FIRST GUEST BLOGGER OF THE YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR! CHECK IT OUT, BOOBEARS. And thank Megan for being awesome.
I’ve written a similar piece a year or so ago about my first experiences with an editor too, if you want to check it out! Mine was… a little more of a shit-show.
Continue reading “Guest Post: My First Red Pen by Megan Manzano”
Hi beautiful people. It’s happening. This shitfest of a year is finally coming to an end. As always, the prospect of the new year brings out a giddy excitement in all of us. Time for changes. Time to try something new. Time to schedule blog posts for the next year (unless you’re me, then it’ll be for the next week). It’s an exciting time, and many of my fellow writers will probably be making writing resolutions for the new year.
And by all means, write your resolutions. I think it’s fabulous to create goals for yourself and do what you can to remain accountable to those goals. After all, that’s how you survive in this industry. You have to push yourself. In an ocean of other writers, no one is going to penalize you for not working on your manuscript… Mostly because we’re all procrastinate-y shits who find ways not to work until a deadline kicks our behinds into gear.
My one piece of advice, above all else, is to set reasonable goals for yourself. I know today and tomorrow are full of promise and opportunity. The whole year is ahead of you and it seems like such a long time. But don’t set yourself up for failure. Don’t create an obscene amount of crazy deadlines to reach because you feel competitive with other writers. Don’t forget that reality can easily get in the way of writing deadlines. Don’t forget to give yourself time to breathe, to recover, to do something outside of writing.
Work at a speed that suits your lifestyle. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to push yourself, but don’t go buckwild. 2017 is just another year. Don’t create an opportunity for you to not meet unrealistic goals.
Not to be a Debbie Downer or anything. I think it’s great to set goals and resolutions.
Just be realistic. Because I love you. And I don’t want your little writerly heart to break if real life gets in the way and you struggle to do all you set out to. Because I’ve been there, and it sucks.
Anyway. This post got a bit too real for me. Have a fabulous New Year’s Eve, everyone! I believe in your dreams! Make your resolutions (smartly)! And I’ll see you in the new year.
Guyssssssssssssss. Occasionally I can get my shit together long enough to bang out a guest post for other writerly lovelies. Today I’m on C.L. McCollum’s blog chatting about the pros and cons of self-publishing.
Read and digest all the things (ALL THE ARTICLES) before you decide to take the plunge.
In high school, I had a math teacher who was totally batshit insane. He taught Math Studies to us IB kids, and for anyone who knows the IB program, basically Math Studies was for the math illiterate folks out there—aka me. Anyway, the guy was crazy in a lot of ways, but he was also immensely helpful when you met with him one-on-one. A lot of the rambling, sweaty antics of class would disappear, and you’d realize you knew more than you thought you did with his careful prodding.
He also insisted I should be a lawyer because I liked to argue with every little thing he said—but that probably says more about me than it does about him.
One day, he gave us back our math booklets that he’d photocopy and give out for us to work on rather than just using our textbooks, and it was probably the first day we all collectively lost our cool. Because the bulk of our papers were marked with: Satisfactory.
We went ballistic. I attended a school where excelling in academics was big and it wasn’t unheard of for many to rock a 4.0 GPA term after term. And satisfactory was not in our vocabulary.
“What are you all upset about?” he demanded when we confronted him. “You did a good job. Satisfactory means you did what you were supposed to do.”
But satisfactory didn’t mean that to us. Satisfactory meant average, mediocre—we all wanted to be outstanding.
Fast forward seven years and I’m entering the publishing world, navigating the choppy waters of self-pub life one little doggypaddle at a time. People are rating my books, leaving reviews. Other authors talk about reviews, and time and time again, I see people lament a 3-star review like it’s the biggest travesty they’ve ever been dealt.
And hey, I can’t really say anything to it. I’ve absolutely felt the sting of getting a 3-star rating when I was hoping for a 5—I think we all have. But it certainly got me thinking: what’s so wrong with a 3-star review?
It’s higher than the mid-point of a 5-star rating system, right? Many rating systems define a 3 stars as “I like it”, right?
When I see authors feeling blue about 3 stars, I think back to that batshit insane math teacher.
“Satisfactory is not a bad thing! You did the work. It was good. A few errors, but otherwise fine. Now, stop bugging me about it.”
And I wonder if his thoughts on Satisfactory should factor in to how we view a review of our work the next time someone marks it a 3-star piece. Do we get upset because we don’t want to be average? Do we anticipate everyone will adore our book babyand crumble when they don’t love it as much as we do? What is it about 3 stars that tells us we aren’t good enough?
Thoughts? Opinions? What do 3-star reviews mean to you—either when you give them or when you receive them.
IT CONTINUES. Slowly but surely, I’m getting through the questionnaire Holly Evans tagged me in ages ago. This one is about my favourite writing advice. You can find the original questionnaire here!
Continue reading “The Authors’ Oracle Questionnaire: The Hierophant”
WELP. IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING. LOVERS AND LIARS LIIIIIIIVES.
Continue reading “Lovers and Liars: Cover Reveal, Release Date, and ARC Sign-Up!”
Liz Meldon - Romance Author 