IWSG: HARD WORK - It's What's for Dinner...and Lunch, and Breakfast, and morning snack and afternoon tea and bedtime bites and noontime nibbles and midnight munchies and...

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, time for

Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group

I hate Seattle in February.  It's the coldest month of the year here, and when everyone else in the US is looking forward to March and springtime weather, we in Seattle know we have at least another four months of cold, rainy, dreary weather.

But February also boasts of the first small glimpse of what's to come. Invariably, there'll always be a day or two where the sun shines in a gloriously clear blue sky, and the temps rise into the upper 50's or higher. When that happens, I jump in my car, put the top down and the tunes on, and cruise around Lake Sammamish and Lake Washington. It's enough to keep me going until the real spring weather comes along.

That's kind of how it is when you're newly published with a small press, and you've been buried in marketing, of which you have no skills whatsoever. I take tiny little baby steps everyday, but it's progress. And my rankings reflect that.  Well, usually, but not always. They're still not great, but they're improving at a consistent rate, so it's heartening.  It’s like that bit of warm sunshine and blue sky in February. 

My point?  Well, we writers love what we do, but let’s face it, with all the rejection, it can be seriously depressing.  It’s a mind-numbingly slow process, and though we do the actual work alone, we cannot “make it” alone.  We need betas and critique partners, agents and publishers, bloggers and book reviewers.  You just can’t do it without them, or at least some of them anyway. 

But I’m here to tell you, it can be done, and I’m one of those exceedingly average people who accomplish some success, but never in spectacular fashion.  I have no visions of superstardom or the financial windfall that comes with that.  I don’t ever expect to make much money on my book, and honestly, that was never the point.  I just wanted to write a really good book readers would enjoy, and I wanted to publish it traditionally.

I didn’t consider all the work I’d have to do on the marketing front, and I will admit, it isn’t easy, but neither was writing the book, or revising, or querying, or editing.  Every step was and still is a challenge, but I learn a little something everyday, and I make a bit more progress everyday, too.  And because I am that Average Annie, I know if I can do it, then so can you. 

No matter where you are in the game—writing, revising, querying, edits, and yes, even marketing—it's all a matter of baby steps, forward momentum, no matter how small, and no matter how much you got pushed back the day before.  If you want it bad enough and you’re willing to learn and take the steps necessary, you will make it.

So don’t give up.  Remember your dream, and... 

The Seed of Inspiration

            Last week was rough for me.  I didn’t have it in me to post anything here on my blog.  Nor did I write anything for my new project.  My inspiration had been crushed by a series of unfortunate events.  Yesterday, I decided to push through it and write the first page of my new novel even though I didn’t know where the story was going.  I did, however, know where it should start.  From this first page, I felt my inspiration blossom, and I wrote the entire first chapter, the seed, the inciting event. 

I read a terrific blog post last week by paranormal author Jami Gold titled Where Do You Get Your Ideas?.  In it she writes, “Story seeds often start small: a single line of dialogue, a single question, a single action.  And somehow our brain takes that nugget of information and turns it into a whole story.”  This is exactly how my last book started, with a question.  I asked myself this question and somehow the answer came through within the text of a 90,000 word novel.

This time, it’s working out to be a bit different.  This time, I’ve started with a single event that I know will spiral into chaos, turmoil, and tragedy.  Still, I have no idea how I’m going to get there, but at least I’ve started, I’ve pushed through that wall that’s been hanging me up for awhile now.

Last time, after asking myself that question, I wrote a complete outline detailing every thought, every movement and action the major characters would take.  That outline gave me immediate structure.  With it in front of me, I could just write, kind of like having a GPS on your car’s dash allows you to just drive, without having to stop and ask for directions or pore over a map. 

Well, I don’t have the luxury of a GPS this time around, but I think my muse left me a sparse trail of breadcrumbs before he took his leave.  I can’t see much of a trail to follow, but at this point, I do see the next crumb.  That’s something, at least.  And I’ll take it.  I’m hoping by the time I’ve found my way to the next crumb and written the second chapter, a new one will have appeared down the path, a new clue that tells me where I should turn. 

In the mean time, I’m letting my seed marinate in the fertile soil that is my brain.  The seed has finally sprouted.  It’s slowly pushing its way through the dense earth toward the surface, towards enlightenment.  I feel the heat of it pulling me upward, as well, out from under the crush.

My friend, Lisa Regan, wrote a hilarious post yesterday called Conversation With My Work In Progress where she describes the point-by-point argument she is having with her nearly finished novel and how she desperately needs its cooperation to see it completed.  Do yourself a favor and check it out.  It’ll brighten your day and put a smile on your face.  And if, like me, you’re struggling with an idea or your current WIP, it’ll let you know that you are not alone.