Just Do It vs. Know Your Limits

Wow! An actual post about writing! You might start to think that this blog is about writing or something.

I always hear people warn that you have to know your limits or else you’ll end up stressed and overworked. Always try to push further, but beware of straining yourself, physically or mentally because then you won’t get anything done at all. Then on the other side I hear people bitching at you to get over yourself and just do it.

It’s hard to know what to follow.

One of the most interesting things about writing is that the process is so different for every person. For some people “Just do it” will push them to do what they’ve been putting off. For others, me included, it will paralyze their ability to write because all they (and by they I mean I) can think about is how they have to do it. Others hear “Know your limits” and can get in the habit of calling it a day because that one paragraph was super tough to write.

The point I’m trying to make? Neither one is right. Or maybe both are, but only as much as you can make them work. You have to figure out what’s right for you and don’t stress yourself when you can’t just do it, or you have no idea of your limits.

But that’s my opinion. Feel free to ignore it.

Top Ten Reasons You Shouldn’t Be Writing a Book

Yes. Another list. Hey, they say to write what you know, and I know how to write lists.

10. I want to teach a lesson.

            While morals, lessons and what have you are often part of books, that’s not all they’re about. Books written for the express purpose of teaching lessons aren’t stories. They’re episodes of Sesame Street.

9. My friend’s cousin’s neighbor’s brother works for a major publisher. All I have to do is give him an idea and let them do the rest.

            Even if this guy was willing to listen to the idea, he’s not going to care unless it’s marketable and you’re willing to put in the work on it. Or you have incriminating evidence against the company.

8. My story will be an inspiration to men/women/children/troglodytes everywhere.

            Maybe. But more likely not. Unless your story is compelling because of its characters, voice, etc. no one will care.

7. No one’s ever had an idea like this before!

            Yes. They have. Google it.

6. I want to be famous!

            So do all the college athletes desperate for a pro scout to notice them. But for every Shaq, there’s a thousand unknowns. I’d name one, but then they wouldn’t be unknown, would they?

5. Im a gr8 ritr!

            Get out.

4. I want to quit my day job.

            Yeah, Stephen King. Go right ahead and do that. Writing isn’t a replacement job. It’s a part time job you work at when you’re not doing your regular job. Except you might not get paid.

3. I’m famous already and want more money.

            I hate you.

2. I already have a publishing deal set up. All I have to do is pay and I’ll be famous.

            Er…you might want to make sure this company is actually a company and not some guy with a cell phone who also wants to sell you cloud insurance.

1. It’s putting words on a page. It couldn’t be any easier.

            Just…just no.

And as a bonus, the reason you should be writing: because you have to. Or the stories will make your skull burst.

It's Campaign Time

Yay! Once again, Rach Harrie is hosting a Writer's Platform Building Campaign.

I'm so excited. I've met so many great people there since I signed up last year. Rules are simple: go over there and leave a comment, follow, tweet about it, etc. It's a bit shorter this time around, and only two challenges, but it still looks to be great. The sign up form is here. Hope to see you there!

Dystopianites, Unite!...s.

It bothers me that Dystopian isn’t considered its own genre in most places. If you go on AgentQuery, a favorite of mine, you see they have genres of Horror, Adventure, Thrillers/Suspense and Science Fiction…but no Dystopian or post-Apocalyptic. Military/Espionage warrants its own listing, but not Dystopian. It’s the same on QueryTracker. They don’t even have a listing for Speculative Fiction!

I feel a bit neglected. Dystopian works are pretty serious contenders these days. Yet almost anywhere you go, it doesn’t merit its own genre listing.

I know, all of these books, as well as the ones I write, can also be considered YA. But to me, YA has always been more of a secondary genre, an audience I’m trying to connect with. I write Dystopian. It just seems to come out YA. Not that there aren’t important adult Dystopians out there. But these days, YA is where most of the fire is coming from.

Fellow YA Dystopian writers, what do you think? What would you want to come first, the YA or the Dystopian (or both equally?)? And what genre do you write?

It’s Saturday!

What website am I profiling today? Twitter. Yes, really.

It’s a great resource for writers. Of course, most of you already know that since you link to your accounts on your blog or I’ve found your blogs via your accounts. But there are some still unaware of the boon that is Twitter. I know. I can't believe it either.

First of all, it allows you to connect with other writers. In a way, it’s like an extension of your blog, which is usually a one-to-seven times a week thing. Your Twitter is short bursts of conversation where it’s easier to go back and forth. On your blog, that is usually restricted to comments or maybe email if you’ve linked those up. That type of exchange is great for some tasks—exchanging books, discussing an issue—but it’s not designed for instant communication. One could call a blog a speech with questions at the end; Twitter is more of a party where everyone gathers in groups to talk. And people there are friendly! If you need advice on a subject, you’re bound to find someone who knows about it.

Next is Tweetchat. On Twitter, one can use a hashtag (#) to signify a specific subject. For example, one popular one is #amwriting. Hashtags are also used as parts of chats (#YALitChat, #WriteChat, etc.), which are gatherings at specific times, usually monitored by a special host and with a specific subject (genres, publishing, marketing). This is my favorite part of Twitter, I admit. To see what chats there are, I suggest looking at Content Maven Meryl’s list, which is absolutely excellent (just note that the times listed are Central Standard Time; remember to adjust). When the chat you want to visit rolls around, visit Tweetchat.com and type in the hashtag. It will connect to your account and act as a kind of chat room that automatically adds the hashtag to your tweets, keeping you right in the middle of the conversation.  

Finally, there’s following. Many literary agents, agencies and publishers are also part of Twitter. You can follow them for inside information. I wouldn’t tweet book ideas at them—that will only serve to get you blocked—but paying attention to what they say can give you an edge. Maybe an agent will tweet they’re open to submissions on their website, even though it says they aren’t. Maybe a publisher will tell you what’s hot in the industry right now. The point is, it’s another learning tool, and a powerful one at that. Just be sure to block anyone who tweets at you to “Get paid to Write! Visit this Link!” They are dirty liars.

It’s Saturday!

You know what that means. If you can manage to tear yourself away from the games I told you about yesterday, then you can learn of another website to help you stay away from the evil people out there trying to exploit your hard work and possible naivety in regards to the world of publishing.

Thinking back to my first attempt at being (dun dun dunnnn) published, I realize just how little I knew about that oft murky world. To say I didn’t know what to expect is an understatement. Perhaps it’s better to say I didn’t know what not to expect, namely what was appropriate and what was a big red flag that should send me running screaming into the night.

One of the best sources for what to watch out for is WRITER BEWARE, staffed by A.C. Crispin, Victoria Strauss and Richard C. White (sorry, I couldn’t get his website to come up). For any writer looking to be published, I recommend checking out the site. Because no matter how appealing, how perfect an offer seems, it might not be in your best interest. 

Yes, this was a short one. Sorry. Busy day today.

Writers Resources

The title really says it all. Yesterday, I joined in on the YA Lit Chat on Twitter, which was about resources (of any kind) for writers. I thought it was a good idea, so I went through the transcript (which there was quite a lot of) and my own brain to bring you the most comprehensive list of writing resources you’ve ever seen on this blog.

Websites

Yahoo Groups is a place to create a place to network with like-minded individuals.

@robin_talley of Twitter suggested teenlitauthors, which is for writers, published and unpublished alike, to trade news, ideas and suggestions. Joining is easy, but you do need a Yahoo ID. Once you have that, you send them a message with your name and where you heard about them, and you’re in!

@sarahockler of Twitter suggested Author Cynthia Leitich Smith’s wonderful website, whether you want book suggestions or help with writing for children.

QueryTracker helps you find agents and publishers, keep track of what queries you’ve sent to whom, and chat with other writers : ). Yes, that’s as good as it sounds. Oh, and did I mention it’s free?

Publishers Marketplace has information on sales, which shows you what an agent is interested in and what the market is interested in. Otherwise, you have to wait for it to be published to find out what is selling two years ago. The only downfall (which people say is totally worth it while querying) is it costs $20 dollars a month.

AgentQuery is one of my favorite websites. You can search for agents by genre, their name or their agency’s name. It gives you fairly up to date information on what they represent, their recent sales, their websites, and what they want to see in a query.

Preditors&Editors is another favorite of mine. The agents hear are listed alphabetically by their first names (a bit annoying) and some of the information is out of date, but it tells you who has made sales, is a member of the AAR, and who has been convicted of fraud. Yes, really.

bksp.org has a phenomenal writers’ forum, with Ask an Agent, Editing and Publishing, Marketing and Promotion and tons more. The only downfall (and it’s a pretty minor thing) is that it costs $40 a year. Not bad considering what you get for it. 

Absolute Write all about writing and the business of writing. A welcome source for any writer.

Janet Reid, agent and shark extraordinaire has her own blog and another one where she rips queries to shreds at Query Shark. You can follow both her (@Janet_Reid) for tips and the Shark (@QueryShark) for posts on what not to do with a query.

Though no longer agenting, the archives at misssnark.com are considered one of the best sources for any writer.

Kristen Nelson is another agent who has tons of query tips on both her blog and her agency website. No, she’s not on Twitter, but her fellow agent Sara Megibow is (@SaraMegibow)!

Rachelle Gardner (also on Twitter at @RachelleGardner) has an amazing website where she coaches you on writing query letters, what to do when an agent calls (ah, the dream!) and so much more.

Autocrit has an editing wizard. If you sign up, you get a lot more but even the free version has a good word analyzer that finds those repeated words, sentences beginning with conjunctions, and inactive writing words. Too bad you are limited to 800 words at a time.

Dropbox is an online storage site. You get 1 gigabyte of storage space for free and can access your documents from anywhere.

Scrivener is basically an online version of the blackboard writers used to paste their notes all over. I don’t use it (it just doesn’t fit with my writing style) but I’ve heard wonderful things. Warning: it’s for Macs and $45, although there is a free trial and the beta for PCs is out. Buy it at http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php. 

Twitter

@Georgia_McBride is amazing. She tweets so much, I think she may have cloned herself. But really, she tweets a lot of useful information, has a helpful blog, and hosts #yalitchat on Wednesdays from 9-10.

Jennifer Laughran better known to tweeters as @literaticat, is a wonderful source of information. Check out her blog for even more.

@ElanaRoth is another tweeter of good info. She’s sharp and straight to the point, the kind of agent we all really need.

Though no longer an agent (alas) @ColleenLindsay has a wealth of information and sometimes still hosts a #askagent chat session. She’s also as funny as hell, so you can’t go wrong with following her.

Another sadly no longer an agent, @nathanbransford still tweets a lot of information. For more, visit his website which has info on writing queries, synopses, proposals, and more great websites for writers.

Agent Jennifer DeChiara who tweets at @4writers. She often invites questions about the publishing industry and promises to answer.

Michelle Wolfson, who tweets at @WolfsonLiterary, always has tips and advice. Follow her so you don’t miss anything!

Twitter Hastags

#askagent and #askyaed are random chats hosted by agents or editors. Your best bet for coming across one is to follow the agents and editors I’ve listed above : ).

#kidlitart(@kidlitart): for children’s book illustrators/authors/professionals. Hosted by @BonnieAdamson and @lyonmartin on Thursdays at 9 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time). Visit site: http://kidlitart.blogspot.com.

#kidlitchat: for readers and anyone involved in the children’s book industry. Hosted by @BonnieAdamson and @gregpincus on Tuesdays at 9~10 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time).

#litchat (@litchat): for readers, writers, and book industry professionals. From 4-5 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Visit site: http://litchat.net/

#poetparty: Hashtag for poems or talking with poets/editors. No particular time, but hosted by @32poems.

#poetry: For readers, writers and anyone else. Hosted by @gregpincus on Thursdays at 9-10 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time).

#romancechat: Romance in writing. Hosted by @theworldamongus @ObsidianMiss on Saturdays at 4-5 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time).

#scifichat: Sci-fi in writing. Hosted by @DavidRozansky on Fridays at 2-4 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time).

#scribechat: Here to focus on the changes in the publishing industry. Hosted by @LiaKeyes on Thursdays at 9-10 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time). Site at http://scribechat.com.

#writechat: General writing talk. Hosted by @WritingSpirit on Sundays from 1-4 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time).

#yalitchat: Discussion of YA literature for readers and writers. Hosted by @Georgia_McBride and @LiaKeyes on Wednesdays at 9-10 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time). Site: yalitchat.org

Books

On Writing by Stephen King is supposed to be a wonderful book on the craft, whether you like his books or not.

Several people on Twitter (I don’t know who was first) suggested Anne Lamott’s BIRD BY BIRD

@sarahockler of Twitter also suggested: GIVE ‘EM WHAT THEY WANT: THE RIGHT WAY TO PITCH YOUR NOVEL TO EDITORS AND AGENTS by Blythe Camenson and Marshall J. Cook; and THE SELL YOUR NOVEL TOOL KIT by Elizabeth Lyon

WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL by Donald Maass is supposed to be another great source.

Suggested by @StirlingEditor: Elizabeth Lyon’s MANUSCRIPT MAKEOVER 

There are tons more than this, but this took a long time to compile. For more information, I suggest you visit the sites I've listed. If you need it, I'm sure they have it.

One Hundred And One

A few days ago, there was a list going around about one hundred classic books. It asked you to copy and paste the list into your own blog and then bold the ones you’ve read and italicize the ones you read part of but, for whatever reason did not finish. The list was pretty good, but there were a few doubles, i.e. Hamlet and the Complete Works of Shakespeare (which there are a lot of; I don’t know how anyone could read all of them), and some works I thought were slighted since they are, if this makes sense, recent classics. 

In any case, I’ve decided to post my own list, this one of 101 writers you should read before you die. If anyone has any writers or works by them to add, leave it in the comments, because I know I missed some great ones.

1.      Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five, Harrison Bergeron 

2.      Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak 

3.      Toni Morrison: The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, Beloved 

4.      Zora Neale Hurston: Their Eyes Were Watching God 

5.      William Shakespeare, whose written a number of sonnets as well as plays like Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Othello, and a Midsummer Night’s Dream 

6.      Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games (series) 

7.      J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter (series) 

8.      C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia (series) 

9.      Richard Adams: Watership Down 

10.  Mark Z. Danielewski: House of Leaves 

11.  Stephen King: It, Misery, The Stand, Christine and many, many more 

12.  Ira Levin: Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives, A Kiss Before Dying, Sliver 

13.  H.P. Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulhu, At the Mountains of Madness, The Whisperer in Darkness 

14.  Thomas Harris: The Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon   

15.  Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma 

16.  Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities 

17.  Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre 

18.  Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights 

19.  Emily Dickinson, author of 1775 poems 

20.  William Golding: Lord of the Flies 

21.  George Orwell: 1984, Animal Farm 

22.  JRR Tolkien: Lord of the Rings (series), The Hobbit 

23.  John Irving: A Prayer for Owen Meany 

24.  Daphne Du Maurier: Rebecca, The Birds 

25.  Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveler’s Wife 

26.  F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 

27.  Langston Hughes: The Negro Speaks of Rivers, My People, Not Without Laughter 

28.  Fyodor Dostoyevski: Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov 

29.  John Steinbeck: East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men 

30.  Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass 

31.  L. Frank Baum: The Wizard of Oz (and its sequels) 

32.  Khaled Hosseini: The Kite Runner 

33.  Arthur Golden: Memoirs of a Geisha 

34.  Gabriel Garcia Marquez: One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings 

35.  Rudyard Kipling: The Jungle Book, The Man Who Would Be King 

36.  Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Big Woods, Little Town on the Prairie 

37.  Margaret Atwood: The Handmaiden’s Tail 

38.  Frank Herbert: Dune 

39.  Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace, Anna Karenina 

40.  Henrik Ibsen: A Doll’s House 

41.  Kenneth Grahame: The Wind in the Willows 

42.  J.D. Salinger: Catcher in the Rye 

43.  Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita 

44.  Alice Sebold: The Lovely Bones, Lucky 

45.  Alexandre Dumas: The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers 

46.  Louis L’Amour: Silver Canyon, The Quick and the Dead, How the West was Won 

47.  Jean Shepherd: In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash 

48.  Cormac McCarthy: The Road 

49.  A.A. Milne: Winnie the Pooh 

50.  Louise Fitzhugh: Harriet the Spy 

51.  John Le Carre: The Constant Gardener 

52.  Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 

53.  Herman Melville: Moby Dick 

54.  Bram Stroker: Dracula 

55.  Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses, Midnight’s Children 

56.  James Joyce: Ulysses, Finnegans Wake, Dubliners 

57.  Alan Sillitoe: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner 

58.  William Peter Blatty: The Exorcist 

59.  Truman Capote: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, In Cold Blood 

60.  Harper Lee: To Kill A Mockingbird 

61.  William Blake: Songs of Innocence, The Tiger, To Spring, A Poison Tree 

62.  Alice Walker: The Color Purple 

63.  Aldous Huxley: Brave New World 

64.  E.B. White: Charlotte’s Web 

65.  Franz Kafka: Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, A Hunger Artist, A Country Doctor 

66.  Gustave Flaubert: Madam Bovary 

67.  Hermann Hesse: Siddartha 

68.  Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest 

69.  Roald Dahl: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Witches, Matilda 

70.  Victor Hugo: Les Miserables, The Hunchback of Notre Dame 

71.  Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness 

72.  Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (series) 

73.  Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling 

74.  Robert McCloskey: Make Way for Ducklings 

75.  Mitch Albom: Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven 

76.  Joseph Heller: Catch 22 

77.  William Gibson: The Miracle Worker 

78.  Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales 

79.  Henry James: The Turn of the Screw 

80.  Evelyn Waugh: Brideshead Revisited 

81.  Graham Green: The Third Man, The Fallen Idol 

82.  Silvia Plath: The Colossus and Other Poems, Ariel 

83.  Colleen McCullough: The Thorn Birds 

84.  Ian Flemming: James Bond (series) 

85.  Arthur C. Clark: 2001: A Space Odyssey 

86.  Ernest Hemmingway: The Pearl, The Old Man and the Sea, The Killers, A Clean, Well Lit Place 

87.  William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury, Absalom, Absalom!, A Rose for Emily, 

88.  Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire 

89.  Fannie Flag: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café, Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man 

90.  John Cheever: The Falconer, The Swimmer 

91.  Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter, Young Goodman Brown, Feathertop, 

92.  Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 

93.  James Dickey: Deliverance 

94.  Mary Shelley: Frankenstein 

95.  Percy Shelley: Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To A Skylark 

96.  Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle 

97.  Shirley Jackson: The Lottery, The Haunting of Hill House 

98.  Isaac Asimov: The Bicentennial Man, The End of Eternity 

99.  Edgar Allen Poe: The Raven, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Cask of Amontillado 

100. Jack London: To Build A Fire, Call of the Wild

101. Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde