Category: Musings

Before I tapped into my creative side, I was a reader. Still am, of course. I’ve always enjoyed reading. A big chunk of my childhood and teenage years were spent with my nose in a book. I honestly don’t remember any other toys other than Atari, later Nintendo, and some cheap, metal/plastic cooking set which I used Play-Doh to ‘make’ food I would ‘cook’ on it. But books were my childhood toy.

The library was my ‘hood. I was fortunate enough to have parents who didn’t mind taking me the library on a very regular basis. Probably helped it was close to home and school. I loved my school library, too. I often spent my lunches sitting in the library doing homework so I could get a head start on it. If I got stuff done early, that meant I had more time to read.

But this post isn’t to wax poetic about the library, I’ve already done that, instead I want to just briefly talk about why I personally think it is important to read.

1) Reading is fun. If you think reading is boring then you clearly haven’t found whatever catches your fancy. Once you do, devour all the books you can. Don’t worry about what is popular or ‘smart’ to read. Reading is about finding genres and authors that grab your interest. One of the best feelings in the world is just spending hours reading a good book without realizing it. Or forgoing sleep because you just have to finish. Real life be damned! Even better is when you can discuss what you’ve read with others either through a book club, friends or family, or online. Think about all the interesting discussions you can have.
2) Reading expands your world. For me, reading is like a TARDIS from Dr. Who . The TARDIS allows the Doctor to travel to the past, present, and future. The Doctor meets all kind of people whether average people, historical figures, or alien species representing diverse backgrounds. Books are the same thing. I can travel back to ancient Rome in one book then pick up another book set far off in the future on a planet nowhere near Earth. What an easy and cheap way to time travel. Books also give insight into different cultures whether the story is located in another country or world or in a different time period.
3) Reading makes you more sympathetic and empathetic. By reading stories set in a world different from my own, I am offered a glimpse into someone else’s life. For example, I’ve read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini with very little knowledge about the world it is set in. I feel for the main character and his lifelong struggle. I understand, even if I don’t agree with, his crucial decision that changes his life and his best friend’s life forever. Good books have the power to cause us to reexamine how we view our current world, to connect with what has happened to others, even if they are fictional characters. It’s not unusual for me to spend hours just thinking about a book after I’m done with it. I appreciate the insight to be gained from expanding my horizons.
4) Reading can be empowering. Another benefit is if a reader picks up a book and reads about a character going through a similar experience they themselves have gone through, it can be empowering. That sense of ‘I’m not alone in this world.’ I know that after I read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain I can honestly say it empowered me. Based on scientific research, I learned that how I think, feel, and react in many situations are normal for an introvert. For the first time in my life I heard the message nothing is wrong with me despite society stating otherwise. For example, people frequently find strength and solace in religious books. Or from a variety of self-help books yet fiction books can empower a reader depending on their subject matter.
5) Reading improves writing. This is true regardless if your chosen profession is writing or not. As a writer, we are told it is just as important to read as much as we can because it will improve our writing. I’m paraphrasing William Faulkner but he is famous for saying ‘Read everything you can. Read the bad. Read the good.’ Bad writing inspires us to not make the same mistakes. Good writing inspires us to up our own skills set. If I didn’t read, my skills as a writer couldn’t continue to evolve. Writing a lot certainly contributes but that is just one part to improving my writing.

So why read? Reading makes life more enriching, inspires, has the potential to change lives, makes us smarter, makes us more aware of the world, and connects us all. If you don’t currently read, I urge you to find something that ignites that desire. If you do read, awesome and continue to challenge yourself by expanding your horizons. If you are a parent with young children, read to them every night no matter how many times they ask for you to read the same story. That’s a sign they are engaged. Take them to the library every week and check out as many books as their little arms can carry. For parents with older children, take them to the library and bookstores or sit down with them to figure out which books they’d like to read on their e-reader.

Just read.

Before I began writing, I had never heard of self-publishing or indie publishing. I had heard of e-books but just thought it referred to print books that had been scanned to work on an e-reader. Over the past couple of years, I’ve learned this isn’t true. There are so many more ways for a book to be published. The options available for writers are numerous thus allowing a writer to carve out their own path. But is it too wide open? Which one do I aspire to tackle?

Traditional publishing – This refers to submitting your manuscript to the BIG five publishing houses: HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Group, Random House, Simon & Schuster . Getting a manuscript accepted by one of these is a dream of many a writer. In theory it means you’ll get shelf space in major book retailers, professional cover design and editing, bigger advances, book reviews in mainstream avenues, and better marketing, just to name a few advantages. In other words, bigger and better exposure to more readers.

But competition is tough. Unless your book has broad appeal, or is so extraordinarily well-written they’d be fools to pass it up, then a writer has a much more difficult time getting noticed. Also, you may have little input on cover design, pricing is set, your royalty rate is lower than in other avenues, and it takes longer for a book to come out.

Indie or small market publishing – If you don’t want to try your luck at a big publishing house, you’ve been rejected despite positive feedback, or your book is a bit more experimental, another option is to submit to smaller publishing houses. Admittedly I’m not as well-versed in who the players are since I’m not at that point in my writing career but from what I’ve read, smaller publishing presses are more willingly to take chances with books that are different. You’ll get more individual attention and support rather than the take-a-number mentality I get the impression sometimes happens at a big publishing house. The working relationship will be closer, something that personally appeals to me.

On the downside, smaller presses mean you’re at a huge disadvantage to getting your book onto a large retail bookseller’s shelf. However, independent book stores will be more likely to stock your book, perhaps in larger quantities than a major store would. Marketing support and advances will probably be smaller. Again, pricing is already set but you may get a bigger chunk of the profits than through a big publisher. Also, there are more scams associated with smaller presses run by people in it just to make a buck for themselves rather than as a partnership with the authors. A great resource for writers at all levels is Writers Beware Blog as it lists scams to be aware of.

Self-publishing/Author-Publisher – This is the type of publishing that has gotten a lot of press and debate the past few years. Self-publishing, or author-publisher as I recently read it being referred to in the February 2014 issue of Writer’s Digest , allows complete freedom and creative control for the author. You control the content, what the cover can look like either by doing it yourself or enlisting the services of a professional cover designer, when you want to release it, and even for how much. You get to keep more of the profits since you’re posting it up on a site like Amazon or Smashwords even if you charge significantly less.
The downsides, though, are that because it is so quick and easy to do, a lot of unpolished works pop up online. This has giving the impression to some that all self-published works aren’t up to snuff. Also, you have to pony up the cost of a professional editor and cover designer because unless you are just that proficient in both areas, you should probably have professionals looking at your work and designing your cover. It’s too easy to spot a do-it-yourself job and readers will comment on it in their reviews.

Hybrid author – Personally, the more I learn about publishing options, the more I’m leaning toward becoming what is known as a hybrid author: one who is published both traditionally as well as self-published. It makes sense. If you want to get your work out to as many people as possible, then an author needs a variety of revenue streams. Sounds terribly boring and business-like but if you want to make money as an author, then it only makes sense to get your fingers in as many pies as possible. Another author advantage is being able to self-publish works deemed experimental or risky. Also, some established authors are starting to make available novellas to fill in the gaps between traditional releases tapping into the rather unfortunate instant gratification culture.

The options are overwhelming to think about to a new writer. Since I’m not at the point to start sending out manuscripts, I try not to think about it too much. When I do, it seems to weight too heavily on my writing. I start looking at every piece as a business rather than just writing for the joy of it. I need to write bad pieces or stories which are experimental but when thoughts turn to wanting an actual writing career, I tend to look at those works as wastes of time. They’re not, though. They’re valuable writing time spent doing something I love. There will be a time and a place for me to go and get paid.

As I get into the revision process of my first novel, a tool I’ve heard about of is Scrivener. Scrivener is not only a word processing tool and editing tool, but also serves to provide a place to house research related to a project and help organize your thoughts.

Before NaNo, I had only heard briefly about Scrivener yet had never seen what it looked like. At one of the write-ins I attended, I finally asked someone about it since she had it open on her laptop. She gave me a quick demonstration and mentioned during NaNo, participants could download a free 30-day trial. I downloaded it but didn’t get much of a chance to look at it until December.

It didn’t seem like a hard program to learn so I went ahead and paid for it without really testing it out. The tutorial said it would take about an hour to go through the program. No problem, I thought. I started going through the tutorial and quickly realized Scrivener is a way more robust program than I was led to believe. Needless to say, it took me longer than an hour to go through the tutorial for my head swam with new information.

It’s not just a word processing tool. Scrivener allows for both text-based and visual learners to get organized. You can compare versions side by side. Look at all the documents within a folder all together, a feature I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do with. There are also metrics where a writer can determine how many times a certain word or phrase pops up. You can even track stuff by character, although I’m not sure how or if I even need that feature but I’m still learning.

So far, I enjoy the character and setting sheet features quite a bit. The simple format allows me to focus my thoughts. I know I can edit them to add in categories but for now, I like them the way they are. The setting sheet is very useful since the novel I’m working on is not set in this world. Having a sample list to help me commit what this world about is proving to be beneficial.

I also appreciate having a research folder being a default in each project. I need visual aids so storing pictures and websites related to my book is great. I can easily flip back and forth in views to a picture or article while I’m working on a scene or outline or a character sheet.

The best feature, in my opinion, is the ability to hide your computer’s taskbar. In other words, if you can’t see your taskbar, you’ll be less inclined to click on that icon which opens up the internet, waiting to suck you into its black hole of nonsense.

At this point I’m just trying to keep things really basic with Scrivener. Using it to keep track of research, devoting a folder to each chapter, keeping notes, formulating an outline, using the sample sheets since that is all my mind can take in while also learning how to revise a novel. Trying to become proficient in Scrivener is not on my list. I do look forward to learning how to apply all the bells and whistles it offers in the future; I think it’ll be a powerful, efficient tool.