Dianne Bates's Blog, page 15

WHEN WRITERS RESIGN

Most jobs in life are noted for their sameness - you do the same thing day after day, week after week, or things go in cycles but are usually predictable. While many people declare they hate their jobs (95% according to a recent survey), they would probably say what they hate is the boredom and sameness. Yet, paradoxically, this is the very reason why they don't quit. Sameness is safe, predictable, secure. You work your hours and you go home at the end of the week with a nice pay-check that pays the bills and buys food.

Writing? Never the same. Just because one story or novel worked out well, that's no guarantee that the next one will be easier, or even work at all. If you write the same story over and over, the critics will lay into you and you'll be labelled unadventurous or boring or predictable. If the new book is deemed of a lesser quality than the previous, you'll get it in the neck for that too.

Money comes and goes. Usually, it goes. Last year's bestseller is this year's remainder, and that healthy royalty cheque dwindles alarmingly, so that you start to think about going back to waitressing or driving taxis.

You are told you need to have a platform, a website, to engage in social media and market yourself, but that seems like a waste of good writing time, or it sucks up too much energy. It becomes another procrastination tool.
Or you decide to start teaching writing, and eventually (or soon) discover that it sucks away your creativity and energy, and it’s depressing to see how many people think they want to be writers.

Output surges and dies. One year you produce three books, the next year(s) you strike a story that just won't work and several years later you have to abandon it. No product, no sales, no advances, no royalties.
The exciting flush of the first draft dies under rewrite after rewrite after rewrite. Your agent stops answering your calls. But you have to keep writing. What else can you do?

No one is knocking on your door, begging for your latest manuscript. No one cares much whether you write or not. Your mother keeps hinting that you should get a real job.

Depressed yet?

Maybe, but it comes with the “job” and learning how to deal with it or work through it is a crucial part of being a writer. There are times when I yearn after my old waitressing job (except now I'm such a cranky person I'd probably be a reincarnation of Carla from 'Cheers', only worse).

Actually, you can stop. Mostly, writing is a job like any other, so you can resign. I've known several writers who have written three or four novels, then gone off to do something else. I've known talented writers who decided it was all too hard. Some people go back to writing just for the enjoyment and decide they will never send anything out again.

What keeps me going? The lure and promise of the story idea not yet written, the vision of the story that haunts me for several years until I just have to write it no matter what, the high that comes from having written, the way in which my own words can surprise me at times as if it wasn't really me who wrote them ... there are many reasons not to give up, and they are all to do with writing. Not with getting published.

What keeps you going? Is it the drive to tell a meaningful story, or record life? Is it a love of language? As writers, like any artists, we are driven to create. Eric Maisel’s books often discuss creativity and how to decide “what matters”, especially when you are feeling overwhelmed by all the parts of your life that are NOT writing. He also talks about how those who do not feel the need to create don’t really understand it, or how it feels. Take heart! Follow your passion, create so you feel alive. Know that hard work will help you achieve your dreams more than anything. © Sherryl Clark
 

WELCOME TO THE LITERACY LADDER by Australian author Donna Smith

Good morning Di, thank you for inviting me along today.
Q. What is the Literacy Ladder reading series?  

Donna: Literacy Ladder is a reading program by the Victorian College of Literacy Arts, that I am delighted to be apart of.  The Literacy Ladder program has several facets to it including The Literacy Ladder Reader Series© consisting of  ‘Ready’ (Yellow: Prep- Grade 1), ‘Set’ (Green: Grade 1-3) and ‘Go (Gold Star: Grade 3-5) readers for children within the normal range of reading and comprehension development.  
 
The Literacy Ladder Enhanced Reading Program© is especially designed for children in Prep to Grade 3 who are participating in a literacy intervention program.   The program focuses on specific areas of literacy development, speech and sound and comprehension to develop solid foundation skills to enhance their literacy abilities.  The roll out phase is currently underway and will continue over the next three years.   The Literacy Ladder Reader series has several contracted titles by various authors within the Ready, Set, Go levels.
 
Q: Can you tell the readers about your book Jazmine Montgomery Toy Detective: The Magic Glasses? Is it a part of the Literacy Ladder series?
 
Donna: Jazmine Montgomery – Toy Detective ‘The Magic Glasses’ is the first in this exciting new series.  Yes, the Literacy Ladder ‘Green’ box is located on the back cover of the book.  The target audience is Grade 1-3.
 
Q: Where did you get the idea for the Jazmine Montgomery story?
 
Donna: Jazmine Montgomery, the character is based on my daughter Jazmine (who is twelve in a couple of weeks), Jazmine has a wonderful ability to see the magic in everything around her. I just love that.  Jazmine also loves games, puzzles and mystery challenges, the toy detective just happened to come to me one day when she was going a puzzle.  At the time Jaz was young, as I write the story a few years ago.
 
Q: Who designs and illustrates your books?
Donna: My books have been illustrated by various artists.  Matthew Shires painted the beautiful cover of Delightfully Haiku, Aaron Pocock illustrated A Christmas Tail, a picture book co-authored with Helen Ross and released earlier this year and Sharyn Madder illustrated Jazmine Montgomery – Toy Detective ‘The Magic Glasses.’ 
 
Artists have their own style and different styles are suited to different projects.  Matthew Shires was chosen for Delightfully Haiku because he had recently spent time living in Japan and captured the essence of Japanese culture in his painting.  Aaron Pocock was chosen by Helen and I because we wanted a timeless, English feel to the illustrations and Aaron’s samples showed that quality.  
 
Sharyn was chosen for the Jazmine Montgomery series due to her ability to produce illustrations which matched my vision so accurately.  I loved her samples and found they were very detailed.
 
Q: What is Sally Odger’s role in your publishing house?
 
Donna:  Sally has been my writing mentor for some years and provides MS assessments for all of my stories followed by editing.  Sally is wonderful to work with, she is very patient with my ‘backward sentences’, generously shares her writing knowledge with me and genuinely has a love to help others in their writing ability and is very easy to approach for advice.  Sally plays a big role in the Jelli- Beanz Publishing house!
 
Jazmine Montgomery and Yapps will be sharing their next case file mid 2014, keep your eyes out for that. 
 
You can follow along all of the updates at the Jelli-Beanz Publishing blog site www.jellibeanzpublishing.com  and
facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Jellibeanzpublishing
 
My personal blog site http://donnamsmithauthor.wordpress.com/
I post lots of updates and specials on my blog.  There are also details of my other books there too.
 
Thank you Di for inviting me along today.
 
 
 
 
 

WHY PEOPLE BUY BOOKS

People in the publishing industry are always interested to know what influences a consumer’s book buying decision. More responses bear a common threat and many tend to include the following key topics: cover design, book blurb, positive reviews and book awards.


Recently 200 people attending a festival in Chicago, USA, were polled. They included librarians, teachers and parents who were asked to state, in order of priority, the most important factors they consider when selecting a book. The results concluded that the following were most important in book selection: #1 - Awards
#2 - Reviews
#3 - Cover
#4 – Blurb Asked if they were likely to chose a book with an award seal on the cover of a non-award winning book, 87% of the time,consumers said they would chose the award-winning book. This seems to be right. When my junior verse novel, Nobody’s Boy was awarded a 2013 CBCA  Notable sticker, sales spiked so much the publisher (Celapene Press) was  forced to reprint the book.  Ninety seven percent of those surveyed said that a favourable review printed on the front, back or inside of a book affected their decision to buy. When asked their views on cover design, 73% admitted they take the book’s appearance into consideration when considering a purchase. When asked if they would still purchase a book even if they particularly didn’t like the cover, 19% admitted they might not. Next, asked if awards and favourable reviewsWhen asked if awards and favourable reviews might change their mind about mind about purchasing a book with a cover they did not find appealing 82% stated they might be included to change their mind and purchase a book despite the cover, provided  the book had won an award or had a favourable review. A startling 21% of people responding to the poll admitted to never reading the book's blurb.  It is surprising many respondents actually selected a book entirely based upon appearance along with the recommendations of others through awards and reviews.      

PAINSTAKING VS PROLIFIC – HOW FAST DO YOU WRITE?

Every time I do a school visit, I inevitably get asked, "How long does it take you to write a book?" It's a fair question, but the answer is, "How long is a piece of string?" It's different for every book, and it can also depend on whether someone is waiting for it (i.e. a commissioned work). People often say, "Gee, you're so prolific", which can feel like a criticism, but I loved to hear about Monet and how he would paint all day and complete 8 or 9 works in that time.

It's all practice. Some practice takes longer. Some things take longer to learn. Some books take longer to "get right". Plus, I write chapter books as well as novels, so a chapter book might only be 2000 words. Ray Bradbury used to write a short story a week - some of his writing advice includes 'Don’t start out writing novels. They take too long. Begin your writing life instead by cranking out “a hell of a lot of short stories,” as many as one per week. Take a year to do it; it simply isn’t possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.'

It's the same with picture books and chapter books. Write a picture book or a chapter book every week for a year and you're sure to come up with a few gems! In order to do that, you'll need a list of ideas. Bradbury is also famous for writing a huge list of words and then writing a story about each one. (Read Zen in the Art of Writing where he describes this.)

What about novels? John Creasey, who wrote 564 books, said, 'How many words a day do I write? Between six and seven thousand. And how many hours does that take? Three on a good day, as high as thirteen on a bad one.' Wow. Georges Simenon wrote 75 novels and 28 short stories about his detective character, Maigret. Simenon also wrote around 300 other novels and novellas, plus pulp fiction (under more than two dozen pseudonyms) and nonfiction. He was apparently able to write a novel in just a few days, but The Guardianhas a quote from him that made me wonder what drove him: "Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness." Hmmm.

Right now, I'm back writing my two pages (or 30 minutes) minimum per day. It works. On bad days, I make sure I do the minimum; on good days I write more. Earlier this year, because I was writing a novel for my fourth semester at Hamline's MFAC program, this routine led to me finishing a 66,000 word YA novel. I didn't plot this one out beforehand so it was like writing in the dark – nerve-wracking. There were many days when I sat with no idea what would come next. But the 30 minutes minimum kept me at it.

Revision is different. I can spend two hours on the same pages it took me 30 minutes to write! But I also think other aspects tie into whether you are prolific or painstaking. (Painstaking to me is four years on one book.) One is simply typing speed. In high school I took typing as a subject instead of biology. I still have no desire to cut up frogs, but I type fast. Another is to do with plotting. I think if you know where you are going you will write faster and write more (feel free to disagree).

Another is to do with style and language. I suspect that literary writers take a lot longer to write - they are painstaking about language and sentences. Or maybe they need more thinking time? I love to be swept along by my characters and the story, but then my second and third and further drafts have to slow down and focus more on filling in the details.
And in answer to the school visit question? The Littlest Pirate in a Pickle (1600 words) took me a week, mainly because I woke up with the whole story in my head. That was a gift, whereas Pirate X took me ten years. It started out as a 120,000 word first draft, by Draft 5 it was down to 85,000 words, and when it was finally published, it was 62,000 words. It was only my passion for the story that kept me at it; around the fourth year, a vicious critique almost killed it for me.

So whether you're prolific or painstaking, the only thing that will get you to The End is perseverance. The pleasure in being prolific is that you get there faster!
© Sherryl Clark
 
Sherryl has written more than 55 children's and YA books, and also teaches writing and critiques manuscripts. Her website for writers is at www.ebooks4writers.com and her critique information is at www.sherrylclarkwritingcoach.com

Steph Bowe's Hey! Teenager of the Year: Steph vs Democracy

Steph Bowe's Hey! Teenager of the Year: Steph vs Democracy

DESTINY ROAD by Melissa Wray

Writing for Children is happy to welcome Australian author Melissa Wray. Melissa's book, Destiny Road (Morris Publishing Australia), has been described as "intense" by Amazonreviewers.
 
Welcome, Melissa! What's your book about?
Destiny Road is my first published novel and I am very proud of it. The story is about Jessica who is 16 when she meets her father for the first time. She then makes the heartbreaking decision to leave her mum to live with her dad and get to know him better.

Jessica is an average teenage girl. She has lived her entire life with her mother and never worried about the fact her father wasn’t around. It’s not until she meets him that she starts to question her life, rather than just accept what is.

I like that Jessica goes on this journey of discovery about herself. But what I really like is through Jessica, you get to go on different journeys with the other characters in the story. It’s not just about Jessica. I want the reader to identify with her though and the decision she made and stuck with. No matter how hard it was to leave her mum she knew it was the right choice for her. In life we have to make tough choices sometimes.

What inspired you to write it?
The idea for the story came from when I was 16 because I made the same decision, to live with my father for the first time. Unlike Jessica I had known him all my life but my parents divorced when I was young. I was never able to say thank you to him for saying yes when I asked to live with him. He passed away several years ago and it has always bothered me that I could not get those words out before he died. Now, with Destiny Road, I feel like I have said them, so hopefully he knows.
 
Who's your publisher? Tell us your story-- how'd you come to be a published author?
I have been extremely lucky with my road to publication. I saw a competition to win a publishing contract with Morris Publishing Australia. It was just good timing that the competition came up when I had finished polishing the story. Also my maiden name is Morris so I thought the coincidence too much too ignore! I could not believe it when it was accepted. For the record, I have submitted other stories elsewhere without luck and received the dreaded rejection notes

You can read the first chapter for free.
http://www.morrispublishingaustralia.com/destiny-road.html


Are you a full-time writer or do you have a "day job"? What do you do in your "day job"?
I am the proud mum of two children. Master 7 and Miss 5, who keep me busy and entertained. I have been a primary school teacher for over 14 years and work around the kids schedules when I can. I love teaching and I am so lucky to have it for my career.

Writing started off as hobby for me. It was a way to remove myself from parental responsibilities and creep into my own creative world. Now it is part of my daily life and I can’t imagine not writing stories.
 
Why YA as opposed to some other genre?
It was around six years ago that I decided to complete a Professional Writing course. I had thought about it for a while but the timing was not right up until then. I started a Certificate of Children’s Writing, six months after I had my first child. I naively thought I would have a lot of time on my hands! Originally my intended audience was for a middle-aged reader but funnily enough I seemed to have found my voice in the Young Adult genre. Probably because I love YA books.

Visit Melissa at her blog Dream Big … Read Often. www.melissawray.blogspot.com.au

For a peek at the Destiny Road book trailer go to; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqNa07GVUtw

Goodreads. Add Melissa as a friend.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6465945.Melissa_Wray

Facebook. Like the Destiny Road page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Destiny-Road-By-Melissa-Wray/407031252661034?ref=hl

Thanks for joining me on Writing for Children blog, Melissa. Best of luck with Destiny Road!  

WRITING ACROSS MULTIPLE GENRES

A long while ago I decided that I wanted to be a full-time writer. (I love the lifestyle, of not having a boss or having to commute or working regular hours). To achieve my goal I needed to treat writing as a full-time occupation, and to do this I needed to diversify and to be flexible. For a long time I took on whatever writing work I could, which included presenting publishing proposals and taking on writing commissions, usually for educational publishers. This meant writing fiction and non-fiction and writing in multiple genres. It meant writing every day, usually seven days a week while supplementing my income through schools’ performances and teaching writing. For the past 15 years I’ve made a living solely from writing (as has my husband, Bill), much of our income being supplemented by Lending Rights and CAL payments.
I would love to be a ‘branded’ author with a single publisher as this means increased sales when the author’s latest title results in backsales of previous titles. However, editors in publishing houses with whom I’ve established a relationship, have frequently moved to other publishing houses. Often one of my existing publishers doesn’t publish the genre in which I’ve written, or they haven’t wanted a subsequent title.
Crossing genres hasn’t created many problems for me. Of course I’ve been branded with the ‘too prolific’ tag, but that doesn’t particularly bother me. (A few prolific authors I know write under pseudonyms to avoid the stigma; one, for example, has won many CBCA awards.)
There is always a market for one’s manuscript, if the work is good enough for publication. It’s really a matter of finding the right publisher, not always an easy thing to do. For instance, for the past ten years or more I have looking for a publisher for my non-fiction series about amazing dogs, cats and horses; I know the work is publishable, and know that eventually it will find a publisher. One of my books was accepted by the 32nd publisher to whom I sent it! Another book, a YA novel, was taken by the 15thpublisher and went on to sell overseas and to be short-listed in a state literary award.
If you want to succeed as an author you need a thick skin, incredible self-belief and determination, you need to be market savvy and100% professional. More than anything, though, you need to be persistent! [image error]

THE PRINCESS AND THE PIRATE by Royce Bond

The Princess and The Pirate – Book one of The Knights of Katesch
Published by Morris Publishing Australia www.morrispublishingaustralia.com Available from your local bookstore Signed copy available from the MPA website Royce Bond’s new sci fi/fantasy novel The Princess and the Pirate is a swashbuckling adventure of a Pirate, a Princess and their followers as they fight to save the universe from evil forces. It is the first book in a series called The Knights of Katesch.    Synopsis: These are the chronicles of the Knights of Katesch, who for time out of memory have fought the wizard Maligor, across all the dimensions of the known universe.  After the death of her mother Hibana, one of the famed Knights of Katesch, at the hands of a Kladath assassin, Princess Hepzebah faces the fight of her life. As the new queen, she has inherited her mother's powers. The space pirate Captain Sergio runs the blockade to bring an unearthly army to fight the last battle against Maligor's hordes. He has plans for this young queen, but his plans are hijacked and they are thrust into an inter-dimensional battle for the future of the known universe.     Author Interview:   About your novel: Q.  Have you had worked previously published?   Yes, I have had 3 children’s science books, and 8 teacher reference books published, as well as dozens of magazine and newspaper articles. Q. Have you won any awards?I was the first Queenslander and the first teacher from the bush to win the National B.H.P./C.S.I.R.O. Science Teacher’s Award.  Q. Describe your book The Princess and the Pirate in five words or less. a) exciting b) action packed c) fantasy d) fiction

Q.  How did the ideas for your book come to you? I tend to day dream a lot. I also watch a lot of sci-fi television and movies. I am a medieval re-enactor and I love “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “The Lord of the Ring.” I have built a small medieval room under my house where I write. So when you put all of this together ideas just flow.  Q. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? When evil seems to be winning there is always hope. Eventually it will be defeated, but often not in the way that most people think. Q.. Why did you choose to write in this genre? I have always been fascinated with make-believe, so this easily led me into fantasy writing. From the ages of 7 to 21 years, I worked on market gardens. This work doesn’t require much brain power, so I would spend whole days daydreaming. Then when I had time off, I continued with this habit. My parents were movie buffs. They didn’t own a television when I was young, but we went to the drive-in movies almost every Saturday night as a family. So my youth was a mixture of day dreaming, make believe and movies. I became addicted in my late teens to science fiction, especially stories that combined with fantasy. So with this background, fantasy/sci fi is the only genre I could really write in, as almost my whole life has been immersed in it.
Q. Does the life of your main character parallel with yours in any way? In many ways, he is. Sergio is a character that most people don’t understand, and I seem to be the same. He is extremely loyal and willing to sacrifice himself for a higher cause. He fell in love with Hepzebah the moment he saw her. I fell in love with my wife within about a minute of seeing her in a youth group. Ten days later, I wrote a poem proposing to her. I gave it to her a week or so after that. We have now been married for 33 years. Sergio is a swordsman and he throws axes. I do the same. He also likes adventures and often gets into dangerous situations. When I was young I used to canoe down rapids, and my most memorable time was when a few friends and I attempted rapids in the middle of a cyclone.  Q. Did you have the manuscript professionally edited before it went to the publisher? I am a part of a fantastic writing group. We come together once a week and read our latest chapters to one another. Each person in the group then makes editorial comments about that chapter. So I have had each chapter of my books edited by at least 7 other highly skilled writers. Thanks for asking me to visit. I hope I can inspire others to pursue their dream of becoming an author. Best wishes, Royce. he Princess and the Pirate is available from your local bookstore. Signed copies 
'Comment on this post and go in the draw for a free signed copy.'