Writability

Fixing the First Page Winner #24!

Photo credit: Carolyn Coles on Flickr

Quick Thursday post to announce the winner of the twenty-forth fixing the first page feature giveaway! Ready! Set!

*drumroll*

And the twenty-fourth winner is…

JES ROSE!

Yay! Congratulations, Jes!

Thank you to all you awesome entrants! If you didn't win, as always, there will be another fixing the first page giveaway in July (July!!!), so keep an eye out! :)

Books(dot)Con Recap!

So Sunday and Monday was Books(dot)Con! And overall I think it went really well—the panels were great and packed full of a ton of great information about all aspects of publishing and writing. And because I know not everyone was able to tune in (which is fine, of course!) I thought I'd link all the panels and interviews here all together.

So! For the interested! Here we go:

Blending Genres with Heidi Heilig, Rin Chupeco, Katie Locke, LR Lam, and me:

Let's Talk About Disability with Corinne Duyvis, Katie Locke, and Kayla Whaley:

Comic Books and Web Comics with Mildred Louis, Nilah Magruder, Taneka Stotts, and Wendy Xu:

Gender and Sexuality with Taneka Stotts, Nita Tyndall, LR Lam, and Fox Benwell:

Alternatives to the Traditional Publishing Path with Dahlia Adler, Taneka Stotts, and Mildred Louis:

Exclusive Interview with Bernie Su:

Culture and Faith with Katie Locke, Nita Tyndall, Kaye M, and Rin Chupeco:

What Happens After You Sign With An Agent with Nita Tyndall, Katie Locke, Eric Smith, Corinne Duyvis, and me:

Neurodiversity and Mental Illness with Corinne Duyvis, Katie Locke, and Nita Tyndall:

Research: from Worldbuilding to Historical Accuracy with Katie Locke, LR Lam, Mildred Louis, Wendy Xu, and me:

A Peek Behind the Veil of the Industry with Alison Weiss, Eric Smith, McKelle George, and Whitley Abell:

Exclusive Interview with Elizabeth Wein:

Twitter-sized bite:

Missed @booksdotcon but want to hear from authors, editors, agents, & more? Check out this compilation. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Don't Worry About Idea Stealing

I semi-frequently hear from new writers who are too nervous to get critique partners because they worry about their book ideas being stolen. So here's why I don't think you have to worry about it.

RELATED LINKS:

Don't Worry About Other Writers Stealing Your Ideas (blog post version)
Why You Need Critique Partners (Really) (vlog)
5 Places to Find Critique Partners

Did you worry about this before working with critique partners for the first time? (I know I did.)

Twitter-sized bite:

Too worried about idea stealing to enter a pitch contest or work w/ a CP? @Ava_Jae says not to worry about it. #vlog (Click to tweet)

On Taking Self-Care Days

Photo credit: kevin dooley on Flickr

I am a workaholic. This is a downside, I suppose, of (usually) enjoying the work you do—I work in a field I love (publishing), and get to spend many hours a day immersed in worlds I create, in worlds other people create, in blog posts and manuscripts and books, and it's a surprise to approximately no one who knows me that I get very immersed in my work.

(This is also a downside, I suppose, of working for myself. There's no one to tell me, "hey, you've done enough work today—go home and relax.")

So shortly after I graduated college, I realized if I wasn't careful, I was going to work myself into the ground. And so I established a weekly self-care day—a day when I'm not allowed to do any work; not answering e-mails, not writing, not plotting, not editing—this is a strictly work-free day.

So what do I do that day? I read a lot, mostly. And watch Hulu/Netflix, and play Assassin's Creed, or Sims 4, or Civilization V when I'm in the mood. And go out, and chat with my bestie, and do all sorts of things that don't involve working, all day.

It's a nice thing, and I do think it's helped, because come Monday (my day off is usually Sunday) I'm ready to dive in to work all over again.

I really do think it's important to take time off for yourself when you can. Writers are notoriously overworkers—many of us squeeze writing in during free hours or minute between day job, or school, or family, or all of the above, or, or, or—and it can be so easy to forget to take care of yourself.

So here is your reminder to take time off for yourself, too, whatever that means. It's important. You're important.

Do you take self-care days? What do you like to do during your work-free time?

Twitter-sized bite:

Do you take self-care days? @Ava_Jae talks about the importance of taking time off for yourself. (Click to tweet)

Are You Going to Books(dot)Con?

So we all hear about big conferences every year, and many of us know the pain of watching from afar, stalking the conference hashtags, and looking at pictures, and thinking, wistfully, maybe next time.

The truth is, as wonderful as conferences are, they're expensive. Really expensive. From the registration fee, to the hotel charge, to the travel charge, plus food, and, well—it's not difficult to see why many people struggle to go.

However! The conference I'm participating in this Sunday and Monday is not one of those, because this conference is online—all shared via Google Hangouts and later YouTube. And (mostly) free.

Books(dot)Con is shaping up to be a really awesome conference. With author speakers like Corinne Duyvis, Heidi Heilig, Laura Lam, Fox Benwell, Dahlia Adler, Katherine Locke, and more, editor speakers like Alison Weiss, McKelle George, and Wendy Xu, agent speakers like Eric Smith, and Whitney Abell, illustrator speakers, diversity advocate speakers, blogger speakers, and exclusive interviews with Elizabeth Wein, and Bernie Su, the lineup looks pretty amazing.

I mean, just take a look at this schedule:

I'll also be taking query + first page critiques for the conference and afterward, for those who are interested in that sort of thing. And also there are workshops which look very cool too.

So hopefully, wherever you are, you'll be able to tune in if you're interested. Hope to see some of you guys there! :)

Will you be checking out Books(dot)Con this year?

Twitter-sized bite:

Check out @booksdotcon, an online conference w/ author, editor, agent, illustrator, & blogger speakers! (Click to tweet)

When Struggling to Find the Words

Photo credit: mdave on Flickr

So I've been first drafting again, now for the second time this year (and, come to think of it, second time in a couple months), which is both exciting because after perma-revision mode for so long, it's nice to be in draft-all-the-things mode, but also scary (because drafting), and a little tiring (because I want to draft something else this year too). Overall it's been really fun to dive into the new project—a project I've wanted to work on for a really long time—but I've also noticed the words, as of late, have not been coming so easily.

*sigh*

Once upon a time, I used to be able to write 1,000 words in 30 minutes, with the aid of Write or Die and music (and 30 minute breaks). With my last WIP, I averaged around 700 words in 25 minutes, with a 5 minutes break, so about 1,400 words in an hour, assuming both sprints ended up in the average range. This time I've been averaging lower—sometimes in the 500 range per 25 minute sprint on a good day, or closer to 300ish words per 25 minute sprint on a not-so-good day.

Of course, even on the not-so-good days, the word count isn't awful, but it does feel noticeably slower—and more difficult, to me.

These harder-to-write days, weeks, manuscripts even happen to everyone regardless of experience level. And while I'm pretty sure I know why the struggle is happening more frequently than usual with this particular manuscript, the struggle is still...well. It's a struggle.

The good and bad news with this is while there isn't really a *cure* for difficult-to-write days (or manuscripts), it's not a death sentence, either. Assuming you stick with it and force yourself to keep writing even when the words are being less-than-friendly, the words will come. But it also means you maybe need to be patient with yourself, or give yourself more manageable goals. I moved my goal for this first draft a couple days to lower the daily word count I needed to meet my self-imposed deadline, for example, which has helped. I've also forced myself to take those five-minute breaks between writing sprints, because they make it easier to then dive in to the next 25 minute block.

The long and short of it is this happens to everyone, and while there isn't a guaranteed insta-fix, the best you can do is keep with it and know this isn't happening because you're manuscript is terrible, or you're terrible, or your writing skills are terrible, etc. If anything, it just means welcome to the club—writing is hard, and we've all been there.

What do you do when struggling to get the words down?

Twitter-sized bite:

Author @Ava_Jae shares her experience struggling to find the words when first drafting. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Age and Publishing

Are you a young writer who wants to get published ASAP? Or worried you're too young or old to get published? Today I'm talking about age, publishing, and lessons I learned when I was a teen desperate to get published.

RELATED LINKS:

What do you think?

Twitter-sized bites:

"Learning how to write and getting your skills publication-ready takes a lot of time." (Click to tweet)

On age, pressure to publish ASAP, and taking your time to improve your writing. #vlog (Click to tweet)