Sonya Weiss

Where Happily Ever After Begins

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The Successful Failure

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As the old year slips quietly into the night, you take a look back at what you didn’t achieve. And from this viewpoint, holy smokes does it look an awful lot like…failure.

The 80,000 word count never materialized. The book sits unfinished.

You are an official Nanowrimo dropout.

You self-published a book and sold 3 copies. Your mom bought all three of them. Because no one else knew your book even existed.

The editor who was interested in your book changed publishing companies and you couldn’t break in there even with a crowbar.

You see what didn’t come to pass, what you couldn’t make happen despite the butt-busting days and even longer nights. Success in 2016 was as elusive as Big Foot riding a unicorn.

The You Can’t Fairy whispers in your ear that she told you to be more realistic. To stop dreaming so big. This fairy tells you to quit before you experience any more failures. She shakes her head, purses her lips, and tells you that something is obviously wrong with you if you didn’t find the success you were looking for.

She whispers that writing is just not for you. And besides, achieving success as an author is almost impossible, especially if you’re a new author. She feeds you all the gloom and doom statistics about the publishing world.

She might seem like a tiny, winged annoyance but she actually looks something like this:


Ignore her. Embrace failure. It means you made an effort at something you cared about.

Failure happens to everyone. You’re not all by your onesie there.

Failure prompts growth. There’s no greater teacher than experiencing failure. It forces you to improve, to learn new ways to reach your goals. It teaches perseverance, causing you to want to hold on to your dreams until they become reality.

Failure isn’t comfortable but…

So move forward into 2017 and fail successfully.

Filed Under: Writing Tagged With: don't quit, failure, fiction, New Year, published author, romance, self-publishing, Sonya Weiss, success, traditional publishing, writing, writing 2017

Leather Pants and Other Truths

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Leather pants were all the rage when I was a teenager and I wanted a pair.

I want ‘em, I want ‘em! excited dog

So I got them. * forehead slap *

If you want to know how well that went, see the Friends episode where Ross wears them, too.

Ross leather pants

I learned a hard truth. All is not well in a pair of leather pants, especially when it’s summer.

summer

All is not well in writing either when you fail to acknowledge certain truths.

Truth #1. You will never, ever get any work completely perfect. It’s not going to happen. Unless you have a fairy godmother in your pocket.

fairy godmother

Truth #2. Your critique group may not be helping you. When others read your work, unless they’ve somehow magically achieved perfection (see Truth #1) the feedback you’re receiving might actually be detrimental.

Truth #3. Studying the craft is great. Reading books on writing can be helpful. So can attending conferences. But are you writing or are you learning about writing?

writing

Truth #4. Your writing might be very, very good. It also might be very, very bad.

Truth #5. Don’t get a big head. Arrogance isn’t cool. I saw a post recently where a writer was looking for beta readers and she had a list of demands for these perspective beta readers. Uh, no. Beta readers are doing you a favor. If you’re fortunate enough to have beta readers, appreciate the hell out of them and treat them with respect and not like you’re doing them a big favor because they get to read your 185,000 word piece of perfection. (see Truth #4)

Truth #6. Never write what’s popular at the moment. Popular book trends are manuscripts that were sold long before you see them on the shelves. So by the time you get your hands on the latest vampire novel, that coffin has sailed.

Truth #7. Protect your writing time. Protect it from errands, from the phone, and from those funny Vines by the hot Property Brothers.

If you need help staying off sites, download Stay Focusd.

Stay FocusdBut warning, once you set the time limit, it’ll boot your butt off the site and there’s no way you’re getting back on that day even if you uninstall it. Not that I tried that. *hangs head*

What are some truths that you can share about writing?

Filed Under: Writing

Teaching Your Talent to Others

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writing in notebookWhile some writers have had a desire to write from the time they were children, and seem to show an aptitude this direction, writing is a skill that can be taught.

There are many books, videos, classes, webinars, and more that can teach you whatever it is that you feel you need to learn. There are other writers who will share what they know and there are tools that can help you accomplish your writing goals.

Pay attention to the extras on the sites of authors whose work you enjoy reading. These writers will often have links, resources and tips they freely share.

I’ll share some tips I’ve learned and then link to other sites that can help.

1. Imagination. If you’re going to write creative fiction, you need ideas. Ideas come from all around you. Your life. The lives of family members or friends. The world around you.

2. Get the story down. Many writers wait to start writing until they feel everything about story is perfect. Perfect stories are never written.

3. Plotter or Pantser? There’s a debate on whether it’s good to be a plotter or a pantser when you write. The solution is simple. Do what works for you.

4. Edit. It’s helpful to have beta readers, a critique partner, or a critique circle. You’re too close to your own writing. You won’t see your mistakes. You can find others to help you with editing in your writing groups, in organized editing groups, or you can pay for a professional service.

5. Submit. After the manuscript is written, edited and polished, send it out. You’ll probably get a rejection or several rejections. This is something that plenty of writers go through and this is where perseverance kicks in.

If you want it badly enough, you’ll keep trying regardless of the rejections you receive. Always check out potential publishers or agents. Unfortunately, there are some out there who will take advantage of writers. You can check them out on sites like Absolute Write Forums or Preditors & Editors.

Helpful websites:

New York times and USA Today bestselling author Shirley Jump has a long history of giving back to other writers. She has a writing institute you can access here.

Author Susan Meier has helpful links to sites like Penn Writers.

Author Vicki Hinze has great tips on her writer’s zone.

Recommended books:

  • Finding Your Writer’s Voice by Thaisa Frank & Dorothy Wall
  • On Writing by Stephen King
  • Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
  • Scene & Structure by Jack M. Bickham
  • Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon
  • The Courage to Write by Ralph Keyes
  • Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Other recommended stuff for writers:

Scrivener is a software program that has a ton of features for writers.

Webucator is currently offering a free course in Excel. Some writers use Excel as their spreadsheet to keep track of various points in their manuscript. You need to know how to use all the helpful tools in Microsoft Word. They also offer courses in Microsoft Word and other goodies. They give away a free class each month, so watch for it.

Write or Die helps with writer’s block.

NaNoWriMo is a creative writing event that many writers take part in. It helps writers to push past the inner critic and get the manuscript written.

Filed Under: Writing

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