Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing

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April 24, 2019

How Entrepreneurship is like Writing

by Tasha Seegmiller

About two years ago, my husband got the idea to start a cotton candy business. We bought a machine, played around with flavors and techniques and materials and during the local Fourth of July parade 2017, we opened for business. 

Not quite two years later, and we are merging that in with a soda shack (think Starbucks for sodas and shaved ice — they’re all the rage in Utah). And we are launching a grand opening on Saturday.

There are a lot of things that we have learned over the last two years, most of which tie nicely in with writing (really, you knew this was coming). 

1.     Get a solid idea of what you’d like to do.

To go from “I think we could sell cool cotton candy” to business implementation is a bit of a bizarre journey, but probably not any more than coming up with an idea, and making up people, and seeing what is out there, and what we can do differently. When we were starting, we (aka my husband) spent A LOT of time looking at what other cotton candy makers were doing. We talked about what we liked, what we didn’t like, how we would make our product unique. 

There are a lot of writers who think they don’t want to read what they want to write because they might be influenced by it. During drafting, fair enough. There are certain authors I can’t read when I’m in certain parts of my stories, whether that is because the genre is similar or because I’m writing several emotional scenes and I’m hoping to channel a unique, authentic voice. But I also know the only way that a writer can get better is by reading what they want to emulate in their writing. If you write historical fiction, you’d better be reading them, both those that deal with the time period you are playing with and others from times neighboring your desired era. If you dabble in magic, break out the notebooks and jot down how your writing heroes craft theirs. Study, study, study, and then decide what you’d like to emulate and what you’d like to do differently. 

2.    Get feedback.

As you might imagine, we had a lot of people who were interested in giving us feedback on our products.

We’d set up our machines in our front yard and send some texts out to friends, adults and children alike, to see what they thought of certain flavors, jot down the ones people wanted more of, make notes of those that people tossed away. While my husband and I have diverse palates (he likes the really sweet, me not so much), we needed a broader sense of who thought what. We especially leaned into the feedback from people who said they didn’t like cotton candy. 

There are all kinds of theories out there about who should critique what when. I say follow your gut. If you can take a critique when you are drafting, and keep going, do that. If the thought of someone reading your new pages before you’ve had a chance to make them as shiny as possible makes you reach for a brown paper bag, don’t. But realize two things: 

  1. You will never get your work as good as you’d like it without someone else giving insight. 
  2. There is a very real danger of looping through a story so many times that it becomes a vortex for your drive and creativity. 

It’s the scariest thing, to take something you’ve thought about, worked on, got to a point where you feel good about it. But writers are courageous, and I know you will benefit greatly if you will just let others read and listen to what they are saying. 

3.    Your product will improve the more you make it. 

When we look at some of our first products, we can see things, now, that we would have done differently. We struggled to regulate the temperature of the machines (it needs to be around 400-425 degrees), we weren’t sure the best product to spin them onto, some flavors sounded like a good idea and they just weren’t (looking at you, black licorice). 

It is not fair to the writer you are now to look back at when you were beginning, published or not, and berate yourself for the product that it wasn’t. You can’t go back in time. You shouldn’t want to go back in time. Instead, you need to look at what you wrote, what you knew at the time that you wrote it and congratulate yourself for everything you were able to do with what you knew. And then keep learning. Keep practicing. Keep getting better. 

4.    Stretch and grow. 

During the beginning phases of business building, when we were deciding on a name, we realized that we didn’t want to be committed to just cotton candy forever. My husband has been brainstorming business ideas since we got married almost 20 years ago. We didn’t want a business name that would lock him into just that. And since launching, our little cotton candy business has tried edible helium balloons (super fun and yummy, super inconsistent) and toyed with the idea of custom gummies. We often return to conversations surrounding waffles, and as I’m writing this post, my husband is seeing if he can make shaped, tricolored marshmallows in my kitchen. It costs a bit of time, a small bit of money, and then we know if a thing works, if it could work, or if that idea isn’t sustainable.

Just because you started writing in one era or genre doesn’t mean you have to lock into that forever. It’s one of the reasons all the business professionals suggest authors build a brand around themselves and not a particular book. If you look at your favorite writers, I bet most of them have dabbled in different things, even if they have a particular genre that is their bread and butter (Brandon Sanderson comes to mind – his Alcatraz series is very different from his epic fantasies).

And that’s okay. 

Writing the same genre over and over can feel clichéd, the tropes that were once fun might even start feeling like barriers boxing in your creativity. So dabble. I have a folder called My Sandbox, where I just play with ideas, not that are necessarily the serious work that I’m doing, but a place where story ideas can hang out, a place where I can test my prowess on a different kind of thing. 

This is how we grow. 

And sometimes, when we allow ourselves to grow, a fun little idea can manifest into something that brings us a bit of joy. 

What practices have you put in place to help your writing grow?

About Tasha

Tasha Seegmiller believes in the magic of love and hope, which she weaves into every story she creates. She is the current president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and studying in the MFA in Writing Program at Pacific U. The former high school English teacher now assists in managing the award-winning project-based learning program (EDGE) at Southern Utah University. Tasha married a guy she’s known since she was seven, is the mom of three teens, and co-owner of a cotton candy company. She is represented by Annelise Robey of Jane Rotrosen Agency.

17 comments on “How Entrepreneurship is like Writing”

  1. Thanks for sharing things that can get lost in the rearview window of our writing life, Tasha. Besides, everyone needs a little cotton candy to remember why we started writing!

  2. I love this post, especially the part about getting feedback and dealing with it (which happens to be my own blog topic today--synchronicity!) Your comparisons are spot on.

  3. Tasha, you are the hardest working lady I know - College, 3 kids, new business, Prez of an org over 1500 people, writer...and I see you all over social media.

    Can we bottle whatever you have?
    Or have you be eating cotton candy for the sugar rush?

    Great post!

    1. It's Diet Coke and sheer stubbornness. Surprisingly, after the initial tasting, we generally don't eat much anymore.

  4. Tasha, I bet you and your hubby have so much fun together! It sounds like there's a lot of whimsy in both of you, and, well, I'm a big fan of whimsy! Regarding cotton candy, what's your favorite flavor that you've created? And do you have a raspberry one? Because I bet that would be delicious...

    I agree 100 percent with what you're saying here. I'd also add that, as writers and business owners, we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We can try new things but also find what works well for others in our field. If we're writing contemporary romance, it helps to know what's out there, how similar writers promote their work and engage with readers, etc. Finding that community of like-minded folks is so important. And it's not just about success in terms of money. It's about feeling like we're part of something, finding a sense of belonging. That's a very human need.

    You're right that having a vision is key. If you don't have a vision of what success for your writing/business looks like for you, you'll be constantly chasing random ideas and lack focus, and whatever you're creating will suffer because of that.

    Great post! 🙂

    1. We have over two dozen flavors. I love the raspberry with jalapeño. And community is so very important.

  5. Wait...what? Black licorice cotton candy? NOW you have my attention! I am a black licorice connoisseur...Australian or Finnish is the best. Now my mouth is watering. Cotton candy also reminds me of being a child, of watching the clouds drift by on a summer day, of the smell of freshly mown grass.

    Thanks for your insights as a business owner (former Jack in the Box restaurant owner here) and how it relates to us as writers. I write romantic women's fiction, but have a great idea for a middle grade series. The intrigue is there, and venturing into a different "world" would be a step into the unknown, but you're right--it somehow feels like a breath of fresh air!

    Onward!

    1. Oh, I think you would have a lot of fun playing with the middle grade.

      Yeah, the flavor of the black licorice was similar to root beer - so not at all right. And the bacon one just went all kinds of wrong.

    1. Here's the funny thing: I don't like cotton candy either, until I tried the kind we make. It's totally different. Should you ever find yourself in southern Utah, I'll make you one on the house that I am fairly certain you'd love.

  6. Tasha, thanks. Excellent post! I especially like the "Sandbox" idea. I have started something like that more than once, misplaced it, found it later and so on. You've inspired me to try again.

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