The Big Red Light in a Writer's Head

By Divina Infusino

What stops a writer from writing?

A day job. Family. Spouse. Relationships or lack there of. Too much time on the internet, with the television, game console, iPhone, fitness routine, texting, or (fill in the blank).

The house needs cleaning, the dog walking, the plants watering, the garden hoeing. Quick, look around. There must be something afoot that needs tending other than the blank page/screen insisting on great words to fill its void.

Actually, activities, people and demands do not deter a writer for any length of time, at least not when the writer is burning with something to say.

The one culprit that often stops a writer from writing is doubt.

Doubt in yourself, your talent, your creative abilities, your cognitive grasp of a subject or craft. Doubt in your judgment. Doubt that you can actually write something that anyone might want to read for more than ten nanoseconds.

The problem with doubt and its root state of mind, fear, is that it is often unconscious. Half the time we don’t even realize that we have fear and doubt around our writing. Instead, we just run away, distracting ourselves with anything that we can rationalize as more pressing.

But if we stop and reflect for a few moments, we can spot those self-sabotaging thoughts that circulate just beneath the rising panic:

Can I really write?

Am I good enough?

What if what I write sucks?

What if it is boring?

What if I don’t have enough information, knowledge or creative juice?

What if I have nothing of value to say?

What if people hate what I write? Or worse yet, just ignore it?

What if it is not perfect?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we need to live in non-stop bliss, full self-realization or the mythical village of the always-happy people in order to write.  In fact, sometimes the need to express anger, frustration, pain, suffering or outrage bulldozes through any emotional resistance.  But if your inner Bad Editor (the kind that nit picks for the satisfaction of torturing you) looms too large over a writing project, you may never get started…or finish. 

What to do?

Obviously, the solutions vary depending on your circumstances and who you are. But here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way from my own experience and from other writers:

*First, realize that you are, in fact, experiencing self-doubt. If you don’t recognize that self-doubt about writing is the motivator behind your sudden impulse to clip the cat’s claws, you cannot do anything about it.  You have self-doubt as writer. It’s ok. In fact, it’s normal. So admit it, then you can remedy the situation.

*Most fear around writing stems from a past experience.  A time when someone criticized what you wrote. Or worse yet, you were unhappy with what you wrote.  You had a factual error. Or someone you interviewed complained or you handed a chapter, article or book in late and everyone was mad at you. So be it. But you probably also had good experiences around writing, probably many more than the bad ones. Remember those. Remember the process you undertook to create them.  Remind yourself that you can do this. You have actually done it many times.  And you can do it again –right now.

*If you are experiencing trouble getting started, write down random ideas about your subject.  Don’t force them into an outline right away. That can stop you in your tracks.  Just jot down your ideas under general topics.  Then, give it more structure later.

*Ask yourself: Is there something I need to know that I don’t? Do I need more research? Another interview? Perhaps I should think through a concept more fully? Greater understanding of your subject always improves confidence.

*If you are on a long project, it can help to have a writing cohort, someone you can call and talk to about the problem you are facing. Even if you just talk for 10 -15 minutes, that is often enough time to sort through the issues and get a fresh perspective, or, if nothing else, a pep talk. (Yes, those can help.)

*Bring down your stress levels with exercise, meditation, yoga, or stretching. Or just get some fresh air or sunshine.  You actually need some stress for writing (That’s where deadlines come in handy). But too much stress can throw you into a brain freeze.  Find a technique for relaxation that that works for you.

Self-doubt about your capacities as a writer goes beyond writer’s block, although that is an offshoot.  Self-doubt is actually part of the creative process.  Embrace that fact and it will release you from its vice grip.

Of course, before I wrote this, I washed every dish in the sink, did a round of laundry and vacuumed under the bed.  Just sayin’…

Any thoughts about self-doubt and the writing process? Please share.

Social Media Marketing Changes Like the Weather

By Georgeanne Irvine

Social media marketing: it changes like the weather or perhaps more frequently. I recently attended a fascinating and informative Social Media Symposium hosted by Nuffer, Smith, Tucker, a San Diego public relations firm. I thought I would share a few of the nuggets I gleaned from the speakers and panelists—some of the material was new and other tidbits reconfirmed information that I already knew but probably needed to hear again.

From keynote speaker Jason Falls, author of “No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing”

· If anyone tells you they’re a social media marketing expert, run—or order a pizza from them.

· There are no social media rules. Example: For those who say “you can’t sell anything using social media,” Jason called “Bullshit” and explained how during a winter snowstorm, a mechanic notified friends and clients through Facebook about his storm special—installing car starters. The guy got a lot of business because of the need and the timing.

· Strategic planning is crucial to any marketing plan. You also need to include mechanisms to measure the results.

· There are 7 basic business drivers. You must decide which are important to your goal before developing a strategic social media plan: 1. Enhance branding and awareness. 2. Protect your reputation. 3. Enhance public relations. 4. Build community. 5. Enhance customer service. 6. Facilitate research and development. 7. Drive sales.

· ROI measures only in dollars. A better question to ask in social media marketing: What do I get in return? (Only 2 of the 7 business drivers reflect ROI.)

· Being social is a part of business. We buy from people we know, like, and trust.

· Social media doesn’t raise money; people raise money but they can raise money using social media in certain circumstances.

· Give people a reason to follow you on Facebook and Twitter. Include “really useful content.”

From the panelists

· Social media is a marathon, not a sprint. The posts should stay on the message but each one doesn’t have to reach the goal right away.

· Hook people. Give them a reason to come back.

· Social media plays a role in the larger ecosystem of marketing and communications. It’s not a replacement.

· You need to respond to the positive social media comments in addition to the negative ones. The responses must be authentic, especially for your best customers. You must divorce yourself from emotion when responding to negative comments.

· The difference between good and great is consistency and execution.

· Content matters: everyone in an organization needs to be excited about the product so they can generate great content.

· In Website design, Flash is out and HTML5 is in. (I’m not a Web designer so I’m only repeating what was discussed at the symposium.)

· Make social media a part of an overall crisis communications plan.

· Social media is a main communications tool for media/the press.

From lunch speaker Gary Kim, editor of Mobile Marketing & Technology, Content Marketing News and Carrier Evolution

· We don’t know where mobile marketing will be in the next 15 years. Don’t panic, though, or waste resources on mobile marketing yet—we have plenty of time to figure it out.

· The future in mobile marketing will change dramatically, so watch where it’s going and keep it on your radar for now.

My biggest takeaway:

· A reminder that every project, campaign, or marketing endeavor doesn’t need every single social media tool applied to it. Remember to strategize, review the seven business drivers, know your audience, and plan accordingly.

San Diego native Georgeanne Irvine has devoted more than three decades of her career to raising awareness about animals and wildlife conservation. By day, she is associate director of development communications for the San Diego Zoo, where she has worked for 34 years. George is also the author of more than 20 children’s books, plus numerous magazine, newspaper, and Web articles. George’s most recent work is the coffee table book, The Katrina Dolphins: One-Way Ticket to Paradise, which is a true story about 8 dolphins from an oceanarium that were washed out to sea during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and dramatically rescued a few weeks later.

When Research is FUN (and when it isn’t)

By Kathi Diamant



Kathi Diamant at the United States Botanical Garden,
in Washington DC (part of the fun of research)

As I write this, I’m halfway through a research grant. I am writing an article, and eventually a book, about my search for a lost literary treasure: the missing last writings of Franz Kafka, stolen by the Gestapo in Berlin 1933. I’m in Washington, DC for two more weeks, in residence at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and feeling Time rush by with no regard for all I still have to accomplish.

I am sitting at Carrel #2, which consists of a little desk with a computer in the 6th floor Reading Room, surrounded by other researchers, who sit to the left and right of me, also typing busily away. I just peeked at the surrounding computers, and no one is playing Free Cell or looking at their Facebook page. Everyone is serious around here.

In fact, just to show how serious I am, I did research for this blog post, and just reread Georgeanne Irvine’s offering from last July, entitled “Methods to Get My Writing Juices Flowing.”  Like George, my absolute favorite aspect of writing is the research phase. Omitting the “observing animals” part, I too enjoy “interviewing people, gathering and analyzing facts, searching for information, visiting sites, studying archives” as the most invigorating part of the writing process. Except when it isn’t.

But before I get into all that, let me first give a plug for grants.

Getting a grant to conduct the research you need to knowledgeably set the scene, whether historical, geographical, or cultural, is an excellent idea on several levels. Not to say writing a grant is easy, but it is doable. If you are in San Diego, spend an afternoon at San Diego Foundation at Liberty Station, and you’ll find hundreds of books filled with available grants in every subject imaginable. (If you are not in San Diego, you can look in similar facilities in your own city, and increasingly, online.) Make a list of those that could possibly apply to you, checking your necessary qualifications (like being a US citizen, or a certain level of education), application dates and other criteria, and then write a quick letter of inquiry. Not all will answer you in the affirmative, but chances are good, some will. Then apply, following the grant instructions to the letter. The most important tip I can offer is to read and re-read the instructions, again and again, before, during and after writing the grant.

Having received three grants prior to this one, I can attest to the value a grant affords (beyond the cash, which for me, has ranged from $2,000 to $5,000). When you are trying to sell your book, whether in proposal form or already completed, having received a grant establishes you as someone whose idea is worthy of support. It adds prestige, and acreage to your “platform” which as we are now all aware, is an author’s new best friend. And it can make your writing more descriptive, informative and accurate.

My current grant required a month’s residence in Washington DC at the Woodrow Wilson Center, which grants me access to all sorts of libraries, archives and experts. I have conducted a dozen interviews, and spent hours at the Library of Congress, National Archives and the research facilities at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. I am taking copious notes, and searching out new sources of information, based on what I’ve just discovered. On my own time, I am conducting a different sort of research—specifically on the best restaurants in the historic Capitol Hill neighborhood where I am renting a room, and on which Smithsonian institution I like best. That is the fun part.

The not-so-fun part is the slog. The endless typing-up of pages of my unreadable scribbled notes, and the necessary follow-up of questions not fully answered. Analyzing what I’ve gathered and finding no conclusions, only more questions. Phone calls and emails that don’t get returned or answered. Being overwhelmed at the ceiling-high reams of information on one hand, and on the other, the dearth of details on what I really need to know. I could go on. But thank goodness, blog posts should not.

I’m in the midst of it now, but I know that the memory of the slog evaporates, while a grant’s gains can be immeasurably important, offering an opportunity to fully explore the story you want to tell. Despite my last paragraph, I heartily recommend you research one for yourself. And let me know if I can offer advice. The only thing more fun than gaining knowledge is sharing it!

Kathi Diamant is the author of "Kafka's Last Love: The Mystery of Dora Diamant" and the director of the Kafka Project at San Diego State University, where she is an adjunct professor. When she returns from her stint at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, she will be preparing for her class "Kafka in Context" LTEU 130, at UCSD in the Spring, and her Magical Mystery Literary History Tour this summer. 

Misadventures in Book Publishing, Part 2

by Laurel Corona

The only way I manage not to bungle my life is to do as much as I can in advance, so I was already well into my blog post for this week before reading Caitlin Rother’s entry about the dismal experience she is having with Dorchester and the rerelease of her novel NAKED ADDICTION. It would be nice to have something sunny and upbeat to contrast with that, but that’s not what I was writing. Rather than force my thoughts to go somewhere else, I decided to call this “Misadventures in Book Publishing, Part 2.”

Back in the days when i was writing my first novel, I knew it would take a huge amount of luck to find an agent interested in representing me, and that s/he would have an uphill battle finding someone willing to put money behind an unknown like me. But, I reasoned, if I could survive all that, I would be in great shape. I’d be a known quantity, and one contract would follow another as long as my work remained good.

How utterly naive I was! The only thing that worked out according to my mental model was the good fortune I had in landing an agent. The first one I queried about THE FOUR SEASONS took me on as a client, and got an offer beyond my expectations quickly thereafter. Then she asked a question I have learned is common: “So, do you have anything else on the shelf?”

“Well,” I told her, “I have this nonfiction work, UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH, which has made the rounds just about everywhere with no luck.” “Send it along,” she said. Amazingly, within a few months she had sold that as well.

Wow! I was on the way to fame and glory, and was already assessing my wardrobe’s readiness for life on the road as a touring author.

Shall I say that what followed was a tad less than anticipated? THE FOUR SEASONS and UNTIL OUR LAST BREATH were critical successes and won several significant awards, but most of my “tour” was to local book clubs and workshops at writing conferences, interspersed with larger events such as speeches at fundraisers. I’m not complaining though. The more local events I did, the more realistic I got about how difficult and exhausting it would be to add travel to the load. Would I do it if I had a best seller? Sure? Am I glad I am not in a hotel room right now waiting for yet another crowd of strange faces? Decidedly yes.

I am very comfortable now with where my writing has taken me. It has introduced me to people and causes I would never have been involved with; has been the source of almost all my new, dear friendships; and has stroked my ego in some very pleasant ways. So don’t take what follows as moaning and groaning--I have been extraordinarily lucky (and grateful) to be the author of four published books--but simply as statements of fact about a few of the expectations that didn’t bear out. I offer these to those who are now hoping for publication, not to be discouraging but as advice to keep expectations in line with a very difficult reality.

1. I would develop a strong working relationship with my agent and stick with her throughout my career.

2. I would have an easy time selling subsequent books

3. I would have a single editor who was guiding my career

4. I would get a larger advance with each subsequent book

5. I would develop a sizable and steady income stream from royalties

Since this is a blog post, I’m running out of space to tell you the rest. “Leave ‘em hanging” is the advice many authors get about the pace and structure of their books, and it will have to apply here as well. I will tell you now that none of those things have happened. The story of each I will leave for another day.

Misadventures in Book Publishing

By Caitlin Rother

Naked Addiction began as what we call in fiction-writing workshops “a germ.” It became one of a series of diary entries of my murder victim, which grew into a short story, which grew into a novel. At the time, I was working as a news reporter, writing as many as four stories a day. I needed a creative outlet, and I found it in fiction.

It took me 17 years of writing, rewriting, trying to find an agent, and then a publisher, to get this baby published. And although I could spend this entire blog telling you about those 17 years, I'm not going to do that. I'm only going to focus on the last five years, which will bring home my point: the keys to becoming a published author – and staying a published author – are persistence, determination, and the ability to rebound from rejection.

Fiction has always been my passion and it has helped me bring my narrative nonfiction thrillers alive. That’s good, because that’s what pays my bills. I can't tell you how excited I was when Naked Addiction first got accepted by Dorchester Publishing. I'd hoped to get a bigger publisher that would release my book as a hardcover, but after so many years of rejection, this was a victory and it felt good to proudly display this blurb from best-selling novelist Michael Connelly on the cover: “With a journalist's eye for telling the details of life, Caitlin Rother is a keen architect of the most important part of storytelling: character. The people in her prose grip you tightly with their truth.”

Well, the book didn’t sell all that well, because no one promoted it. Not the publisher and not me, because I didn't know any better at the time, and I was also working on back-to-back true crime books, on deadline, without a day in between to spare. My first book, Poisoned Love, had sold so well that Barnes & Noble ordered 10 copies of the new novel for every store, and when they didn't sell after only two or three months on the shelf – yes, this is typical for a paperback, thus the term “shelf life” – many of those books were returned. For those of you, when a book is “stripped,” the cover is ripped off and sent back to the publisher; the book goes into the trash. My royalty statement literally broke my heart.

Over the next couple of years Borders and Barnes & Noble stopped carrying it, and customers couldn’t order it from either chain. The frustrating thing was that the book was still in print, but no one could buy it unless they knew to get it off the publisher's website. Or, sadly, on Amazon for 99 cents, and later, only one cent. (I later learned that Barnesandnoble.com was still selling it closer to the cover price, but not till much later.)

Still, I could not let go, not after all these years and all that work. A million calls and e-mails later to distributors, Barnes & Noble, my agent and publisher, I urged my agent to try to get my rights back or ask Dorchester to re-release the book now that I was doing so well with all my non-fiction books. (Including this one, I would have six books out in 18 months.)

After lobbying for about a year, we finally persuaded Dorchester – which had been going through serious financial woes, continuing to sell books for which they no longer owned the rights, and generally angering so many authors that they launched a boycott – to do a re-release.

With a new editor and management team in place, my agent and I were promised that this was a new Dorchester, and they wanted to do right by my book. Naked Addiction would be part of their new trade paperback line and it would also come out as an e-book, with a higher and more acceptable royalty percentage.

I was thrilled. We set the release date of January 3, 2012, a month after the re-release of Poisoned Love, an updated edition with 20 new pages. This was a carefully choreographed move so the books would complement each other, and so I could promote them simultaneously.

I spent more money than I could afford on a combined web and radio tour and a revamp of my website. Along the way, I was thrilled that one of my books landed on the New York Times bestseller list, a first for me. And after having persuaded Dorchester to design a new cover for Naked Addiction, I was excited that they were able to redo it once again to include the bestseller mention. Things were looking bright. My radio tour went great, and my Web tour went off without a hitch.

The first sign that something was wrong came in December 2011. The bookstores where I had arranged signings couldn’t get advanced copies as Dorchester had promised, and even if they could the books were non-returnable, which meant that the bookstores wouldn’t carry them anyway.

Next, the VP of sales left the company, and without my knowledge, so did the president. I managed to guilt Dorchester into sending me a box of advanced copies without charging me for shipping (I still had to purchase the books), so the bookstores had something to sell, with the promise that the stores would replace my personal stock once the book came out – all so that readers could give the books as Christmas gifts.

Then, I got an e-mail from a friend saying that his pre-ordered copy from Amazon

wasn't going to be delivered in till March. March? How could that be? No one at the publisher would answer my e-mails except one very sweet woman in sales, who was doing everything she could to help me, but even she couldn't tell me what was going on – only that the January 3 release date might not happen.

January 3 came and went, the book was not released, and I still couldn't get anyone to respond to my e-mails, including the editor, who had seemed genuinely sincere in his previous efforts to do right by my book. The release date on Amazon now said March 1. It was perplexing and frustrating, and my promotions plan was losing traction by the minute. I put the pre-paid web tour on hold until we could get a new, firm release date.

Dorchester’s publicist said the editor was trying to deal with this and would get back to me – I had heard that this had something to do with ongoing negotiations with the distributor about the “no-return” policy – but she had also stopped reassuring me that the book would come out as planned.

Then the release date on the Dorchester website changed to a retroactive December 15, 2011, and the trade version of the book disappeared altogether. This was bad. I was watching my book release dissipate like tiny tufts of clouds in a strong wind. And there was nothing I could do about it.

I was right back where I was, only worse, because I had lost the benefit of the thousands of dollars I’d spent on publicity, plus an entire year’s worth of potential royalties, because I could have published the book myself as an e-book last year.

Then the sweet lady in sales was let go. The editor left a few weeks later, followed by the publicist. “They're moving offices,” I was told by someone who had been laid off, which apparently was code for “we’re going out of business and shutting our doors,” because my agent hasn't been able to get anyone on the phone since.

A few days ago, I found a blog saying that Dorchester had been acting as if it were in bankruptcy for the past year, trying to squeeze out every last cent by selling off assets (they apparently still owe hundreds of thousands of dollars to authors and booksellers), and that the goal was to liquidate everything, including book rights, before really filing for bankruptcy.

I fired off an e-mail to my agent, strongly suggesting that we immediately ask for my rights back, and enclosed the address for the registered agent for the corporation, given that the corporate headquarters had terminated its entire staff and was likely closed, before my book was "liquidated."

After much anguish, I've finally decided to go ahead with the prepaid Web tour because I do still have a couple boxes of books in my closet that I can sell myself. The e-book is still available on Amazon and B&N.com, and while I'll probably never see the royalties, maybe this will help draw some new readers to my other books. Only now I can't get the Web tour publicist to respond to my e-mails either.

But I'll keep trying. After all, the book was written for people to read. Getting paid for it would be nice, but at this point, I’m already gearing up for book #8 to come out in July (Lost Girls), and trying to focus on the accomplishment that the updated version of Poisoned Love went to another printing within a week of its release. I've finished a spin-off to Naked Addiction, which is in my agent's hands now, and I'm already working on my next narrative nonfiction thriller, and another book or two after that.

These days, my mantra is this: I'm a storyteller, I love what I do – sometimes more than other times – and no one can take that away from me.

Onward.

Oh, and let me know if you’d like to buy a signed copy. (crother@flash.net)