What Makes You Feel Legitimate?

by Jami Gold on February 2, 2012

in Writing Stuff

Sign: Authorized Personnel Only

Last week, we had a great discussion in the comments about whether we call ourselves writers or authors.  In general, we agreed that while we don’t judge others by what they call themselves, we each have our reasons for what we call ourselves.  Many echoed the idea that we want to feel legitimate before we’ll be comfortable using a certain title.

Legitimacy.  That’s an important concept for writers.

We don’t have a normal boss or company that we work for, so we struggle to create an internal sense of legitimacy about our work.  We often feel like we’re faking it, hoping no one uncovers our secret.  Maybe we’re deluding ourselves by thinking we have talent and/or skill.  Maybe we really don’t have a clue.

Some of us want to pursue traditional publishing just so we have that external voice confirming that this writing gig is real.  Some will feel validated by getting an agent, or by selling so many copies of our books, or by obtaining a cover blurb from an author we admire.

There’s no limit to the things that can make us feel legitimate.  And sometimes, the realization of “Holy cow, this is real!” comes from unexpected sources: a request for a manuscript, a beta reader who loves our work, a comment on our blog from a “real” author.

Yesterday, Rachel Graves and I got the news that our workshop proposal has been accepted for the Romance Writers of America (RWA) National Conference.  *excuse me while I breathe into a paper bag for a second*  Um, wow, crap, holy cow, I wasn’t expecting that.

No, really.  I wasn’t expecting that.

This isn’t some little local gathering for writers.  This is the RWA National Conference.  One of the biggest writing conferences in the world.  Over 2100 attendees.  They receive hundreds upon hundreds of proposals, and they invite only around 100 of those to speak at the conference.

This might not be a big deal for a published author, but for me, this heaps a whole lot of legitimacy onto my publishing goals.  As Rachel reacted when I explained to her what this signified, “Wait, don’t they know who we are?”

Meaning, don’t they know who we aren’t?

I’m not published yet, and while Rachel has a three-book contract with Tor, she’s “pre-published” because her debut doesn’t come out until the end of the year.  Who are we to get up in front of hundreds of people and claim to know enough to teach them about something?

But then I stopped and thought about it.  Our workshop is DEVELOP A FREE AUTHOR WEBSITE IN 60 MINUTES (OR LESS!).  And you know what?  I do know how to speak about that.

I created this website/blog from scratch, completely customizing every aspect of the site, and I taught myself some css and php programming to get WordPress to do what I wanted.  Rachel knows even more about the technical stuff, the whole alphabet soup of programming languages.  Between us, we can create a basic website with our eyes closed.

Why did it take an external acknowledgement of my knowledge and abilities for me to take it seriously?  *sigh*  Because I’m human.

Sometimes we dismiss just how much we know.  Or we think the knowledge is so basic everyone must know it.  Or we fail to give ourselves credit for knowing it at all.

So sometimes we need that external recognition to show us what’s right in front of us.  We know stuff.  We really do.  Our knowledge, skills, and talents mean something.

Most importantly, we need to recognize one basic truth about ourselves.  We are legitimate as long as we take our work seriously and keep learning new things.

What makes you feel legitimate?  Are you able to recognize your own skills and talents, or do you need external reminders and validation?  Are you going to the RWA 2012 National Conference (RWA12)?  (Will we get to meet up? *smile*)

And a major shout out to Rachel, who did most of the work on the proposal because I was under deadline for the Golden Heart contest!  *fist bump, high five, confetti, and hugs*

Tagged as: advice for writers, conferences, Jami Gold, paranormal author, professionalism, RWA, website, workshops

58 comments

Multiple Personality Disorder? No, I’m a Writer

by Jami Gold on January 31, 2012

in Writing Stuff

Stick figure drawings of crazy faces

This is an updated version of one of my favorite posts, the first of many to receive the “Jami is insane” tag.  It’s okay if you laugh with me or at me.  Either way, I’ll understand.  *smile*

*****

(No disrespect to anyone—crazy, insane, loony, committed, batty, bizarre, eccentric, daft, demented, deranged, or otherwise—is intended by this post.)

When is a crazy person not a crazy person?  When they’re a writer.

  • Writers can have hundreds of imaginary friends.  No, I’m not crazy.  I’m just talking to my characters.
  • Writers can talk about their subconscious as a separate person.  I thought the story would go one way, but my muse argued with me until I agreed to do it his way.
  • Writers can talk back to the voices in their head.  Of course I’m talking to the voices.  How else could I find out whether the butler did it? 
  • Writers can allow their characters to possess them, like multiple personality disorder.  I’m just getting into my character’s head so I know what they’re thinking.
  • Writers can have a god-complex, thinking they control the universe.  I do control the universe…in my stories.

We get to do all that—without being committed.  (Why do I have a jingle playing in my head?  *Wouldn’t you like to be a writer too?*)

In fact, the more in tune we are with our imaginary-friends-slash-characters, the better we are at making the world of their story believable for the reader.  And I don’t think that’s just wishful thinking on my part.

After all, how can a we make a reader believe in a character, setting, or situation, if we don’t believe it ourselves?  Even my villains become some of my imaginary friends, because if I have a good, well-rounded villain, I can sympathize with what drove them to their decisions.

I have to make my characters real in my head before they can become real on the page.  If I can’t figure out where to take a scene, it’s because I’m not listening to my characters.  Just as much as actors have “method acting”, becoming the character they’re playing, writers do the same thing.

When I listen to my characters, I discover things about the story I’d never think of on my own.  For one, they’re much funnier than I am.  And sarcastic.  And noble.  And generous.  Don’t those sound like the kind of people we’d like to have as friends?

So forgive me if I sound like a crazy person when I talk about how I know that so-and-so would never do such a thing because they told me.  When I listen to those voices in my head, I’m just trying to be a better writer.

Visit Kristen Lamb’s blog for more Top 10 Reasons to Become a Writer, as she gave me the idea for this post.  Thanks, Kristen!

*****

Have you ever read a book and felt like the characters were your friends?  What made them come alive for you?  How much do your characters or your muse talk to you?  Are you laughing with me or at me?  *smile*

Tagged as: Jami Gold, Jami is insane, Kristen Lamb, listening to characters, paranormal author, writers are insane

40 comments

What Is the Goal of Ranting?

by Jami Gold on January 26, 2012

in Writing Stuff

xkcd's Comic: Duty Calls:

*sigh*  It’s happened again.  An author has insulted other authors and a huge percentage of readers.  Why do people do this?

Between social media, the interrelationships of the publishing industry, and the permanent nature of the internet, news of negativity travels far and wide.  Sure, we can’t spout unicorns and rainbows all the time, but I question someone’s goals when they fling insults.

If we act unprofessionally, we (surprise, surprise!) won’t be seen as professional.  If we put down the majority of readers, we limit our readership.  If we put down other authors, we negatively affect our ability to work with them—and all those associated with them.

Let’s not kid ourselves.  No matter what publishing path we take, we need to work with others in the industry.

It’s shortsighted to put down authors who might be our agency-mates, share our publisher, use the same freelance editor (and by putting down an author’s work, doesn’t that reflect on their editor?), have the power to veto letting us into a “tribe” of indie/self-published authors, or any other of a hundred ways we’re all connected.

Yet people fail to learn the lesson from the last ten times this internal sniping went badly and want to discover the consequences for themselves.

An odd dichotomy exists within the internet, as it possesses both a short attention span and a long-term memory.  This current issue will blow over, as it always does, but the next time someone makes a similar mistake, the details of this incident will be brought up again as an example.  Maybe the example will point out how people don’t learn from the past, or how these arguments have been rehashed a billion times.  The point is, the internet remembers, and this author will forever be held up as an example of “what not to do.”

One YA author insulted a genre years ago, and the co-author of a popular book review blog, while referencing a current issue, tweeted a link just last week to a several-year-old post exposing the author’s attitude.  The blogger admitted that she still holds a grudge against the author for that behavior.  Years later.

We might be able to understand someone’s negativity if they’re venting about a perceived wrong.  We all do that.  We all need to vent sometimes.

But in most of these cases, the insults come from nowhere.  There’s no trigger, no revenge motivation, nothing.  Just plain, “I’m going to put you down because it makes me feel superior.”

We know that behavior by another word: Bully.

I don’t care how jealous we are of other authors, other blogs, or other books.  Someone will always receive more attention than we do.  We cannot build ourselves up by tearing others down.

In this case, the author insulted…wait for it…the romance genre.  *insert shocked face here*  He states his opinion that romance authors shouldn’t be treated as well as other authors—and he states this as fact.  He states as fact that romance novels are meant to be inferior.

In his twisted argument, any romance novels that are any good aren’t, in fact, romance novels, but love stories.  Try telling the authors that.

But that’s how he justifies his insults.  In his definition, good books can’t be romance novels because if they’re any good, he calls them something else.  (Um, yeah, don’t try to make sense of that circular logic.)

Let’s skip over the insanity of that argument, let’s ignore the fact that the romance genre is ten times broader than the category romance stories he assumes it to consist of, and let’s gloss over the detail that he writes genre science fiction and thus can’t even use literary elitism as an excuse for his behavior.

Let’s just look at what could possibly motivate him to insult the largest percentage of genre readers.  *think, think, think*  Nope, I got nothing.

Romance readers read broadly.  They read historical, literary, and yes, his genre of science fiction.  *raises hand*  Unlike his assumption of romance readers, I’m qualify-for-Mensa intelligent, I’ve read from Douglas Adams to Isaac Asimov (and that’s just in the “A” section of science fiction authors), and I care deeply about the quality of writing in books.  Ask anyone I’ve beta read for.  *smile*

And unlike his assumption that all romance readers are stuck in their thirteen-year-old minds, I was reading science fiction as a teen and starting reading romance novels only a few years ago—when I was a multiple of thirteen.  And hey, let’s knock down another stereotype while I’m at it.  I’m very happy and satisfied in all aspects of my life, thank you very much.

I honestly can’t understand behavior like this.  Why would an author risk losing readers and support to insult all the authors and readers of a genre, when there was no trigger, no need to answer a question, no motivation for revenge?

I’m left with the conclusion I stated above: Some will try to tear others down to make themselves feel superior.  And I can only feel sad for this author.

I haven’t mentioned the author by name or linked to his post here because I don’t want to encourage him.  However, in the interest of full disclosure, here are the instructions for finding the article (which I’m spelling out so my blog doesn’t upset the search results).  In Google:

  • Type his first name, spelled C, a, l, e
  • Followed by his last name, spelled M, c, C, a, s, k, e, y
  • Next type the word “loves”
  • Then the word “romance”
  • And finally the word “novels”.

In a lovely twist of fate, the aforementioned blog post is currently the top search result to that five-word phrase.  (Why yes, I do hope he sees that full message in his Google Search Terms.  Google bombing for the win in an amusing-but-non-insulting way.  *snicker*)

Author Carolyn Jewel has a post with a historical take on his illogical approach to logic.  And the text of one of his now-deleted comments can be found at the bottom of this post by author/publisher Magdalen Braden.

I hope we all learn the lesson this time.  Before we rant, make sure we know our goal.  Is it to start a conversation?  Leave the insults off the page, like I’ve tried to do here.  Is it for venting?  Maybe a conversation with a critique partner would be safer.  Is it to lob insults?  Definitely keep it in private.

Do you rant in public, and if so, what’s your goal?  What do you think of someone when they rant?  Do you think “bully” is an appropriate description for unprovoked insults?  Do you have tips for how to rant in a positive way?  Did you follow the directions for the Google search? *smile*

Image copyright: xkcd webcomic

Tagged as: advice for writers, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, paranormal author, professionalism, romance fans, romance haters, romance novels, social media

74 comments

Do You Call Yourself a Writer or an Author?

by Jami Gold on January 24, 2012

in Writing Stuff

Close-up of a man's suit

Recently, the Awesome-Dipped-in-Glitter (TM) Kristen Lamb pointed out that “aspiring is for pansies.”  We are not aspiring writers.

Aspiring: to have a plan, desire, or hope for something.

Writer: a person who writes.

If we put those together, that means an aspiring writer is a person who plans, desires, or hopes to write, but doesn’t actually write.

We know those types.  The neighbors who—when we tell them we’re writing a book—say, “Oh yeah, I’d like to write a book someday.”

Aspiring writers say they want to write, but they never actually do it.  They never carve time into their life to sit down and write.  They’re full of talk and no action.

Writers—real writers, those who can ditch the “aspiring” label—are the ones who make the time to plant their butt in a chair and write.  That’s it.  That’s all we have to do to call ourselves writers.

That’s it?

Yep.  That means we’ve already accomplished more than those who just talk about writing.  The act of writing gives us the authority to call ourselves a writer.

What about “aspiring author”?

That gets a bit trickier, as “author” comes with baggage.  According to the dictionary, “author” means a person who writes a completed work or is the creator of something.

Seems simple enough.  I’ve published over 150 blog posts.  Does that mean I can call myself an author?  I’ve completed several stories, does that count?

It used to be that the publishing industry (i.e., agents and editors) thought of “writers” as unpublished and “authors” as published.  I’m sure there are many who still have that attitude.  However, the ease of self-publishing makes that a useless distinction.

Why should Joe Schmo, who couldn’t tell the difference between a colon and a semicolon if his life depended on it, be called an author just because he self-published some incoherent crap on Amazon?  (My apologies if any of my readers are named Joe Schmo.  This is not directed at you.  I promise.  *smile*)

Why shouldn’t I, who could have self-published two years ago but decided to improve my craft before deciding on my path, not be called an author just because I value my work and my readers too much to subject them to crap-status?

That’s not a whine, by the way.  I don’t really care about labels.  I call myself a writer on this blog all the time because that’s what I do.  I write.

My point is that everyone interprets “author” differently.  Dean Wesley Smith recently wrote a blog post stating that authors focus on the past (what they’ve completed) and writers focus on the present and future (what they’re writing or will write).  So he calls himself a writer despite publishing over 100 stories.

I call myself “Paranormal Author” in the title of my blog even though I’m not published in book form yet.  No one has ever called me on it, but maybe they’re all snickering behind my back, thinking I’m a wanna-be or a poseur.

So why do I do it?  Why do I invite potential ridicule by using a word that has so much baggage?  Because to me, “author” implies an attitude of a career rather than a hobby.  Yet I don’t call myself an aspiring author either.

My family is geeky enough that we frequently quote Yoda from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: “Do or do not. There is no try.”  I’m not an aspiring author because I’m not trying.  I have more than just a plan or a hope to be published someday.  I’m doing, I’m working, and I will reach that goal.

When we want a promotion in our day jobs, we’re told to dress for the position we want, not for the position we currently have. People see us and judge us based on how we present ourselves. Therefore, I decided that if I want to be seen as an author, I should act like one.  (Or as Kristen Lamb says in her follow-up post to the one above: “Act like a professional and others will treat us like a professional.”)

Self-doubt causes me to question my decision all the time.  My choice is not for everyone.  Some still cling to that “aspiring writer” label.  Some, like Dean Wesley Smith, embrace the “writer” title.  Some will wait until someone else crowns them with the “author” designation.

But I want people’s first impression of me to be that I’m a professional writer and take my work seriously, so I claim the title of “author” in the header of my website.  I am a writer because I write, but “author” embodies my goals, my actions, and my attitude toward writing.  So I swallow the self-doubt that plagues most of us writers and strive to live up to the word “author.”

Do you use the “aspiring” label, and if so why?  Do you call yourself a writer or an author (or both, like I do)?  What do those words mean to you?  Do you think the old baggage or new self-publishing options make “author” a meaningless word?  Do you think it’s a mistake for me to call myself an author before I have a book published?

Tagged as: advice for writers, authors, blogging, branding, Jami Gold, Kristen Lamb, paranormal author, professionalism, risk, self-doubt, self-publishing, website

86 comments

Squee! The “Pitch Your Shorts” Winners!

by Jami Gold on January 19, 2012

in Writing Stuff

Invitation half out of an envelope with the words

Thank you again to everyone who participated in Pitch Your Shorts with Entangled Publishing.  It was a huge success (eleven requests!), thanks to all of you!

The editors have finished their dueling (I heard from a reputable source they arm wrestled to settle their disputes), and the following editors have requested these manuscripts:

Adrien-Luc Sanders, Senior Editor
email: Adrien-luc(at)entangledpublishing(dot)com

Kerry Vail, Associate Editor
email: Kerry(at)entangledpublishing(dot)com

Libby Murphy, Associate Editor
email: libby(at)entangledpublishing(dot)com

Lewis Pollack, Associate Editor
email: lewis(at)entangledpublishing(dot)com

Kerri-Leigh Grady, Associate Editor
email: Kerri-leigh(at)entangledpublishing(dot)com

(For those who are curious, each winner’s name links to their blog/Facebook page and each winner’s manuscript title links to their pitch.)

If Your Manuscript Was Requested…

If your manuscript was requested, please send an email with the full manuscript to the requesting editor (replacing (at) with @ and (dot) with a period in their email addresses above):

  • Include REQUESTED in the subject line,
  • Write a cover letter in the body of the email, letting them know they requested this through Pitch Your Shorts so they’ll open the attachment, and
  • Attach the full manuscript in RTF format.

Learn about the editor requesting your manuscript by checking out their write up on the Pitch Your Shorts post.  Read more about them (are they on Twitter?) at Entangled Publishing’s website.

Also, please comment below so I know you saw this request.  I’ll need to track down email addresses for any winners who don’t comment below, and I’d appreciate it if you save me from the extra work.  *smile*

If Your Manuscript Was Not Requested…

If your manuscript was not requested, the editors are happy to take a second look.  Please send your query with the first five pages pasted into the email to the appropriate email address.

  • Flirt (10-15K) submissions should be sent to:
    flirt-submissions(at)entangledpublishing(dot)com
  • Ever After (20-40K) submissions should be sent to:
    everafter-submissions(at)entangledpublishing(dot)com
  • Lori Wilde’s Indulgence (45-60K) submissions should be sent to:
    indulgence-submissions(at)entangledpublishing(dot)com

Also keep an eye on Entangled’s general submission page (they just added another line for 50-70K category romance suspense stories!) and their blog for special calls for submissions for anthologies.  Several pitches that didn’t get requests were very good, so don’t lose hope.

Congratulations to all the winners and good luck with your submissions!

Tagged as: editors, happiness, Jami Gold, paranormal author, pitch session, pitching

45 comments

What’s the Power of Your Network?

January 17, 2012 Random Musings
Thumbnail image for What’s the Power of Your Network?

Let me start by profusely thanking everyone who bravely participated in Pitch Your Shorts and everyone who helped spread the word about the pitch session.  I was out of town all last week for my grandmother’s funeral, and yet the pitch session was a great success because of all of you.  Thank you! (I’ll share [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, blogging, Jami Gold, paranormal author, pitch session, social media, Twitter

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How Tightly Do You Control Your Blog?

January 12, 2012 Random Musings
Thumbnail image for How Tightly Do You Control Your Blog?

We’re in the middle of the Pitch Your Shorts pitch session with Entangled Publishing.  If you have a 10-60K word story with strong romantic elements, check out that post for details on how to pitch to six(!) editors. During the pitch session, I’ve had to lock down comments to make sure things run as smoothly as possible. [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, blogging, branding, Jami Gold, paranormal author, professionalism, risk, website

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It’s Time to “Pitch Your Shorts”!

January 10, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for It’s Time to “Pitch Your Shorts”!

Update:  Sorry, this pitch session is now closed.  I might do another one at some point, so stay tuned. Thanks for your interest! The Pitch Your Shorts pitch session is officially open!  Please read the whole post for all the details. We’ll have at least six (6!) editors from Entangled Publishing visiting the blog between now [...]

Tagged as: Jami Gold, paranormal author, pitch session, pitching, writing contests

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Pitch Prep: What Makes a Great First Page?

January 5, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Pitch Prep: What Makes a Great First Page?

It was a dark and stormy blog post.  *snicker* We’re continuing to prepare for the January 10-16th Pitch Your Shorts pitch session by tackling the issue of story openings.  (Check out Tuesday’s post for everything there is to know about pitching.) While the purpose of a pitch is to get a request, the purpose of a story’s [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, Edittorrent, feedback, information dump, Jami Gold, Janice Hardy, page turning stories, paranormal author, pitch session, story openings, tension

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Pitch Prep: How to Write a Pitch

January 3, 2012 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Pitch Prep: How to Write a Pitch

This week we’re preparing for the Pitch Your Shorts pitch session coming here January 10th.  Even if you’re not pitching this time, stick around.  Today we have The Ultimate Guide to Pitch Writing.  (Thursday’s post will cover story openings.) The Ultimate Guide to Pitch Writing Pitches fall into many categories, from loglines and elevator pitches to queries [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, antagonist, character archetypes, character flaws, Jami Gold, Janice Hardy, paranormal author, pitch session, queries

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