My alter ego is teaching this week

by Noel Feans

Don’t you just hate it when people talk about themselves in the 3rd person?

Seriously though, I do try to keep my fiction writing separate from well, everything else I do in the business realm. Yes, it makes me a little psycho, but hey, who needs a calm, centered fiction writer? We’re supposed to all be a little crazy.

Me crazy?

Definitely (and yes, I know all of you except my dear sweet husband will disagree with the crazy comment as a clinical hypnotherapist, I’m not really allowed to be crazy, I think). I beat myself up in the gym or TKD – I’ll take a round house kick to the jaw and just shake it off. I’ll take on too many projects. Try to balance everyone and everything (and fail miserably 99% of the time), and miss catching up with friends because by the end of the day, I want a buffer between me and people. I lose my temper with the small child no matter how much I try not to. I think it’s a mom thing. And I write in sprints. Some days focused and channeled, some days, all over the place.

The sane part of me is teaching this week.

I couldn’t justify going to the RWA Conference this year. It ends up costing to much and yielding too little. Hell, if i wanted to hang out with my favorite writing buds, I think I’ll just host a writer’s retreat and invite them all HERE. It would be less expensive, we’d get a lot done and progress would be made. Not that I don’t envy all those AT the conference this year Who doesn’t love a Disney trip?

But, for those of us not at the RWA10 this year, Savvy Authors is hosting a Summer Symposium (we won’t mention how many times I’ve had to backspace on THAT word). I offered to teach my Muse class, focusing on stress management and relaxation techniques to allow writers to focus on their craft.

I love teaching this class And, there are a lot of other online classes being offered. I can only hope to keep up with reading them all.

You should check them out! What other writing classes, online or other, have you taken and really gotten a lot out of?

PS – I uttered a VERY bad word today when pup and I got lost trying to get to the Baltimore National Aquarium. Bad mommy. I don’t like getting turned around in an area of town that had me wishing I had weapons on me. Thankfully? “That’s ok mommy, I know you’re just worried about getting us there safely.” I do love our 6 year old. He rocks.

Sucks me in EVERY time….

I’m in edit mode.

(Run, hide, now…it makes me grrry….no, not really. Kidding, kind of….maybe not.) Psycho much in our house???

I finally decided to focus on the editorial comments from Laurin Wittig (she was a great recommendation from a fellow writer, JT Bock, and author, JA Konrath) – it’s been a while (a long while), and I’ve been a little busy with CatKlaw and paying the bills. Or as the case may be, paying OFF some bills. Pffft. Gotta love how life tangles you up in confusion and reality. And yes, I’m all about responsiblity….just dare to ask what I did in the last month to make sure things were caught up. And yes, I was avoiding the comment…call me an ostrich…

Although, probably not wise to do so to my face, I might, must might, kick you

Cat will say I wasn’t paying attention to the family enough. And, I’m sure I wasn’t….blah. Our VA Beach vacation sucked for me, I was working. Booo.

Now, let me explain. I get paid to edit documents…technical and sales materials.

That’s my JOB, and I’m damn good at it. I may be a freelancer, but I have steady work, thank the universe, and I enjoy what I do, even though I might curse and WHEN those hours happen.

I am not being egotistical about it, I’m being truthful. I worked my tail off to make sure I had a business focus that would support my creative bent. God bless my mother.

Thanks to the whimsical nature of publishing and the music industry, you can see my reasoning. (Point in case, Charlaine Harris wrote the Sookie books..what we all know now as True Blood… TEN YEARS AGO…) See, there’s logic there. I promise. Combine the business writing craziness with insane deadlines…people pay me good money to work on their proposals. Hell, I even enjoy it (see, I must be insane and I should add…most times I do enjoy it LOL.) I am NOT counting Stephanie Meyers amazing results OR JK Rowling’s work…both were a true, phenomenon in our society.

However, when focused on my fiction writing, I have a different (contrary) view than the industry norm on paying someone to go through and edit/read my material. My reasoning?

One, I consider writing a learning process. I paid my college professors, correct? And, I learned something. I paid for classes to teach me how to write and manage proposals, yes? Yes. I continually pay other writers who lead workshops or teach classes to help me learn. RWA and Candace Havens have some GREAT classes. Candy’s are FREE (mostly) ….if you don’t sign up for them…you and me…dark alley. Bring it.

Why is paying an editor….a GOOD editor, different?

This is so far off the recommended path, turn back now if you don’t want to hear it.

If they’re not out to make money on my story, but offering a service for a fee (teaching me something…and I learn…key is LEARN) then by all means, pay the editor. Especially if you don’t have the time/inclination to deal with the arbitrary contest responses (I’ve had great scores and wtf I don’t understand responses…makes a writer nutty) and crit group responses. And yes, I actually review works for contests…I just try to review as a reader and a professor.

As for critique groups? It is very hard to build a GOOD crit group. For the record, I love my dispersed group, we are all over the world, but we’re all learning and none ‘published’ (Cat no offense, I’ve never sent you my work to read nor vice verse, not that I wouldn’t LOVE to share!)

It takes time.

I’ll write another post on THAT, later. (Suffice to say there is an art to being in a crit group that so many have not learned.) I have had more than enough of both. And, I don’t have the time to get out and meet weekly with a crit group like I used to, damn, I wished I did. But husband, child, work, training,…and writing…no way, no how. Our Sparkling Hearts group gets together at least once a month to have lunch and encourage each other.

For my Fiction now?

Now, I want a professional opinion, someone published,…and I paid for it. It’s not like the agents I’ve been querying or the publishers have had the time to offer me anything other than their standards rejections. I understand that. They are overwhelmed and not knocking them for that. They only get paid on the stories they accept and sell. I get that and would be the same way if I were in their shoes based on the current model.

I believe in my series. So, with Phyxe, I paid Laurin for her time and expertise to highlight where I needed to focus, where the gaps were,..where my challenges were. She was DEAD ON. I’m working on those edits now…crafting and honing a better story. Will I look for an agent? Maybe….or..will I? I still have my team….I read their stuff (awesome ideas) and they read my stuff (drivel but improving). We encourage and help each other…that’s our JOB. I’ll likely look for an agent the same reason JA Konrath has one, to negotiate rights.

Question for you…if you REALLY believed in your writing & skills…would you go out of your way to pay a professional editor to look over your work? Or do you just expect, you send it off, it’s glorious and the agent/publisher accept it?

Honestly, pay up front, like you would for a class, to get feedback…or wait, and wait, and wait some more to get a “thank you but you don’t fit what we’re looking for.” I don’t knock that…it means I have not done my JOB in writing the best damn story I can.

So, more work. Deal.

I’m about improving my skills and telling the story. What are you about?

Two, with digital publishing…I can pay a GREAT editor to review my work, rework it, …and then go format it for Amazon or Smashwords. If I price my book at least at $2.99, I net 70% of the cover price. (Go check out JA Konrath‘s in depth focus on digital publishing. Seriously. Do it now.) The key is…WRITE A GOOD BOOK. And, hello, pay a good editor to review you and a good illustrator to make a GREAT cover. And, learn everything you can about marketing it all. You’d be marketing it anyway if a print publisher picked you up. And, I can publish both fiction and non-fiction. My NF is doing GREAT!.

Both reasons have been the best money I’ve spent in my writing evolution. We won’t count the few college classes during my MASTER’s program that really hit home.

Why all this? Because I wasn’t looking to for my (paid) editor or (paid) illustrator to publish the story or represent me.

I respect their time and I believe in my skills and talent. My editor? She’s a busy, PUBLISHED author and goes out of her way to closely review each and every manuscript that she signs up to look at. She doesn’t offer comments like “this doesn’t work for me” – you get comments, helpful suggestions, and years of experience. My illustrator? She’s working freelance, writing and illustrating. We’re all in this together. Will they love it if I succeed? Hell yes. They’ll get acknowledgments and kudos, which will only lead to paying work for them. One of the BEST forms of advertising, genuine referrals.

Move outside the realm of current reality.

Make it happen. And hello, reach outside the current mind set of ‘this is how it works and this is how you make money’. Be willing to think outside the box. It’s working for so many authors. Make it work for you…keep learning, keep changing…KEEP WRITING.

And seriously, if it isn’t working for you? You’re not working HARD enough to perfect your craft in the current age. Do I want an agent? Yes. Will I continue to query agents? Yes.

Will I publish my stories when I feel they’re ready?

Hell yes.

And, I will just watch the outcome. Either people will eat them up, or they won’t. But truthfully? I started out writing for myself.

Namaste,
Sybir/Stacia

PS – Happy Birthday to me!!! We’re not having a party…and seriously, I don’t think there is a darn thing planned….drat. LOL. I should have sent out invites to come hang out. Have just been to darn busy. But as pup said…”You’re turning 27, Mommy.”

Right, for the 10th time. They’re all anniversaries after that 27th.

I am such a goof….

Ok, no, I don’t go to the same extremes as one of my cousins, god bless him (he creates 3-piece suits out of DUCT TAPE). He’s a little nutty, but we love him I’d show the pictures, but I have to get approval from him and his parents and just…seriously, it was COOL.

Instead, I find online tools that help let me express my creativity, thus, MEEZ.com. Now, let’s get this straight. I don’t do this for my characters. I do this for me.

Scary, yeah?

Even scarier, I’ve had a Meez account for a long time LOL. But hell, she’s fun…she’s a digital ME!

I tend to play around with online tools when I’m stuck in a creative lull….sometimes they help, sometimes they sidetrack.

They’re totally cool to use when I don’t want to post MY picture.

And yes, this is a pretty accurate portrayal of me at night…she needs a chair with a 1 year old cat curled up in it and pushing her forward…and my hair needs to grow faster, damn it. (I think she drinks way more coffee than I do too. We’ll just consider those Starbucks Tea.)

Lord, I should do this for a few characters too. Drat.

*runs kicking and screaming* I have to WRITE, not create more visual images for me to use while writing…LOL. Ok, so not running….or kidding.

Gluttony: Reading an entire Series….

So, I have to confess…I go on these binges.

Reading or watching binges, better than food ones I guess. I’ve been known to watch an entire Season of a show I like in 3 days. No, I really don’t sleep enough. Niko will tell you I watched the entire Heroes Season 1 in three days…I rarely moved from the couch, I was just that entranced with the story and the characters. (Yet somehow, I haven’t seen a season/show after that…hmm…) We breezed through Season 2 of True Blood recently. Now, I want HBO so I can see Season 3 while it’s happening.

Drat. But I digress. We were talking about binges…my current one.

This past week, even with all I’ve had to do (several projects for CatKlaw and then some), I spent every spare second I had plus some much needed sleep time reading Charlaine Harris’ True Blood series.

I blame it all on the ease of having a Kindle (Imagine what would happen if I had an iPad too….ack). And yes, I know, that’s not the NAME of the books…but it is the name of the HBO show that drew me into it all. (Mental Note here: when working on a series, make sure ALL marketing materials tell your readers what sequence the book are in..cause otherwise, damn confusing. And, I think I missed one. Boo.)

Damn it. I might even be in lust after a vampire or two after all that. ~grins~ Gotta love those tortured souls, they just draw you in. Hero OR heroine. I’m not sure if it’s the blend of the two media either. The books and the show deviate, but while reading, I have the actors firmly in mind’s eye. I can see it playing out.

They don’t sparkle. They’re tortured. They have serious histories. And the Heroine is NOT emo. You know, I love the Twilight series, but some days I just want to kick Bella. Then again, there have been a few times I’ve wanted to kick Sookie too, because she really just doesn’t always think before she leaps. Perhaps that’s the draw. I felt for her. In the Twilight series, I was more entranced with the forbidden love aspect. Hmmm, I didn’t realize that till just now.

Anyway, my question for you…what series, book or TV has drawn you in and why?

Teaching Writing & Creativity to the younger set

I was researching last night. The Gifted & Talented teacher at our son’s school and I were talking about programs to help increase the writing and creativity skills and talents in those K-5. The researcher in me went hunting. I found a bunch of great resources, which I will eventually post up when I feel like most of them make sense to ME.

But I had to share ONE that pup found the most fascination with tonight. Let me preface this by saying, we’re an artistic household. We love anything and everything creative…music, art, writing, drama…you name it, we’re probably game. We paint, we draw, we sculpt,….we turn cut up tree trunks into tables (at least that’s MY next project).

Pup created this tonight:

Yes, there’s not really a plot, well, other than in HIS mind…but it’s just his first shot. And, I was helping with the writing of some of the words. The point is…it’s a new outlet, one to help him be creative. It’s definitely a site we’ll be using over and over again through Summer Break.

How’d we do it?

http://www.bitstrips.com

Create your own. Ready, set, GO! Share up!

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