Savor the Moments

Good morning!  I’m not actually online today.  This week I’m writing these blog posts from the past!

Except for today, because I didn’t actually write this one.  Today’s post was written (also in the past!) by Jon Gibbs, author of the novel Fur-Face, and founder of Find A Writing Group.

Jon also maintains an interesting and useful writing blog, one I’ve been following for a while now.  My thanks to Jon for helping to fill in this week while I’m away.

#

I’ve been a fan of Jim’s writing and blogging skills for a long time, so you can imagine how thrilled I am to be posting an entry here on his blog.  I hope I can justify his confidence in me.

Savor the Moments

A career in writing is not for the faint of heart.  Writers go through a huge amount of negative before they ever get published, and (I suspect) even more of it afterwards. 

Before he/she ever makes that first short story sale, a writer can expect to receive rejection after rejection from editors and slush readers, most of whom offer little or no feedback or encouragement.  Critiques from fellow writers, however well-meaning, tend to focus on what doesn’t work, and though that’s to be expected (it’s the point of them, after all), they too can be a bit of a downer. 

Then there’s a writer’s family and friends.  I’m fortunate in that the people who matter in my life are incredibly patient and supportive about my fiction habit, but many folks aren’t so lucky.  Spend some time around other writers and you’ll hear plenty of stories about family and so-called friends either belittling, or even mocking their efforts.

“If there’s so much negative, why bother?” I hear you ask, as if we could ever stop making up stories.

In truth, many folks do give up.  You may well know some of them.  They got to a point where they couldn’t take the negative anymore, so they told themselves whatever they needed to hear to justify giving up on their dream, and settled for something less.

How can we avoid that same fate?  I can think of three ways, which I’ll offer in reverse order:

#3  Never refer to yourself as ‘unpublished.’
Whether you’ve just started writing, or you’ve been submitting stories and novels for thirty years without a single publishing credit to your name, you’re not ‘unpublished’ you’re a ‘not yet published’ writer, and don’t let anyone tell you different.

#2  Spend time with other writers.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a critique group, a workshop, a conference, or even hanging out with like-minded scribblers online.  So long as those folks aren’t having a pity party, spending time with them will do your confidence the world of good. 

#1  Learn to savor the moments.
“Moments?” you say.  “What moments?  I’ve never even been published.   I’ve never had a moment.”  Oh, you have them all right, but do you stop to enjoy them?  Remember that feeling you get when a new story idea comes to you, or you come up the first few lines of a new project, or print out a finished first draft?  Most other folks could never do those things (though a surprising number seem to believe they could if they only had the time).  Take a few seconds to appreciate that.

Every time you submit a story, take a ‘moment’ to feel proud of yourself.  Heading out to a writing group or some other writerly-type meeting?  When you pull up in the car lot, sit back awhile and savor the feeling of a dream pursued.  

When you get a rejection with a ‘not this time, but please try again,’ make sure you appreciate what that means.  That editor’s telling you he/she liked your writing.  Your story didn’t suck, it just wasn’t right for that publication at that particular time.  Every now and then you’ll get a hand-written note of advice/encouragement (or the email equivalent), sure, it’s still a rejection, but someone thought enough of what they saw to offer you some encouragement.  Set some time aside to enjoy that feeling.

Non-writer might question why any of the above is worth celebrating.  Ignore them.  Taking pleasure in your minor achievements helps you stay positive and fortifies your dream.  That’s always a good thing.

How about you?

What moments will you savor in the coming weeks?

#

Born in England, Jon Gibbs now lives in the USA, where he’s the founder and proud member of The New Jersey Authors’ Network and FindAWritingGroup.com.  His debut novel, Fur-Face (Echelon Press) is available from Amazon.com (Kindle) and in other e-formats at OmniLit.com.

When he’s not chasing around after his three children, Jon can usually be found sitting in front of the computer in his basement office. One day he hopes to figure out how to switch it on.

Vacation

So tomorrow my family heads north for vacation.  We’ll be gone for a week … the same week that Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] comes out.  This is going to be interesting.

Since I won’t be around on Tuesday, I went ahead and drew a winner for the 8th and final book giveaway.  Congratulations to lavvyan, who wrote the following:

Han Solo: Good book? You’ve never heard of Red Hood’s Revenge?

Obi-Wan: Should I have?

Han Solo: It’s the book that made the Barnes & Noble Top 10 in less than twelve parsecs. It’s outclassed Imperial bestsellers. Not the lauded self-help junk, mind you, I’m talking about the big NY Times hits now. It’s good enough for you, old man.

I hope people enjoyed these giveaways.  I had a great time reading all of your entries.

It’s strange to think I’ll be away, with little Internet access, on my release day.  How will I obsess over my Amazon ranking?  How will I scour the net for reviews?  (Okay, so I’ll probably make my family drive into town on Tuesday so I can get online at least once via the wireless at Subway, but still.)  It’s going to be hard.

On the other hand, here’s a “self portrait” I took last year when we went up north.  So you know what?  I think I’ll manage 🙂

Rape and the Police

It’s one of the first things most rape survivor hear when they talk about what happened.  “You have to report it to the police!” or “Why didn’t you go to the cops?”  Yet rape is one of the most underreported crimes in the U.S.

There are a lot of reasons for this.  Shame is a big one.  So is fear.  Fear of being blamed, of not being believed.  In Baltimore, police have been hard at work turning those fears into reality.

The Baltimore Sun reviewed FBI statistics and found that in Baltimore, the number of people reporting rapes to the police has plunged, while the number of rapes thrown out as unfounded is now the highest in the nation: more than five times the national average.

“[W]omen continue to report that they are interrogated by detectives, sometimes questioned in the emergency room or threatened with being hooked up to lie detectors.”

Can you think of another crime where victims are routinely threatened with lie detector tests?  That’s assuming the reports even make it to the detectives.  40% of Baltimore’s 911 calls to report a rape are simply dismissed, often without documentation to explain why.

The response from one of the detectives in the department is a masterpiece of victim-blaming:

“Many reports of rape are made for ‘ill gain, in order to gain assistance or cover up not coming home,’ said one of the commanders of the unit, Lt. Thomas Uzarowski … ‘It’s not an opinion. It’s not anything other than where the facts fall.'”  (Emphasis added.)

Where the facts fall?  Here’s an interesting fact.  Of the 50 detectives who work sexual assault and child abuse cases, one detective by the name of Anthony Faulk Jr. was responsible for 20% of the department’s “unfounded” rape complaints.

To me, this sounds less like facts and more like some of these detectives decided women are liars, and they’re not going to let the bitches get away with it.

I’m not going to argue that false reports never happen.  They’re rare, but they happen.  They’re also the first thing people bring up when they want to silence rape survivors, twisting logic beyond the breaking point to portray rape as a weapon women use against men.

Do people occasionally recant their statements?  Yes … especially when the detective is in their face, treating them like the criminal.  What would you do if you reported a rape and the first words out of the detective’s mouth were that he could throw you in jail for filing a false report?

The police have a difficult, stressful job, and many of them do that job admirably. But this is a problem that exists on two levels.  At the core are people like Uzarowski and Faulk, who take a “Guilty until proven innocent” approach to rape victims.

Then you have the larger group who watch and do nothing.  You think nobody noticed Faulk’s record of dismissing rape complaints?  You think nobody overheard these detectives harassing victims?  Yet it took a report in the paper, and visits from the mayor and the president of the city council to get the police department to admit maybe they should look into their practices.

Baltimore is an extreme example of a problem that exists everywhere.  People attack and harass and blame rape survivors, and most everyone else just ignores them.

And you wonder why rape victims are hesitant to talk about their attack, let alone report it to the police?

Yes, No, or Gazebo

In addition to me doing more around the house while my wife recovers, we’re also getting ready for vacation next week, and of course I’m prepping some things for the release of Red Hood.  (Yes, when my book comes out, I will be up north where I’ll have little Internet access, and where there’s only one tiny microbookstore within 50 miles.  Yes, this will make me approximately 73% crazier than usual.)

Anyway, this is my long-winded way of saying life has doled out an extra dose of busy lately, so rather than a long, thoughtful blog post, I’m just gonna play today.

Your role, should you choose to accept it, is to ask a yes/no question.  Any question.

I shall answer it.  I will do my best to answer all questions, but if it’s something I consider too personal or too spoilery (or if I just don’t know), then your answer may be a bit more random…

One Week Left (and Another Book Giveaway)

Only one week until the official launch of Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon], though the book is already showing up in a fair number of bookstores.  I’ve been counting down to the release by giving away a free book each week.

Congratulations to last week’s winner, Katherine O’Kelly.

I’ve seen a few reports pop up from readers who have picked up a copy of Red Hood.  Early reactions seem to be pretty positive, and so far I haven’t had the anxiety dream where Darth Vader shows up, waving a copy of the book at me and saying in that raspy voice, “I find your lack of plot disturbing.”

Anyway, for the eighth and final book giveaway–

No, wait.  I just had a better idea.  I’m far too amused by the idea of Darth Vader as a reviewer or critiquer.  So for this giveaway, leave a comment with another Vader-style critique of my book.  (You may also use other Star Wars characters if you like … except for Jar-Jar!)

Post your answer, and I’ll pick one winner at random next week.  (Please note that I’ll be up north next week, and Internet access will be spotty, so I don’t know exactly when I’ll be able to choose and announce the winner.)  The winner receives her/his choice of one of the following:

Have fun!

ETA: Heh … everyone’s being so nice!  My ego appreciates this, but it’s certainly not required.  “What a piece of junk!” is an equally acceptable critique 🙂

Parenting Shoutout

Hey locals – the Lansing and East Lansing B&N stores now have autographed copies of Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] in stock.  What are you waiting for?

#

Chris McKinney sent me fan art.  Specifically, Chris combined Jig the goblin and the fine art of sporkstabbing.  And also Pokemon.  I am much amused.

#

As those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook might already know, I ended up taking my wife into the ER on Thursday.  It sounds like she tore some muscle/ligaments after a fall.  So I stayed home to take care of her and the kids.

My wife has gone through six knee surgeries since we got married, so I know the routine, but every time I come away with new respect for the single parents out there.  And I’d like to state for the record that anyone who looks down on stay-at-home parents for not having a “real” job is an idiot.

Despite what most sitcoms would have you believe, I am capable of taking care of things at home.  Mostly.[1. We’re not going to talk about that incident with the guppy and the microwave.]  I did not set the stove on fire, the laundry is not pink, I did not misplace or forget about either child, and my children did not concoct an elaborate plan to get their mother back into action.  But I found myself looking forward to coming back to work today so I could relax a bit and just worry about one job.

So today, we here at Jim’s blog salute single and stay-at-home parents.  Props and respect to you all.

—

In Ashes Lie, by Marie Brennan

In Ashes Lie [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon] is Marie Brennan’s sequel to Midnight Never Come, which I reviewed here.  Set a hundred years later in seventeenth century England, book two follows Lune, now queen of the Onyx Court, and Antony Ware, the human who rules at her side as Prince of the Stone.

As England falls into civil war, Lune must face enemies both from other faerie realms and within her own court.  Her enemies attack both the Onyx Court and London above.  Intrigue and betrayal and would-be assassins, all leading to the release of a dragon who threatens to burn all of London, and to destroy Lune and her court.

The historical detail in these books is … hm.  Let me put it this way.  Brennan researches the crap out of these novels.  You can see her research bibliography, as well as the details of her trips to London, on her web site.  That work pays off, resulting in a London that feels real down to every last detail.

The first part of the book felt a little slow to me.  Brennan takes us through the beginning of the English Civil War and the execution of King Charles (I assume it’s not a spoiler if it happened over three hundred years ago).  While the story is interesting, this series is most engaging to me when we see the parallels between the human and faerie realms, and the faerie side felt a bit nebulous in the beginning.  (By the end, on the other hand, you couldn’t pry the book out of my hands.)

I loved some of the secondary characters in this one: the giant Prigurd Nellt, the faerie knight Sir Cerenel, the doctor John (Jack) Ellin … and of course, the Goodemeades are always wonderful.

It’s a fascinating world.  The details of the Onyx Court and its magic, the rituals of faerie, the intertwining of human and fae history.  The third book, A Star Shall Fall, comes out on August 31 of this year, but I’m fortunate enough to have an ARC waiting for me to dive into 🙂

Like I said in the review of the first book, if you’re looking for action-heavy page-turning adventure, this might not be the book for you.  If you enjoy richer worldbuilding and historical fantasy, I highly recommend the series.  And if you’re undecided, head over to Brennan’s site and read an excerpt.

If you’ve been reading the series, what did you think?

Random Thursday Thoughts

Our local pizza place has a sticker which reads, “Property protected by 24 hour vidoe surveillance.”  Not a hand-scrawled note, but a professionally printed sticker.  This sort of thing is kryptonite to me.  I had to fight the urge to rip the sticker off the window and encase it in lead.

#

Elizabeth Moon has a LiveJournal.  Yesterday, she shared her thoughts about military discipline and the removal of General McChrystal.  In addition to being an excellent author, Moon is also a former junior officer in the Marine Corps.  She knows of what she speaks, and posts like this are the reason I follow her blog.

#

From a Twitter post by my agent: “Joshua in NYC B&N admiring ‘They Stand Against Darkness’ floor riser w/ @jimchines Red Hood’s Revenge.”  I want to run out to B&N right now to see this floor display!!!  (And then I want to take it home with me and set it up on the ego shelf!)

#

I changed my process when I started working on the third draft of Snow Queen.  This is not an easy thing for me.  I tend to find a routine and stick to it, no matter what happens.  (Just ask my wife.)  So it was scary to throw out my old approach and try something new with draft three … but it seems to be working so far.  If this holds, it could save me as much as a month’s worth of work.  Go me!

#

Am I the only one who’s been losing interest with Sluggy Freelance these past few months?

Ethics of Review Copies

I mentioned on Monday that I had received my author copies of Red Hood’s Revenge, which means review copies should also be available.  If you’re a reviewer and would like DAW to send you a copy of Red Hood (or any of my DAW titles), please let me know and I’ll see what we can do.

#

Earlier this week I stumbled into a conversation about the practice of reviewers turning around and selling review copies on eBay.  This includes both advanced review copies (ARCs) and copies of the finished books.

I admit I get a little annoyed when I see one of my ARCs up for sale before the book comes out.  Come on, people.  The ARC says “Not for resale” for a reason.  It just feels rude.

It’s also not something I’m going to waste a lot of time worrying about.  For something like Harry Potter, I understand why it’s important to keep spoilers locked down until the release date.  For the rest of us — for me — why is this a big deal?  Why should I care if a handful of review copies leak out ahead of time?  Uncool, yes.  But on the list of things worth my time and stress, this isn’t even a footnote.

It turns out some people are quite passionate about reviewers selling their books.  In one comment, I learned that not worrying about ARCs on eBay meant I was supporting all of The Evil Book Pirates.  I was also told I should get a job at BP telling people their oil spill “isn’t worth stressing about” either.  (The BP bit did include the rhetorical “Ha ha, I’m just kidding” trick at the end.  As it turns out, adding “Just kidding” does not alter the fact that you’re saying something asinine.)

So I’m curious what other people think.  Should reviewers be prohibited from selling review copies?  Does it make a difference if it’s an ARC or a finished book?  What about solicited vs. unsolicited books?  I.e., if I beg Tor for a review copy of Tobias Buckell‘s latest, are my reselling obligations different than if a a publicist sends me a book I didn’t ask for?

Discussion and disagreement are welcome, as always.  However, if you try to equate the Review Copy Gray Market with BP spilling millions of barrels of oil into our oceans, please understand that you will be mocked and sporkstabbed.

Even if you’re “just kidding.”

8 Books in 8 Weeks: Week Seven

Looking back, it was exactly two weeks before the official release of The Mermaid’s Madness that I started to see copies trickling into the bookstores.

It is now exactly two weeks until the release of Red Hood’s Revenge [B&N | Mysterious Galaxy | Amazon].  I’m just sayin’…

(If you do decide to rush out and search for the book, I strongly suggest calling the bookstore beforehand.  The official release date isn’t until July 6, so most stores probably won’t have it in stock yet.)

Anyway, I’m counting down to July 6 by giving away another book every week.  Congratulations to Marla Rudas, who won last week’s giveaway with her entry, “The Stepsister Scheme: Kills bugs dead!”

For this week’s giveaway, I want to know where you learn about new books.  Friends and family?  The library?  Online reviews?  Little book gnomes?  Conventions?  If there’s a specific resource you’d like to share, please do!  (If it’s one I’m unfamiliar with, maybe I’ll try to send a review copy.)

I’ll pick one commenter at random to win their choice of the following:

14 days and counting…

«< 187 188 189 190 191 >»