The HEA Cafe

On the first day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            A desire to write a book…

On the second day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the third day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Three online classes, two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the fourth day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Four plot threads hanging, three online classes, two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the fifth day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Five reference books, four plot threads hanging, three online classes, two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the sixth day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Six rough drafts, five reference books, four plot threads hanging, three online classes, two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the seventh day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Seven blogs for posting, six rough drafts, five reference books, four plot threads hanging, three online classes, two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the eighth day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Eight contests to enter, seven blogs for posting, six rough drafts, five reference books, four plot threads hanging, three online classes, two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the ninth day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Nine agents to query, eight contests to enter, seven blogs for posting, six rough drafts, five reference books, four plot threads hanging, three online classes, two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the tenth day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Ten editors wanting partials, nine agents to query, eight contests to enter, seven blogs for posting, six rough drafts, five reference books, four plot threads hanging, three online classes, two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            Eleven rejection letters,  ten editors wanting partials, nine agents to query, eight contests to enter, seven blogs for posting, six rough drafts, five reference books, four plot threads hanging, three online classes, two critique partners and a desire to write a book…

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my mad muse gave to me

            A contract!

 

Here’s hoping all your Christmas wishes come true!  Merry Christmas…Kim

Wikipedia defines writer’s block as a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity.  What they don’t mention is that your brain feels like it has been cryogenically frozen, your fingers cramp from their position of hovering over the keyboard, waiting for inspiration, and your heart races from the panic attack of thinking you’ll never write again.

Until writer’s block smacked me upside the head, I’d believed that writer’s block didn’t really exist.  You just sat down and wrote through it, right?  Ha!  If someone said that to me after I’d sat at my computer for two hours and stared at the screen where I’d ended the last scene, I’d have been tempted to choke them.  I had absolutely no idea where my characters needed or wanted to go next.

What to do?  I went to the best source of help available – my fellow writers on the message boards of RWA Online.  Suggestions included talking it out with someone, a critique partner, friend or family member, go back and reread the previous chapters, raise the stakes, go back and add or change the tension, or cut the last scene out entirely and start over.

What worked for me?  I had to cut the last scene and raise the stakes.  I didn’t have enough conflict and my h/h were spending too much time sitting and talking and not acting.

How do you get past writer’s block?

I thought about talking about alpha heroes or Halloween.  I even thought about expanding on the Kia Marathon, as I was really excited about gearing up for it this month.  I started out great on Monday.  I even had it in my head that I just might write the words ‘The End’ on my work-in-progress by the 31^st.

 

Then I got the call from day care on Monday afternoon.  Nothing serious.  My daughter had a low-grade fever and complained about her ear.  She’d had ear infections leading to tubes when she was younger so I knew the drill.  We’d watch her to make sure it didn’t get worse, manage the pain and she’d be back on her feet in a couple of days.

 

Ha.

 

Tuesday morning she woke up with gunk smeared all over the side of her face and stuck to her hair.  We got her to the doctor who told us her ear drum had busted.  Still not too serious, actually not unusual for kids who’d had tubes, but the condition is pretty painful so my daughter wanted her mommy and I wanted to comfort her.

 

So I didn’t get a single page written for two days.  Once my daughter was back on her feet and happily ensconced in day care I vented to my husband.  I beat myself up for not staying up later to write, even though by the end of the day my mind was mush.  I should have tried harder, I said.  I’ll never become a full-time writer until I consider my writing another job and treat it that way.

 

Then he pointed out that I’d taken time off my day job to take care of our daughter.  Why should writing be different?  When I started writing, I told him that even though it was important to me to chase my dream, my family still came first.  Had that changed?

 

I didn’t even have to think about it.  He was right and I think it’s something that writers at my stage of their career sometimes forget.  We’re working so hard to get to that full-time writer stage, to make a living with our stories, that we ignore what we’re writing about.  Life, love, family, adventure.  If you buried yourself in a room with your laptop, you’ll eventually run out of words.

 

I’m not saying don’t make writing a priority.  I work better if I carve out time to write every day.  Just remember that while writing might be the one of the most important things in your life, it’s not your whole life. 

 

Live, love, laugh and go write about it!

What if I told you that in as little as ten minutes a day you could boost your creativity, elevate your mood, improve your memory and guarantee a better night’s sleep?  Sounds too good to be true?  It’s not.

As little a ten minutes a day of aerobic exercise can do all that and more. 

I can hear the groans now.  You don’t have time.  You have deadlines, a day job, family responsibilities.  You barely have time to write, much less spend precious time exercising.  All you get is tired and sweaty.  Exercise is too hard.

So is becoming a writer, but you’re willing to sacrifice and work to reach your goal.  Consider exercise another weapon in the arsenal you use to win the war we call publishing.

Studies, such as the one in Creativity Research Journal, have supported the theory that creativity is enhanced by exercise.  Tell me of one writer who wouldn’t love to have more creativity and I’ll show you a liar.  Personally, I like to sit down at my computer brimming with plot ideas and twists.  If exercise helps me do that, I can carve out at least ten minutes.

Exercise also improves your mood.  Rejection is a hard fact of this business.  No matter how long you’ve written or how successful you are, when you get a rejection letter or your current book sells less than expected, it hurts.  Instead of breaking out the chocolate or buying a pair of shoes, why not call a friend and go slap around a tennis ball?  Better yet, join a gym and learn to box.  Picturing a particular editor or agent’s face on a heavy bag can be rewarding and no one has to know why you have that smile on your face.

Have you ever read a book and halfway through realized that the heroine’s eyes changed from blue to green?  Exercise improves memory and can help you avoid such embarrassing screw ups.  Studies show that a good night’s sleep increases concentration and productivity.  Physical activity contributes to sound sleeping.  I’ve heard stories of writers who wake up with an entire plot fresh in their mind.  The subconscious can work out plot problems or break through writer’s block and exercise helps to regulate sleep cycles.

Finally, writing is a solitary business.  Taking a walk with a neighbor or joining a gym and partaking in a group aerobics class can help break up the loneliness of the job. 

Try it and I’ll bet before long it becomes a habit you won’t want to break.

What Not To Do…

 Below is one of the first queries I wrote.  To be honest, I did go back and make it a touch worse than when I sent it out, but not by much!

 

Kim Amburn

My house

my email@server.com

 

Defunct Harlequin Line

233 Broadway, Suite 1001

New York, NY 10279

 

Dear Editor,

 

Have you ever wondered what happened to the one who got away?

 

In Second Chances Lori Davis finds out that not only is the bank where she works a target for serial bank robbers but that the corporate offices hired the security firm owned by her first love, Grayson Taylor.  Since the thieves hold the family of the branch manager hostage while the banker is forced to clean out the vault, Lori must find a way to protect both her daughter and her heart.

 

I am a member of RWA and a graduate of Clemson University.  I’ve attached the synopsis and first three chapters.    Thank you for your consideration.  I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Kim Amburn

 

 

Attachments:

SASE

Synopsis

First three chapters

 

So what’s wrong with it?  To start with, always do your homework.  Don’t address the query to Dear Editor.  Learn who is acquiring for which line (or what agent represents the genre/subgenre you write). 

 In the first paragraph (not counting the line that was supposed to tweak the editor’s attention and probably failed miserably), I should have added the word count and subgenre.  How would the editor know if this manuscript would even fit in her line?  It could be too long or too short - it could be a short story, for all she knows.  Is this a comedy or romantic suspense?  The harder you make it on the editor/agent to figure out what you’re trying to sell, the easier it is for her to pass on the query letter.

Where’s the second paragraph?  Instead I had one insignificant line to try and explain a 75,000 word manuscript.  Query letters are short, true, but you do have room to write a two to three sentence paragraph that summarizes your book.  I hardly know what the books about from that one sentence and I wrote the darn thing!  Deb Dixon’s book, GMC:  Goal, Motivation, and Conflict is great for this paragraph.  You can write up the GMC for the hero and heroine and have the heart of the book laid out for anyone to understand.

 The third paragraph isn’t too bad, although since I wasn’t an English major, who really cares where I went to school?  The main thing here is to thank them for their time and ask for what you want.  ‘I look forward to hearing from you.’  Also, make sure that you only give them what they ask for - don’t include a synopsis and three chapters if their website specifies query letters only.  Again, do your research.  Don’t make it any harder on yourself or them than it has to be.

 I hope this online workshop has helped.  I apologize for the delays in posting.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  Thanks!