Lin Lustig's Blog, page 2

Copper Wrath is out!

Happy book birthday to Copper Wrath!

This book has been an emotional ride. I went through the standard author stages of "this is amazing!" to "this is utter trash, who let me be a writer?" and back to "huh, this isn't so bad." Then I hit the crushing doubt of "what if it's not good enough?" Adding the insanity of a second book release in the middle of a pandemic has come with it's own challenges, but I made it!

For years I sat in the quagmire of doubt, never sure when the right time was to publish. I'd taken other books through the full editing and submission process, but they never felt right. I'm not sure book one, Gilded Lies, felt that way either, but it was far past time that I take the plunge.

Did you ever throw pottery in school? (Stay with me, I have a point.) I took an art class where we got all muddied up and forced a hunk of clay into some kind of circular shape, but the trick was knowing when to stop. There was never perfection and if you went too far the whole thing would collapse. I think about that often with my life. As a perfectionist is was an amazing lesson—and I encourage any writer to get their hands dirty and learn to recognize when it's time to accept the shape of things and let it test the fires of finality.

That sounded far more philosophical than I expected.

Back to the point: This book pleases me. It has the right combination of action, humor, and love with amazing heroines out to save the day.

And now I'm off to work on book three [image error]

Cover Reveal & Vision Board

It's here! The cover for Copper Wrath (Frequency Series Book 2) has finally been released. The book itself comes out April 6th, so make sure and snag a preorder in the upcoming days (don't see the store you shop at? Try again soon! The preorders are going up this week, but some stores have longer processing times than others).

Not sure what to expect in book two? Read on to find out!

What’s taking a bullet among friends?

Look, John is going to have to get one thing straight: Prisha doesn’t take orders, or even suggestions. So when a public stunt backfires and John is in the literal crosshairs, she protects him on instinct—taking the bullet meant for him. That probably isn’t something “just friends” do, but she doesn’t love him. Seriously, stop asking. More concerning, shouldn’t bullet wounds hurt? 

As Prisha’s body continues to go numb, she shoves her way into John’s world of ability-laden Abnormals, convinced she can belong—even if she’s not one of them. It’s not like numbing is an ability or anything—that would be dumb and exceptionally inconvenient. 

Whatever, she’ll save her mansel-in-distress first, and figure out her body later. 

My vision board! I'm putting it here for accountability.

There are a lot of things I want in my career—which I conflate with my life so here you have it, my life plans!

Be an evil queen. Have my own fandom. Have physical and mental joy. Give my work my all. Have a Netflix series (hell yeah). Work toward a career similar to Darynda Jones. Shine bright and practice balance.

These are the things that bring me joy to think about and the dreams I will chase. But most of all, I'm never giving up.

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How to Plan for 2021

Resolutions don't work for me, so I make goals. Here's how you can set concrete, actionable goals, too. [image error]

My 2020

Well 2020, it's been interesting.

I think it's safe to say nothing went as planned this year, but I'm in a really lucky, privileged situation where I've been able to ride out the pandemic relatively unscathed. My family members that got Covid recovered, and although there was loss in my family, it was not unexpected.

Here is a look back at my 2020.

Achievement Unlocked: Published Author

This was the only thing I needed to happen this year. Everything else could shift and get canceled, but not this. After ten years of writing manuscript after manuscript (and in some cases rewriting the same manuscript five times from a blank page one) it was time to take the next step.

Like a lot of creatives, I thought about quitting. I made a deal with myself that if I finished and published the Frequency Series, then I could "retire" knowing I at least did that much. Happily, learning all about publishing, marketing, and managing a career as an author helped reinvigorate my dreams of doing this long term. It's stressful, disheartening, and terrifying, but also every bit as rewarding as I ever imagined.

Level Up: Planner Pro

My productivity obsession led me to experiment with several different planner styles. I needed task lists, daily flexibility, and goal tracking and the Passion Planner is nearly ideal.

Aimed at tracking yearly goals both monthly and weekly, I appreciated their approach to staying on track. It's not quite perfect for my work, but it's darn close. I might try the HB90 planner at some point, but for now I'm relatively pleased.

There were a lot of missed events this year, a lot of friends and family that were waved to at a distance, and a lot more me time. I learned to make bibimbap and ramen (I have yet to perfect either, but they are still good). I worked outside in the garden, I did yoga in the yard, I spent hours and hours on video chats.

I lost my remaining grandparent. I wasn't able to help my dad after an injury. I couldn't see my little niece. I learned about my internalized racism and implicit biases (both of which require ongoing work).

I'm an introvert, so I know this year was easier on me than most. My husband's job was able to go remote, and so I was able to keep writing and pushing for my dreams. It's not fair, but I'm grateful, and I hope 2021 brings relief to those who desperately need it.

I'm glad to say goodbye 2020. It's been way too real.

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Release Day!

It's finally here!

Weirdly, I didn't expect to be this excited. I anticipated the sheer panic, the omg-people-are-going-to-read-this-thing-that-was-previously-safe-in-my-head thing, and even the oh-shit-I've-forgotten-something hook that immediately pulled me out of anything else I was attempting to do. Even the pure exhaustion and a full Sunday of doing nothing but sleep didn't surprise me. But this thrill? The wondrous goosebumps? Nowhere in my expectations.

I feared my high crafy expectations were impossible to achieve (the fact that none of my previous eight books were close enough to my ideal to publish should say something), but this right now is everything I could have wanted. Sure, there's not a big party or anyone else as excited as I am, but I've never appreciated the effort a debut takes until this moment. If you're another author reading this, hot damn you brave and tenacious soul.

This has been a crazy ride, and I'm so thankful to everyone who has made it an uplifting adventure. So many of you have sung praises, celebrated my milestones, and shared this beautiful cover. Now go jump in and give it a read. If you do, review it on Amazon, Goodreads, or Bookbub! (If you want.)

Now on to book two.

Shit. [image error]

From Idea to Book—How Gilded Lies Came to Be.

I've been asked what the process has been to get Gilded Lies from my head to the market. Well, get ready (or drunk), because I'm going to tell you a story (but not one as entertaining as the book).

Gilded Lies wasn't a single idea—at least not for a long time. I was playing with several distinct stories that were all missing either adventure, romance, or even anything resembling a plot. Then one day on a long quiet drive it occurred to me to mash two of the ideas together. And so started the seeds of Gilded Lies and the Frequency Series set inside the Frequency Universe (which I named mostly because I'm a child and laughed that it became FU for short).

That was in March of 2018. I spent the next few months roughly plotting the overarching series, knowing that things would undoubtedly change, but I needed to know the ending of book four (the end of the series) as much as possible. With a semi-permanent idea in mind, I focused on reading craft books to help me develop the skills I knew would be necessary to tell this story.

Up until the end of October 2018 I plotted my ass off. I worked and reworked the character arcs and overall cast, I determined which points of view to follow in each book, and I obsessively studied plot structure. After that came NaNoWriMo—also known as National Novel Writing Month. I joined thousands of writers as they undertook the challenge of writing 50k words in a month. This is a huge feat that many writers struggle with. Most of my author friends were juggling full time jobs, kids, and even illness to reach their goals.

I wasn't. I wrote 50k in less than two weeks.

That 50k (which became 75K by the draft's end) was a load of shit. Like, really stinky shit that makes you wonder if the colon responsible for it is diseased. But that aside, the first draft existed, and that was enough.

Without editing the draft, I sent it to an editor who wrote back a umpteen-page tome of EVERYTHING WRONG. So I went back to the drawing board, redesigned the main character (John) and his relationship, then rewrote the whole thing. I've since learned that this is just part of my process. You might have heard the saying that the first draft is the writer discovering the story, and for me that's partially true. I might have plotted and had scenes in mind, but the connective tissue was uncharted territory.

After my rewrite (and an additional 20k added to the already 75k draft), I sent it off to a contest, rewrote the first three chapters (again), and then sent it to a completely different editor in October of 2019.

Jen, The Brilliant, had insight on how to work in more of the world building and soften my main point of view character, John, up (don't get me wrong, he's still an ass, but character arcs, people!), as well as some ideas on adding more point of view chapters from the most interesting characters. After those edits, it was six more weeks of editing and alpha readers (who are willing to read those drafts that should never see the light of day) then off to the beta readers—who still hated John. Damnit John, get your shit together! Well, then COVID messed up my timeline a bit, but I had to push forward. (BTW, I love John, but he starts out as a terrible boyfriend to the compassionate and patient—not to mention a little angsty—Emerson, but they find their way with honesty and compromise. Suck it patriarchy!)

Ahem. Where was I? Right, beta readers. They were indispensable, as was my Ponies writing group (so named because the group of nine women I met through conferences contains a literal human Pinkie Pie). These ladies kept me going better than coffee and tea combined.

Finally in March 2020 (April? Time stopped having meaning in quarantine) I contracted an artist for my cover. Robert Ball's other book covers had an expressive, highly saturated, comic book style that I craved—especially since I compare Gilded Lies to X-men (but gay).  He went above and beyond, delivering my final cover in June.

From there it became a storm of formatting, correcting typos, establishing the preorder details, and managing site after site of author information. (I counted just now and it's currently 19 sites I'm involved in as an author. That's a lot of passwords to memorize btw.) Did I mention newsletter updates and regular social media posts? Honestly it's no wonder my brain fried and burn out became imminent.

In August I upped my self-care and caffeine intake, and then started in on the excitement of officially launching Gilded Lies. Hell, this post is part of that process! I wish I could have the celebration party I envisioned (masquerade ball of course—definitely a different kind of mask compared to today), but I'm still thankful that I'm FINALLY going to share my work with the world.

All in all about two and a half years has been dedicated to this book. The market right now is focused on the common strategy of publishing as many books as fast as possible, but that's not me. I need my stories to be rich, carefully crafted, and of the upmost quality that I can achieve.

And as my friend tells me, "You can't half-ass anything. You're a full-assed queen."

That I am.

Be Heroic. Be Villainous. Be YOU!

2020 Q2 Review

Well. Nothing about this quarter went as expected in the greater world, BUT I did release the cover to my X-Men meets Sense8, romantic LGBT sci-fi, GILDED LIES.

It's my debut.

I'm not freaking out. You're freaking out.

What Worked

BOOK COVER
Book cover synchronized release! I called in every favor I had to help me reveal the book cover in a big party. It was so cool (and a little exhausting)
I did a first pass rewrite to book two: Copper Wrath (basically my version of a first edit)
I learned more about sending newsletters and started really having fun with them
I completed a big step on a super secret project!
I finished the final chapter of fanfic that I needed to get off my plate!
I formatted GILDED LIES for both paperback and ebook
Created all kinds of little extras like an ARC sign up form, a first newsletter swap, and a bit of content marketing via a short story titled HEART OF THE MATTER where planets live, breathe, and love?
I set up the preorder for Gilded Lies!
I dove into writing characters of color in a sensitive and intelligent manner
I challenged my internal biases and began researching systematic racism
Basically a lot of little things, but it all adds up!











What Didn't Work

THE. WORLD. WTF 2020!?
Didn't make as much progress as I wanted on book 3
I didn't write a second short story as planned
I still haven't figured out how to create and utilize a street team
I screwed up my preorder on Google Play! Whoops.
I had to suddenly pivot on how I was portraying some characters of color
Had to delay the next steps on super secret project
My terror in publishing my first book has only grown
Mental health has deteriorated in the wake of BLM and the pandemic
I fell behind on my therapy
I struggled to find hobbies/down time outside of work
I came dangerously close to burn out

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Black Lives Matter

I spent the weekend steeped in some of the most uncomfortable exploration of racism and antiracism studies I’ve ever done—as well as debating my social media balance of speaking up without drowning out the voices that need to be heard while performing unnecessarily for an emotionally charged audience. 

My gut-level takeaway on reading and watching racism in action was someone should have f*@king taught this to us in school at every age and every level. My high-level takeaway was that I have been perpetuating the problem by not taking agency over my own education. As for speaking up, I believe it is stronger than staying silent, AKA endorsing the racist system that I have benefited from. 

But overall, I have much to learn. White friends: don’t settle. Make yourself uncomfortable! That’s how we change.

I’m especially excited to borrow Stamped from the library, as well as a few other books by AOC for fun (like You Should See Me in a Crown and The Sound of Stars).

My journey to actionable change continues.

***

As a part of this weekend’s internal exploration, I had to realize that I can’t stop my career because of an emotional response to my mistakes. I will make a LOT of mistakes from my internalized biases, but I will also learn from them and keep pushing to be better. You’ll get to see posts on the work I’m doing both as a person and as an author, and hopefully you’ll get to watch me grow (most immediate updates will be on Instagram). Gilded Lies—my X-Men(ish) sci-fi about defying expectations is available for preorder. Check on the link, but also check out a book from an AOC to support them, too!

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2020 Q1 Review

2020, the year of awesome.

Bahahahahha. Right. Nice try my hopeful January self. Not that 2020 is doomed, and my productivity is still within my control, but it certainly didn't go how I'd envisioned for the first quarter.

What Went Wrong

Covid19 anyone? Yeesh. Horrible pandemic aside, I:

Fell behind on editing book one
Still haven't figured out how to best batch content my work
Over scheduled myself
Subsequently ignored my schedule
Totally forgot some side projects still in progress











What Went Well

Sent in my rewrite of book one to my editor
Received positive notes back from editor
Read and re-outlined book two
Posted a couple ongoing chapter of a fanfic
Dived in to a self-publishing course
Overcame my fear of marketing
Learned how to stop working in the evening
Learned how to stop working on the weekends
Adapted to quarantine changes
Pushed ahead on goals despite the pandemic














Final Thoughts

Honestly the first quarter was reasonable for productivity, but hard on emotions and mental capacity. I had to step back from a lot of news and focus in on my goals to keep moving forward. It was an interesting adjustment to working from home with my husband, but all in all we've fared a lot better than most.

Here's a hope to reaching more goals in quarter two with a healthier population ready to get outside again.

 

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2019 Q4 Review

The forth quarter of 2019 was a beautiful clusterf*@k. Basically, I rocked NaNoWriMo, and was completely thrown off by the holidays. Preptober was decent enough, but let's pretend that December didn't happen. Better yet, let's pretend I was just too drunk to remember it. Yes, that's better.

What worked:

Basic 40 scene cards for next book.
Did character development GMC charts
Had a Plot and Paint creative social event
Attended ECWC and met with amazing ladies.
Completed final read through of book one.
Sent book one off to my editor.
Completed book 3 outline.
Destroyed NaNoWriMo with 111k total written.
Completed book 3 first draft.
Applied for a job writing for a game company.











What didn't work:

Burn out from NaNoWriMo
Over-scheduling the holidays.
Didn't read through book two.
Not enough rest and recovery.
Fell behind on therapy and self-care.
Decade end review.
Epic birthday plan.
Way too much stress eating!
Damn you xmas cookies.

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