Tag: writing advice

The Subtle Art of Not Giving Up

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A guest post by Nicole Tone, an author, editor, and all-around wonderful person. Nicole’s latest book, LAKE EFFECT, hits shelves next week! 

In an attempt to try and bring some order to the chaos of my Instagram feed, I’ve been doing a lot of archiving of old pictures lately. All of the ones I thought were so good and cool at the time, I’ve been looking back now and thanking the art gods that I’ve progressed past the days of wine glasses and bad filters. But in my cleaning out of my Instagram, I found pictures of my Lake Effect progress back when I really started writing. In 2013, Lake Effect was barely a first draft I thought I could just query agents with and they were going to help me edit and get the book ready for publishing.

I was Jon Snow. I absolutely knew nothing about the publishing process.

My comp titles in my query were books like The Bell Jar and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I thought what I was writing was a completely different genre than it actually was. But somewhere, deep down, I knew Sophie’s story was an important one to tell. Sophie’s story wasn’t something I could give up on. Rejection after rejection, I knew that what I had was something special but maybe not something the world was ready for. This was pre-#MeToo, pre-national news covering assault cases on college campuses. So, while Sophie’s story wasn’t a unique one, it also wasn’t a marketable one. Rape wasn’t a subject that was part of the contemporary literature canon despite it being definitely apart of contemporary life.

See, here’s the thing: I’m a survivor of suicide attempts. A victim of sexual assault. The labels I use to describe myself depends on the day. The labels are also the reason I knew I couldn’t give up on Lake Effect. While my story isn’t Sophie’s story by any length of the imagination, I knew her story needed to be told. Years of editing, of querying, of rejections didn’t matter. Well, that’s not completely true. At the time, when rejection after rejection was piling up I was taking them personally. I couldn’t understand no one else thought her story was important.

And that’s the hard part of querying, isn’t it? Feeling like each form rejection that comes in is somehow a commentary on you, on your story, on your writing, on your character’s story. That you — they — aren’t good enough. For me, because I’ve experienced things Sophie experienced, I couldn’t understand why such an important topic wasn’t something anyone want to champion. Was Speak really going to be the only book allowed to be published that tackled the subject?

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But I didn’t give up. I knew in my gut that Lake Effect would find a home somewhere. What I needed was a publisher who was willing to take a chance on the topics covered, and who would be my champion to help me get this book into the hands of readers who would need it the most. What I needed was a small publisher looking to boost voices and stories that were bold and important. What I needed was Pen Name Publishing.

The thing is, all along this whole journey, the thought of shelving Lake Effect never crossed my mind. Something pushed me to keep going, kept telling me this was a book that needed to see the light of day. I’d put too much time, effort, tears, blood, and energy into this book and ultimately that’s what kept me going. Suddenly it wasn’t about finding an agent, it was about finding the best home for me and my book. And I’m so glad I did.

Nicole Tone is a writer, editor, and poet living in Buffalo, NY. You can follower her on Twitter and Instagram @nicoleatone. For more information : www.nicoleatone.com

Social Media By Hogwarts House

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In addition to authoring and brooding, I also am an expert on social media. For today’s blog post, I wanted to have a little bit of fun with social media.

Drumroll…

It’s time for Social Media by Hogwarts House! (yes, the title was a bit of a spoiler.) So, scroll down, find your house, and get your homework to improve your social media presence.

Gryffindor

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Ah, brave Gryffindor.

You’re direct, and focused. Not one to waste time, your social media plan is efficient, and you often use a site such as tweetdeck to manage your site

BUT You lose interest at sites when you’re not “good” at them

Your homework: learn a new site, or skill. Maybe it’s time to tackle Tumblr, or time to work on your coding skills to build a better blog

Ravenclaw

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You have knowledge, and you have opinions. Your social media gameplan is to increase and share those things.

BUT you don’t participate in conversations. You only lecture, link tweets to form mini-essays, and #overuse #any #hashtag #you #can #to #share

Your homework: get social with your social media! Have some fun by complementing other’s artwork/writing/thoughts.

 

Hufflepuff

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Your loyalty and kindness is legendary. Across all your social media platforms, you interact in a kind, genuine way with your friends.

BUT you tend to “follow” more people than you have followers. Content to interact with your closest friends, you have a hard time using social media as anything more than a public version of your Whatsapp/GChat discussion

Your homework: do some self-promoting if you have a book. Or, use a tag like #amwriting to extend your network outward.

Slytherin

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You are flawless.

I kid. I’m a Slytherin too, you see, so naturally, our flaws are harder for me to see. Our cunning minds let us learn new sites easily, and we’re loyal to the friends we meet online.

So what could our homework possibly be?

Uh… we could learn to be a bit humble on social media. No, that doesn’t mean humblebragging. It just means reducing our ego, just a bit, as to not seem like a giant jerk online.

 

There you have it! Is your house accurate? Tell me in the comments!

 

 

Finding Time to Write When You’re Busy

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For those of you who know me, you probably know just how busy I am.  Between work and grad school, not to mention volunteering, interning, exercising, and way too many other -ings, my days are swamped.

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But I like it this way!

Of course, I still need to find time to write, and that’s something we’ve all struggled with.  Nothing’s worse than realizing you’ve wasted the whole day on Twitter or baking cookies instead of writing.

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Here are my tips.

  • Study what your brain needs, for each part of the process
    • For me, I need chunks of silent time for drafting, but editing can be done at any time
    • My brain also needs music, but not background noise. Some people swear by writing with a TV in the background. Me? Even a coffeeshop’s chatter is distracting.
    • Coffee. My brain needs coffee the way a zombie needs brains.
  • If you try a new routine, stick with it for at least a week
  • Reward yourself! Set milestones, then treat yourself! (note, do not treat yourself before the milestones. That undoes the whole process)

Now that i’ve give you some of my best pointers, I’ll let you know what works for me!

I am not a morning person. At all. If you meet me before 8am, I will glare blankly at you, before shuffling away, like the aforementioned zombie in search of brains. That being said, I’ve found I draft much better in the mornings. My brain feels more empty. I have less concerns about the rest of the day, and I’m not as stressed about my to-do list.

So when I’m drafting, I wake up by 6am, do a bit of yoga, have my coffee, and settle down for a nice hour of writing.

On the other hand, editing in the morning is a bit like eating a live toad first thing. Although some have suggested this is a great way to make the rest of the day seem easy in comparison, I simply cannot stomach it. I do my editing in spurts. Twenty minutes on the subway, an hour at lunch, and an hour before bed.

Proofreading/fine-tuning, for me, is an utterly different beast. This is the only time I print out the pages, and leave the glowing computer screen behind. There’s something really vivid about seeing the words on an actual page.

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So there you have it! My writing habits, defined. What are yous?

Interview: GifGrrl

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Today on the blog, I’m joined by a very talented friend. As well as being a talented writer, Claribel Ortega is the founder and mastermind behind GifGrrl, a really amazing company.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, a gif is a moving picture! Like this:

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Oh hey! It’s my book! Looking sharp!

I adored this gif, and I wanted to talk a little bit more to the creator! Without further ado, I’ll jump into the interview!

CD: Tell me a bit about yourself and GIFGRRL.

CO: It really all started as something to do for fun. I loved watching the covers of books come alive and seeing the authors reaction when I made them a gif. Eventually though, I realized that I could do that and also pay my bills! So I started GIFGRRL and now it’s pretty much a second (third??) full time job.

CD: What do you love about creating the gifs and trailers?

CO: I’ve always loved video editing. It’s been a hidden but well cultivated talent which started with my dad’s giant 1980s camcorder and some low-budget windows editing software. Making gifs/promo material is more than just trying to sell a product to me, it’s about telling a story. Maybe not the full story, but a tiny slice of what the book is trying to say. Bringing things to life, characters, book covers, the spirits of dead punk-rockers, are just a few of my favorite things.

 

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CD: What’s one book you’d love to make a trailer for?

CO: It’s hard to pick a favorite, but WANT by Cindy Pon comes to mind as one of the best I’ve made so far. It just really captures the theme of the book, the colors and the motions were all on point. I also adored STARFISH by Akemi Bowman because that cover is just SPECTACULAR and it was so much fun to work with!

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CD: Are there any challenging parts?

CO: Time management! I am a full-time book marketing human and author on top of running GIFGRRL. In just over a month I’ve already gotten over forty individual and two giant bulk orders. It’s a lot for a grrl to take on, but I have coffee and the cuddles of my doggo to help keep me going. Can you tell us a bit about the process? First, I stare at the book cover. Then I light candles and pray to the GIF-Gods™ – then I read the synopsis and stare at the book cover some more. I eat some snacks. Usually cheese-puffs. Sometimes I ask the author questions. I gather stock video/photos that capture the feel of the cover for me and start editing/manipulating them to further match the tone. I search for fonts that are similar to the one on the cover. I put it all in a blender and eat another cheese puff. One I have all the materials and my fingers are orange, I start putting it together. I then cut, and edit, and stare until I’m happy. One gif can take anywhere from ten minutes to two hours, depending on how involved I get.

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This is the BroodyBook Illustrator’s webcomic!

CD: What inspires you?

CO: Many things! Music, books, chasing a sense of completion/fulfilment through art. Cheese-puffs.

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CD: What’s your favorite part of the process?

CO: When I get an author’s cover and the ideas start flying at my face. The best feeling is when I just know what I want to make. Sometimes it’s a challenge to get my vision to match the end product, but I enjoy figuring out how to make it all come together. And then of course once I deliver the final product to the author and they tell me how much they love me! Being able to help people who are graphically challenged or have no idea HOW to build buzz for their books brings me joy. I just like helping people.

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Thank you so much for a wonderful interview, Claribel! And remember, you can order your own gifs from this talented artist here: Gifgrrl.com

How to Jump from One Story to Another

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This is one of those times I’m going to blog about something I’m admittedly struggling with in the hopes it inspires me, (and maybe you too!)

Namely: changing from one creative project to another.

You may have encountered this before. Perhaps you’re trying to draft one story while you wait on edits for another. Or you’ve sent your first manuscirpt out to the query trenches, and now you need to write something new.

Maybe, like me, you’re a debut author who is also trying to write a new book.

It’s not easy, to split your thoughts, your hopes, your creative enegry between two projects. I’ve come up with a few ideas, but I’d love to hear your thoughts too!

  1. Image board!
    I admittedly do this the old-fashioned way, where I print out random things that give me story-related feels, then tape them to a posterboard I hang by my writing nook. It’s a great way to get some visual inspiration. However, most people I know use pinterest… which is the exact same thing, without the whole “attempting not to glue yourself to bits of paper.”
    Here’s a mini version of mine for my new project.Untitled design (1)
  2. Playlist!
    One of my all-time favorite things to do! Simply hop on spotify, or 8tracks, and start adding songs to a list that will give you all the feelings of your main characters.
    Here’s one for my next story: link to spotify
  3. Pretend to be your main character
    Okay. Maybe don’t do this if your main character is a brain-eating zombie or something, but I find a little method acting can be a lot of fun. Maybe it’s eating a food (not brains!) that your character likes, or perusing a store they might frequent. Have fun with it!
  4. Art!
    If you can, draw your characters! Or commission an artist (I’ve found amazing ones on Tumblr!) to draw them for you.
    Here’s a sketch the amazing Linnea did of my new MCs. I love how she captured their personalities too!Untitled

    Okay! So I’ve shared my favorite ways to start a new project. Now, tell me, what are yours?

Little Things To Keep You Going

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Taking a break from all the fun and squeeing over my book that sold, I wanted to talk about something a little less fun.

How to keep yourself moving forward creatively when the state of the world (or your personal life) make you want to curl up in a ball and never leave your bed?

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I wish I had an easy answer. I certainly do not.

First of all, whatever’s got you feeling this low, your feelings are valid. Secondly, please don’t be afraid to seek help, or at least reach out to a friend or family.

But maybe it’s not depression. Maybe it’s just the mean reds, as made famous in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S

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Holly Golightly: You know those days when you get the mean reds?

Paul Varjak: The mean reds. You mean like the blues?

Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you’re getting fat, and maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid, and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?

Sound about right? Somehow, for me as a writer, I run into these mean reds often. I read an amazing book, and it throws me into a deep sulk that I’ll never be as good of a writer as that one is. Or I’ll get feedback that I don’t know how to handle, and I’ll feel like a fake writer.

Or, you know, there will be an election, and the whole world will catch on fire. That too.

Regardless of what’s got you feeling like crap, I wanted to share a couple of my favorite small things to cheer up:

  • Look at old photos of good times.(also BACK UP YOUR PHOTOS. ahem.)
  • Have a cup of tea. I’m not sure what it is about tea that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, but it works every time.
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  • Go for a walk. I was amazed to realize my saddest days are also my lowest step count days.
  • Write something fun. Like fanfic.
  • Treat yourself to a fancy pastry. If it’s got a French name, I bet it’s super fancy and very yummy.
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  • Watch a movie. I just watched LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP and found it absolutely adorable.
  • Call a friend/family member/someone you’d like to be friends with.

Binge a series. May I suggest YURI ON ICE? Cutest show EVER.c596942844b963666866f1c4c3d216a7

So, tell me, what helps you get out of a creative bout of the mean reds?