BigAl's Books and Pals: In The Sunshine / PJ Lincoln

BigAl's Books and Pals: In The Sunshine / PJ Lincoln

Dealing with Rejection

Trying to make a living as a writer is a tough gig. It always has been. Sure, there are plenty of exceptions, John Grisham, Dan Brown, Sandra Brown, and JK Rowling. Even among "indie" authors, there are stars such as Hugh Howey, Joe Konrath, Bella Andre and HM Ward.

Before I tried my hand at fiction writing, I worked as a newspaper reporter. I was in the field for about a dozen years and never made more than $40,000 in a year. For the vast majority of my career, in fact, I made $20,000 - $25,000. I looked upward to journalists at the highest levels of the "game" at newspapers like the Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune and Washington Post. They made double or triple what I did.

After striving to reach their level for years, it became demoralizing and seemingly unattainable. So, I moved on. Now, I haven't exactly set the world on fire in terms of salary since then, but I am making more. Better yet, I don't have to live with the feeling that I'm somehow lacking, or that I'm not good enough to make it to the Big Leagues (to use a bad sports analogy).

The reason I say all of this is that I am fighting many of those same feelings of rejection and failure as a fiction writer.

To date, I've only published a short story and a pair of novellas. So, if you said I shouldn't even be thinking in terms of success and failure right now, you'd have a point. After all, there are very few one-hit wonders in indie publishing - Darcie Chan's Mill River Recluse comes to mind.

Okay, I know, I get it. I'd have a lot more to whine about if I had published a dozen novels and still only saw trickling sales. Still, at the moment, I feel a lot like I did years ago. Truthfully, I'm having a really hard time finding the motivation to write. 

It takes a big investment of time and energy to put a story together. I can deal with that, and I still enjoy the process of writing. It's the investment in hope that, perhaps, this will be the one that sets me on my way, I'm lamenting over.

Because I know, going in, the odds are steep. I know, despite my best efforts, my next "little darling" will likely languish somewhere around a million in Amazon's Kindle store after a few months of being on its virtual shelves.

There's a line from my favorite movie, The Shawshank Redemption, which seems apt here:

Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Anyway, I would really love to hear how you, my writing colleagues, deal with this issue from day to day. How do you push past it and keep churning the words out?

The Wrong Way, the Right Way and a Pledge

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right....

Honestly, in publishing In the Sunshine, I didn't follow that old, but true adage. You see, I was all charged up with a story idea after the family and I returned home from a vacation in May. I wanted to write it and publish - to score a "quick win."

At least that was my mindset going in. I hadn't self-published in more than a year, and really hadn't written much accept for some freelance articles. So, I intended to write a short story, spiff it up with a paid editor and toss it out into the world.

Goal accomplished, I guess.

I did indeed publish on September 1. The real question is, should I have? In a word, HELL NO (okay, that's two words).

There in lies both the beauty and the trap of self-publishing: asking readers to buy a story before it's really, really ready. In The Sunshine was not ready.

I wasn't honest with myself in that respect. Sure, I had poured over it several times. Wrote and re-wrote. My editor did a good job of catching typos and other grammar issues, even had a few suggestions for me to improve the story - some of which I followed, some I didn't.

The truth is, the process wasn't enough to turn out a story worthy of someone's time and hard-earned money. I should have found some beta readers. I should have looked at my editor's remarks as a starting point instead of a finishing point. You know, it's not uncommon for a manuscript to be completely re-written or at least have several major surgeries before it hits the shelves.

Unless your name is Stephen King or J.K. Rowling, skipping the above process probably isn't a good idea. I think part of my rush to publish was a left over from my days a newspaper reporter. Because of daily or twice weekly deadlines, the stories I wrote generally went into the paper with very few structural changes. As long as there were not glaring errors, misspelled words or other grammatical defects, articles got a headline slapped on them, and BAM they were published.

Fiction doesn't work that way, at least not well-written fiction.

I should have known better.

That's why I'm pledging right here, right now, not to do it again. Ever.

Also, I'm going to pull In the Sunshine from Amazon. I'm going to work on it, I'm going to revise it and then I'm going to find a few kind souls to read the story and give feedback. When that's done, I'm going to seriously consider the feedback, rewrite again, if necessary, and then get it re-edited.

This story is going to get the TLC it should have received right from the start. However long that takes, is how long it takes. If at the end, after I've hit the publish button, and a few people actually buy and read it? Great.

If not, that's fine, too. Because I am a writer above all else, and that's enough for me.

$10.27

In the grand scheme of things, $10.27 isn't a lot of money. It's enough to buy a decent lunch in most places or grab an expensive cup of coffee at Starbucks.

For me, though, $10.27 is a really big deal. It's the amount of my first royalty payment from Amazon.

It has been more than two years since I hit the publish button on first story. Since then, I've published two more and had one made into audiobook (which is where most of the "revenue" care from). I've learned a lot more about writing fiction and a bit about marketing said fiction.

While I may never reach the epic heights of some self-publishers - Hugh Howey and his excellent Wool series - I am having fun and that's what counts, right? Along the way, I've made a few new friends and supporters, like J.B. Chicoine. Writing fiction has opened a new world for me, and I don't plan on giving up on it anytime soon.

The check from Amazon isn't first time I've been paid as a writer. I worked as a news reporter for a little more than a decade and made my living (if you can call it that. My first check as a reporter was $185 for about 50 hours worth of work). Somehow, it feels more satisfying.

As a reporter, I was always writing other people's stories. I was covering governmental meetings or sports games and the material to write about was right there in front of me. It's a luxury fiction writers don't have. There's nothing but you and a blank screen, which can be pretty damn intimidating at times.

If you're a writer and reading this, first off, thank you. I'm wondering if you have some of the same feelings I have about earning money from your efforts? It's not why I write, and probably not the reason you write either, but I'm still interested to hear your thoughts.

'In The Sunshine" a Labor of Love

After a power weekend of writing and rewriting, In The Sunshine is live on Amazon!

My goal was to have it published and FOR SALE by Labor Day and I just barely made it. The story wound up a shade over 14,000 words and I'm generally happy with it. Technically, it falls in the novelette range, but I think most readers will view it as a short story. Anything less than 100 printed pages tends to get viewed that way.

Sunshine has two protagonists - Regan Morel, a recent college grad trying to make her way in the world and Matthew Fischer, who is a little world-weary and coming off of a divorce. The central question of the story is, can chemistry overcome difficult circumstances and a nasty ex-boyfriend. Pick up a copy and find out (hint, hint).

While my two previous published stories, Born Again and Eden Effect, had elements of romance about them, Sunshine is my first for-real romance. I don't think it will be the last one I'll write, either. I can't see myself ever writing Harlequin or Debbie Macomber style romances. I could envision something more along the lines of Nicholas Sparks or Richard Paul Evans.

Anyway, I want to thank my editor, Mr. Bryon Quertermous. He's a real pro, can spot a typo or plot hole from a mile away and his prices are very reasonable. Hire him.  Most of all, I want to thank my wife, Cora, and my kids for giving me the time I needed to write the story.

Author Tracy Brogan: Magic of a story happens during revision

If you haven't read Tracy Brogan's, Crazy Little Thing, you should. Not only because it is a great book - funny as heck - but because the author is about as classy as they come.

Since picking up Crazy, I've been fortunate enough to trade a few emails with Tracy about the craft of writing. The fact that she would take the time out of her hectic day to talk about her writing process with a nobody like me, well, I think it speaks volumes about her character.

But I'll let you be the judge.

Below is one of the emails Ms. Brogan and I traded. I wanted to share, because I think there's a lot of good, practical advice:

Scott: As far as specifics, I guess what I'm most interested in is an overview of your writing process. There's a lot of "how to" and other books that address other elements of fiction writing. But picking the brain of a traditionally published, successful author, those types of works are hard to find.

Tracy: Talking to other writers is a great resource, as is reading their blogs. I definitely encourage you to connect with a writer’s group. It’s invaluable.

S: Once you have an idea for your story, kind of a basic plot and the main characters roughly in mind, do you write out a detailed outline or are you more of a "pantser?"

T: What you’ll find is that we all have our own process. I’m a meticulous plotter and have lots of notes on characters and scenes before I begin writing. I also use a white board and colored post it notes to help with plotting, a trick I learned from Cherry Adair. She writes romantic suspense and while I haven’t read many of her books, her plotting workshops are fabulous.

You might try reading “BOOK IN A MONTH.” I found it somewhat helpful, but essentially you want to come up with each characters goal/motivation and conflict. What do they want, why do they want it, and what’s stopping them. Having the two main characters goals conflicting with each other always adds another nice layer. Then at some point they join forces and start working together. After defining their GMC, come up with about 10 key scenes and figure out which order those should go it. Then I do an outline of each chapter and come up with a 1-2 sentence description of what will happen in that chapter and why. And keep in mind an overall THEME for the story and remember that as you go through the chapters. What’s the thread running through everything the main character does?

S: One of my favorite authors is Harlan Coben, who writes suspense/thrillers. His plots are so intricate and there are so many twists and turns, I don't see how he could write them without doing a ton of plotting and outlining up front. Sometimes, I wonder if he almost writes the story backwards, meaning from the end to the front.

T: I like to know the end before I begin so that each scene moves me toward that, but suspense and thrillers take a lot of layering. I’d have to imagine that, like many of us, he writes his first draft and then goes back and adds a layer, weaving in details to twist and tighten the plot. And then he probably does it again. The magic of a good story happens in the RE-visioning of the story. If you hope to write a beautiful first draft, you’ll get very frustrated but it takes a lot of practice to not microedit as you draft. At least it’s a struggle for me.

S: I've recently started using Scrivener and I've found it, thus far, to be a really good tool in outlining. At this point, I tend to loosely outline and add more detail as I get closer to that particular chapter. There are certain markers I want to hit, but I leave it to the characters and the story to get me there, if that makes sense.

T: It does make sense and it sounds as if you are on the right track!

S: Do you follow a similar routine or do you have the plot worked out in greater detail before you start to write? How long does it take you to write an 80-100K manuscript? How many drafts do you typically go through before you've reached the final polished version?

T: I’m just about to revise my 4th book so I’m honestly still developing a system that works best for me. But I try to write 1000-2000 words per day when drafting and I aim to have a manuscript be about 90K, so, about 3-4 months for a tight draft, which means it’s usually my 2nd pass. I tend to edit the first half before finishing the whole thing but I think I lose some time doing it that way so I’m determined to NOT edit this next book until the end is drafted. Once I’ve gotten it back from my editor, revisions usually take 2-4 weeks, depending on what else I’m working on at the time. If I’m focused, I can do it in 7-10 days. But those are awful days!!!! 

S: I've really picked up the pace in terms of my fiction reading.

T: Reading is essential if you want to improve your writing. 

S: I've actually done some beta reading for other "indies." The biggest difference I notice, even among successful indies and professionals like yourself, is the refinement of the manuscript: word choices, grammar, structure, over-written passages, pace, etc. "Crazy Little Thing" really cooks as far as pace - there's not a bunch of extra words or phrasing that doesn't move the story along. It's tight.

T: Thank you! That’s a wonderful compliment. The irony is, I wrote that before I’d taken any craft classes and so I made lots of rookie mistakes. But that is part of the freshness and charm of the story, I guess! As for keeping things tight, and word choice, et cetera, I strongly encourage you to look up Margie Lawson. You can take an online lecture from her, or just buy the course packet and read it. She’s fabulous at showing us weak spots in our writing.

Get a FREE audiobook copy of Eden Effect

I will give a free audio book of my novella, The Eden Effect, to the first five people who sign up for my New Book Release email list (the big button at the top right!)

The audio book is via ACX, which is Amazon's audio equivalent to the Kindle book store. Here's a description of the story:

Eve Adams is envious.

She has raised her family and watched her children become successful. She has also been a great wife to George. But, in her heart of hearts, Eve always wanted something more than the life of a homemaker.

She watched as other women found freedom and fought their way from the secretary pool to the board room and knew she had what it took to do the same. So many regrets, at least about that portion of her life.

In The Eden Effect, Eve gets a second chance. 

Long ago, George Adams inscribed their names on an apple tree in the middle of an orchard where they met and worked. Now he wants to find out if its still there. After a typical evening out, the couple stops by the long-since abandoned Culver’s Apple Orchard and find the tree.

To their surprise, it is still standing. While all of the other trees in the orchard are barren, George and Eve's tree has a single apple growing from it. Eve can't resist plucking it from the branch. Despite George's warnings, she bites into the apple. It's perfect in form and taste. Eve convinces George to eat.

And that’s all it takes to turn their world upside down. 

Set it suburbia, The Eden Effect answers some of the questions we all ponder about the choices we’ve made in life. The grass is always greener, right? Eve Adams is about to find out...