Beverly Magid's Blog: Marketing Is Harder Than Writing-, page 7

Even when we hate the speech, we have to protect its freedom

+As a writer and an American, free speech and access to that speech is of paramount importance.  That's why it's so hard when something like the offensive video that has caused all the trouble becomes the object of defense.  This is not the first time that ugly words meant to hurt and harm have arise and we are left to defend the freedom to speak even while we deplore the text of the speech.  Truly having freedom of speech means allowing words that we don't agree with, not censuring that speech, except of course for the yelling "fire" in a crowded room.  Some might believe that this vile video is equal to that scream of "fire," but others worry that any censorship is a step down the proverbial slippery slope.  Violence has no excuse, and certainly causing death or injury has no justification in this case.  As a writer I'm in the thrall of words, believe in their power, understand their effect, so as abhorrent as this video might be, there has to be a place for dissent, discourse and diversity.
But it appears that this video gave the extremists the very match to start their fires of hatred.  We must be sure that our speech is part of the discussion not the blowtorch to innite explosions.

Sometimes it takes a village to raise a writer

Everybody keeps talking about "who build it," "I did it alone," "many helped you along the way." Writers especially are very proprietary about how the work is their own. Well, of course we feel we did it alone, but I'm happy to say that without my mentors, the workshops I participated in, the writers' retreats I attended, I wouldn't be writing today. If Janet Fitch(White Oleander, Paint Black)hadn't told me about Kate Braverman's workshop, or invited me into her own private workshop and encouraged me, I'd still be trying to write short stories and never attempt a novel. If I hadn't had the scrutiny of my fellow-writers, I'd never have had the nerve to complete that first novel or get to the second one. Natalie Goldberg, Jack Grapes, or Ron Hansen at my week at Tin House as well as my sojourn at Squaw Valley all combined to give me insights that illuminated what was right and what wasn't working in my writing. And most recently the editing of Lynn Stegner alerted me to the strength and weaknesses in the draft. Some people worry that the presence of other writers would be hyper critical or too stifling for them to thrive, but while we writers need to be able to hone our own judgement, having an independent eye on our work can only add immeasurably. If we can find the right environment, we should treasure it.

Choosing the right book cover

If you're self publishing, one of the tasks you will have is choosing the proper book cover. I looked at dozens of them and in a lot of cases I found myself underwhelmed by what I saw. Granted, I didn't know what the books were about, but unless I knew the author, I had no interest in buying, borrowing or browsing them. I shudder to think that others may pass by my book for the same reason. BUT, in the process of making a choice I realized something that I hadn't thought of before. I checked out photographic websites that Createspace was associated with, looking at dozens if not hundreds of photos that I could choose from. I came up with two very different photos, with two widely different tones. One, a melancholy winter's scene, the other, a hand in a dramatic pose which reeked "defiance" to me. My first thought was to go with drama, something I hoped would stop people in their tracks (or at least give them pause). I asked opinions of friends, and they were evenly divided. After going back and forth over a weekend, I realized that I had gotten tired of the dramatic version. That it wouldn't last the long haul of working with this book over a period of time and that it was important that I still liked the cover after many weeks or months. So melancholy won out and hopefully I'm right. Come Septemter, I'll know the answer.

Why Can't I Proof What I Wrote?

If you've ever had to proofread anything that you've written, be sure that you hand the job over to someone else. Even that isn't foolproof (no pun intended). Get two people to do the job. With my first book, I actually thought I could read and pick up the typos, awkward sentences, printing mistakes. Ha! I missed multiple places that would have been obvious to anyone with any eyesight at all. But not to the person who wrote the words. You see what you meant to write, not actually what is on the page. If you don't follow any advice at all, follow this maxim. DON'T DO YOUR OWN PROOFREADING.[image error]

Too Easy to Send

So like everyone does, I forwarded an email which extolled the Italian athletes for holding a minute of silence last week in memory of the 11 murdered Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, as well as a French athlete who showed his Hebrew tatoo which translated to "I am nothing without them." I assumed that both events honored the 1972 athletes, but in fact the Frenchman was honoring his grandmother who died at Auschwitz. I never read all the way to the very bottom of the text, in fact I only looked at the photo caption. No real harm done, but it was a red flag to me that even with the best intentions we can perpetuate inaccurate information onto the internet which then can live forever. I tease kids about their short attention span and lack of detail, but here I am doing the same. When people send me rumors I always check them out on Snopes.com, but still here I was sending out info which I thought meant one thing and instead it meant another. How many times are we doing this now? How much is out there that is wholly correct and can be traced to the source? Emails are too easy to send and too difficult to retract.[image error]

The fun of self-publishing?

The world has changed since I self-published my first book, Flying Out of Brooklyn. And that was only a few years ago. Then the word Kindle was new and who expected anyone to read their books online? Certainly not me. Then self-publishing was still a bit stigmatized, even though more and more authors were doing it. Like Cole Porter said, everybody is doing it (well maybe not birds or fish), but many mainstream successful -used-to-be-traditionally published authors. Using Creatspace has really been easy. Everything after writing the novel seems easy. Pick out your font, decide on your cover, proof the digital copy, check the hard copy, Oh yes, if you do it all by yourself it would be practically free. But if you're me and can't format or design there is a charge, but along with that is daily help. The hard part of course is the marketing, the getting the word out to the world process. If I learn that part, it will all be worth it. Actually, it's the writing which is the best part. The rest is all icing on the cake.[image error]

What's the world coming to: Entitlement

You see it all the time, a car cuts you off, tailgates behind you, a pedestrian is too busy on the phone to walk across the street or even give you a moment's notice, in today's paper, someone cut down an old revered oak tree, why not they thought, I'm entitled. Whatever people do, is just fine because they're sure that they're entitled. It occurs especially with celebrities, but they're not the only ones, because entitlement has become a global disease. Philandering spouses, lying corporate execs, greedy bankers, conniving polluters, insensitive politicians, religious zealots, Ponzi schemers, dictators of countries, they all have caught the contagion. It's interesting to note about the last; they're finally getting their comeuppance.

I wish I had the answer. I just have the complaint. Complaining, after all, aren't I entitled?[image error]

Second draft blues

I'm not sure how other writers handle it, but the second draft of my second novel is so much harder than the first one. The first, for me, concerns story, so you're lay out the skeleton of the book, deciding who lives or dies or loves or seeks revenge. So far, good. But in the second, you're sculpting muscles and tissues, determining memories, adding landscape,charting backstory and future plans, in other words, you're playing Dr. Frankenstein.

My characters keep changing, especially at 3am, when sleep is nowhere to be found and all the mistakes of the day's writing are dancing in my head instead of sugar plums (what are they anyway?). Being open to change is good, but when it continues night after night, is that a sign that I don't know which direction to take? Or does it mean I'm flexible and able to shift when necessary, when the characters demand it? But if they keep shifting, they may steer me right into a padded cell.

God almighty, will I survive to do a third draft?[image error]

Writing in Public Spaces

While I really miss having a workshop, an alternative which really spurs the creative juices is writing in a public place, ie a coffee shop. Once a month a writing buddy and I meet and for a couple of hours forget about 2nd drafts that have put me in the doldrums or why-am-I-doing-it-in-the-first-place-blues. You decide on a prompt, time for ten minutes (more, not less) and let your imagination have free reign.

I recommend it to all writers, no matter what their level, or even if you are an absolute beginner. You start writing, keep your pen to the paper (for this I don't use a computer)and don't look up until your time is done. Natalie Goldberg first introduced me to this for a public place, during a writers' week in Taos, but Judy Reeves, The Artist's Way, my former mentor Janet Fitch, all have versions of the same thing. It's the going wild, no holds barred to your mind which makes it all so exciting. Ideas and riffs will jump out that you had no way of knowing lurked in your brain.

Try it, you'll like it.
P.S. All the writers I mentioned have books or blogs which suggest prompts if you need some help.