Writers, Don't Forget the Social Part...

Sometimes, writers get so wrapped up in their WIPs (works in progress) or their marketing that they forget the social part of social media. It takes some time and effort to grow and keep your audiences. As you plan your writing time, you need to block some time for the care and feeding of your social media sites.

1. Make sure that your photos and bios are current. Check your links and verify that your contact information is correct. You want to make sure you receive messages from others.

2. Make sure that your content is fresh. You'll lose folks if the content isn't new, or you haven't posted in a while. I try to post at least one thing a day. It's hard some days. You may want to look at scheduling posts. It does save time.

3. Share others' content. It can't be all about you and your book.

4. Comment on others'  posts. Likes are nice, but comments usually start conversations and build activity.

5. Use your social media site to build relationships. I create lists of groups that I follow, so that I can quickly access and share their content.

6. My Facebook posts are set to post automatically to Twitter. I have two different audiences on the two sites, but that ensures that I have fresh tweets throughout the day.

7. Make sure that you thank those who help you, share your material, or review your books.

8. Recognize others. It's nice to cite others' accomplishments.

9. Make sure that you're responsive to comments and conversations. It's not much of a conversation if you don't answer.

Social media platforms are powerful tools for rapidly spreading your message. You'll have much more success if you're part of the conversation and an active participant, rather than just someone who announces his/her next book or sale.

Best wishes with your posts. Let's connect on social media.

Ways to Recharge Your Creativity

Are you stuck in a writing rut? Do you need to recharge your creativity? Here are some ways to jar you out of the mundane...

1. Exercise - Take a long walk, dance, run, or stretch. It gets the blood flowing and the endorphins flying.

2. Try another creative project like cooking, baking, painting, crafting, gardening, or sewing. It causes you to think differently.

3. Find some writing prompts and write for 10-15 minutes a day. There are a lot of books and free online sites with great ideas. You may be surprised at what you discover. This will also help you with your "write every day" goal.

4. Go on a photography adventure. Take lots of pictures. Make it a day trip and share it with someone. I use a lot of these photos in my blog or on social media.

5. Read a book. Pick one in another genre and read for fun.

6. Go on a writing retreat. There are low cost ways to make it happen. Combine this with a vacation or go camping. Or plan your own writer's retreat at home. Find a new, quiet place and write. Coffee shops and libraries also work for a change of scenery.

7. Mix up your writing location for a day. Go outside or change rooms. Go somewhere different.

8. Go somewhere and people-watch. Take notes on what you observe. Write down snippets of dialogue. You never know what'll be useful in a future story.

9. Take a class. Learn something new. Many colleges, libraries, and art centers offer low-cost courses. Our local school system offers a variety of technical and fun courses. There are also many free or low-cost online courses.

10. Volunteer.  There are a lot of worthwhile groups that need assistance. You have skills and talents they can use.

The Best Advice I've Received about Writing

I am so fortunate to be a part of several writing groups, anthologies, and a critique group. The other writers are so supportive and willing to share what does and doesn't work for them. Here are the best pieces of advice that I've received over the years.

1. Keep writing. If you're marketing or querying a book, make sure that you're also working on your next book.

2. Don't give up. You're going to get a lot of feedback and negative comments. Make sure you learn what you can from the feedback. Then keep going. Don't let bad reviews paralyze you.

3. You can't expect to sell one hundred books at every signing. If you get to meet readers, booksellers, and librarians, then it was a good signing. Relationships and contacts are important too.

4. When you do appearances or signings, make sure you're well stocked with pens, bookmarks, giveaways, and candy. Always bring good candy. Chocolate is a hands-down favorite.

5. Know what your budget is for marketing your book and stick to it.

6. Use your new book to create interest in your earlier works.

7. Know what your budget is for conferences, memberships, and writing workshops. Work on your craft, but remember your primary job is to write your next book.

8. Social media and other marketing are key for authors. It's expected these days that the author has a key role in this. Just make sure that you balance this with your writing time.

9. Invest in your headshot/author photo. And make sure to update it as years pass.

10. If you're not able to create and maintain your website, invest in someone who can. You are your brand, and your graphics, website, business card, and marketing materials should look professional and branded.

How to Conquer Writer's Doubt

Self-doubt - It rears up and can take over.  It's those thoughts that creep in and make you question what you're doing. Am I wasting my time on my writing? Will I ever get published? Will my books sell? What if I get bad reviews?

It's good to review and assess what you're doing periodically. That's how you improve. But those thoughts shouldn't consume you or stop you in your tracks.

You have to be persistent. If you give up, you will never be published. If something isn't working for you, switch it up and try something else.

You need to acknowledge that writing is work. It is very rare that someone has a perfect first (or fourth) draft. Going to critique group, polishing the manuscript, revising, editing, and proofreading take time. To do it right, you have to put in the time.

As a writer, you will be required to market yourself and your book. It takes money, time, and energy. To keep fans interested in your social media sites, you need to post good content regularly and interact with people. But you need to balance this with your writing time.

You are going to get rejections and negative comments. Deal with them in your own way and then move on. Exercise is always a good way to work out the anger. Don't get obsessed about your number of followers, your sales numbers, or the reviews. Check on them occasionally, but don't let them take over.

Your job is to write your next book. Don't be paralyzed by the worries and doubts. There are always going to be challenges. If writing is worth it to you, you've got to commit to it and learn how to control that little doubting voice in your head. Work to improve your craft and write your next piece.

Fighting the Chaos - Organizational Tips for Writers

When my desk gets too cluttered, I have to stop and straighten it. For some reason, chaos creeps in when I'm writing. And I have to be able to find things. Here are some tips to help organize your writing life.

Calendars - Pick a calendar and use it regularly. I maintain the blog rotation for a couple of writing blogs. It's like herding cats sometimes when lots of folks are involved. My friend Tina Glasneck suggested Google Calendar, and it's been a lifesaver. I loaded up our blogging schedule and gave everyone access to it. It's a great way to keep us organized.

Keeping Your Plot in Order - I plot my novels chapter by chapter on paper. I use a Word table, but you can use index cards, paper/pen, Excel, or any number of mind-mapping or drawing tools. I color code the parts that have romance, comedy, clues, and action. This helps me see where they're located throughout the story and allows me to spread them out. It also is incredibly useful later when you're editing.

Keeping up with the Details - I write a short biography of each main character and important location in my novels. I use a Word table. Then I add to it as I revise the work. I use this to keep up with hair color, eye color, favorite foods, cars, pets, and any other little detail that I could forget. I have a separate column for each book in the series, and I can track which characters appear in which book. It definitely helps with the details when you're revising.

Idea File - I keep a notebook with me to jot down ideas (e.g. ideas, names, funny phrases, and interesting stories). I used to keep a manila folder with pictures and ideas. I keep these on my computer now. I also use Pinterest to save ideas, recipes, and photos of great locations.

Contacts - I put all of my contacts in Outlook. I add a note to help me remember where I met the person. Also, when people give me a business card, I write the location on the back to help me remember later.

One Location - Have one location where you keep all of one thing (e.g. keys, papers, ideas, photos, etc.). It sounds simple, but with every-day life, things get misplaced too easily. And you waste a lot of time hunting for them. 

By keeping the minutia under control, you have more time for writing. Best wishes for your writing projects!

Book Signings: The Weird, The Wacky, and The Wonderful

I love book signings and panel presentations. I enjoy meeting and talking to readers and other writers. Though my writer friends warmed me when I started that I'd be asked numerous times where the bathroom was. Their other sage advice was for me to bring candy - lots of chocolate candy. 

I am part of an anthology series, and we did over fifty-four events in a year and a half to promote Virginia is for Mysteries. I learned early in my writing career that book signings are always more fun with other authors. It's a party with the anthology authors get together. But we did have some wonderful and unusual experiences...

At my very first book signing, I pocketed my pen and phone and left my purse in my car. I signed one book, and the pen died. Thankfully, mom was there to rescue me with a spare. I now pack a bag with all kinds of supplies and giveaways.

I had the great pleasure to sign a book for Dr. Hal Poe (descendant of the Father of the Mystery) at the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA. I also had the opportunity to meet Dashiell Hammett's granddaughter at an event in Raleigh, NC. Two fan girl moments for me!

At one of our signings in North Carolina, a man asked the authors at my end of the table if the book had any stories about aliens in it. When we told him no, he proceeded to tell us about how he had been abducted from a farmhouse and the time he spent on a spaceship. He went into great detail about bright lights and probes.

We did a mystery panel in Charlottesville one year, and we were seated on a small stage in a large lecture hall. Afterwards during the signing, a woman told me that I needed more lipstick. I wasn't quite sure how to respond. I thought she was selling cosmetics or drumming up clients for a makeup business. After a long pause, she said, "Your lips disappear in the back of the room." I guess, she just wanted me to wear darker lipstick.

And on more than one occasion, people have asked me to read and critique their manuscript (which they happened to have in their car). My answer is always to talk about my critique group and my writing group. And how they are wonderful resources for constructive feedback.

We are in the process of scheduling events for our second anthology, and my debut novel, Secret Lives and Private Eyes comes out on June 20.  I look forward to all the fun and the great stories.  Do you have any wacky or wonderful signing experiences?

Yvonne Saxon and Me in Virginia Beach, VA

Meredith Cole, Me, and Jayne Ormerod at the Library of Virginia in Richmond, VA

Rosie Shomaker, Teresa Inge, Vivian Lawry, Me, Maggie King, and Yvonne Saxon at the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA

A Writer's Checklist for Editing

I completed the first round of edits for Secret Lives and Private Eyes this week. Whoo hooo! I made myself a checklist for ensuring that I verified some key areas. Sometimes, when editors or proofreaders use the track changes feature, the formatting and spacing isn't quite right after the changes are accepted.

Here are the items on my checklist...

1. Make sure that all quoted text has an opening and closing quotation mark. Sometimes with editing, the end quotation mark disappears.

2. Check to see that there is one space after all marks of punctuation. I also check to make sure that all sentences have the correct end punctuation.

3. Run the spellchecker to make sure words weren't run together by accident.

4. Make sure all paragraphs are in the correct place and are indented. Sometimes, during editing they merge or lose their indent.

5. Check to make sure that all usages of a word or phrase are consistent (e.g. T-shirt or t-shirt; a.m. or AM). I make a style sheet while I am self-editing to keep me on track.

6. For mysteries and plot twists, make sure that if key clues or plot points are removed that all other references to them are also removed.

7. If dialog or chapters are removed, make sure that clues and foreshadowing are still correct.

8. Check all of your em dashes (to ensure that they are not two hyphens). Also, check your ellipses to make sure that the spacing is correct between the periods.

9. Check all of your chapter numbers to make sure that they are still in the correct order.

Writing, editing, revising, and proofreading are hard work. I probably spend more time revising than I do writing.  Best wishes with your writing project!

Plotter or Pantser?

How do I write? Writers usually fall into one of two camps, plotters (those who plan, plot, and outline before writing), and pantsers (those who write by the seat of their pants). Plotters know the path and the plan to get to the end. Pantsers go where the characters and story take them.

I am probably a hybrid of the two, though I lean heavily on the plotter side. I plot everywhere. I jot ideas on sticky notes and on scraps of paper. I carry a notebook in my purse for plotting emergencies.  I have outlines, character biographies, and color-coded storylines.  I keep a chart of all the places and characters. I describe them to the nth degree. This is also helpful if you decide to write a series. That way, my character's eye color or the color of her kitchen doesn't change in a later work. I also use this to take care of my urge to write backstory. I put all the details in this document. Some of the information will never see the light of day, but it keeps me from overloading the story with too much history. Backstory or historical details are better sprinkled in throughout the work.

After my major plotting which usually takes about a month, I'm ready to start writing. And that's when the pantser raises its head. I always decide I like a minor character better than another, and sometimes the story takes a tangent. In my first novel, Secret Lives and Private Eyes (May 2016), I planned to keep one character around for the series to create some tension. But as it turned out, I liked another character much better, and his role took on a life of its own. So, without spoiling the surprise, character two is around for book two.

After the plotting and the first draft, which my friend Mary Burton calls the "sloppy copy," I am ready to revise. This phase takes me the longest. I can write pretty quickly, but it takes me forever to reorder and change. My critique group is very helpful during this phase. They help with storylines that don't make sense. They also point out where things are missing or weird. I had my character eat lunch twice in the same chapter once. Whoops!

After more revisions, then it's ready for professional copy editing and hopefully, publication.

Decide which process works for you or combine them for your style. Best wishes with your writing. It's not an easy process.