Oh my god, I am so unprepared for the holidays!
I used to look forward to this time of year, because of the time off, And I'm still looking forward to the time off... if I got any time off. I wish grownups got winter vacation. Then I might have some of my shopping done!
But now, I keep hoping I'll have some free time to squeeze in writing, between all the holidays and the family and gift buying and giving.
Ha. Case in point. Started this post yesterday, didn't get very far.
Anyways, I was thinking that perhaps if I focused on writing a holiday story, that might help. I mean, lend a festive air to the writing, as well as the season. But I've never really written a holiday story and am left struggling with where to begin.
Do I go paranormal and introduce Santa as a character? Do I do a reunion story about coming home for the holidays? Do I go all Die Hard and make it an action packed story that just happens to have a holiday at the center of it? (Why is Die Hard every guy's favorite Christmas movie, by the way?)
For me, I think romance and the holidays go together - it's why my favorite Christmas movie is Love Actually. It shows a variety of different kinds of love - true love, broken hearts, unrequited love, friendship love, new love. And, at least for me, it warms the heart.
Maybe that's what I need to get me in the mood... a holiday romance marathon. Of course, that'll use up what little free time I have, but maybe feeling festive is more important than getting the writing done right now...
Happy holidays!
Skye
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holidays. Show all posts
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Book-Giving at the Holidays
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
I love giving books as gifts. Like LOVE giving books as gifts. It makes me happy on more levels than I can iterate:
But there are some problems with giving books at the holidays too.
If you are an author, this is really the wrong time of year to be a douchebag author. It's a busy time for everyone, but you ignore your readers and potential readers at your peril.
For example, my daughter is nine. She is a very advanced reader. Middle grade books, for the most part, are too easy for her. She's reading young adult and soaking it up like a sponge. But she's nine. While I don't see her stepping out and trying to become the next evil wizard bent on world domination, she can and will be inappropriate in certain things she choose to talk about. (In other words, I'd prefer books for her where sex and swearing are at a minimum, thank you very much.) Yesterday, I asked about a series she's interested in and (on the off chance it was caught) @mentioned the author. The author did see the tweet. Retweeted it in fact, but didn't answer the question about whether or not the series contained sex. She left it up to her readership to do so. Thankfully they did, and I know it's not an appropriate series for my daughter right now.
But too often questions online are lost to the aether. Thousands of people see them and no one bothers answering (to put it in perspective, this author has over 30,000 followers...3 answered the question, one with a "not sure on the last book"). I get it, and it's fine, but normally when people retweet questions, I assume they don't know the answer and are trying to help. In the case of a reader asking you about your books...you're the best source of information.
Will I potentially buy the series for my kid in a few years when she's older? If she still wants it. But that author turned me off her work personally. I would like to thank the readers who stepped up to answer my question, though.
If you are an author, you need to remember that readers and potential readers are necessary for you to make money. (We shall ignore pirates and jerky readers, obviously.) No readers, no money. It's ridiculously simple math that my math-hating 9 year old could figure out. Be kind to your readers. Be as generous to them as you can. Without them, you don't have a career.
I love giving books as gifts. Like LOVE giving books as gifts. It makes me happy on more levels than I can iterate:
- Introducing someone to a new world to get lost in
- Helping another author make a living
- Spreading the love of books that will hopefully be shared and talked about
- So on and so forth...
But there are some problems with giving books at the holidays too.
- For every Smutketeers 12 Days of Christmas that gives away tons of books and gift cards and stuff, there are ten authors who are pushing their books on readers and buyers.
- For every author willing to answer questions to help you pick the best book for a reader, others ignore questions completely.
- And so on and so forth.
If you are an author, this is really the wrong time of year to be a douchebag author. It's a busy time for everyone, but you ignore your readers and potential readers at your peril.
For example, my daughter is nine. She is a very advanced reader. Middle grade books, for the most part, are too easy for her. She's reading young adult and soaking it up like a sponge. But she's nine. While I don't see her stepping out and trying to become the next evil wizard bent on world domination, she can and will be inappropriate in certain things she choose to talk about. (In other words, I'd prefer books for her where sex and swearing are at a minimum, thank you very much.) Yesterday, I asked about a series she's interested in and (on the off chance it was caught) @mentioned the author. The author did see the tweet. Retweeted it in fact, but didn't answer the question about whether or not the series contained sex. She left it up to her readership to do so. Thankfully they did, and I know it's not an appropriate series for my daughter right now.
But too often questions online are lost to the aether. Thousands of people see them and no one bothers answering (to put it in perspective, this author has over 30,000 followers...3 answered the question, one with a "not sure on the last book"). I get it, and it's fine, but normally when people retweet questions, I assume they don't know the answer and are trying to help. In the case of a reader asking you about your books...you're the best source of information.
Will I potentially buy the series for my kid in a few years when she's older? If she still wants it. But that author turned me off her work personally. I would like to thank the readers who stepped up to answer my question, though.
If you are an author, you need to remember that readers and potential readers are necessary for you to make money. (We shall ignore pirates and jerky readers, obviously.) No readers, no money. It's ridiculously simple math that my math-hating 9 year old could figure out. Be kind to your readers. Be as generous to them as you can. Without them, you don't have a career.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
December deadlines
Ugh, deadlines. Am I right?
I feel like December is supposed to be all festive, but it's always filled with so many deadlines. I mean, Christmas/holidays - you have to make sure everything is all ready - bought, wrapped, and pretty. Plus if you're in school or have family members in school, there's often finals and end of semester stuff.
Add in family, food, and festivities, plus about a million parties, and it's a crazy month. Plus, I'm a lawyer and there are always people who want to deal with tax stuff before the end of the year.
I feel a little crazed this time of year. Don't even talk to me about adding in the possibility of writing deadlines.
So, are you all going crazy with deadlines or are you loving all the fun times?
I feel like December is supposed to be all festive, but it's always filled with so many deadlines. I mean, Christmas/holidays - you have to make sure everything is all ready - bought, wrapped, and pretty. Plus if you're in school or have family members in school, there's often finals and end of semester stuff.
Add in family, food, and festivities, plus about a million parties, and it's a crazy month. Plus, I'm a lawyer and there are always people who want to deal with tax stuff before the end of the year.
I feel a little crazed this time of year. Don't even talk to me about adding in the possibility of writing deadlines.
So, are you all going crazy with deadlines or are you loving all the fun times?
Monday, December 17, 2012
We Interrupt This Program
...to bring you a special bulletin.
Well, not really. Just a quick announcement that the Evil League of Evil Writers is taking something of a holiday hiatus starting today. This will probably be a yearly thing (unless, you know, the world ends on the 21st like people seem to believe the Mayan calendar says - which is total bullshit, btw, but you knew that, right?) as the holidays are always a busy time for everyone.
There might be the occasional post of an evil Bob Cratchit member, toiling away over the holidays, but there won't be any regular/consistent/scheduled posts for the next couple weeks.
Whatever holiday you celebrate (or not), we here at the ELEW wish you a happy!
The Sithmas Tree of our Gothic Goddess Dina James represents the ELEW holiday spirit!
We'll see you in January. The Bitchstress Dreamkiller will open the New Evil Year (2013! THE YEAR OF EVILTRY!) with her post on January 7.
Well, not really. Just a quick announcement that the Evil League of Evil Writers is taking something of a holiday hiatus starting today. This will probably be a yearly thing (unless, you know, the world ends on the 21st like people seem to believe the Mayan calendar says - which is total bullshit, btw, but you knew that, right?) as the holidays are always a busy time for everyone.
There might be the occasional post of an evil Bob Cratchit member, toiling away over the holidays, but there won't be any regular/consistent/scheduled posts for the next couple weeks.
Whatever holiday you celebrate (or not), we here at the ELEW wish you a happy!
The Sithmas Tree of our Gothic Goddess Dina James represents the ELEW holiday spirit!
We'll see you in January. The Bitchstress Dreamkiller will open the New Evil Year (2013! THE YEAR OF EVILTRY!) with her post on January 7.
Friday, October 19, 2012
NaNoWriMO Time!
Skye here. It seems unfair that I have to post on Fridays. Evil, even. Because by the time I make it to Friday, I'm so ready to be done with the week. Not that I don't enjoy writing these posts, but when my brain has already headed out the door on vacation, it's one thing that's hard to remember to do. Mini-rant over. Real post begins now...
It's NaNoWriMo time! (Yes, I mentioned it in my last post, but whatever.)
That's right, writing fans. November is just around the corner. And you know what that means? Holidays, family, chaos. Oh, yeah, and trying to squeeze 1,667 words out of your exhausted, deep-fried brain every single day.
Yes, 50,000 words in one month. I'm going to try and do it this year. Of course, I say that every year and I've really only managed to achieve it twice. Maybe three times. I can't remember (it's Friday!). But it's definitely do-able.
I don't really do much to prepare. I'm not a plotter, so I don't outline or anything like that. I mostly just ponder the idea that most fully formed in my head on Nov. 1 and go with that. My life, much like my writing, is often by the seat of my pants.
What about you guys? Are you going to do it this year? Do you plot ahead of time? Does it kill your soul just a little bit to try and do this during the holiday months? Or are you grateful for an excuse to escape the in-laws and high calorie cooking?
More importantly, what are you going to write about? I'm thinking I'll start a YA I've been vaguely considering.
Happy trails!
It's NaNoWriMo time! (Yes, I mentioned it in my last post, but whatever.)
That's right, writing fans. November is just around the corner. And you know what that means? Holidays, family, chaos. Oh, yeah, and trying to squeeze 1,667 words out of your exhausted, deep-fried brain every single day.
Yes, 50,000 words in one month. I'm going to try and do it this year. Of course, I say that every year and I've really only managed to achieve it twice. Maybe three times. I can't remember (it's Friday!). But it's definitely do-able.
I don't really do much to prepare. I'm not a plotter, so I don't outline or anything like that. I mostly just ponder the idea that most fully formed in my head on Nov. 1 and go with that. My life, much like my writing, is often by the seat of my pants.
What about you guys? Are you going to do it this year? Do you plot ahead of time? Does it kill your soul just a little bit to try and do this during the holiday months? Or are you grateful for an excuse to escape the in-laws and high calorie cooking?
More importantly, what are you going to write about? I'm thinking I'll start a YA I've been vaguely considering.
Happy trails!
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