Southern Writing

Working and writing

I've had a hard time with supporting myself by freelancing. I've had paychecks that came months late and publishers who took stories and disappeared. I've had a beat assigned and then reassigned to a publication's part time employee who probably won't get paid much extra for her work and most definitely won't get paid as much as I was to do her new job.

Through it all, I worked full time. Then, I moved down to part time when I realized I could make more by freelancing more and working less. This has resulted in tumultuous finances on my part. But, considering we're in a recession and I've had constant employment and constant freelancing work, I can't really complain. I'm poor and overworked, but I'm not living on the street.

Here's where I'm going with this: Use money you make freelancing as leverage to get what you want out of life. If you have to have a day job, make sure it's something and somewhere you like. Some writers have full time day jobs. Some, like me, work part time. And, some take temp or contract jobs to bring in the money when it's needed.

This economy is redefining the way people work, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. But, it's an important thing. Because, if you think the company that's using you for cheap labor now is going to support you in a few months, when the job market is still flaccid and things have gotten REALLY bad and thousands more panicked professionals have entered the ranks of the unemployed, freelancing and working a couple jobs might look like paradise. There is no longer such a thing as job security.

My W.I.P. progress for August

I finished The Accidental Eternal a few weeks ago, and I've halted sending out queries for the time being. I found a critique group and now have a critique partner who is pretty much line editing the whole thing. Once this process wraps up, I'll be sending out queries once more.

I started a second novel. This is a Jewish chick lit novel about a young woman who leaves her husband and tries to come to terms with her decision to convert to Judaism for marriage and her new status in the world. Will she begin to work towards long dismissed goals and dreams or forge a new path? Not even I know, but I have an idea of what will happen. She may even find love!

The importance of networking

Someone in a writing group on She Writes asked for advice on how to get into freelancing. There is one essential secret I can share on how to break into any kind of writing, and it is this: networking.

I got my first regular writing gigs, both as a freelancer and an intern, from networking. My first published short story was sold because of networking. My first big girl job interviews in newspapers came about from networking. Networking is the key to writing, if you want to get published. (This is a big "if." There's nothing wrong with writing for fun or putting publishing off while you explore your style and learn more about the business. But, even so, it's still good to network.)

It can be as simple as reading a network blog and sending out an email for advice or as complicated as attending a convention. There is LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, Myspace, Facebook, magazines, newspapers, books on the writing market; all of these can be used as ways to touch ground with people. Not to mention She Writes, which is a social network for women writers.

It's up to you to find an approach that works, but here are some tips:

• Don't be afraid to approach pros for help. They are usually flattered.
• Put your best foot forward. Be professional, courteous, and patient.
• Don't be afraid to send out your resume in an email. Two of my big opportunities came from me asking professionals if I could get some resume advice from them.
• If you want to be a writer, have writing samples, a blog, and/ or a website ready to show to people.
• Join writing groups and critique groups online and in real life to share support and connections.

Playing with Scrivener, Part 1

I downloaded a free trial of Scrivenerover the weekend and started playing with it. Some parts are confusing after a couple days (Why do I need a corkboard again?) but the features I have been using are probably going to lead me to buying the software after my 30 day trial.

When I wrote my last novel and started editing, I had to constantly scroll through 240 pages of text. Within 10 minutes of downloading Scrivener, I had 17 chapters all in their own files. 20 minutes later, I had all of my feedback also imported into individual files that related to each chapter. By last night, I was writing notes to use as a reference to ensure foreign words spelled correctly and had research files for each character, including pictures of people I could use for inspiration and descriptions.

Even though I have heard of Scrivener numerous times before, I decided to look at its website up after reading some tweets by @phiala, one of my Twitter friends. I'm glad I did, because I'm thinking this Scrivener revolution means no more scrolling through hundreds of pages trying to make sure one word is spelled correctly the entire way through or tabbing through programs trying to find the one file I need to tell me whether my character's eyes are brown or blue.

The question isn't why I didn't download Scrivener before, it's why I was adamant about staying in Word.

My adventures with Scrivener

I just downloaded the free trial for Scrivener. If I like it, I'm going to buy the real version.

From writing a 240 page novel in Word, then trying to make sure the foreign words I used were all spelled the same way, I have to say Scrivener looks pretty shiny. I have high hopes for it.

Keeping social networking from becoming a disadvantage

A couple months ago, I had a less than fun exchange with one of my biggest writing crushes on her blog. I followed it for some time, wrote what I thought was a helpful comment on a post, and got a snarky reply back.

I was crushed. I unfollowed her and went as far as wondering if I'd ever be able to enjoy her work in the same way again. This is the power of the internet; I was interacting with a star in an intimate, instant way, and we both got burned. She had a fan who was questioning her entire body of work, and I got an idol who possibly saw the interaction in a number of different ways, from a personal attack to a petty annoyance or even as an already forgotten blip on her radar.

It's hard to interact with people who read your work. If you are unfailingly polite to everyone and do your best to keep from every being controversial, you will seem too artificial. If you protect your personal life in a guarded bundle, you'll seem to cold. And, if you let it all loose, you'll lose credibility. The balance is even more difficult now that we're online and out in the public eye before our first piece is published. Intrepid readers can often find old blogs, public records, and our first stories before we're aware anyone's even looking for them.

I have no clear cut answers for how to deal with online living. But, here are some suggestions on how to minimize damage on the internet if you're a published author or trying to break in:

• Never write when anger hits. If you're going to rant, think it through to the point that hitting the send button will no longer cause a vindictive thrill to ease up your spine.
• Assume no one cares about your love life.
• Assume a private profile isn't really private.
• If someone offers advice or catches an error in a blog, article, or work of fiction, THEN is the time to be unfailingly polite.
• Write in your voice as much as possible.
• Shun smileys and emoticons as much as possible. Nobody cares that you can make a Kirby dance through Twitter.
• Consider what you're saying and your potential audience. If you want to go on a religious themed tirade, that might be fine if you're a novelist or a playwright, but it would probably be career suicide if you're a hard-hitting journalist.
• Help as many people as you can.
• Realize some people are beyond your help and just don't get it.

Eventually I decided that the writer with the snarky comment was someone I would continue reading, but not someone I would continue talking to online. I'm not a big fan of flame wars, and all future conversations we could have would be tainted with just a little bit of resentment for being snapped at. If I ever meet her at a convention, I would probably go up and talk to her and see what happens, but for now I'm happy with being someone who just enjoys her writing.

It's going to be interesting to see how fandom evolves as more and more fans connect to their favorite celebrities online.

R.I.P. Pod

In the most important literary news of the day, or maybe even the week, Neil Gaiman's cat Pod died. Pod was a scrappy 17 year old and could probably be considered one of the luckiest cats in the world.

Here's news of her death.

And, here's a post about Gaiman's cats, including Pod.

I can only hope my cats will be happy and healthy and live to be 17.

Tune in to The Lost Girls

I applied to be a book reviewer for The Lost Girls, and it's looking like that's a go. I'm waiting for them to send me books, and it looks like I might be writing a few travel posts about Florida and the like for them, too. So, stay tuned for more updates!

And, just because it seems like a good time to do so, here's a breakdown of who I'm currently writing for:

• St. Petersburg Times
• Tampa Bay Arts Network
• The New Gay
• The New Jew
• Chronicles of Healthy(er) Living
• TravelVideoStore

I'm also sending out queries and proposals about my first novel, The Accidental Eternal, to agents and am working on my second. Fun times.

Meeting Victor Bockris

I had the pleasure of attending a lunch discussion led by Victor Bockris, a writer who has written biographies of Andy Warhol, Muhammad Ali, and other epic celebrities. After the lunch, he led a group from my synagogue on a tour of the Warhol exhibit at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts. (The group actually split up, about half following the museum docent and half following Bockris.)

I have to say, the experience was pretty awesome. Bockris is a compelling speaker, and his stories about hanging out with Warhol at The Factory and anecdotes about the artist's life were engaging. The counter culture movement reminds me of my own friends, and it made me think that maybe I should try to record some of my life and own interactions for the future.

The trip also made me think about branding and art. Warhol really opened up the art world to the idea that art can be marketed and openly sold for large amounts of money. He also brought forth the idea that art can be of the modern world and include aspects of pop culture and mass production. He was vilified for it in some circles.

With my writing, my sense of humor, and the people I hold court with, I could easily be considered a hack (I like to get paid!). My whole message could be misunderstood. It's near impossible to control one's image and force the world to grant one's dreams at the same time.

I just realized that I should send a thank you card to Bockris, because the discussion and tour were amazing, and it's not every day you meet someone who lived a history as amazing as Bockris's. Remember kids, etiquette is important!

Bad juju

I haven't been keeping up with my writing the way I should. In my defense, I just converted to a new religion. So, for about a week I was frantically trying to make sure I had all my bases covered. Then, for about a week I was celebrating my new status in life.

I also had about $250 disappear from my bank account a couple weeks ago. And, since I pay for everything with my debit card, -$200 quickly turned to -$300 with overdraft fees. You don't fix that kind of problem with a single phone call, so I had to take time off of work, head to the credit union, fill out paperwork, make some calls, and wait. And, write lots of checks. I'm still waiting for my super secret code number so I can activate my new debit card.

I should have some awesome updates posted in the next few days, about Andy Warhol, Jonny Jenaro, writing, and more. So, stay tuned!