Writers who don't write

Hi, my name is Jo.   And it's been three weeks, five days and nine hours since I last wrote.  I am a writer who doesn't write.

 

There.  I've admitted it.  And like an addict, I probably wasn't even telling the truth about when the last time I wrote was.  My sense is that it's been longer.  I just don't want to know.

Now that I'm older, I've built up an entire warehouse full of what-could-have-been's.  How my life would have turned out if I hadn't done this, taken that call, listened to my instincts, moved to this city…I try not to do it, not only because it's useless and painful, but also because it's unfair.  At the time I made those decisions, I made them with the best information, and as the best; albeit misguided, weak, immature person I could have been back then.

But the one thing I WILL allow is the regret of not writing more.  Because what 18, 28, 38 year old aspiring writer doesn't know that they are supposed to write everyday?  I love writing, and can easily get in the zone when I'm writing free form like this.  But working on a novel, which is more long term?  Writing without an ending by the time I get up from my computer?  I have always had a hard time with that.  Much to my regret and detriment, obviously.  If I could have been discplined enough to write everyday, to commit to writing even when I didn't want to, I KNOW that I wouldn't be struggling today.

 

Do I really think I'm that talented a writer?  No, but I do agree with books like "The Talent Code" that says you will develop mastery over anything you do in a substantive way for ten thousand hours.  Any writer---unless you're F. Scott Fitzgerald---can pick up something they wrote ten, fifteen, years ago and be struck by how much better they are today.  If I can improve when I only wrote intermittently, I'm confident that I would have improved even more if I actually took the whole damn thing seriously.

Which is the point.  I wrote as a hobby.  I wrote blogs, articles, essays---quick one hour projects, in between the big projects like scripts and novels I'd work on twice a year.  I didn't exactly stop writing, ever.  I loved writing too much to do that.  But I was a careless and indifferent lover, to be sure, and I certainly took my writing for granted, always confident it would still be there anytime I wanted to return.

I'm thinking about this now because in a way, writing is no longer a hobby.  I have finally gotten paid for my writing (although the check is still in the mail) and I need to start treating it as if it's a job.  At least, if I want to continue getting checks, let alone aiming for bigger ones.  Which means I have to work even when it isn't fun, when I'm not in the mood, and a whole host of other excuses that I let myself get away with when I don't take my writing seriously.

It's time to start working on the next book.  I'm not sure if it's going to be a sequel to "Fame, Love and other Lessons".  This makes sense, and commerically, I know this is the way to go.  But the story ended with them HEA, and I really don't want to ruin that with some kind of crisis that tears them apart.  So I have to look towards another character; probably Jamie's brother Luke.  Anyway, this is why I need to get started writing.  I've read other writers talk about putting out a sequel within months.  And really, why not?  I've pushed myself to write 1500 words a day, and it's not that hard.  Well, it's hard for me, but on the scale of eight hours doing a job you hate (which I have to remind myself is the alternative) then it's really very easy.

 

Reviews

Another author scandal, this time by a British crime author, RJ Ellory.  Ellory was caught writing glowing five star reviews about his own books, and giving his competition scathing one-star reviews.

Before I published on Amazon, I would have heard about this and given a big "so what" to the whole thing.  But now that I see how important reviews are to the sales, and therefore ranking of our books, I can certainly sympathize with the need to help the process along.

As an author, reviews matter.  Not only are they a way for us to get feedback about our work, IMO they are also the best marketing tool we have.  I can spend hours promoting on social media, and expose the book to hundreds of eyeballs.  But these are all superficial.  The person who is on my Amazon page is the equivalent of the browser in a book store who has my book in their hands---this is the critical 'buy' moment and what influences them at that moment is golden.

If the person is like me, they will read the reviews.  True story; before buying a pair of pants online that I ALREADY OWN, I read the reviews.  I have a pair of pants that I love and simply wanted to get a different color.  Yet when I found myself reading what other people had to say about the pants, I grasped how influential reviews were.   

This influence is more amplified with self-published authors.  Reviews can reassure a buyer that what they are about to spend their hard earned money on is not an unintelligible vanity project, but a story that at least meets a minimum standard for editing and craft.

In turn, the more sales a book has, the higher it places in the rankings, and the more exposure it gets.  Which leads to more sales, etc.  Really, there's nothing I can do to market my book that is more powerful than someone leaving a good review.

My book has reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, and as much as I wish they were all five stars, I'm OK with the two-star ones because they legitimize the other reviews.  Full disclosure, I also gave myself (using my own name!) a five star rating on Goodreads.  I hesitated about doing this because I've read rants about how misleading such a practice was.  But ultimately, I decided that as a reader and purchaser of the book, I was entitled to that one vote.  If politicians can vote for themselves, I reasoned, then why couldn't I?  Of course, I didn't write a review, let alone one that called my book a "masterpiece".  I also didn't attack my competitors.

Which brings us back to RJ Ellory.  I'm fascinated by what he did because he is already successful---his books have sold over a million copies total, and one of them was named Crime Novel of the Year 2010---can a person with that kind of validation still be subjected to the same insecurities about his skill as a writer, and the worth of his books as the rest of us just starting out?

The answer, apparently, is yes. 

 

So far, so good

I think the changes I've made (changing genres, putting a 'sexually explicit' warning in the description) has worked, because I've been in the Top 100 list for Kindle ebooks this week. 

Next, I have to decide whether or not I'm going to use up my last two free Kindle book days.