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“Writer’s Block” is a mythical creature that gets blamed for everything from not starting projects or finishing projects, to not getting edits completed. It’s an excuse for another glass of wine or five more minutes (hours) on Pinterest.

Many pros will tell you that it doesn’t exist. It’s seen only by virgin writers who believe in it. Special Snowflakes with artistic temperaments and fae-touched vision.

Be that as it may, what’s real is resistance. “Resistance” is a psychological term, which, when used in therapy or analysis, implied that the client is resistant to change or resistant to confronting an issue. Normally, this also implies that there is a deeper issue which must be tackled to overcome what is now a road-block or plateau in therapy.

I am using it in a similar fashion. When an author claims writer’s block, what they’re really saying is more often “I’m tired,” “I’m bored,” “I’m scared,” “I’m frustrated,” “I’m depressed,” “I’m in trouble,” or even, “I don’t actually want to be a creative person, but I’ve been saying it so long that I’m ashamed to let go of it,” or “This is harder than I thought.”

And what they want is attention, tea and cookies, and someone to gossip with or bounce ideas off.

You may see yourself here. But now you know that there is a deeper reason that you aren’t writing; you need to find out what that is. You’re not a fae-touched Special Snowflake, you are a writer. You want to fix this, and be a professional.

It’s all well and good for pros to say “just do it,” but if you’re tired and cranky and depressed, then there’s something else that needs to be dealt with.

So how does you deal with those issues? If you’re tired, in a physical sense, take a fifteen minute nap or meditate for fifteen minutes, then sit down and write something. (Even if that something is “why naps are beautiful.”)

If you’re bored, try Write or Die. Set it to the automatic erase level and write for five minutes. If you stop typing, the program starts eating what you’ve written. Or challenge yourself by moseying over to Chuck Wendig‘s blog and checking out one of his challenges. Then, when you’ve done that, work on your main project again.

If you’re grieving, dealing with a major stressor, in the middle of a depressive spin, or even just have the flu, that’s okay. Deal with those problems. The writing will come back. Make yourself well. Or find a way to work around it. Drag a journal into the bed with you. Burrito on the couch for awhile. Call your therapist and talk it out. Use whatever coping techniques you need. Just believe that the writing will come back. Maybe not tonight or tomorrow, but some day. I’m going to get metaphysical for a moment: the writing is part of you and it cannot be destroyed — only changed by circumstances. Maybe you don’t write fluffy humor stories anymore, that’s fine. Change direction.

I went for nearly year without a new project or finishing an old one. For me this is a big deal. (I do three-day binge writing, and otherwise produce copious amounts of words, even if no one reads them.) It wasn’t until I discovered a physical issue and fixed it that anything got done. I still go through phases when I’m not feeling well where I don’t even answer email. It’s okay. It happens.

If you’ve decided that you don’t want to be a pro writer, that’s okay. I give you permission to walk away. Feel free to keep reading about writing and publishing. Just stop beating yourself up for not writing. Be a reader instead. If you keep focussing on something you now hate, you’ll never find the thing you love. And love is much better for you than hate. So try something else creative — painting, crafting, photography. Find something you love.

If you’re thinking “this is hard,” you’re right. Writing is hard work. Publishing can be gruelling. Dealing with editing or negative reviews or market indifference can leave you feeling like a newly shorn sheep. Suck it up, Buttercup. If  this career is what you want, learn to cope.

Resistance is real. Don’t let it stop you. I believe in you.

Crossposted at The Art of Procrastination.

I always forget that there are new people entering the writing world who don’t research the Hell out of publishing before they aim for a publishing contract. They don’t even make themselves familiar with how publishing works. This was brought strongly to my attention when an acquaintance was pointed in my direction. She was having editor issues. (Not the first, surely not the last.)

I asked the question “which publisher are you with?” for purely selfish reasons. I always want to know who to avoid. She gave me a name which I googled while I was on the phone with her.

“Oh, you’re self-publishing?” I winced at this point because I recognized an infamous name associated with her publisher. She wasn’t aware of the fact that she was 1) with Author Solutions 2) Self-publishing 3) being sadly and utterly screwed by not knowing how to write a query and 4) didn’t know how to find a publisher in her genre. (I realize my parallel construction has been wrecked in this paragraph, but moving on…)

She didn’t know the main rule: “Money flows toward the writer.” She signed a contract and paid a lot of money to get a publishing contract.

Now, I have opinions about vanity presses, which I will now hereby separate from self-publishing. In general, vanity presses are scams.

There is nothing wrong with paying an editor to edit your work prior to self-publishing.

There is no reason not to hire someone to create your cover if you don’t feel your art skills are up to it.

Hire a marketer or layout artist.

Heck, find an off-set printer to who will do all the above for you.

But MAKE SURE they follow through on their promises. Research is your friend.

Always check Writer Beware. Google the company. (It took me less than 15 seconds to find warnings on the above referenced publisher.)

Vanity Presses don’t always follow through. Those related to Author Solutions? Oh, they are a danger. Red flags all over the place. Author Solutions hides under the skirts of other publishing houses. They upsell and upsell and provide crappy products on the back end. (At least by everything I have found on them.) They’re dangerous and they’re in the middle of a lawsuit for breach of contract and more. The lawsuit is pressing to be turned into a class action suit, but this is still in litigation.

So rule of thumb:

1) Genuine publishers do not ask you for money after accepting your query.

2) Publishers pay editors.

3) Publishers pay for cover-artists.

4) Publishers pay printers.

5) Publishers pay distributors.

If you are self-publishing:

1) Research distribution channels! Amazon is not the only one.

2) You pay for the editor.

3) You pay for cover art.

4) You pay for printing.

Bottom Line:

Before paying for *any* service, research the company. 

RESOURCES:
Writer Beware
The Author Solutions Case

Crossposted at: The Art of Procrastination

Check out this excellent post on the science of love and romance.

It’s Everyone’s Favorite Holiday! – J M Beal.

via It's Everyone's Favorite Holiday! – J M Beal.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – FDR

True enough, since fear is the basis for almost everything we do. Fear reactions.

This post is going to be a little meta, but hopefully not too rant-filled.

“Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to Hate. Hate leads to the Dark Side.” – Yoda

Master Yoda is getting closer to the heart of the matter. I have a background in psychology. This gem of Jedi wisdom is very close to some of the things I used to talk about with the women in the group therapy for whom I was the assistant leader.. (We also discussed the biology and psychology of addiction, but that’s a different post.)

Humans, when they are scared — for whatever reason –, produce adrenaline. This is what increases your pulse, widens your eyes, speeds your breathing, and sharpens your processing of everything around you. Your body sends blood to the muscles that need it most. You are ready to run or fight. This is the basic physical response to anxiety.  It is not something conscious.

What is conscious, is our reaction to this stimulation. Our fear receptors are activated. Our conscious mind analyzes the environment and decides that we are clear to stand down because it was just a popping balloon. We might even laugh it off or smile at the over-reaction. Or it decides that we need to run — RIGHT FRACKING NOW — because that was a gun-shot and we need to be under cover. Or it decides that we need to run straight at that knife-wielding idiot because he is threatening our child and we’ll be damned if we’re not going to take him down now while he’s startled at our violent response. This decision is in a fraction of an instant for most people. (Though many people state that the perception of time slows down in these high-stress situations.)

But what happens when the fear is not something we can physically see or react to? What if the fear is being drummed up by a media story, or a random firing of our own brain? What if it’s a low-grade fear that we’re going to lose the one thing most precious to us? What then?

This is also the gnawing fear of self-doubt. The crippling sense that we’re not good enough. That what we’ve produced is not good enough.

What happens then? Then, the fear turns into poison. It nibbles at the back of your brain in a little voice. And that little irritation is a constantly running zip of adrenaline. We don’t even notice it anymore, until our body, which is primed for action, says we need to act. But our conscious brain looks around and says, well, there’s nothing happening right now. But George just left my cube after talking about the project. I must be upset.

But we don’t interpret it as fear. We’re not afraid of George after all. Maybe we’re afraid he’ll go to the boss, or he’ll railroad the project into the ground. So we defend ourselves mentally. We’re angry. We’re angry that George is going to scuttle all of our hard work. God damn that man. He is always getting in the frelling way. He never listens to anything.

I HATE THAT MoFo.

Or not. Maybe I’m just cranky because I’m scared from something else. I’m scared that I’ve screwed up everything and now everyone’s going to know. I always frack up things. I’m a piece of trash and I know it. I HATE MYSELF.

Every time we hear a report about bad things happening in our area, we get scared. We attend to media — in all of its forms — because that media helps us protect ourselves. So what happens when the message we get from that media is that extremists (who are scared of difference) are fighting? We internalize the fear that those extremists who hate what we love are going to come for us. We hype up the need to fight against them. We HATE them because they are going to come after us for what we believe. And we are right!

But what if we aren’t? A little voice whispering, tremulous, in the back of our minds asks us, “what if they’re right and we’re wrong?” And we build up that little fear until it’s hidden under righteous anger. We’re right — they’re wrong!

And we build our barricade of FEAR.

There is a way to decrease that fear through creative media. We can confront the fear in horror movie. We can purposefully scare ourselves on a roller coaster. We can write a play about warring factions coming together at a wedding. We can write a novel about two dying teenagers. Or we can dive into those stories as a viewer, a reader, an intrepid explorer of emotional depths.

We cry. We scream. We jump. We fall in love.

And the fear fades.

Catharsis.

Crossposted on The Art of Procrastination.

So, it’s Alice in Wonderland‘s 150th Anniversary and I am going to milk it for all I’m worth. Such as pointing out that there’s a dormouse in the Mad Tea Party. And he is as sweet as he should be.

Sadly, these dormice are vulnerable to habitat loss. (the Life Neurotic)

That is a utter shame. Look at this little face. How can you not want to protect him?

Work to preserve hedgerows and bramble bushes. Please.

Cherry Blossom Express has now wended its way through the labyrinth of distribution and is now available on major on-line retailers across the world.

Amazon
Kobo
nook
even Espresso books.

And, given the distribution channel, most booksellers should be able to order it. So, feel free to ask at your local bookshop.

I’m thrilled!

Less thrilled that it took this long, but hey, can’t have everything right?

Not everything in this business is under the control of the principals. JM and I do not have control over whether or not our books show up on sites. We really don’t. We have a distribution agreement. So, the files are under review.

They’ve been under review for almost a month now.

For validation.

Amazon? 24 hours and you’re validated and moving forward. It hurts my little, black, shriveled soul to say positive things about a company that I don’t trust in the least. (Or rather, I trust it to always have its own best interests at heart. Those interests and mine may or may not coincide.)

But right now, major distribution company? I am being forced to compare you unfavorably to Amazon. This is *not* how you want your user base to react. You are making me and my company look bad. And you are charging me money for this service. Right now? I despise you.

I don’t have a huge number of anger triggers. My number one trigger? Incompetence. I hate it when people do not do what they are supposedly hired to do. If I hire a plumber, I expect that the pipes he put in will not leak. When I hire a carpenter, the box better not fall apart. When I hire a distribution company, they better actually distribute the god damned books.

*deep breath*

So, lessons learned: Give the distribution company an extra-long time to do their thing. They are useful, but not swift, nor are they efficient.

This first book has been an excellent learning tool. I’m learning about distribution. JM is learning about file creation. We’re both learning that everything is just a little more expensive than it was during our research phase because no one tells you everything you need to know in this business. (Cut throat, shark infested, welcoming, and swamped. The book business is like the antiques business. Friendliness is encouraged, but you must at all times look out for your own interests. Nicest people you ever want to meet unless you’re in the middle of a deal and then all bets are off. We all love the same things, but it’s a very competitive business. Huh… and I used to think that the HP fans in my life were blowing smoke when they sorted me into Slytherin. *grins*)

The thing is, no matter how much I kvetch? I still love it. I love creating the content. I love reading the slush. (look for our new page: quotes from the slush read) I even love arguing about what contracts say.

Non, je ne regrette rien.

Cross-posted to The Art of Procrastination