My Five Gifts to Aspiring Writers

by Marilyn Brant

Dear Aspiring Writer:

A recent conversation I had with a multi-published novelist friend made me think of you...and how difficult, stressful and frequently frustrating it is to break into this "challenging" (read: "OMG, it's so chaotic and insane...why do we DO this to ourselves?!") industry. How we need so much emotional bolstering and moral support (and, also, boxes of chocolate truffles and pitchers of margaritas...) from friends and family to see beyond the soul-crushing rejections or reviews, the steep learning curves, the unpredictable publishing changes and the banquet of fear/insecurity/self-doubt that this particular calling creates.

I know what you're dealing with out there. Really. I do.

My author friend and I were aspiring writers together a decade ago, and we still help each other remember that long, arduous climb toward getting any kind of professional feedback, agent interest, editor requests and -- eventually -- publishing contracts. And, yes, the industry has changed, and we all have digital opportunities that didn't exist just a few years ago, but that doesn't mean the roadblocks and the aggravations have all disappeared.

They haven't. Not even when you're published by a New York house. Or the winner of a big literary award. Or the #1 placeholder on some kind of coveted list.

But, while I could devote a lengthy, meandering post to how hard it is to get published and stay that way (or to self publish and gain discoverability), I will, instead, pull out my magical fairy wand -- just a little trinket I picked up over spring break -- and bestow upon you what I think are the FIVE GREATEST GIFTS a writer could ever have. None can be purchased, lost or stolen. And none require anyone else's consent to possess them.

So, Aspiring Writer, these are for you:

1. Persistence
Yes, rejection sucks. It sucks for everybody. You can pout for a day or two (want some Belgian chocolate? a grande margarita?), but then you need to revise your manuscript if there's room for improvement -- and, let's face it, there usually is -- and submit the damn thing again. How many times? Well, IMO, until you get the answer you want to hear.

2. A Killer Work Ethic
Be responsible. Get done what you say you're going to do. Or, to quote the wisdom of one of my favorite fortune cookies: "Always over-deliver & under-promise. (Lucky Numbers: 28, 29, 16, 52, 38, 14)" It's stunning how often people don't follow through. Unless a family or health crisis prevents you -- because, on rare occasion, there ARE legitimate reasons for not finishing a project on time -- show how incredible you are by not being a slacker.

3. Creative Thinking
There will be moments when readers won't get your story's humor (trust me on this) or like your "unusual premise" or relate to your offbeat characters/plot/narrative style. Still, don't play it safe and write something that doesn't have a shread of risk in it. Use your imagination. You're special. It's true, you REALLY are. Show us your unique vision in some way.

4. Optimism
Yes, rejection sucks. It sucks for everybody. (Do you hear an echo?) I'm not advocating rampant Pollyanna-ism. It's useful to see the world as realistically as you're able...BUT, there's no need to be the Loudest and Most Insistent Voice of Doom in the Tri-State either. You're allowed to grumble sometimes. (Though, if at all possible, try to avoid tactless ranting on social-media sites, okay?) But then, if there's any kind of a bright side or silver lining to be found, please try to find it. It'll most likely make you feel better, and it'll most certainly make other people more inclined to want to lend you a hand.

5. Curiosity
What do you care about? What are your passions? What makes life worth living, in your opinion? If you can't answer these questions, for heaven's sake, don't work on a manuscript right now. Go out into the world and experience some of life until you DO know. Ask yourself, "What if?" Ask other people, "Why?" and "How?" and "Then what happened?" When you're bursting with something you just have to try to express, THEN go home and write about those sensations, thoughts, emotions, situations and complications... Attempt to write what you care about so passionately that it inspires curiosity in others.

And above all, Aspiring Writer, hang in there. It's a long road, this journey of ours, but you can do it.

Here's wishing you the fulfillment of your every literary dream~
Marilyn

p.s. I don't think my list of gifts is an exhaustive one. What qualities would YOU give to other writers?

Marilyn Brant writes contemporary women's fiction and romantic comedy. Her latest novel, A Summer in Europe, was recently called "an armchair traveler's dream come true" and it'll be the B&N General Fiction Book Club's featured online read for May 2012. She's insanely passionate about both travel & chocolate, and she just returned from a family trip to London (after 16 years away!), which is where she picked up her magical fairy wand, along with a suitcase crammed full of Bournville Cadbury Bars. Those Brits, they have everything. :-)

Crazy Little Thing Called . . . . Process?

by Judy Merrill Larsen

Process? We don't need no stinking process!

Oh, wait, maybe we, or at least I do.

It goes kind of like this . . . my own 12-Step Process

1.) Ohmygawd this is the best idea ever! I can knock this baby out in no time. My agent is gonna love me. Oh, man, I am so excited.



2.) What was that idea again? Crap. (Twiddle thumbs. Play solitaire on line.)

3.) Okay, Judy (you know it's bad when I start referring to myself in 3rd person), this is serious. You need to write that book. Or ANY book. Sheesh. Oh, but wait. Isn't there laundry to do? And when did you last refill all the soap dispensers. DO THAT NOW!

4.) Whine to husband. Pour another glass of wine. Repeat as necessary.



5.) Trudge up to 3rd floor office. Go back downstairs to refill coffee mug. Look at headline from yesterday's NYT. Start to reach for the crossword puzzle. Slap own hand.



6.) Sigh. Loudly.

7.) Actually sit down in writing chair (amazingly novel idea!). Open laptop. Take a deep breath. Type: Chapter One.

8.) Keep typing. Ignore sound of dryer buzzing. Do NOT look at Facebook. Okay, turn airport OFF. Good girl (pat self on the back).

9.) Reread the 867 words you just wrote. Tweak them. Rewrite first paragraph again. Keep writing. Read over everything from the beginning. Smile.

10.) Glance at clock and realize you still have all those errands to run. Keep writing because you want to. Then write some more when it gets a little hard. Allow yourself to write in all caps--THESE SENTENCES SUCK. You'll fix them later.

11.) Stop for the day even though you can't wait for what's going to happen next to your characters. Spend evening thinking about your characters while appearing as though you're listening to your husband (he knows and you know he knows, but it's all good).

12.) Wake up with a great new plot idea for your characters. Ignore steps 1-6 and dive in to step 7.

Repeat as necessary until you've got a complete draft.

There. You've done it. Now you just have to revise. But that's okay. You wrote a novel! 1500 or so words at a time. Hot damn. Cool beans.



So, what's your process like?

(As I post this, I'm a teensy bit more than halfway through my latest novel. I promised my agent she'd have it by Sept. 1. Wish me luck, okay?)



I live in St. Louis, MO with my husband, am the mom/stepmom to five kids (ages 17-25), and taught high school English for 15 years. I'm over on Facebook and Twitter . My first novel, ALL THE NUMBERS was published in 2006.

A Bookworm's Tale

by Susan McBride

I’ve always been a bookworm. 

We moved around a lot when I was growing up so every few years we picked up stakes and went to a new place, wherever IBM sent my dad.  By the time I was thirteen, I’d lived in five different cities (four different states), and I’d been enrolled in four different schools.  It made it hard to keep friendships when we never stayed anywhere for very long.  The only thing I could count on in those days was books.

In fact, I loved books so much that I built my own library, putting pockets with cards inside the front cover.  I got a date stamp, and I made my brother and sister check books out.  To this day, they’re not big readers.  Hmm, wonder if I had anything to do with that?

When I was in fifth grade, I tried my hand at writing novels.  I have three saved in a box in the basement.  One is about two pals and a dog who solve crimes, another is an illustrated tale about a pair of nice monsters, and the third is a mystery called THE SECRET OF THE FORBIDDEN TEMPLE.  I even made a fancy cover for that one.  Inside the back flap, I listed “Other Books by Susan McBride” and made up a bunch of titles. 

I should have realized back then that I was destined to write.  But it took awhile longer for me to figure that out.  I didn’t seriously consider becoming a novelist until I was 19 and between transferring colleges.  My family was road-tripping to my grandparents’ house for Christmas, and I had an epiphany.  “I will write a book!” a little voice inside my head announced as I sat in the back seat, trying to keep a safe distance from my little brother.  I dug out a notepad and pen from my purse, and I started scribbling then and there.  What I ended up writing—a 600-page historical romance called THE THORN OF THE ROSE—was never published.  But I did send it out to various editors and agents who encouraged me to keep at it. So I did.

Every year after I graduated college, I penned a new manuscript.  I had at least ten done before I signed a book contract after winning a writing contest.  A small press published AND THEN SHE WAS GONE and OVERKILL, and I started doing the mystery circuit, meeting lots of other authors (many of whom became good friends).  I signed with a New York agent who got me a three-book deal with Avon for my Debutante Dropout Mysteries, starting with BLUE BLOOD in 2004 and ending with TOO PRETTY TO DIE in 2008.  That agent and I amicably parted ways about the time my second mystery came out in 2005, but I found the perfect match with another agency (I'm still with 'em, and I love them to pieces!).

In 2006, around the time my third mystery hit bookshelves, one of my agents lunched with a Random House editor who was looking for an author to write about debutantes in the South, kind of like GOSSIP GIRL with a drawl.  That’s when I devised THE DEBS, the debut of my young adult series that features four Houston prep school seniors during their debutante season.  (And, yes, debutantes still exist!  Even though I’ve gotten emails asking, “Didn’t debs go the way of the dinosaur?”)  The second of my Debs tales, LOVE, LIES, AND TEXAS DIPS, came out in 2009, and a third, GLOVES OFF, is (sadly) in publishing limbo!  Why didn't I make them vampire debutantes?  Yeesh.

My first stab at women's fiction, THE COUGAR CLUB (HarperCollins, February 2010), allowed me to write about a subject near and dear to my heart:  being a woman over 40 in a society that’s totally freaked out by aging (well, by aging women).  I married a younger man, and I didn’t chase him (and I don’t wear animal print), and I’ve met lots of other “accidental Cougars” since the book came out.  It’s been fun spreading the news that forty isn’t fatal.  Hopefully, I’ll get to revisit Carla, Elise, and Kat—my three Cougars—again!

But right now, I’m revising LITTLE BLACK DRESS, which is something entirely different.  It’s the story of two sisters and a daughter and a magical black dress that changes all their lives forever.  A pair of alternating viewpoints unravel the story, ultimately marrying the past and the present (and revealing a deep dark secret along the way).  One of my resolutions for 2011:  to find the perfect LBD to wear at book signings!

I’ve got two more books due this year: another women’s fiction title (yet to be determined) and a young adult thriller.  So even though my writing career took a good decade to get rolling, I’ve worked nonstop for the past 12 years, and it's been an amazing thing, getting to do what I love for a living.

My advice to aspiring authors:  read a lot, write a lot, and learn your craft.  Sometimes things don’t happen right off the bat for a reason.  Just keep putting words on paper and keep the faith!

Susan McBride is the author of The Cougar Club, named a Target Bookmarked Breakout Title and a Midwest Booksellers Association “Midwest Connections” Pick. She has also penned the award-winning Debutante Dropout Mysteries, including Blue Blood and Too Pretty to Die. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband. Visit her web site at SusanMcBride.com.

**I’d love to give away a signed copy of THE COUGAR CLUB today!  If you’re interested, leave a comment, and I’ll draw the winner on Thursday morning.  Just part of the parade of GBC holiday giveaways!  Ah, I love this blog!