I am pleased to announce the grand opening of my official website.
SalomeJonesdotcom
Come on and visit me there!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
First Rule of Writing: Wasn't this supposed to be fun?
You can write for a long time and still not understand what a story is and what it does.
I mean,who cares if you understand it, right? As long as it happens? And things are going fine, you say. I'm not writing to some stupid formula.
This is my response anyway. And then one day, I get stuck. I know my character. In this particular book, I've been writing episodes about her for over six years.Now I'm compiling the episodes, revising them and filling in the important scenes I never wrote.
It's not working, though. I have a couple of people read it. No one tells me anything I can't see for myself. But something's wrong with it. It's... well, it's BORING. And there's no reason why it is that I can put my finger on.It never used to be boring. So what happened to it?
I'm whining about this to Tim. He says, well, what do you want the readers to get out of it? And I say, I don't know.
Aha. Yeah, I don't know why I'm writing it any more. Clue numero uno.
What kind of story is it? A romance? he asks.
God no! I hate romances. They're so cheesy. Unless they're not. I started writing it on this 'what if...?' basis. Like, what if a woman got her wish to always stay young and beautiful. Because that's what women always seem to be trying to do. What if you carried that out to its logical extreme?
Okay, says he. That's a good answer. But I think before you can go any further, you need to decide what kind of story it is. So, it's not a romance?
I say, No, it's... an adventure.
Right. It's an adventure. I've been writing it like it's literary fiction. It's more like The Mummy. All the brainwashing I had in grad school has affected the way I'm trying to write this ADVENTURE. That's making it boring. And worse yet, it's making it very difficult to actually write anything at all because I'm trying to avoid writing it in the fun way I did before and my subconscious is recognizing that it's the most staid set of circumstances ever.
Suddenly, I have a strategy for revisions of what I've been working on for the past few days, weeks even. Suddenly, I know how to get it back on track.
I've been poring over maps of medieval Istanbul, reading historical references, trying to figure out where my character is going. I can't find any reference anywhere to what I'm looking for, though I know it must have existed. But it's not on any map, probably because it was destroyed long ago.
Tim says, "Do you think when they were writing The Mummy they went to great lengths to make sure that the hotel in the movie was where an actual hotel was instead of a flower shop?"
Um. No?
No, they didn't.
Screw all of this. I'm going to make my own map. I know where some stuff is and that's fine. But I can put everything else where I want to. A nice EASY adventure map that doesn't stop me from writing the story.
Now I can get it done.
I mean,who cares if you understand it, right? As long as it happens? And things are going fine, you say. I'm not writing to some stupid formula.
This is my response anyway. And then one day, I get stuck. I know my character. In this particular book, I've been writing episodes about her for over six years.Now I'm compiling the episodes, revising them and filling in the important scenes I never wrote.
It's not working, though. I have a couple of people read it. No one tells me anything I can't see for myself. But something's wrong with it. It's... well, it's BORING. And there's no reason why it is that I can put my finger on.It never used to be boring. So what happened to it?
I'm whining about this to Tim. He says, well, what do you want the readers to get out of it? And I say, I don't know.
Aha. Yeah, I don't know why I'm writing it any more. Clue numero uno.
What kind of story is it? A romance? he asks.
God no! I hate romances. They're so cheesy. Unless they're not. I started writing it on this 'what if...?' basis. Like, what if a woman got her wish to always stay young and beautiful. Because that's what women always seem to be trying to do. What if you carried that out to its logical extreme?
Okay, says he. That's a good answer. But I think before you can go any further, you need to decide what kind of story it is. So, it's not a romance?
I say, No, it's... an adventure.
Right. It's an adventure. I've been writing it like it's literary fiction. It's more like The Mummy. All the brainwashing I had in grad school has affected the way I'm trying to write this ADVENTURE. That's making it boring. And worse yet, it's making it very difficult to actually write anything at all because I'm trying to avoid writing it in the fun way I did before and my subconscious is recognizing that it's the most staid set of circumstances ever.
Suddenly, I have a strategy for revisions of what I've been working on for the past few days, weeks even. Suddenly, I know how to get it back on track.
I've been poring over maps of medieval Istanbul, reading historical references, trying to figure out where my character is going. I can't find any reference anywhere to what I'm looking for, though I know it must have existed. But it's not on any map, probably because it was destroyed long ago.
Tim says, "Do you think when they were writing The Mummy they went to great lengths to make sure that the hotel in the movie was where an actual hotel was instead of a flower shop?"
Um. No?
No, they didn't.
Screw all of this. I'm going to make my own map. I know where some stuff is and that's fine. But I can put everything else where I want to. A nice EASY adventure map that doesn't stop me from writing the story.
Now I can get it done.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Coming Up
Salome's Private Dance is almost ready to be published. I anticipate a couple more weeks of revisions.
Sustained revision-writing is a challenge every writer must face. I'll have a post ready for you soon about how I keep myself going.
Sustained revision-writing is a challenge every writer must face. I'll have a post ready for you soon about how I keep myself going.
As my dad said once, "How do you write ALL those words?"
I confess. I have trouble staying on task. Not just sometimes. Most of the time. Tim Dedopulos sent me a link to an article about how distractible people have 'too much brain' in a certain area. That's me in spades.
There are numerous occasions when I find myself doing something and suddenly remember that I was doing something else. But what was it? Oh right. Look at that pile of papers I was sorting all down the middle of the hallway. Oops.
I have the attention span of a fruit fly.
You may know this problem intimately if you're a writer. It's often the case that the writers who never get published are the ones who can never seem to finish anything. Some people call it writer's block. Throwing that label on it makes it sound like it's the same for everyone. One cause, one syndrome, one solution.
Not so much.
Discomfort. Difficulty. Boredom. Anxiety. Confusion. Distraction. Perfectionism. Insecurity. Indecisiveness. Not to mention all the actual life things that can get in the way. All of these can be root causes of "writer's block."
You need two things t deal with this. Strategy and tactics, the components of any battle plan, whether in an actual war or a board game or in accomplishing a goal.
First, you need a strategy, an overall plan of how you're going to combat your problem. For example, my strategy is to keep myself writing. Anything. Because as long as I'm sitting in front of my computer with my fingers pushing down sequential keys, words keep appearing on my screen. And as long as that keeps happening, the chances increase exponentially that I'll get done what I need to in a day.
Then come your tactics, those tools and methods you're going to use to carry out your strategy.
Tactics for keeping yourself writing might include what people call "morning pages, a concept espoused by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way. They might include blogging. They might include, if you're a more social writer, like I am, tweeting a serial story an increment at a time. (Which is what I do with Mondo Xang: Adventures of Dead-Man)
If you work best with deadlines where you're accountable to someone else, you might set up a page exchange. Find a writer friend who wants to send you a certain number of pages each week and make a commitment with them. Of course, this will only work if that person is reliable about it. Otherwise it loses its teeth. Join a writers' group where people bring a certain number of pages each week.
If you're lucky enough to live with another writer, especially a working writer, you know that there are times when all you can do is either play on the internet or get writing done, because that other person needs the silence to concentrate on their deadline-oriented work. Usually this will lead to my getting writing done as well. Because anything else is just embarrassing. (I suppose this is a plug for having a writer roomie or partner. Writers of the world, unite!)
Last, and this is a trick I rely on all the time, you can find something that will help you focus. Ritalin. JUST KIDDING! Or if you prefer to avoid controlled substances, as I do, you can use a natural approach.
I use a special recording called Focus. It's something that plays a different tone in each of your ears. There's science behind it. It actually forces your brain to focus on whatever it is you're working on. I've found it helpful both while writing and while doing editing because it helps me get into the story more easily. Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me actually sitting at my desk and working continuously. The tones are submerged in either rain or ocean wave sounds.
The thing that convinced me to try this system was that it was recommended by a doctor I trusted. Also, it's insanely inexpensive compared to any other programs like it I've ever seen. I mean, it's in the $15/£10 neighborhood, last time I checked. Totally worth it. I've been using it for the past four years or so. I've recommended it to several people and every one of them who has used it has found it helpful. I recommended it to a friend who teaches gifted children. She was so impressed with it when she tried it for herself that she started using it with her students. She said the only downside of it was that if a child was paying attention to the wrong thing, it would keep him or her focused on that thing. (So opening up your document and actually looking at it will be required. It's not magic.) If you're interested in trying it, the ocean wave downloadable version is here. The rain mp3 is here.
I use both, one on my computer and one on my iPod.
Please note that this is a find on my part. You can't get this recording from me directly.
Speaking of focus, I'd best,um, you know...go work on a novel. And yes, I'm putting on my stereo headphones now...
There are numerous occasions when I find myself doing something and suddenly remember that I was doing something else. But what was it? Oh right. Look at that pile of papers I was sorting all down the middle of the hallway. Oops.
I have the attention span of a fruit fly.
You may know this problem intimately if you're a writer. It's often the case that the writers who never get published are the ones who can never seem to finish anything. Some people call it writer's block. Throwing that label on it makes it sound like it's the same for everyone. One cause, one syndrome, one solution.
Not so much.
Discomfort. Difficulty. Boredom. Anxiety. Confusion. Distraction. Perfectionism. Insecurity. Indecisiveness. Not to mention all the actual life things that can get in the way. All of these can be root causes of "writer's block."
You need two things t deal with this. Strategy and tactics, the components of any battle plan, whether in an actual war or a board game or in accomplishing a goal.
First, you need a strategy, an overall plan of how you're going to combat your problem. For example, my strategy is to keep myself writing. Anything. Because as long as I'm sitting in front of my computer with my fingers pushing down sequential keys, words keep appearing on my screen. And as long as that keeps happening, the chances increase exponentially that I'll get done what I need to in a day.
Then come your tactics, those tools and methods you're going to use to carry out your strategy.
Tactics for keeping yourself writing might include what people call "morning pages, a concept espoused by Julia Cameron in The Artist's Way. They might include blogging. They might include, if you're a more social writer, like I am, tweeting a serial story an increment at a time. (Which is what I do with Mondo Xang: Adventures of Dead-Man)
If you work best with deadlines where you're accountable to someone else, you might set up a page exchange. Find a writer friend who wants to send you a certain number of pages each week and make a commitment with them. Of course, this will only work if that person is reliable about it. Otherwise it loses its teeth. Join a writers' group where people bring a certain number of pages each week.
If you're lucky enough to live with another writer, especially a working writer, you know that there are times when all you can do is either play on the internet or get writing done, because that other person needs the silence to concentrate on their deadline-oriented work. Usually this will lead to my getting writing done as well. Because anything else is just embarrassing. (I suppose this is a plug for having a writer roomie or partner. Writers of the world, unite!)
Last, and this is a trick I rely on all the time, you can find something that will help you focus. Ritalin. JUST KIDDING! Or if you prefer to avoid controlled substances, as I do, you can use a natural approach.
I use a special recording called Focus. It's something that plays a different tone in each of your ears. There's science behind it. It actually forces your brain to focus on whatever it is you're working on. I've found it helpful both while writing and while doing editing because it helps me get into the story more easily. Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me actually sitting at my desk and working continuously. The tones are submerged in either rain or ocean wave sounds.
The thing that convinced me to try this system was that it was recommended by a doctor I trusted. Also, it's insanely inexpensive compared to any other programs like it I've ever seen. I mean, it's in the $15/£10 neighborhood, last time I checked. Totally worth it. I've been using it for the past four years or so. I've recommended it to several people and every one of them who has used it has found it helpful. I recommended it to a friend who teaches gifted children. She was so impressed with it when she tried it for herself that she started using it with her students. She said the only downside of it was that if a child was paying attention to the wrong thing, it would keep him or her focused on that thing. (So opening up your document and actually looking at it will be required. It's not magic.) If you're interested in trying it, the ocean wave downloadable version is here. The rain mp3 is here.
I use both, one on my computer and one on my iPod.
Please note that this is a find on my part. You can't get this recording from me directly.
Speaking of focus, I'd best,um, you know...go work on a novel. And yes, I'm putting on my stereo headphones now...
Monday, May 9, 2011
English Sense and Non-sense
More things I've discovered about England recently.
A Trilby is a hat, like a Fedora but with a narrow brim.
A winklepicker is a kind of pointy shoe, for both men and women apparently, though I've only seen the men's one. It struck me as quite medieval when I first saw it on someone.
The English use the phrase "no worries" to mean "you're welcome." This might not sound that weird to you, but to my mind, "no worries" has always meant just that, e.g., I'm sorry I was late. Response: No worries. So when I said thanks to someone recently and they said no worries, I wondered if I'd done something wrong.
The English actually got alternative voting on their ballot recently. Although it failed to pass, it seems like a huge victory that they got it to a vote. I worked on an alternative voting campaign int he US and we were never even close to getting it on the ballot.
I haven't looked into this any further, but I was told that in the sixties, there was some proposal being considered by which England would have become a state in the United States. That seems a little problematic to me and more than a little ironic. I'll have to do some checking and reading about it. It sounds like it should be called When Two Dimensions Collide. But maybe it would have ended up with Americans having universal health coverage, who knows?
Also, yes, London is REALLY that green right now if you saw the trees outside during the royal wedding. As I've said all along, London is a forest with a city grown up in its cracks. I can see probably two thousand or more trees out the window. And it's not even a park. Lovely.
A Trilby is a hat, like a Fedora but with a narrow brim.
A winklepicker is a kind of pointy shoe, for both men and women apparently, though I've only seen the men's one. It struck me as quite medieval when I first saw it on someone.
The English use the phrase "no worries" to mean "you're welcome." This might not sound that weird to you, but to my mind, "no worries" has always meant just that, e.g., I'm sorry I was late. Response: No worries. So when I said thanks to someone recently and they said no worries, I wondered if I'd done something wrong.
The English actually got alternative voting on their ballot recently. Although it failed to pass, it seems like a huge victory that they got it to a vote. I worked on an alternative voting campaign int he US and we were never even close to getting it on the ballot.
I haven't looked into this any further, but I was told that in the sixties, there was some proposal being considered by which England would have become a state in the United States. That seems a little problematic to me and more than a little ironic. I'll have to do some checking and reading about it. It sounds like it should be called When Two Dimensions Collide. But maybe it would have ended up with Americans having universal health coverage, who knows?
Also, yes, London is REALLY that green right now if you saw the trees outside during the royal wedding. As I've said all along, London is a forest with a city grown up in its cracks. I can see probably two thousand or more trees out the window. And it's not even a park. Lovely.
The real Kara Mustafa Pasha
As I've been working on revisions of Salome's Private Dance, I've been thinking a lot about the Ottoman Grand Vizier who had 1500 concubines and an equal number of female slaves. Not to mention a few wives and a lot of children. Well, there he is. He doesn't look very happy.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Reconciling Writing and Marketing
Once upon a time there was a world in which writers sold their novels to publishing companies, who made pretty books for them and then did all the "dirty" work of asking people to buy it. And then Goldie Locks ate all the porridge and the three bears called 911.
If you grew up wanting to be a writer, this is what you were expecting. You'd sell your novel and be rich and famous and have nothing to do but write. Well, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that if you want to sell your books, you're going to have to find a way to help your audience find them. The good news is you don't have to sell them. People buy books because they're recommended by someone whose opinion they generally respect. They buy books because the story piques their interest. They buy books because they know you and like you and are curious. So you don't actually have to sell your audience your book. It's like giving away treasure. You don't have to convince anyone to take treasure. You just have to show them where it is and what's in it and convince them it's not loaded with booby traps or the Mummy's Curse.
HELLO! Over here! If I had flashing lights to put in this post, I'd make a little billboard here.
What to do if you're shy
A friend said recently that when my ebook came out, I should send her an email. I said, Sure. Then she said, you should send an email to everyone you know. I said, Really? I'm reluctant. Why? she asked.
I don't want them to think I'm bragging?
I don't want them to feel obligated to buy it? Or to think I'm trying to suggest that they buy it? Or...you know...I don't want to be annoying.
Right about then she said, Just give your email list to me. I'll tell them all.
So you have that as an option. Get a friend to email your friends.
But really, think of it as news that people you know would want to know. I did something I'm excited about and to celebrate, I'm sending everyone an email. Don't feel obligated. This isn't a sales notice. It's a chick book. It's full of history, but it's mostly about the characters. I did a ton of research about the time period. I've been working on it since 2004. I'm just kind of ...a tiny bit proud of it, I guess. So... here's the link to the book on Amazon. Again, it's just for you to look at.
Okay, so I might be able to write that kind of not-a-sales letter. And looking at it, I feel like I could give a little more background, show a bit more confidence. And voila. Now everyone I know knows I have this book out there.And maybe they start looking at it. And maybe some of them are curious enough to buy it. And to tell other people.
Do this and you will have just completed step one in marketing your book. Without actually marketing it.
If you grew up wanting to be a writer, this is what you were expecting. You'd sell your novel and be rich and famous and have nothing to do but write. Well, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that if you want to sell your books, you're going to have to find a way to help your audience find them. The good news is you don't have to sell them. People buy books because they're recommended by someone whose opinion they generally respect. They buy books because the story piques their interest. They buy books because they know you and like you and are curious. So you don't actually have to sell your audience your book. It's like giving away treasure. You don't have to convince anyone to take treasure. You just have to show them where it is and what's in it and convince them it's not loaded with booby traps or the Mummy's Curse.
HELLO! Over here! If I had flashing lights to put in this post, I'd make a little billboard here.
What to do if you're shy
A friend said recently that when my ebook came out, I should send her an email. I said, Sure. Then she said, you should send an email to everyone you know. I said, Really? I'm reluctant. Why? she asked.
I don't want them to think I'm bragging?
I don't want them to feel obligated to buy it? Or to think I'm trying to suggest that they buy it? Or...you know...I don't want to be annoying.
Right about then she said, Just give your email list to me. I'll tell them all.
So you have that as an option. Get a friend to email your friends.
But really, think of it as news that people you know would want to know. I did something I'm excited about and to celebrate, I'm sending everyone an email. Don't feel obligated. This isn't a sales notice. It's a chick book. It's full of history, but it's mostly about the characters. I did a ton of research about the time period. I've been working on it since 2004. I'm just kind of ...a tiny bit proud of it, I guess. So... here's the link to the book on Amazon. Again, it's just for you to look at.
Okay, so I might be able to write that kind of not-a-sales letter. And looking at it, I feel like I could give a little more background, show a bit more confidence. And voila. Now everyone I know knows I have this book out there.And maybe they start looking at it. And maybe some of them are curious enough to buy it. And to tell other people.
Do this and you will have just completed step one in marketing your book. Without actually marketing it.
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