Think about it. You get over making a plot that works, a timeline that doesn’t have major flaws, characters that aren’t flat, dialogue that feels real, and even though there are tough spots, it is invigorating. It’s fun. Those are challenges you can surmount. They are within your control.

And then you get to the hard part.

If you agree–feel free to share this badge. Please don’t alter it.

Selling your writing.

Not just the polishing which takes time, but writing a perfect query letter to snazzle-dazzle an agent, crafting a synopsis that shows off you, your writing, your characters, your plot, and your story’s amazing standout sizzle.

You build a platform which is so dependent on hitting the right note to convince others to take precious time out of their lives and follow you, like you, comment on you, share you, etc. Creating brand ambassadors is no easy, quick, overnight happenstance. It takes time, dedication, and a slow and steady consistency that could try a monk.

Meanwhile you see others hitting their mark and accelerating past you. Reveling in success. And in some ways, it is yours too. It’s wonderful to see. You were there when it happened, you helped them with critiques or simply with a little cheerleading. They show you that it is possible. That dreams do come true.

But sometimes…

Sometimes it sucks. You know it. I know it. They know it. Sometimes you have a bad week where life beats you up, kicks you around, rubs dirt in your eyes, and makes it difficult to even meet your most basic goals or emotional needs.

You want to cry. You want to feel sorry for yourself. You want to tell the world they’ve forgotten about you and that they are missing out on something big. That it’s not fair.

But you. Must. Not. I repeat: You. Must. Not.

The Internet is forever. What is posted one day and deleted the next isn’t necessarily so. Alexa has a wayback machine, Google has a searchable cache. Think screenshots. People quoting, copying, sharing. Think before you post. Now and for always. And especially if you one day dream of becoming a “public” figure in some way shape or form. This even affects people looking for jobs these days–employers Google candidates. So be careful! If you have to vent, tell someone you trust in real life, not on a public, online forum.

Also remember if you whine and moan and carry on to your following you will be branded a bitter, jaded, what-have-you and that will be it. One day of sharing your deepest, diamond-hard angst and railing against the unfairness of the universe will break that carefully built house of cards faster than aiming a fan at it.

Have faith my friends. Know that the universe knows when it is the right time for you. Be encouraged. You can do it. You are not alone. Share your encouragement here.

If you’ve ever wondered how you can create multi-layered characters that will become so real they live on in the minds of your reader, pop over to From The Write Angle where I’m sharing five surefire, easy tips on how to create strong, memorable characters.

See you over there.

No, she didn’t just stay at her computer for longer hours and beat herself into submission. She took a good long look at how she was writing. She figured out when her most productive time of the day was, figured out beforehand where she wanted the scene to go and got herself enthusiastic about what she was about to write. As she said, “If I had scenes that were boring enough that I didn’t want to write them, then there was no way in hell anyone would want to read them. This was my novel, after all. If I didn’t love it, no one would.”

Is that smart or what?

How about you? Do you know when you are most productive? What do you do to jazz yourself up about what you are about to write?

“It didn’t spill over so that he could relax, and instead he grew angry at his mother for crashing her car, at the doctors for not saving her, at his father for being his father, at himself for drinking, at Ming for being scared.” (From Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lamb. Fitzgerald is a pre-med student and Ming is his love interest. She has rejected him, and he is getting drunk.)

A bit on what is important here. The orange bit, to me, says why he wants to become a doctor. It speaks to his motivations as a character and where he is mentally and physically as well as speaks to an event that has shaped his life and continues to shape it. Lamb could have gone on for a few paragraphs about Fitzgerald’s motivations and how his mother’s death affected him and that he aspires to be that doctor who doesn’t let moms die, etc, etc. Or, he could have done like he did. Simple. To the point. And for me, so much more effective.

The second example is trickier to show. It is from Meg Cabot’s Size 14 Is Not Fat Either. It is a sequel to Size 12 is Not Fat and it covers a lot of ground in the first 2-3 pages in terms of catching new readers up on who this Heather Wells person is. Yet, it is still entertaining for those readers who are already familiar with Heather Wells and what she stands for. In the second paragraph we are already discovering that she is a musician when she is getting a coffee on the way to work. She slips it in with comments referring to the barista and back to herself like so: “I bet he plays the guitar. I bet he stays up way too late at night, strumming, the way I do.” And later in the paragraph: “No time to shower before work, because he was up so late practicing. Just like me.” So, by having the main character comparing herself to another character, we learn a lot about her. A few paragraphs later we learn that she is a former popstar, she is overweight, she has a new job, she doubts her song writing talents, and on and on. But the important thing here is that we discover this all in an entertaining way that pulls us deeper into the story, gets us feeling those same emotions as Heather and keeps tugging that story forward. We are so interested in finding out if this cute 20-something barista is going to ask her out (he did check her out after all), that we breeze right past all these backstory tidbits, right up to the burn at the end of the scene. Ouch! That rejection totally stung!

In a nutshell: brilliant.

The irony is that I HATE to shop and I am not always the most observant gal on the block. Only recently did I realize that 99.9% of the female population plucks their eyebrows. I’m serious. I didn’t even notice my front teeth are slightly at a tilt until my mother mentioned it to me–last year.

So why the heck am I mystery shopping? Well, I can’t resist a challenge. I am always looking for new adventures. Plus, I am such a reluctant shopper and get so easily turned off shopping, stores, over-eager/apathetic employees and the way they make me feel that I ROCK at getting that whole shopping experience vibe thing companies are looking for in their mystery shoppers.

But what it all really comes down to is that I am intuitive and I don’t always see those details. Yet, every time I have a mystery shopping job, I am given a little lesson in observation before I go out. I am given a list of things to look for. And so, when I am out, it is like I am flexing that muscle and collecting sensory details that I normally overlook.

And guess where I am putting all those little observed details like gum wrappers on the floor, eye rolls, and homemade retail signs? That’s right, I’m putting them in my writer’s arsenal.