Promoting Your Book: Why Writing The End is Only the Start

Your word count is high. ‘The End’ is written. And you may have even danced a little jig of celebration.  You’ve signed off on the cover and you’ve finally, finally agreed on your blurb. You can take a deep breath and let it out again. Your work is done.

Except…… actually it isn’t.

Now the work continues. After possibly months (even years) of hiding away from humanity, locked away with only the tapping of keys to keep you company, it’s time to go public.

The days are gone where your wrote The End, and waited for the publicity train to steam past, posting your creation to the top of the book shop shelf.

Now, authors are expected to do as much publicity as possible, and work hard to promote their books. This can range from the obvious book launch, to events, readings, promotions and social media campaigns.  Publishing is an extremely busy business, with a relentless roll out of new titles throughout the year. The UK, our neighbour and exporter to our shores of many authors, publishes more books per capita than any other country (nearly 200,000 per year), with every bookshelf spot competition for hundreds of books.   And this doesn’t take into account self-published books.  In the US for example, so many new titles are published that a book has less than a 1% chance of being stocked in an average bookstore.

Consider also the fact that the average person reads between one and five books a year (I know most of us writers will be aghast at this, but apparently it’s true), and you can see why putting everything into publishing your book is as worthwhile as writing it.   Also, it’s now expected.  Publishing is a very costly business, and there are no ‘big marketing budgets’ out there unless you are JK Rowling or a very successful author with a track record. There is no other industry that produces so many new products, and each one requires investment in the writing, the editing, the copy editing, the cover, the design, the manufacture, the pricing, the selling, the marketing, the storing, the distributing.  All of these costs have to be covered by sales. So increasingly the investment in marketing is limited, and the author needs to step up and deliver the audience as well as the words.

If you are not a recognised author, with a back-log of successful books behind you, then the publisher is going to be looking at your ‘author platform’ along with your submission, to see how much you can contribute to the marketing process.   This means, along with your work of art, what else can you bring to the table?

As much as you can, is the answer.

The book launch is an event really for you to get to wash your hair and hold up the book you have spent so long languishing over. It’s a chance to celebrate your achievement with friends, family and potential readers in a small and intimate way.  It also means the book shop of your choice, if you choose to have it at one, will sell loads of your books in one night.  But really, that is an internal event, and you have to be prepared to move externally. Finding an angle to your book is a good way to get newspaper and magazine articles written either about you or the book. Building your profile within the writing community also means you can write guest blog posts – do whole blog tours in fact, and ask the community to share and spread news about your book (as you will do for theirs). Building up that author profile is important and use it to promote, run competitions, share reviews.  Events are a great way to get out there and build some profile, meet real readers.  Social media is pretty much imperative these days, and being able to reach out to much wider audiences is crucial.  Being an author is not just about writing. You have to be prepared to market and promote your book in as many ways as possible.

To help give you a sense of what it means in ‘real life’ I asked 5 authors (including myself) to give advice on various aspects of publishing their books.

Alana Kirk on Press Interviews

As my book is non-fiction I have been able to create a lot of opportunities to write about the issues involved and get a number of large features in several Irish and UK magazines and national newspapers.   I have also been able to talk on radio and TV about the issues and the book, and it helped establish myself as a voice on this subject.   The issues continue to be relevant, and so the opportunities to write and promote my book as a result last much longer than the initial flurry around the book launch. I am already building that platform as the voice of a subject for a possible second non-fiction book.  Making yourself available to as many publications, either by interview or by pitching and writing the articles yourself can give you access to an audience you just won’t get elsewhere. I made it a priority to accept and carry out every single opportunity for publicity, despite the publication of my book happening at a very challenging time personally for me.  It is a very small window when the buzz around publication exists, so prioritising these chances are essential – they probably won’t come round again.

Alana Kirk is author of the best-seller Daughter, Mother, Me; A memoir of love, loss and dirty dishes.

Sam Blake on your book launch and building relationships with book shops

Your launch is the perfect time to galvanise support for your book and get a lot of sales concentrated into one week – giving you the best shot at hitting the bestseller lists. If this is your aim you need to think about:

• One of the reasons social media is important to authors is that every connection you make is a potential sale – just as it is in the real world. Don’t be shy about inviting people to your launch – invite everyone you know! Don’t rely on social media though – not everyone reads their messages on Facebook (I very rarely do!) or twitter. Be professional and create a graphic you can email or better still, post.
• If you are expecting a lot of people and need an idea of numbers, make sure you include an RSVP – use eventbrite.ie (free for free events) to help you manage numbers. (Eventbrite also sends out a reminder email 48 hours before the event.)
• Get business cards printed with your cover and contact details/link to your blog or website so people you meet randomly and start chatting to, can find you and your book again.
• Launch date – release/publication date isn’t necessarily the best date for your launch – you need to give the distributors time to get your book out to bookshops and their staff time to unpack them. If your PR/launch event happens too soon you could end up with frustrated readers looking for your book in shops where it hasn’t yet arrived!
• If you are planning a launch event in location special to you – I had one of my launches for Little Bones at the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire, ask a bookseller to come and sell books for you – the fabulous Dubray Books came to do mine. It’s important that those sales go through a till what is linked to the Neilsen Book Scan or they won’t be recognised for the bestseller count.
• The bestseller lists are compiled on sales from Saturday at midnight to the following Saturday but are published a week in arrears (so your sales will be published the following week in the bestseller lists in the newspapers and Writing.ie) – if you are organising a series of events try and fit them all into one week!
• Don’t forget to nominate/organise a photographer (Ger Holland is amazing and does all the Writing.ie events including the Bord Gais Energy Book Awards) – you can use the photos in social media and a book launch is a bit like a wedding – you can’t remember who you’ve spoken to by the end so the photos will be useful! Make sure the bookshop/bookseller is included and they will be able to share too.
• Remember to come up with an original #hashtag for the event so you can increase shares and track back photos and comments on social media the next day. CHECK the # hasn’t been used by anyone else. Keep it short and easy to use (I personally think all books published today should have their #hashtag on the cover but that’s another discussion.)Booksellers are wonderful hard working people who love books, and the more information they have about your book in advance the better – your publisher will ensure that ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) are sent to bookshops so they can take a look at. Booksellers on the ground are incredibly helpful and if they are asked for help in choosing a book by a customer, as they often are, and they love yours, happy days!

  Pop into as many shops as you can to say hello and sign your books – readers prefer to buy signed books if they can so you are helping the bookseller and might win an extra sale!

  Sam Blake is the bestselling author of Little Bones that debuted in the bestseller list this May. Introducing fiesty young detective Cat Connolly, in the first of this thriller trilogy what appears to be a routine break-in has devastating consequences when Cat finds a baby’s bones concealed in the hem of a vintage wedding dress.  

  Hazel Gaynor on online (and off line) promotion

  Goodreads giveaways, competitions run through my author page on Facebook, and Bookbub promotions (all organised by my publisher) have been very helpful in reaching new readers, giving my books visibility and raising awareness of my backlist, as well as of new titles. Specific bookshop promotions such as Summer Reads, Buy One Get One Half Price and special promotions like WHSmith’s Fresh Talent and Easons Book of the Month can all really help a new book to stand out from the crowd. Supermarket promotions in the US have also had a real impact on my print sales. While these are all organised by the publisher, I have run a number of promotions myself on social media to garner some more activity around the book. I also keep my author blog and website up to date with any interesting book news (reviews, foreign translations, events I’m speaking at and awards) and any new information to keep the buzz going. I share that as widely as possible through social media. There is, however, a worry that you end up sharing constantly with the same people, so it’s really important to combine social media with face-to-face events such as writing festivals, conferences, book clubs, library and bookshop readings to broaden your audience base as much as possible.

  Hazel Gaynor is award winning author of the New York Best seller list The Girl Who Came Home, A Memory of Violets, and The Girl from the Savoy.

  Catherine Ryan Howard on social media

  Social media to me has been so beneficial, but probably not for the reason you think. Getting published is a bit of a weird experience, in that on one hand you’ve achieved your life-long dream and your biggest goal and now you get to work in your PJs, but on the other, it’s still a job and like all jobs, it has its ups and downs. There’s no point talking tofriends or relatives about this, as every conversation would have to have a one-hour primer on all the ins and outs of the business before the real moaning/venting could begin. But I can easily talk about it with my writing friends, nearly all of whom I’ve met via Twitter or via someone I met via Twitter. So in that way, Twitter and Facebook has been vital to maintaining my mental health! In a more practical way, it’s called the publishing industry and writers are working in it. Therefore – just like any other professional – it’s a good idea to keep on top of what’s going on out there. Social media is great for that. Finally, we all know that authors with books to promote need a platform from which to do it. I remember once a small publisher hired me to do some social media for them, and when I asked them what they wanted, they said, ‘To use Twitter.’ But they had no Twitter account and neither did the author we were talking about. There’s a big difference between an author platform and an echo chamber.

  Catherine Ryan Howard is author of bestselling thriller Distress Signals.

  Elizabeth R Murray on readings and events

  I see events as an essential part of being a writer – and especially if you’re writing for children and young adults. Not only does it balance out those long hours of sitting alone making up words and characters and stories, it alsoconnects you with your audience. You’re helping to encourage a love of words, of books, of creativity – maybe you’ll even inspire a new generation of writers, or encourage young people to be brave enough to follow their dreams? And, on the flip side, the enthusiasm and interest is unbeatable – your readers will let you know their honest opinions and they’ll ask the best questions! On a business level, you also get paid for events so this helps to supplement the money you earn from royalties, and word of mouth is strong; you’d be surprised how far news of a great event will travel and the opportunities that can arise. But above all, it’s about meeting your audience, inspiring and being inspired, and creating a fun environment with storytelling at its heart. By the end of 2016, I’ll have done around 100 events this year, and that’s alongside completing and launching two more books. It’s an absolute joy.

  ER Murray is bestselling author of Caramel Hearts and the 9 Lives Trilogy, the first one of which, The Book of Learning, was the 2016 Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Citywide Read. The Book of Shadows is out now.

This post is also an article published on www.writing.ie

Is your story worth telling?

From essays to newspaper columns, from blog posts to full blown books, memoirs and all their variations are becoming an increasingly popular way of using personal experience to explore a societal issues.

I’m really looking forward to hosting a workshop on Memoir at the Dalkey Writing Festival this October. With lots of discussion, lots of writing and lots of discovering, I hope to help participants unlock some stories worth telling.

Tickets can be booked here

 

Why writing is a bit like a Taylor Swift album

Stay with me here…

Recently I was enjoying a lovely 5 hour car journey with my girls, a fixed grin firmly established on my face as they fought, fidgeted and fed their way through the journey. To keep the cheer cheerful and the miles mindful we listened to some music. Now there are many things that have surprised me about parenthood but loosing control of the car music was not one I expected quite so early. It actually began with the toddler age when I endured hours of Wheels on the Bus, and the years have been equally traumatic with various phases of Disney albums, Frozen album (a full year) and the occasional storytelling montage.

Thankfully tastes have matured and at least now we get some level of music I can actually screech out loud to in the car.  I don’t mind Taylor Swift at all, in fact I really like her music and really appreciate her wit and lyrics. But 4 hours of it, and I was ready to drive over the harbour wall when we finally arrived.  What did save me though was the talking bit at the end of one of her albums where she demonstrated how she wrote a few of the songs. In one, she had a ‘sick’ tune (meaning  it was pretty darn good) and she then just had to write the lyrics.  In another she had a story and she had to find the right tune. In another, she was given a beat and she turned it into a hit.

And it got me thinking about writing words.

As a writer, I tend to do a lot of writing. So far, so obvious.   But as I am preparing to host a workshop at the Dalky Writing Festival I’ve been planning some exercises and thinking a lot about my own writing techniques.   And what strikes me is the variety of ways in which I write every day, each different, each coming from a different part of me, each producing a different melody, beat and tune, but all essential to the album collection of writings.

I usually start the day with a furious flurry of free writing – I use the website www.750words.com but it’s essentially the same as Morning Pages, which anyone who has read Julia Cameron’s Artists Way will recognise. It’s like having a good old cough and bringing up all the phlegm that is building inside you, and ejecting it from your body.   Kinda gets it all off your chest.   But it has amazed me how many great ideas or thoughts, or sentences have come from that.

I also use free writing when I’m stuck.  I learned it recently at a writing retreat and it’s a technique where instead of getting bogged down in a structured plan (see below) you just start writing in a  feverish frenzy and don’t stop to fix spelling or grammar or ideas and kind of marathon tap until you’ve fallen exhausted over the edge of the page…. it’s amazing what can be freed up with that.  It is quite liberating, and allows you the freedom to write without thinking.

At the opposite end of the scale, I then love the structure of planning out of scenes or beats within scenes or chapters for my novel, and my non-fiction, and working methodically through the body of work. I use Scrivener which is a programme that helps you chart out plots and characters and plan how the book will be structured.  While typing I can just write notes all over my writing, move bits around, just list ideas I want to write about and worry about where they fit later.  You can ‘index card’ every section you write so you can play a lovely game of ‘move the cards’ every so often to see how things might look in different ways. (Or if you’re bored and procrastinating, it can provide endless amusement putting the end at the middle or seeing how many stories you can make by tumbling up your sections headings.) I love the boundaries of this, the borders around each section which allow me to focus on one thought or scene without being overwhelmed by the whole project.  When I write like this, it is the opposite of free writing, and is very thoughtful and nuanced.

As a day job, I work as a campaign copywriter for the non-profit sector, so much of that writing is very focused and has a very specific technique to maximise storytelling and donor engagement.  After the research and playing around with ideas and themes, the discipline of making every single word work is challenging in a really satisfying way.

As a freelance journalist I have to write facts without flourish, although I have to weave engaging words between them, and I love finding ways through an issue. Every piece has a clear Intro, question, exploration and conclusion.

Personally I also write a diary and have been advised to also start journaling to ‘deal with some stuff’ although frankly I find my morning pages and Gin do that just as well.

Professionally I write blogs (one topic driven, one writing focused and one work related) which often need to be courageous, complete, and succinct yet thorough. Again, taking a theme, mulling it over, playing with the words and making a piece of prose that informs, inspires or entertains.

So many ways to write, so many outcomes for the writing. Every day I learn a new rhythm, or discover a new tune to play on my laptop, I never run out of words (although I can easily run out of steam.) But then that’s when other words come into play. At the end of her album, Taylor Swift talks about listening to other music to nurture and inspire her, and that is what writers do too. When you need a break from writing, reading is the next best thing.   Or listening to music in a five hour car journey.   That even inspired this post.

Six month anniversary

How time flies! It’s six months since my debut book Daughter, Mother, Me: a memoir of love, loss and dirty dishes was published amid a flurry of bookshop tours, book signings, TV, radio and newspaper interviews and twitter frenzies (mine).

A year since I sweated in a the chill of summer to finish the first draft, my arse glued to a chair, lest I succumb to the demons of doubt and never got to write The End.

It had been an incredible experience, and in no part a solo endeavour.   I was so lucky to have such a great editor and publisher at Hachette Ireland and agent, Sallyanne Sweeney.

It is a subject very close to my heart, and made more poignant by the fact that my mum, who the book was written about, died on it’s publication date.

I never intended to write this book. I wrote a blog about my sandwich years, sandwiched between caring for my three young children and my mum, who had a stroke four days after my baby was born.   That blog became a memoir, and I have been overwhelmed with the responses I have had from people all over the world who said my telling helped their living of this experience.

The book documents how I was caught in a perfect storm of care, and in the midst of parent-care and child-care, I finally had to learn self-care.

The book became an Irish bestseller, and spawned a series of articles in a variety of newspapers and magazines and the response to them from people going through similar experiences has also been phenomenal.  I’m delighted to have been part of a very important conversation.

The Irish Times – The Sandwich years

The Daily Mail (UK) – How to Survive the Sandwich Generation 

The Belfast Telegraph – Caring for parents and children

The Irish Times – when parent -child role reverses 

The Daily Mail (UK) – Fighting to Die right

 

 

My latest article for writing.ie

A blog post about blogging about my blog posts… also currently published on www.writing.ie

Why Blogging Can Improve Your Writing by Alana Kirk

Blogging is one of those activities that you either love or hate.  It can be seen as a global audience for narcissistic rantings, or a platform for the everyday Joe and Jane to explore their creative musings.   Perhaps it’s a little of both.   There are good blogs, bad blogs, funny blogs, sad blogs, shameful blogs, self-indulgent bogs, inspiring and uplifting blogs. There are blogs about politics, celebrities, lifestyle, hobbies, careers, passions, passion.  Blogs for nerds, survivors, parents, grandparents, children, teachers, tinkers, tailors and candlestick makers. Blogs that move, blogs that hurt, blogs that inform and blogs that explain.  There are even blogs dedicated entirely to the pictures of puppies.

With a new one created very 7.4 seconds, it is estimated that there are currently over 8 million blogs at our fingertips from every subject under the sun (and a few about the sun and beyond).  A voice for the common people, a window to share, a platform to create, a discipline to develop.

And it’s that discipline I want to focus on.  For writers (and there are many, many great blogs about writing – see below) keeping a blog going is a discipline in commitment, honing your writing skills and showcasing your writing in a fresh and exciting way.

There is no getting around the fact that – whatever they are about – a blog involves writing (except the one dedicated entirely to pictures of puppies). The thing about blogging is that all the work is in your head.  YOU have to deliver it, and each post starts with a blank sheet and a bleeping curser.  (Is there a reason why the blinking line that demands you write a word is called a curser to mimic the person desperately trying to think of that word?)

It doesn’t have to require any real technological knowhow (thank goodness, says I), or much expense other than a hosting fee.  There are many platforms that just require you to choose your style, and fill in the title and sections (WordPress is one of the simplest and most adaptable). Then you are good to go.  Write.  For a writer this can be like catnip.   For me, regardless what else I am working on, my blog is a space to be free, to not be constrained by the boundaries of books or newspaper articles or campaign materials that I write for charities. My professional blog is here, it has a totally different mood and feel to my personal blog  Grin and Tonic)

Blogging can be a really useful tool. And not for the reasons many might think.  We’ve all heard the stories of bloggers making it big in the publishing world, but they are rare, a bit like the JK Rowlings legend of being rejected 56 times before becoming a multi-gazillion selling author at the hands of a small publishing firm. That’s not to say a smaller, less ‘Daily Mail headline’ version of that can’t happen.  I got a publishing deal from a blog, although it was really the writing style and the premise of the blog that my book Daughter, Mother,Me: a memoir of love, love and dirty dishes became (sadly of the 70,000 words I had to write, very few came from the actual blog itself).  But the key lies there in the last sentence. The publisher loved my writing style and saw a potential in the premise of my blog (in this case, documenting the highs and lows of wading through the sandwich years of caring for parents and babies with some modicum of sanity left).

They loved my writing style.  And the premise of my blog gave them an idea that led to a book.  If I had never written a blog, I wouldn’t have been seen as a writer worthy of being given a publishing deal. I had submitted a novel and while they liked the writing style of that, felt the story wasn’t strong enough.  It was a first attempt and I take with me all their feedback. But importantly they knew they liked my style and I had the capacity to write a lengthy piece of work.  But the blog also showed a broader skill and a wider scope.

A blog creates a body of work that shows not only your voice but your capacity as a writer and an author. It answers questions like who you are, how you relate to and with the outside world, are you serious, poetic, witty, observant, bold, brave, sensual, funny, generous? It also shows you have focus and stamina. To write regularly and consistently, to follow a path and let your writing take you places, to explore and explain and develop is a showcase for how you, as a writer, can be, takes a level of commitment that can be appealing.

Every writer needs to write regularly to hone the craft. There is nothing more regular than a blog, especially if you are able to grow an eager audience.   The subject matter does not have to do with your writing.  It can be a wholly independent part of you from gardening to parenting. The point is, it’s a creative way to write regularly and build a platform of your work.

Even when I can’t write, even when I’m stuck or can’t get the headspace to think out plots or tricky scenes, I can write one of my two blogs. One is to do with me as a writer, and very much supports that persona. But the other is personal and I write that as me the person.   It has evolved from the sandwich years I wrote about previously that became my first book, and has a new focus, to explore the new phase of my life, and a new topic I am passionate about writing about in and outside of that blog – redefining middle age.   It is a subject I hope will become a second non-fiction, in many ways it is also the subject of my novel (but with a little more drama), and is the subject of a series of newspaper articles.  The blog is central to all of those – it is my private, yet very public, place to work through some of my experiences, theories and language.

Despite the fact they are shorter, complete pieces of writing, they still require that skill of finding a point and making it well. It is all practise, and as a practising writer who sometimes struggles to get the chance to ‘write’ the big stuff, I can always find the time to write the small stuff, no less well written for it’s brevity. It keeps me writing, no matter what.

And every time I open a new post page, and that curser blinks at me, willing me to write, I smile and let my fingers do the talking.

Great writing blogs that I love include:

www.writing.ie (obviously)

https://catherineryanhoward.com/blog-posts/

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/blog/

https://libranwriter.wordpress.com/ (Lia Mills)

www.annerallen.com

Check them out and see what you think.

 

 

 

Writing like a warrior

I have a window. Eight days where the days are mine, and the nights are mine too. Eight days were my glorious girls are off being glorious with their dad, and their laughter rings around this empty house like the distant jingle of goat bells up a far-away mountain. Eight days where I close my bedroom door so that even the cats can’t come in.  The last eight days I have had up to 3 children and 2 cats a night in my bed, fighting for my duvet, and my head space.  My body loves waking up to the sweat sandwich of a child suctioned to my skin, but my brain finds it rather crowded. My brain needs a little one-on-one attention right now, and not even the cats are getting in. Eight days to devote to the only other thing I crave more than the heat of my girls breath dancing with mine. Eight days to write.  Eight days to dance to the tapping of my keyboard and see what melody plays out.

Of course, just as I crave my girls, they also drive me mad, and I can be found hiding in the toilet just to get a little moment. Unfortunately the bathroom lock is broken, and so even those moments are fleeting. And just as I crave writing, it also scares the bejaysus out of me, because here I have all this time and space, here I have eight days to write this burning banshee that is screaming inside of me in the form of a book, and I will wash the floor rather than face the prospect my words are not as wonderful as the book in my head is.

Like all writers I know, I have what is called the Crippling-Self-Doubt-Hebeejeebies.

Aha!  But this time I know about this rampant condition.  This time I am armed.  I know I have this condition and know how much cleaner my house can be when I get the space and time to write and so I have two weapons in my armoury.

The first thing is, a cleaner.  Yes, I called a website, and got my house cleaned. The floor is sparkling. I cannot clean it again.

The second thing is a letter.  I came across this doing some research a while ago.  This letter comes from the amazingly incredible series of Dear Sugar advice columns written for The Rumpus (they are not all about writing, but so worth reading).  I printed this one out, and every time I have to face the blank page and I feel the fear, I read this letter.  The girl that wrote to Dear Sugar (who was later revealed to be Cheryl Strayed, and the first book she is talking about here is Wild) was experiencing crippling self doubt and loathing. She believed that women writers all ended up depressed and suicidal (!).  It’s lengthy and long but every word is worth it. The full version is here.   But here are the bits that gets me going. This is my weapon:

But I was wrong. The second heart inside me beat ever stronger, but nothing miraculously became a book. As my 30^th birthday approached, I realized that if I truly wanted to write the story I had to tell, I would have to gather everything within me to make it happen. I would have to sit and think of only one thing longer and harder than I thought possible. I would have to suffer. By which I mean work.

At the time, I believed that I’d wasted my twenties by not having come out of them with a finished book and I bitterly lambasted myself for that. I thought a lot of the same things about myself that you do. That I was lazy and lame. That even though I had the story in me, I didn’t have it in me to see it to fruition, to actually get it out of my body and onto the page, to write, as you say, with “intelligence and heart and lengthiness.” But I’d finally reached a point where the prospect of not writing a book was more awful than the one of writing a book that sucked. And so at last, I got to serious work on the book.

When I was done writing it, I understood that things happened just as they were meant to. That I couldn’t have written my book before I did. I simply wasn’t capable of doing so, either as a writer or a person. To get to the point I had to get to write my first book, I had to do everything I did in my twenties. I had to write a lot of sentences that never turned into anything and stories that never miraculously formed a novel. I had to read voraciously and compose exhaustive entries in my journals. I had to waste time and grieve my mother and come to terms with my childhood and have stupid and sweet and scandalous sexual relationships and grow up. In short, I had to gain the self-knowledge that Flannery O’Connor mentions in that quote I wrote on my chalkboard. And once I got there I had to make a hard stop at self-knowledge’s first product: humility.

Do you know what that is, sweet pea? To be humble? The word comes from the Latin wordshumilis and humus. To be down low. To be of the earth. To be on the ground. That’s where I went when I wrote the last word of my first book. Straight onto the cool tile floor to weep. I sobbed and I wailed and I laughed through my tears. I didn’t get up for half an hour. I was too happy and grateful to stand. I had turned 35 a few weeks before. I was two months pregnant with my first child. I didn’t know if people would think my book was good or bad or horrible or beautiful and I didn’t care. I only knew I no longer had two hearts beating in my chest. I’d pulled one out with my own bare hands. I’d suffered. I’d given it everything I had.

We get the work done on the ground level. And the kindest thing I can do for you is to tell you to get your ass on the floor. I know it’s hard to write, darling. But it’s harder not to. The only way you’ll find out if you “have it in you” is to get to work and see if you do. The only way to override your “limitations, insecurities, jealousies, and ineptitude” is to produce. You have limitations. You are in some ways inept. This is true of every writer, and it’s especially true of writers who are 26. You will feel insecure and jealous. How much power you give those feelings is entirely up to you.

……How many women wrote beautiful novels and stories and poems and essays and plays and scripts and songs in spite of all the crap they endured. How many of them didn’t collapse in a heap of “I could have been better than this” and instead went right ahead and became better than anyone would have predicted or allowed them to be. The unifying theme is resilience and faith. The unifying theme is being a warrior and a motherfucker. It is not fragility. It’s strength. It’s nerve. And “if your Nerve, deny you –,” as Emily Dickinson wrote, “go above your Nerve.” Writing is hard for every last one of us—straight white men included. Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig.

You need to do the same, dear sweet arrogant beautiful crazy talented tortured rising star glowbug. That you’re so bound up about writing tells me that writing is what you’re here to do. And when people are here to do that they almost always tell us something we need to hear. I want to know what you have inside you. I want to see the contours of your second beating heart.

So write, Elissa Bassist. Not like a girl. Not like a boy. Write like a motherfucker.

And so I have 8 days ahead of me.   There is no-one to follow me into the toilet, no floors to wash. Just eight days, my laptop, and me. Time to write like a motherfucker.

 

 

Treat yourself to a retreat

I am just back from a self-imposed isolation where I buried myself away from life-form to thrash out a plot line for my novel.  But lest, you think it was a punishment, it was one of the most treat-like things I have done in a long time….

As modern writers, perhaps one of the most difficult aspect of writing is finding the time to actually write.  No angst-ridden garrets for us, more’s the pity.  Just angst-ridden mortgages I suspect. For many of us, writing is not (yet) the ‘day job.’ It is squeezed in between life and living, and all the jobs and responsibilities that go with that. As a writer with my own copywriting business (the day job) and three children to raise as a single parent (the day and night job), writing my novel has to be squeezed and nudged and slipped into whatever crevice from the chaos I can find…. usually early mornings and late evenings.  When I was asked to write my book Daughter, Mother, Me; A Memoir of Love, Loss and Dirty Dishes in just 5 months, it meant I didn’t have a weekend or a night off in that time. And for those who do write full-time, there is still usually the pandemonium of pendulum’s swinging in every which direction.

Many of us have become adept at switching the writing brain on and off. But what about the thinking space? For me, that is the hardest to find. And so writing retreats have become a very popular side-step from real life, a chance to dedicate a chunk of time to just thinking and writing.

It is perhaps no irony that the first definition for retreat in the dictionary is “to move back from a place or situation especially because it is dangerous or unpleasant.”

Given the state of my email inbox and kid’s bedrooms, I can relate to that. But the second definition is probably the one that is meant: a place of privacy or safety :  refuge.

And sometimes for writing, a refuge is what is desperately needed.

Just last week I wrote sitting at a little desk, on a balcony overlooking a stunning vista of sun-shimmered mountains.  I was ‘on retreat’ in Alpujarra in the Andalucian mountains, just down from Granada in Spain. If I leant out of my balcony, I could pluck an orange from the tree and have a mid-morning snack without leaving my seat (which is just as well as the village was so isolated, there were no shops). I retreated from the dangers and unpleasantness of my normal life (it’s not that dangerous or unpleasant really, except when I really want to write) of work, kids, rain, and responsibilities and took a monastically simple, yet beautiful room at a writing retreat high up in the clouds where my head needed to be: in the clouds, thinking of nothing but what I wanted to write. The room was simple because I didn’t need much… a bed, a bathroom and a desk. Because I was there to think and write and nothing else.

Writing retreats are a haven for those who need solitude to finish a project, inspiration to begin a novel, space to think, and a place to sink into an ocean of creativity that only secluding yourself and surrounding yourself with other creatives can achieve.    Writing retreats, both in Ireland and abroad are fast becoming a thing of necessity for writers to get the space and pace needed to let their creative thoughts flow.

This was my second writing retreat, the first being the wonderful Anamcara in the Bearra peninsula.   I am also heading to Tyrone Guthrie in Annaghmakerrig later this year.  What seems to be a common thread to the tranquil nature of most writing retreats is the landscape. A room with a view is enough to get the creative juices flowing – there is no better art, no more poignant poetry, no words to describe with stunning impact the creative output of Mother Nature.

But epic views aside, what can a writing retreat really do for you, a writer, in need of some space?

Torrents of Tranquility

Most writing retreats have enforced quiet times.  This means that your own writing space, as well as other nooks and crannies (there always seem to be gorgeous writing nooks and crannies in retreats) have designated quiet times to ensure minimum disruption and maximum tranquility.  This not only creates an atmosphere of productivity, but ensures the annoyances of interruptions don’t follow you from home.  I personally prefer wifi, but some retreats don’t have any so you can retreat from the world completely.   Sometimes writing needs tough love.

Creative Camaraderie

To offset the tranquility and isolation, it is often the case that some or all mealtimes are a communal affair, whereby all other artists at the retreat get together over food. For me, this has been as important as the quiet writing time. Surrounding yourself in a  community of creatives can be nourishing and inspiring.  In some retreats (like Tyrone Gutherie) it is just dinner, in others it is all meals.   Building your network of writers is important at the best of times and bonding over a week of writing can make some long-lasting sparing partners. 

Support Systems

Many writing retreats also provide options for mentoring sessions with professionals, and /or sharing and critiquing opportunities with fellow writers and editors. Again, having the opportunity to talk through a plot line, get professional advice on writing or using others as sounding boards is a chance we often don’t get in such a concentrated way back at home.  Often we writers work alone, searching for solace at our keyboard, so having the option to connect, share and seek support from other writers is a treat.

Delicious Dedication

It sounds obvious but when you don’t have to get children to school, shop for food, mow the lawn, cook food (the great thing about most retreats is that the food is usually of a very good standard), it is amazing how many extra hours in the day you get to write. It means high swathes of dedicated time to delve deep into a project and give it your undistracted attention, which is just impossible in the normal mill of life.

For me, writing retreats are a treat that I give myself to allow my writing to take centre stage every so often. This time I was here for a week, although most of my fellow residents were there for two, to get my head around a plot and structure for a novel, which is not something I can switch on and off, but rather need immersing in, in a way I cannot get at home. But I was doing so much more. I was recharging my writing batteries with endless days just writing, thinking, gazing at the mountains, listening and talking to other writers, eating great food, and doing little else.  Except plucking the occasional orange from a tree.

This has also been published on www.writing.ie

An accidental memoir

I have been asked to speak later in the year at the Dalkey Creates Writing Festival (October 2016) and will be running an all day workshop on writing memoir. 

Memoirs have become increasingly popular in recent years.   Since Julius Ceasar published accounts of his battle years around 50BC, memoirs have been a constant presence in published literature. But in the last few decades there have been a upsurge of writers exploring aspects or periods of their lives. From Jung Chang’s Wild Swans to Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love, from Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes to Elie Wiesel’s harrowing Holocaust memoir Night ,the genre has flourished.  Like Joan Didion’s best selling, pulitzer prize nominated Year of Magical Thinking, a memoir is a story of an intensely personal yet universal experience (in her case, grief).

I wrote an accidental memoir, but it has opened up a whole new world (and career) for me.

I spent four years writing a novel.  And it got me published.  To be clear, the novel didn’t get published. Just me.   I wrote a novel and ended up publishing a memoir.

I had never contemplated writing creative non-fiction because I naturally assumed my life was too ordinary.  But sometimes it is the ordinary in life that is extraordinary. And sometimes it is the ordinary in life that readers find comforting and can relate to.  I have been a blogger for many years, so in hindsight now, it is probably no surprise that memoir was a natural avenue.  It just took a publisher to point it out to me.

But of course, as a blogger (and in private, a diarist) I have always written my memoir – I just write it in the present, not the past.  A blog is an analysis of the current, while a memoir is an interpretation of the past.  And memoirs have become a very popular genre with many flooding the bookshops every year. In part, because they take one person’s experience and present it in a way that other people can relate to, take comfort from, learn from.

So I was asked to write about an angle of my life that I had ‘memoired’ in my blog.  Memoir is not a life story.  A memoir is a story within a life, an experience pulled out from an array of experiences that can be brought into the spotlight for a solo performance. And by shining a light on your experience, it can perhaps help illuminate the darkness for others going through the same experience.  Story connects people, and sharing our stories is the one true thing that makes us human.

My story was quite stark.  A few days after the birth of my third baby, my mum suffered a catastrophic stroke which rendered her paralysed, incontinent and brain damaged.  My sandwich years began by ambulance and for the next 6 years I cared for my mum, my baby and my other children. What I learned from the experience, was that amid child-care and parent-care, you must prioritise self-care.  So here are some of my lessons learned from writing a memoir, as I embark on another.

Take a Selfie

Unless you are a celebrity, it is unlikely that your entire life story is relevant.   That’s an autobiography. But taking a slice of your life – a selfie of a particular time — be it a theme (daredevil activities), an experience (winning the lottery), or an evolution (surviving a tough time and coming out the other side), means you can go deep and direct and keep the attention of the reader in focus. It also means you don’t have to expose all aspects of your life – just the ones that are relevant.  It also makes writing a memoir a lot easier!

Lou Willet Stanek describes the difference between writing a memoir and an autobiography in her book, Writing Your Life:  ‘If you were to write an autobiography, you would have to spend a lot of time at the courthouse, looking up the date your great-grandfather was born, what year your father bought the house on Elm Street. The research for a memoir can be done in an easy chair. Close your eyes and try to recapture the moment you bought your first car, learned you were pregnant, met the President or wobble down the street on a two-wheeler.’

Relate and relate

Relate and connect your story to a wider issue and although the narrative is about you, the context is about something much bigger.

But also relate and empathise to your reader.  You want – you need – them to relate to you, so although it is your narrative and your experience, make sure it can also be about them

It’s about looking at the outside world and what has happened, but then looking at your inside world and what has happened to you as result. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from that experience? That’s why memoirs are so powerful. They have the power to influence other people’s lives.  When my memoir was published I had strangers write to me and tell me their story and how much it had given them strength.

What’s your point?

There has to be a point.   The point is the lesson you learned, or a how-to analysis, or a guide.   The reader will have to be able to answer the question Why are you telling me this?  A memoir is a chance reflect and to look inside yourself and explore how you have changed because of an experience. It answers, often, ‘Why am I the person I am today?’

You don’t just capture the facts, you have to write about how you felt about the facts and how you changed as a result of them. A memoir is a reflection of a past experience, but also your reflection on how you have transformed as a result of that experience, otherwise there is nothing to offer the reader. 

Bite the bullet of truth

A memoir, by definition is a non-fiction piece of writing. It has to ring true or people won’t relate.  This does not mean exposing every tiny detail, but it does mean making a commitment to get to the core of the issue.  If people want gloss, they’ll buy a glossy magazine.  In my memoir I got to the bit where I had to write about the really difficult aspects of my mum’s personal care.  I couldn’t write it because it felt so disloyal to her, yet I knew that for anyone else going through the experience of caring for a parent, doing intimate tasks for them is a real and often shocking aspect. There was no point in me writing about this experience if I didn’t write about ALL of the experience, especially one of the hardest parts.   So I spoke to my dad, and I spoke to my publisher and I eventually sat down and wrote it.  And it took courage and I wrote with respect, and it makes the book stronger for it, and actually it enabled me to give my mum a voice as I wrote about it from her perspective.

Accept the Truth isn’t always out there…

I said be truthful, but remember that memory is a complicated and tricky character. Is a memoir ever accurate? I doubt it. My interpretation is just that; my interpretation.   Everything is true, but it is only my truth. And to refine it even more it is just one angle of my truth. I didn’t write about my life. I didn’t write about my past. I wrote about an aspect of my life, an aspect of my memory and my experience.   There was plenty in my life I didn’t write about (cue other books??).  As my brother and I sat by my mum’s bedside in the weeks before she died, we talked about our shared experiences, and what was striking was that we each often had different memories and different interpretations from the same experiences.  We are all unreliable witnesses.

Take your time over time

A memoir is not a list of chronological events. It is an analyses of a theme or experience within a timeframe. The subject is the leader, and the timing is a soldier, tapping out the march when needed. You might start in the middle, go back to the past and end in the future.  Whatever works best to tell the story in a way that people will best connect to.  You are telling a story, and the best stories carry the reader along with them.  You want to share and invite, you want the reader to be sitting in the doctor’s surgery with their arms around you, or standing on the summit of the mountain feeling the wind in their hair.  You are not writing a calendar, you are writing an experience that has to be shared.

Write your non-fiction as a fiction writer

You are telling a story. Ok, it’s not made up, and you already know the ending before you start writing, but that doesn’t mean the writing needs to be clinical or like a long winded monologue. Using narrative, create drama, reveal slowly, shock, and describe things with beauty. Use all the techniques of fiction writing without the heartache of story planning!

I included dialogue in mine, knowing the words weren’t exactly accurate. That’s ok… if it moves the story long and gives characters depth it is important.

I wrote an accidental memoir, but intend to write another.  I don’t believe we all have just one story, we are made up of many.   If that story can impact the life of another, I’d say get writing.

Also published on www.writing.ie

Be flexible in your dreams

We all have dreams, and sometimes these dreams – or ambitions – are the driving force to success.    We’ve all heard the inspirational quotes – “Don’t give up on your dreams, or your dreams will give up on you”  and like a new religion – steadfast dedication, never falling off the path, never taking your eye off the ball – are the mantra’s thrown at emerging writers all the time.

I have heard over and over again that to be a writer you have to be ruthless in your pursuit of your goals.

And I’m certainly not going to argue with that.  But what I have learned, from myself and from others, is that it’s really important to make sure your goals aren’t ruthless to your dreams.   The two are very different. Thinking outside the box can often get you to places you wanted to be, but via an unexpected route.

I always wanted to be a writer, as soon as I became a reader. My dream was always that: to write.  And as I nurtured my talent, and developed my knowledge and skills, my goal became steadfast too: to publish a novel.

I did get published, and I am a writer. I accomplished my dream, but my goals changed. Here’s why.

I wrote a novel and ended up publishing a memoir.  I’m writing a second creative non-fiction book now, as well as a new novel. And it happened because I allowed my dream to be flexible.

I have always been a writer – from diaries to freelance articles in newspapers and magazines, to my day job as a fundraising copywriter for the non-profit sector. I have always read voraciously and it was perhaps inevitable that my writing ambition ended with the ‘top prize’ of a book.   I assumed that it would be a novel.  And it was the writing of a novel that got me published. But it wasn’t a novel that got published (yet).  My dream was to become a writer, so I thought my goal was to write a novel. It still is, but there are many goals that can make a dream come true.

When I submitted my original novel, it got me in front of agents and publishers and garnered enough interest to warrant decent feedback on my writing.  This is crucial… the feedback from agents and publisher alike, was that the writing was great but the story needed work. I took this as a golden gift…. to hear from the experts what is working and what is not, were a huge step towards my goal.  But although my goal of getting my novel published didn’t happen then (see?  The goal is still alive!), my dream still came true, because it was flexible enough to take the opportunities that came my way.

Because a publisher loved my writing, they then looked at me as a writer, and saw something bigger than the manuscript I had submitted. They saw a potential in me that I hadn’t seen in myself. The book they asked me to write, Daughter, Mother, Me: a memoir of love, loss and dirty dishes was based on a blog I had written about my sandwich years caring for elderly parents and very young children and became a best-seller.  I am now writing a second creative non-fiction, but am also, with the experience I have gained from that initial feedback and actually getting a book published, the credentials I have earned as a published author, the contacts I have made, and the fact I have a publisher and an agent supporting me, I am also writing another novel.  My dream came true because I allowed it to be flexible.

Recently I spoke on a writer panel at the Cork World Book Festival on my experiences getting published.  Sitting alongside me on that panel were two other writers, and when we told our stories it seems that allowing our dreams to be flexible enabled us all to be published.   As we spoke to a room full of emerging and dream-driven writers, we told them that we can all dream of writing a book but often the story of how that book (or even what that book is) is needs to flexible.

On the train home, I chatted to Inkwell and writing.ie founder Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin and I realised her journey to publication has been so flexible it has done back flips and somersaults. The four of us had all been flexible with our dreams, and in doing so had fulfilled those dreams, even if our goals changed along the way.  Four different authors, one dream, four different roads to success.

I submitted a novel, which attracted the attention of a publisher who liked my writing, saw my blog and offered me a deal based on a creative non-fiction book.  Hazel Gaynor also began with a hugely successful blog ‘Hot Cross Mum’, but it was a novel she set her sights on.  When she faced the predictable rejection scenarios, she decided to self-publish because – in her words – “I had to get rid of that book. If I didn’t, I could never start the next one”.  She had never dreamed of self-publishing but was flexible enough in her goals to open herself to experiences she hadn’t desired. It was so successful she got a publishing deal and she is now an award winning, New York Times bestselling novelist.

ER Murray also dreamed of being a writer.  She wrote, got rejected, wrote some more, and sent her book to Vanessa at Inkwell. Vanessa loved it and referred her to one of the agents she scouts for. Because ER Murray’s dreams were flexible enough, her first book was nominated for the Dublin 2016 Citywide Reading for Children campaign run by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Dublin City Council’s Libraries Services and she is now working on the second of her children’s trilogy, as well as launching a book for older children – a YA novel, called Caramel Hearts next week, AND has begun an adult novel.  It doesn’t get more flexible than that!

And Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin wrote a book about a wedding dress with bones in it (her fifth, in fact, as she says, ‘it took me three books to find my voice‘). When she started it, it was titled The Dressmaker, the protagonist was an artist and it was definitely literary fiction, but then a detective called Cat Connolly appeared on the scene and it changed totally.  Although she was an avid crime reader, it took a while for her to realise that this was a thriller, a police procedural. She recently secured a 3 book deal as Ireland’s newest and most exciting crime writer, Sam Blake – Little Bones is out now and has already hit the No1 slot in the Easons chart.  Her dream was flexible enough to change the goals, and success is hers.

Often we are told we are only limited by our dreams. Just be careful you don’t let your dreams limit your ambitions.  So keep dreaming. Dream of writing, and being a writer and being published.  Hold on tight to that dream, but let the dream write it’s own rules.

(Published on http://www.writing.ie)

Surrounding yourself with the write stuff

The blooms are bursting in the garden, and the books are bursting from the shelves as a flurry of book launches fill the diary.   And like a child let loose in a sweet shop, spending time with other writers is like a sugar rush.  I always come away raring to get back to my laptop, my energy levels restored, my ambitions re-awakened.   Writing is such a solitary business, so it feels good to get the glad rags on and venture into the actual world of words.

Last week I was at the launch of the inspirational writer Catherine Ryan Howard for her debut thriller Distress Signals.  We have got to know each other through the Twitterland writing community and it was great to see her – and the long awaited – book in the flesh. The room was awash with writers and Twitterland shook with the earthquake of off and online greetings.

And all the conversations I had that, and all the writers I caught up with and met, ignited me again from the slight doldrums of the blank gap syndrome (two new books to write, but no two extra hours in the day to write them in.)

When Catherine gave her launch speech she mentioned that she had spent years attending so many other book launches, always wondering when it would be her turn.  I have done the same. I have stood in Dubray, or Hodges & Figges with a glass of wine in my hand, a new book clutched to my breast, watching someone give that amazing speech, wondering if I would ever get the chance to say “here is my book.”  Luckily I got the book, but sadly had to cancel the book launch, but standing there last Thursday made me realise I still want that launch.  I’m just going to have to write another book.  In fact I’m writing two. My new non-fiction creative proposal is in with my agent and publisher, and a new novel entertains my thoughts at night and wakes me early, so I write in the glow of rising sun and try and fill that word count. And that was because  Catherine reminded us all in the audience last Thursday, that the only way we get to stand behind the desk and sign those books, is to write.

And as I get the call from another pal that she just got an agent, and as I get ready for two more book launches next week, that is the perfect motivation to keep writing. It’s the only way I get my book launch after all!