Blog Neglect

It happens. I haven't blogged in months.

Ah well. Working on short stories lately instead. Novel drafts too. Always. Keep writing. Keep writing. Keep writing.

Over the Hill is Good!

I'm over the hill! Yes! That's a good thing. Of course, I'm not talking about age. This is a writing blog. I'm talking about writing, duh. I've been trying for months to get another novel going. And I've failed, and failed, and failed. Everytime I get to about 20,000 words the story gets stuck. Over thinking. Writer's block. Loss of confidence. Loss of momentum. Whatever it is. The story just shuts down and gathers dust. And I start over.

But not today. I've broken through the bullshit block. My current story exceeded 30,000 words today and it's accelerating with no end in sight. Sure, I'll have to cut thousands from the begining. Sure, I'll have to rewrite, remove, and reorganize everything for months and months. But the flow is back, baby! I haven't felt it in so long and it feels great. Go, go, go!

Now I'm getting superstitious. Will this blog jinx my flow? Will the story drop dead now that I let the secret out? Wait, what secret? You don't even know the plot or anthing! Bah ha ha ha ha! I still have the upper hand. Yes! The words are flowing. Accelerating! And I'm laughing, screaming, and crying all the way down the hill. Meet you at the end, wherever that may be...?

Typical Writer Ramblings

Wow! Can't believe it's already been over a year since "To the Top of Greenfield Street" was published. I am humbled and flattered by its successes. Yet with every compliment comes the pressure of... where is the follow up?

And I gotta say, it's not that easy. Greenfield Street seemed to pour out of me. My debut had zero pressure, and zero expectations, but now, as I sit down and write, instead of writing for the fun of it, I keep thinking about the audience. What will they want? What do they like? Should I do a sequel? Prequel? Same setting? Some type of Greenfield universe? The whole thing has me in a slump.

Thinking too much.

Procrastinating.

Making excuses.

Quitting.

I believe this is called the sophomore slump. My novel is so, so, so, relatively insignificant, but I feel like I just won 20 Grammys on my first record, and now the label is asking for another...

So what do I do?

Forget it, man. Forget everything. Forget everybody. Forget Greenfield. Write for fun again. Write for you. But it's not that easy. I'm still blocked on what to write. Write what you know. Which is...

I don't know anything. That's why I wrote a coming of age novel. Everybody has a truth about growing up. I wrote mine.

Been there done that. Now what?

You don't know anything else? What about parenting? Or baseball. You love baseball.
But I don't know shit about it. Not enough for an entire book...

What happenes is this: I write and write and write.

Probably about 100 pages. Then I stop. Like a roadblock. A friggin' brick wall.
Why?
Because the story sucks.

At first, it's fun to have everything running around like crazy, and the characters are sprinting. I'm chasing them. They're writing the shit. And I'm listening. It's a real blast!
But then I get to the meat of the story. Where is the climax? How do I tie up all these loose ends? That's when I walk away. I second-guess.
There's no theme. There's no truth. The fabic is a jumbled mess.
Start over.
Do it again.
Read some old shit I abandoned. Try to fix it. No, that sucks too.
Why am I doing this? The hours wasted, weeks, months, years.
Stay positive.
Time isn't wasted. It's all you have. At least I'm doing something sort of constructive.
I'm practicing. Hoping. Searching. I keep going.

Another great story is just around the bend.

Me as My Co-writer

Getting back into writing lately and it's been a wonderful break from marketing To the Top of Greenfield Street. I picked up a manuscript that I wrote over ten years ago-- the writing is absolutely awful, and I love it.

As I'm reading through, there are definitely some stupid mistakes, but many of them are easy to correct. More importantly, the plot moves along well and it takes me somewhere. Next thing I know, I'm flowing, and adding and changing the plot as I see fit.

The coolest part comes when I get stuck, because the old story is still there to unstick me. It has an idea ready, right away, maybe a bad one, but an immediate idea of where the plot should go, none the less. It's like I'm my own co-writer, bouncing ideas off my past self and deciding which way the line of action should turn. Disagreeing with an idea inspires just as much creativity as agreeing-- it all inspires more possibilities.

Like most writers, I'm sure, my harddrive contains stacks and stacks of docs that died. The novel graveyard. I'd be cruising along on an idea... and the next thing I know it dries up. I got stuck, like knee-deep in a creativity quicksand, I can't move forward, and abandon the project.

Well, here is hope! Keep writing. Put the ideas on paper. This motivational cliche gets said all the time within the writing community... but it's so true! Please keep writing, and always save your work. Don't ever totally give up on any of your ideas. Find that old manuscript from decades ago, back in high school or college, hell, elementary school if you can find it-- whenever inspiration struck. Odds are that the idea is total crap, but if you can start a conversation, get flowing, begin again, with your old ideas as your co-writer, and your new polished skills as a co-writer, you might just be surprised at what you two can come up with. Cheers.

Accept the Lull

Happy New Year! Of course, it feels great to get 2020 behind us all, but with the changing of year, comes the end of the Christmas-buying season, which is a relief to most, but a difficult blow to authors trying to promote their book. We have now entered the winter lull.

Listen. As I've said before-- writing is not about making money. Write because it's therapy. Write because it's fun. Write because you can't do anything else without getting bored and irrate. Write because you need to get your crazy thoughts out of your head before they implode. But please, oh please, oh please, don't write for the money.

From a financial standpoint, writing is much, much, much more of an investment than a payday. The question is, besides burning through your bank account, how else can you spread the word about your book? How else do you get your name out there? Spending as little as possible gets little results. How do you spend wisely, and get sales from complete strangers? The more I write this blog, post-publication, the more it revolves around money, instead of creativity, which sucks. And by the way, those questions I asked? I have no idea how to answer them.

I'm an artist, a creative soul, which naturally means I hate those questions, because I hate money. Balancing a check book? No way. I hate to even think about it. Money is corrupt and evil. The batle of the haves vs the have-nots. The way money corrupts people is the main theme in some of my favorite books and movies. And many "popular" books and films suck, mainly do to the fact that they were produced by rich people who had more money than talent. They could afford to promote their project without flinching, while millions of better stories drowned in the unknown of the underfunded. Money is the enemy of art. Oh man, now I'm getting pissed just thinking about it.

So just relax. Focus on something else. As a friend and fellow writer once said "do the parts you like and let the other stuff go." Don't dwell on the negative stuff, which is so simple, yet so true. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the excitement of buying those first ads, or printing the merch. I did enjoy the dream, the endless possibilities... and then I saw the bills piling up and wanted to vomit.

A chuckle. The thoughts consuming and evolving. The sigh, the reveal, the perspective, this is the best part of writing. I feel better. I got the ideas out of my head and I can move on. I have hopeful ideas.

I'm looking forward to a new year, where my writing career will hopefully prosper. Hundreds of copies of To The Top of Greenfield Street have sold, and I'm hoping that word-of-mouth eventually kicks in, at least a little. My BookBub ad is still cruising along, at a way lower budget than before, but still getting impressions, still spreading the word. I entered my novel in a few contests, hopefully good news will return, which will extend the novel's reputation in other ways.

Publication is about patience more than anything, which is a tough pill to swallow. Be patient. There may be a lull, but the lull will subside. Things will be fine because the novel is good. People will like it, once they find it. Just buckle up and relax. Meditate. Write. Create. Do whatever it takes to ease your mind, because it's gonna be a long, bumpy ride.

The Interview

If you've read my other posts, you know this publication stuff is not easy, and the hardest part (after the writing/editing/rewriting, of course) is just getting the word out. There are plenty of business that will "help" you, everything from book reviews, to contests, to advertising, but all of these options cost so much cash. Over the weekend I spent $200 on advertising and sold 7 copies, and I'm actually thrilled with those results. Book marketing can become outrageously expensive, so it's an obvious economic advantage to utilize as much free publicity as possible.

One way to get your name out there is with interviews. Think about it-- even A-list celebs interview on the talk show circuit. While syndicated TV shows are definitely not in reach, there are other humble options. Podcasts are popular right now, so if you know somebody that does one, reach out. Reaching out is a huge part of this business, so don't be shy, and never hesitate. The odds are pretty good that the interviewer is looking for some good ideas anyway. An old friend of mine and former high school teacher does interviews on his youtube channel, and he was kind enough to interview me here. The interview process did feel pretty nerve-wracking. I may have said a couple silly things, but most people don't know me well enough to notice my anxiety. Overall, the interview is fun to watch and has been seen by hundreds of people.

That in-person feel of the zoom-interview wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking as the phone interview I had for a newspaper, The Journal Standard, here. While the reporter was quite friendly, she wasn't a close friend, so my anxiety level was sky-high. (I'd assume that the majority of writers are shy at heart like me, but that shyness needs to be shed. Don't worry so much.) In the end the article came out fine, helped out tremendously, sold dozens of copies, and spread the word, big time. The story was even published online by its sister paper, The Register Star. Then re-posting sites like News Break ran the story too. The reporter later did a follow-up article, here, which was just as helpful. Spreading the word is one thing, but the re-spreading, or reminding the public is even better.

The easiest interview I've done so far was the email interview for Literary Titan, here. Written question and answer, on your own time. I wrote and rewrote those answers for hours before I finally hit the send button. If a newpaper wants an interview, suggest an emailed q and a first. That's how I interviewed people when I worked at a newspaper. It's easier for everyone, and both parties come out looking polished and professional. In a similar siituation, I had a press-release published in The Daily Item, with some quotes I'd written which looked awesome on the printed page. Writing your own press release is the best-- then you're the interviewer and the interviewed all at once. Press releases can be sent to every newpaper in your area.

So that's it. Get the word out. Don't be shy. Reach out. And try to get as much free publicity as you can.

My 15 Steps of Publication... So Far

Winner, winner, chicken dinner! gold!! won my first award and loved it. but more about that later, lets get blogging...

I'm learning as I go here, and whether right or wrong, this has been my order, so far, during the life of my debut novel. my wisdom is passed on to you, my friend. no charge.
1 - write when inspiration hits, for me the song Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran, sparked the idea to write coming-of-age based on friends back in my hometown. then everything seemed to flow. write, write, write! strike while the iron is hot.
2 - edit, sent to family members and good friends to see what needed help
3 - rewrite, stuff gets better everytime. steps 2-3 are repeated for an eternity
4 - query, lit agents rejected me left and right, unsure why
5 - self-pub, via amazon, quicker than ingram spark, better binding too
6 - blast social media, hit up friends on fb and insta for that initial sales surge. love my friends, huge confidence boost
7 - canvas the internet, your book shows up on a ton of sites (ebay, barnes and nobel, walmart), if there's an option to write a review, do it. Social based sites like goodreads, library thing, reedsy, litpick may need to be nudged in order to add you to their site. open accounts and profiles when needed
8 - write press release, got media connections? use them. emailed area newspapers and tv stations (no response on latter)
9 - library distribution, email as many libraries as possible especially those related to your setting. should have done this one sooner since it takes a while for libraries to order, receive, and catalog
10 - editorial reviews, contacted review services (many of which cost money) looks better than an amazon review your friend wrote. hit up magazines, influential social media people that do reviews. some robots will hit you up too, watch out.
11 - sold at mom and pops stores, my novel is set in Freeport IL and some old friends carried books in their shops. love them.
12 - advertise, tried bookbub and instagram with decent results. newspapers are so expensive! even the little ones are owned by monster corporations now. they want thousands $$$!
13 - contests, i've gotten some good editorial reviews so now i'm entering fiction contests. these usually cost money too, and most are awarded annually, so it takes a long time to get results. I won one already, a monthly, from Literary Titan. Gold Award! (much better than their silver) you know, prized for its excellence and stuff. feels so good!
14 - write another book, people keep asking about a sequel, but i'm not feeling it so far. write for yourself!
15 - dunno, what's next? blog more, haha. I'm sure there's a lot of waiting involved at some point. word of mouth takes time to get around. i'm trying to make a push for christmas gifting but once January hits, who knows. back to step 14, i guess, looking forward to it. until then i'll enjoy with all my heart the occasional compliment or review.
oh, and i bought some cool promo stickers, not sure which step though, haha. it's been a fun ride. spread the word: To the Top of Greenfield Street is a joy to read.