Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 43
December 20, 2017
Are Holidays For Writing?
The end of the year is here. The Christmas spirit is in and everyone is rushing to get everything ready for the 25th. Some companies will shut down for the week of Christmas and many people take vacation time to visit family. These are the holidays. In a way we become so busy that we don’t even get to take a break during this vacation time. As writers, this poses the question… are holidays for writing?
There Is No Relaxing During the Holidays!
This is a common thing people say. Especially if you have a large extended family. It becomes almost a chore when December comes around. We are bogged down with many commitments throughout the month. Work has Secret Santa and the Christmas Parties. Mandatory gifts for family which will destroy your wallet. All this planning and executing can become quite exhausting.
Family First
I truly believe family is important (blood or not), should take priority in your life. Take some time to enjoy your family during the holidays. These are the people who you cherish.
So where does writing fit into the holidays?
This is not for everyone, but as the previous post mentioned, you can focus on your yearly author plan. The holidays can be an excellent time to disconnect from your regular routine and even do a “digital detox” and disconnect from the online world.
Clear Mind, Clear Ideas
Much like any other vacation, the Christmas holidays can offer some insight that you wouldn’t normally see because we are in the thick of our lives all of the time. If you choose to take time off during the holidays you can use it to get to that manuscript you’ve been wanting to work on. Or use it to work on your yearly author plan. Maybe even use the time off to experiment with new writing styles.
Travel
A lot of people travel during the holidays, any travel is a good time to conjure new ideas for writing. If you are travelling, maybe bring a note book to jot ideas down.
How Much Time Do I Dedicate to Writing?
It depends on your personal agenda during the holidays. You may have more commitments that are not easy to avoid during this time. Personally I like to use the holidays like a winter writing camp and do some heavy writing. Much like in November for NaNoWriMo these weeks are used as an investment into writing without a lot of outside distractions.
Regular life can be quite chaotic for timing throughout the week so most of my writing is done late at night or early in the morning. The two weeks that the holidays offer allows me to extend that throughout the day.
Do you use the holidays for writing?
If you do, it’d be great to hear what you do during them. Even if you don’t use it for writing, how come? Share in the comments.
The post Are Holidays For Writing? appeared first on Konn Lavery.
December 13, 2017
Karen E. Lee, author, public speaker and workshop leader
For December, our guest author is Karen E. Lee who is a writer, public speaker and workshop leader. She is a retired clinical psychologist and a world traveler. Her novel The Full Catastrophe: A Memoir was published by She Writes Press in April 2016.
It has won a Silver Medal in the Readers’ Favorite Medal awards, Finalist medals in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and in the USA Best Book Awards, both for the category of “Women’s Issues” in 2016, a Distinguished Favourite Award in “Women’s Issues” in the 2017 Independent Press Awards and a Finalist Award in the International Book Awards 2017 for “Best Non-Fiction Book.”.
With that being said, let’s introduce Karen E. Lee to the blog!
Hi Karen E. Lee, thank you for taking the time to join us. Can you introduce yourself to the readers?
Hi Konn, I am very pleased to be with you today and to be able to introduce my book to your listeners/readers. I have reached a point in my life where, as they say, it is all coming together for me – I have been as you have said, a clinical psychologist, a teacher/instructor and a management consultant. As a result I have a lot of skills to bring to my present life as a writer and a writing teacher/mentor. I have definitely found my niche as an instructor of memoir for people with difficult stories which is what I teach now.
As mentioned in the intro, you’ve traveled a lot. Where is next on your list?
My husband and I are going to Ireland for 2 weeks at the end of November – this will be the 6th time I have been to Ireland because when I lived in England for 11 years it was so easy to get a quick flight to go over for oyster festivals, touring around and conferences. This time we want to travel and see parts of Ireland we didn’t visit in the past but I am also going to look for the parish that my ancestors were in when they decided to make the long and perilous journey to Canada for a new life.
You lived in Calgary working as a clinical psychologist, how has this helped your writing?
While I could have written my memoir without being a clinical psychologist, this training enabled me to really explain the process of Jungian analysis that helped me heal from domestic abuse. I had insights into my own behaviour and that of my abusive husband that I might not have had otherwise. Also, it highlighted the fact that even well-educated professional women can be in abusive relationships.
Currently you have two novels, Consulting into the Future, and The Full Catastrophe, what is next on your list?
When I finished my memoir about domestic abuse, I realised that getting the word out that it is necessary to heal from such experiences was important to me. I have led groups of women who have left or are in the process of leaving abusive relationships, have been on the board of a not-for-profit organisation that helps women leave abuse and am on a committee of survivors of DA that looks into the barriers faced by women leaving abuse.
When my first husband left me, I was left with 2 very young children and a poorly paying job. Though I tried to cope with what had happened, I had no idea that I needed to heal from the abuse I had gone through. I didn’t know what to look for to avoid more abuse and so fell into another relationship that was also abusive. By the time my 2nd husband died, I was determined never to be in another poor relationship again. I went into Jungian analysis in order to figure out why I had been so vulnerable and to heal. I wish that for all women who have undergone abuse – it changes you in ways you don’t realise at the time.
You also have interest in helping women in society by being involved in numerous in boards and committees, care to share more about this aspect of your life?
When I finished my memoir about domestic abuse, I realised that getting the word out that it is necessary to heal from such experiences was important to me. I have led groups of women who have left or are in the process of leaving abusive relationships, have been on the board of a not-for-profit organisation that helps women leave abuse and am on a committee of survivors of DA that looks into the barriers faced by women leaving abuse.
When my first husband left me, I was left with 2 very young children and a poorly paying job. Though I tried to cope with what had happened, I had no idea that I needed to heal from the abuse I had gone through. I didn’t know what to look for to avoid more abuse and so fell into another relationship that was also abusive. By the time my 2nd husband died, I was determined never to be in another poor relationship again. I went into Jungian analysis in order to figure out why I had been so vulnerable and to heal. I wish that for all women who have undergone abuse – it changes you in ways you don’t realise at the time.
Any advice to aspiring writers?
Mostly just write. Go to conferences, get good “how to” books and go to classes like those at the Alexandra Writers’ Centre. Ask for, and listen to, feedback – and try not to take it personally but to improve your writing. But don’t let feedback throw you off your own message and your own voice.
Thank you Karen E. Lee for joining us!
You can find Karen through the following links below.
Website: karenelee-author.com
Amazon: amazon.ca/Full-Catastrophe-Karen-Elizabeth-Lee/dp/1631520245
Goodreads: goodreads.com/author/show/14507907.Karen_Elizabeth_Lee
Facebook: facebook.com/Author.Karen.E.Lee/
The post Karen E. Lee, author, public speaker and workshop leader appeared first on Konn Lavery.
December 10, 2017
Arm Cast Podcast: Episode 184 – Lavery And Generous
Listen to the Arm Cast Podcast where I share some tips and insight into the production and business choices I’ve made with my writing. Specifically with my dark fantasy series:
Two Canadians this week on Arm Cast: Dead Sexy Podcast. Host Armand Rosamilia tries not to giggle every time either of them say abooot instead of about. Crazy language.
First up…
Konn Lavery, a Canadian horror and dark fantasy writer who is known for his Mental Damnation series.The second book, Dream, reached the Edmonton Journal’s top five selling fictional books list. He started writing fantasy stories at a very young age while being home schooled. It wasn’t until graduating college that he began professionally pursuing his work with his first release, Reality. Since then he has continued to write works of fiction ranging from fantasy to horror.
And then…
Eddie Generous is a Canadian living on the Pacific coast with his wife and their cats. He operates a fledgling literary horror outfit aptly named Unnerving. The anthology he edited, Hardened Hearts, is available now.
This week’s episode is sponsored by Subculture Corsets & Clothing
The post Arm Cast Podcast: Episode 184 – Lavery And Generous appeared first on Konn Lavery.
December 8, 2017
Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
Check out the interview I had about Dream with author Lisa Haselton. We cover the following topics:
Introduction
What inspired you to write this book?
What exciting story are you working on next?
When did you first consider yourself a writiner?
Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
The post Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews appeared first on Konn Lavery.
December 7, 2017
Creating your Author Year Plan
Something that every author should do is plan in advanced when it comes to submitting, publishing and marketing your novels. Creating an author year plan will allow you to take advantage of major events and book flights, or time off work to prepare for them. Often it is a good time to start thinking about your author year plan well in advanced, six months to even a year in advanced.
Committing So Far Ahead Is Too Difficult
It may seem daunting to some having to think so far ahead into the unknown. Life has a weird way of making things change in an instant. At times, we don’t know if we have enough funds to afford a trip to a convention. Your author year plan is meant to behave as a guide.
You’re not writing in stone
Or you shouldn’t be, that takes a lot of time. Computers are faster at typing. Sarcasm aside, writing it down can achieve two things:
Remind yourself that you are going to do the event/reach the goal at that time. You’ll be able to adjust the rest of your life accordingly.
If you’re not sure if you can commit, highlight it so you know it is not a 100% guarantee.
Your Author Year Plan is a Living Document
If you’ve heard the term living document, this will be a no brainer. If you haven’t, a living document is an on-going editable document that you tweak and adjust as new information comes into play.
What Do I put in my Author Year Plan?
Everything. It is really up to you how far in detail you want to go into your document. Some ideas would be:
Book Releases
Times to submit manuscripts
Travel commitments related to your author career
Scheduled book signings, conventions and talks
Marketing and promotional campaigns
How Do I Start This Document?
The document can be written out in any format that works best for you. Maybe a physical calendar works best to see the whole year and placing sticky notes. Spreadsheets work too to section off the types of commitments based on columns. Personally I use a regular Word or Open Office document that allows me to jot down the commitments in a linear fashion with bullet lists and headlines for each month.
When Do I start the Author Year Plan?
Right away! As mentioned previously, it is a living document and you should be adding onto it frequently. Specifically for book signings and conventions, the event organizers need to plan well in advanced (months) so think six to twelve months ahead of where you are now. Where do you want to be?
For book releases as an indie author, strategize your releases to the time of year. Do you want the book ready for a specific convention or do you want it out for when school is back in the fall?
Be Realistic
It is easy to conceptualize tons of ideas on paper, but remember, you have to do it still. It might look simple on paper and in your mind but think critically about each thing you are doing. How does the rest of your life fit into these events?
How Do You Plan Your Year?
Share in the comments, it’d be great to hear from other authors any advice regarding writing.
The post Creating your Author Year Plan appeared first on Konn Lavery.
December 5, 2017
Cover and Synopsis Reveal of YEGman
COVER AND SYNOPSIS REVEAL of my new thriller novel, YEGman, coming out in 2018.
Witness real justice.
YEGman Synopsis
In the darkest streets of Edmonton, crime is around every corner. The police have exhausted their resources. Citizens are in a constant state of fear. The city is in dire need of justice. Someone needs to give the felons what they deserve – skip the courts and deliver their verdict with a fist full of fury!
At least that is what Michael Bradford tells himself. He struggles with violent tendencies while personally investigating the Crystal Moths, Edmonton’s most notorious gang. His vigilante methods get caught on film and are uploaded to the web with the hashtag YEGman. These videos catch the attention of a rebellious journalism student whose aspires to cover the developing story on the city’s underground hero.
YEGman Cover
The post Cover and Synopsis Reveal of YEGman appeared first on Konn Lavery.
December 1, 2017
Headed for the Light
One month left in 2017! What a busy ride, and well worth it. We still got another 31 days to go before it comes to a close, so I’ll share the recap of the year for a later date. The Headed for the Light title of this blog is in relation to the excessive amount of work that was put into this year to get it done and plan for 2018 and beyond. Since September 2016 it has been a long haul but finally there is a bright light at the end of the vortex of projects.
Welcome to another edition of Unprocessed Thoughts
If you follow my Instagram, you probably saw two key posts in the past month, one was the reveal of the new thriller novel, YEGman. The other post was a title of a document “2018 Author Plan”. So there’s some exciting news coming down the pipeline. I am just finalizing some information before I can share more with you.
Project Burnout
As mentioned in the intro paragraph, a vortex of projects has consumed all of 2017. These projects have varied from graphic design, to web development to writing new novels and revising the Mental Damnation series. The term project burnout has been adapted in many industries and it leaves you in a mentally exhausted, emotionless state where you start to care very little about anything. It’s unhealthy and it is the result of working too much.
Headed for the Light
Following the topic of this short post, there is a light at the end of 2017. While I am in the midsts of the project burnout phase, the declining list of projects means I have some mental room to breathe and flex time in my day. When I say flex time, I mean less than 14-16 hour work days. I’m back down to 10, which is a huge change! Having this extra amount of time leaves you dazed and confused.
Although the normal work hours are 8 hours 9-5, so I still have a ways to go with reducing the amount of hours I put into the day.
Work Isn’t Work
To be fair though, I can put in that amount of hours willingly because it doesn’t always feel like work. I enjoy my trade and I love writing. So I can’t complain too much. It only becomes a struggle when you bite off more than you can chew and have to pick up the pieces.
On that note, as a contractor you have to take the work when it is hot because it can vanish as quickly as it arrived.
Beer Note: Dark Matter by Hoyne Brewing Co.
I’m a sucker for labels. I quite enjoyed on the side of the bottle they have a scale for Colour, Malt and Hops explaining the taste. This is a darker milder beer from what I would normally go for but seemed fitting for the winter. Cold weather and deep dark beers go hand in hand. However, here in Edmonton we were cast with a warm spell. Regardless, very smooth and a good choice to end the day with.
With my hoppy taste buds in mind, I’d give this beer a 3.8/5.
The post Headed for the Light appeared first on Konn Lavery.
November 21, 2017
The Author Mindset
Everyone has a story to tell, whether it is about a faraway land with monsters and elves or exploring their past. The point is, there is a story waiting to be told through each and every one of us. There are many different types of mediums that a story can be expressed in. It might be best told through film or through music, or perhaps it is best told through the written word. As authors, we choose the literary medium as our tool to welcome an audience into our minds and their own. Think you have a story to tell? Do you have an enjoyment for the written word and believe it is the best way to transcribe the story? Then you have the author mindset.
Thinking about Plots
Some of us are born with a fascination of writing, others it doesn’t become an interest until much later in their lives. At some point though, if you want to write, you will have that insane idea to type out your first draft. The task will not be easy and you will go through a lot of struggles. Some of these will be your own internal struggles and others will be spirit-breaking feedback will be received from friends or colleagues. But you are willing to endure the hardships to share your story with the world.
Stories are Everywhere
Being an author, you think about plots, all the time, even in your dreams. Everything you witness in life has a story. Your own life experiences are series of stories in their own. Watching the news or Netflix offers stories or listening to someone’s own tale at a party is a story. These are all things you can draw upon for your own writing. Stopping and listening to what is around you can be beneficial to uncover what stories are hiding to the untrained mind.
We all know fact is always stranger than fiction, so explore the world. Now, real life events might not make the most amount of sense. When listening to a story, think about how the story keeps the audience engaged. A good plot makes them and uncertain of what will happen next. Think about it next time you read a book or hear a story from a friend, why were you so intrigued?
Inner Desire
If you truly want to write, it will happen. You have to make it a reality and every writer has a need that is unlike any other. A type of fixation that can only be fulfilled through their own investment. We feel it calling to us in the back of our minds which is why we are so persistent to hammer out thousands of words to create a compelling story.
The Fuel
Does your need to write come from a dark place? Does your best writing happen when you feel driven by worldly affairs? We all have something that fuels us, something that makes us want to share what is conjuring in our minds. This may even evolve over time but when you feel it, you can’t resist to write.
We’re a Little Crazy
To go through the countless hours that span across months and years to produce one story means you have to be a little crazy, or a sucker for hardships. Every creative type has to be a little irregular if they want to persist their craft. Art is not the quickest way to make cash or the easiest lifestyle but we choose to do it because of our deep interests in the craft.
Naysayers
Be proud of what you do. It is abnormal and so what? Yes you will find cash isn’t as easily obtained and you will deal with harsh criticism from others. This will make you stronger, you will learn to stretch a dollar and to manage your finances. You’ll develop thick skin and learn to decode criticism to really see if it is constructive or if it derives from skewed opinions.
Be the Author
If you want to write, you must act like one. Don’t talk about how you want to write or feel insecure about it. Take ownership and pride of what you do and stay resilient. Life has a way of presenting challenges to knock us down but with the right mindset, you can overcome it.
What Makes You Want to Write?
Why do you write? I’d be interested to know why. Share in the comments!
The post The Author Mindset appeared first on Konn Lavery.
November 15, 2017
PULP Literature, Good Books for the price of a beer
This month’s guest we have something a little different. We are accompanied by PULP Literature. It was the brainchild of Jennifer Landels, Mel Anastasiou and Susan Pieters, a trio of writer-editors who took the advice “write what you want to read” one step further, to “publish what you want to read”.
We will be chatting with Jennifer Landels who is the Managing Editor. She holds a BA in Mediaeval English Literature from UBC and may some day return to her doctorate in Arthurian Romance at University College London.
Let’s welcome Jennifer to the blog!
Hi Jennifer Landels, thank you for joining us. Can you give us an introduction to you and PULP Literature Press?
Hi Konn, thanks for inviting me! You’ve already introduced me pretty well, but I guess I can add that I also teach swordplay, riding, and mounted combat with Academie Duello, and am a writer and artist as well as an editor.
Pulp Literature Press is a registered Canadian non-profit organization. Our quarterly magazine has been going for four years and sixteen issues now. We publish short fiction, some novellas and novel excerpts, poetry, and comics in each book-sized issue. This year we also branched into novel publishing, and used our own novels, Mel Anastasiou’s Stella Ryman and the Fairmount Manor Mysteries and my Allaigna’s Song: Overture as our proving ground.
What made you want to get into the publishing industry?
I blame the beer. Mel, Sue, and I were sitting on Mel’s balcony on Bowen island enjoying the sunshine and bemoaning the lack of short story markets in Canada. Then we realized that between us we had the skills to put together a fiction digest and the industry contacts to get some great names on the covers of our first few issues. After that, it was a matter of putting together a Kickstarter to fund it, and the rest is history.
How do you three manage to juggle running a magazine and working on your own writing?
Not particularly well, I have to admit. Often my own writing takes back seat to the magazine. I’m trying to change that and carve out a few more dedicated revising hours per week. Luckily Mel, Sue, and I write together every Friday, and we each get about 1000 words of first draft done. That at least keeps my new material flowing, even if I’m behind on revisions.
Starting a business, what has been the biggest challenge?
Funding. We do get a small Canada Council grant, which pays the printing costs, but all the pay for writers, artists, and designers comes from subscriptions or our own pockets. If every writer who submitted a short story also subscribed we would have no funding issues at all – unfortunately writers aren’t flush with cash either! We’ve run Kickstarters every autumn to keep the magazine alive, but they take a huge amount of work. This year we’re taking the risky step of skipping the Kickstarter and directing supporters to our Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/pulplit) to generate more stable, monthly funding for the magazine.
PULP Literature publishes a range of work, is there anything that you won’t publish?
In the magazine we don’t publish erotica or young adult / children’s fiction, and we will reject works that we deem sexist, racist, homophobic, ablist, or derogatory. Beyond that, we are open to all genres and we like a wide variety of tone, style, and subject matter. Although we do publish novellas, we prefer shorter works as they are easier to find space for. We are considering Young Adult novels, but in the upper age range of the bracket.
With submissions, you have a guidelines page , what are some of the most common mistakes you see?
Ignoring the guidelines! I’m serious – we have the guidelines there for a reason, and its surprising how many people don’t seem to read them.
That aside, the most common reasons we reject stories are:
The protagonist isn’t appealing or doesn’t engage our sympathies. We want an admirable yet flawed main character. A character with no admirable traits doesn’t appeal, and one with no flaws doesn’t engender sympathy.
The central conflict isn’t apparent in the first page. If it’s not, we don’t know why we should care about the character or the story.
The story needs tightening. Sometimes a story has a great start but the middle sags. Or the dialogue drags on too long. Or the ending is unsatisfying. These are all aspects that can be fine-tuned, and if we love parts of the story we may end up working with the author to polish it. But it’s even better if you send us a story that already shines and purrs like a well-loved Aston Martin.
We never reject a story due to bad formatting, but we sure would like it if all manuscripts came in double spaced in a nice 11 or 12 point font for the sake of our tired first readers’ eyes.
Any final thoughts you’d like to share with the readers and aspiring writers?
For writers: we print only two or three stories from every thousand submissions. That means perfectly good stories will be rejected for reasons that have nothing to do with the story quality. We try to balance genre, tone, story length, and style in every issue. So if we’ve just published an urban werewolf story recently, we’re not going to do another one for at least a year or two. Don’t give up! Keep submitting, and above all, keep reading to get a feel for what we like.
For readers: we want to hear from you. We publish what we want to read, and we hope its what you want to read too. The biggest gift you can give any author, short of buying their books, is an honest review on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, or by old fashioned letter. Don’t be shy – let us know what you think!
Thank you Jennifer and PULP Literature for joining us!
You can find PULP Literature through the following links below.
Website: pulpliterature.com
Facebook: facebook.com/pulpliteraturepress/
Twitter: twitter.com/pulpliterature
Featured on GoIndieNow
Jennifer and I were also part of a panel discussion on GoIndieNow discussing how we market books, give it a watch below:
The post PULP Literature, Good Books for the price of a beer appeared first on Konn Lavery.
November 10, 2017
Balancing Stubbornness and Humility
In any creative field, there are going to be people in life that tell you not to pursue your dreams and there will be those that encourage you. It ultimately becomes a fine line of balancing stubbornness and humility in our minds. Sometimes we do steer too far one way or the other, because we are human. There will be times in your life where you feel down about your work. There will also be times where you think nothing can ever pull you down from the clouds. It’s like a roller coaster. That is okay. Most of the time, creative work is fueled by emotions and you will experience these highs and lows. If anything, embrace them for what they are. Be aware of how they influence your craft and don’t let them get the best of you, because it can be harmful.
Being Stubborn
Stubbornness has many good characteristics about it. It gives you the ability to ignore negative talk. It can help fake confidence and push aside your own insecurities. Stubbornness will help you deal with the naysayers who will warn you about the high risks and low rewards that come with a creative line of work. In this case, building a writing career. It will also help you thicken your skin when people criticize your work – especially online.
Being stubborn will also help you deal with rejection when submitting to publishers or agents. There are close to 2 million books published a year and that is not counting all of the unpublished manuscripts during this period. So no wonder why so many books get rejected or why it is a challenge to have your book stand out among the noise. Great authors have dealt with rejections and poor sales countless times before their books become a success.
Being stubborn doesn’t mean you are super human. Negativity can weigh us down and we buy into “I can’t do it”. So if you need to, sulk around for a little bit but don’t ever quit. Learn from the criticism and grow thicker skin. In the long run it will help your writing and help you become a stronger person.
Being Humble
On the flip side, we can get the best of compliments and praise from an audience or from reviews. This can inflate the ego and you might think you’re the next Stephen King. Being overly confident in your abilities makes you arrogant and unable to see the flaws in your own work. People will also find it more difficult to deal with you because you become too stubborn and do not know how to be flexible and listen.
Humility grants you the freedom from being egotistical of your work. You’ll listen to people better and actually respect what people have to say. You won’t let their words effect your psyche. This helps you take in feedback from reviewers, colleagues and friends about your writing and apply it accordingly. You’re no longer worried about your feelings being hurt because your interest lies in making your work the best it can possibly be.
Now, being too humble does have its downsides, you might become overly passive in the way you receive complements and your surroundings. You may miss opportunities that the stubborn, goal-driven mind can see. You might pass off a chance to talk about your work at a panel or give a presentation about it because you don’t want to boast about your writing. It’s not bragging though, if you’re a writer you have to talk about your work, people want to know the author.
Balancing Stubbornness and Humility
Being overly invested in one or the other can cause some struggles. Too stubborn makes you arrogant and if you are too humble, you might not pursue opportunities. So you have to ride this fine line that is somewhere in the grey. Being stubborn and believe your work is good will help you battle through the negativity and give you the strength to toot your own horn. Being humble will allow you to self-reflect and keep you likable.
The post Balancing Stubbornness and Humility appeared first on Konn Lavery.
Posts from konnlavery.com
- Konn Lavery's profile
- 155 followers
