Keeping a Professional Distance From our Book

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about gaining distance from our books.  I really feel that’s vital to both editing them effectively, gaining a critical perspective of them, and learning from negative feedback.

One way to gain distance from our books is to write another book.  The authors I know who wrote one book (and were traditionally published), fell into this “only child syndrome” with their book…they helicopter-parented it and were genuinely hurt over poor reviews.  Hurt to the point where they were immobilized and couldn’t move forward with writing again.

Another way to cultivate this distance is to adopt the most businesslike attitude we can about our books. Because, if we’re sticking with publishing as a career…it is a business.  I think that’s where writers got off-track so many times in the past.  We didn’t understand our contracts, we didn’t understand the nature of the industry, we didn’t understand our responsibility to our book…which is to promote ourselves as a brand and work on the next story.

Twitterific

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It's the search engine for writers.

Friend and fellow mystery writer Margot Kinberg has compiled a crime fiction anthology: In a Word--Murder.  The ebook retails for $2.99 and proceeds from its sales benefit Princess Alice Hospice, in memory of Maxine Clarke, a supporter of and good friend to the crime writing community.  One of my stories is in the collection, too...my first attempt at short fiction. :) 

I'm also included in a newly-launched resource for self-publishing authors:

Wordpreneur Peeps: 107 Successful Indie Publishers. Eldon Sarte from the Wordpreneur blog has collected advice from 107 self-published authors and compiled them in this attractively-priced  November release (currently at $.99).  His blog is also a helpful resource for independent authors.

Have a great week!

7 Tips to Help you Write More: http://dld.bz/cUmdu @RinelleGrey

Preparing for a Productive Writing Day

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve always been a big believer in being prepared (yes, I was a Girl Scout all those years ago).  I don’t like hectic mornings, so everything is organized the night before to make sure the mornings go smoothly.  My kids know that in the evenings before bed, they have to have all their homework done,  essays printed out, homework collected in their backpacks downstairs,  and have a handle on what they want to wear the following day.  Lunches are made the night before.  The more time we invest at night, the better and more stress-free our mornings are.

The Ability to Single-Task

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

The past few days haven’t been terrific and the fault for this lies squarely with me.

So…I dropped my phone in water.  Apparently, this is not a good thing to do to smart phones.  Not only did I drop it in water, I didn’t even realize I’d dropped it into water.  There was no quick rescue, so the phone was submerged for quite a while.  Once I discovered it, I tried sticking it into a bag of quick-rice, but boy, that thing was dead.

I have also broken a plastic container that was full of leftovers (yes, this is hard to do! But somehow…), chipped a bowl, ran into a doorjamb, and burned two things I was cooking.  Even for me, this is a long list of issues.

The interesting thing is that after my phone was destroyed (it was actually the last in the series of unfortunate events), I immediately stopped having these calamities.  I’m not going to blame my phone 100%, but it apparently was a significant contributing factor.

Developing Characters—Getting Started

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

My daughter has been horseback riding on the weekends for years now. I love that she loves it, I love the way she excels at it.  I love that it’s an outdoor activity in a digital, indoor age.  The barns are interesting places and the people who hang out in barns are very different from the people I’m ordinarily around, so that’s very stimulating.  And, of course, the horses are gorgeous.

But I really just didn’t get the whole horse thing.  My daughter would talk about the horses while we were at the barn and continue talking about them during the week.  There was lots of personification going on...in my mind, anyway.  “Dusty worries about the jumps when they’re in different locations than usual.  That’s why he kept trying to look at them as we were cantering around the ring. I had to really make sure he was looking straight ahead,” she’d say.  And I’d nod and ask more about Dusty’s proclivities and his outlook on the world, and think, “What a creative child I have!”  Because I’d look at Dusty, the largest horse in the barn, and all I got out of it was… “My Lord, what a massive animal that is.”  And hope she always stayed on the horse.

Twitterific

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It's the search engine for writers.

Check out the new resource for writers.  It’s Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group website.  There you’ll find pages of links to resources—writing tips, publishers, agents, queries, self-publishing, marketing, contests, and publications for writers.

Friend and fellow mystery writer Margot Kinberg has put together a crime fiction anthology: In a Word--Murder.  The ebook retails for $2.99 and proceeds from its sales benefit Princess Alice Hospice, in memory of Maxine Clarke, a supporter of and good friend to the crime writing community.  One of my stories is in the collection, too...my first attempt at short fiction. :) 

Have a great week!

6 Tools That Stop Computer Distractions and Help You Stay on Task: http://dld.bz/cTK5m @Trekity

How we present ourselves plays into our brand: http://dld.bz/cTK55 @fictorians

Writing to a Theme

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A few years ago, I got an email from a middle school student.  What was the theme of my book?

At first I was just a little startled that students just wrote authors about this kind of thing.  It would never have occurred to me to do that…but then, I guess the internet wasn’t around at that point, either (at least, not to the general public).

And then I was startled when I realized that…hey, the book in question didn’t really have much of a theme.  Maybe that’s why the kid was having such a hard time. :)  I mean, you could go with a ‘good will triumph over evil’ type of thing.  It was basically general crime fiction. 

Preparing for a Panel

By Elizabeth S. Craig @elizabethscraig

Tomorrow, November 14, I’m on a panel for the Get Read online conference—a conference that’s all about helping writers learn more about effective marketing.

My panel is “Publishing Your Way To Success.” The description:

The core thing that connects writers to readers is the stories you craft – be it fiction, nonfiction, memoir, poetry or any form of writing. In this session, we explore how releasing new work can grow and more deeply engage your audience.

Thoughts On a 99 Cent Sale

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig



It’s been a very long time since I’ve sold anything at 99 cents.  I’d read some blog posts that advised against it.  I’d heard readers say that it was tough finding anything good at 99 cents.
Then I started reading those same things…but it was now arguing against a $1.99 price point.  The best, most recent examination I’ve got on the subject is this post by writer Molly Greene: “Ebook Pricing: What’s The Perfect Number?”  
The entire post is worth a read.  Here is an excerpt where Molly quotes Smashwords CEO and founder Mark Coker on various price points:

Twitterific

 by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It's the search engine for writers.

This week-- November 13-14:  Get Read – Marketing Strategies for Writers: Dan Blank’s We Grow Media is a  two-day online conference for authors looking for promotion strategies--and, ultimately, readers.  Speakers include Porter Anderson, Chuck Wendig, Dan Blank, Jane Friedman, Therese Walsh, and many others.  (I'm one of the scheduled speakers and am also am serving on the advisory board.)  More information about the conference and registration information can be found here.

Completing Your Novel Plot

Guest Post by Jack Smith

At some point in drafting a novel, you will probably see the need to add more actions or events to complete the plot.  You know the story isn’t complete.  You may need to rethink where your story is going.  Try this process:

• Write a brief summary of each chapter.  This is time-consuming, but once you have concise summaries, you will be able to see your novel’s overall direction more easily.  Sure, you can read and reread your novel itself, but sometimes you can forget what happened first, second, etc. 

Thoughts on Social Reading and Other Intrusions

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A couple of months ago, I read an interesting post on social reading: Is Social Reading the End of an Intimacy?  Porter Anderson discussed the topic on Jane Friedman’s blog for his Writing on the Ether weekly column there (excellent coverage of publishing industry topics there, if you haven’t checked it out). 

I’ve kept thinking about the post, since this social aspect keeps slipping into ebooks I’ve been reading.  I’ve gotten used to the underlined passages, for instance, although they startled me the first few ebooks I read.  The fact that I’ve gotten used to them is what makes me think about Porter’s post.

Success and Writing—What Keeps Us Going

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

In many ways, I’m the biggest lurker out there.  I do try to comment on friends’ blogs, but for the vast majority of the blogs I visit in a week (which is in the hundreds), I skim and share. 

Some of what I see and have seen over the years makes me sad.  I’ve seen writers talk about how beaten-down they’ve been from the rejection cycle, from reader reviews, from lack of family support or publisher support. I’ve seen a lot of self-doubt and a lot of people quitting. 

Interestingly, though, I’ve seen a lot of writers who blogged that they were quitting writing only to pop back on the scene months later.  They couldn’t stop.

Twitterific

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

 

Twitterific links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 23,000 free articles on writing related topics. It's the search engine for writers.

November 13-14:  Get Read – Marketing Strategies for Writers: Dan Blank’s We Grow Media is a  two-day online conference for authors looking for promotion strategies--and, ultimately, readers.  Speakers include Porter Anderson, Chuck Wendig, Dan Blank, Jane Friedman, Therese Walsh, and many others.  (I'm one of the scheduled speakers and am also am serving on the advisory board.)  More information about the conference and registration information can be found here.

If you use the discount code elizabeth, you receive $20 off the conference price.

Check out the new resource for writers.  It’s Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group website.  There you’ll find pages of links to resources—writing tips, publishers, agents, queries, self-publishing, marketing, contests, and publications for writers.

20 questions to ask when creating your setting: http://dld.bz/cTcAm @daycathy @jtdutton

On Translation

 Translator Julie Rose has translated some of France’s most highly prized writers, both classical and contemporary and is best known for her critically acclaimed translation of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, Les Misérables. Rose has always been an avid reader of crime fiction. She just translated The Greenland Breach by Bernard Besson, a cli-fi spy novel recently published in English by Le French Book.

How did you get started in translation?

For me it started when I moved to France in the 1980s, after graduating from Sydney University and scoring a doctoral scholarship from the French government. The scholarship wouldn’t have kept a gal in kirs royaux, should it have been required to, so I did what everyone else did: I taught English to French people in firms all over town and interpreted for visiting delegations of administrators and business people of all stripes.