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Dream. Big.
Once upon a time, I went to college. (Hooray!) I studied humanities. (Hooray!) In case you’re not aware, this isn’t exactly a lead-in to a six-figure job.
I looooved college, and studied as many things as I could. This resulted in several trips to the college advisement center to change or add another major or minor. (It wasn’t that many, I guess: I majored briefly in communications studies, in a different college, and then I changed to a linguistics major, then added an American studies major, and a Spanish minor, and an English minor. Four years, why?)
On one of these trips to add one of these humanities programs to my already full Major Academic Plan, the advisor who had to okay my plan was very hesitant. I was in a hurry—I needed to get to class and expected this to be a simple “Okeedokey!” Instead, the advisor eyed me and my academic records (which were pretty dang good, thank you very much).
“And what do you want to do with your degree?” she finally sneered.
It was a little hard not to laugh in her face. I mean, the woman was an academic advisor in the college of humanities. What did any of the students of English or Classics or Italian Studies plan to do with their degrees?? Why should I, in keeping my options wide open (and without prolonging my time to graduation), be denigrated?
Figuring I probably had little to lose in the office of a woman whose name I hadn’t even bothered to read, I told her the truth: “I want to be a writer.”
It was a little bold, considering I’d abandoned my first and only attempt at a novel two years before, and wouldn’t seriously come back to writing again for four and a half years.
The advisor looked at me over the rims of her glasses. Obviously I’d made a mistake: this woman who had never seen me before and would never see me again sized me up, then held out a hot pink pamphlet. “You might want to take this.”
The trifold advertised a career development class. The message was clear: even in this department of subjects you studied for the love of it, being a writer was not a viable career option.
But I got my second major/minor/whatever it was, and never again darkened the door of the advisement center or the recommended class. I ended up getting a job in writing for marketing for several years, but eventually came back to my first love: writing fiction. And while that’s definitely a crap-shoot and by no means is my success assured, I’ve gotten at least a couple votes of confidence.
Booyah, lady.
I thought of this recently while doing research for yet another novel. I had to dig into my character’s alma mater’s website to figure out what she could’ve majored/minored in. When I visited their version of the college of humanities, the College of Language and Letters, I found this at the top of the page:
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
—Mark Twain
(A smaller person would probably comment here about the career ambitions of a College of Humanities Academic Advisor, but I’m above that. And also I can’t think of anything particularly clever and concise.)
Who has belittled your ambitions? Feel free to vent here!
Photo credit: soooo not the actual lady described in this post! by Judy Baxter
Using your web browser as a writing tool
It’s not just for research (and procrastinating) anymore!
Back in November, we ran a whole series on little ways to psych yourself up for your story. Since then, I’ve found another way I really like.
I recently switched my browser from Mozilla Firefox to Google Chrome. It’s a few months in and I’m still getting used to it, but there is at least one feature I really like: an add-on called Incredible StartPage. Whenever you open a new tab or empty web browser, it loads a set of links/information that you might need: your bookmarks, your Chrome apps, your recently closed tabs, a set of notepads, links to your email and calendar, and a picture.
You can use the default picture from Flickr, or you can set up a custom picture. I decided to set up my Incredible StartPage to help fire me up to write. Since I like making covers for my WIPs, I resized the cover for the book I was writing or revising at the time:
Notice the little note to self: Shouldn’t you be working? It shows up every time I open another tab for more research.
There are lots of other ways to use your browser to get you back to writing. When I was on Firefox, I used an extension called LeechBlock to limit the time I spent on time-sucking websites. I loved how flexible it was: you could allot yourself a certain number of minutes per hour to use your web-based email or social networking sites (you specify which sites to block!), pick the days of the week, select the time of day, or block certain sites altogether!
I haven’t tried any of the similar apps in Chrome, but StayFocusd comes highly recommended.
What little tricks do you use to get excited for your story every day?
PS: a special reveal today. This month as part of the Authors Incognito March-a-thon, I set a goal to write a new book. And of course, I made a cover. So here’s a tiny peek at the book I should be finishing tomorrow!
Posted in Publishing, Technique, Works
Tagged covers, encouragement, incredible start page, incredible startpage, inspiration, productivity, web browsers
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Author photos!
Yesterday, I paid a friend to shoot me. Fortunately, he used a camera.
Okay, so my photographer isn’t just a random friend. He happens to be Jaren Wilkey, the 2011 Photographer of the Year for the University Photographers’ Association of America. (Just in the 2011 UPAA print competition, six of his photos also won prizes/honorable mentions including two 1st place finishes.) I’ve seen him take lots of pictures before—and had him take some great pictures of my family—but after working with him yesterday, let me tell you, the man knows his stuff. I mean, just check me out (and these are just straight from the camera):
(okay, I photoshopped fixed my hair a little in this ^ one)
These are three of the just under 500 photos we shot in 90 minutes. I am now armed with reaction shots for any possible blog topic. For example, murderous rage:
I will say this a thousand times: if you have the money or the contacts, get a professional to shoot your author photos. (And the same thing goes a million times for your wedding photos. Still grumbling about mine.) There is no substitute for someone who understands how to really work a camera and use lighting and backgrounds and poses to make you look your best.
In case you’re wondering, taking your author photos is pretty cool and can be a lot of fun, but no, it doesn’t make you feel like the real deal (yet).
Any faves here? How do you want to do your author photos?
In case you missed it, photos by Jaren Wilkey
February Thinky Links!
Over the month of January, I collected the stories I found on Twitter and in my feeds that were just too good to miss and put them together for you! Welcome to “Thinky Links“!
Author Janice Hardy offers some good advice on how to cut a scene without hurting your story
Kristen Lamb gives a really good example of how to start in medias res.
The Editors’ Blog looks at the use of coincidence in fiction, why it’s bad—and how to fix it.
I’ve been working hard on revising my Nano novel, so I’m really far behind on my feeds, but I did happen to see two good posts on EditTorrent recently, the kind that make me want to run around telling people “I’ve been vindicated” in an imaginary battle I was having with no one. The first covers showing versus telling in an interesting way (i.e. not writing 101), including that was is not always bad and is not the same thing as passive voice, and the role of telling in exposition.
The second is how to avoid that obnoxious “As you know, Bob” (or Alphonse) dialogue by slipping in backstory, characterization and other information through subtle cues. I LOVE working on this, and Alicia gives great examples!
Although I’m now with a traditional, regional publisher, I still find self-publishing very interesting. So for two different perspectives on that this month, Daniel J. Friedman takes a hard look at the numbers behind self publishing: what they make, what they’re worth, and what they’re selling. On the other hand, Joanna Penn interviewed Adam Croft on How To Sell 130,000 Books Without A Publisher. And for some perspective on both sides, Future Book looks at Why Amanda Hocking Switched, with some interesting notes on how her publishers are working for her.
And to close, here are a few of my favorite posts on this blog from Januaries past:
- A perennial favorite of mine, how to spot and avoid the most common (empty) gestures in writing
- Another one I still use extensively, creating and editing with a scene chart
- And a few from the series on tension, suspense and surprise:
- Choosing whether plot elements should be set up strongly to create suspense, or should remain a surprise
- One I should probably study a little more: creating suspense in Act I
- What creates tension and suspense?
What’s the best writing/marketing/publishing advice you‘ve read lately?
Photo by Karola Riegler
Links to make you think
Some links I’ve come across lately that have made me think:
So I worked in search engine optimization (SEO) and Internet marketing for several years, and I know Google can be daunting. Rick Daley has a good guest post on using SEO for authors. My favorite tips are that you need to go beyond your name and book title. You should be ranking for those anyway! Think about what people who are looking for a book like yours might type in to search. You can use tools from search engines to see if people really are using those keywords or similar ones.
Want to really up your productivity? Check out how one author quintupled her daily output. (via @LuisaPerkins via @AnnetteLyon) I’m trying these methods out and I have to say I really like the idea of making all those tiny little decisions BEFORE rather than DURING the actual writing process.
I’m having a lot of conversations with one of my critique partners about setting lately (it’s something we’re both working on), so when I saw this article on active vs. passive backstory/description tweeted, I had to click. Great examples from published novels, too. (Sorry, I couldn’t find who’d tweeted this in my stream 
.)
Edittorrent blogged about Dean Wesley Smith’s latest article on the history of literary agents and whether we need them today. The comments on Smith’s article lead me to Laura Resnick’s website and her three-part series on agents as well as her article on experiences with the agent-author business model. OTOH, I know lots and lots of people who really like working with their agents—people who are getting big book deals, too. I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that I’m so glad I don’t have to make this choice right now.
What links are making you think right now?
Wherein I am equally awesome
It’s a little hard to go on after teh best author bio EVAR, but this is way too tempting to pass up.
I learned a new word as I was writing this post: “Grandiloquent.” And that’s exactly the style of the real life author bio I shared on Monday. I just had to make up a biography of myself in the same style. It would go 
like this (with a little extra snark, of course):
Kind of like how some blessed few possess the combination of musical talents that launch them to rock superstardom, so some blessed few possess ALL of the genius for the literary arts—only, you know, in a single person. Praise be that Jordan McCollum is one of those chosen few. . . .
Life-altering truths, heart-pounding suspense and utter delight await the reader who . . . um, reads this thrilling novel. The book presents a timeless love story, a twist-packed mystery, thought-provoking parallels with vivid, seamless prose.
(Yeah, I’m not asking much of my future self, eh?)
Okay, I did skip a little of the bio, but the middle part is just too good to do all by myself. How would you shift this bombast from culinary to literary? Here’s your example (the ellipses are in the original):
Blessed with a rare combination of abilities . . . a super-sensitive palate which can uncannily detect the most subtle nuances of flavor and texture, a vivid and highly creative imagination, and perhaps most important, a love of good food which has grown from a hobby to a consuming passion, Yvonne Tarr is admirably equipped for the task at hand.
Photo by David’s digits
Teh best author bio EVAR
One of these days, I’m going to have to write a real author bio. You know, that will run on an “About the Author” page. In a published book.
But no matter how awesome I make that, somehow I think it will pale in comparison to this book. (This book is a perfect example of why I LOVE both buying cookbooks and shopping at thrift stores.)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Just as some people have a rare ability at painting or music, so some lucky ones have a genius for the culinary arts, and happily Yvonne Young Tarr is one of those chosen few. Blessed with a rare combination of abilities . . . a super-sensitive palate which can uncannily detect the most subtle nuances of flavor and texture, a vivid and highly creative imagination, and perhaps most important, a love of good food which has grown from a hobby to a consuming passion, Yvonne Tarr is admirably equipped for the task at hand.
A confirmed, practical and creative gourmet — as happy users of her best-selling 10 Minute Gourmet Cookbook and 10 Minute Gourmet Diet Cookbook will attest — Yvonne Young Tarr is dedicated to the proposition that cooking can be a delicious experience, and in this, her third cookbook, she proves it!
Fame, good fortune, and gastronomic delight await the hostess who prepares these tested, failproof, irresistible desserts. The book presents simple and elaborate dessert recipes for little dinners, memorable lunches, and gala gatherings.
Former model, radio writer, and author (book and lyrics) of a delightful musical which graced off-Broadway several seasons past, Mrs. Tarr, mother of two young sons 13 and 17, is currently engaged in writing serious drama.
(Though I’ve tried [a little], I haven’t been able to determine how her serious drama panned out.)
The book is 101 desserts to make you famous (apparently the SHIFT key was stuck at the typesetter), and the cover is almost as good as the backliner:
The recipes include such exotic treats as carrot cake, cherry pudding and chocolate fondue. (Okay, I’m teasing a little—there are a lot of more exotic desserts in here that do actually sound pretty impressive and tasty.)
And because I know you’re wondering: it’s © 1970.
What’s the “best” author bio you’ve ever read?
NaNo inspiration: covers
Once upon a time, I was anti-mock covers. I thought it was a little weird to put up a fake book cover on your site for a book you’re drafting or trying to sell. Then I wrote up my projects page, and it looked . . . bare. So I made up some passable mock covers (some obviously more time consuming than others).
Usually, I’ve waited until I was done or nearly so to make these. But since October was a “planning” month for NaNo, and I was only doing 50,000 other things, I spent a day making the “ideal” version of the cover:
Not 100% perfect (or, you know, licensed), but pretty dang good. Just looking at it gets me excited to write!
Obviously you don’t want to take off a day in the middle of NaNo to play around with a graphics program to make a cover no one else might ever see—but in about 20 minutes, you can throw together something that can inspire you.
Seriously, I tried it. I used a picture I pinned of one character, and Googled screencaps from a movie the other character was in (screencaps found here). Then I turned to Flickr for pictures of a rune stone (by Paul W. Locke). Some Magic Wand tool, cut/paste, resize, color balance, and add text, and voila! I put together a crude version of the above.
Inspiration in twenty minutes? That’s a bargain.
How do you find inspiration quickly?
Photo credits: Maggie Lawson by unknown (via listal), Garrett Hedlund from TRON: Legacy (found here), Viking coin by Ancient Art, Kensington runestone monument by Paul W. Locke
