Chris Dietzel's Blog, page 8
July 21, 2014
Cover Reveal: The Hauntings of Playing God
Will the final member of the human race be thought of as a caretaker or as a monster?
The Hauntings of Playing God will be released on Thursday, August 28th. As a release-day special, the e-book will be only $0.99, but only for the first 24 hours it's out. If you plan on reading the final installment of the world where mankind is slowly fading away, make sure you mark your calendars for the 28th so you can get it before it changes to its regular price!
Like my other two Great De-evolution books, The Man Who Watched The World End, and A Different Alchemy, The Hauntings of Playing God is a completely stand-alone story, meaning you don't have to have read my other books to understand what is happening in this one.
I hope you enjoy it.
Be sure to check out http://www.watchtheworldend.com for more information and periodic updates.
And thanks to Truenotdreams Design for another great cover.
The Hauntings of Playing God will be released on Thursday, August 28th. As a release-day special, the e-book will be only $0.99, but only for the first 24 hours it's out. If you plan on reading the final installment of the world where mankind is slowly fading away, make sure you mark your calendars for the 28th so you can get it before it changes to its regular price!
Like my other two Great De-evolution books, The Man Who Watched The World End, and A Different Alchemy, The Hauntings of Playing God is a completely stand-alone story, meaning you don't have to have read my other books to understand what is happening in this one.
I hope you enjoy it.
Be sure to check out http://www.watchtheworldend.com for more information and periodic updates.
And thanks to Truenotdreams Design for another great cover.
July 7, 2014
The Evolution of Inspiration
Rarely does the original inspiration for a story remain static as a book is written. More often, the first idea for a story evolves into something slightly different. A few examples:
- After having a son very late in life, Cormac McCarthy wanted to write a book about a boy who would have to grow up without his father. That idea transformed into The Road, the tale of a father and son who survived the apocalypse.
- Ray Bradbury was horrified by the idea of people becoming mindless zombies in front of TV sets. The thought morphed into Fahrenheit 451, a world of book burnings.
- Aldus Huxley was frightened by the mass consumerism and group mentality that was emerging in his time. That fear evolved into Brave New World, about an entire society that was drugged into a mindless existence.
- And my own example, that mankind’s end would be more interesting if the final people had to care for the afflicted masses rather than fight them or each other. That was the original inspiration for The Man Who Watched The World End, the story of a man reflecting on the life he could have had if mankind hadn’t faded away.
If you’re planning on starting your own book, don’t force yourself to write about any one specific idea. Instead, just sit back and write and embrace whatever story emerges. Some of the most powerful and impactful stories have taken that approach and it has worked out well for them. After all, no matter how good your original idea might seem, when you let it morph into something else, your true interests and passions sneak out onto the page and your writing sounds more honest.
- After having a son very late in life, Cormac McCarthy wanted to write a book about a boy who would have to grow up without his father. That idea transformed into The Road, the tale of a father and son who survived the apocalypse.
- Ray Bradbury was horrified by the idea of people becoming mindless zombies in front of TV sets. The thought morphed into Fahrenheit 451, a world of book burnings.
- Aldus Huxley was frightened by the mass consumerism and group mentality that was emerging in his time. That fear evolved into Brave New World, about an entire society that was drugged into a mindless existence.
- And my own example, that mankind’s end would be more interesting if the final people had to care for the afflicted masses rather than fight them or each other. That was the original inspiration for The Man Who Watched The World End, the story of a man reflecting on the life he could have had if mankind hadn’t faded away.
If you’re planning on starting your own book, don’t force yourself to write about any one specific idea. Instead, just sit back and write and embrace whatever story emerges. Some of the most powerful and impactful stories have taken that approach and it has worked out well for them. After all, no matter how good your original idea might seem, when you let it morph into something else, your true interests and passions sneak out onto the page and your writing sounds more honest.
June 12, 2014
Writing Clichés That Are 100% True
I was talking to someone the other day about my experiences being an author. While offering advice and telling them not to give up, I found myself using a variety of clichés that used to make me roll my eyes when I was first starting out. Looking back, those sayings have proven to be 100% true.
Cliché #1: True writing doesn’t start until the editing begins
It’s easy to put words to paper. Putting 75,000 words down is just as easy as 75 words, it just takes longer. But just because 300 pages are filled doesn’t mean they’re worth anything. Every writer I know thinks their first drafts are terrible. A lot of people, myself included, race through the first draft just so they can begin editing it. The process of refining words, ideas, and themes is the heart of the writing process. Taking paragraphs and turning them from rough stones to polished gems is the difference between a lot of words on a piece of paper and a great book.
Cliché #2: Writing the book is the easy part
Everyone hears about authors slaving away, miserable, pouring their hearts out into their work. And yet millions of people are able to do it. Every author I know will tell you that writing their book isn’t nearly as difficult as finding an audience for it. What will make your book stand out from the others? How can you convince readers to take a chance on it? This is the most difficult part of being a writer.
Cliché #3: The first book is only the beginning. Now on to the next one.
You’ve written your book, edited it, AND managed to get it into the hands of eager readers. So, you’re done, right? If your goal was to write one book, then yes. But otherwise, not so fast. Of the authors I’ve heard speak on the subject, all of them have said it wasn’t until their third book and roughly nine years of writing that they really had a noticeable following and were bearing the fruit of their success. There have been a few authors over the years who have written one book and were happy with the results. But much more common is the author who improves on their craft with each subsequent book, gains new fans with each story they publish, and after years of hard work and a couple novels to their name, can finally say they’ve achieved most of the goals they set out to accomplish.
Know of any other clichés about the writing process that have turned out to be true? If so, I’d love to hear them. Happy writing.
Cliché #1: True writing doesn’t start until the editing begins
It’s easy to put words to paper. Putting 75,000 words down is just as easy as 75 words, it just takes longer. But just because 300 pages are filled doesn’t mean they’re worth anything. Every writer I know thinks their first drafts are terrible. A lot of people, myself included, race through the first draft just so they can begin editing it. The process of refining words, ideas, and themes is the heart of the writing process. Taking paragraphs and turning them from rough stones to polished gems is the difference between a lot of words on a piece of paper and a great book.
Cliché #2: Writing the book is the easy part
Everyone hears about authors slaving away, miserable, pouring their hearts out into their work. And yet millions of people are able to do it. Every author I know will tell you that writing their book isn’t nearly as difficult as finding an audience for it. What will make your book stand out from the others? How can you convince readers to take a chance on it? This is the most difficult part of being a writer.
Cliché #3: The first book is only the beginning. Now on to the next one.
You’ve written your book, edited it, AND managed to get it into the hands of eager readers. So, you’re done, right? If your goal was to write one book, then yes. But otherwise, not so fast. Of the authors I’ve heard speak on the subject, all of them have said it wasn’t until their third book and roughly nine years of writing that they really had a noticeable following and were bearing the fruit of their success. There have been a few authors over the years who have written one book and were happy with the results. But much more common is the author who improves on their craft with each subsequent book, gains new fans with each story they publish, and after years of hard work and a couple novels to their name, can finally say they’ve achieved most of the goals they set out to accomplish.
Know of any other clichés about the writing process that have turned out to be true? If so, I’d love to hear them. Happy writing.
May 15, 2014
Believe In Yourself
A friend of mine reminded me of this blog post. You can never have too many positive affirmations so I'm re-posting it.
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For a long time I thought my dream of being a writer was pointless. Only one thing was standing in my way: I didn’t believe in myself. I didn’t think I would actually be able to write a book that anyone would want to read, so I didn’t bother trying.
Shortly after college, though, I met a group of highly determined and motivated people and I realized the only difference between them and myself was that they believed they could do whatever they set their minds to while I believed the exact opposite. Over the course of time, their optimism and persistence changed my outlook. This led me to understand a few insights that have molded who I am today:
- Your mindset is contagious. If you don’t believe in yourself, you are guaranteeing no one else will either. Successful people don’t surround themselves with pessimists and cynics, they surround themselves with positive thinkers and optimists. Do not give your time to anyone who would belittle your goals or make a joke out of your aspirations. These people infect your outlook.
- People who believe in themselves don’t keep going only because they are determined—when you truly believe in yourself, you know it’s a matter of time until you achieve your goal. Maybe it will take ten years. Maybe it will take twenty. But it will happen eventually if you keep working toward it.
- Dreams aren’t easy to achieve, but when you struggle toward something that truly makes you happy, the necessary hard work doesn’t feel like work at all. I look forward to the time I get to sit in front of my computer and edit an awful first draft or some poorly written dialogue. If achieving your dream was easy and didn’t require daily pain, it wouldn’t be worthy of being called a dream in the first place.
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For a long time I thought my dream of being a writer was pointless. Only one thing was standing in my way: I didn’t believe in myself. I didn’t think I would actually be able to write a book that anyone would want to read, so I didn’t bother trying.
Shortly after college, though, I met a group of highly determined and motivated people and I realized the only difference between them and myself was that they believed they could do whatever they set their minds to while I believed the exact opposite. Over the course of time, their optimism and persistence changed my outlook. This led me to understand a few insights that have molded who I am today:
- Your mindset is contagious. If you don’t believe in yourself, you are guaranteeing no one else will either. Successful people don’t surround themselves with pessimists and cynics, they surround themselves with positive thinkers and optimists. Do not give your time to anyone who would belittle your goals or make a joke out of your aspirations. These people infect your outlook.
- People who believe in themselves don’t keep going only because they are determined—when you truly believe in yourself, you know it’s a matter of time until you achieve your goal. Maybe it will take ten years. Maybe it will take twenty. But it will happen eventually if you keep working toward it.
- Dreams aren’t easy to achieve, but when you struggle toward something that truly makes you happy, the necessary hard work doesn’t feel like work at all. I look forward to the time I get to sit in front of my computer and edit an awful first draft or some poorly written dialogue. If achieving your dream was easy and didn’t require daily pain, it wouldn’t be worthy of being called a dream in the first place.
April 23, 2014
Bucket Lists and the Great American Novel
Everyone has a point in his life when he analyzes what he might have done differently over the years. Each time I was stuck in rush-hour traffic, a little voice would ask me how much I would regret it if I never tried to achieve my dream of writing the Great American Novel.
Would my life be spent going to a job that paid well but required no creativity or imagination? Or would I spend my time doing something because it was my passion, even if it didn’t pay the bills? Well, passions don’t often make people rich, so the office job would have to remain a part of my life. But I knew I also needed to write that book, even if it wouldn’t land me on the bestseller’s list. After all, that’s what passions are: the things we are compelled to do, regardless of whether they are practical or not. The thing I feared most wasn’t whether or not I would end up rich or poor, but if I would get to the end of my life and regret never having pursued my dream. It’s true that real life inspires fiction: My fears are the same as the protagonist’s in the novel I ended up writing and publishing last year.
I’ve never regretted dedicating all of my free time to writing and publishing that book. And even though it didn’t become a best seller, for me at least, it really was the Great American Novel. It was featured on a popular radio show, was voted as one of GoodReads Top 10 Most Interesting Books of 2013, and has been read by people in six continents!
I still have many more books I want to write, but I’m happy that I crossed off the top item on my bucket list. And I’m proud of my first novel, the story of a man who, at the end of his life, is plagued by the decisions he has made while mankind slowly disappeared around him. After writing the book, I’ve come to an important realization: It’s okay if the world fades away, as it does for the man in my story. As long as I still have the few things that are truly important to me—the people I love, the pursuit of my dreams—life will be okay.
I occasionally still get stuck in rush-hour traffic, but knowing I’ve achieved the top item on my bucket list helps make the time spent among Washington’s clogged streets seem not so bad anymore.
Originally published in the Washington Post Magazine.
Would my life be spent going to a job that paid well but required no creativity or imagination? Or would I spend my time doing something because it was my passion, even if it didn’t pay the bills? Well, passions don’t often make people rich, so the office job would have to remain a part of my life. But I knew I also needed to write that book, even if it wouldn’t land me on the bestseller’s list. After all, that’s what passions are: the things we are compelled to do, regardless of whether they are practical or not. The thing I feared most wasn’t whether or not I would end up rich or poor, but if I would get to the end of my life and regret never having pursued my dream. It’s true that real life inspires fiction: My fears are the same as the protagonist’s in the novel I ended up writing and publishing last year.
I’ve never regretted dedicating all of my free time to writing and publishing that book. And even though it didn’t become a best seller, for me at least, it really was the Great American Novel. It was featured on a popular radio show, was voted as one of GoodReads Top 10 Most Interesting Books of 2013, and has been read by people in six continents!
I still have many more books I want to write, but I’m happy that I crossed off the top item on my bucket list. And I’m proud of my first novel, the story of a man who, at the end of his life, is plagued by the decisions he has made while mankind slowly disappeared around him. After writing the book, I’ve come to an important realization: It’s okay if the world fades away, as it does for the man in my story. As long as I still have the few things that are truly important to me—the people I love, the pursuit of my dreams—life will be okay.
I occasionally still get stuck in rush-hour traffic, but knowing I’ve achieved the top item on my bucket list helps make the time spent among Washington’s clogged streets seem not so bad anymore.
Originally published in the Washington Post Magazine.
March 31, 2014
Write The Book You've Always Wanted To Read
While thinking about the type of book I wanted to write, I knew it had to be something that took place in a world full of imagination and possibility—the type of story I enjoy reading myself—but I also wanted it to be realistic, something I could envision actually happening. I wanted to write about the end of the world, but I didn’t want to create your typical apocalyptic book, which always seem to be filled with marauding gangs, children with special powers, and so on. Instead, I wanted to focus on simple things such as looking back on life and regretting how time was spent, about the importance of family, and about the everyday things we take for granted. In short, I wanted to write about the magic and mayhem of the apocalypse, only without any magic or mayhem!
To do this, I focused not on the fantastic and supernatural elements of mankind’s impending extinction, but of the human elements—people growing older each year, the human population slowly fading away. Instead of zombies terrorizing everyone or battles for the few remaining resources, my story has people reminiscing about the final movie they watched, the final vacation they took.
In my book, there is no hope for a better tomorrow, but there is still the marvel of realizing which few things in life are truly important. And although there are no warlords or flesh-eating zombies, there is still the quite human havoc of rats and spiders taking over basements, of water dripping through ceilings, of people feeling overwhelmed with day-to-day life.
When you read The Man Who Watched The World End you won’t be given a gift-wrapped happy ending in which the teenage hero has rallied against some grand villain. You won’t have the immediate satisfaction of an invasion being prevented. After all, my book is science fiction without the magic. It’s the apocalypse without the mayhem. But in place of a feel-good story or a climactic battle, my hope is that you’ll find a story about real people and real concerns, and because of that, the story will remain with you long after you’ve read it.
Originally posted at: http://www.mayhemandmagic2.blogspot.com/
To do this, I focused not on the fantastic and supernatural elements of mankind’s impending extinction, but of the human elements—people growing older each year, the human population slowly fading away. Instead of zombies terrorizing everyone or battles for the few remaining resources, my story has people reminiscing about the final movie they watched, the final vacation they took.
In my book, there is no hope for a better tomorrow, but there is still the marvel of realizing which few things in life are truly important. And although there are no warlords or flesh-eating zombies, there is still the quite human havoc of rats and spiders taking over basements, of water dripping through ceilings, of people feeling overwhelmed with day-to-day life.
When you read The Man Who Watched The World End you won’t be given a gift-wrapped happy ending in which the teenage hero has rallied against some grand villain. You won’t have the immediate satisfaction of an invasion being prevented. After all, my book is science fiction without the magic. It’s the apocalypse without the mayhem. But in place of a feel-good story or a climactic battle, my hope is that you’ll find a story about real people and real concerns, and because of that, the story will remain with you long after you’ve read it.
Originally posted at: http://www.mayhemandmagic2.blogspot.com/
March 5, 2014
Surround Yourself With Positive People
In college, I thought my dreams were silly. So much so that I didn’t even bother to take Creative Writing classes. But now I’m working toward my goal of writing and publishing novels. What changed between college and nine years ago when I started writing? I surrounded myself with extremely driven and optimistic people.
Following college, I started learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Each evening, I trained with people from all walks of life, all with varying dreams, but all of whom shared one common trait: they set goals for themselves, they worked with all of their energy to achieve those goals, and they encouraged everyone else to do the same.
Mindsets are infectious. I found myself changing from being the type of person who thought dreams were a waste of time, to being a person who thought I could achieve anything I wanted if I was willing to put in the time and effort to make it happen. I went from being a person who thought it was easier to criticize others than it was to support them, to being someone who wanted to help everyone else work toward their goals as well.
But it’s not only positive mindsets that are infectious. So are negative ones. Which is why it’s critical not to give any time or energy to anyone who would make you doubt your dreams or attempt to bring you down rather than build you up. When you are trying to believe in yourself for the first time, it doesn’t take much from friends or family--a snide remark, a veiled putdown—to keep you feeling like your goals might be a waste of time.
Today, I’m happier and feel more fulfilled than ever before. And it’s all because I’ve surrounded myself with driven and optimistic people, and I stay away from anyone with a negative, nay-saying attitude. To all the people who have encouraged me: thank you. And to everyone who needs a little positive support: no matter what your dream is, the sooner you begin working toward it the happier you’ll be.
Following college, I started learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Each evening, I trained with people from all walks of life, all with varying dreams, but all of whom shared one common trait: they set goals for themselves, they worked with all of their energy to achieve those goals, and they encouraged everyone else to do the same.
Mindsets are infectious. I found myself changing from being the type of person who thought dreams were a waste of time, to being a person who thought I could achieve anything I wanted if I was willing to put in the time and effort to make it happen. I went from being a person who thought it was easier to criticize others than it was to support them, to being someone who wanted to help everyone else work toward their goals as well.
But it’s not only positive mindsets that are infectious. So are negative ones. Which is why it’s critical not to give any time or energy to anyone who would make you doubt your dreams or attempt to bring you down rather than build you up. When you are trying to believe in yourself for the first time, it doesn’t take much from friends or family--a snide remark, a veiled putdown—to keep you feeling like your goals might be a waste of time.
Today, I’m happier and feel more fulfilled than ever before. And it’s all because I’ve surrounded myself with driven and optimistic people, and I stay away from anyone with a negative, nay-saying attitude. To all the people who have encouraged me: thank you. And to everyone who needs a little positive support: no matter what your dream is, the sooner you begin working toward it the happier you’ll be.
January 31, 2014
The Importance of Short Stories
Over the past few months, I’ve been asked by a variety of people about the best way to start writing your first book. I always say the same thing: start by writing short stories. Even if you are exclusively interested in writing novels, learning how to write by creating short stories is valuable for a variety of reasons.
1) Setting out to write 1,500 words is much less taunting than setting out to write a novel. Many first-time writers think a 300 or 400-page book is beyond their ability. But if writers can learn how to write a short story, with a beginning, middle, and end, all they have to be able to do is write a series of related short stories in order to write that novel. After all, that’s basically what each chapter of a book is: a short story with an introduction, an unfolding scene, and a resolution to some kind of conflict. Learn how to write a short story and you already have one chapter of the novel done!
2) Short stories force you to use your words carefully. If you have a 1,200 or 1,500 word limit, every word is critical. You learn how to delete any sentence that doesn’t drive the story forward, and because of that you create stories that are tight and keep the reader’s interest. Readers can tell when you have something important to say. They can also tell when you are only writing to see your own words on paper. When they find a book that could have entire paragraphs cut out, they get frustrated. Learning how to write short stories helps you avoid that pitfall.
3) Even if you only want to write novels, having a couple short stories published is a great way to build a writing resume. It’s very difficult to stand out from the masses of people trying to get readers to notice their books. One of the many ways authors can give themselves an advantage is by having short stories published. Agents see this as proof that someone else has already read your writing and thought it was worth printing. Publishers see this as a writer who already has at least a small readership. And if you self-publish, making short stories available for free is a great way for readers to take a chance on a new author before deciding to hunker down to read a complete novel.
These are just three of the reasons I tout short stories as a great way for new writers to learn how to approach that book they’ve always wanted to write. If you can think of additional reasons, drop me a line and let me know what they are. Happy writing.
1) Setting out to write 1,500 words is much less taunting than setting out to write a novel. Many first-time writers think a 300 or 400-page book is beyond their ability. But if writers can learn how to write a short story, with a beginning, middle, and end, all they have to be able to do is write a series of related short stories in order to write that novel. After all, that’s basically what each chapter of a book is: a short story with an introduction, an unfolding scene, and a resolution to some kind of conflict. Learn how to write a short story and you already have one chapter of the novel done!
2) Short stories force you to use your words carefully. If you have a 1,200 or 1,500 word limit, every word is critical. You learn how to delete any sentence that doesn’t drive the story forward, and because of that you create stories that are tight and keep the reader’s interest. Readers can tell when you have something important to say. They can also tell when you are only writing to see your own words on paper. When they find a book that could have entire paragraphs cut out, they get frustrated. Learning how to write short stories helps you avoid that pitfall.
3) Even if you only want to write novels, having a couple short stories published is a great way to build a writing resume. It’s very difficult to stand out from the masses of people trying to get readers to notice their books. One of the many ways authors can give themselves an advantage is by having short stories published. Agents see this as proof that someone else has already read your writing and thought it was worth printing. Publishers see this as a writer who already has at least a small readership. And if you self-publish, making short stories available for free is a great way for readers to take a chance on a new author before deciding to hunker down to read a complete novel.
These are just three of the reasons I tout short stories as a great way for new writers to learn how to approach that book they’ve always wanted to write. If you can think of additional reasons, drop me a line and let me know what they are. Happy writing.
January 9, 2014
Learning and Perservering
Everything that happens to you is, depending on your mindset, either an opportunity to give up or a chance to learn and get better. Nine years ago, I decided I would try to achieve my dream of being a writer. Last year, I published my debut novel, The Man Who Watched The World End. It was a very long road to get to that point. As I prepare for the release of my next novel, A Different Alchemy, I find myself reflecting over all the things I’ve learned.
I started out creating short stories. After revising each one a couple times, I would send them off to see if a magazine or literary journal would accept them for publication. But no matter how many times I revised them, the rejections kept pouring in. My short stories were turned down an astounding 190 times before the first one was accepted for publication. Yes, 190 times. But the important thing is that instead of giving up, I finally achieved my goal and a story was published. And I was only rejected sixteen more times before my second short story was published. For my third story, only five times. A lot of revising and learning occurred during that time. Lesson Learned #1: It takes a long time to become a good writer. A lot of the rejections could have been prevented if I had slowed down and focused on the writing instead of trying to get my stories published.
Only a fool would think the rejections would end there, though. Because while I was creating short stories, I was also looking for an agent to represent a book I was writing. I wrote a query letter and began to send it out. Most agents rejected it without comment. Every couple weeks I would notice some changes I could make to the query letter to make it better. No matter how many times I revised it, when I revisited it a couple weeks later, I would always find a few more things to tweak. Finally, with a finished query letter, I found an agent! Lesson Learned #2: No matter how many times you revise something, you need to put it aside and come back to it with fresh eyes. Only then will you see if it could be edited, and it shouldn’t be sent out until it’s absolutely perfect.
From the beginning, my agent was very straightforward: it was going to be difficult to find a publisher that would take a chance on an extremely bleak novel written by an unknown author. Although I was prepared for the day when each publisher passed on it, it was still a low point in my journey. The only option was to publish it myself. But I didn’t know anything about self-publishing, and I wasn’t good at selling myself. What was I going to do, though, give up on my dream? So I began to learn everything I could about Indie publishing. Lesson Learned #3: It’s not the amount of rejection you face or the amount of success you garner that matters, it’s your response to it that defines you.
It wasn’t easy getting my debut novel out to potential readers. In fact, it was pretty brutal at times. But instead of giving up, I did my best and kept learning from my mistakes. Along the way, my book garnered some incredible reviews. I can’t believe some of the things people have said about it on Amazon and GoodReads. It was even featured on The Science Fiction Spotlight and voted as one of GoodReads Top 10 ‘Most Interesting Books of 2013.’
And that brings me to today, getting ready to publish my second novel. After everything I learned during the publishing of The Man Who Watched The World End, I have no doubt that A Different Alchemy will be an even greater success. How could it not? After all, I’m still here, I’m still working toward my dream, and I’m still choosing to learn from adversity rather than letting it deter me from my goals.
I started out creating short stories. After revising each one a couple times, I would send them off to see if a magazine or literary journal would accept them for publication. But no matter how many times I revised them, the rejections kept pouring in. My short stories were turned down an astounding 190 times before the first one was accepted for publication. Yes, 190 times. But the important thing is that instead of giving up, I finally achieved my goal and a story was published. And I was only rejected sixteen more times before my second short story was published. For my third story, only five times. A lot of revising and learning occurred during that time. Lesson Learned #1: It takes a long time to become a good writer. A lot of the rejections could have been prevented if I had slowed down and focused on the writing instead of trying to get my stories published.
Only a fool would think the rejections would end there, though. Because while I was creating short stories, I was also looking for an agent to represent a book I was writing. I wrote a query letter and began to send it out. Most agents rejected it without comment. Every couple weeks I would notice some changes I could make to the query letter to make it better. No matter how many times I revised it, when I revisited it a couple weeks later, I would always find a few more things to tweak. Finally, with a finished query letter, I found an agent! Lesson Learned #2: No matter how many times you revise something, you need to put it aside and come back to it with fresh eyes. Only then will you see if it could be edited, and it shouldn’t be sent out until it’s absolutely perfect.
From the beginning, my agent was very straightforward: it was going to be difficult to find a publisher that would take a chance on an extremely bleak novel written by an unknown author. Although I was prepared for the day when each publisher passed on it, it was still a low point in my journey. The only option was to publish it myself. But I didn’t know anything about self-publishing, and I wasn’t good at selling myself. What was I going to do, though, give up on my dream? So I began to learn everything I could about Indie publishing. Lesson Learned #3: It’s not the amount of rejection you face or the amount of success you garner that matters, it’s your response to it that defines you.
It wasn’t easy getting my debut novel out to potential readers. In fact, it was pretty brutal at times. But instead of giving up, I did my best and kept learning from my mistakes. Along the way, my book garnered some incredible reviews. I can’t believe some of the things people have said about it on Amazon and GoodReads. It was even featured on The Science Fiction Spotlight and voted as one of GoodReads Top 10 ‘Most Interesting Books of 2013.’
And that brings me to today, getting ready to publish my second novel. After everything I learned during the publishing of The Man Who Watched The World End, I have no doubt that A Different Alchemy will be an even greater success. How could it not? After all, I’m still here, I’m still working toward my dream, and I’m still choosing to learn from adversity rather than letting it deter me from my goals.
December 18, 2013
Learn from the experts
For Machiavelli, knowledge equaled power. But in the quest to achieve your goals, knowledge equals success. No matter what you want to excel in, the best way to learn how to succeed is by talking to the leaders in that field. If you want to know what it takes to become a professional basketball player, talk to Michael Jordan. If you want to learn how to become an Edgar Award or Hugo Award winning author, talk to one. The trouble, though, is that not many of us happen to be friends with best-selling authors.
That’s one of the biggest reasons I like going to Book Festivals and author signings. It’s absolutely invaluable to hear other writers discuss their approach to writing, what they went through to get their books published, and their advice for future authors. There aren’t many book festivals, though. Not to mention that a lot of us don’t live in areas where authors stop during their book tours.
Well, the great news is that you don’t even have to leave your home to hear your favorite authors share their experiences. Thanks to the Authors on the Air radio network.
Authors on the Air is geared primarily as a way for readers to hear their favorite authors talk about their books. But if you’re a new or emerging writer, their author interviews are vital for giving you a chance to hear from those who have already succeeded at what you want to accomplish.
While listening to episodes of Authors on the Air, I’ve heard writers discuss the pros and cons of self-publishing and traditional publishing, I found out how long it took them to become established writers, and I’ve listened to them discuss the best ways to get their writing out to potential readers. Yes, I could try to achieve my dream on my own, by keeping my head down and plowing ahead, but I’d be crazy to ignore the wisdom offered by people who have already gone through all the things I’m struggling with. If you share the dream of writing, I highly recommend you tune in and hear what others have done before you. It’s priceless information for achieving your goals.
For more information about the Authors on the Air radio network, including a list of upcoming shows, check out their website at: http://authorsontheair.com/
That’s one of the biggest reasons I like going to Book Festivals and author signings. It’s absolutely invaluable to hear other writers discuss their approach to writing, what they went through to get their books published, and their advice for future authors. There aren’t many book festivals, though. Not to mention that a lot of us don’t live in areas where authors stop during their book tours.
Well, the great news is that you don’t even have to leave your home to hear your favorite authors share their experiences. Thanks to the Authors on the Air radio network.
Authors on the Air is geared primarily as a way for readers to hear their favorite authors talk about their books. But if you’re a new or emerging writer, their author interviews are vital for giving you a chance to hear from those who have already succeeded at what you want to accomplish.
While listening to episodes of Authors on the Air, I’ve heard writers discuss the pros and cons of self-publishing and traditional publishing, I found out how long it took them to become established writers, and I’ve listened to them discuss the best ways to get their writing out to potential readers. Yes, I could try to achieve my dream on my own, by keeping my head down and plowing ahead, but I’d be crazy to ignore the wisdom offered by people who have already gone through all the things I’m struggling with. If you share the dream of writing, I highly recommend you tune in and hear what others have done before you. It’s priceless information for achieving your goals.
For more information about the Authors on the Air radio network, including a list of upcoming shows, check out their website at: http://authorsontheair.com/
