I am so guilty of this!

See?

Things to work on. What are your writing foibles?

Here's a few of mine:

1.  Ellipses. I am addicted to them. Scatter the things like confetti, or ants at a picnic. Need to cure that habit.

2.  Typos- I have two major, consistent typing errors that recur. One is flipping the o and r in from. Yeah. At the end of every first draft, my first revision step is to do a search and find for "form". I still miss a few, as I'm sure my editor tell you.

3.  Double spacing after a sentence. It was drilled into me in Typing 101 back in high school, on an old model electric typewriter. Apparently, now that we're all computerized, that's not the way things are done. Hard habit to break, that is, but I'm getting there!

4. See that up there? Exclamation mark. Bastard snuck right in. They always do.

What are some of your writing foibles?

Sage Advice

Awesome advice. Only problem is, then the phone rings...or you know, you open up Face Book...otherwise known as Time Suck.

Finding your own voice is very difficult for a writer. Learning to say what you mean, to put words together so they make sense is challenging. Then, when you think you've done it...along comes someone with an opinion.

And they may say that what you said was dumb, or ill-expressed, or wrong.

It can be discouraging, that certainty some people have that you aren't doing things right.

Just remember, its your voice, your story, your call.

I have to remember this.