I'm telling ya, this month has been hard.
Initially, I thought this month was going to be cake. I'd write every day and I'd totally cream that 50,000 word goal of Camp Nano and I'd have a blast with my friends at a wedding earlier this month and I'd enjoy work and I'd do a million other things and still have time to do what I wanted.
That was wrong.
Not only am I way behind on my Arthurian lore piece (which has been a blast), but I've thrown another major weight onto my shoulders. In less than a month (WHAT?!), I am embarking on self-promoting my book hard core. I'll be attending an art show that my town does every fall and broadcasting my book as much as possible. That means coming up with marketing and advertising and figuring out if I can afford to buy everything that people need when they start a business and...and...I don't even know what else.
Do I buy T-shirts? What about a banner? And how about business cards? Who should I get to endorse my book? Will anyone endorse my book? What will grab someone's attention? Will what grabs my attention grab someone else's?
And all the while, I'm scraping by to meet a goal that should have only taken me a couple of days to complete. My brain feels like mush half the time and the other half I'm running rampant with ideas and thoughts and wishes and oh gosh I really should work out and I should rework my cover art and maybe I should...
This is what I've signed up for.
This is it kids. No one said it would be easy. The bills will come. The money will be tight. The nights will be long and the hours will be strenuous. You will feel stretched as you write in the odd hours. You'll feel exhausted after coming home from 9 hours of physical labor. But it's the greatest of writers, I think, that persevere through this difficulty and become something more.
Don't shy away from the challenge. Believe in yourself, even if you can't find the faith to. Somehow I do. And I think that's simply because I get by with a little help from my friends.
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Editing: Genesis
Currently Listening to: "Promise" by Steven Bergesen
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
Unsuspecting Answers
Next month, my hometown is throwing what they call the "Gallery of the Arts". It's basically this huge gathering of artists to showcase what they do and sell some of what they make. It mostly attracts painters and photographers, but crafters show up too and you get a pretty wide array of talent. I participated years ago as a Junior artist and actually won an award (shocking!).
All of this to say: they've never had a writer. So my parents and I were talking about it a few nights ago and decided to look into it. Upon asking the director of the program about it, they gladly welcomed the written word into the fold, so long as I put down on the application a craft or artistic genre to technically fall into. But they'll let me sell my book there.
The gathering tends to attract a good deal of foot traffic. It's a little crazy, but I'm going to give it a shot. This naturally will require work though.
I need an editor. As I've said before, I've been looking for over a year now and applying since two summers ago to agents. For some reason, I always thought I had to go through this long, arduous process to get there. Silly me, I have friends.
One of my very good friends is incredibly good at editing. While she didn't major in writing, her mother ingrained in her brain how to properly construct, well, everything. She would be ideal to ask to edit. She thinks the story is strong and will be able to (hopefully), fly through the material and get an edited copy off to me in a few weeks, leaving me time to edit and upload a proper copy before I buy a bunch for the gallery.
So this is my advice: don't shy away from the seemingly easy answers. Even if this adventure proves fruitless, I'll have a far better polished manuscript at hand to give someone. It always helps to have a second set of eyes look over your book critically and analyze where it's strengths and weaknesses are.
Because as the writer, you can read and reread your story a million times over and you might still miss the same typo or the same grammatical error. It's why in all of my writing classes we always read each other's pieces. It gave outside advice and opinions. It also helped to catch problems that the writer might have missed.
Search for your editor. Whether it's a professional or a friend, it'll help your manuscript in the end.
Happy writing!
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Listening to: "Sticks and Stones" by Sigur Ros
All of this to say: they've never had a writer. So my parents and I were talking about it a few nights ago and decided to look into it. Upon asking the director of the program about it, they gladly welcomed the written word into the fold, so long as I put down on the application a craft or artistic genre to technically fall into. But they'll let me sell my book there.
The gathering tends to attract a good deal of foot traffic. It's a little crazy, but I'm going to give it a shot. This naturally will require work though.
I need an editor. As I've said before, I've been looking for over a year now and applying since two summers ago to agents. For some reason, I always thought I had to go through this long, arduous process to get there. Silly me, I have friends.
One of my very good friends is incredibly good at editing. While she didn't major in writing, her mother ingrained in her brain how to properly construct, well, everything. She would be ideal to ask to edit. She thinks the story is strong and will be able to (hopefully), fly through the material and get an edited copy off to me in a few weeks, leaving me time to edit and upload a proper copy before I buy a bunch for the gallery.
So this is my advice: don't shy away from the seemingly easy answers. Even if this adventure proves fruitless, I'll have a far better polished manuscript at hand to give someone. It always helps to have a second set of eyes look over your book critically and analyze where it's strengths and weaknesses are.
Because as the writer, you can read and reread your story a million times over and you might still miss the same typo or the same grammatical error. It's why in all of my writing classes we always read each other's pieces. It gave outside advice and opinions. It also helped to catch problems that the writer might have missed.
Search for your editor. Whether it's a professional or a friend, it'll help your manuscript in the end.
Happy writing!
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Listening to: "Sticks and Stones" by Sigur Ros
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Things I Learn
"Maybe you don't need the whole world to love you. Maybe all you need is...is one person." - Kermit the Frog.
Not even kidding. Ever since I first saw the newest Muppets movie, that quote has been among one of my favorites. It's such an honest thought. But it's one I think we forget.
Today at work, one of my coworkers decided to (once again), tell me how he thought every woman that was coming in the door was hot, "And not jailbait" he added. I hate hearing guys talk like that. Basically constantly scoping every woman out to see if she looks good enough in their eyes. It bothers me because it immediately makes me wonder what others think of me: my biggest downfall.
Then later in the evening, when it was quiet and I had nothing to do but think as I cleaned up and closed the Copy Center for the night, the thought popped into my head. It doesn't matter if every guy thinks I'm beautiful. I don't need to be beautiful to the whole world. I just need to be beautiful to one person.
Naturally that led to the Muppets quote mentioned above sounding in my head in Kermit's ever so noticeable voice.
Anyway, all of this to say: everyone out there who struggles with how others view them. Don't. I know, it's a hard bill to meet. It's like saying don't be afraid of spiders to someone who's terrified of them. But seriously, there's someone out there who thinks you're the most beautiful thing on the planet. You just might not have met them yet.
Sometimes customers ask me if I'm married. I tell them this: "I'm married to whomever my future husband is." And I'm waiting for the day I meet him and he tells me I'm beautiful. Because I'll know that that's what I've been waiting to hear for years from him and him alone.
This random tidbit from the life of Susan Markloff is brought to you by "Peanuts" by Charles Schultz. 'Cause it was the first thing in my room that my eyes set on.
Have a happy day in whatever you do.
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Listening to: The Japanese Digimon intro. Not even kidding. It's hard core stuck in my head.
PS - I once got an A on a racquetball paper because I referenced Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Waterson.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Accuracy
I've never written a story that has historical fact to it.
Okay, so Arthurian lore isn't historical fact. But, there is a universally known bit about Arthur. He was king of England at some point. He may or may not have worked with Robin Hood (who is also a fictional/possibly real character from history), and his tutor/educator was a wizard named Merlin. He had a half brother named Kay and a step-father/uncle named Sir Ector. He pulled the sword from the stone and was crowned king of England at a young age. In some levels of the myth, he's a bastard child of Uther Pendragon. He has a sword called Excalibur and spoke with a lady in a lake. He married Guinevere. She may (or may not), have had an affair with Lancelot, depending on which time frame you're talking about for the lore.
It's a lot that people tend to know or have some basic carnal knowledge of. While yes, I've written of real places before, this is different. There was a lot of research involved. It's kind of how it was when I wrote my novella. I sat down and read a lot before I actually started writing. I had cheat sheets to help guide me in the story and the characters.
This is a bit harder though. At least for me. Trudging through the sludge of may haves and may-not haves is difficult. Granted, it leaves a lot of room for play. I can mess with things because, technically, there's no real hard core proof that Arthur ever existed. He had a magician call snow out in the middle of summer for crying out loud. Probably a work of fiction that acted as a good story for kids back in the day.
So I keep reminding myself to have fun with it. Take what I know (and what the world knows), and make it your own. After all, we're messing with the way the world views things already in the current world-stream from the series.
Oh yeah, this story deals with the same world as my 5 book series. At this rate, I'm never going to be done with this world. Is it alright if I say that makes me smile? I'm having some fun though. Because I'm learning more about my characters along the way. There's a flip to that and that's simply this: plot holes! There's the potential for many of them to pop on up. I'm trying to squash them though and fill the cracks before they become craters.
That may prove difficult.
Happy writing everyone!
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Listening to: "What Makes you Beautiful" cover by The Piano Guys
PS - The Hobbit movie is going to be a 3 parter. I don't think I like that one bit.
Okay, so Arthurian lore isn't historical fact. But, there is a universally known bit about Arthur. He was king of England at some point. He may or may not have worked with Robin Hood (who is also a fictional/possibly real character from history), and his tutor/educator was a wizard named Merlin. He had a half brother named Kay and a step-father/uncle named Sir Ector. He pulled the sword from the stone and was crowned king of England at a young age. In some levels of the myth, he's a bastard child of Uther Pendragon. He has a sword called Excalibur and spoke with a lady in a lake. He married Guinevere. She may (or may not), have had an affair with Lancelot, depending on which time frame you're talking about for the lore.
It's a lot that people tend to know or have some basic carnal knowledge of. While yes, I've written of real places before, this is different. There was a lot of research involved. It's kind of how it was when I wrote my novella. I sat down and read a lot before I actually started writing. I had cheat sheets to help guide me in the story and the characters.
This is a bit harder though. At least for me. Trudging through the sludge of may haves and may-not haves is difficult. Granted, it leaves a lot of room for play. I can mess with things because, technically, there's no real hard core proof that Arthur ever existed. He had a magician call snow out in the middle of summer for crying out loud. Probably a work of fiction that acted as a good story for kids back in the day.
So I keep reminding myself to have fun with it. Take what I know (and what the world knows), and make it your own. After all, we're messing with the way the world views things already in the current world-stream from the series.
Oh yeah, this story deals with the same world as my 5 book series. At this rate, I'm never going to be done with this world. Is it alright if I say that makes me smile? I'm having some fun though. Because I'm learning more about my characters along the way. There's a flip to that and that's simply this: plot holes! There's the potential for many of them to pop on up. I'm trying to squash them though and fill the cracks before they become craters.
That may prove difficult.
Happy writing everyone!
Currently Writing: Arthur
Currently Reading: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Currently Listening to: "What Makes you Beautiful" cover by The Piano Guys
PS - The Hobbit movie is going to be a 3 parter. I don't think I like that one bit.
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