Shannon Muir's Blog: Shannon Muir - Writer

I have got a three day weekend and have not managed to get much writing done. The weeks I work all week I have said I have too much work, but here with three days off I still say I do not have time. How can this be? Do I suffer from poor time management?

i can time manage quite well when I want. The key is “when I want”. I am waanting to take the long weekends to do things I might not have time to do otherwise, like finally see THE AVENGERS yesterday (which I liked). These extra activities reduce my precious writing time down furrther.

So perhaps in general the key lies not in wishing for more time but maximizing the time we have.

Over the course of the week I launched yet another website related to my book titles called SPONTANEOUS CHOICES. I know I still need an improved logo for it; I didn’t realize the template I bought and otherwise liked required something or the template brand came in as placeholder.

The story behind this new site is that I have a new single book on tap and was thinking about how to give it more of a destination feel than just pushing it on this blog (similar to what I have for WILLOWBROOK SAGA and TRUTH REVEALED and was trying to decide what URL to purchase. Then it hit me that I didn’t really have any real place for THE PHOENIX RISES or THE HEART’S DUTY either (my other book, TOUCH THE STARS, though not officially not part of the Willowbrook Saga is deeply connected so gets pushed on that page). I wondered if there might be a way to brand selling them all on the same site. I realized what all the leads had in common is they make choices while taking risks without thinking much of the consequences, then get stuck having to face the music in some fashion. From there, the new website was born.

Today writing is more about just putting words to paper and then making them publicly available, and hoping people will come. There’s a lot of effort – and a degree of expense – in enabling people to discover what you have to offer. The trick is to figure out how to do this in both an economical and effective way. We’ll see how this “combined destination” experiment works since the books aren’t technically branded this way at the moment.

 

After a lot of hard thought, I decided yesterday to move the release of DOWN TO THE ROOTS,  the next book of The Willowbrook Saga, to July 2012. Many interviews I did said that the second book would be out this month and the third one in July (the release date for Book 3 is now to be determined, as I also want to release Book 2 of the TRUTH REVEALED series this summer if possible).

It was a tough decision, but in the end I didn’t want to compromise the quality of the book. When I designed my original production calendar for all my works – not only my series such as THE WILLOWBROOK SAGA and TRUTH REVEALED, but standalones like THE PHOENIX RISES which I released in February – I’d been without full time work for a while and so my structure was built upon that. I didn’t have a good gauge to sense how to balance full time work with book releases. Fortunately, in the last month or so, I’ve been able to work again but it did make an impact on my writing time. I’ve decided I’d rather move a date target and give a good quality product than rush to meet a previously promised date and not  do my best. My readers deserve more.

I’ve also decided not to release DOWN TO THE ROOTS through Amazon’s KDP Select program the way EVERYTHING CHANGES was. I think KDP Select can be effective, just like any tool, when used the right way. I definitely think it got more eyeballs to see the first book than it otherwise would have. However, I also think it unfair that readers who get to know me on other platforms now that EVERYTHING CHANGES released through Smashwords earlier this month have to wait three months more just because I delay a release date. The readers are first to me, always.

I definitely keep writing, but at a slower pace, yet I promise to finish the race.

 

A writer friend of mine recently took a look at EVERYTHING CHANGES, Book 1 of THE WILLOWBROOK SAGA – I’m hoping to release Book 2, DOWN TO THE ROOTS, at the end of the month still but my schedule has had a lot of unexpected twists so follow The Willowbrook Novels site for updates – and this writer friend basically described the book as “creepy” but guessed that was the intent.

My response?

I said that was good and that meant that the book worked.

While EVERYTHING CHANGES has elements of coming of age and romance, it also is a very unsettling and at times uncomfortable examination of dysfunctional families amidst these elements. That is why I have always been most comfortable with the “family saga” label as that is what it is first and foremost. As I myself admit in the EVERYTHING CHANGES introduction, parts of this have been – and will be – very uncomfortable to write. They are not things I endorse in my real, personal life. The other challenge I’ve had is writing so to examine the issues and not to judge; I want to just paint the picture and leave it up to the reader to analyze. For me in order for writing to be effective and carry meaning, both writer and reader must participate equally (this doesn’t apply to escapist fiction, where the reader surrenders to going on the writer’s ride, and that has its place too but it isn’t what I write).

It takes a lot of bravery to let the characters “do the driving,” to quote my friend. For me though, that is part of the thrill of it, even if the ride is bumpy.

Storytelling truly is two-way communication. Even if we as authors write down words and put them out there to share, they make no impact until someone – whether it be a single someone or army of someones – pick them up. Stories may or may not be interesting depending on the receiver’s frame of mind, and therefore vary in their levels of success. Yet what defines success? If an author truly told the story he or she wanted to tell but receivers don’t largely respond to it, yet the author’s goal isn’t quantity but quality, then that seems it should be a success. If an author seeks to have many respond to his or her work and people do, that seems it should be a success – even if many respond negatively, this could be considered a success depending both on the author and the type of responses. If the negative responses are for sloppy storytelling, then perhaps this is not a measure of success; but if the less-than-positive responses are because the author evokes emotions and feelings about the subject matter – even if not in the author’s favor – then perhaps this could be considered successful due to the ability to make an impact.

It’s all situational.

Recently I had the opportunity to review the cookbook Weeknights with Giada over at AmoXcalli, a blog where I’m currently doing a wide range of reviews as my time permits. I felt in order to fairly look at the book, I actually needed to attempt some recipes out of it. However, actually talking about working on the recipes in detail felt out of scope for am AmoXcalli review. So in talking with the person I work with on AmoXcalli, she also runs a cooking blog called Dona Lupe’s Kitchen. It seemed right to guest post there and talk more in detail about making the recipes.

It also occurs to me how effective this strategy is as an author. You can talk about your book from an angle you prefer and that no one else likely will cover on your own blog. Then, find other blogs where you can be featured and see if you can guest blog on the book’s topic, theme, characters, whatever, from a completely different angle. Combined they would provide a wealth of insight into the material, and bring fresh reason for people to visit all the other blog destinations instead of the same old tired interview twenty or more places.

It’s something I hope to be able to try with one of my own books in the near future.

This is probably the quickest blog post I’ve written in a long time. I’ve mentioned being busy with a day job and this time it took both days in my weekend, plus I expect to be busy all this week. That doesn’t mean I don’t think about writing, though my actual minutes to write are few. Despite the fact I should have been sleeping early last night, something for a treatment for one project – neither of my two novels in process – finally came together last night and I completed that first draft. It was a very literal burst of creativity.

Sometimes inspiration can strike out of necessity of a very small window of time to write. It definitely isn’t an approach a recommend often – just in general that kind of stress isn’t a good way to live. Writers, however, need to be able to make adjustments quickly by a deadline (whether imposed by someone else, or self-imposed by expectations built with an audience). Even doing quick, short exercises of seeing what you can come up with in say maybe ten or twenty minutes – regardless of how useful it is – can be good to have in your regular writing regimen. You might be able to use some  of these kernels later for full-fledged stories and novels.

This week I “committed Pottermore,” and signed up for the website featuring not only the exclusive place to buy ebook copies of the HARRY POTTER series, but an interactive environment that elaborates and builds on the world of the books. I’ve just scratched the surface of Pottemore so not going to give it much of a review yet, but it has made me think of where we as authors can have the power to go with our intellectual properties. Granted, J.K. Rowling is a big name author with a huge amount of profits and a publishing house behind her. Just like DVDs for bonus content not that long ago coming with books (though that was usually nonfiction), it has me wondering if “bonus content” will become an expectation for readers for any book series – whether it’s a signup required portion of a website or something as elaborate as Pottermore. As a writer currently doing several series, THE WILLOWBROOK SAGA and TRUTH REVEALED, this is a question I find most fascinating and will need to continue to think about.

Always stay aware of the things that can bring inspiration for a story. I once pitched an episode for an animated series – though it ultimately wasn't considered a fit – simply by overhearing a conversation while stopping into an ice cream shop; a girl came in to apply for a job with someone else and was afraid to ask if she could apply for a job without a resume so a friend had to ask for her. Another animated episode I pitched for a series, that was accepted and produced, focused around my experiences as a teacher's aide when in school. Recently I got a certificate for Library Technician originally hoping where I previously worked might create an archive position or department I could be a part of, and while that  didn't happen, I used all that student experience to forge a character in the  ebook THE PHOENIX RISES and my overall library experience to create the book.

So don't dismiss anything in your life experience, no matter how big or small. You never know what it might lead to.

This piece is a follow-up to one I wrote several years ago when I first started this blog.

With the day job thing going on – including a 6 day work week this past week – it is getting harder to find time to write. I'm still getting little bits in, but not the volume I did other days. I have to admit it feels really wrong after six months of having tons of time to write. That said, I feel even more wrong if I don't at least do a little every day. I really do feel a piece of me is missing without the writing.

I really do believe if someone's meant to be a writer, it is part of who that person is. Writing becomes mandatory, though not necessarily publication. Some people are satisfied with just writing private diaries all of their lives, but still they are fulfilling that call of writer that lives inside them. The most important thing is being true to oneself.