Friday food for thought
This morning I discovered some blog food for thought -- or since it's not even 7 AM yet, some breakfast blog food for thought.
On friend and Sci/fi author Mark Van Name's blog this morning, he talked about going to see his kids in a production of a musical at their high school. It was the first performance, so it wasn't without glitches, but what was obvious to Mark was the sheer joy the kids had in simply performing. The glitches didn't matter, just the joy of creating characters and bringing them to life. He said that the same can be applied to authors. Sometimes (okay, a lot) we get so wrapped up in the business of writing, that we forget what the sheer joy of creating feels like. This is definitely something I need to work on, especially now in the throes of "deadline hell." Yet another great post from Mark.
From my agent, Kristin Nelson was another blog gem on the importance of authors supporting their local and national independent bookstores on their websites. Yeah, we all link to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Borders, but what about the indies? In the present economic climate where small businesses are struggling to survive, Kristin's post reminded us of our responsibilities as authors to support the ENTIRE bookseller industry. I'll have to get Webmaster Todd to work on that. Need links to indies. : )
Tomorrow I'll post the first page of Bewitched & Betrayed (my work in progress). And on every Saturday between now and April 28 (with The Trouble with Demons hits bookstore shelves), I'll be posting the "Saturday Snippet" short snippets from TTWD to tide you all over until you can get your hands on the book. I can't wait for you all to read it!
It's FRIDAY -- WOOT!
Lisa
On friend and Sci/fi author Mark Van Name's blog this morning, he talked about going to see his kids in a production of a musical at their high school. It was the first performance, so it wasn't without glitches, but what was obvious to Mark was the sheer joy the kids had in simply performing. The glitches didn't matter, just the joy of creating characters and bringing them to life. He said that the same can be applied to authors. Sometimes (okay, a lot) we get so wrapped up in the business of writing, that we forget what the sheer joy of creating feels like. This is definitely something I need to work on, especially now in the throes of "deadline hell." Yet another great post from Mark.
From my agent, Kristin Nelson was another blog gem on the importance of authors supporting their local and national independent bookstores on their websites. Yeah, we all link to Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Borders, but what about the indies? In the present economic climate where small businesses are struggling to survive, Kristin's post reminded us of our responsibilities as authors to support the ENTIRE bookseller industry. I'll have to get Webmaster Todd to work on that. Need links to indies. : )
Tomorrow I'll post the first page of Bewitched & Betrayed (my work in progress). And on every Saturday between now and April 28 (with The Trouble with Demons hits bookstore shelves), I'll be posting the "Saturday Snippet" short snippets from TTWD to tide you all over until you can get your hands on the book. I can't wait for you all to read it!
It's FRIDAY -- WOOT!
Lisa
posted by Lisa Shearin at
6:49 AM
9 Comments:
And we can't wait to read it!!!
Great blog today, especially linking to Mark Van Name's blog entry--that's great advice and really good to think about.
Thanks, Otto! Yeah, Mark always has insightful & thoughtful blogs.
How much flexibility do you have with your deadlines? To be honest, when I read your blog, I wonder if I could even do it. My disabled daughter takes up a lot of my time, and she will always come first.
I often wonder if I shouldn't just add my novels to a shelf as I write them (I'll never stop writing them) and hold any publishing efforts until she is a teenager, and no longer has time for me. ;)
Of course I'm not asking you to advise me on this; I'm simply asking how flexible your deadlines are. Are you able to set your own, or does the publisher tell you when they want it? 18 months I could work with. A year? Probably not.
Great question, Tia.
When I sign the contract, the deadline is in there. Of course, it's been agreed on ahead of time. My editor asks me: "Is May 1 good for you." I say, "yes." When an author is doing a series (or heck, even if it's not a series), a book a year is kinda expected. So my deadline has always been May 1. With my The Trouble with Demons, I had to ask for two extra weeks to get it finished. I dropped my laptop packing for the RT convention and it died at the convention, so I lost a week's writing time. I comandeered my husband's laptop to finish the book. So, yes, your editor will usually work with you if you need a little extra time. But it depends on the editor, the publishing house, and the schedule they have your book on.
Yup. Using the next six years to write the rest of my two series is looking better and better.
Good point about the dealines. I'm reminded about Carol Severance's experience with ther Demon Drums trilogy.
First, she wrote Demon Drums. When she submitted it, she included synopsis for two possible sequels. All three were accepted, the first with a six-month deadline, the next six months after that. I suspect that getting a three-month extension for the third book was probably why the third book turned out better than the second. {lop-sided smile}
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
Jennifer Rardin was on a very tight schedule with her first three books. She put out five books in a year! But her children are all teenagers now, and it sounds like they give her lots of great support.
In running my blog, I've seen authors run the gamut from a-book-a-month schedules to still writing their next book, almost two years later. But the ones with the tight schedules seem to be the ones who are still on the shelves. I've never been to the bookstore without seeing both Lisa and Jennifer's books on the shelves. Other authors have not been so fortunate.
With edits I usually have to do on the prior book, I'm only left with 7-8 months to write the next one. I'd prefer 9 months -- somehow the human gestation period seems a more civilized way to "birth a book." ; )
I don't know that Carol Severence was raising kids at the time. She still found six months decidedly short for cranking out a book. Nine months worked so much better for her. You're right, LIsa, that does seem more appropriate for a birth. {SMILE}
(It's been over a decade and a half since I took the creative writing class where Carol visited and told her stories, so I'm vague on some of the points. The number of months stuck in my head, tho. I can't imagine dealing well with such tight dealines. {Smile})
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
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