Writers in the Storm

by John Peragine

Alternately titled: Talk Me Off the Edge- My 1st Fiction Book is Being Published!

Bridging from Non-fiction to Fiction has been like a flight from Earth to Mars. New landscapes. New people. Different atmosphere. Different laws of physics. And it is a little daunting.

My love of writing began when I was a latchkey kid. I would spend hours, even days, in the local library. I started in the kid’s section, but after I'd read all my favorite books, I ventured into the adult section.

“Whoa there, little guy, this is for the adults. I’m not sure you are in the right section,” said the librarian. I was 10 years old and I desperately wanted to read books from the pulp fiction section. I was especially interested in fantasy and science fiction titles with their creased covers and yellowed pages.

Eventually I wandered into the business center, which had a long table with typewriters. I wanted to write my own stories.
I dreamed of being a writer and seeing my pulp fiction title stuffed in the tall rotating carousel.

My mother procured (read: pilfered) my typing paper from her company's supply closet and I sat down to create.

Fast forward thirty years, when I retired from the day job to write full time. I have been writing non-fiction books and articles for thirteen years, but I never forgot my roots in that little town library.

The Unexpected Book

In 2012, my life changed. After raising two girls, I had my baby boy, Max. He came into this world a wonder: a mix of superhuman powers, and superhuman weaknesses. Cold air is his kryptonite. The medical term is Cold Urticaria with Angioedema, which is a fancy way to say that he was allergic to cold and to viruses. Allergic in the "stop breathing" kind of way, which was terrifying.

We spent quite a bit of time in hospitals, and I began writing chapters of a story as bedtime stories for him. In it, his illness was a sign of a powerful magic locked inside him.

Inspiration

My inspiration came from a couple of my favorite writers. Ian Fleming, of the James Bond series fame, decided to write a book for his son, and read him the chapters as a bed story. It eventually became the book, Chitty Chitty Bang, Bang, which became a movie with the screenplay written by Roald Dahl. (As a child, this movie scared me, as children were captured and put into a cage.)

My second inspiration was Stephen King. He had written thirteen books, and his daughter Naomi had not read any of them because horror was not her thing. So, he wrote The Eyes of the Dragon, a fantasy story, for his daughter. It is one of my favorite Stephen King books.

Both of these authors shifted genres to create something for their children. I was inspired too, and it became a special story and our special time while my little boy was so sick.

The Proposition and the Promise

Two years ago, my son asked me where his book was. (Which meant I had to move the project into being.) It is the novel I never intended to write.

In September it will be released to the world, and I am an emotional wreck. I will finally fulfill the dream of the little boy I used to be. The boy who dared to grab a book from the adult stacks and run back to the children’s section to read Frank Herbert's Dune.

Instead of being the expert sitting across the table, helping nonfiction authors write and publish their books, I am the one chewing my nails and questioning my sanity.

Is this a stupid idea? Will people hate it? Do I have the right genre? What am I going to do for marketing? Distribution?

I’m like a student in their first year of med school: I know just enough to be dangerous, but not enough to be correct in my assumptions.

I am currently shifting my POV with a deadline to get it to the editor. I have given them my thoughts for the cover and am checking my inbox hourly to get the first glimpse. I am questioning everything.

Basically, I've become the client I sometimes dread: full of insecurity, and prone to dramatic predictions that "it is terrible and that is why no one who has read it has given me accolades." What if it's not the best thing they have ever read??

Can someone pleaseput me out of my misery?

There is a shiny light illuminating my desperate self-flagellating musings. I have a great support network.

I have surrounded myself with people both in and out of the industry who have my back, and who set me straight when I veer too far into Crazyville.

I believe I can get through this and, for any of you who are reading this right now and nodding your head (because you recognize my agony and overly dramatic responses), I have some advice from that network to share.

The Best Advice

1. Rely on your tribe.

Listen to what they are saying to you. Stop responding with things like “yes, but…” They care about you and want you to succeed. Let them know what you need. A hug? A high five? A shot of whiskey?

Think of book publishing as running a triple marathon where they are on the sideline with signs, water, and snacks.

2. Believe in yourself.

Even if you are the only one who reads and loves your book, it was worth the effort. It’s likely that if you love the work, others will too. You don’t need everyone to love it, your opinion is what matters in the end. Were you happy with your work? Were you satisfied with what you created?

When I was ten and wrote an epic star opera on my pilfered paper, I was so happy at what I had created, and so proud to present it to my parents. It was not a top seller in any category, but it was the greatest thing I had ever created.

I have to remind myself of that moment. It is the reason I continued to want to be a writer. I wanted to see MY book on the shelf so that I could read it.

3. Brace yourself.

I have given my clients this advice, and now I am on the other side of it. The writing is just the beginning. The real work begins after you write “the end” on your first draft.

Now I must dig in and take the time to rewrite, think about marketing and covers, distribution and returns and everything else that goes into publishing a book. All of it with this ticking clock that rings on launch day.

4. Take care of yourself.

Step away from the manuscript. Walk around. Spend time with the family. Occasionally sleep. Run a few miles on the treadmill.

A work of fiction is much different than nonfiction or any other kind of writing I have done. This is so much more personal, and therefore I feel overprotective, anxious, and vulnerable. I must take care of my mental, physical, emotional, and even spiritual parts of myself. I must take it one task at a time and push forward every day.

If I've got this, then you, my fellow writer, also have this.

I know I will cry when I see the completed book. That’s just how I roll. And there will be only one critic whose opinion matters in the end: my son. This was written for and about him. This story helped me feel more in control at a time when I felt so helpless as a parent. Part of my nerves are because I want to make him proud.

Drawing on our real-life experience and being able to write my own happy ending was therapeutic. This book helped he and I heal as much as it entertained. September 14, 2020 is the day this first book of a trilogy is released. That's the day I will finally have my nervous breakdown.

Every published author knows the madness of release day. We willingly embrace this madness over and over again.

It’s totally worth it, don’t you think?

Have you written a special story for a family member? Changed your genre? Do you get nervous on Release Day? Tell us about it in the comments!

*  *  *  *  *  *

About John

John Peragine has published 14 books and ghostwritten more than 100 others. He is a contributor for HuffPost, Reuters, and The Today Show. He covered the John Edwards trial exclusively for Bloomberg News and The New York Times. He has written for Wine Enthusiast, Grapevine Magazine, Realtor.com, WineMaker magazine, and Writer's Digest.

John began writing professionally in 2007, after working 13 years in social work and as the piccolo player for the Western Piedmont Symphony for over 25 years. Peragine is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. His newest book, Max and the Spice Pirates, will be released in Summer 2020.  

by James Preston

Time is your friend . . . and your enemy.

You can never have enough. Yet it can stretch, minutes to seeming hours, in a boring movie that your date loves. It can race by when you’re writing to meet a deadline.

 . . . Time.

I looked for fiction writing classes on line and got over 65 million hits in less than a second. Let’s assume one out of a thousand,  0.1%, of them are aimed right at your kind of writing, that’s 65,000. Okay, 0.1% of that is 65 and you decide to attend one or more?

You are talking a lot of hours. Not necessarily a bad thing. Our art and craft are not easily mastered. But how many can you attend and still finish the book?

. . . Time

Time Hacks

But are there brief bits to educate and help, to inspire, inform and entertain when you don’t have days for a class? Like a life hack, a shortcut to help get you over those humps? You bet!

It seems to me that all of these classes, books and essays divide into two groups: “how to” and “inspirational.”

The first group is absolutely essential. What we do is both craft and art and you must master the craft before you can begin to grapple with the second. Before you can play in the piano recital you have to learn to run scales.

The inspirational half of this is equally important because we all hit moments when we think of our current WIP, “Arggh! This sucks. I hate it and it hates me.”

Side note: I told my wife about a month ago that my current story was trying to kill me. It was.

Then I took a break and plugged in my DVD of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

And this time I watched the special features, and I listened to Stephen Spielberg talk about the work. And I realized that modern movies on DVD are chock full of great interviews with the people involved, in which they tell stories of how they did it, why they did it (sometimes), and how they kept going when it got tough. And I found a quick way to get a boost, to think, “Yeah, everybody struggles now and then.”

The DVD helped me.

Many DVDs are a rich source of information in four ways: “Making Of” featurettes, liner notes, commentary, and deleted scenes.

Side Note: streaming services also offer movies with extra features, which may vary by service. I’m using DVD examples in this essay, focusing on the “Making Of” featurettes. I’ll throw in a bit of romance, a piece of trivia for your next cocktail party, and I’ll talk about liner notes from one movie that very few, if any, of you have heard of, let alone seen.

Here are a few DVDs that have worthwhile special features. I suggest them because they will convince you that everybody hits rough spots, everybody that succeeds keeps going, and — the best part — they’re relatively short. “Making of” featurettes are usually at most 20 - 30 minutes long. Watching one will expose you to pros grappling with deadlines and story issues.

Temple of Doom

As I’m sure many of you know, Temple of Doom is widely regarded as the weakest of the first Indiana Jones trilogy. It is certainly the darkest. If you watch the special features, Spielberg knew it. But it was a story he wanted to tell, so he did, and don’t think there's no risk involved. Hollywood not only believes you’re only as good as your last work, they’re proud of thinking that way. He has some very interesting things to say.

Star Trek (2009)

Here I’m talking about the reboot, directed by J.J. Abrams. The “Making of..." featurettes are excellent. What comes through to me most is how much the cast and crew enjoyed making the movie. Hard work? You bet. Arguments? I’m sure. But, bottom line, it shows how much they enjoyed the story. It convinced me that if I didn’t love a scene, or a story, something was wrong. It helped to rekindle my enthusiasm for my work.

Romancing the Stone (1984).

Wow, this DVD is a treasure trove of good information and inspiration. My thanks to the folks at WITS for asking me to write because it made me pull out the movie. Look for “Hidden Treasure: the Screenwriter.” If you don’t know her story, be prepared to be surprised.

In the liner notes: this script was “in turnaround” (translation: limbo) for two years. Two years, after the writer, who was working as a waitress when she wrote it, got Michael Douglas interested. Two years! If that doesn’t inspire you I don’t know what will.

Deleted scenes: ask yourself why “At the river” was cut. And for the trivia I promised, look at the very first scene of Romancing the Stone with Kathleen Turner. A female writer is sitting at her typewriter, hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a Pendleton shirt. Then look at the back cover photo of Grace Metalious on Peyton Place. The Turner scene has got to be an homage.

All of the above are movies that I like a lot. I thought I’d include one that I don’t’ much care for: Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi. I was watching some of the bonus material preparing for this essay, and the section of “The Director and the Jedi” where they’re working on storyboards is really useful, and it spoke to me because I was struggling with just that for the last fight screen in my WIP. Thoughts in the middle of the night like, “Wait, she can’t do that in the parking lot; she’s on the roof.” These people are working out issues just like that.

I want to close by talking about a movie I bet very few of you have seen — a little gem called (I’m not making this up) The Hideous Sun Demon. This time I'm focusing on the liner notes on the DVD case.

THSD was made in 1957, released in 1958, by a man named Robert Clarke. He’s also the producer and the star, which tells you something. Today it would be direct-to-video or You Tube. At that time it was aimed at an audience of kids in a drive-in, busy drinking beer and making out.

In the liner notes Clarke talks about how he and some of his friends from USC scraped together the cash and made the movie on a shoestring, and how when he was in the hideous sun demon costume, (made out of an old wetsuit), it was so hot that so much sweat was running down his body that there is one still picture of him where it appears he failed to make it to the Men’s Room in time. But they stuck with it. Clarke stuck with it. And they finished the movie, it made some money and they’re proud of their work. Learn from them. You should be proud of yours, too.

I promised romance... Stephen Spielberg has soft spot for Temple of Doom because he says that’s where he met his wife, Kate Capshaw. Not bad, huh?

So, time. Mine’s about up. 

Time is the one resource you can’t get more of. When you’re working on our art and craft, try to use it well. With a free half hour you can learn something from the likes of Spielberg, Abrams — or Clarke.

Now do something for me, for us. Think about quick things from special features that gave you a boost, maybe a deleted scene that made you think one of yours might drag just a bit, maybe a writer’s story from a Making Of featurette. Are there Special Features that moved you? Share them with this writing community that we are all part of. Thanks.

Time. Tick tock, tick tock, tick . . . 

About James

James Preston writes the multiple-award-winning Surf City Mysteries. His most recent work, however, is not part of that series. It’s a novella called Buzzkill, a historical thriller that Kirkus Reviews said is “enriched by characters who sparkle and refuse to be forgotten.” His work is collected by the UC Berkeley University library as part of their special collection, “California Detective Fiction.” For more about the stories, check out his web page, www.jamesrpreston.com. He can be reached at james@jamesrpreston.com. 

by Lori Freeland

Anxiety. The word alone is enough to set off a tingle in my fingers, a tightness in my chest, and a worn-out mantra—Breathing is good. Passing out is bad—that rarely works. 

And I’m not alone.

I’ve read so many posts from authors dealing with health problems related to or caused by anxiety—especially in the last few years. The push to perform and market and put more and more out there seems to be ramping up to an almost impossible level, for indie authors in particular. 

What’s really frustrating is that the very things that make us good writers—empathy, sensitivity, being observant, and of course the power to picture in IMAX the very worst thing that could happen in any situation—are the same things that fuel the anxiety.

From the fear of not being able to meet deadlines to not being good enough to straight-up failure, there’s A LOT to worry about. We even worry about the good things! Praise easily leads to pressure.

Sadly, all that yuck doesn’t just stay in the writing part of our lives. It leaks over into everything, and random moments can set it off.

Driving in the rain makes me shake. Claustrophobia in a crowd tunnels my vision. Restlessness spins my thoughts until my mind won’t shut off and I can’t sleep, I can’t focus, I can’t function.

And worse, when I get that way, I can’t write. Like not at all.

Anxiety might be one of the least understood stalkers of mental health. Especially to people who’ve never experienced it. Broken bones, people understand. Even a broken heart gains a sympathetic nod. But anxiety can get brushed off as being all in our heads.

Except it’s not. Physically, the “fight or flight” hormones released during stress mess with our weight, our energy levels, our focus, our productivity... the list feels endless.

When I’m open with people about my anxiety, I get a lot of—Stop thinking about it. Just tell yourself you’re fine. Nothing terrible is happening to you. So-and-so has it worse.  

Honestly, none of that helps. And sometimes the temptation to walk away from writing tugs hard.

Believe it or not, I had less anxiety over my son’s diagnosis of cancer than I do over my writing. Maybe because cancer is not something I can control. No amount of effort on my part could change his prognosis or take away his struggles.

Not true with writing. My effort can make me or break me.  

Helpful Tips and Tricks

So what can we do if we’re not ready to chuck our writing dreams for peace of body and mind? Here are 12 survival tricks that help me function when I feel like I’m coming unglued.  

1. Ramble to someone. Monologue it if you’re alone. Sing along with the radio or risk it and go acapella. This is great for when I’m freaking out in the car. Talking and singing naturally slow my breathing.  

2. Get Your “Go” on. Walk. Run. Dance. Ski. Skateboard. Climb stairs. Lift weights. It works. And this is coming from someone who is totally anti-exercise.  

3. Stand Up—comedy that is. Find your sense of humor. What’s funny in your situation? Or what will be funny once you’re out of it? Where can you use this story in your writing? Some of the best things we throw at our characters are things we’ve been dealt first.

4. Change Your Creative Focus. Paint. Draw. Play an instrument. Start a garden. Knit socks. Grow Chia Pets.  

5. Organize. Cleaning, sorting, and rearranging gives focus. Bonus—you also get a completed project to feel proud of.

6. Shower. Or bathe. Warm water relaxes me.

7. Take a Tour. A mental tour. Growing up, I lived in a lot of different houses. When my mind refuses to turn off, I mentally walk through each one and see what details I remember—the pink flowers on the wallpaper of my house in Ohio, the deep end of the pool we had in Florida, the creepy basement of our first house in Wisconsin. Replay a visual of your favorite places.

8. Wave Bye-Bye to obligations. Yes, there are certain things we have to do. There are also lots of things we only think we have to do. Prioritize. Step away from what you can and conserve your mental energy for what you can’t.

9. Turn Off the Noise. Isolate temporarily. I’ll let you in on a secret. If I’m going somewhere to meet other people, I drive myself so I have an escape plan. Most of the time I don’t need to use it, but it makes me feel safe to know I have an immediate getaway. 

10. Pinpoint Focus. Social anxiety is a problem for some of us and leaving isn’t always an option. Pick one person you feel comfortable with and ask them about themselves. If you’re focused on someone else, you’ll spend less energy focusing on yourself.

11. Fail. Give yourself permission to fail. A lot of us who suffer from anxiety also suffer from perfectionism. Give it a try. Failing really isn’t the end of the world.  

12. Go There. Make a plan. Visualize the worst and plan what you’ll do. I like to be prepared. Just knowing I’ve already hypothetically walked through a situation from beginning to end calms my anxiety.

This post is definitely atypical for me. I usually share writing tips. But I think so many of us can relate. Can you?

Are there pieces of your writing life that stress you out or cause you anxiety? Have you tried any of my stress relievers or, better yet, others that work well for you? If you feel comfortable sharing, we'd love to hear about it in the comments!

About Lori

An encourager at heart, author, editor, and writing coach Lori Freeland believes everyone has a story to tell. She’s presented multiple workshops at writer’s conferences across the country and writes everything from non-fiction to short stories to novels—YA to adult. When she’s not curled up with her husband drinking too much coffee and worrying about her kids, she loves to mess with the lives of the imaginary people living in her head.

You can find her young adult and contemporary romance at lorifreeland.com and her inspirational blog and writing tips at lafreeland.com. Her latest release, The Accidental Boyfriend, is currently free on the Radish app.

Top photo credit: Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay