Insanity...or Determination

Insanity by its own definition is utilizing the same action time and again while expecting different results.

How often have we, as authors, tried some new-fangled promotional tool and not seen the results we want, but we continue to use it in the hope it'll suddenly net us the sales. Well, if you're anything like me, or some of my author friends, probably more times than you'd like to admit. Perhaps, its the sense of entitlement we have come to believe in, or maybe its complacency, or simply a desperate hope we cling to like a shipwrecked victim clinging to the dingy. Or perhaps, its none of those things but rather a simple lack of awareness of what we're trying to do.


Are we trying to get recognized?
Looking to boost our ranking on Amazon?
Perhaps, we are trying to attract sales?
Are we trying to compete with other authors?

Whatever the answer, it drives us forward, beating our fists against a brick wall without truly understanding what the end result is meant to be.

I've talked with a lot of people, including professional coaches about using the tools at our disposal in the pursuit of success and sales. During those conversations, the very idea of having an expectation of instant return on investment was talked over.

I had one conversation where the person I was speaking to asked me at one point a question. Instantly it had me rearing back with a gasp. How dare she ask me such a question. How dare anyone assume I wasn't looking at the big picture. 

What is this question which caused such a monumental moment of shock and horror? It was a simple question, and instantly had my defences going up.

When was I going to stop blaming everyone and everything else for my lack of sales?

After sitting for a few moments doing an Emmy award worthy impression of a goldfish, I blinked, and sat back in the chair and stared at her.  Her question was a difficult one, but one I needed to answer for a couple of reasons.  One, I didn't necessarily want to accept I wasn't carrying my share of the burden of promotion. I wasn't, by the way. And two, to see the results I want to see, I needed to have the blinders taken off.

I could sit around and complain about how my sales suck, or I'm not getting anywhere, I want to make more money.

In truth, I discovered the reality of there is an endless supply of "I'm spending money on ads on social media, I hired a PA to do my scheduling for promotion etc.

Excuses are plentiful, I found, like juicy apples on a tree.

Full disclosure: I've offered my fair share of excuses, of paying the blame forward. Its not my fault the books are selling it must be someone elses. In truth, I've spoken of them numerous times, until I got the wakeup call.

Sitting at my desk, bemoaning the lack of sales, and search engine placement, I drafted an email. I could almost feel the ulcers forming as I hit send on my message and wondered if it was the right thing to do.

That email was the first smart action I took. The answer I got was a wake-up call, and one I'd tried very hard to pretend wasn't what I needed.  My correspondence was met with a hard truth, one which lifted the wool from my eyes. If I wanted to succeed I had to take a cold, hard look at what I was doing...and cut away the dead weight of repetitive action I was hampering myself with. I had to acknowledge being accountable for my own mistakes meant I needed to push aside the excuses, the laziness, the sheer lethargy I had managed to convince myself was working.

I failed to see how my actions of epeatedly, trying to gain ground by doing the same thing over and over again was in its own way insanity. Believe me, I tried the basics until it was nearly muscle memory. But, I wasn't gaining, by all accounts I was holding steady with a decline in sales as my books were superseded by new releases by other authors.

I had to do some thinking, what did I want to do? Get a head or spend my time spinning my wheels in quicksand. With every post, every missed chance, I was making the choice to walk along the path of denial.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering, what does this have to do with the title of this blog?

Well, its a prime example of my experience with the insanity of inaction. I was determined to unmine myself, to make my own projects second, while I wallowed in the woe is me of lack of sales.

Taking the advice and critism from others was hard. It was shocking and bold, and what was needed. For me to succeed - for any of us to succeed, I believe we need to take a solid look at what have and what we don't have. What we know and what we don't want to know.

If I want to be sure I'm making sales, I have to accept my part in the process and step up to the plate. I need to step off the revolving door of complacency and jump into the deep end of promoting and marketing my brand, my books, and engage with my readers.

Is this going to be easy? Probably not, but then the things we want aren't always easy to obtain. When we have to work for what we desire, we appreciate it much more than if its handed to us. So, it begs the question, my fellow authors, where do you fit in the cogs of this wonderfully crazy world of publishing?

Creating Your Perfect Writing Space Part Two

In my last post, I talked about why authors need their writing space to be productive. I touched on the where of the space as well, but today I'm going to into further detail and talk about the top five things we need to be creatively productive.

You've picked out your 'office' spot, a quiet little nook you can claim as your own. But turning it from the bare, uninspiring spot into the wonderful pool of a creative fountain is going to take some work. A little sweat equity will ensure success.

As an author, I know what I need when I'm sitting down to write. Whether its notes I jotted down while making dinner, or the research books for my next story, I want them to be at the of my arms reach. Having a few shelves to hang on the wall allows for vertical storage, and you can buy shelving for a few dollars on Amazon or even your local Walmart.

Honestly putting the shelves together may be more taxing than hanging them.

A desk or table you can put your computer on is of course vital. If you use a Desktop or a Laptop it is imperative you have a desk you can place it on. This allows for better air circulation for the laptop, as well as a healthier position for you to write in. Finding the perfect desk doesn't necessarily mean running to the store and buying one, refurbishing an old table, will work just as well. Currently, I'm using a table we had in storage as my desk.

Having a comfortable chair to sit in makes a big difference in how productive you are. If you're constantly having to readjust yourself or get up and walk around, stretch  perhaps investing in a more ergonomical chair would be a good idea. Remember to take breaks though, just because the chair is comfortable enough to sit in for hours on end, doesn't mean you shouldn't take a few microbreaks during your writing time. In the end, it will help keep you healthy both mentally and physically.

You want to have good lighting of course. Natural light is always the best, but if your writing space doesn't have a window, ensuring you have adaquate lighting is a must. Investing in a good lamp and placing it near your computer is the best way to get great results. As well, having a lamp will ensure you are able to work any time of the day or night. There are a lot of good lamps out there ranging from ones which sit on the desk with a shade to the ones which have a positioning arm. Which you use, is entirely up to you. I prefer the one with the arm, simply because you can move it around to focus the light where you want it.

So, you've got the desk, chair, shelving, and lighting figured out. Now comes the fun part of this. Picking a color for the walls of your writing space. Yes, colors do have an impact on your creativity. Depending on what mood you want to create will ultimately affect which color of paint you purchase.

The top three colors I've found for creative productivity are Blue, Red, and Yellow. There are of course benefits in other colors, but for my writing space, these I've found work the best.

Blue being an intellectual color, helps the brain function at a higher level. It's used to in areas which require focus and mental strain.

Red is a physical color. Typically a person would put this in their office if they're required to exert themselves physically.

Yellow is a wonderful color, full of sunshine, and happiness. It represents the more creative aspects of our minds and helps to stimulate creativity, happiness, and positivity.

For myself, having walls of yellow with blue and red accents is ideal. It allows me to focus on my writing as well as keeping me motivated to not only work on my writing but my health as well. Taking breaks to do some stretches, or turn away from the computer for a few minutes and do some reading ... or even grab a cup of coffee all helps.

Having a few plants in your work space is helpful, as it creates a more natural atmosphere and thus allows us to recharge those creative batteries.

I hope these suggestions have proven to be helpful as you work toward creating the perfect creative space within your home. Happy decorating and make your creative space your own!!

I'd love to hear from you on what your writing space looks like. Share in the comments below!

Creating Your Perfect Writing Space Part One

I firmly believe everyone has felt that sense of dissatisfaction of writing wherever we can, when we can. In today's hectic lifestyles, it is a reality our time is rarely free, and often distractions and outside circumstances prevent us from sitting and writing. The loved ones, music, t.v. all ofer something far more intriguing or mind numbing as the case may be. But these offer us something else, something far more dangerous to our writing careers - a chance to procrastinate.

A  simple way to deal with all of this is to have a desingated writing area. I know what you're thinking, I can't afford that, there's nowhere for me to put such a space... there are a lot of reasons why not, I've said them myself, and the reasons why are far more important.

For a lot of us, our writing career is a source of income which we use to pay the dreaded day to day bills. To be able to have the time and space to write is key to getting works out there. Without a space to create, we feel the impact on our wallet.

Having a designated writing space is a benefit often over looked. The benefits of having one, include an area where you can retreat to, where writing is the primary endevour and productivity is increased. It is also a space where your boundaries come into play. You know the ones which say

"Writing here - disturb at your own risk -

It's a space set aside strictly for your creative brain to engage, and the outside distractions fade way. Carving out the niche for your office space can be a challenge, but it is well worth it.

I read a lot of articles about creating a space for myself and while a number of them indicated the space needed to be big, I don't feel it needs to be.  Perhaps, because I've never lived in a home where there was a lot of extra space, so I've learned how to use the space available.

Keeping in mind, there has to be space for you to spread out, for your printer, research material, notes, computer, etc. Living in a confined area, you will need to think outside of the box. If you have the spare square footage to create an office, it still pays to be creative.

This leads to the big question of: How can one utilize the area they have? Cross-purposing comes in handy for those of us who live in a small home or apartment. As well, you can think vertically when it comes to some things. A wall can become the landing zone for all your notes, books, etc. Sticky Tac, or pins work well for this. A small shelf above the desk can hold things like your highlighters, pens, pencils, flashdrives, and any other tool you may need. I've heard of offices in basements, even a walk in closet where the author could close the door, and surround themselves with plants, light, and music as they wrote. This, to me would have two benefits. A: you can shut out the outside distractions and write with ease, and no worries. B: You won't be limited to time of day when you write. For some of us, writing during the day is a necessity, but if you're a night owl, or you work during the day, having a space you can retreat to when everyone else is in bed allows you to still meet the word count goals you set for yourself.

Once you have figured out the where you're going to put your writing space, then comes the how and when which I'll touch base on in the next blog post.

I know where I would find my ideal space for a home office if I could pick...how about you? Where would you find your creative space?

Redemption: Book Thirteen Coming September 23, 2019

Forged in anger, freed by faith.

Vampire warrioress, Demetria has no interest in the war going on around her. She concerns herself with the lives of the children who have been displaced or tossed aside. A woman of secrets, she relies on her own wits to provide for her charges.

Naga prince, Talas is drawn into the war of immortals by an unseen force. When he comes upon a fiery woman protecting a small group of children, he acts to protect. He finds himself facing a woman unlike any he’s ever known, one who holds the secrets to his future.

Can a vampire and a naga find peace amid the carnage and chaos of war? And will they lose their hearts to each other in the process?

Content Warning: contains graphic sex, strong language, and some violence

Genre(s): Erotic Paranormal Romance

NaNoWriMo '19

In about five or six weeks, NaNoWriMo ‘19 begins.  After having done it for thirteen or fourteen years of doing NaNoWriMo, it seems like I’m finally getting serious about the story I’m telling.  I now have two books about writing, plus several sheets on a method of novel writing that is supposedly based upon science. At least the guy who came up with it is a physicist.  

Always before, I was a pantser, writing by the seat of my pants.  It seemed to work most days, although I did face quite a few mornings with a blank screen, and a blank mind.  Or a mind thinking about everything else but my story.  I solved that problem by writing out by hand at least a page or two of the chapter I was set to write the next morning, Then, using my Dragon, I’d read aloud what I had scribbled the night before, and go on from there.  I would dictate in that vein until I reached my two thousand word word goal and finish the chapter.  

But this year, the folks who set up NaNoWriMo seem to want us writers to set a higher bar, so they’ve declared September and October “NaNo prep months.”  When I first joined NaNo, they didn’t even seem to care whether we had a plot or not. As far as they were concerned, we could just type the same word fifty thousand times.  But to me, it wasn’t a novel if it didn’t have a plot. You might be able to, in a literary novel, if you were the late great William S. Burroughs, get away with repeating the same phrase over and over, or have a chapter made up of just one or two pages.  But writing in genre fiction, as I do, I expected each and every chapter to advance the story. It looks as though my fervor has caught on with the rest of those managing the website.  

If you’ve just now joined me, I write in the genre loosely called “speculative fiction.”  This includes: Scifi, fantasy, paranormal fiction, and horror. There maybe other subgenres I’m not aware of, and since Crimson Frost Books is a romance house, it should have a romantic aspect to the story.  Well, it would because I’m somewhat of a romantic myself, although I cannot tolerate reading contemporary romances. I tried one one; it was a Harlequin title, and I got nauseous before finishing the first page.  I like my fiction to have a fantastic aspect to it. Too much like the life I’m currently living, and I get turned off. Unless it’s nonfiction, like the book I brought home from the library today, Story Genius, I read for its escapist value, its power to pull me out of the humdrum life I’m living, and plop me into another world or time.  

The instructional sheets I’m using, called  “The Snowflake Method,” start with a single sentence, of what the story is about,  and expand into a paragraph, snowballing into five or six paragraphs, then further into scenes and so forth, until the entire story is told.  The man has a book on it too, but since all the money in my account is earmarked for certain bills coming due just before payday I can’t buy it just now.It’s an exciting method, as though I’m getting a Master’s class in novel writing, but we’ll just see how it all turns out, shall we?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BKQ58Z8 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HQUR6QC

Setting unrealistic goals and the painful consequences thereof

I'd be the first to admit I've put a lot of effort into building my career under my pen name, focusing on the genres I was exploring. But, my love of historical romance has been calling to me, with increased volume in recent months. After some time off, I'm jumping back into writing. A little over a year ago I started a new Celtic romance I found myself loving...but have since benched until I can rewrite it.

Currently, I'm working on a Roman era romance which is a lot of fun to write. I had a goal for it - which I think was unobtainable. I figured, 2500-3000 words per day, I'd have it up to 75k in no time. Real life, however, slipped my mind.

How can I truly reach those word counts without sacrificing something else? What would I give up to ensure my goals were reached and I felt successful?

Should I ignore my family? My obligations such as housework, appointments? Promotion and networking with friends? Imagine my horror as I realized not only were my goals beyond my reach, but to get them I was doing the one thing I never wanted to do. So, I sat back, did some serious thinking - and it was painful.

Knowing I wouldn't make the deadlines I set for myself, the word count, was discouraging. Took the wind out of my sails so to speak. Being honest with myself, I can admit I forgot to take the right steps. To know my limits and to push the boundaries only within the realm I could accept is a fact I ignored in the hope I reach the ending I wanted and submit to the publisher I wanted to - without realizing if I rushed myself, the work would have been mediocre at best, and probably would not have been accepted.

How did I overcome this emotionally draining challenge? I took a look at what I wanted vs what I needed.

What I needed outweighed what I wanted in the long run. I need to finish my book, need to be happy with it, need to be confident in it. Wanting to get it done before September 15 and submitted to a publisher - was a great idea, if the word count hadn't been so high. If I hadn't set myself up for the painful and crushing defeat of failure...which ultimately isn't failure.

Did I complete the project and get it in by September 15? No.

Am I happy with myself for missing that deadline? No, but I am not blaming myself, or shaming myself for not being able to do it. Instead, I'm looking at it as a learning experience. I've stepped back and decided I need to focus on what's important to me.

1. Getting a new title finished and ready for publication.

2. Finding a publisher the story and I fit with.

3. Reconnecting with the love of writing and knowing goals are the stepping stones to the dreams we hold.

As an author, there will always be a measure of panic when it comes to writing. It should not be because you've set yourself up to fail. If I have taken anything from this its simple, reaching for the stars is great...but not if you're willing to burn the very earth you stand on.

The Forsaken Series - Our Journey Began with a bang

The Forsaken Series has long been a baby of mine - and of co-author Ciara Lake. In 2010, when we first started talking about this project we had a vision of what we wanted it to look like. Unfortunately, for us, we had no idea where this project would lead us.

Ciara and I sat down and began to work on developing the series in its entirety. As we talked and plotted, and planned, we worked out a rough idea of what we were going to do. In our enthusiasm and eagerness, our vision was simple: Fill the rapidly developing, and smoking hot paranormal romance genre with a series of books. Sounds easy, doesn't it?




We discovered it wasn't quite that simple...or easy.

 Boy, did we have a lot to learn.



The journey itself has been filled with pot holes, self-doubt, frustration, anxiety, joy and euphoria. It hasn't always been an easy one, there have been learning curves, differences, and self-doubts. This project proved to be a challenge unlike anything we'd ever known, or anticipated. There were layers and layers of things we needed to do, tasks we had to master, and even when we thought we knew what we were doing. We have learned how to work as a team - even though we work independently - and overcome our own negative mentalities and egos.

I think we found the stories to be easier to write than we had anticipated, especially since both of us were familiar with writing. Ciara and I had already been published, and were familiar with the process in the sense we were comfortable with the story-telling. The characters were open and willing to allow us to tell their stories, and the worlds were fairly straight forward. It was only as we got further into the actual meat of the project where we stumbled.

However, that's for another post. As we near the release of book thirteen and the release of the second volume of our Boxed Sets, we are still learning, still developing our voices with each new book, each new character and really beginning to not only appreciate the journey for the journey's sake, but understanding the road we are on, is guiding us to yet another crossroad. As we near it, and stand upon the rocky ground, we can only trust ourselves to guide us on the next part of our journey...and we hope you'll come along with us.

Obstacles Writer's Face: Rita Travalyan

What obstacles face writers? Many people have a day job, and by the time they get home from work, they are exhausted.  Others, mostly women, but some stay-at-home men too, have small children they must care for, who would distract them from their writing. My particular obstacle is a yeller. We’re both retired, so have lots of time to pursue our passions. He writes computer programs. This would be fine, except that he yells a lot, and I'm not permitted to make a sound, because he's easily distracted. When you're writing a computer program, it is much more exacting than writing a story. Every jot and tittle has to be just so. The slightest slip can result in an error, which means that the program will crash and not run. That's what he tells me, anyway. But in this yelling disturbs me and I like peace and quiet when I write. If I had my druthers, I’d play one of my Napster playlists which puts me in the Zone. Ohl, you know what the zone is. If you're a programmer, the code is falling into place. If you're an artist, the paint is going on the canvas just so. If you’re a music composer, the notes are coming as fast as you can put them on the clephs. As a writer,. I use  Dragon, which is voice recognition software, so I speak my story, dictating into my computer so that it types the words on the screen.

To avoid the stress-producing yelling, I do my writing in the early morning while my SO sleeps. Because he's sleeping in the next room I can't play my music so it’s more difficult to get into the Zone. But it's not impossible. If you have the writing compulsion like I do you find ways of coping. He tells me he can almost hear when I'm writing about. Sometimes he even has usable suggestions for a direction to go in when I get stuck. But the yelling is hard for me to cope with. I have attempted to tell him a new way to cope. "You can't control what the people do, but you can control how you react to their actions." Why does he yell? Well, you may ask. He has enemies. He left Christianity for paganism and the church he left feels the need to punish him for leaving it. He runs an operating system (Linux) they don't like because they have money invested in Microsoft. So they hack into his system and continuously interfere what he intends to do. And he reacts predictably. He yells. He loudly utters implications and curses. It's been going on for over 11 years. One would think he would have found another way to cope with the situation; different ways of putting one over on his enemies, for example, but he hasn't. He just yells.  .Being an empath as I am, I feel the psychic pain in his yelling. But I guess I am naturally more logical and analytical than he is being as I am a Virgo ascendant. I would take pride and joy in continually foiling those bastards. I would emulate Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame. What a role model he was!

Plans have changed for the re-release of Takuhi’s Dream.  We are in the process of getting the 2nd installment, Takuhi’s Nightmare, ready for publication.  But I am doing the 3rd, and probably the final installment, Takuhi’s Daydream, for November’s NaNoWriMo, and she wants to release them in succeeding months, to take advantage of the buzz created by each book.   I am presently thing phase, to the extent that I plan any book. I am an inveterate pantser.  Outlining this makes me want to go ahead and write the book. And I find that each chapter is a new adventure.

My Books:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BKQ58Z8 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HQUR6QC 

Who do you write for?

Do you know who you are writing for?

Back in the day, when an author submitted their manuscript to a publisher, there was a certain expectation, they – the author- would know who their audience was. In some fields of publication this is still a mandatory practice, but in recent years has become less common when it comes to fiction. Publishers really expected authors to know in advance because it reduced the risks and increased the potential profits.

Having the understanding of who is incredibly important to ensure success and to show the publisher you as an author is serious. The publisher’s request for this information was to show them, the author held a basic understanding of their target market. Knowledge is power, and potentially sales, and having a grasp on where a reader base could be found, and who they are is an asset beyond measure.

In my recent experience, within the last five years or so, I've seen a few publishers actively request a marketing plan it as part of the submission package. Before you panic, let me clarify what I’ve seen. In most cases, the publisher wasn’t asking for a novel length plan on how the author was going to promote their work, but rather something to indicate they had put serious thought into three of the biggest questions for an author. Who? Where? How?

 

The first question is probably the biggest, because if you don't know who you're trying to reach, everything you do will have limited success. Sort of throwing something at the wall in hopes it will stick. So, lets break things down.

"Who am I trying to reach?"

Is she one of my potential readers?

The answer to this question changes is as diverse as we are, and can be answered by how well you understand your genre and who reads it. Every genre has a different reader, yet nothing will help if you don't understand who your reader is. Figuring out your target market is in of itself a complex issue, but do not panic. I know when I first had to think of this question I was freaking out. In the simplest function possible, your target market is the people who read in the genre you write. Bear in mind, if you’re like me, your fan base probably read in more than one genre. This can be a benefit in your favor.

So, we have to ask ourselves, and be brutal in our honestly: Are you trying to reach the middle-aged male reader who lives alone, is slightly anti-social, or shy, and so tries to avoid crowds? Or perhaps you're trying to reach a twenty-something single woman who reads only when she's on public transport? Maybe, the reader you're trying to reach is the stay at home mom with three kids and only a few minutes to read in the evening? Or, are your readers a unique blend of all of the above?

Having the awareness of who your readers are will help you with any promotional and or marketing effort you undertake. Once you understand the who of the equation, you can focus on some of the other aspects of discovering who you are trying to reach. Things like, where to find these wonderful connoisseurs of fine literature. What's the best option for connecting with them?

In my opinion, this trio of questions can either be a help, or a hinderance. Discovering the answers to them is vital to reach the consumer...but making them the focus of everything you say, do, post, write can also be limiting to an author. To be successful, one needs to know who they are as they write, but just as important they need to know who they are writing for while continuing to write.

So, it begs the question – as an author, who are you trying to reach? Do you know who you are writing for?