GET OVER IT by Brenda Whiteside

I'm not one to worry too much about failure. That moment, that hour, even that day, I might scream or cry or feel dismally imperfect. But once the sun sets and the night absorbs the frustration, the sunrise brings on a new beginning. I took to heart a saying from the sixties - today is the first day of the rest of your life.

There was one year...I got myself into a funk thinking about the things I should've accomplished and hadn't...by the ripe old age of thirty. I laugh at myself now to think of the depression I allowed myself because I'd not done what I thought I should've by my thirtieth birthday. All those years ahead of me to keep on keeping, and I wanted to call myself an abject failure. But I got over it.

I'm not saying don't look back, but don't do it with regret or with the idea of embracing failures. If you can look at the supposed failure and gain something from it, then you're a success. Another cliche from a recent song I totally love is - breathe in, breathe out, move on. Get the idea?

The only true failure is to do nothing at all. So, as my daddy used to say, "do something even if it's wrong."

I'll end with one more favorite line from an Eagle's song: "Get over it!"

By the way, the first book in my romantic suspense Love and Murder series, releases May 2. I'm jazzed.

Visit Brenda at www.brendawhiteside.com.

Or on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/brendawhitesid2

She blogs on the 9^th and 24^th of every month at http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com

She blogs about prairie life and writing at http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/

Success or Failure by Diane Burton

As I was watching a Detroit Tigers baseball game last week, I thought about our theme. How do you measure success or failure? If you succeed only four out of ten times, that means you fail 60% of the time. Yet, Miguel Cabrera, whose batting average is .350, is an 8-time All Star, was voted American League MVP in 2013 for the second consecutive season, and is considered one of the best hitters in baseball. On Friday, he hit his 2,000th career hit, the 7^th youngest in history. And that’s for a man who fails to get a hit more than six out of ten times.

What does that tell us? If baseball players who are paid big bucks to play for our entertainment, rarely (if ever) succeed half the time, who are we to give up when we occasionally fail? Players who strike out go back and try again.

With anything we try—sending manuscripts to agents or editors, losing weight, running a marathon—we’re probably going to fail part of the time. We could give up. (Been there, done that.) It all depends on how badly we want something. It can be depressing to fail. I remember a quote attributed to Thomas Edison (during the movie National Treasure) about inventing the light bulb. He didn’t fail, he found 2,000 ways how not to make a light bulb.

Let’s hope we don’t have to find 2,000 ways how not to get our book published or lose weight. We just need to find that one way that works. What works for some people might not work for us. We have to try and try again until we find success.

I blog here on the 8th and 30th of each month and Mondays on my own blogsite http://dianeburton.blogspot.com

 

5 Keys to Surviving A Successful Revision by Amber Leigh Williams

New Author Headshot!

This month is all about success and failure so I’m going to talk about something I know: revision. A Place With Briar, my Superromance debut on shelves now, went through no less than five revisions before it was contracted by Harlequin last summer. Recently, I underwent more revision when they contracted two more books for the Superromance line, the first of which went through intense revision last month. (Special note: at the end of today’s post, I’ll be revealing the title of this book, which will be on shelves in October.)

Over the years I’ve learned that revision is oftentimes necessary. My historical romance, Forever Amore, went through major rewrites and revisions before it was ready for publication. Many authors who have experience with Harlequin have also been asked to do quite a bit of revision to make their work ready for their targeted imprint. It’s almost a way for the editors to test how your working relationship with them will be. Bearing this in mind, I cannot stress how important it is to learn to accept revision and roll with it.

Here are my five keys to surviving a successful revision….

#1 – Caffeine! Not everybody drinks coffee. I’m one of them. In the mornings, I’ll have some hot tea with my Wheaties and get cracking on my editor’s revision notes. During the day, Coca-Cola is my friend. Particularly since I am serving double-duty as writer and mommy at home with my little one during the weekdays. (I don’t know how in the world I got through the revisions for A Place With Briar. Most of them took place while I was either pregnant or nursing and tea and caffeinated soda were no-no’s. Let’s just say it was much more slow-going.) Even if you’re not a caffeine-consumer, it’s important to get the right amount of fuel at the beginning of the day by eating a healthy breakfast in order to super-charge those brainwaves. I’ve found that when I eat right in the mornings, my body and mind are much better prepared for the day – whatever it may bring…from revision madness to toddler-sized shenanigans.
 

#2 – Old Adages! I did a guest blog post a while back called “Writing Axioms That Work” at Prairie Chicks Write Romance. It lists the five writing adages that have gotten me through nearly ten years of full-time writing. They work for all genres and some of them could even be applied to everyday life. When I know I’m about to tackle a tough revision, I dig my adage print-out out of the filing cabinet and pin it to the bulletin board over my desk. The muse is not always there for me, especially when I’m up against a deadline and have to write with or without her. This list of adages really motivates me (in addition to the caffeine!) and inspires me. “Never, never, never give me!” I actually have this one on a plaque on my desk, but it simply cannot be said enough. The second is a quote by author J.R. Ward: “Plots are like sharks. They keep moving or they die.” When you’re trying to figure out how to rebuild story structure, remembering this tidbit is imperative. “Scientific workability!” This is a quote from Julia Child who was not just a famed chef but a devoted writer. She believed that in cooking and in writing no small amount of attention could be paid to detail. For me, this applies mostly to the editing process that comes after the revision. Before I let my editor see anything, I pick through the entire manuscript at least twice with a fine-tooth comb so that when I present it to her, it’s as grammatically correct and as professional-looking as I can make it. (I set aside at least three days at the end of the revision process just for editing.)
 

GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict

#3 – Character Driven Notes! Before I can proceed with a first draft or a revision, I must know my characters. Can you tell I’m an ingrained plotter? I think it’s important for any writer, plotter or pantser, about to undergo a character-driven story like any romance must know his/her characters. When I first began writing, a friend in the industry did me a huge favor that wound up being instrumental in my career. She gave me notes from a workshop she had attended called “Creating Believable Characters.” The workshop was modeled after the book by Debra Dixon called GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction. It gives you essential tools to figuring out your characters’ strengths and flaws and building your story around them so that they and the story as a whole are that much more believable. Believability is a big thing in the romance business, whether you write contemporary or historical, paranormal or sci-fi. Usually by the revision process, I’ve already sat down and written out my hero and heroine’s goals, their strengths and weaknesses (which in turn must line up or contrast with their significant other’s in order to create story conflict), their core needs (these also can contrast, creating conflict to drive the story), where their core needs come from, backstory, even their sexual history and secrets. For revision, I also go back and use these workshop notes to better adjust the important emotional high points, low points, and peaks like the all-important climax (or "third-act dark moment") of the story. Usually the reason I am forced to revise is because something with the characters doesn’t line up or because something just isn’t believable enough and I have to rework the story in order to make it so. It all goes back the hero or heroine and their GMCs (goal, motivation, and conflict). (If any of my writer friends are interested in these workshop notes, I would be happy to send you a copy. Just shoot me an email request for them at amber@amberleighwilliams.com!)

#4 – Back-Up Harddrive! However you choose to back up your work, DO IT! Do it every day. Let it be the last thing you do before you turn off your computer or work tablet and rejoin the real world. There is nothing more off-putting than getting well into a successful first draft or in-depth revision and losing all your work due to a system glitch or human error. Take it from someone who knows very well. Nothing makes me want to throw in the towel faster than having to start over from scratch. As much stress as a computer or data failure might be, knowing the bulk of your work and/or progress is backed up safely on one or two back-up hard drives or other devices makes it much less of a disaster.
 

Tools for Revision :-)

#5 – Wine Time! Yep, you heard me. For me, it’s a nice, cool glass of Pinot Grigio. For my latest heroine, it’s a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. Whether you’re a fan of red or white, chilled or room temperature, at the end of a frazzled day of revisions, nothing quite does it like wine…and, if I can sneak it in amidst the little one’s bath time and prepping dinner for the family, a warm bath. Ah…detoxing. My favorite part of any hard writing day in the office. Just remember: it was Hemingway, I believe, who said that you can write drunk so long as you revise sober.... So for revision's sake, definitely save that glass until the day's end :-)
 

So there you have it, readers! My 5 Keys for Surviving a Successful Revision! Writers, I hope you found it helpful in some way. Now for the fun part – the title announcement for my next Superromance novel, the second book in my hometown series that will follow A Place With Briar in October 2014. The name of the book is MARRIED ONE NIGHT! If you’ve had a chance to read A Place With Briar already this month, you’ll remember the heroine Briar’s cousin, Olivia Lewis. Married One Night will feature her and a charming, British hero who is very Tom Hiddleston-esque. Intrigued? Stay tuned for the back cover blurb and cover which are in the works!
 

On Shelves Now! 4 Stars from RT BOOK REVEIWS!

Amber Leigh Williams lives on the Gulf Coast. A southern girl at heart, she loves beach days, the smell of real books, relaxing at her family’s lakehouse, and spending time with her husband, Jacob, and their sweet, blue-eyed boy. When she’s not running after her young son and three, large dogs, she can usually be found reading a good romance or cooking up a new dish in her kitchen. She is represented by Joyce Holland of the D4EO Literary Agency. Visit her on the web at www.amberleighwilliams.com!

A Successful Move? by Alison Henderson

The past ten days have been a whirlwind of activity at the Henderson house. After a long year of construction, we finally moved into our new house. It was a stressful, exhausting process--especially for OG. He insisted on doing far too much himself and is now paying the price.

Hall of art

The guest room - ready for you!

At this moment (Friday morning), he has been in the hospital for 24 hours with the worst headache of his life. They've ruled out all the usual suspects (stroke, aneurysm, brain tumor), so that's a good thing. However, we still don't have an answer about the cause--not so good. Since I'm a bit stressed myself by all this, I'm just going to post pictures of the the new house for those who have asked to see them. Try to ignore the junk on the kitchen counter, boxes in corners, and pictures on the floor instead of the walls.

Kitchen

Family Room

My office

Fingers crossed, the doctors will tell OG he just needs to slow down and calm down and I can bring him home after a few more tests. I actually thing the house is coming along pretty well. I can't wait to get to work writing in my new office!


Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com
http://alisonhenderson.blogspot.com

Success

Someone recently asked the question on Facebook about what the definition of success was. I replied that success was when other people asked for your opinion or advice. I was referring to professional success. If someone values your viewpoint and actively seeks your counsel, shouldn’t that point to how successful you’ve been in that career? If you weren’t respected or knowledgeable, no one would care what you thought or what you would do in his/her situation. They’d avoid you, let you make your mistakes, and probably laugh at you behind your back (or even in front of you depending on how sinister he/she was and how bad you were at your job).

I’ve been teaching for fifteen years. I feel pretty good about the work I do there every cycle of 180 days. I see my students growing. I’ve examined the data. I make an impact.

Now success on a personal level is a whole other animal. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m my own worst critic. I rarely feel successful on a personal level. I doubt myself constantly. I complete personal projects and wonder almost obsessively whether or not I’ve just created an amazing masterpiece or an overflowing bucket of crap. I have encounters with other humans then analyze those encounters from every angle, worrying that I made the wrong impression, gave off an awkward vibe, made a fool of myself… oh, the list goes on.

 

Can we say insecure? Sure we can. Can we fix it?

Maybe. Though I’m nearly forty years into my existence and I’ve felt this way since about age ten. That’s three decades of self doubt. I’m going to need a damn big eraser to clean that mess up. Perhaps I should just hit the backspace key and have myself a do over.

 

Nah. That’s not the answer.

The answer rests in one word. Confidence. I sort of feel like Frodo Baggins and his crew. I’m on a quest. I’m not looking to throw a ring into the fires of Mount Doom though. I just want to find some confidence. Maybe I need a trip to the wizard in Oz. I’m sure he’s got a jar full of confidence in his shop. It’s right before the jar full of brains and after the jar full of courage. (C’mon, you know he’s got that stuff organized alphabetically, you know, if he were a real wizard.)

 
At least I don’t let this lack of confidence keep me from trying things. I try stuff. I just automatically think I suck at whatever it is I’m trying. I set goals, but call myself every degrading name in the book as I battle my own demons and try to reach those goals.

I eventually reach the goals.

I think.

 
Maybe.
 
Sometimes.

  
What about you? Where do you think you’re successful? Where do you think you need a little (or big) push?

 

Toodles,

Chris

www.christinedepetrillo.weebly.com

Success or Failure--It's All About Expectations by Jannine Gallant

Is one man's success another man (or woman's) failure? Of course. We all have different expectations, and more often than not, those expectations change over time. Early on in my writing career, success meant getting published. Simple. Straightforward. A tangible goal. I jumped up and down with joy when my first book was accepted. I can still remember that feeling...but my goals have changed over the last five years. Some authors see success as getting a Big 5 contract or having their books on shelves in brick and mortar bookstores. Some people believe self-publishing doesn't count. It means you failed to get a real publisher to accept your book. There are all sorts of different opinions about success in this business.

A friend once made a comment that stuck with me--probably because it irritated the hell out of me at the time. She asked wasn't my writing a hobby not a career since I'm really not making much money? There it is, the dreaded M word. No one wants to talk about it. Is that the definition of success? Is making money--whether it's with a small press or a large one or by self-publishing--the definition of success? When it comes right down to it, that's my current goal. I'm not retired. I have a day job, but I want to keep writing so I'm willing to try every avenue available to achieve success.

There's one more way to look at success (okay maybe more than one, but one I'm going to talk about). Reviews. Do the people who read our books like them? Are we satisfied we're producing the best book we can. If the answer to those two questions is yes, does that mean we're successful authors? Again, it's all about expectation.

There are a couple of things that make me feel successful. A few days after the free period for my most recent release, Asking For Trouble, I checked my Amazon rankings and noticed all 9 of the books on my back list had dropped at the same time. My conclusion: someone who had downloaded my new release when it was free had read it and liked it so much they bought all my other books. THAT felt like success. These little moments make what we do worthwhile.

Another milestone--I just signed a contract with Kensington (ebook and POD but with the option for mass market paperback) for a three book suspense series. It's an excellent feeling. Will I be successful with this new venture? I guess we'll see. What I truly believe is we have to keep pushing ourselves and trying different things to discover what works for us as individuals. Have I given up on self-publishing where I did see some degree of monetary success? Nope. I plan to self-pub a historical this summer. I'm looking forward to the challenge of promoting a book all the publishers said had great characters and writing but was set in a time period too difficult to sell. Maybe I'll use that as my catch phrase. This book is so odd you have to read it!

So, now you've heard what I think about success. What's your definition? Inquiring minds want to know!

Visit me at my WEBSITE or on FACEBOOK and TWITTER.

April Fools...Failure is Success! by Rolynn Anderson

April’s conversation topic is Success and Failure, the roller coaster ride that every writer takes on a daily, hourly..may I say…minute by minute basis.  Under our beds are dust-moted old manuscripts.  For each book we bring to press are ‘awful versions’ of the same novel which we’ve successfully transformed to a page turner.  We might have those dated versions on our computers, but we’ll probably never look at them again.  Why?  Because our current successes build from our failures. 

When I was an English teacher, I once had a student named Craig who was one of the poorest spellers I’d ever encountered.  Craig was smart and a goal-setter.  He was determined to go to college and earn a business/advertising degree.  Could he be successful in college if he misspelled every other word?  Could I write a page-turning novel after penning stories that should not see the light of day?

The answer is yes to Craig and yes to any writer.  Our successes build from our failures.  Craig studied hard to memorize every word he couldn’t spell and when spell check came about, he got an extra boost.  He refused to believe he was less than intelligent because he had trouble spelling, much like I refuse to let a writing dilemma go unchallenged. 

I am curious, though.  How many of you have dug out an old, early manuscript and make it sparkle?  I’d love to know!

SUSPENSE SPIKED WITH ROMANCE 

LAST RESORT * FADEOUT * SWOON

FADEOUT won a RONE award!  LIE CATCHERS is out on KDP right now!

Web: http://www.rolynnanderson.com