Writers in the Storm

Christina Delay

In case you didn’t know, there’s a little thing called NaNoWriMo going on this month. It’s basically a month in which writers lose sleep, stop talking to their families, give up binge watching Netflix, and forget how to spell without Word’s autocorrect feature, all to meet a challenging word count of 50,000 words in 30 days. So, we’re writing a novel in a month.

A really horrible, crappy novel. (I’m not talking about those gold-fingered mythological writers whose turds smell like lavender. You guys suck.)

It’s November 11. You are 11 days into NaNoWriMo and this is the point you start wondering:

What the crap kind of story am I writing?

You may be tempted (or have already fallen into temptation) to stop your forward movement and, gasp!, edit.

Don’t. And I’ll tell you why.

I’m switching to metaphor mode, because I like metaphors and because I can. Go with me.

A few weeks ago, I hopped on a tiny boat on a river in Belize and speedboated for an hour to see some Mayan ruins. On the way, our guide told us a tale he heard from his grandparents when he was a boy.

Back then, Belize was very much a developing country. In many respects, it still is. Since Belize imports almost all their goods, they’ve had to be resourceful in meeting their day-to-day living needs. 50 years ago, our guide’s grandparents and parents were still going into the jungle for weeks at a time to forage for food and supplies to make soap.

And they came back with tales.

Tales of a city being swallowed by a jungle.

They were ignored.

The tales simmered into myth and local lore until about 1970, when the Canadian government and Harvard University took an interest.

Guess what?

There actually were cities being swallowed by the jungle.

What came next was years of excavating, slowly revealing the Mayan story that the jungle had hidden. A thousand-year-old empire that had been taken back by the jungle, until not even the tops of the tallest temples could be seen.

It’s so much like our first draft, don’t you think? So often, our story gets hidden behind the jungle of run-on sentences, under-developed characters, plot holes, and blah-writing. It takes a while before we, the author, can push aside the vines and dig through the dirt to discover the ancient treasures hidden inside our stories.

But we have to write them down, first.

The archaeologists who first came to the Mayan ruins of Lamanai didn’t put one foot down on land, then dig, put their other foot down on land, then dig, and so on. That would have been the most inefficient way to discover the story!

Instead, they walked the jungle, exploring before digging, and then stepped back and studied the big picture. They looked at the “first draft” in its entirety and only after understanding the scale of what they had to work with did they start excavating.

NaNoWriMers, you are drafting this month. You are writing the foundation of your story, but the first draft jungle is swallowing it up.

Let it.

Your story needs the vines to take hold and the roots to grow around it. Your story needs to be buried in warm, fertile soil. You story needs to be held safe in the cocoon of the jungle to be able to deepen the mystery.

Get the first draft out before you start excavating.

After NaNoWriMo, break out your story tools. Uncover your story once you take a step back and look at the vast empire you’ve created. Only then can you discover the true treasures: the deep conflicts, the twisted plot lines, thematic point of view, the heart of the story you are telling.

But for now, pull on your mosquito netting, lace up your hiking boots, and go back into the jungle.

Are you doing NaNo? Is the jungle taking over? Report in your progress!

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ABOUT CHRISTINA:

(http://www.christinadelay.com/) is the hostess of Cruising Writers (http://cruisingwriters.com/) and an award-winning author represented by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency. When she’s not cruising the Caribbean, she’s dreaming up new writing retreats to take talented authors on or writing the stories of the imaginary people that live in her heart.

About Cruising Writers

Cruising Writers brings aspiring authors together with bestselling authors, an agent, an editor, and a world-renowned writing craft instructor together on writing retreats. Go to France with us in April (http://cruisingwriters.com/retreat/southern-france-writing-retreat/) and stay in a historic chateau with Margie Lawson, agent Louise Fury, Shelley Adina, Kobo Writing Life, and Literary Translations. Or cruise with us to Grand Cayman (http://cruisingwriters.com/retreat/7-day-western-caribbean-writing-retreat-cruise-september-10-17-2017/) with Lisa Cron, Anglea Ackerman, agent Michelle Grajkowski, and editor Deb Werksman of Sourcebooks!

 

My debut comes out in May. It’s exciting. And terrifying.

A box of galleys arrived a week ago. Even before I had the box completely open, I was crying. The top two books are slightly tear- stained now – those will stay on my shelf. :-) 

I mentioned exciting, right? Seeing all of your hard work come together in a real life book is amazing. That’s my name on the cover!!!! And I’ve been touched by the number of people who’ve cheered and asked about ordering and cheered some more.

I’m not worried about reviews. I know this book isn’t for everyone. I know there are people who will love it and others who will find fault with it. That’s not to say the negative reviews won’t sting. But I’m not freaking out about them (check with me after the reviews start coming in, I may have a totally different take on this).

What I am freaking out about, is making an ass of myself.

If you look up the word “introvert” in the dictionary, you’ll see a picture of me. I’m perfectly happy working in my cave, doing what needs to be done. I’m extremely uncomfortable in the spotlight. You’re looking at a person who never wanted birthday parties and tried ducking out of her own bridal shower. So the thought of doing book events scares the bejeesus out of me.   

I love watching kids and their absolute lack of inhibition. It doesn’t matter to them whether they’re good at what they’re attempting or not, they do it to have fun and they have fun doing it regardless of how they look or what others think.

Doing something – anything – that’s out of my comfort zone is scary. I used to do a lot of things when I was younger that I shy away from now because I don’t want to embarrass myself. Somewhere along the way, I lost the ability to let go of my inhibition.

For the last four plus years I’ve spent a ton of time at the climbing gym with my son. We’re there three or four days a week, for several hours each time. Climbing fascinated me but fascinated me from the ground. Two years ago my son challenged me to climb. It took time but I finally succumbed to the pressure of a determined 9-year old and had my husband belay me on a day when the gym was mostly empty and in the back room where very few people climb. It was a blast.

And I refused to climb again. Why? Because I was too intimidated by how I thought I needed to look and what I thought others would think of me.

But here’s the thing. If you don’t put yourself out there, you lose. I put myself out there by writing a book and sending it to agents. I now have a book coming out by an amazing New York publisher. I put myself out there by co-founding a writing association. I’m now part of a fabulously supportive writing community. It can be done!

So I buckled back into my harness and started climbing regularly with a handful of other parents while our kids are at team practice. Yeah, it still makes me queasy to think what my big behind looks like in that harness from below, and yeah, I still can’t haul my butt over that roof and conquer the baby head climb, but I let go of the inhibition and I’m having fun.  

(No worries, folks, I’m still holding on to enough inhibition – there won’t be any karaoke singing or dancing on tables.)

How will climbing help me when I have to talk about my book in front of people? Because it’s reminded me that it’s not about how I look or what I do or don’t do. It doesn’t matter if I have to yell “take” ten times during a climb or if I’m still climbing 5.7s (and an occasional 5.8) while everyone around me is doing 5.10s. I’ve learned that when I don’t put pressure on myself to be perfect, I can send the climb. It may not always be pretty but I can do it. And the next time it’s a little better. And the time after that, it feels pretty damn good.

Will I be perfect when I do my first book event? Probably not. I may forget a character’s name (or my own), get all flushed and stuttery when asked questions, and break into hives with strangers staring at me. But I’ll mumble “take” under my breath and reach for an imaginary chalk bag, I’ll take a deep breath and look around for the next move. And just like with climbing, the next attempt will be easier.

What scares you about writing or publishing and what techniques have you used to get past those fears?

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About Orly

Orly Konig is an escapee from the corporate world, where she spent roughly sixteen (cough) years working in the space industry. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking entirely too much coffee, and negotiating writing space around two over-fed cats. She is a co-founder and past president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, and a member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She is rep’d by Marlene Stringer, Stringer Literary Agency LLC.

Orly’s debut, The Distance Home, will be released by Forge on May 2, 2017.

You can find her on Twitter at @OrlyKonig, on Facebook at OrlyKonigAuthor, or on her website, www.orlykonig.com.

Brandi Megan Granett

Are you looking for a way to reaching your local community of readers and writers?  Do you want to find a way to make your book launch or book marketing bigger than yourself?  Consider stepping away from the internet and taking it live with a multi-author book event!

What started as just a crazy idea to promote my book launch turned into a 45 author, all ages book fair at a historic mill with a food truck serving crepes and a local vineyard doing wine tastings and bottle sales that I christened, River Reads. 

And to keep up with the theme of giving back, I wanted to share what I learned so that more events celebrating writing and reading could pop up everywhere.

Start Early

I began planning my event five months beforehand.  While I feel like this was plenty of time, I might have liked to have an additional month to really finalize the line-up of authors before some of the local print publishing deadlines.

Pick a Space First

I suppose this may not be true for everyone, but I needed to know I had a space locked in before I started to invite authors to attend.  Plus, after getting the space, I knew how many authors I could host.  Instead of asking to rent a space, the language I used was partner— as in, would your space like to partner with my community event—some spaces can host community events at different prices than they would for weddings or other celebrations.  And the space I found, Prallsville Mill in Stockton NJ, lived up to the word partner.  They promoted the event on their social media and in their email lists.  They answered all of my questions and shared their knowledge of event hosting freely.

Ask Everyone

To find authors, I started with the ones I knew asking them if they would like to participate via a Google Form that also collected all of their contact information.  Using this Google Form cut down on the emails sent to me and automatically tabulated the results into a spreadsheet.  I also emailed local bookstores to ask who they knew in the area.  To give my event a theme, I tried to recruit authors living along the Delaware River.  All genres were invited—though one thing I learned was to have people self-identify their genre.  I left that off the Google Form and mistakenly thought a book on dog training was for children.  I also posted my call to authors on a local Facebook group.  I cast my net widely and accepted everyone who reached out until the space was full.

I’d also say don’t be afraid to include a mix of authors: traditional, self-published, children’s and adult!  Families and friendship groups contain a variety of readers.  Having something for everyone could really expand your event’s reach.

Make Partners

In addition to partnering with the Prallsville Mill, I employed the partnering language with local vineyards.  One of the many I reached out to, Unionville Vineyards accepted my offer within minutes!  They offered to send someone to do wine tastings and bottle sales in exchange for being involved in our marketing and publicity efforts.   This added an extra value to the event and drew in people to stay longer. 

We also contracted with a food truck serving crepes.  This part of the festival planning proved to the most challenging.  Few small businesses are willing to take a chance on an unknown event.  In the end, I agreed to pay for any shortage in sales.  Happily, the crepe truck turned a profit—and this was a big worry off my shoulders.  I don’t recommend this path for everyone—but I thought adding the food truck both kept the author’s fed and drew in foot traffic.

We also partnered with the Friends of the Hunterdon County Library to host a “blind date with a book” sale to solicit donations for their group.  In exchange, the Friends promoted us to their membership.  Their inclusion in the event also made it possible for the event to be shared on certain community bulletin boards and spaces that only promote non-profits. 

To further this sale, Books Sparks/Spark Press donated beautifully wrapped books.  For the rest of the sale, I used all of the ARCs and review copies I received throughout the year.  I both collected money for the library and found more readers for authors in my online circles.

Another key partnership we made was with the local bookstore in Frenchtown, NJ, The Book Garden.  Caroline, one of the owners there, who does public relations work for the United Way of Hunterdon County, shared her press release skills that resulted in River Reads being featured in many local newspapers.  On the day of the event, she took credit cards for any authors unable to process them on their own.  Having people willing to share their unique skills and talents to support the event is a key takeaway!

My biggest partnership was with a local author, Marie C. Collins, who stepped out right away with an offer to help.  While I am terrible about asking for help, she used her knowledge of the local education landscape and her background in Middle Grade publishing to craft and distribute information about River Reads to local schools.  Then she rallied the Children’s, Young Adult, and Middle Grade authors into creating a scavenger hunt, prizes for giveaways from local bookstores, and a Halloween theme for their space.  Through this partnership, River Reads grew beyond my initial dream.  I am grateful for the vision and support my partners provided!  The main lesson here probably a timeless one—accept help with a glad heart and ask for it!

Go With The Flow

One of the biggest challenges to River Read was the actual reading part of the event.  Initially, we hoped to feature authors reading throughout the day.  We organized two separate reading stages for adults and children and drafted sign-ups for the authors to pick a slot that morning.  I choose to limit the readings to five minutes to keep the emphasis on the conversations in the room between readers and authors.  But as our day unfolded, the readings weren’t working.  Sometimes there weren’t enough guests circulating, sometimes people were too engrossing in conversations and selling books.  So instead of forcing it, we just went with the flow and let the reading ebb and flow.  We let authors take control rather than bending the event to our will.

More Help Available

To celebrate the launch of my novel, Triple Love Score, I knew I wanted to do something.  But the idea of that something including me and a microphone with my loved ones gathered around for a reading of the steamiest sex scene in the book seemed, well, terrifying, (notwithstanding my hopes of getting a cake with my book cover on it!)  As Ann Garvin teaches new members of our collective, The Tall Poppy Writers , a rising tide lifts all boats, so I decided the best way to celebrate Triple Love Score is give back to those around me.  If this idea sounds like a plan to you, I would love to know about it.  While these are not the only things I learned, they are key takeaways.  If you would like to know more, please email me at brandi.granett@gmail.com.  I’d be happy to help you start your own festival!

What do you think, readers? Has Brandi convinced you to try this?