It’s a Job

The other day I was thinking about how it is no secret that successful authors such as Michael Ondaatje, Stephen King, and Nora Roberts treat writing as a job. None of this pattering about or dabbling business. These guys are serious about their careers which has something to do with why they have published so many successful books. They “go to work” every day and write. For them, it is a nine to five type situation. And it works. (And I do believe they began treating it as a job before they reached their famed levels of success where they had to treat it as a job in order to survive and sustain their level of achievement and success.)

Yesterday*, I was listening to Charlaine Harris on CBC radio, and again, up came the idea that writing is a job. (Job being “a paid position of regular employment” according to dictionary.com.)

So, until you start treating it as a job–even if it is a second job, part-time job, unpaid job, etc.,–how is it ever going to become anything else? How will it leave the status of hobby if you don’t commit to it in the way you would a ‘real’ job?

Just a little food for thought on a hot, hot day.

*I wrote this in July while on the road, but ran into posting issues. And so this post sat in my drafts folder until, well, now.

Writers Pimping for Commercial Success

Lately, I have been coming across the topic of writers pimping their work. Not pimping it in terms of dressing it up, but rather, selling out or compromising their work in order to increase its commercial appeal.

It’s an interesting quandary. Do you languish in some niche you love, or do you change your work, possibly even changing those bits you cherish and take pride in, those bits that make the piece truly yours, in an effort to achieve success? You could then ask yourself, what is success? Is it making money, or is it being proud and fulfilled by your creation? Is there a middle ground?

While reading Foreign Policy magazine (November/December 2009) the other day, I came across an interesting article by Chandrahas Choudhury called ‘English Spoken Here: How Globalization is Changing the Indian Novel’ which discusses the issue of Indian writers pimping their novels to the global market of English readers. Choudhury says “the Indian novel in English…often seems to sacrifice the particularities of Indian experience for a watered-down idiom that can speak to readers across the globe (page 96).” By translating from an Indian language (there are several) to English, the author loses “the specificity and charge of Indian life” and it creates an English novel that is “paler, weaker and more simplistic” which ends up being off-putting for Indian readers.

Therein lies the rub. Do you go for mass sales at the risk of alienating your local audience, the very people you are writing about? And if so, then is your writing still true? Because if it isn’t still true, your reader is going to know you’ve been pimping and quite possibly shun you. As Jessica Page Morrell says in Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us “Pimping also means you’re telegraphing to readers that your character’s lives and hearts don’t have value (page 94).” So, your efforts to reach that market could totally backfire on you, leaving you with nothing. Or to put it more bluntly: “Diluting your product to make it more “commercial” will just make people like it less (Hugh MacLeod, Ignore Everybody: And 39 Other Keys to Creativity, page 90).”

So where is the line? That thin line between being true to yourself, your characters, and your audience, and commercialism/success/making a living. MacLeod says “The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do from what you are not. Art suffers the moment other people start paying for it. The more you need the money, the more people will tell you what to do. The less control you will have. The more bullshit you will have to swallow. The less joy it will bring (page 64).” Ouch.

Where is you thin red line? Are you chasing a genre you aren’t passionate about in hopes of breaking into publishing and any market will do? Are you frolicking in novel-length poems that are likely to never see the publishing light of day? Where are you and why are you there? What is your intent?

But most importantly, are you happy? Do you enjoy what you are doing? If not, why are you doing it? Life’s short. Grab it by the horns and go for a joyride.

Want to read what I am reading? Here’s where you can pick up some of these books:

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Plants Eating the Water in my Career Corner

Uh, oh. Have I ever been bad. No wonder I don’t have an agent. I have rocks in my career corner. And plants. Lots of plants. This is not good. Not good at all.

In case you fear that I have fallen off my rocker, I have been checking out a book on feng shui. As it turns out, my career corner happens to be located in my kitchen. (North) And a career area, if I have it right, is a water area in one’s life. Rocks and plants eat water. That’s where the ‘uh, oh’ comes in. After reading that I sprang up and put my rock collection which was on the northern most windowsill in a bowl and shoved it in my I-haven’t-read-that-far-in-the-book corner. Next up, plants. Problem is, I like having plants in the kitchen. I like the green, leafy, chi-making plants on top of my cupboards. I have removed two plants, but haven’t quite figured out a loophole to keep the other four.

My husband, who heard me muttering about chi, career corners and water eating rocks, warned me, “Be careful! Last time you messed with feng shui we ended up in this house. Are you ready for a major change in your life?”

While my memory is fuzzy, I’m pretty sure I pumped a fist in the air and bellowed, “Yes! I want an agent!”

I headed out of the kitchen with my water eating rocks. The phone rang.

“See, that’s my agent right now,” I replied.

It wasn’t. Maybe I do have to remove those plants. Or at least finish reading the chapter on career corners.

I’ve Come a Long Way, Baby

I’m pasting old blog posts from 2 years ago into WordPress and all I gotta say is, I’ve come a long way. I read over some of those posts and I want to edit them! I want to clean up the writing, add hyphens, rearrange sentences and a lot more. I’m not though. They need to remain as a reminder of where I’ve come from. I sure have gotten a lot more serious and ‘about the business’ in my posts though–holy smokes!

One of my first posts surprised me. I forgot what a noob (newbie) I was when it came to the humongous world of writing. I had not a clue. I owe a huge thank you to all those literary agents blogging their little hearts out as well as the community over at AgentQuery. Those two things have been huge in helping me get to where I am today–a better writer who has her head in the game (and knows which room the game happens to located as well).

Charity Auction and Improving Your Writing

Brenda Novak, author and mother of a young son with diabetes, is now holding her 5th annual charity auction.

Last year, I participated in the auction, winning a critique. While some items can get fairly expensive due to popularity, if you’ve got a few coins to spare, it is worth checking out the opportunities available for writers seeking feedback on their work. There are lots of critiques available as well as signed books, gift items and so much more.

It doesn’t cost to look, does it?

Enjoy!

Legit Literary Agents and Scammers: Tools to Separate the Two

Seeing as I use the searchable Agent Query database whenever I decide to query a project, I spend little time worrying about ‘fake’ agents or scammers. However, scammers hooking unsuspecting writers happens everyday and it is worth gaining some tools on how to identify the ‘bad guys’.

Over on Pub Rants, blog by agent Kristen Nelson, she discusses scammers and the handy websites Writer Beware and Preditors and Editors. She made a call to those of us with blogs to mention that scammers are indeed out there in case we have newbies checking out our sites. (It’s nice to know someone is looking out for us, isn’t it?)

Basically, an agent should never ask for money. (Check out the excellent article by Victoria Strauss for more tips on how to spot a scammer.) Agents get paid when you get paid. That means, you pay them NOTHING until they have made a book deal with a legitimate publisher. Now, some agencies do ask for a small fee to cover office expenses. However those fees should not be asked for upfront. Generally, they are taken off your cut of the book deal and should be mentioned in the contract you sign when you land your agent. And yes, it is common for agents to ask for 15% of what you make on book deals as their cut and 20% from foreign deals. It may seem like a lot at first glance, but agents work very hard for that money and in fact, often you wouldn’t even earn that 15% if you were dealing without an agent. Fact: agents almost always get a better deal for writers than writers do for themselves. Look at that, your agent just paid for him or herself AND you have more time to write and less worries. Awesome!

(If you are new to the game and aren’t sure what sort of things to expect from an agent, check out agent Rachelle Gardner’s list of things to expect of an agent and a couple things not to expect. They are worth checking out. As well, agent Ethan Ellenberg has an excellent article on how to pick a good agent.)

Back to scammers. If you are looking for an agent, you can also check to see if they are a member of AAR (Association of Authors’ Representatives) as those agents HAVE to act within the association’s code of conduct. That is NOT to say that if an agent is not a member that they are going to scam you. No, AAR is just another way to help you sort through your pile of potential agents. As well, check out Agent Query for a good agent. Check writer boards like Absolute Write Water Cooler and of course, the already mentioned Preditors and Editors and Writer Beware. You can also check out books on literary agents at your local bookstore like this one or this one.

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Twitter: Another Way to Break Your Characters Out of the Book

Twitter, it’s free.

Twitter, make it work for you, honey!

Twitter, if you know what you’re doing, it can be a BLAST.

Seriously though, the other day I had a brainwave. I’d put Allie on Twitter. Who is Allie? What is Twitter?

Let’s start with Twitter. Here’s a brief rundown on Twitter. Twitter is a social network site. That means you make a free account and begin tweeting. That means, you post a short (140 characters) sentence or two updating your status. That’s all. No wall. No pesky invites. All you do is convey information. You can also use it to start an informative, interesting trend like some agents did with a ‘query fail’ game. Basically, post something interesting.

Who is Allie? Allie is the main character of my chick lit/romantic comedy story (The 15 Date Rule) that is currently seeking representation. Allie’s a 32-year-old astrophysicist who has a slight issue with putting her foot in her mouth and is a general, all-round dating disaster. (We’re talking boyfriends hire other guys to break up with her. Ouch.)

Why put Allie on Twitter? Many reasons. One: it’s fun. Two: it’s a great way for a writer to get to know a character better.  Three: it could possibly build an audience for your character which could help with marketing down the line. Four: it’s fun. Five: it is covering the backstory for the novel in an interesting way. Six: it’s a great writing exercise. Seven: it’s free. And Eight: did I mention it’s a blast?

Anyway, check out Allie. You can ‘follow’ her on Twitter, which means her schenanigan updates will show up on your Twitter page so you don’t have to search for her each time. Or you can rss feed her. Or you can also check her out in the handy gadget I made for my website’s mainpage.

Either way, enjoy!

The Problem of Working From Home: Issue 2

Accounting.

So other than the issue of not being paid (yet) for the work I do at home, there is the accounting issue. I have decided that 2008 is the year my writing career becomes a ‘business’. That means I need to do taxes for my business. That means I have to figure out all those receipts I kept and what sort of expenses they were. The income part of the equation is really easy. Zero. (That’s also why I am not hiring an accountant.) 

I don’t mind plugging away at numbers or tinkering with tax software. It should be an interesting experience and I will diligently ignore that fear that I will somehow mess up and end up owing the federal government more money than I have.

Good times. Anybody have any tips or software advice?