From the Mailbox

WU reader Julia Weston asked this question in response to Therese’s post on Facebook and building an author website:

I’m an unpublished fiction writer and, after reading all the comments, I have to confess that I’m a bit intimidated by all this. Why? Because I’m unpublished. I have a finished manuscript and I’m preparing to search for an agent….so here’s my question for the day: How do I shake the feeling that, without publication, I’m not worthy of promoting? I recently created a blog, but it’s almost as if I’m keeping it a secret. I admire how all of you can create great sites and just put yourselves out there. Darnit, I want to do it too!

I think all — okay, most — unpublished authors feel that unless they’ve sold, they aren’t “real” writers.  That’s not true.  Everyone who writes is a “real” writer; having the imprimatur of publication doesn’t make your writing any less real, but it is nice (and lucrative) to have professional validation. There are zillions of aspiring author blogs out there, and it’s really hard to be differentiated from the others.

When Therese and I began talking about starting a blog, we had the advantage of working in the publishing industry in various capacities.  We knew that we wanted to start a blog about empowering genre fiction writers, so we concentrated on finding information that would be helpful to writers in various stages of publication.  We also used our skills as interviewers to find published writers who could share their stories.  As our readership grew, we reached out to other writers who also wanted to share their tips for success, and who wanted to be part of a writing community.

Therese here to remind you that Christina Katz also advocates this approach — create a platform, brand yourself, find a niche. Consider what you and only you can offer your readers. Back to Kath.

We weren’t thinking about promotion, per se.  We were mostly interested in decoding the mystery that surrounds the writing industry and letting others in on what we thought was the “secret” (which is that the road to publication is really hard work combined with a little bit of luck).

Some questions for me this week.

Therese,

Do you think your nonfiction credits have helped or hindered you at all? Does your nonfiction writing experience tie in with fiction?

Are you going to continue writing nonfiction now that the fiction is going to be published?

Cathy J

Thanks for the questions, Cathy J!

I worked for over ten years as a nonfiction health writer before my fiction deal came in this summer, and I don’t regret it at all. Writing nonfiction most definitely helped me rather than hindered me, for at least four reasons.

1. I learned all about the D word. Nonfiction and fiction writing share similarities, but probably the most significant involves deadlines. Working in the publishing world in any capacity teaches you that deadlines are to be taken seriously. You learn to do what you must to meet them — even if it means shortening your lunch or staying up late — and you earn the respect of your team because you become someone who can be counted on. You also learn what you’re capable of turning out in a short period of time!

2. I was able to practice and receive valuable feedback. Anytime you write, whether it’s a scene or an article or a long letter, you’re practicing your writing skills. I still have the edited drafts of my first articles for Prevention Magazine.

Recently, we received this e-mail from Jamie Manning:

I have recently started a book and have already become overwhelmed with
post-its, scratch paper, notebooks and computer files. I was wondering which,
if any, writing program is good to help keep my book organized and somewhat smooth out the writing process?

Jamie, I feel your pain. I’ve had this problem since I started writing novels and until now I’ve never hit upon a good method for corralling this:

I asked readers to help me get organized, and they did.

WU reader Lisa Janice Cohen has created an ingenious “virtual index card” program called TiddlyWikiWrite. Each “tiddler” can be tagged for searching and organizing. The downloadable wiki is free and she includes clear instructions on its use. Read part one and part two of our interview with Lisa for more information and hints.

Eric Rothkirk of one of our favorite blogs Quantum Storytelling uses Google Pages to organize his online research. “I usually enter the notes into Mind Manager or whatever I’m using to “track” the scenes I’m writing. If they’re just raw idea notes, I put them in Google Notebook.

Handwritten notes go in the Moleskine -> Google Notebook or Mind Manager, depending on whether they’re specific to a story in the works or not.”

Contributor Ray Rhamey suggested using the comment feature that is already installed on most word processing programs.

I played around with all these suggestions, and the one that fits my style best is using the comment feature on Word. If I get an idea or perhaps I have a scene that needs more research, I flag it with a comment bubble, leave a note to myself, then move on. If I have lengthier issues to address — say, a new plot thread I’m toying with — I’ll put it at the beginning of the chapter for consideration in the second and third draft stage.

I’ve found that the advantage to comments is that I’ve left a note that addresses the issue right where I need it in the manuscript. The disadvantage is that I have so many comments, the sidebar is nearly 100% purple and it takes forever to print. But, oh well. At least I’m not shuffling through reams of Post Its anymore.

Do you have a question or an issue for WU? Send it to us through our contact form HERE.

Happy writing, all!

As Kath mentioned last week, we’re starting a new category here at WU called “From the Mailbox.” We had a question come through the mail this past week that I thought was worth sharing.

I’ve written a children’s book which has had some positive response from agents, but no one who is willing to sell it without getting paid for making submissions, etc. I’m looking for someone – locally or not – to represent me and help me pitch to publishing companies, and I’m hoping that maybe somebody here can steer me in the right direction. 

Thanks,
Devoted Follower

Dear Devoted,