My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting #amediting #NCIS

Well, I finally did it. Between the packing and insomnia and just general blahs, I’ve hurt my back. When I twist it funny, I usually turn introspective and think about what I should be, could be and want to be doing. Anything other than the pain.

But writing can be a painful experience not unlike a back ache and it makes me wonder why so many people continue if it is that painful. Sure, getting the voices out of your head and on screen or paper is the best way to come to grips with the writer in you but if it’s downright painful…nah…I don’t get it.

Yeah, I get the part that the plot needs to be just so and that the grammar Nazis might be out to get you. Yes, you want everything perfect but at what price? Yes, writing is my life but my life is rich and full and so much more than I ever expected when I was twelve and started on this journey. I’ve also learned nothing is perfect as perfection is an illusion slung by those who feel they are perfect. Pity them as they miss out on so much with their search and illusion of perfection. I repeat, nothing is perfect. Right now, the height of perfection to me is getting the words down on that screen during this chaotic period in my life. Editing will come later. Submission will come later as will publication.

So no, I don’t see these down times as bad per se but more enlightening. If I’m not writing or sitting in my chair every waking moment, I’m studying through a variety of online classes, movies and TV series. With my current back ache, I can’t stand to be in bed too long as it makes my back hurt more but I can’t walk much either. There are some times when I can’t sit up for long periods and all I can do is be in bed. I’m happy that this time I’m up more than I’m down.

The one thing I can’t control however is my wandering mind. Pain does that to me and the main thing it hurts is my focus. And in writing, focus is everything. One must focus on their story in order to get it down and as correct as possible. One must love their story and nurture it from cradle to grave and beyond. It is why writers’ write.

When focus is just beyond my reach, I don’t let my mind flounder and figure out ways to make me miserable, yes writers have that wonderful knack for doing just that. I find ways to expand my mind. And like many writers, I binge on TV series. For the last few months, whenever I’ve had insomnia, I watched NCIS from the start to the current season.

And all I can say is wow. Wow because I can’t believe I missed an awesome series all these years but watching those character arcs as well as the storylines themselves is a chance to learn about characterization. The setting is pretty much the same and there are very few episodes when it comes into play. When it does, it changes the whole schematic of the series but I digress.

Watching the characters’ grow is something I can’t always get from a writing craft book as I’m a visual person. See things on the screen and suddenly, I get some portion of character building that I didn’t get before. It helps me on so many different levels as my books are all about the characters. Sure setting and plot are there too but they all enhance the characters. Having character driven plots is brought home in a weekly series. Alas, now I have to find another series I can learn something from to watch.

I forgot my love of TV being here in Europe for the past 5 years. My husband could never understand why I liked to watch TV and while here, I got why he didn’t so even though we have cable, it’s rarely watched and just part of my internet package. However, over here, I realized that by not watching TV, I’m not as creative as I once was and that bums me out horribly. I think I’ve always known that as I love to go to the movies, have a DVR night at home with my youngest who’s an actor and all those things that stimulated me.

I’ve always said that you can find an idea anywhere and it’s so very true. I still can take a walk, come back and write down at least three to five ideas for a story. Years ago, I would have taken at least half of them to develop. Now, I’m lucky if I find one that makes me see the story when it takes me. And it’s all because I haven’t been poked and prodded through outside stimuli as before.

If nothing else, that is what I’m looking forward to…a rousing time with my writer friends, family and more…as well as being back fully on the writer’s train. Imperfections and all. And I’ll remember this year, it will be all about me and my writing. See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting #amediting

I had a migraine yesterday and my head felt like it was going to explode. It’s been years since I’ve had my last one but since I’ve been extra stressed these last few weeks, I guess it all caught up with me. Add to that a whole slew of hot flashes, which I haven’t had in a long time either, and my body was just done.

So I decided right in the middle of all my head throbbing that I needed to concentrate on all the good things going on. Yes, there are stressful things happening in my life but none of them are bad. I’ve been stressed for coordinating a cross-country trip from Washington DC to home. Now, this is something that I’ve been waiting for a long time and it shouldn’t stress me out at all.

No, it should make me happy that I’m going to see relatives that I haven’t seen in years. We need those times to bond with family and that is nothing to stress about. Sure, it’s hard to pin down my husband and get him to make decisions. But I can try to make some preliminary decisions and present the package to him. And while I don’t like to be in charge of everything, I can handle it for a little while before I throw in the towel. If nothing else, I will know that things have been done correctly and not haphazardly thrown together just to get them done.

I see my writing like that. I write fast and sometimes, I wish I wrote slow, really slow. I’ll be honest, I have slowed down from what I used to do. I try to put it down on the screen correctly just once. But sometimes my head and my hands get ahead of what I have planned and it is more like a data dump yet better formed. On my very best day ever, I wrote over 13k words and then I couldn’t do much for a while.

Yeah, I used to be the data dump queen, at least in my mind, and I couldn’t understand why things weren’t flowing like they should. So I do know that I’ve become better over the years. And to be honest, I love writing fast. I mean if I didn’t, I would not have completed 50k in January and that’s what I did. Sure, like I’ve said before, I know that a whole lot of editing will be going on but at least it’s down and on the page.

I really am a big believer of the Nora Roberts’ philosophy of ‘I can’t fix a blank page.’ It is the one motto that every writer needs to take to heart. None of us can fix it if it isn’t down to fix. None of us can get better if we don’t try again and again and again. And it doesn’t matter what you are trying. It could be life, it could be baseball or rugby or it can be writing. Doing makes perfect and putting it on the page is doing.

I guess my thought for this week is that one needs to do, no matter in what, in order to accomplish what one wants. And believe me, I’ve waited a long, long time for my writing career to take off.

This year, it will be all about me and my writing. See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting #amediting #amstressed

I have been in writer’s hell. And no, it isn’t about the writing either.

We finally get to go home and while it’s sad for my husband, I’m in heaven in so many ways. Now don’t get me wrong as I am sad to be leaving my fabulous flat with the horrid location and the many friends I’ve finally made here. For me, it means that I can finally concentrate on my career with my goals.

See, when I’m in the States, I can do that easily as there is very little time I have to spend on my husband’s things. Here, it’s been all about him and while he doesn’t see it that way, it’s just the way it is. I’ve had to deal with things over here that I would have never had to deal about at home.

I mean, I don’t have to file health insurance claims because those are all done automatically in the US. Here, because we have private insurance, it has been my job to get all those things together and file them. Here, I have to remind the husband to not forget our train tickets so we can get around. At home, if I use his car, I fill it up with gas and we’re good.

There are so many no-brainer things that must be done here that it’s driven me crazy the whole time we’ve lived here. I’m constantly sending the DH lists on what to get at the commissary. Or remind him that we need things from the pharmacy. At home, I can just go pick them up myself. Here there is a total reliance on each other to do what the other asks that it can be…well…disconcerting. I hate being separated by the language thing and though many would say that it’s my fault, I was already learning a language when I arrived and didn’t want to add to that confusion.

So, we’re finally getting ready to go home and I have deadlines I need to meet before we leave. I am also the coordinator of all things travel, this includes coming up with the ways to get between places as well as lodging that can include a pet and other considerations. Again, not that it’s rocket science or anything but I already had my own deadlines and now I have our deadlines. And our deadlines have put me into a writer’s hell.

Why you may ask. Well…first, it makes me stressed and I’m not sleeping…then I’m thinking too much of all the things that can go wrong. Yes, yes, I know I can do it all but it has just hyped my stress level out of this world.

However, that being said, I am also finding my solace in writing. Meaning, I’m producing a lot and some of it isn’t as good as I want it to be. I guess I’ll be editing lots more.

But that’s okay…at least I’m writing.

See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting #amediting #brainstorming

This week has been a joyous week in my writer kingdom.

I am going on a writing journey. No, seriously, I’m flying to Spain tomorrow to spend a week with one of my writing besties, Nina Croft. Drop by and see this author’s amazing books by just clicking her name. You’ll go to her website and see some pictures of where I’m staying. I’ll be on her almond farm a whole week.

We plan to sprint, write, brainstorm and do all those wonderful things that writers do when they get together. It will be amazing and awesome and just downright fun. I’m getting more excited as I type this. And yeah, this is being done early as in early Saturday morning because I leave Vienna at 8:50 am. Check my Facebook Page to see what I’m up to in the writing department. I guarantee that I will be posting a few things here and there.

As if my trip weren’t enough…remember last week when I submitted a proposal to my agent? I said that I was hopeful because it was one of my favorite stories. All right, I might not have said it exactly that way but that’s what I meant. And you know what? That enthusiasm paid off as that’s the next series my agent wants me to pursue. I know you can’t see me but I’m truly jumping for joy. This is so awesome! You have no idea just how much I love that story.

But now the hard work comes in. I have to finish polishing the first novel and believe me, it’s not going to be an easy task. I’d been working on it off and on for a few years. Part of the issue is that I made up a language and then realized I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. At least I tried. Then I realized that I needed to take a language I knew, or wanted to know, and bastardize it a little. Or a lot. I think I’ve finally come up with a solution that will work well for me.

Unfortunately, these things take time and as soon as I can get that first book to her, then she wants to shop it around. That means, Deceiving the Scotsman has sunk to second spot and won’t be worked on as much as I thought. I’ll still have it as my NaNo book but the priorities have changed a little bit. This is good because it isn’t boring and makes me do some juggling.

See, I’m a writer that loves to be extremely busy but I do have to have a plan. One of the things that will happen this week with my friend this week is doing some planning along with brainstorming. There is nothing better than having another writer face-to-face to work out some problem you’re having with a project.

So, I’m happy and jazzed about a variety of things. I’ll keep you posted on all of them. See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting #amediting #nanowrimo

This week has really kicked in for me with the ‘I am the master of my fate’ mentality. While I did do quite a bit of writing last week in preparation for NaNoWriMo, that stands for the National Novel Writing Month, it’s nothing compared to the kick in the butt November 1^st brought.

Last week I finished up with a proposal to my agent. I sent her a series I’d been sitting on a long time. The first book isn’t quite done and the language isn’t quite finished. It’s epic fantasy with a romance quest at its center and while I shelved it so very long ago because of there being no market for it, I don’t know why it set there because the market changed.

Sure, I know the book isn’t quite done yet but it has won awards and every editor I showed it to asked about it. But still, I sat on it. And sat on it. And then some more. When I talked to my agent over the summer about my contemporary erotic romance series, The MacKenzie Clan, she reminded me that it was time to also think of my next big project.

Ugh, I thought as I was already struggling with Book 2, Deceiving the Scotsman, in the series because I just couldn’t feel the characters or the story. Not like the first one. I’d already done the synopsis, the blurb, long and short log lines. I knew where that book was going but it just wasn’t coming to me. I had worked on it a few years ago for NaNoWriMo and afterwards edited it and tossed over 50% of what I wrote. Man did that hurt.

Sure, the story had gone through a major rehaul, which it needed, a new title change and basically, a whole new set of characters because what I first proposed to my agent got nixed. I had actually wanted to kill off a character in the first book. I was told by not only my agent, but several critique partners, that readers would have a vested interest in that character and there was no way I could kill him off so his wife could go with another man.

Hence, the chopping and trying to put together a manuscript that just might have some redeeming things that can be added to this second book. And that is probably the problem. I had a whole other book in mind and suddenly, it’s not the one that’s going in the series. To say I was bummed in the least is an understatement. I definitely needed to think about a whole different series.

So, I pulled out the epic fantasy romance and read it again. Somewhere along the way, I realized just how good this story was and why I loved it so much. I read through it and fixed some minor things as it had been thoroughly scrubbed and clean when I shelved it. Then I did an amazing thing. I started working on a second proposal that is another fantasy romance. It too had won writing awards in its day but it was another I shelved because my first agent told me it read like a young adult novel.

Uhh…no…it read like a fantasy novel and I didn’t realize at the time the woman had no experience with a novel like that. It took got put away, thinking I’d never finish it. Yet, I’ve decided I’m going to work on it too. Matter of fact, I plan to submit the proposal tomorrow. It had a little more cleanup to do as only the first chapter was really 100% in my mind. Also, it was a little bare in the synopsis, blurb and tag line areas that I had to put some time into.

I know you’re wondering just why I’m tell you all of this at all. The very fact that I’m participating in NaNoWriMo is embracing the whole ‘master of my fate’ thing to the fullest. If I hadn’t been planning to participate here, I wouldn’t have started looking at Deceiving the Scotsman to try and figure out how to tackle the problems of learning to love the characters again. I wouldn’t have been thinking about submitting not one but two proposals to my agent.

I wouldn’t have thought that I could do any of this until I totally grasped the concept of ‘I am the master of my fate’ to the fullest. Again, only I can change the lack of writing. Only I can make the magic happen again.

Right now, the best thing that NaNoWriMo has done for me is to create a passion for something I love. Sure, reading all the craft books doesn’t hurt but there is nothing like NaNo to get your but in the chair because you are competing against yourself to finish a novel in a month.

Heck, if I do it right, I can have this thing cranked out in about 10 days at the max. That means I’ll be able to start another book as well. Today I’m into it for over 1800 words and that’s more than my NaNo minimum. But to do this project well and start a second novel, I’ll need to be doing about 9k a day. I’ll keep you posted.

See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amprocrastinating #amtryingtowrite

I wish I could say that I’ve been writing a lot since you haven’t seen me in over a month. And actually, for someone who has minor health issues plaguing them, I have written quite a lot. Mainly, it’s been on blogs and the like but I came to a realization the other day.

‘I am the master of my fate: The Captain of my soul.’ is a well-known quote from poet William Ernest Henley. It’s taken from a poem called Invictus but it surprised me to find out that it didn’t have a title when it was first written. Matter of fact, the author didn’t title it at all but an editor did when including it in the Oxford Book of English Verse at a later date.

What I found even more interesting is that he wrote this during a horrible time in his life. He’d lost one of his legs and was about to lose another from tuberculosis of the bone that he contracted when he was 12. It was published untitled in his first Book of Verse in 1888, hidden amongst his other poems but it is the one he is best remembered for today. Considering that he was a very influential person of his time, I find it surprising that he is most remembered for a bit of work he didn’t think needed a title. Somehow, he managed not to lose his second leg and while he was recovering in hospital, he wrote the words that have inspired thousands.

While I had heard this many, many times, it just recently struck me as inspirational. No, I’m not in my darkest days even though the minor health issues are annoying, none of them are life threatening. But my lack of forward movement in my writing has me paralyzed in a way I can’t describe. It’s not for lack of ideas or passion or even will. It’s just something I’m not doing. It’s like I’m just passing time.

Then I read that quote from somewhere. Possibly on Facebook or some other social media. And suddenly, it struck me: I am the master of my fate. Yes, depression or laziness could be my reasons, however, I have never bided by them this long. I am the master of my fate…there is no one to steer me but me. There is no one to plan my books or plot my tales. If I don’t tell these tales, who will?

No one can do what I can do with words. They aren’t me and just waiting for something to happen is just so wrong on so many levels, it’s unreal. Writing is a passion – or it should be – for every author. If you aren’t passionate about what you do then you shouldn’t be doing it. That’s the bottom line. I have wanted to be a writer since I was 12. Hell, I am a writer but when I don’t produce what I know I’m capable of, then I feel like a sham and I let everyone down, least of all myself.

I am passionate about writing. But I’m just as lackadaisical about allowing the wave to pull me along, to let someone or something to be my master other than myself. This isn’t what a good writer does. And as it was pointed out to me by Steve Windsor in his book Authorphobia, only I can change it. Only I can move it forward and write that book in just 9 days, more or less. Or short story, or novella, or whatever the hell I want to write.

My time for excuses or whines or reasons is over. It’s time to put my nose to the grindstone and get the stories told because I have never allowed my friends to stay in these type of ruts for so long. Sure, I can list reasons that I feel this way and I can point to the fact that it never lasted this long. Until I came to Europe and here the very thing that was supposed to inspire, filled me with dread. It took me four years to make any friends because even though I am outgoing, I am really not a people person overall.

So here, I’m out of my depth. But it isn’t a good enough reason to give up writing. Nothing is and I’ve started to work on it this week with writing at least a minimum of 1000 words since this last Saturday. This is a very good thing.

And tomorrow, I plan it to be 5000 or somewhere close. I’ll keep you posted. See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amplanning #PCers

Yup ~ I'm Frustrated

The best laid plans…every writer knows about how easily things can get derailed…and I am the poster child this week. The last time I was here I talked about my article End of Summer Funk and how my lack of planning was derailing my writing.

That blog was all about planning and how I need to do it to keep on track. I did what I said and took two days to re-evaluate my writing life. Normally, I would do this every fall but since I moved to Europe, I hadn’t done much in this area as mentioned. I have accomplished keeping the calendar for two weeks. I actually started it on September 2^nd after deciding what I hoped to complete this next year. I’m really jazzed that I’ve done this and so far, kept it going.

However, there is one thing I’ve yet to do…and that’s write a full day…or achieve my full 5000 words. To get any of my goals for this month, and believe me there are a lot of them, I must write 5000 words a day. This leads me to believe that I’ve over-planned my time with trivial items and you can see from the photos that I even included my showers. Sometimes structure isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.

A Few Days of My Calendar

The goal I was trying to accomplish was not to put me into a box but to put down on paper all the things I needed to do in a day. Well, I’ve done that and I’ve used the whole page to do so. I’m ticking off each item as I do them noting if I do something on time or not but I don’t seem motivated to write. Frankly, I’m thinking it may be more of a glorified ‘to do’ list than anything else. Now, all of this issue is with me and some have told me I’m depressed. Ha! That would be the easy way out. No, I know it’s more than that because I’d be sleeping all day with depression. Like they say, been there, done that.

One of the reasons I’ve been reading the book Authorphobia by Steve Windsor is that it touches on some of the very things I’m struggling with at the moment. It’s not that I can’t write but my issue right now is can I do it as well as before…this is also known as a fear of success…and I’ve struggled with this all my life. I have always been afraid that I can’t do as well as I’ve done in the past. I don’t see the growth that others do in my books and fret about the whole thing.

And this is flat out stupid. I hate the games our own minds play on us. I know I’m not the first author to feel this way and I won’t be the last. I can remember a keynote speech at one of the many Romance Writers of America conferences I’ve gone to where a NYT Bestseller talked about this very issue. She said that she’d sit down at her computer daily and instead of writing, she’d start looking at her email and before she knew it half her day was gone. The ways she used to nip it in the bud were simple and useful but at the time I didn’t need them so I didn’t heed them either. I was so surprised that she said she struggle with this daily and that it all had to do with fear of success.

Today, I wish I had and it’s one of the reasons I’m reading a lot of writing books now because if I won’t write, I’ll do research, listen to music and beat myself up…naw…not really but I want to. The one thing I’ve learned is I need to want to do something, I need to feel invested in getting a story done and while I do feel that way, apparently it’s not enough to make me write.

Yet. Today I had a break through with music. I’d stopped listening to it about six months ago and within a week or so, my writing went down to just doing blogs and maybe a few thousand words toward my fiction work. So maybe, just maybe, I’m being a little hard on myself because I have been averaging at least 1k a day. Still, it’s a far cry from where I need to be.

Along with music, I’ve been reading a lot, and not just those research or writing books. I’ve been reading fiction and must have completed about 15 stories in the last two weeks. Yeah, that’s at least a book a day and today I said to myself my favorite phrase ‘I can write better than that’ yet again. Personally, I think that was a tipping point. When I get so tired of what I’m doing online or reading, I know it’s time for me to start putting the words on paper.

Fear of success is worse than writer’s block in my book because I can write, I just can’t write what I want. I have to convince myself if I don’t get it down on paper, I have nothing. Like Nora Roberts said ‘You can fix anything but a blank page.’ She’s absolutely right. Who cares if that first draft is the ugliest baby in the room? Even ugly babies can have plastic surgery when they’re older but if you kill them before they ever come to fruition, you’ve done everyone involved a disservice.

Personally, I know that part of this is still dealing with my lack of parents as they never told me they were proud of my writing and me getting published. My mother had Alzheimer’s by the time I was. My father didn’t really say much but Dad did have every one of my books that were in print and he’d smile when we talked about it as well as ask when the next one was coming out. My husband has repeatedly told me how proud he’s been of what I have accomplished when others said I couldn’t.

Plus every time this comes up, I recall the fact I had a bad critique relationship where one of my partners chewed my ass off for not bringing a perfect piece. Never mind the fact the story she was critting was actually one I had written earlier and didn’t bother to look at before I sent it out. Frankly, it ended up that she was a grammar and punctuation person who couldn’t stand things being any other way than her own. She would never say anything was good most of the time. This makes me second guess myself over and over. And this happened probably six or seven years ago if not more.

The baggage we carry with us about our writing can be horrible. One of the things that has also happened with me being in Europe is the fact I don’t get out with other writers. That always was a catharsis for me and rejuvenated my writing soul. Every time I would go out with my writer friends or go to a writers meeting, I would be ready to hit my week running with new stories and ideas. I know I need those contacts and they will always be part of my life. Recently, I’ve been reconnecting with writer friends and planning to go to RT as well as other things.

Then there have been the signs…oh…I didn’t mention those? Two weeks ago tomorrow, I woke up with what I thought, and still do, was plantar fasciitis and made a doctor’s appointment. She didn’t think it was and sent me to a podiatrist. I have that appointment on Thursday. Yesterday, I woke up and could barely walk at all. That combined with an elevator kept me stuck in the flat all day. I keep my foot elevated and woke up feeling a little better even managing to get out to walk a little today. But at one point in the day yesterday it was like my Dad was smacking me on the side of my head, telling me to quit being lazy. If I couldn’t walk, I should be writing. The message was as loud and clear as if he’d been standing right beside me.

As for the rest of today, I’ve had little signs all day. iTunes dumped most of my songs and I had to go retrieve a lot of them from my iPod and Amazon. During the course of recovering songs, I started to listen to some of them. I swear there were lines that were directed exactly to me. I’ve been wanting to work on my urban fantasy The JR Chronicles, so when I heard the words from songs like Madonna’s Ghosttown or Imagine Dragons’ Demons or Pat Benatar’s Promises in the Dark, I know what I should be doing. All those played one right after the other and they hadn’t been organized that way at all. I’m being told exactly what I should be doing yet again.

So I might not be where I should be as far as words on the page, but I know that I’m heading in the right direction because I’ve done the planning, acknowledged the issue and had the signs. What about you? Do you carry any writing baggage around with you that can hurt your career if you’re not careful? I’d be interested in hearing what you have to say.

See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amplanning

Yes, I’m late…again…but at least I totally didn’t forget or ignore or whatever it is I do sometimes. However, I am going to do a little bit of a cop out this week. See, I wrote a great article my group blog, Through Heart Shaped Glasses, that I should just move over to here and post it again.

But I don’t like doing that at all since I want every blog to be new and fresh. Well…sort of…that is. But then again, I don’t like reinventing the wheel and that’s more likely to be the reason than anything. Still, the information presented in this post End of Summer Funk is exactly what is happening in my writing life.

That blog is all about planning and how I need to do it to keep on track. I’ve been re-evaluating just how I’ve become successful at what I do. Since I’ve moved to Europe, I haven’t been that way at all. It seems like every word is a struggle, every book a major accomplishment. It didn’t used to be that way and I want to go back to where I was before I moved.

So I had to sit down and think about it. What had I done that was different? There were many days I wrote over 5000 words a day and now, I’m lucky if I can eek out 500 words a day. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do have moments of brilliance where I do more. I actually wrote a whole 80k book in a month late last year that really killed me on many fronts.

See, I had to trash most of it and start anew. And this was the second book in a series that is currently with my agent. I was spurred on by two great groups of writers that I work with: one is a critique group and the other my word challenge competition group where we are accountable for the number of words we write daily.

I love both those groups and they are the first people I feel I’m letting down when I’m not at my best. The heatwaves this summer didn’t help but they did get me thinking a lot as I was binging on Netflix. It started me reading writing books, thinking about taking classes and tons more stuff that I used to do when I was so prolific. Things by Rachel Aaron (2k to 10k), James Scott Bell (How to Make a Living as a Writer), Kristine Kathryn Rusch (The Write Attitude) and Steve Windsor (Authorphobia). All very diverse and interesting books on writing and an author’s journey.

A lot of what you’ll be seeing in the next few months will be me applying principles I’ve learned that will work for me. And planning, lots of planning, which I will be sharing with you all to see if any of it might be helpful to you.

See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amreading

It’s been nearly a month since I did this column. Not that I didn’t write, I did but in my honest opinion, it was not worth talking about. If you look at yesterday’s column, and most of the ones I did in July, you’ll notice that I’ve been complaining about the heat and how devastating it is to my writing because I just can’t think.

Most of you probably think that shouldn’t be the case but for me it is. When the heat and humidity are high, I just want to retreat to my bed, read a good book or two and be blasted by the air conditioning. I understand that I am from the land of endless heat in the Southwest USA but there is nothing like heat and humidity combined. Anything over 10% humidity and I’m crying foul before I even think as I’m a dripping, limp noodle without a functioning brain cell in my head.

While this may be difficult to understand, I have always been affected by weather. Living in Nevada, I could tell by the pressure differences if we were going to have rain on any given day. When I first got here, my joints ached from the higher humidity and I felt like a general slug. After I’d lost a few pounds by walking everywhere, it became better but overall I didn’t feel as if my forward progression was as good as it needed to be. I had to figure out something to fill those non-writing gaps.

Fast forward a few years and most days, I’m not affected by what is happening outside my window unless the humidity is extremely high. If it is, and it’s combined with a high temperature, I’m in trouble. That is what has happened in July and August this year in Austria. Now, I’m not explaining this to get sympathy or anything but to share this: no matter what is going on outside your window, you need to try and write every day OR do something that is going to further your career in another way. First choice is always writing however.

Sure, like I said in the first paragraph. I wrote but IMHO it wasn’t worth talking about. It took me a few days to realize, this was going to be one of those times where my mind wasn’t into it. When I can’t think, I try to do something different for my career. Things like catching up on the online classes I occasionally do. Reading a craft book though I’ve read a hundred before the one in my hands. I can even outline or think of ideas that might pan out into a storyline later. Many times, I just flat out read genre fiction because my personal reading-for-enjoyment time is almost always limited to an hour or so when I get into bed.

The point is that writing just doesn’t stop. It might shift and morph into something else during a time of body or mind stress but the creative process is always going. There may be times where it isn’t going in the direction you think it should. When those times arise, you have to decide what you’re going to do instead of wasting the time when you should be writing.

Once you have that in place, there’s one more thing you need to do. Let it go. Let go of the fact that you couldn’t write this day or that day. Know you did something that will help over all. The number one fact a writer has to remember is that learning is a life long journey just like writing. When you can’t write for some reason, then learning something to enhance your writing is a good way to keep it all fresh. Learning is always there to provide inspiration, help with a writing-related issue or just to recharge your battery.

And realize, whenever the incident that’s holding you back, be it weather or something else, is over writing will be right where you left it.

See you all next week. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting #amediting

Well, it’s the last day of June and I’m still struggling to get the report I promised done as well as up. When I started rearranging the date, I found that there was a lot more good information there than I expected.

To give you an idea of what I’m going to give you on Thursday, you will be getting a list of single day promotions, multiday promotions and the list of those who rejected me or didn’t get back to me. You will also get the timeline of when things started, ended and what days I had bumps in sales. I will tell you who I advertised with on those bump days and while that day might have several places I went, I should be able to give some insight on just who gave me that bump.

And yes, there are some definite bump producing advertisers in the list. Amazingly so. Like I said, I was really surprised when I started putting the data together this past weekend. I would have had it done but this week is one of the few weeks that I even have anything to do with what my husband does for a living. This week, there’s dinners out, ambassadors’ parties to attend and so much more as he has meetings/conferences here in Vienna.

That said, most of my writing has been blogging and articles or interviews this past week. Yeah, the boring stuff. I did a few things on some stories but not a lot and in one way that makes me very, very sad. Yet, it’s not often I get to do anything with my husband regarding his career. The reasons are many: they only have a couple of meetings a year where Americans are involved and budget cuts.

See, I used to get invited to everything. Or at least for that first year. Then the budget cuts started and the people who planned the parties realized that they could do a cheaper party if no spouses were invited. So they stopped inviting us altogether. Now, it made me angry because that was one of the biggest reasons I came here with my husband. He thought we’d be entertaining a lot and that I’d need to do the social thing with him.

But au contraire, it wasn’t to be.

I did tell him tonight that I was going to take him to a writers’ shindig because then he could feel like I do. LOL! Lots of people I don’t know, all saying hi like they know me, and more food than you can ever imagine. None of which I really ate because I want to be home having my own 4^th of July celebration. And it’s times that this when I dream of home more than usual. I’ll miss everything you’re enjoying, so think of me this Saturday.

I’ll be posting the marketing information Thursday. Promise. Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting #amreading

I know that I promised yesterday that this one would be up on time but…I’ve been writing most of the day and I figure that is a good excuse to not be posting this. Never mind that the internet decided to be a PIA today and be flaking in and out. It happens a lot here with the older buildings and the rain. Matter-of-fact, I can’t buzz anyone into the building until all the electronics dry out. Oh, the joys of living in an older flat. Sigh.

This past week I have done quite a bit. I’ve written a few blogs and started on the second book in the MacKenzie Clan series with a vengeance this week. The book is titled Deceiving the Scotsman and it’s about the heroine’s assistant and the hero’s brother both from the first book. And it all begins at a wedding. I’ll be posting random bits and pieces on some of the My Sexy Saturday posts. It has a little bit of suspense and intrigue and once I get things more gelled in my mind, I’ll let you all in on it.

And I know that I promised last week to share information regarding specific marketing information regarding my last book but I’m still writing it. I don’t want it to be anything more than a piece about what worked and didn’t work for me. Opinion has no place, other than how it relates to the event, in an article of that nature. I want to be fair and non-judgmental on every level. That means, it needs to be looked over by the crit partners once it’s completed the way I like.

If luck holds out, I might be able to have it up for Thursday’s Tidbits. That’s the day that I actually plan to share information tidbits, which have helped me along the way. Now, other authors can do this too and if you have a tidbit you want to share, just send me an email at lynncrain@cox.net and let me know. I can schedule you in any time and let you know the requirements.

Another great thing that happened to me was that I finally read some of the books that are piling up on my tablet in the Kindle app. Yeah, there are hundreds there. Some I’ve purchased, others I’ve downloaded when an author had a free day and I wanted to help them with their counts. But I don’t think that works anymore and in the last six months, I’ve been more choosy about who I’ve been downloading. Meaning, if I don’t think I’ll ever read it, I don’t download it any more. The only ones that I will download automatically, are friends and authors I know. Yes, I really do believe in the back-scratch theory.

Anyway, the book that I think every writer should read came to me in a StoryBundle Package. That package was full of great writer’s books and I feel that I should be reading one fiction and one non-fiction book at all times. Of course, one is for pleasure and the other to help me hone my craft. I am one of those who feel learning is a life-long mission. I will never learn it all, especially in writing, so I must always be taking a class or reading a book in regards to getting better as a writer.

One of the books in the bundle was by a favorite author of mine, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. She is someone I learned about long ago and wanted her to be my editor if I ever got into the short story market. Today, she is a powerhouse as far as self-publishing goes and gives out damn good information that writers need. This book is called The Write Attitude and most of it is taken from her Thursday blog called The Business Rusch. She blogs about other things but Thursdays are special. The link goes to the pages and all of the articles available.

This book has a compilation of what she considers her best articles on certain topics. Things like being the best writer you can be and life. She calls those things that we can’t predict ‘life rolls’ and by gosh, she’s right. Kris explains it so much better than I can and I had to admit, there were places I was practically crying because she could have been talking to me. I swear, I have done all the bad, the good and the ugly things she mention in this book.

No…not really…but it seems like it. I mean, I’ve yet to follow an editor into the bathroom and shove a manuscript under a stall door. So, I guess I am better than some. LOL!

If you are in a place that you feel like you’ll never dig yourself out of then this is the writing book for you. It is flat out motivating and has tons of useful information. I am already reading parts of it again and definitely looking into taking some classes with her and her husband, Dean Wesley Smith. These two, without even knowing it, formulated much of how I think about writing science fiction. Maybe if I had studied with them years ago, I would have more confidence in myself and be a better writer overall.

Personally, I know my flaws and have some great ideas on how to go around or through them. Every writer has to find the path that is good for them and the one that will work. Still, I highly recommend going to look at the book and check out Kris’ website. You will not be sorry.

Next week, or possibly Thursday, I will be sharing the marketing information and where I feel you’ll get the most bang-for-your-buck on a limited budget of just $250. And don’t despair, you can go it too.

Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting

Yes, this week is very late again and last week was totally forgotten. For both I apologize but I do have good reasons.

This past week from last Wednesday to today, it has been very, very humid. Humidity and I don’t get along. Matter of fact, I have been accused of being depressed because when it’s too humid, I normally sleep a lot during the day. Of course, what people don’t see is that I sometimes stay up all night because I function better.

Then there are the headaches that I get. They aren’t really migraines but the pain is pretty close to the same according to my doctor. So, when I’m hurting and have a headache because of humidity, I will retreat to sleep. Though there have been a few cool days, like today, I’ve needed a nap nearly every day anytime from noon until 6 in the evening to just function somewhat normally. I haven’t been this way all my life but it did start in my early 40s when I began menopause and hasn’t let up since.

Today, I had a nap and also a Skype call with my agent that took precedent over everything else. It was a fantastic call and The MacKenzie Clan series will hopefully be at a NYC publisher very soon. Starting July 6, she’ll be shopping this one around. Today book 1 is called Loving the Scotsman but it started its life very, very differently. You can look up Where’s My Underwear? or Loving the Scotsman here on the blog to get the full scoop on this wonderful story and the rest of the series.

Yes, it went from a romantic comedy to a more serious book but I blame the characters for that since I’m a pantser all the way. I started writing this nice little short story that morphed into a novella and the next thing I knew it had a life of its own and a backstory to match. It took me a few years to complete because I wanted it perfect and IMHO, it is. It’s also an award-winning book that hopefully will find a home very, very soon. I’ll be writing Book 2 and 3 in the coming months and posting some wonderful snippets right here for My Sexy Saturday.

Today’s real subject is something I’ve been thinking about and it was only in the past three weeks when two incidents happened that made me think about it long and hard. One of the incidents was where I conveyed a bit of information about an agent to an author friend and the other was where I gave my opinion on a speaker coming to my State side writers group.

I didn’t feel bad about giving out the information because I felt it was based in fact but then a few comments let me know that my view was suddenly skewed. My information had become irrelevant and I wondered how that could have ever happened. I was always so on top of the latest info and everything in the publishing world.

I would attend a couple of conferences a year, read everything that I could get my hands on regarding markets and the like. But without the face time I had with other authors where I could gauge information relayed to me, to be truth or personal opinion, I had little to no basis on what I had said because my information was old. About five years plus old. That makes what I said irrelevant to the current situation.

Sure, I had passed on information based on things I had learned from other writers previously. And that information probably was true, or perceived as true, when it was given to me. However, five years down the road, not so much so and therefore only hearsay and irrelevant.

No, I am not one to arbitrarily give out bad information. I normally give out information told to me from reputable sources or seen first-hand. I don’t tell tall tales about agents, publishers or other authors nor about speakers, no matter who they are or how I might personally feel about them. If I give out information it is usually something I’ve heard or seen sometime within a 6-12 month time frame.

However, you have to be in situations to get that information and since I hadn’t been to any large conferences for five years, I gave very old intel. And that is bad. I apologize to everyone as it wasn’t my intent to give out information that didn’t mean anything but it did teach me a lesson. Don’t get hoof and mouth disease unless you can back up your facts with up-to-date information. Everything else is hogwash.

Am I sorry that it happened? Yes, I am sorry but I am not sorry that I tried to do some author friends a solid and pass on that information. Authors, for all their time spent alone, do not live in a void and one of the best ways to learn is to put yourself out there at conferences, writer retreats and meetings where you can actually brush elbows with readers, authors and other publishing professionals.

Next time, I will check my facts more carefully and try to remember where and when I heard that tidbit. Obviously, not all tidbits are meant to be shared and that’s a whole other story for another time. But the tidbits I do share will at least be learned from a more relevant time frame.

Next week, I hope to share some information regarding my recent release and what I did to advertise it. While my sales were small, I do feel I got some really good data from which to make some assumptions for future releases.

Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting #amreading

I’m in synopsis hell and have decided without a doubt that I hate writing them. Those little outline type pages that is supposed to divulge everything about your story within a couple thousand words. I suck at them. Sure, I can write something down about each chapter but I have never, ever done them successfully in my mind. They always seem lacking something.

Take today for example. I send my final synopsis to my critique group as I’m about to send the whole packet to my agent. This is the book of my heart and is something I’ve slaved over for years it seems like. In reality, I wrote it very fast and it just took years to edit to my satisfaction. It is the one story I have always felt is my breakout story if I ever had one. And when I did finally decide to start shopping it around, I have a couple of years of personal things that make me keep moving it to the back burner because I didn’t want to ruin it.

Frankly, I’m beginning to think that all those years of classes didn’t account for much because at this moment, I feel very, very stupid. And I shouldn’t. Synopses are hard for everyone. One of my problems is that this is part of a series. Book 1 and its synopsis is complete or so I thought. I just got back the crits and boy, I feel down yet somehow relieved. I knew it needed work and now I see just how much. Ugh. Yet all are simple fixes with a line here, a delete there.

Do all writers feel this way sometimes? Do they wonder why they write when they can’t get the story idea down in a synopsis correctly? I swear I have been studying this for years but looking at this…I am sure I missed the boat. More than one boat matter of fact.

So let’s look at the anatomy of a synopsis. Again, there are definitely some things that a synopsis needs and doesn’t need to do.

·        It needs to cover the big parts of a story and not the little details. Matter of fact, little details can bog it down to the point of it not being a great selling tool for your novel.

·        It needs to be written in third person, present tense.

·        It is the one time where telling the story is important but does not need to be a blow by blow detail oriented summary of every aspect of your book.

·        It needs to introduce all your characters, their main conflict as well as their emotional story arc.

·        There are no cliffhangers allowed as it tells of your plot twists and the ending. It’s point is to show that you have strategicly layered your story and that it sticks together the way it should.

           

            Sounds simple right? Ha! Do not fool yourself as this can be just as hard as it was to complete the book. When writing these things I had to have some zen moments and remind myself that I could do this. It isn’t rocket science though there was a moment I certainly thought it was.

            Now, I’m off to finish everything but I’d like to remind you that I am promoting my latest book Night of the Blue Moon…and it’s the last book in the Blue Moon Magic series. It has a few fans already and is slowly getting some sales. You can find a lot of information right here on the blog as well as the series blog at Our Blue Moon World.

And no, I haven’t forgotten that I was going to write an article about ebook pricing, synopses just took center stage. That topic will be covered next week!

Until then…

Lynn 

My So-Called Writing Life ~ @oddlynn3 #LynnCrain #amwriting #amreading

Sorry for posting so late but this is week full of promotion, promotion and more promotion. It’s all part and parcel of being an author. I can’t go a week without doing something promotion wise and there are many days I want off this train.

I remember years ago, when I was first starting out, I had this vision of someone else doing all my promotion. I dreamed of the day where all I had to do was approve it and off it went. I suppose in some weird way, I saw my life sort of like the one seen in the 1989 movie, She-Devil, where the author just seems to float on air and everything gets done and she has scads of fans.

Not.

Today, I know that there are times when life doesn’t live up to the fantasy. I frequently say that it’s not all tiaras and limos. Matter of fact, I can’t remember ever when it was tiaras and limos at all. Sure, when going to some RWA conferences, I’ve ridden in a limo. Needless to say, that was really the only choice of vehicle available. In Hawaii, to get from the airport to the hotels, it was cheaper to reserve a limo than to take a taxi. Same for New York and New Orleans.

Here where I live in Vienna, most of the taxis are Mercedes or BMWs or some other luxury car. Does that mean I’m driven around in limos here? I suppose if you look at it in some weird way, yes. The fact is that those are the normal occurrences in those places and therefore, I go with the norm of where I’m at.

Did it make me feel special? Not really. Only one limo, and that was in New Orleans, was it a stretch with a bar and we laughed all the way there. We only got it because the driver’s fare didn’t show up and he had to go back to the airport anyway. He gave us a good deal and off we went. Most of the time in the States, the limos have been town cars and enough said there.

So, back to promo. In that other world where I dreamed that someone else did it for me, I suppose I just took it for granted. In this world, I take nothing for granted and work very hard to get the word out there about my books. I blog, I Facebook and I tweet. I also do newsletters, Pinterest and a few other things, like selected promo with places like eBookSoda and BKnights as examples.

All of this takes time and effort to coordinate it and while I do get help, it does take a big chunk out of my writing day. I write a lot of erotic content and this time, I had to find places that would boost sales while taking erotic content. And we’re not talking overtly erotic here. Most of my eroticism happens during love making sessions and I use all the big words. I’ve been told on a number of occasions that I write sweet erotic romance. Huh? How do I market that?

Even though I’m doing all this right now, I know as a writer that the best promotion of any book I write is word of mouth. That’s where a fan tells another fan and then another until it snowballs and suddenly you have good sales and if you’re lucky, a best seller on your hands.

Right now, I am lucky enough to have a few award winning books under my belt and I’m hope that eventually, they will translate into sales. Part of my problem is that I have been extremely slow in getting my next books out. It’s been nearly a year between them and I know that this is a problem. And it’s not a problem of me not writing fast. That I can do but being out of my normal environs sometimes takes it all out of me and all I want to do is retreat.

Yeah, like I’ve said, I should be living the dream because I’m in Europe and my time is my own and yada, yada, yada. Sometimes it isn’t that simple. Sometimes it’s just wrapping your head around your situation and learning to live with it. I’m a slow learner in that area and now it’s almost time for us to leave and return home.

What am I promoting, you may ask…the book is Night of the Blue Moon…and it’s the last book in the Blue Moon Magic series. It has a few fans already and is slowly getting some sales. You can find a lot of information right here on the blog as well as the series blog at Our Blue Moon World.

And speaking of books. I did buy the next Longmire book by Craig Johnson. It cost way too much and though it’s an enjoyable read, my topic next week will be regarding ebook pricing.

Until then…

Lynn