In today’s Writers in the Storm blog, Joseph Lallo talks about “Restarting Old Projects / Continuing a Series After a Hiatus,” saying, “Chances are good that any author who’s been at it long enough will have at least one project that’s been simmering for years, either in an unfinished state or begging for a follow-up.”
I wish I had only one project that’s been simmering for years. Instead, I have dozens! Extremely prolific in the ‘90s, most projects were drafted and not polished. Those that were finished weren’t finding a home, as this was well before indie publishing, when one needed an agent—a difficult task to achieve.
Fortunately, I managed to get published with two different publishers, and having made lots of cold calls to Hollywood producers, I was working with half a dozen who wanted to see everything and anything I did. But then in 1998, a divorce, a move across the country, and then returning to school as a non-traditional student, my creative writing got put on hold for fifteen years.
Oh, I was writing. More academic than creative, but I did manage to write papers with topics I could later use for more projects. Silly me. Adding to the pile of unfinished ideas.
I’d been teaching professionally for a decade, and it was two years after receiving my Ph.D. that I was let go from my job—two years before I could officially retire with full benefits. Two years later, I officially retired, and within months, I created my production company and became an indie publisher. The first book was Grendel’s Mother, an idea generated after studying Beowulf in three different classes and realizing Grendel’s mother had no voice. My book gave her one.
After that, I began pulling projects off the shelf, blowing off the dust, and giving them life.
It’s been quite the journey.
Looking at my list of books published, they all have ties to earlier projects I’d written or had been teaching since the ‘90s, except for last year’s publication, Harbor House: Deadly Intentions. That story was a new historical Gothic novella for an anthology, published in 2024, which I then tied into a newly written contemporary story, allowing me to create a split-time thriller.
The current thriller I’m working on, Buried Trash: A Shelby Hale Thriller, is a mystery series resurrection from the ‘90s that I’m turning into a thriller. It’s the characters who hooked and convinced me to make the conversion.
From that 1996 manuscript, let me introduce you to the main character…
I’m Shelby Shawn Sherman Roberts, one month shy of turning thirty-nine. I hate gossips and love cotton candy. I’m slim, with shoulder-length dark hair and brown eyes. I squint too much (need glasses), drive too fast, and laugh too loud.
My first name belonged to my grandfather, and my mother protested it being hung on me, but Dad told her, “It’ll make her strong.” The only thing it did for me was get me a bloody nose or a black eye every first week of school until I entered fifth grade and I was finally able to return the favor. I guess Dad was right, after all.
Mom named me Shawn after her first actual boyfriend. The one that made her toes tingle when he kissed her, she said. In her mind that was what love was all about. Of course, Stuart, my ex-to-be, never did make my toes tingle. I thought he did once, but then I realized he was standing on my foot.
I’m constantly asked—or rather used to being asked when I was single—if I was related to that Sherman. I guess my Southern accent lends one to think I don’t mind hearing that question. It was usually asked by some drunk fraternity boy who always had a leer on his face. You’d have thought I’d have learned my lesson and stopped going to those kinds of parties. What can I say? I was young. I was more stupid then.
Come to think of it, I met Stuart at one of those parties.
While she starts out as Shelby Shawn Sherman Roberts, she changes her last name to Hale. A name she creates for herself now that she’s creating a new life and moving back to her small hometown and a pecan orchard she inherited some time ago. Her plan is to live in the trailer her ex installed on the property when she first inherited it.
And then, her first morning back from Atlanta—after the court appearance to finalize the divorce and collect the rest of her belongings—she finds a body in her trash can.
From the current rewrite, the book begins:
Had I known ahead of time that what I’d find in my trash can would put my life in danger, I would have done the smart thing: say nothing, not call the sheriff—my best friend and my first husband for all of about a month when we were 19—and let the garbage truck pick up the trash, as usual, letting the truck empty its contents into the country landfill.
Unfortunately, I’m not known for doing the smart thing. I react, not thinking things through well enough.
It’s how I ended up married three times.
I’m 38 and starting over.
Again.
The potential for this book to become a series is there, but it’ll depend on the readers. Hopefully, it’ll garner enough fans who want to read more.
Be sure to follow me here, and then go subscribe to my What’s New with Dr. Diana? announcement-only newsletter/blog on my website, so you can follow my progress via email. I plan to publish Buried Trash in the fall or late summer. With over 25k words already written and the story plot revised, my goal is to finish the first draft this month.
Smashing Through Fear
In nature, when an animal is fearful, its life is threatened. Instinctively, it fights, flees, or freezes.
We have those same instincts, but our fears aren’t always life-threatening. Instead, we can feel emotionally or psychologically threatened. We can become fearful when we encounter something new and different or when something we’ve been doing changes suddenly, and we now have to re-invent ourselves or our process.
We can be triggered by an object, a noise, or an event. No one person shares the exact same fears. Our fears are as individual as our fingerprints. We may both fear big dogs, but our fear is born out of our unique experiences.
Another kind of fear is the fear of hurting or disappointing someone. So, we live via the beliefs they have for our lives rather than living our own lives because we don’t want to be criticized for being different. The thing is, they want us to live like them! To be the same as them.
My mother was artistic, creative, and loved anything Hollywood. She knew of the best movies and books and encouraged my interests that were aligned with hers. Her recommendations were spot on.
My father was practical. He pushed me into a safe career, one that I had no passion for and found boring—secretarial work.
At 19, having graduated from a business college and working my extremely boring first full-time job as a secretary, I enrolled in a mail-order writing class. I was told I was wasting my time and my money, and that nothing would come of it. Told this between having sent my money in and waiting for the materials to arrive.
In secret, saying nothing to anyone, I began the class lessons, writing my first book, How to Get Along With Difficult People. Decades later, I realized how that title spoke volumes. I still have that half-finished manuscript on my shelf.
A few years later, I started writing essays, again which I kept it secret. Finally, I shared some of them with Lynn, my then best friend, only because I needed to know if I was any good.
She laughed at different points and said they reminded her of Erma Bombeck. She cheered me on and was the first to say, “Go for it.” So, I approached our local newspaper, proposing a column, and what started as a six-month weekly trial turned into a weekly five-year gig.
As I journeyed along my writing career, venturing into new genres and mediums, and then returned to school mid-life to merge my two passions—writing and teaching—into an academic career, there were naysayers all along the way.
“You’re writing a book? But you don’t have any experience or education.” No, I didn’t. But, I did it anyway. And, I got published.
“You’re writing screenplays? You know nothing about Hollywood.” No, I didn’t. But, I learned and in the process taught others and watched as a few of them got their scripts produced. And then, I optioned one myself.
“You’re going back to school? You’ll be retiring soon.” I did it anyway, saying, “I’ll be retiring with degrees.” Once I began teaching college writing classes—academic, business, and creative—I was in my happy place. The years of sacrifice as a full-time student while working full time was totally worth the career I experienced afterward.
At different points, someone would say, “You’re fearless. You don’t let roadblocks stop you.”
They had no idea how fear-filled I was at every turn. Plus, I failed, oh, so many times.
Reams of rejections from agents, publishers, and producers. And later, my language exams—twice. Then, half of my final written exams for that last degree. So many times, I came close to total failure and was down to my last attempt to pass. I passed, but it was never pretty. I was always reminded of my dissertation chair’s words: Don’t go for perfection. Just get it done.
And then, when indie publishing arrived, I hung back and watched, fearful I’d be overwhelmed and fail at publishing my own books. But, finally, I buckled down and learned. It was a slow, agonizing process. Just as any new endeavor is in the beginning.
Where others see only my successes, I still remember the fears that ran alongside those successes.
In one of her newsletters, Becca Syme, author, coach, and owner of the Better-Faster Academy, mimicked a keystone truth of mine, saying, “Fear is meant to move you, not stop you.”
Brad Pitt’s character in World War Z said, “If you want to survive, you have to move.”
Having watched so many sacrifice their desires to their fears, never moving, I moved through fear, unwilling to buckle under what others thought I should be doing. I didn’t want to live a Zombie-like existence, which would have led to a life full of regrets.
I battled and smashed through my fears. The hard times provided lessons to be learned, which when learned allowed me to forge ahead with changes, readjustments, or reinventing myself. Something I’ve done half a dozen times. Even with my writing and exploring multiple genres and different points of view.
Eventually, I’ll find my readers. I refuse to give in to the fear that they may never find me.
Fear and success. Two sides of the same coin.
Got fears? Do it anyway. Go for it!
Is Negativity or Fear Killing Your Creativity?
Writers tend to burrow into negativity and fear. I see and hear both displayed every day.
- “I’m no good. I keep getting rejected.”
- “Why is she getting published, and I’m not?”
- “AI is horrible. It’s ruining our business.”
- “I don’t want to learn how to use a new program.”
- “I want to be traditionally published, so they can do the editing and promoting.”
- “How am I supposed to deal with crappy ratings?”
- “I have to write every day?”
Writers, like people in any other field, tend to repeat what they hear without researching if the information is true or not. Why? Because what they’re hearing falls into what they’re already thinking. Consequently, they create their own self-destruction, spiraling down into more fear or negativity. No wonder they feel
1.Rejections are a normal part of the process. They’re never personal. Maybe your writing does need improvement, but the odds are, your book wasn’t a good fit for them. It’s like shopping for clothes. How many do you try on before you find the one that’s the best style and fit?
Their goal is to buy the best book possible—the one they know their readers want. They get tens of thousands submissions to choose from.
2. She got published and you didn’t because she was in the right place, with the right material, at the right time. It’s happened to me twice. It’s happened to other writers who say the same thing. A lot of it is plain luck where preparedness meets opportunity.
3. AI isn’t horrible. It’s a tool. Just like computers (an AI device) took over typewriters. Like the automobile (another AI device) did for the horse and buggy. They’re all different degrees of AI. It’s a tool that can’t write anything without human intervention. 1) It’s not creative, 2) it spits out only that which you feed it, and 3) it doesn’t have a voice; it’s dry and technical.
That said, AI is great for brainstorming ideas, for creating promotion blurbs, creating graphics, or coming up with title ideas, finding mistakes.
4. In not wanting to learn, you’re telling agents, editors, and publishers that you’re not open to criticism, making changes, or wanting to improve. Lean into the learning of what editors really do, the process of books getting published, as an agent, various tools, untried social media, more of the craft of writing especially in other genres, and so forth. Be open to change.
5. In today’s market, unless you’re a big name, you’ll be promoting your own work regardless if the book is traditionally or indie published.
6. Agents, editors, and publishers want polished material. Grow your editing and formatting skills.
7. A bad review isn’t personal. Any review is really about the reviewer, not you. It’s a peek into their likes, dislikes, temperament, and preferences. It’s an opinion, and we all have them. Aren’t there books you don’t like?
8. Read about writers, how they began, how long it took to become published, their writing habits. Follow their examples.
Becca Syme, author and owner/coach of the Better-Faster Academy, said in a newsletter, which tapped into a keystone truth of mine, “Fear is meant to move you, not stop you.”
I would add that negativity always spirals downward. Avoid being negative. Whatever you tell yourself or think, your subconscious believes. It doesn’t know the difference between what is real and not real.
As I look back over my long career of writing, I’ve had a lot of unknowns, barriers I had to cross and overcome, lots of failures, of rejections, of not making the cuts I had to cross and overcome, lots of failures, of rejections, of not making the cut.
I learned to work through the failures, to consult with those who had more knowledge, more experience. I read the magazines, the blogs, and the books. I asked for tips on how to succeed and then applied them, even if I disagreed with them at the time. In doing the work, I found they were usually right.
Be willing to fail, to be rejected. Keep submitting anyway.
Welcome the critiques, to hear what others think is wrong. It’s the quickest and best way to improve. MFA classes are critique workshops from your peers. You don’t get to get angry and cut them out of your life; you learn to ignore their opinion. However, if two or more are saying the same thing, pay attention!
Be original, which is guaranteed to attract naysayers.
Stop comparing yourself to other writers. You’re comparing apples to oranges. Always.
Every successful writer has failed along the way. All of them.
Success is built on failure.
Success is built on practicing. Every. Day.
Every successful writer was once a beginner, wading into the unknown, and learning how.
Every successful writer was at one time unknown.
Confront your fear. Smash it, tame it, remove it, or simply go over it.
Live for the journey.
That’s how you overcome the fear and leave the negativity behind.
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Join my two-week master class, Finding Your Writing Fire & Keeping It Hot June 9-20, 2025.Limited to 25, it’s a class that will show you how to get the flow going again, how to rekindle the passion you felt when you began the project, how to get unstuck, where to find accountability, how the Universal Laws can help or hinder, and more.Built on lessons from my, Finding Your Fire & Keeping it Hot book, this class focuses on your writing and brings the joy of writing back into your life again.
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Let No One Destroy the Dream Maker
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “No person has the right to rain on your dreams.”
I had a best friend who claimed to be a romance writer, though she never finished a story that I knew of, never submitted anything, and spent more time quilting than she did writing. She liked to talk about writing, though, and she was great at brainstorming.
When I became interested in screenwriting, she did, too. She liked coming up with ideas. Then, I began working with half a dozen different producers who liked my voice, liked my writing. They wanted to see anything and everything I wrote. It became a matter of finding the property that would be a good fit for them.
When I optioned a screenplay with a Canadian producer who had ties to Hollywood, she told me it wouldn’t go anywhere. She stated that I’d never sell a script because I didn’t live in Hollywood, wasn’t young enough, and wasn’t the right sex.
I was in my 40s!
I asked her why she would stomp on someone’s dreams like that?
Crickets.
Later, I discovered her mother had stomped on her dreams of being a clothing designer. So, she became an office assistant for NASA, a job her mother approved of but which my friend hated. She retired as soon as she possibly could. Quilting, a part-time hobby for much of her life, now became her full-time hobby, along with the care of her many cats.
While that optioned screenplay ended up not going anywhere—which is true for many optioned screenplays—just getting it optioned was an enormous step in the multi-step process of a script being filmed.
I still have hope for that script. Why?
Because it performed decently in contests and still garners excitement when I’m asked what is it about and I provide its logline pitch. Currently, it’s a project that needs a facelift.
And now, after a 30-year hiatus from screenwriting—due to a divorce, a return to school, and a career of academic teaching, during which I was writing Grendel’s Mother, retired, and became an indie publisher of 20 books, I’m finally back.
In coming back, I’ve rejoined Scriptwriter’s Network, a screenwriting organization I belonged to decades ago, during which I judged their screenwriting contests for a decade.
As a result of coming back, I’ve been invited to do a webinar on October 19, with the Network’s president who is hosting the event. I was thrilled to be asked and am honored to present and hopefully help other writers.
I feel like I’ve come home.
Back when my best friend stomped on my dream, I knew her stomp wasn’t about me. It was all about her. She wanted me to live the same script she was forced to live. The adage of misery likes company was the subconscious core of her words.
She wasn’t the only one who tried to talk me out of my creative writing or going back to school. They all said the same thing: that I was wasting my time, wasting my money. There were others, but her voice was the loudest and most consistent.
I ignored the advice and continued onward, listening instead to the little voice that had cheered me on, whispering that it was okay to follow my passion. I knew from experience that my little voice was never wrong.
My dreams were about publishing books, being able to help other writers, presenting, becoming an acclaimed screenwriter and best-selling author. So far, I’ve achieved most of my goals. The big monster goals are still goals to achieve, but I continue to work and strive toward them. Always listening to that little voice from within.
When my stepfather was nearing the end of his life, we had a great many talks about life, and I asked him if he’d had any regrets. Immediately, he replied with a sad, resigned expression, “I wish I had lived my own life, making my own decisions.”
Don’t let others stomp on your dreams. Age doesn’t matter. Follow your passion, and if that passion doesn’t pay the bills, take whatever day job(s) that will pay your bills, while you pursue your passion at the same time. Having other responsibilities can slow you down, as it did me from time to time, but the key is to never give it up.
It’s never too late to start. The joy you receive is beyond words. You’ll never regret the pursuit.
I sure don’t regret the unusual path I took. While it hasn’t always been easy or always fun, it’s been interesting and lesson filled. And, I’ve met a lot of incredible people along the way. Every success, no matter how small, has been a win.
Currently, I’m writing a psychological paranormal thriller novel and plan to publish it by the end of the year; plus, I plan to write it as a screenplay, too. Other screenplays will follow, along with a continuation of my Finding Your Fire series.
What about you? Are you living the life you always desired? Are you ready to start living that life now, even if only for fifteen minutes a day?
Grendel’s Mother and The Mistakes I Made as a First-Time Indie Author
Back when magazines were delivered by mail or purchased on the newsstands—obviously pre-internet–one magazine, Calling All Girls which later merged with Young Miss, had a column called, “Was My Face Red!” The column consisted of letters by readers who revealed embarrassing moments. Some were funny, some sad, but they all had one thing in common: they showed how human we all are, reinforcing that we all make mistakes.
Well, I’m here to make a confession—a big one.
Recently, I discovered that my first indie-published book, Grendel’s Mother, was a bit of a mess.
A couple years after it was published, I saw a review by a German reader who commented on two characters’ names that were misspelled in the book. Sometimes Angus was Agnus. Sometimes Erik was Eric or Erick.
Fortunately, I was able to make the repairs to the names and provide a cleaner copy to Amazon and Ingram right after that reveal.
Or, so I thought.
Turns out there were more issues than just two names being misspelled. Now, I understand why there was silence from certain individuals, people who normally always have an opinion about a book.
During a recent experience of listening to Grendel’s Mother, preparing it to be listed as an audiobook on Amazon, I was stunned to hear the errors:
- Missing words
- Correctly spelled words but not the right word, such as again when it should have been against.
- Repetition of words… in the same sentence.
- Unclear meaning
- and more.
Is my face ever red!
I didn’t know. No one said a word. Did they just not want to tell me, didn’t know how to tell me, or did they not see the errors themselves?
I’ll never know the answers, but I can only imagine how some might have been embarrassed for me. I wish I could have known then what I know now, but that’s a fruitless wish. The mistakes I made back then:
- I had no beta readers, no proofreaders. Just me.
- I didn’t reread the book multiple times. Multiple as in a dozen or more, until I stopped finding errors.
- I suspect auto-correct may have been turned on.
- I didn’t read it aloud.
- I was in a hurry. The worst possible reason ever.
When I discovered all of these errors recently, I beat myself up for a few minutes, and then, I started to work the problem. I ran the story through the process I use today.
The one thing I don’t do anymore is be in a hurry. I take my time.
I figured it’d take me a week to fix Grendel’s Mother. It took me three weeks.
I’m happy to report that the audio version is now live!
To you readers who left glowing reviews, THANK YOU! To you readers who were brave enough to reveal the errors or flaws, THANK YOU! You made me want to be a better proofreader.
I appreciate you all!
How about you? Do you have any publishing or writing-related Was My Face Red stories you’d like to share?
Writing Through the Holidays
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
This month’s question for Dec 7 is: It’s holiday time! Are the holidays a time to catch up or fall behind on writer goals?
Writing Through the Holidays
Over 50 years ago, I dreamed of the day when I would be writing full-time, surrounded by books. For most of those years, I was writing on holidays.
In my 20s & 30s: Christmas school vacations meant no writing during the day as the kids were home. We’d fill our time with fun activities and major writing would wait until school started again in the new year. My office was a spare bedroom that also served as a storage room, and I had a couple bookcases in the living room.
In my 40s: This decade was a mixed bag of events of non-writing jobs where I worked on both sides of any holiday, writing on the holiday. Once I became an empty-nester, if I wasn’t traveling during Christmas, I spent it writing. One of the three bedrooms became my office and contained a few bookcases.
In my 50s: Major writing transitions occurred in this decade. From writing a few hours a week because I worked full-time in business to working full-time and going to school full-time. I traded creative writing for academic writing. Midway through the decade, I began teaching full-time while still a full-time student. I collected research and reference books—filling my one-bedroom apartment with 17 double-stacked bookcases. My office was a corner in the living room. During the holidays, I was either writing academic papers or grading student paper, writing comments on them.
In my 60s: Life-altering events filled this decade. Two years after receiving my Ph.D., the campus where I chaired the English department closed, so I retired and became a full-time indie author and publisher, living the dream of writing full-time while surrounded by books. Most Christmases, I was writing while my kids and their families celebrated the day with in-laws.
In my 70s: A new decade for me, where I continue living my dream. I have fewer bookcases, though, having downsized my living space. My daughter says that I’m the only one she knows who has an office that comes with a bedroom and kitchen as the living room is my office.
Hard to believe I’ve been writing for over 50 years. Most of my writing was performed in spare moments: editing at stop lights, playgrounds, airports, or dictating while driving. Huge chunks of creative writing time before retirement were rare. Plus, I sacrificed a social life in exchange for a writing life.
These days, every day is a writing day, even the holidays. In fact, I rarely know what day it is.
The journey getting here is all the sweeter because I recognize writing full-time wasn’t the actual dream. Getting the writing done and published was the dream. From that perspective, I’ve done well.
A dream can come true if you want it bad enough to take advantage of the small moments and keep that dream forever forward in your thoughts and plans.
Merry Christmas!
Purpose of The Insecure Writer’s Group: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds.
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group Day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting.
How to Become a Writing Maverick: aka, a task-oriented and persistent writer
The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
The questions for this month are: When the going gets tough writing the story, how do you keep yourself writing to the end? If [you] have not started the writing yet, why do you think that is, and what do you think could help you find your groove and start?
How to Become a Writing Maverick: aka, a task-oriented and persistent writer
What do I use to help me find my groove when starting to write?
- I’ll listen to genre mood music, usually soundtracks from favorite movies; or, I’ll listen to sounds of nature.
- I’ll just start writing, knowing the first couple page equates to priming the writing pump so that the well of words will flow easily. These first few pages will probably be garbage and that’s okay.
If I haven’t started the writing yet, why do I think that is?
- I’m procrastinating. Climbing any new mountain looks daunting. I’ll find a writing task to do instead.
- I’m exhausted from finishing the last project. I’ve learned I need a short break between major projects. That’s when I’ll file papers, clean off my desk, and perform other types of writing tasks.
When the going gets tough writing the story, how do I keep myself writing to the end?
- I gut it out. I put my butt in the seat and make myself write the words.
- I write every day. Even if it’s only for five or ten minutes. If that’s all I can accomplish that day, it’s enough.
- I write first drafts now by ignoring the mistakes, the rules, and the inconsistencies because this is where I can get taken down by trying to rewrite before the first draft is finished.
- It happened with Grendel’s Mother, which was a 10-year process, with a 7-year gap between starting the first draft and its completion. The first three years, I spent rewriting the first 40 pages multiple times.
- It happened with my Laurel Ridge Novella series, where the first book, Shattered Dreams (#1), was published, and now five years later where I’ve just published Burning Desire (#2), and have Arrested Pleasure (#3) set up as a pre-order. I discovered I had to write all of the following six books as first drafts before I could publish #2. The other four books of the series will be published closely behind #3.
Every day is about priming that pump, finding that zone.
If I can’t find the zone, I just write anyway. I know from experience that without any words placed on the page, I’ve got nothing to work with later.
Some days it’s easy, other days it’s not. But the end result, the opening of that box of new books, is always the same. Pure ecstasy.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds.
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer – aim for a dozen new people each time – and return comments. This group is all about connecting.
Decluttering an Office and Finding Gold!
Decluttering an Office and Finding Gold !
I don’t know of any writer who doesn’t either have a collection of files—online and/or hardcopy.
Personally, I’m a hardcopy writer, meaning I want hardcopies of my material to read and edit. It’s how my career began, and I like being able to spread the manuscript pages out in front of me rather than switching screens or scrolling.
The problem is: the paperwork accumulates. Scraps of papers—even a few napkins—with ideas start piling up.
To make a long story short, I had the equivalent of three file-cabinet drawers worth of story-idea files—some started and some finished with a rough draft.
I had three shelves full of other projects in three-ring binders: screenplays, plays, three mystery series, and several how-to manuscripts, all having multiple drafts written. Some even had beta reader drafts with comments.
The files were arranged alphabetically by title. And, everything but the plays and poetry had been written in the 1990s. I was more prolific at that time than I had remembered. Extremely prolific.
I pulled every project, every file, every binder out of the drawers and off the shelves and started sorting it all, first by category, and then genre. What I discovered was that I had distinctive groupings of novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, academic papers & presentations, poetry, and nonfiction.
I found one letter from a well-known Hollywood production company where a staff member had written that I was a “writer to watch.” (Talk about gold!) Sadly, at that time I had to shift my focus from creative writing to academic writing. I had returned to school fulltime while working fulltime. There was no room for the love of my life then–screenwriting.
It took me three days to fully sort everything. From this sorting, I now have these pure-gold projects to work on:
- A collection of short stories—romance and mystery—and short plays.
- Screenplays to rewrite, a few others to plot and write out for contest entries or publication, including a horror idea that I started on Halloween night in 1998, scaring myself so much, I had to put it away and have only now taken it out again. Another new genre is a time travel romance—a story I’ve been wanting to tell for decades based on an idea that came from a song.
- Book-length mysteries! Two series and a stand-alone.
- A collection of my paranormal experiences, which I started as my Into the Core blog a decade ago with the intent of turning those blogs into a book. The blog is ready to be turned into a book as there are so many other blogs first-draft written.
- A collection of how-to books. Ideas I had decades ago. At the time, I didn’t have the authority. Now, I do. NOTE: I’m now nearly finished writing the first one, hoping to publish it yet this year. If not, then at the beginning of next year.
I’m going to become that “writer to watch” again.
Going Wide…Maybe
I can be so stupid sometimes.
Up until now, all of my eBooks have been published on Amazon and through their Amazon Select program, which means it’s sold exclusively through Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited (KU) program. Instead of buying books, those Amazon readers who pay a monthly fee get to read it and any other books they desire for no other charge.
Up until now, half of my eBook royalties have come from pages getting read. The other option author have to sell their eBooks would be to go wide, which means remove it from KU, though I can still sell it on Amazon as an eBook and selling it through additional distributors. The best places that my research revealed and was highly approved of by other authors was to use Draft2Digital (D2D) and Smashwords, the latter only because D2D doesn’t distribute to it. D2D does distribute to digital stores: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Tolino, and Vivlio; the subscription service of Scribd; and Kobo plus territories: Belgium, Netherlands, and Canada.
But, which eBook(s) did I want to start with, experiment with? I did some investigative research. One of my books, Grendel’s Mother, does extremely well with pages read and eBooks purchased through Amazon. My romances: Love’s New Beginnings, Tomorrow’s Wishes, and Determined Hearts do not. So, it had to be one of these latter three.
When you put an eBook into KU, you do so for 90 days. I’ve always chosen to have that 90 days renewed automatically. This time, I unclicked that auto-renewal box for the first one that would renew: Love’s New Beginnings.
Then, I went to D2D and uploaded the book. I put in my desired publication date, which would be the day after it came out of KU. I pushed the publish button thinking it wouldn’t publish until my indicated date.
To my horror, the book published immediately as a preorder book! No, no, no! Turn it off, turn it off!
I scurried like a frantic squirrel in the road with an oncoming car: where to go?
Ten minutes later, I saw the panic button I needed to push. It said DELIST. I clicked on it. Immediately, my book was delisted. No more preorders.
A huge sigh of relief.
The day it was free from KU came and went. I kept checking D2D to see how the book was doing.
No sales. Nothing.
What??? How can that be? I had the publishing date correct.
Today, two weeks and a day later, I went back into D2D to check on the book. Still no sales. And then, I saw it.
DELISTED
Stupid! You have to republish it!
I pushed the publish button. Everything turned green. Yay.
How to Write When Struggling – Part 1
When struggling with characters, plot, interest, or the writing
In wanting to write a new blog, I started going through my TO BE WRITTEN file of blog ideas. I came across a copy of Maggie Doonan’s blog, “4 Signs It’s Time to Quit a Writing Project,” remembering how much I had originally disagreed with each one of those signs even though much of what she had to say was good advice. Those 4 signs in her blog are:
- You’re struggling to flesh out your characters
- You can’t get the plot to make sense
- You’re not excited by the story
- You’re finding writing harder than normal
I think in the beginning of my writing career that I might have agreed with that list but I rarely threw anything out. In thinking about my own writing career and projects that I started, put aside, and ended up working on later, I disagree with each one of those signs and here’s why.
When struggling with characters
In the early days of my writing when there was no Internet, I submitted through the mail. One particular rejection that I still remember forty years later was that my characters were flat.
Having flat characters is a common problem for both new and experienced writers. My characters are always flat in the beginning. Why? Because I don’t know enough about them. Oh, I might know their hair color, height, their goal for the story, and the external conflict they’ll face, and possibly even an internal conflict, also known as their wound—usually emotional or psychological—but I don’t know why they have that internal conflict, that angst, that deep, dark wound that is buried so deep and is so secret that it drives every bit of their goals, words, and actions.
My job is to go digging. Or, as I call it: journaling. I write in first person as if I’m that person, writing a journal/diary entry. Usually, it starts with where *I* went to school, what I like to do, who my friends are, and by the time I’m into the second page—of a single-spaced document—I’m fully in that character’s head. I have become them. I’m able to feel their emotions and start asking questions as if I was a third person interviewer, How did you feel when that happened? What did you do? Why do you think you’ve hung onto those feelings all this time? And, so forth.
By the time, I’m done, I often have three-to-four full pages. I’m exhausted. But, I always discover that deepest, darkest secret they never want anyone learning. I learn how it drives every decision they’re making now. That secret/wound becomes their character arc, the thing they have to resolve before they can achieve their external goal, which will include getting the girl or guy if the story is a romance. If not a romance, it’s a toss-up whether the story will be bittersweet or happily ever after.
When struggling with plot
Generally, I discovered I was struggling with plot because I didn’t know my characters well enough. After all, without character, there is no plot. Their external goal drives their initial action(s), but it’s their internal wound that drives their reactions both in thought and deed.
If I was still struggling with plot after going back and digging deeper into my characters psyche, then I don’t have enough external conflict coming at them. I don’t have a conflict equal to their strengths and knowledge. Every main character has to have an adversary that has a great chance of taking that character’s goal away from them. Dealing with plot is all about heaping on the drama, the tragic events, the problematic people.
When I’m struggling with interest in the story
If I’m becoming bored with the story, it’s either because I don’t know my character(s) well enough or I don’t have enough drama blocking their way.
Plus, if I’m bored with the story, readers will be bored, too.
The only way to fix my characters is to work with them, digging deep into inner cores until I’ve fallen in love with them and want to be with them even when away from the computer because they’ve become more interesting than even my best friends.
If they can make me laugh, make me sigh, or make me cry, then that disinterest has disappeared.
I know I’ve succeeded falling in love with them when I forget to eat, lose track of time when at the computer, and when I wake up wanting to be at the computer as soon as possible.
When I’m struggling to write
I’ll admit that I can be a procrastinator, one who is highly side-tracked with the ring of new mail, seeing the number of notifications sitting in Facebook or Twitter. I can get lost in the rabbit hole of research of some new science, a moment in history I never knew about, or as in today’s news, the political scene, or the new numbers of this pandemic virus that has a stranglehold on most of us.
Generally, when I’m struggling, it’s because I’ve allowed myself to be distracted.
To create a better writing habit again, I now have an accountability partner. Most every day, we communicate by video or text where we set our writing goals, and then at the end of the day, we message each other, stating what we did, whether we met those goals or not. As a result, both of us are writing far more than we’ve done in the past.
Is there ever a time I leave a project behind?
Rarely.
Some projects have taken time. Grendel’s Mother, which I published in 2016, was a ten-year project from start to finish. For most of that time, in two different large chunks of time as in years, it sat on the shelf. The first time was because I was stuck with the plot. I discovered I needed to do more research. I went and reread Beowulf again and got some more ideas. The second time was because I’d returned to school for my last degree.
Another project was a children’s novel I had written. The story was cute, but not interesting enough. Also, it had been the first full novel I had written and served as a learn-as-you-go project. I wrote it when my oldest daughter was in fourth grade. Three decades later, she’s teaching fourth-grade and when helping me go through my shelves one day, she said that the characters were still memorable. At least I got that element right back then! Today, we’re planning on rewriting it together adding some sci-fi to the plot…someday.
There were two short-short children’s stories that I finally and recently tossed. The market just isn’t there for me. Plus, I wasn’t interesting in investing any more time in them.
Also, I tossed out a number of ideas that didn’t have any real writing behind them. They were just ideas and today, I have no enthusiasm for them.
My first romance ever written—the one where the characters were flat? I recycled the setting, leaving behind the characters and plot and wrote a different romance. Traditionally published in 1997, I revised and updated it, changed the cover, and the title from New Beginnings to Love’s New Beginnings, publishing it last year. The book got a 5-star review rating from Kat Henry Doran, the owner of Wild Women Reviews.
All this said, these past few months have not been normal. I, too, have struggled to write during March and April. Eventually, in May, I found my way.
My next blog will talk about how I’ve been able most of the time to overcome this unusual time as we cope with a dangerous virus. They may be tricks you can use both in the normal and abnormal times.
