Honest Comparison: Pitching a Book When You Have Too

photo of koi at Big Spring Park taken by me 

I’ve long disdained elevator pitches.  “It’s like if  The Shining and Anne of Green Gables had a love child.” *eye roll*. 🙄

“Why can’t your story ever be new?  Why do you always have to copy something else?” I thought.  

It never occurred to me that writers create something new and then try to come up with comparisons.  But here I am, a little over a month from publishing Follow Me: Tattered Veils and I have a new perspective on comparing one work to another.  

First off, I’ve realized that many (perhaps most) people start with an idea, create said thing, and then go back to find something successful they can link it too (or at least that’s what I’ve done).    I’m not trying to ride something else’s coattails, I’m trying to draw in an audience who enjoys stuff like what I’ve made.  One way to help people know if they’ll like the book, is to compare it to stuff they are already familiar with.  

Right now I have 9 works—10 if I stretch that I could compare elements of Follow Me: Tattered Veils  to.  Over the next few months, I’ll going to drop these comparisons here on my blog to help readers know “do I want to read this?”  

This is my first time pitching my book to a general audience, and I’m apprehensive about it.  I feels pretentious to compare my debut novel to some of these amazing works, and I worry my book comes out lesser when I place it next to something else.   

I worry about spoiling my book and the thing I’m comparing.  How much information is too much?  

Last, I don’t want to be too commercial.  I want to scream “I’ve got a book and you should buy it“ from the rooftops all day every day.  I’m that proud.  However, I’m also really sensitive to this idea I might annoy people or over saturate a small group of supporters with what feels like adds.  

So I am posting these comparisons in between other content and I’ve written this small burb explaining what I’m doing and why.  I feel the thin line between too much advertising and pointing people to something they might like is being stretched more all the time.

Talk to me!  How do you/did you find the right audience for your work?  What do you think of elevator pitches?  How do you construct them (if you do)?

Want to jump right into the creative works that have some similarities to mine? Check out: Lost Girl Comparison, American Gods Comparison, and The O.A. Comparison.

Looking for more posts about the writing and publishing process?  Check out more posts on my novel publication process: Going Through Copy Edits, 1st Daft vs 2nd Draft, Goal Planning: Getting Through the First Draft, My Character Looks Nothing Like My MC, Cover Art: Turth in Advertising, and Post Book Launch: Reflections.  

Want to know more about my novel?  Check out my childhood stories recapping themes in my life I hope prepared me to write this book: Remember the Magic of Santa?, Closet Monsters: Gone too Far?, and Garden Gnomes and other Evils.

MY BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT AMAZON!!!  Please go look at "Follow Me: Tattered Veils" and see if it might be a story that interests you.

And for updates please check out jessicadonegan.com and subscribe.

2020 Writer's Goal Tracking System

image from publicdomainvectors.org

I have one planner that has the personal, work, home, and writing goal all incorporated and vying for my attention.  It is impossible for me to separate one part of me like the “writer” and talk only about that because it’s connected to my mental, relationship, and spiritual self.  While I’m attempting to talk about my writing habit, there will be bleed over. 

I’m not a organized person.  Those who know me best will tell you I’m on my personal time bubble.  I am the LAST person they would take scheduling tips from.  Even my husband is befuddled when he comes into my writing room and sees all the calendars, color blocks, and spreadsheets.  “I’m very productive, just not when it comes to the dishes,” I tease him. 

How does it work?  I have 2 planners.  One shows the current week and the other looks at next week.  First, I fill out my retail job hours (always changing from week to week), then I create the weekly meal plan, write a grocery list, and schedule when I will go grocery shopping.  Next I make plans for the blogs, social media, and writing.  After that, I try to get to work completing these plans and “leaving space” for social time, chores, and “spiritual wellbeing.”

Then I use my daily planner to record how I spend my time. I take notes as needed to remind myself not only how I used the time but what I got accomplished.  For example, I brag “I can write and post a blog in 30 minutes”.  In actuality I can write the draft of 3 blogs in an hour and a half then edit, schedule, tag, and find a picture in another hour and a half.  Real talk: I either need more time for blogging or I need to blog less.  But I would never know that without my daily planner recording how long things take.

My daily planner also includes when the sun rises and sets, what day it is in my made up time flow (a system I’ve used for five years), the moon phase, and an inspirational quote—I write all of this in by hand about a month in advance.  It makes for a pretty page that offers some inspiration on those grouchy days. 

I also have a journal where I put all the extemporaneous stuff.  So things I should do, what I accomplished from week to week, what I need to work on, notes on my sigil research. Etc.  MY planners have the processes and actions but my journal has all that secret stuff I’m testing and not ready to share.  My journal is full of thoughts I might want to keep and reflect on where most of the planner stuff will end up being recycled at the end of the year. 

Each week I review "wins" and "opportunities."  I adjust the next week's plans based on last week.  Then I review each month and decide the three things that went the best and three things that went the worst.  I trouble shoot the areas that didn't go well, and tweak my plan for the best outcome.

I’m not good with time, never that, but I am getting better. This year, I look forward to sharing some of my pages and successes and shortcomings.  If you are interested in seeing my pages in action, keep an eye out on my Facebook or Instagram page, as I plan to post pictures there.

Talk to me!  Do you follow a calendar that’s different from a western one?  Have you ever created your own organizational system?  Why, what did it look like?  What was important for you in making it? 

Looking for more planning goodness?  See my personal 2020 writer's goals.  I also have advice on how to plan your first draft and a post on a online goal planner, Habitica and how it might help writers.

My 2020 Writer's Goals

image from publicdomainvectors.org 

I have my own mental and physical calendar that is different from the traditional western yearly calendar.  My system allows me to reflect on the close of last year and to structure my plans.  If my goals appear more thought out than yours, know I’ve been meditating on them and planning what they are and how I’ll measure them for 50-ish days. 

1.   1.  Launch my debut novel Follow Me: Tattered Veils. While I often treat this as a fait accompli, it’s far from that.  I’m still creating blog posts and considering what kind of author media I need. Even after the book becomes available for purchase, there are some blog posts and little extras I want to include as a “read along” style content.

2.   2.   Complete the first draft of both Follow Me: Gods and Monsters and Cress Legacy (working title).  Both are novel length projects with some word count already invested.  I imagine I’ll need 130,000 more words to complete both.  Given my calendar structure I need to write about 3,000 fiction words a week.  I’m most concerned with achieving these draft goals.

3.    3.  Co-teach “Hello World and Introduction to Creative Writing” with Ashley once and finish all PowerPoints and course material for “Aggressive Self-Editing” with a possible course run in July/August?

4.   4.   Weekly blog posts going into the release of “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” and bi-weekly posts after its release.  Remember I write for 2 blogs.  That means I will still have a new post up every week, but I will change which blog I’m posting in.  I am reducing production goals to improve consistency.

5.    5.  Social media circus has to come back up.  Each week I will dedicate 2 hours to Twitter, an hour to Facebook and an hour to Instagram.   I don’t have a consistent schedule, so I will have to change the days and times I provide for each.

6.    6.  Reading and reviewing books.  There are 44 weeks in my calendar year, I think it’s appropriate to read 44 books or a book a week.  And I’m committing to 1/3 of those books being in either my genre (fantasy/urban fantasy) or being independently published works. 

Talk to me!  What are your 2020 goals?  Do you have any advice on how I can achieve my own plans?

Want to see more?  Check out my 2019 writing goals and my 2019 wrap up. 

Curious as to how I plan to achieve these goals?  Check out my post on how to create realistic 1st draft goals here.  I also have a post on how Habitica, an online fantasy goal tracker can help and I have one more post reviewing my own personal planning system.

Want to see my year in books?  I have my 2019 year here and my top 5 for 2018 along with a full detail list of 2018.  For more what on what I'm reading, check out my GoodReads profile.  

2019 In Review! Did I Meet My Goals?

Me and Roxi in Big Spring Park all rights reserved

In January last year I set up some personal writing goals.  For fun I want to review them and see what I accomplished vs what needs work.

Accomplished: 

I wanted to finish my second draft of Follow Me: Tattered Veils and succeeded (what's the difference between the 2 drafts?  Talked about that here). More than that!  This year I:

-Sent Tattered Veils off to a copy editor (some further blogging about that experience here) 

-Made the corrections from the copy editor

-Have a Copywrite on Tattered Veils—which means a copy of my work will be available in the Library of Congress

-Commissioned a cover artist and have cover art complete for Tattered Veils

-Got a publishing team together and have that team:

       -Created a website for me and a landing page for Tattered Veils and future works

       -Created an author’s Facebook page

       -Discussed, created, and sent A.R.C.s (advanced reader copies) to people for an early review

       - Had a proof copy of my novel in my hands

       -Chose a date of publication (and I’m thrilled to announce I will self publish Follow Me: Tattered Veils on Amazon this Feb the 29th a leap year ^_^)

I taught a free Intro to Creative Writing class with Ashley and we plan to run our course again this year.  It is exciting to continue refining our class. Hopefully this class will turn into a way we can give back to the writing community, inspire other writers, and create a closer community of people with similar goals.

I met my book reading goals for 2019 and reviewed most of the books I read (check out my Goodreads profile).  I also created shelves for my read Goodreads books so they are easier for other readers to sort through.  

2019 was a great year for esoteric folklore.  I learned about this thing called “#folklorethursday” on Twitter and it’s awesome.  The community connecting and telling different little bits of trivial there is soooooo cool.  I read a couple great pagan books that reconnected me earth based traditions, some will even work in my southern environment even if British weather is colder and rainier.  I also had the chance to write up a bit of info on traditional holidays and some different writing prompts to accompany the holidays.  My well for inspiration seems full.

Opportunities: 

I didn’t maintain a constant blogging habit.  At my personal blog, I posted about 11 times.  I posted 12 times in the N.A.W.G. blog.  Along with less frequent posting, I’ve dropped the ball in my social media game.  This may have cost me an audience or sense of reliability.  I promise I’ve been very busy in my writing life, it just hasn’t all been on display for the people who might watch at home.

My goals for blogging and social media were too lofty.  Given how much socializing even online takes out of me and given how each blog post takes time I could write creatively off the table, it was never realistic I would both complete my Tattered Veils goals and maintain an active blog presence.  No regrets over which I chose.  Now I have a book, if I’d stuck with the blog who knows how far away holding a copy of my work would have been?  

While blogging and social media has to play a role in my writing goals, it will have a lighter touch in 2020.  If these posts help or interest other people, I see it as “worth it,” but I can’t say this style of writing is a “passion" of mine.

I kept making new goals for myself as the year went on.  Some of that was beneficial and some of it was a time waste under the guise of “being efficient.”  There were days  that planning took the place of “doing”—so not the goal of making plans.  As this new year rolls in, I plan to compromise with the person who wants to plan vs the person who wants to do work.  More on that in 2020 goals though.  

Overall, I think I had a powerful 2019, even if it wasn’t everything I wanted.  How did your year go?  What was a major accomplishment for you?  What was a major failing?  What are your plans for 2020?

Not sure how to create good yearly plans?  Try my post that helps break down goal planning.  Or try a post I have exploring Habitica and how it can help you meet your goals. 

Curious about my my 2020 goals, check out this post!  Wondering how I track my goals?  I've written more here.

Remember the Magic of Santa?

Kyle, Emma, and Jessica, smiling over a home made Christmas tree cake.  Photo taken by Elena Lewis.  I took a picture of a picture to add to this story.

I believed in Santa until I was 13.  Too long, I know.

So was I just a gullible kid?  Well yes, but it was more than naivety.  I kept believing in Santa because I liked how it felt to believe in him.  The child like wonder and sense of possibility made me feel special.

As a quiet, nervous child (and adult) I spend a lot of time trying not to be noticed.  Attention= …bad things.  But lack of attention has its own frustrations.  I spent a long time watching children get credit for deeds I did every day without a hint of recognition.  Other children and adults may never see me, but Santa did.  He is always watching, and I was on his good list, so someone somewhere knew about all my hard work and valued it.

And those bad kids that seemed to get away with every cruel thing.  You know the ones with ugly smiles, taunting words, and a thoughtless push.  Well, they’d get coal.  Something to say, “I know what you did and I know deep down, you aren’t good.”

As I aged, there were doubts, but I wanted Santa, so I created stories and games that helped preserve him for me and my siblings past the natural expiration date such belief holds.

We did normal things, like write letters to Santa or stay up late and try to catch him in the act.

One year we came home to plastic reindeer toys under our pillows and our parents said “It’s so late, Santa must have stopped by, realized you weren’t home, and left this to warn you you needed to be in bed by the time he stops by again if you want Christmas presents.”

I think my parents wanted us to go to sleep quick, but this visit had the opposite effect on me.  I was alive with possibility.  How does Santa map his trip?  Does he stop by the same time each year?  Why couldn’t he leave the toys for us if we were not home?  The stories!

That year I added to our childish Santa myth.  We stayed up late, but in our room with the lights off.  Each bump and shake of our old house was Santa and the reindeer on the roof.  Did he know we were home but not asleep yet?  Was he waiting for us to get in bed and close our eyes?

Next year I instigated the “Santa’s Helper” program.  All three of us became “elves in training” without own special sleigh bells.  The point of the program was to spread cheer and good will through selfless deeds like reaching out to charities, being considerate to each other, and looking for kids less fortunate to do something kind for them.  The secret part of the club involved a bunch of secret missions from Santa we had to fulfill, and different signs we were closer to our goal of “elf.”  I claimed a secret communication with Santa through “phone calls” and “notes.”

How did me faking a secret agent like program where Santa was the “Charlie” of our “Charlie’s Angels” like group keep my belief in Santa?  As the person who made it all up, I should know it’s fake right?  But that’s the beauty of a child’s brain.  I could be aware both that I was making it all up and also believe there is a Santa and I was doing his work.

My goal as an Urban Fantasy writer is to bring you back to that time when Santa could have been real.  An adult “Santa’s Helper” club.

How do I manage that?

In “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” ground the story with a strong sense of place.  You can visit all the locations mentioned in Huntsville, Alabama.  All lies need truth in them right?

But I’m dedicated to the experience.  I commit to a sense of seasonal time too.  “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” begins in January and ends on Halloween.  As seasons change and time passes, I reference temperature, weather, and even which flowers bloom. Where and when the characters remain constant so readers feel confident in their sense of place.

My characters are everyday humans filled with flaws Joe and Jane everyman has.  They struggle with money, job satisfaction, friendships, and addictions.  Not a major or minor character stands without a rounded soul, capable of being on Santa’s “naughty or nice list.”

I introduce more fantastic elements gradually.  It starts with religion, an element of magic many adults accept, but I build from there to less “real” experiences.

I hope by the end of the journey your sense of reality undergoes changes and you’re left wondering.  Is there more in this world than the mundane?  Could Santa or something like him be real and is he always lurking just beyond our perception?

Like this, there's a whole series!  Check out  Closet Monsters: Gone too Far?and Garden Gnomes and other Evils for more childhood stories. ^_^

Looking for more posts about the writing and publishing process?  Check out more posts on my novel publication process: Going Through Copy Edits, 1st Daft vs 2nd Draft, Goal Planning: Getting Through the First Draft, My Character Looks Nothing Like My MC, Cover Art: Turth in Advertising, and Post Book Launch: Reflections.  

Want to know more about my novel?   Check out my series where I find similarities between my novel and other popular media.  Hopefully it gives you a better idea whether there are elements in my book you may enjoy.  Lost Girl Comparison, American Gods Comparison, and The O.A. Comparison.

MY BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT AMAZON!!!  Please go look at "Follow Me: Tattered Veils" and see if it might be a story that interests you.

Want more information?  Check out my website jessicadonegan.com and subscribe for updates.

Weekly Metrics

from openclipart.org by oksmith

Sorry this is late, my job has a new policy that I “can’t” leave until the work “is done”, a policy that was sprung on me Monday.  Blindsided, I ended up forced to work until 6:30 due to poor staffing and high sales traffic.

If you are new, today is all about the numbers, not about my plans.   See the action plans I’m using to earn these numbers in previous posts.  Last Week’s 6 week Review!  and 8 Steps I’m Taking on Twitter.   

Twitter Analytics
I’ve been active on Twitter for 42 days. In the last 28 days I’ve had 336 posts, 505 profile visits, 128 mentions, and 68 new follows.  

Conversion based on profile views is 13%.  It seems like my new growth rate is stabilizing.  Last week I spoke of losing 5 followers, but this week I went up a little over 20 followers in just the week.  I have done nothing different, so maybe the first week of a month is slow?
  
My engagement is 3.0%.  It wobbles, but I don’t know I’ll break 3ish. I post plan, and I am trying to spend less time on Twitter while maintaining a sense of presence.  I kind of think my “engagement” can’t go up when I’m not in there making the connections. 

I post about 12 times a day.  I plan five posts and the others of responses or impromptu promotions.  Planning posts is can feel like pulling teeth.  Sometimes my Twitter feed is just not that interesting. 

I broke 2,000 views for the second time on Thurs and Sun.  My views on the rest of the days remain strong, well over 1,000 view mark.    


Blog Stats

I got 97 views last week spread across 5 posts.  Sitting at week 2 with about 100 views, so I’m seeing something cool.  It’s no secret, this blog is for recording my writing process and giving personal feedback about the process of writing and self promoting on social media.  I don’t know if that kind of content is helpful or engaging to others, but I sensed there was a niche for it and it’s rewarding to see growth here.

The North Alabama Writers’ Group blog has 62 views this past week.  I would love to take the credit, but I believe Christopher M. Palmer kicked off our October success with his flash fiction “The Ghost Strikes at Midnight."  I‘m trying to capture that lightening in a bottle with my own flash story scheduled to drop Oct 10th!  I still want to recommend to fellow writers our October Open Calls for Submission.  And I still want other writers to share how they choose a genre.  


So talk to me!  What are your numbers?  What’s your social media strategy?  Are you counting anything else in your life and what does success look like?

Still need a number fix?  Compare this week to last week Oct 1st, or go back further to reports on Sept 24th, Sept17th, or Sept 10th.  

6 Week Review

from openclipart.org by j4p4n

It’s been six weeks since I started my: “Jess Donegan is Here” Campaign.  Time to see where I hit the mark and were I need to adjust.  Check out my weekly updates starting most recently with 9/24 numbers, 9/17 numbers, 9/10 numbers, 9/4 numbers/evaluation, 8/29 numbers/evaluation, and 8/21 numbers/evaluation.

First thing I’ve changed is how I report.  I started by reporting numbers and making plane each week. Right away, I saw these reports were too long and very little changed.  Instead, I report my numbers once a week and will talk in depth about those results every other month or once a month.

Overall growth on Twitter is good.  Need to Maintain the course (check out my 8 steps here).  No course change needed.  The plan works for me because it’s flexible.  Some days I don’t even have to look at Twitter and other days I can swing by and make one on one mentions.  I am slipping out into political water, and I must watch out for that going forward in my campaign.  I’m undecided on if politics has a place in my Twitter persona.

This blog and the North Alabama Writer's Group blog exist.  Go me?

Wins:
1. Creating content
2. Posting across both blogs
3. Sticking to the niche identified
4. Our Writers’ Group is talking about self promotion and considering what we could do to reach out to other creators around us.  I’ve captured Chris and am recruiting Ashley.

Needs Improvement:
1. Traffic
2. Self promotion
3.  Time.  It’s only been six weeks since I’ve been pushing the blogs
4. Cross platform promotion

What I’m Doing:
1. Made a list of all the posts I have and the categories they fit in and I plan to schedule 1 Tweet a day to promote my writing.
2. I will suck it up and go to Facebook.  My original plan was to start that aft 30 days of blogging but I backed out because it overwhelmed me.  Then I thought “who needs Facebook” but the thing is I might.  So I will make a general “hello” post and from then on post when an article first drops.  
3. Going through older posts and creating back links.  I have a lot of series posts, and I’m not maximizing people’s love of crawling relevant threads.
4. I’ve had a lot of luck on Google+, maybe it’s time I pursued that again? Will test after Facebook campaign is part of the routine
5. Working on a guest blog post for @arimehglen. With luck this may lead to more guest posts? Will keep an eye out.
6. An Oct scary set of shorts
7.A “Creatives we are Thankful for” article for NAWG where ere acknowledge local talent and reconnect ourselves to local writers and publishers
8. Dec Merch launch.  Need to push this even if the audience is not there yet.

Creative Writing

My time management has been shitty.  I’ve needed to turn a lot of my resources inward because I need help with my day job.  Speaking of which: are you looking to hire a writer because I WANT to work with you!

I’ve been telling the writers’ group I’m not writing.  That’s not 100% honest.  I’ve written a couple of pieces about women choosing a brutal death over life.  Since I noticed the theme in my writing, I’ve stopped all new works until I’m in a better head space.

 I am also working on edits to my novel “Follow Me: Tattered Veils” but the group doesn’t seem interested in reading it and I don’t want to talk with them about the same things repeatedly (which is the editing process, going over it until it’s memorized).

I am hoping I’ll have more time for my book now I have a resume out in the world and I’m hoping my writers’ workshop will take on beta-ing draft #2 of my novel.  We had our first meeting this past Sunday and the group leader, Megan Beam, seemed interested in the premise, so I hope she’ll have feedback for me.

I’ve been enviously reading other writers’ posts on creating a calendar for their projects.  I don’t have enough time to break it down the way they do.  But I am still reading different time management techniques.  I enjoy batching similar tasks.  In a world where I could find 3-5hrs a day, I’d enjoy blocking my time.  I’m still trying it on a small scale but results will be slow in coming.

Reviewing

In the next few months I plan to further integrate my reading/reviewing with my writing.  I have a few pieces coming out to link the two.  I think my GoodReads presence is a waste staying separate as it is now, bit I haven’t found the right plan to rope the two in....yet.

Talk to me.  Tell me about your own plans, how are they going?  Is there something key I’ve forgotten or HAVE to try?  What’s the most important part of your routine?  Do you have success on a social media platform I’m not using/considering right now?

"Making a Wannabe Writer" My Response pt 2

image from open clipart.org by GDJ

The Writing Cooperative have a great post "Making of a Wannabe Writer". I recommend anyone undertaking a large writing project read their article and answer the questions they present.

Today, I am sharing my responses to these questions. It should provide readers better insight into what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and whether I'm meeting those goals.  

A formatting note: The number points from the article are in bold and some editing may occur in the expansion of the main point so I can emphasize the parts that resonate with me.  I will provide my responses in italic purple for clarity.

1. Starting is simple, but not ending.

Agreed, particularly with creative writing. I often know the beginning and middle, but then I'm loving everything so much it's like I don't want to end it. Or I think, "hey all the buildup will need one Hell of a resolution to justify itself". 


For the blog it can be easier. I ramble on for three paragraphs, find my core nugget I wanted to get to, and rearrange everything. To end posts, I stop talking about me and ask questions. Or I follow a strict suggestion and response format where I present someone's suggest, I agree or disagree and present my plan. When I'm done presenting the post ends.

2. Make ‘Writing Effortlessly’ your Target before ‘Larger Audience’.
Most of us have the same ultimate target- Larger audience. But keep it in mind, before you reach out to a significant audience, you must be at par with writing better 'effortlessly'.

This sounds a lot like the creative writing encouragement to "just write".  It's not as easy as all that.  The number two suggestion should be to make lists.  Lists of ideas, lists of where you are in progress, and lists of what would show the most forward momentum with the least time/ effort investment.  

Yes, we all need to flee our writing muscles often to improve our skill set and yes increased quality and quantity will drive the larger audience.  But most writers need to balance engagement and audience building campaigns with their writing.  
3. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Agree.

4. Use Strategies Wisely

This advice was confusing.  It supposes that a person can find a strategy that works for him/her, recognize it, and use it.  

I would counter with "the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over while expecting different results".  

Make a plan, track results, and adjust the ship as needed.  With time that evolves into strategy, but I don't think most of us have enough figured out to incorporate this one.

5. Stay Persistent.
....Success comes to those who stay persistent and focused.
A writer attains limelight in a month while another takes an year. Both paces are absolutely normal.

While depressing, it's a good point.  Others measure of success can not be mine.  The techniques I'm able to develop and use are different so the time line is different.  

6. Go Beyond Hesitation
Put up your work for display, no matter what the audience size is. 

I agree, to a point.  While I'm more than happy to play blog host and book reviewer for a marginal audience,  I'm looking for larger presence before I'd risk creative stories.  On many occasions I thought "what would be the harm of posting ______" but there is harm.  I can't pitch first print rights to a publication if I release a story to the blog.  I can never get back a story's debut.  

 I'd love to straight publish my stories to the blog but I need to earn attention first.

7. No Excusing Yourself

Make it a point to stick to your writing schedule.

Yeah, I agree we should write daily.  I don't know, I think it's worth beating yourself up if you can't do anything creative.  There is so much an author needs to do to promote as long as you write an article, a story, a few tweets, then I think counts.

"Making of a Wannabe Writer" My Response pt1

from open clipart.org by Eypros

The Writing Cooperative have a great post "Making of a Wannabe Writer". I recommend anyone undertaking a large writing project read their article and answer the questions they present.

Today, I am sharing my responses to these questions. It should provide readers better insight into what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and whether I'm meeting those goals.  

A formatting note: The main questions from the articles are in bold and a chaser question is in normal font.  I will provide my responses in italic purple for clarity.

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Why do you wish to write? Is it for self satiation, fame or money?

Writing is a compulsion for me.  I feel like I have hundreds of stories bubbling up in me I want to share.  Crafting them and making something larger than myself  is fulfilling 

As far as blogging goes, I have observations during my writing process.  Most often I prefer to share them with my husband or with my writing group, but sometimes they are so repetitive, I feel the need to get them down in print.  That's how the blog arises.  

I don't have the success where I feel I could offer advice.  Still, there are areas of my personal journey that thrive.  I like to record what I'm doing and what results I've seen as a guide for others and a reference for myself.

Who is your target? Talk to yourself about the genre and the suitable target audience. What will be their volume?

My creative writing has several genres.  Fantasy, Urban Fantasy that sometimes borders on Magical Realism, Scifi, supernatural, paranormal, and genre fiction (very little genre).  My writing is character driven, emotion based, and revolves around explore themes instead of plots.  It leans towards a more academic crowd and most people believe it's more female centered (though I still don't know why, but I'll embrace the label).

My creative writing has a smaller but fervent niche and I'm looking for my people.  

My blogging is more large scale.  Where I am in process leans me towards an audience of fellow writers and social media engineers.  Authors because their experience and mine resonates.  Social media engineers may be interested because I'm publishing plans to cultivate a following/sell a produce and I'm also publishing real time results.  This is the kind of things marketing media companies should live for even if I'm only working on a smaller scale.

  I believe as my process evolves it will expand out to publishers, agents, and editors.  As editing is a weakness of mine, I'm most dubious that I'll have something to offer them, but I haven't snuffed all hope of expanding in that direction.

Why should people read this? Can they relate it to their life? Will it be helpful for them? Will it entertain them?

People should read my creative writing because it's a fun ride.  The stories are well constructed and flow with purpose.  The characters realism grounds a story off set by fantastic surroundings.

  People may also enjoy my stories because many of them explore issues I see in the real world and transform them into fictional stories where we can hold a less charged conversation about observation or issue of the day.

It is my goal for this blog to provide insight into how a writer may balance the many tasks required to be a known writer.  This includes making time for creative writing, maintaining a blog, creating and curating a social media presence, submitting to publishers, finding an audience, and supporting other creatives.  I hope to do this by sharing my plans along with progress or setbacks I find along the way.

Identified your genre? Be wise to chose the correct publication for maximum impact and response. This can do wonders to launch you!

This is a loaded question for me.  As someone who sees connections rather than divisions, I'm torn on what "genre" my work falls into.  For simplicity I tell others it's "Urban Fantasy", but I hold personal doubts.  While the settings of my work are modern and magic exists in these worlds, I lack other elements like humor or a romance that most Urban Fantasies experiment with.  I've read "gritty" or "hard boiled" Urban Fantasy but the main leads are men and my leads are women.

  My stories are character driven, the "stuff" happening to them is secondary to how the characters react, where most Urban Fantasies portray all the cool magic stuff with character reactions taking a back seat.  

If someone told me I was writing women's fiction, I wouldn't disagree, except I've read women's fiction and while we are bonded spiritually by themes, the fantasy elements depart from most women's fiction.

My blogging style is far easier to describe.  It's for personal revelation and insight,  A public baring of the soul so we might all learn together.  Upbeat, supportive, and highly female in its presentation.  

My journey is too early to provide "expert" advice but I see myself growing into being a writing coach.  Someone who helps others organize and prioritize their time and efforts.  I also see myself as a publishing scout.  I'm always checking out writing markets and I have a good sense of when others are ready to publish and where to submit.  Just ask my writing group.

Is it impulsive or a passion? Discover if you are passionate about your work. If no, you won’t last long. Try writing about what interests you the most. Blogging doesn’t work on temporary impulses. Persistence is the key!

A little of both.  I've been writing stories since I was six, and I've never gone long without writing. I don't think I could stop writing at this point and I very much want to share my creative work.  

Blogging likewise, is something I've played with since it was a thing. I have an old Livejournal and Insanejournal account that are embarrassing   I'd delete them if I could, but I've lost the email and passwords in long ago.  

Here on blogger, I've played with several formats.  Anytime I wanted to try something journalling became a natural extension of that exploration.  

I have a plan, and I intend to commit, but I've said before.  The only way to be honest is to come back in thirty days and see if I had a habit moment.  

My Twitter Plan in 8 Steps

image from openclipart.org by GDJ

1. Create and Share Interesting and Unique Content

- retweets of stuff that grabbed my attention: quotes, articles, funnies, unique perspective/advice, books I plan to read or have read
-sharing my personality
-sharing personal efforts vs results.  This differs from the other generic "how to get views bro" because it's about what I'm doing and what results I'm getting, but it's also different cause I'm not really doing as they suggest

2. Schedule Posts.

-Some days I'm super into Twitter and some days I'm low on social mojo.  An obvious solution is to use a Scheduling site to plan out posts.  My goal is to have 4-5 posts a day with only 10 posts in one day for consistency’s sake.  I'm using free versions of Hootsuite, Commun.it and Buffer to achieve these goals.
-Side benefit to my feed, when I Retweet your posts a week later is won't show up in anyone's following both of us as spam.  Instead, it will breathe a second life into great content.  I want to showcase stuff so it doesn't feel like an echo chamber all the time For reals, I want to help other people while helping myself because I believe we can win together.


3. Create More Personal Connections on the Medium

-following hashtag conversations and replying to people/holding a conversation
-replying to questions, following up with others
-thanking people for helpful content, posting reviews and otherwise interacting beyond the like button
-I want to get into #sixwordstories and some other creative hashtags.  Meet other creators, contest holders, and stretch my own creative muscles more
-trying to be a friend to people by offering advice and support instead of "on and bubbly" or "sharp and snarky". Looking for a whole person approach
-@ people with content I think they'll like or that makes me think of them. Right now that's real life people but a goal is to build relationships with people online that I "know" well enough I can tag them
-checking in once a week with people's feeds whom I connect to.  I've got a short list of ten names where I make a personal check in.

4. Using Commun.it's "Popular Tweets of Your Feed" Section to See What is Trending and What People are Interested in.

-When possible, I make a relevant RT, like, or reply, scheduled out to give a second surge to something already popular (fashionably late and not just behind the times, I hope)
-Also so I can test what's popular on my feed and better style my Tweets to fit--this is limited for me because I want to find my audience for my writing and if I mimic someone else too much, I'll just find their audience

5. Use of Hashtags

-I have about four related lists I'm working with.  I also have days of the week plans, and I schedule.
-Also I'm interesting in cultivating my audience for writing, so I peek in to hashtags that match my book so see what people are saying and who's out to play

6. Once a Week Check in 

-This is part a batching thing and part a community builder
-I will look at everyone's feed on who has followed me over the week on Friday to see if we have common interests and then I may follow them back.
-I am also once a week checking in on some people who have consistent content I enjoy that might get swept away in my feed

7.Checking in to Twitter Analytics:

-By looking at my success and failures at least twice a week, I can see what works and doesn't work in my post records.  I can tell if it's content or time that may have garnered attention.  I can figure out if the hashtag communities I am drawn to are working for me.  And, as a little of a numbers geek, I can find endless entertainment in my ranking.  What worked, what didn't work, and theorizing why.

8.Unfollowing More People.

-I started unfollowing people on Tuesday. I thought it would only take one purge to get rid of everyone who is not relevant. Sooooooo wrong.  I've been dropping about 50 people a day.  When I got back to my Twitter, I was following 900-ish people and now I'm following 676 people.  This is cool becasue it means soon I'll be able to pick up more groups that interest me.  Agents, publishing companies, asuthors, and finding a few more of those dreaded content marketers.  I have a love hate relationship with content marketing.

- I am cleaning up contacts inactive for over a month or people whose account appears to have shifted away from my interests during my time off Twitter.  Of my Twitter plans this is my least favorite part of the work load, and I hope it's least important.

And these are hopefully my 8 steps to a successful Twitter Campaign.  Am I missing anything?  Do you have a cool sight you use that I should sheck out?  Tell me in the comments below.

Want to see how this plan is going? Check out:

August 21st Progress Report
August 29th Progress Report
September 4 Numbers 

Putting On My War Paint: Time To Twitter

uploaded to openclipart.org by j4p4n

Two years ago, I began an ill-advised campaign to write/freelance blog/publish a book.  I bit off way more than I could chew.  My goals were too broad, and I added in more things I "had" to do too often. I decided the whole circus wasn't for me.  Instead, I focused on my writing, I reached out to agents, and got grass roots and joined a local writers' group.  

Well, I'm back at it again, trying to make something work.  What different this time?

First, my goals are more limited.  I'm looking to create a genuine community and audience for my creative writing endeavors.  

Second, I'll work with a team of fellow local writers trying to stir interest in our different projects instead of trying to shoulder all the work on my own.

Third, I've got a very strict schedule I plan to adhere to.

I will pursue audience by:

1. Posting in The North Alabama Writers' Group Blog, writers group blog I hope my fellow writers will join me in maintaining.  I've been curating it for the last year.  If the blog was a plant, it wouldn't survive my tender care, even if it was a cactus.  20 posts in 33 weeks sounds ok, but the spacing is fubar-ed.  Nothing between April until July and now I'm blitzing posts every four days.  Pacing in my social engineering needs some fine tuning.

2. Reviving my Twitter account and trying to mobilize old contacts while also making new contacts.  Of social media, Twitter seems to be the most manageable for me.   Short bursts into the void seems more tolerable.

 My previous attempts saw scattered successes.  This time, I have a specific plan for each day that should help me interact in ways that will be more meaningful but also be fun.  I also think Twitter will be less frustrating this time vs my last attempt.  The goal this time is to interact with people and show a little of who I am where the goal last time was to funnel traffic to the blog.  It's cool if you guys come to the blog, but I'm not in Twitter for that.

3. Bringing this blog back as a recording tool to track success/failure.  I love analytics and I know there have to be dozens of others who would show up for the statistic updates.  Beyond what interests others, there's something about complete statistical transparency that feels good.  It's a weird moral high ground, but if it makes me happy and accomplished, why not?

4. I will also use the pages option in this blog to create an organized collection of resources I use for writing, measuring analytics, doing the social media, and so on.  It would be soooo cool if this kind of researching helped others, but the pages would be a success if I didn't have to hunt and peck all the time for stuff I half remember once having a link and description to.

5. I will reinvest in my creative writing by taking a work shopping class.  I miss the creative writing classes I took in college and the structure might give me the kick in the butt I need to produce again.  Tired of standing in one place.

6. Write!  The workshop should help but key to the "revive my social media to gain audience" campaign is the assumption I have stories ready to share.