Kill Winter! (also known as a CHEERLEADING post!)

[scifishipper]

Hello writerly friends! Several of us, including me, have been feeling a little uninspired and down about writing and other life things. I would love for us to rally around and give each other support

Comments

[sevanatwonights]

While research can be counted as writing; there is nothing replacing good old fashioned down in the dirt editing time or thought-provoking writing.

I think we all get lost when we forget WHY we are editing. Are you editing to link up loose threads? Are you editing for technical values (grammar, spelling, etc...) or is it that you want to tell another story?

I tend to want to shove every idea I get while I'm writing into the story. Which honestly is impossible because then the reader gets overwhelmed and loses interest. IMHO, you can peak their interest but you can't give it away. But thankfully I learned that some ideas SHOULD be another story.

Self-promotion and marketing is something that can be construed as selfish or getting labeled as being 'stuck up'. It's not. It's called making a living. Not what you wanted to hear I know but it's the truth.

If you find yourself social networking all the time and don't like it; I would say give your social networking just one day a week and only for a total of 3 hours or what ever you are comfortable with.

[ecstaticdance]

I appreciate what I think you're trying to do here, but...

I think what I reject is that I'm expected to develop a marketing skill set on top of what I actually want to do and have both some talent and a fair amount of cultivated and learned skill at. I love the idea of being a "Jane of all trades", but sometimes too much is too much. I'd much rather pay someone who has that skill and desire to do it for me. That's why publicists exist. I just need to do some research and see if there's any way I can afford it. And probably have an actual book, rather than just a single short.

I think we all get lost when we forget WHY we are editing. Are you editing to link up loose threads? Are you editing for technical values (grammar, spelling, etc...) or is it that you want to tell another story?

I'm researching to set the time and place of each section of my short story. It has an unconventional timeline, and I knew I'd have to add the details to clarify that eventually, but didn't bother in the first draft. I wanted to make sure the story was going to work first. So I'm going back and looking for very targeted information, but it's obscure. I know exactly what I need and finding it... would probably be easier at a university library than online/at the public library.

[sevanatwonights]

Here's my two Ah's!

I'm so sorry to misinterpret what you were saying.

As far as the first bit, I tend to do all my research first before I write anything. That's why I plan and write the story all at once. Though as you see from my own posts in this thread, I feel things fall on deaf ears and when it does, your not sure if you stunned the readers with your work or made them run away from it in horror! That's what I get for assuming about how you edit! I must keep in mind people do things differently.

In the state in which I live in I can acquire a State Library Card and have free access to all the academic research databases that are available to every university that subscribes to them. And the card is free. Maybe you can find such a service as well.

As far as hiring a publicist to manage your PR, I would always recommend to go with the team effort when things grow beyond your ability to it control yourself (and I believe that is what you were saying).

Go ecstalicdance!

[ecstaticdance]

Thanks. For both the library tip and the encouragement.