Rani Divine's Blog, page 24

A Divine Christmas

Hey everybody :)
Thanks for checking in!
Now that we’ve completed our series for the month, I have a few personal things I’d like to take some time to talk about. It’s the holidays, it’s Christmas for my family, Christmas and New Year’s, and there’s a lot to celebrate.
So, that’s what I want to talk about! The traditions with which my family celebrates the holidays.
A Divine Christmas, as it were.

We love to decorate. At least, my mum and I do. We really do pretty much everything together, but this time of year is when we’re practically inseparable. We decorate the house together, we do some of our Christmas shopping together, we help each other with ideas for what to get whom, we bake, we cook, we clean—the whole nine yards in my family, that’s pretty much done by Mum and me. I’m the assistant.
Well, we start by decorating. Thanksgiving is actually Mum’s favorite holiday, so we make sure we give it its due attention. We do a turkey, cook up a ham, and make all the fixings… only to eat it all in about an hour (there’s also more desserts than there are people, usually). After Thanksgiving though, that’s when my favorite time of year comes in.
Mum and I decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving, generally. Sometimes it takes us a little longer, but not usually. We’re in a new house this year, but even then, it only took us an afternoon and evening to get everything done. We never bother to decorate the outside, but we go all out inside. Porcelain villages, bows on picture frames, stockings over the staircase, wreaths on the walls, red and green sprinkled everywhere through the house—and four Christmas trees to top it all off (don’t worry, three out of four are little ones).
That’s our first tradition. 
And in case this made you curious, yes, I do currently live with my parents. I love it. They've graciously opened their house to me, and we have so much fun together. It's great to be here, with them, especially through the holidays.
Our second tradition is cookies. The girls of the family make a million (not literally) Christmas cookies every year. Usually, we do a double batch of almost everything, but lately, we’ve toned it down a bit. The past couple years, each of us pick our favorite kind of Christmas cookie, and we add in our family favorite. Then the girls pick a day and spend almost the whole of it on our feet, mixing doughs, rolling cookies, baking, decorating, everything. And we have so much fun with it! …and there are always far too many cookies leftover.
The third is relatively new. Actually, we’ve only been doing it for a few years, and already we’ve had to change things around.
On Christmas day, we eat Indian food. Mum and I are very adept at making it, and it’s a lot of fun, but this year, my Great Grandmother will be joining us for the holiday—and we didn’t want to scare her off by the idea of Indian cuisine. So, we’re flipping New Year’s and Christmas around. Usually, Christmas is Indian food and New Year’s is a prime rib roast. This year, it’s the other way around.
Can you tell how much my family likes cooking, and food in general? Yeah, we spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
But that’s part of what makes us, us. We’re the Divine’s. We have our little traditions, most of which revolve around food, and that’s the way we like it.
You’d think it a wonder that we all stay as fit as we do, but remember, we’re also pretty fond of staying in shape.
What traditions do you and your families have, this time of year? I’d love to hear all about them!
[Merry Christmas]
{Rani D.}
P.S. Next week, since Christmas is on Monday and by Tuesday I might be a bit exhausted, I’m planning on posting my blogs on Wednesday and Friday. Next year we’ll get back to the normal schedule, promise. :) Thanks for understanding!

We write words

Today, my friends, we’ve reached the final episode of our series, Treat Yourself. Yeah, I know, there’s still a week and a half left of this month, this year, but I want to take the rest of that time to talk about other things. I have some more personal posts in mind, to help us get to know each other a little better.
For today, however, there’s one last thing I’d like you to do this month, to treat yourself and your writing.
Word-Vomit Day
(Doesn't that sound glamorous?!)
Now, I’m sure a lot of you already do this a few times in a month. It’s a good practice, a good habit to get into. If you’re not getting words on the page, you’re doing something wrong. So, make sure you take some time to just sit and write—no matter what you’re writing. It doesn’t really matter, honestly. Just vomit out some words onto the page.
Point is, this time of year gets so busy that sometimes we let things like writing slip through the cracks, which makes it even harder to get back into things in January. We want to make January as easy as possible. Seriously, sometimes it’s nearly worse than December, with how much we all have to get done. I know that, very well.
I also know that sometimes we struggle with word-vomit day, because we want to be writing something profound, something amazing, and nothing like that is coming to us. It’s all a mess, it’s all chaos, and we don’t want to write that because it’s hard to clean up later.
Yeah, I know how that goes too. I’ve been in that boat. I’m a little bit in it right now.
So I want to take today to tell you that it really doesn’t matter what you write, as long as you make sure you’re writing.
Whatever you need to write, make sure you take some time and work on it. If that means sitting down and writing your blog posts (like I am right now) or working on your novel, make sure you take some time for it.
This month, I know we all tend to be taking time for all sorts of other things. We spend time with family, we hang out with people we haven’t seen in a year, we take the time to shop and find gifts for those we love—but how often do we take some time for ourselves, for our passion, for the thing we love to do?
No matter how busy your month is, no matter how chaotic the end of the year becomes, I just want to encourage you to take some time to write.
Me, I’m baking tomorrow, and I plan on writing while cookies are in the oven.
There are always ways to find and make time for writing, even when you feel like you don’t have any time at all. Trust me, I know how busy December gets, especially as we get closer to Christmas. But I also know how much my writing tends to suffer if I don’t sit down and get some writing time in during this hectic month.
Pamper yourself, my friends. Pamper yourself and your passion.
Write on.
[Merry Christmas]
{Rani Divine}

Hit Google With All You Have

Well. Apparently Tuesday’s post went up and then came down and is now up again. I apologize for that. Not entirely sure what happened, but I’m trying to figure it out so I can make sure it never happens again.
For now… you’ve made it past the hump! Good for you! Me, I only barely made it… but today should be fun. We’ll see how it goes. There’s always so much to do, you know how it is.
That’s how I picked this month’s topic. I wanted to talk about something that we tend to forget about, this time of year. For me, and for a lot of the writers I know, writing (and everything to do with it) goes out the window during the month of December. There are so many other things going on this month that we generally have to push something to the backburner, and unfortunately, writing tends to be that thing. That’s what I’m trying to fight, with this series. And I have two topics left! Next week, our series ends with the final thing I want to remind you to do, before the holidays hit my house in full swing.
But for today…
Research Day
Yeah, I know, it’s not the most glamorous part of writing, but you know what? It can be one of the most fun parts, and it is the part that I can sit and do for an entire day, without realizing how much time I’ve spent on it. I love it. It’s also the part that can make you wonder if the FBI is watching you, because you’re researching how to kill people and get away with it… but we’ll leave that for another day.
Today, I want to remind you to take the time to do your research, even in one of the busiest months of the year. As a writer, it’s important that you know what you’re doing. You can’t just go off writing all willy-nilly. Find out the things you need to do. Do some research into the things you might need to know for your story. If it takes place on Earth, research the area where it’s taking place. If it takes place on a planet we know about, put the time in to research that planet (yes, I’ve done this).
Point is, you can’t just write. You need to know what you’re talking about. Both your writing and your readers will thank you for putting in this time and effort.
So, take some time to do the research.
Sit down in a quiet place, or maybe a loud one if you’re into that, and hit google with all you’ve got. Research, research, research.
Take notes, save your links, work with your outline and your edits to find out what else you might need to know, what you might need to check on, and put the time in. Don’t rush it: go slow, be methodical.
This is the one time when I am indeed suggesting that you take at least half a day for this. I don’t know about you, but once I start researching, I have a really hard time stopping—so make sure you have plenty of time, when you plan to do this.
But definitely make sure that you do it.
It’ll be a treat. It’ll be a lot of fun. And both you and your writing will benefit from it.
[love and Merry Christmas]
{Rani Divine}

Do the Works

Afternoon, everybody! This month, as you well know, we’re talking about ways to treat yourself and your writing this holiday season. I’m doing my best to take my own advice, too. Actually, this past Friday I (finally) finished reading World War Z, and now I’m knee deep in a reread of Dekker’s Adam. And I’ve gone to the store and people watched for a while—let me tell you, thatwas fun.
But for today, there’s something really important I want to talk to you about, a day that you should never ignore, whether you’re a seasoned vet or a newbie, whether you’re an outliner or a seat-of-your-pantser.
Editing/Outlining Day
Everybody’s gotta edit. Yes, I know "gotta" isn’t a word. Roll with me here.
Everybody’s also gotta outline, whether you’re an outliner or not.
So, take a day for it. I’ve given you both options, so if you’re in the middle of a work, you’ll take some time to outline what you have left, and if you’re at the end, you’ll take some time to refine what you’ve already done.
Especially during the holidays, it’s important that we don’t forget any of the steps involved with writing. There’s a lot we have to do, be it writing, reading, researching, outlining, or editing—and we cannot allow ourselves to let any of it go by the wayside, even during a time of year where we rarely have time for anything.
Treat yourself.
Take a day, or an afternoon, or just a couple hours, and do what needs doing. Treat your writing to what it needs. Sit down in a quiet room (or a loud one, if that’s your thing) and figure out where your story is going. Determine what’s really going on in the story, what you need, what you don’t need. If there’s editing that needs doing, do it. If you need to figure out what’s going on in the story, sit down and plot it out.
The point is, you can’t let this stuff slide, and if you set aside some time for it, you can have some fun with it. Play around with your story, figure out what you can and cannot do with it. There are a million options, so explore them. Try out a few different outlines, see if they suck or if they’d make your story better. Work out some editing kinks, see if you have any extra characters that could be cut out without altering the story (I’ll be honest with you, I’ve had a few of those in my day).
But, make sure you think of it as a treat. Don’t think of it as a chore you have to do, a thing that you don’t want to do but that you have to. Keep it in your head, that this is a treat. This is time you’re taking, during the holidays, to make sure you’re still doing the things your writing needs you to do.
Yeah, I’ll take a day this week. Pinky promise.
[love and merry Christmas!]
{Rani Divine}

Don't forget to read

Hey guys! How’s your week going? Hopefully it’s grand. I had a bunch of stuff going on on Monday, and now I have no idea what day of the week it is… but I think I’m still on track for everything. I hope.
And that’s what makes this month’s series so special, to me. Because it’s a list of ways that I can treat myself too—and yes, I will be taking part in all of them. In fact, I may take tomorrow for this one.
Number Two: Reading Day
Just like people watching, reading is a way for us to get better at what we do. It’s how we learn about craft, how we develop new ideas and come up with better ways to word and vary our sentences. If we’re not reading, that probably means our writing hasn’t changed in a very long time, and probably means people will be getting bored with our style by now. So! We’d better be reading then, shouldn’t we?
But December is one of the busiest months on the planet, and taking a full day to read isn’t always as easy as it sounds. So, that’s not what I’m asking you to do.
Remember, this month is all about ways to treat yourself.
So, I want you to make sure you treat yourself, and your writing, by taking a day and making sure you read. Otherwise, I know how it is. We don’t read when we get busy. Unfortunately, it’s frequently one of the first things that goes on the backburner. I don’t like that that happens, but sometimes there’s not much way around it.
Right now though, we’re still early in the month. This is the first full week of December. Now’s the time to make sure you fit in some good reading time. Take a day, and read every single chance you get. Read before you get ready in the morning, read on the bus on the way to work, read on your lunch break, and read when you’re done with dinner. Read every single chance you get—and take some notes while you’re at it.
That’s the thing a lot of us forget to do. We think of writing as a treat for us, but we forget that it’s also the way we get better at what we do.
So, take notes.
While you’re having your amazing writing day, write down a few things that you liked (or didn’t like) about the craft in the book your reading. Maybe there’s a sentence you absolutely love. Write that down, analyze why you like it so much. Or, maybe there’s a character who falls flat but stays in the story the whole time. Write that down too, and maybe try to pinpoint what you don’t like about them.
The point is, this day isn’t just about reading. It’s also about writing.
This month, let’s all take a day to read—and to get better at what we do, along the way.
[love and Merry Christmas]
{Rani Divine}

It's a Treat

Hey guys! It’s December! My favorite month of the year, despite how insanely busy it is. And I do mean insane. Sheesh. It’s just crazy, how much goes on this month, and I’m only five days in. How does this happen?
I love it, anyway.
So for this month, as per usual, I wanted to do something a little more fun. And since it’s the season of giving, it seemed appropriate to stay in that theme… giving. Treating… but you know what we often forget to do this month, in the season of giving?
We forget to treat ourselves.
This month, I’m talking about five things you can do to treat yourself and your writing, this holiday season.
Number one: People Watching Day
This is my favorite day of any given month, I swear. I just so enjoy people watching. It’s a great way to expand my craft, to get better at dialogue, to create more versatile and unique characters that are more like real people.
And that’s what I suggest you do, as well.
Take a day for yourself. Go out, get some air, maybe go do something you never do, maybe just go to the mall and sit on a bench—whatever it is, go somewhere and watch the people. Take notes, whether it be on paper, in your phone, or just in your head. Watch them, take note of the interesting things they do, the nice things they do, kind things, generous things, and then take note of the other stuff. Notice the rude people, watch the annoyed ones, look at them and think of them as characters in your book. Try to understand them.
It’s an exercise in the things we need to know, in order to write solid and interesting characters. Doing this is a way to grow yourself as a writer, and a way to treat yourself by getting out of the house. And it's also a way to remind yourself that story is out there, everywhere. Even in the busiest time of year, there's story to be found in everything.
Go get a coffee (or tea, if you’re like me), bundle up (if it’s cold where you are), and go watch the people. See what they’re up to. Take notes. Write down what you think you might possibly (or even remotely) be able to use for a character in a story you’re writing, and don’t forget it.
In fact, this is something I highly recommend doing once or twice a month. Remember earlier, when I mentioned people watching day? I actually do this, usually once a month. Even if it’s only taking an hour and sitting on a bench, watching and listening to the people. I make sure I do it. I do my research.
You should too. It’s a treat.
[love]
{Rani Divine}

Store It

Well, it’s happened. November is very nearly over, and we’re down to the final topic in our series. It’s so strange to me, that the year is already almost gone. It’s been an interesting year, a fun year, and a difficult year… but I’m not sure I’d say I’m ready to let it go. To that end, next month’s topic will be a lot of fun. I already have my topic figured out, my schedule determined. I think you’ll really like it.
For today, let’s talk about one last thing you can do to make sure your books are seen by the highest number of people, and that you are noticed as the amazing writer you are. One last question I want you to answer. One last thing I want you to think about.
How many stores are you in?
Remember, it’s not just about Barnes & Noble. Though BN is the biggest (actual) bookstore that’s left in the country, it’s not the only one where people shop. In fact, I know a lot of people who primarily shop at small bookstores, locally owned or independent bookstores, places where money is going to go to help the economy of their city rather than lining the pockets of yet another millionaire.
In order to be seen by those people, to be seen by as many people as possible, you need to be in the most stores possible.
Consignment is not the enemy. I know some of you are thinking that you’d rather be making a full profit than having to deal with consignment rates, having to work with stores that might not have the best records possible, but the thing is, there are people shopping in those stores. Even if you’re not making as much money off the books as you could be, you’re still getting your book into people’s hands. Local people will see it. They’ll see that you’re an author based out of their city, their state, and that’s something really cool. People like to support locals, no matter where in the States they’re from. New Mexicans support New Mexicans. Alabamans support Alabamans. That’s just how it goes.
What you have to do is make sure you’re in the line of sight of as many of those people as possible. So, don’t just get your book onto Amazon and into Barnes & Noble and call it good. Get into the local stores. Put your books on the shelves of the little shops downtown. Get into places where your books can be seen by people's eyes, touched by their hands, where people you might not be able to reach any other way will finally see your book and realize how great an author you are.
There are millions of potential readers out there. All you have to do is get your book in their sights.
So do that, in as many possible ways you can.
Get seen. Be read.
That’s what we’re all going for, in the end.
[love]
{Rani D.}

In Review

Hey everybody! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and got some of your holiday shopping out of the way. Me, I’m pretty much done with my shopping—and I’m under budget! Seriously, online shopping is amazing. Cyber Monday deals saved me a ton. But I’m not here to be a commercial.
I’m here to talk to you about things we could be doing better, to get more people interested in us and our work.
Here’s a question for you: How many reviews do you have?
This one’s actually been really hard for me. I’ve had a bunch of people tell me how much they loved my books, I’ve spoken to dozens and dozens of people at events, all of whom say they couldn’t put my books down, but trying to get them to leave reviews on Goodreads or Amazon has been like pulling teeth. It just hasn’t been working.
But reviews are a big part of sales. If you hadn’t noticed that, then you probably haven’t been in the game very long.
For starters, it’s important to make sure everyone you know, your friends and family, read the book and leave reviews. That’ll at least give you a nice springboard start on reviews. Ask those people, the people you love, to leave only four and five star reviews. If they didn’t like it, ask them not to review it. There’s nothing wrong with that, even if Amazon tries to tell you there is. You can’t pay people for reviews, no, but you can talk to people you know about leaving them.
Unfortunately, sometimes that’s not so easy either. So, then what do we do?
Well, then we have to rely on other people who have purchased and read the book. There are possibilities. You could run contests, where anyone who leaves (or has left) a review will be entered to win something special from you. Or, put a little note in the back of the book to ask your customers to leave a review once they’ve finished reading.
The two primary places where you should be getting reviews is Amazon and Goodreads—and yes, they’re technically the same company. But they’re also where the most people go to find reviews on books. It’s where we turn to find out what books we might like to read next. So, put little incentives on these places. Maybe try different contests for different places where reviews are left, or start sending out responses to every review that is left on your books. You could also try to contact everyone who’s purchased the book, and thank them for their support. This one is, of course, a little more difficult to manage if you’re only selling eBooks, but you get my point.
Do something to incentivize. Get people interested. Be involved with them. Because even if your work is some of the most amazing work known to mankind, if people aren’t leaving reviews, other people will never know how good the books are.
That’s just the way it is, unfortunately. Let's work on it together, shall we?
[love]
{Rani Divine}
P.S. If you have read one of my books and loved it, I would so appreciate you leaving me a review on one of these sites! Send me a message here or on Facebook if you do—I'd love to hear from you :)

Thankful

It’s Thanksgiving!
And rather than take up your time with things that you could be doing to better your presence and get yourself a bigger following online… I thought we should just focus on the holiday.
I’ll be real honest with you, guys, I wrote this post a few days ago. I didn’t want to have to get online on Thanksgiving, break away from my day with my family, and I won’t blame you if you do the same. I don’t generally even check my computer, when it’s a holiday. And I usually disappear for a little bit, around Christmas.
But what I wanted to do today, this Thanksgiving, is very simple.
You know that “game,” where everyone says something they’re thankful for, after eating dinner on Thanksgiving Day?
Well, I’d like to tell you what I’m thankful for. A top five, really, because I’m thankful for a whole lot of things.
I’m thankful for you
All of you, the people reading this blog for the first time and those who’ve been reading me since the beginning. I’m thankful that you enjoy the words I write, that you find interest in seeing what I’m up to and that you listen to the things I have to say (whether you agree with them or not). I’m thankful that you’re a part of Too Many Books to Count, and that you’re reading this, right now. Whether you’re reading it on Thanksgiving or two years later, on Easter.
I’m thankful for RAD Writing
They’re the company I work for, yes, but they’re more than that. They’re my family, in a way. They’re the ones who stand behind me and every work I’ve released, the ones who’ve pushed me to keep publishing my books even when I feel like editing another word might make me go bonkers. I’m thankful for them, for believing in me, and for trusting me with so many new responsibilities this year.
I’m thankful for Telekinetic
It’s the book that started it all, the novel I wrote in an English class in college, the novel that sparked from a dream I had about a boy I had a crush on at the time. And even though I don’t really like the book, even though I personally feel that the story needs some tweaking to really make it something special, I’m still thankful for it. If I hadn’t published it, way back when, I probably wouldn’t have published anything at all.
I’m thankful for my family and friends
They’re my biggest fans. Karen, Ali, Anthony, Julie, Christy, Nicole, Tammy, Dave, Devon, Andrew, Casey, Faye, David, Melissa, Ashley, Fred, Eric, and all the ones I’m not thinking straight enough to write the names of… they’re awesome people, and a great encouragement to me. We're all for each other, no matter what else might be going on around us. They’re all a huge part of my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’m thankful for stories
Of course I am, right? But it’s true. I’m so thankful for stories, for the ideas that pop into my head on a moment’s notice and take me spiraling down the rabbit hole into a new world, a new way of life. I’m thankful that the stories have never stopped coming, and that they never will.
Most of all though, I’m thankful that I have the honor of sharing my stories with all of you. It’s been an honor. Truly.
[love and thanks]
{Rani Divine}

Are you out there?

Hey guys! I hope your weeks are going well. Me, I’m just hoping I get everything done this week. Holidays really throw off the schedule, you know? Especially ones on weekdays. Thanksgiving is great fun though, and I’m really looking forward to it… it’d just be nicer if I had some extra time beforehand, to get my work done.
Awesome stuff coming your way starting Black Friday, by the way. Be sure to sign up for emails from RAD, if you want to be kept in the loop.
All this month, we’ve been talking about ways to expand our markets. How do we get fans, followings, which we can turn into sales? I swear it’s the hardest part of being an author, sometimes.
So, how often are you online?
With the way social media works these days, the more you post and the more people who like your posts, the better chance you have of being seen in the market. People like to follow pages who post things all the time, but we also like to follow pages who post relevant things, all the time, so it can’t just be drivel. We get enough of that from ads, am I right?
All right, so we have to be online all the time, and posting as often as we can on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, what have you… but how do we do that without spending all our time on social media instead of writing? How do we look like we’re online without actually being online?
Allow me to introduce you to scheduling. Also, programs like Hootsuite can be beneficial.
I actually need to get better at doing this… but my biggest problem is trying to think of what to post. Which, really, is the struggle a lot of us have.
Okay, so I’ll use RAD as an example. They post on social media five days a week. Monday-Friday, they post something. They’re also pretty good about responding to messages and comments on Facebook, within a few hours at most.
But RAD has things they can post. They talk about the items in their store and the newer features on the site, they share information on writing and post their blogs on Fridays… what if we don’t have all that?
Easy. Find some videos. Some images. Anything you can share that is relevant to what you’re doing. Things that will help garner you a bigger following, but a following which you can turn into a sales list. A group of people who follow you because you continually post old George Takei links probably aren’t going to buy what you’re selling. They just want to see what George posted a few years ago.
Scour YouTube. Do a Google search. There’s plenty of material out there, just waiting to be found and used by you.
And me.
Because yeah, I need to get better at this, too. A lot better.
Notice how most of what I post online lately is from my blog? Yeah… that happens during editing season, and I don’t want that to be the case anymore.
[love]
{Rani Divine}