Time, time, time

Who has enough time?  Nobody.  The truth is that often, there really is enough time every day, but one does need to sleep.  And to be honest, I spend most evenings responding to e-mails, looking at Facebook, and watching movies.  But I also feel that winding down is an important part of my day - it's downtime, and without it, I don't function well and I certainly don't sleep well.

What I need more of is morning time.  I am so productive first thing in the morning, when the air is cool and the birds are singing.  I feel refreshed after a night's sleep, the phone doesn't ring, and my creative juices flow.  Sure, sometimes I do write at night, but when I do that, I often find that the quality of my writing is poor, so most of the time, it's not worth it.

Recently, I accepted an invitation to write three articles for a book that is being put together for (new) expats in Germany.  The articles were on raising multilingual children, raising multicultural children, and trailing spouses.  In order to do the topics justice rather than simply writing up articles based solely on my personal experience and knowledge, I did a lot of research for the articles, and also conducted two surveys.  I read as much as I could, made sure I included references from the most well-known and important books and websites on the subject, and tried to write great articles.  It had been a long time since I'd written anything non-fiction (other than a blog), and I had to use a part of my brain that, unfortunately, had some cobwebs on it.

Great exercise, glad I took it on, but also glad it's over!  I only had a couple of weeks to turn in the articles, and having a deadline imposed by someone other than myself was rather difficult.  In those two weeks, I also had to organize my son's first day of school (quite a lot of preparation here in Germany), attend two parent-teacher conferences, two women's group meetings (they always take the entire day), book club (needless to say, I didn't finish reading the book!), and to top it all off, I had three days of debilitating migraine right smack in the middle.  How I got those articles written, I do not know.

I had been toying with the idea of exploring more freelance writing as a side-job, but I think this latest experience has extinguished that possibility.  I really loved the experience, but between regular commitments, such as laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc... and other commitments that one makes, it is very unlikely that I'd find enough morning time to do good writing.  And my second book?  That collected dust while I was working on the articles.  I also lost the momentum I had, and am struggling to find it again.

Now, I'm back to writing my book on my own schedule, as slow as that has to be sometimes.  I've got a self-imposed deadline of a completed first draft by the end of October, but it doesn't make me feel stressed, because if it's not finished by my deadline, nobody will be disappointed but myself.  If a great freelancing project falls into my lap again, I may take it, but I won't be seeking out any projects, at least not for now.

Writing space

I've never really had a good writing space before.  I just sort-of picked up my laptop and brought it wherever I wanted to write.  A desk, I had.  It was otherwise known as my dumping spot.  I complained that it was not a real desk, just a table.  I am not the least-organized person in the world.  After all, I manage to keep up with the personal appointments, laundry, nourishment, and paperwork of four people.  It has been mentioned that I could do a better job, yet I haven't been fired yet because nobody else is willing to do the job.  My desk really made me look bad, though.  Things would come in the mail, I'd collect our company's paperwork, the kids would bring home pictures, I would start writing holiday cards, and it would all end up in a pile on my desk until I sorted through it.  I was only somewhat aware of what was even on the desk.  My husband's desk, on the other hand, always looked very neat.  He also occasionally put papers on my desk. For me to sort through and take care of.  I was not very happy with the system.  One morning, our 6-year-old son got up at seven, and "neatened" my desk.  The organized piles of papers were now one disorganized pile of papers, but at least the desk could be seen.  "Don't mess it up again!" he warned me. 

As you can probably guess, writing at my desk was not an option. 

Well, now it is.  Presenting: the. coolest. desk. ever.

Now, my stuff is organized,  as there is a place to organize it.  I cannot dump stuff on her because she doesn't have much dumping space.  I plain old have to file things when I get them.  And for the other stuff, it has a place.  My cards, my colored pencils, my paint, my pens, my office supplies - they each have their own drawers.  Whether or not I will actually sit at my desk and type there as opposed to bringing my laptop to the most comfortable spot is yet to be seen.  But one thing for sure is that I will feel and be more organized, which will hopefully save me time.  And I will surely hand write cards there, because she's begging me to. 

Indy Bookstores, a guest blog, and book 2

The other day, I decided to start calling independent bookstores to see if they'd carry my book.  I started in Olympia, Washington, the hometown of the protagonist of Secrets of a Summer Village.  There are three indy bookstores there.  The first one, Last Word Books, said they'd love to take some copies on commission.  It was totally easy and they were incredibly friendly.  I love Olympia, and thank you Last Word Books.  The second one, which I often frequented while in Olympia, Fireside Books, said they would have loved to, but they're closing in a month :(  Sad.  The third one, Orca Books, shocked me when I introduced myself.

"We already have a copy of your book - Secrets of a Summer Village, right?" 

I was floored.  Long story short, I found out that a friend and former colleague of mine asked them about my book, and I guess suggested that they carry it.  So they did.  As easy as that.  So if any of you have local independent bookstores you frequent, please ask them if they'd be interested in carrying my book! It works, apparently.  Have they sold my book?  No.  But they needed a little promotional data - some quotes from reviews recommending it.  I sent those along, and hope that they are able to sell the book. 

In further news, a guest blog I wrote was featured today.  Please check it out: http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/guest-post-what-kind-of-writer-do-i-want-to-be-by-saskia-akyil/

Finally, book 2 is coming along.  I have about 2,000 words written.  Next to nothing, I know, but it's flowing easily, and I'm very happy with it.  If you need some perspective, I'm aiming for around 60,000 words for this one.  Secrets of a Summer Village is around 90,000 words.  So, 2000 down, 58,000 to go.  It sounds daunting, but it's not that bad at this rate - it's taken me two days to get the 2,000 words, and I haven't been working that diligently on it.  Now, let's see how much I can write in the next half hour..... MY personal key to writing is writing in very short spurts... because sometimes that's all I have :)

Give Up? No... not yet

I finally have the idea for my next novel quite solidly outlined.  As I start to write, the rejection letters for other things I've queried have come in.  I hear a lot of "you are an excellent writer, but I didn't fall in love with the characters," or "your writing is solid, but the story is not for me".  Either this stuff is generic rejection stuff (in some cases, it doesn't seem to be based on other stuff in the letters), or I'm JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH.  And I think to myself, will this next novel be "good enough" for an agent to bite?  And then for a publisher to bite?  Or will it also be close but not quite there.  One agent has asked to see my next novel, which is encouraging.  But it's a lot of work to write a book, and I wonder if I should be spending my time this way or if there are more constructive things I could be doing.

The answer?  OF COURSE there are more constructive things I could be doing, but my problem is that I write because I can't help myself.  And if I give up, I'll never, ever know if I could do this, write a book good enough and sale-able enough that someone would want to publish it.

And this stream-of-consciousness blog post answers the question of what success means to a writer:  getting published by a publisher.  Not because they are the final word, but because they have a gazillion contacts that I do not have.  Newspapers and radio stations and magazines aren't interested in my book because I published it myself, which unofficially means that it is not good enough for them.

But there are rays of light in these dark thoughts.  A lot of people have read my book, loved it, and written positive reviews.  A lot of people have recommended it to their friends.  And at the end of the day, I feel confident that I did, in fact, write a really good book.  A book I would have wanted to read when I was 16.  I'm recording the audio book now (SLOW process, as slow as writing!), and I am truly enjoying it because - surprise - it's a fun story, with some very funny, sweet, poignant moments.

So it's not really true that I define my talent through the eyes of agents and publishers.  The truth is that I just want to get my story out there, and it's a frustratingly difficult thing to do all on my own.

So I guess I'll just keep on writing, at least for now.  My deadline is the end of December because I want to enter my new book in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest.  So here goes...

Never. Give. Up.

Two things that I have read today have motivated me to keep trying at this writing thing.

The first was a rejection letter.   Sounds wrong somehow, but there are three types of rejection in the world of query letter and manuscript submission.

1.  The first type is very anti-climactic: no response.  It's annoying, but doesn't hurt that badly unless it's from an agent or publisher that you were really sure was going to LOVE what you have written. 
2.  The second type is the form rejection letter.  It's more respectful than the no-response rejection because you get closure and can move on, but it hurts a bit more.  Form rejections basically thank you for your submission and tell you it was not right for that particular agent/publisher and encourages you to keep trying.  It's not actually very encouraging.  
3. But when an agent or publisher takes the time to write you a personal e-mail rejection, it can be encouraging.  It tells you that somebody actually read what you sent them and cares enough to respond.  Here's the one I received this morning.  It's from a publisher, in response to the query and MS I sent them of The Solstice Dance, a children's picture book I wrote quite a long time ago:

Thanks very much. Very charming material. But I'm afriad we're not in a position to do this kind of book currently, particularly if an illustrator is not involved with the submission. Particularly with this book, getting the geography, customs, garments, and other details correct requires specific knowledge in order to avoid cultural gaffes.

Perhaps a publisher with more extensive connections with illustrators would be a better choice? Thank you in any case for you interest and for sharing your submission.

I really feel like writing back to him, begging him to reconsider, offering to find an appropriate illustrator... but I won't.  I'll write back to thank him for taking the time to write me a personal e-mail.

The second thing that motivated me today is something I read on the website of a publisher's editorial guidelines.  They likened getting a book published to becoming a famous actor, and I thought about all the stories of actors going to auditions with hundreds of others, and getting rejected for years before getting a break.  Sure, some actors get lucky the first time, but those are in the extreme minority.  Some of them may go on to write scripts and produce their own movies, which is similar to self-publishing.  Instead of being discouraged by this comparison, I'm encouraged by it.  At least I don't have to live in Hollywood and try out in front of impatient directors.  

It is pretty exciting to hear back from agents and publishers, even when it's a rejection.  If you want to be a writer: Never. Give. Up.

Live to write

I don't live to write, nor do I write to live.  That is not what this post is about.  When giving advice about writing, many authors (including myself) say that it's important to read and to write.  What they so often forget is to remind us to live.  Without traveling, talking to friends and family, eating, loving, laughing, crying, fighting, getting sick and getting well again, agreeing and disagreeing, being too hot and too cold, we aren't living.  And without living, how will we have anything interesting to write about? 

So, what have I been doing for the past 10 days?  I've been living.  I haven't done any writing (though I cannot stop my writer brain from recording visions, smells, and sounds for future books...).  I feel refreshed and ready to start typing again.  Got writer's block?  Live a little in order to write.

What kind of writer do I want to be?

As I'm working on Book 2, I'm faced with a question - what kind of writer do I want to be?  Book 1 (Secrets of a Summer Village) is a coming of age mainstream fiction/YA crossover.  It's fairly light-hearted, upbeat, and positive.  The feedback I've gotten is that it makes readers feel good and learn something at the same time.  It also makes you feel good when you're writing happy, positive stuff.  That said, I don't want to write fluff.

In book 2, something bad is actually going to happen to the main character.  I am pretty sure I know what this bad thing is, and it's really bad.  But I don't want to write a depressing book.  The first voice I gave this as-of-yet unnamed character was too depressing.  I didn't want to make myself depressed having to write her.  So then I found a much more upbeat, cheerful voice for her.  It was so fun to write, and it just flowed out of me.  But then this really bad thing is going to happen to her, so she won't be able to keep that up, and I don't even know how this voice would have to change after a tragedy.  So I have to find another voice.  Something between depressed and polyanna.

I also have to choose an age.  Is this going to be mainstream fiction? YA?  Crossover?  I'm leaning towards crossover.  What I hope I'm writing is intelligent YA that adults can enjoy, since in this modern world in which lines are incredibly blurred, young adults often read mainstream "adult" literature (I sure did when I was a teenager), and plenty of adults unabashedly enjoy YA.  I was thinking of making the main character 13, but then I was told that 13 is a black hole because it's considered too old for Middle Grade novels and too young for YA.  So my main character needs to be either 12 or younger... or 15 or older.  Which is a shame because I think that 13 is a fascinating age.

I think my main character will have just turned 15.  I'm not ready to write Middle Grade books yet, though I hope to one day.  What I mean by that is that I still remember being a teenager, but my memories of being 12 are much murkier.  I'm planning on waiting until my children are "middle grade" readers themselves before I can imagine that world again.

So, what kind of writer do I want to be?  Second book will help steer me in a direction.  First book was a wild card of sorts, but second book will make me lean towards a genre... or not.  Something that has to happen for me no matter what, is that I have to like the main character and enjoy writing the book.  Bad things may happen, but the characters cannot and must not be destroyed by them.  I want to be a writer who people enjoy reading.

New books in the works!

I have TWO new books in the works.  I don't know how many authors write more than one book at the same time, but I'll tell you why I'm doing it. 

First of all, nearly everyone who has read Secrets of a Summer Village has asked for a sequel.  I have been sketching the outline for the sequel since about September 2011, but have been spending most of my book-related work time trying to promote the first book.  Just when I was trying to think of first lines for the new book, I decided that I should probably put that on hold and write a different book.  Why?  Well, for one thing, unless my first book all of a sudden becomes a runaway success (unlikely), I won't be able to query a sequel.  Yes, I am going to try to query my next book rather than directly self-publishing.   I'd also like to have a manuscript to enter into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest for 2013, and a sequel wouldn't work for that, either. 

For quite a while (about two months) I couldn't figure out what on Earth to write about (and I really do want to stick to Earth).  I started to worry that I only had one book in me and that my writing career was over.  But then all of a sudden, a few weeks ago, I had a great idea.  I'm not going to tell you what it was because that's a secret.  What's important is that I have been thinking about this new book day and night, and the idea has morphed and changed and is now almost nothing like the original idea.  I don't really know what the new book is going to end up being about, but my thoughts are brewing, the character is finding her voice, and I am starting to envision the story.  When I write, the characters become real to me.  The hard part is sitting down and writing down the words so that the characters become real to everyone else.

This time around, I am a little more conscious about what needs to go into a novel.  These are my writing guidelines this time around:

• The main character needs a strong, consistent voice.  This time, I plan to write in the first person.
• I have to really jump into the story within the first 5000 words.  This is because readers - the general public, agents, and reviewers for contests, need to have a good feeling for the book within the first 5000 words in order to know if they want to read more.  It makes sense.  With book one, I ended up condensing the first 3 chapters into two so that I could get to the point faster.  I think I should have even condensed more. 
• There has to be a turning point somewhere in the book that involves struggle and some sort of hardship.  This is MY struggle - I love my characters so much that I really don't want them to get hurt.  But they usually have to hurt in order to grow.  
• The main character has to be between 12 and 17 years old.  I have made a conscious decision to write YA and perhaps middle-grade novels.  At least for now.  Adults can like them, but they have to be accessible to and appropriate for younger readers.  
• The reader has to learn something new.  Many comments from readers about Secrets had to do with how much they had learned while reading the story.  It is not the main point of my novels to teach readers something new, but I'd like to sneak some cool stuff in there.  It will require a lot more research on my part than if I didn't have this goal, but I think it will make the book more memorable. I'm nerdy that way.

I recently read that maybe, just maybe, the market is getting tired of paranormal romance (don't believe me?  Read this).  The same agent suggests that the next big trend might be geeks in YA.  I am very geeky and would happily create geeky main characters, but I don't know yet whether my new, as-of-yet unnamed main character is geeky.  I don't know her well enough yet to say.

And the other book I'm writing?  It's the sequel.  Just when I had decided that I would put the sequel on hold, a bunch of people asked if I was writing a sequel.  So I'm going to try to write both at the same time.  I'm not sure how I'm going to manage this - maybe I'll alternate weeks.  Maybe I won't even be able to manage it and will have to write them in sequence rather than simultaneously.  But I think that writing the sequel to Secrets will be much easier than writing the new book because I already know the characters.  Writing the new book will be like going to a new school where you don't have any friends yet and you can't find your classroom or your locker.  Or something like that. 

How to write a book

I have lost count how many people have told me that they want to write a book.  I don't know if they just say it because it sounds cool or if they really have ideas about what to write, but it's really not an impossible feat.  Getting people to read it, well that is much harder.  With the insanely expanding self-publishing possibilities, publishing a book isn't even hard.  Here's how to write a book:

1. Come up with an idea.  Think about it a lot.  Think about whether or not you'd want to read it.  If you wouldn't like to read it, you probably wouldn't want to write it, since writing takes much longer.
2. Write the first chapter.  Once you're done, put it away for a few days and then read it again.  Make necessary changes.
3. Share it with someone or with lots of people.  Get feedback. Try not to be defensive.  Think about the feedback and make changes, as necessary.
4. Keep writing and repeating steps 3 and 4.

Writing can be really isolating, but getting feedback is essential to writing a book.  Check out sharing sites such as Movellas, which can help you get feedback from total strangers.  (Strangers will be much more honest and direct about your writing than your family and friends. Just saying).