Blog Block/Ask a Question Day

Posted on February 8th, 2010

by Dame Jenna

I’m having one of those days. The kind where I can’t think of anything to blog about to save my life. Considering I’m not at all a natural blogger, it’s a minor miracle I haven’t had more of those in the year Deadline Dames has been up and running. Of course, my situation may be complicated right now by the fact that I’m the home stretch of a novel. It’s one of those Sekrit Projects, so I’m not free to talk about it. However, it’s dominating my creative thoughts in a big way. I’m sitting here at the laptop I use for Internet, all the while sneaking longing glances at the desktop on which I do my actual writing, so perhaps that’s why I can’t seem to find blog inspiration.

Since I’m doing a sucky job of thinking of a topic, I figured this was a good time to open the floor up to questions from our readers. I’ll check back here periodically between writing sessions and do my best to answer any questions you might have. I’ll also warn the other Dames I’m doing this, and they might pop in to answer a question or two if they have a moment–though of course I won’t make any promises on their behalf.

So ask away! (I say as I slink over to that other computer and try to get my heroine out of the terrible mess I’ve just put her in . . .)

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Posted in Ask a Question, Jenna Black | 17 Comments »



Dame for a Day: Jeaniene Frost

Posted on February 6th, 2010

Dame Kaz

It is my very great honour (okay, I’m a fan, what can I say? *g*) to introduce author Jeaniene Frost to the blog. Jeaniene is our Dame for a Day, and she has written an in-depth piece about e-piracy. The post is interesting and informative – I learned a lot from this and I hope you do too. If you stick around to the end, there is also a giveaway. I’ll just step aside and let Jeaniene talk to you guys. :)

Jeaniene Frost


Hi everyone! Thanks so much to the Dames for having me as a guest today. I’m the author of the Night Huntress series featuring Cat and Bones, as well as the upcoming Night Huntress World novels featuring Spade and Denise (book one) and Mencheres and Kira (book two).

But instead of a post chatting about my upcoming release, I wanted to talk about something that’s been discussed in other places, yet a lot of people still aren’t aware of why this is a growing problem. Or why they should care. I’m talking about e-piracy. Authors and publishers are all too aware of it, but if you’re a reader who hasn’t heard of e-piracy before, or you’ve heard a few things but you’re not sure why authors/publishers are so concerned, please read on. This is a long post, but I promise a treat at the end. :)

What is e-piracy?

A lot of people are doing it and they’re not even aware that it’s illegal. The FBI, in their Anti-Piracy warnings, refers to e-piracy as this: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of copyrighted work.* So if you’re not the copyright owner of a product (like a book, song, etc., but this post focuses on books), yet you downloaded that product for free on a torrent or other unauthorized “share” site, you’ve engaged in an illegal, unauthorized reproduction of a copyrighted work. Does buying a product make you a copyright owner? No. Only being the creator of a product does. Most books are also registered with the United States Library of Congress (or Creative Commons license), but if you didn’t create a product yourself, again, you’re not the copyright owner and you don’t legally have the right to upload/download it.

So, now you know what e-piracy is and that it’s illegal. Below are the top 13 excuses I’ve seen e-pirates give as to why e-piracy shouldn’t bother me (or any other authors), with my responses.

1. E-piracy is free promotion, so you should be happy more people are hearing about you/your books this way.

Promotion implies I get something out of it. But if the people I’m being “promoted” to are the same people who illegally download my books instead of purchasing them, how is this helping me? My publisher decides to continue my contract based on only one thing – sales. Illegal downloads don’t count toward sales and there is no “You were pirated the most out of our authors, so you win another book contract!” award.

2. But people who didn’t hear about you until they illegally downloaded your books might go buy your new book, if they liked the other ones. So that helps you.

We’re talking about the same people who illegally downloaded the first several books, right? And since Google alerts informed me that my last two books were all over “share” sites the same day they released, why would people accustomed to downloading my books for free (instant gratification) go to the book store and buy my new book instead? (delayed gratification plus cost plus effort = not very likely). It does happen occasionally, but not the vast majority of the time.

Don’t get me wrong, I wish e-piracy was great for the book industry. That would mean more job security for authors, editors, book stores, etc. But e-piracy percentages have skyrocketed in recent years while book sales have taken a sharp downward turn, so the numbers don’t add up to e-piracy “helping” the industry.** In fact, if you look at the music industry, which has dealt with e-piracy a lot longer, artists/studios have had to recoup a lot of their e-piracy losses from higher-priced concert tickets, tee shirts, other merchandising, etc (not that I’m advocating e-pirating of music, but just detailing why this didn’t bankrupt the industry).The book industry has no such fall-back option to recoup lost pirated sales. Publishers make money when books sell, period.

3. But books on those “share” sites can’t be illegal, because it’s just like going to the library or borrowing a book from a friend.

First, read the FBI Anti-Piracy warning again, which clearly states that it is illegal to reproduce/distribute copyrighted work. Second, libraries or a friend handing over a book doesn’t duplicate and make another copy of that book, thus, the FBI’s Anti-Piracy warning doesn’t apply. Libraries loan out books one at a time, and first they have to buy those books from the publisher. But a library book can never become more than one book, no matter how many people check it out (and a standard paperback, studies show, can only take between twenty to forty lends until it falls apart and the library has to buy a replacement from the publisher). Likewise, if I loan a book to a friend, that book is still only one book. My friend could loan it to a friend and so on, but it’s still only one book. No copyright violation, everything’s cool and legal.

But mass-distribution on those share sites takes one book and turns it into hundreds, or thousands, of separate unauthorized copies. Let me put it in another context. Let’s say you have a dollar bill. It’s your dollar and it’s perfectly legal for you to use it however you want, either by spending it or loaning it to a friend. But if you take that dollar, make a bunch of copies of it, and try to buy things (or give those copies to your friends), you’ll have a problem. Since you aren’t the creator of that dollar and you didn’t get permission to make copies of it (and the US Treasury Department sure won’t give you permission ;) ) then you can’t distribute copies of that dollar even though the original dollar was legally yours. Same principle with books. Didn’t create it/publish it? Then it’s not legal to reproduce copies of it by uploading/downloading on torrent/share sites.

4. A book is nothing more than an idea, and ideas can’t be copyrighted.

Ideas can’t be copyrighted, true. If you wanted to take my book’s idea and write your own book about a female half-vampire slayer who falls in love with a Master vampire, more power to you, that’s legal. But if you take my product - and once a book is copyrighted, printed, and distributed, it’s no longer an idea, it’s a product – and try to call it yours, there will be a problem. Ideas = free for all. Products, on the other hand, have moved from the abstract to the tangible and thus have different laws regarding them.

Some may think copyright violation is a stupid law, but disagreement of a law doesn’t mean that law becomes invalid. I don’t like a lot of laws, but I follow them because I know saying, “Yeah, I didn’t agree with that” to a judge won’t be considered a credible defense. :)

5. We as a society have a cultural right to the arts, so we shouldn’t have to pay for our cultural right.

This sounds wonderfully altruistic, but aside from being illegal (see FBI statement again) it’s also impractical. If everyone had a “cultural right” to the arts and didn’t have to pay for them, then that would bring about the end of the movie, book, music, photography, and various other industries. Because if no one’s paying for the products these industries turn out, how do you think the industries will continue to produce them? Inspiration and ideas might be free – and free from copyright law – but again, once inspiration/ideas turn into a product, that product comes with a price tag because it costs money to produce. If there’s no money coming in because society has a free right to all products of the arts, then you’ll be hard pressed to find people who will take the time, effort, and money to produce these products for you to enjoy.

6. Everybody’s doing it, so it’s no big deal.

Everybody is not doing it. If everybody were e-pirating, the publishing industry wouldn’t exist (see my response above for why). E-piracy is growing, yes, and hurting the industry, book stores, authors, distributors, and more, but you’ll know when “everybody” is really doing it because there will be no more publishing industry. Businesses shut down when their source of revenue dries up. This isn’t a new, shocking financial principle – it could be labeled Duh 101.

7. Authors are supposed to encourage reading. If people are reading books on these sites, that’s encouraging reading and so authors shouldn’t try to stop that.

First, see the Duh 101 rule of business again, because no publishing industry (print or digital) to produce books = a hell of a lot less reading. Second, authors do encourage reading. For people on a limited book budget, I’d point them to their nearest library. Or a used book store. Or Paperback Swap, or other places where readers loan each other books for free (legally, where one book changes hands with another person but still only remains one copy). I’m all for those things. Plus, several publishers have authorized free reading on their sites, like HarperCollins, Harlequin, Baen, and Tor. I gave away over a hundred books in contests last year alone and most authors I know also give away books. There’s plenty of free, legal reading available. But when people ignore the law in favor of their own convenience, that’s not cool and no, I don’t encourage it.

8. I never would have bought your books anyway, so what I download can’t count as stealing.

If someone doesn’t want to buy my book(s), that’s fine. All I’m saying is please don’t steal my books – and if you TRULY don’t think it’s stealing, walk into a book store. Grab a book, wave it at the store employees, and try to walk out without paying for it. Then when the store calls the police, give them the same reasoning behind why you feel illegal downloading is okay. Tell them how you’ll tell all your friends about the book, so it’s free promotion and you’re doing the author a favor. Or how you weren’t going to read it anyway, so it’s not stealing. Or how arts are the cultural right of the public, or how most books suck so you shouldn’t have to pay for them, etc. You’ll get proof on how disagreeing with a law doesn’t equate being exempt from that law – and if you know it’s stealing to do it in person, it shouldn’t be confusing to realize it’s stealing to do it online. If a computer hacker siphons money from your bank account, you wouldn’t feel less robbed because that hacker didn’t physically snatch your purse off your shoulder. Just because online theft is impersonal doesn’t mean it’s not stealing.

9. You should be flattered people are reading your books, no matter how they got them!

I don’t care if my book was bought new, used, borrowed from the library, received as a gift, loaned from a friend, won in a contest, etc. As long as it’s legal, you bet I’m thrilled and flattered when people read them. But if someone steals from me, I am not flattered. If you walked out to your driveway and saw that your car was missing, would you think, “OMG! Someone loved my car enough to steal it. That is so cool!” Or would your thoughts be more in line with, “Holy *#!$!, someone stole my car! How am I going to get to work? How much will this cost me?” Authors feel the same way about our books (our source of income and the things we’ve labored over for a long time) when we see hundreds or thousands of them pirated, because it costs us time, money, frustration, and sometimes even future contracts.

10. Authors don’t really lose money. They get paid in advances, so e-pirating only takes from fat-cat publishers because authors were already paid for the book.

An advance is based on the amount of money a publisher absolutely expects to make back on a book. If a book does not earn out its advance, when it comes time for an author to try and sell another book, publishers are a lot less likely to buy because they didn’t make back their expected investment on the first book. An advance is generally expected to be earned back within the first year of release, too. So that’s a fairly short window of time for a book to earn back its advance.

Plus, in this shaky market, I know quite a few authors who earned out their advances, but because their books didn’t earn out by a lot, or earn out fast enough, the publisher declined to buy more. If an author wants to stay published, that author is hoping like damn that their book earns out its advance as quickly as possible and that only happens through sales.

11. I’m on a tight budget and I can’t afford all the books I want to read.

Well, same here. There are lots of books I want that I can’t justify buying in comparison to my budget. So I buy other books that are cheaper. Wait until a book is out in paperback or available at my local library. Buy used. Read books that are legally available online for free (see sites under reply to #7). Borrow books from my friends. There are lots of legal ways to get books very cheap or free. All you have to do is choose those routes versus illegal ones.

12. The reason why there’s e-piracy is because ebooks have that annoying DRM and/or cost more than paper books. It’s not readers fault; it’s the publishers.

I wish e-piracy was that easy to fix. But my e-books are priced at around 30% less than my paperbacks, they come out at the same time as my paperbacks, and yet I am still pirated over fifteen to one in comparison to legal e-sales (and that’s only a conservative estimate based on sites I’m aware of). Furthermore, when I go to those share sites to report my books, I see other authors’ books right there along with mine, DRM-free and downloaded illegally hundreds or thousands of times. I agree e-books should be priced lower than print books. I also agree that DRM should be discontinued because it only inconveniences honest readers instead of curbing e-piracy. But even if the day dawns where all e-books are DRM-free and cheaper than print books, e-piracy won’t cease. It probably won’t even make a dent. Look at the music industry. You can buy songs for less than a dollar in formats for every type of player, and yet e-piracy is still rampant. So e-piracy is not as simple as blaming the publisher about prices and DRM.

13. I don’t care if it’s illegal and it hurts authors and publishers; I’m going to keep pirating anyway.

You know what? There’s not much I, or other authors, can do about that. Aside from talking about e-piracy to people who haven’t already resolved that they’re going to keep doing it (and filing endless takedown notices), authors are mostly powerless. E-pirates know it, too, and on other posts where e-piracy has been discussed, I’ve seen e-pirates say things like, “Ha ha, I download all the time and I’m going to keep doing it, so take THAT!” Or comments like, “I stole your books and I’m glad, because they suck and you don’t deserve any money!”). Some threaten authors by saying that since an author spoke up about e-piracy, they’ll put that author’s books on even more share site as retaliation, and authors can’t do much except duck and cover.

So if e-pirates choose to kick authors when we’re down, well, we can’t stop you – but if kicking someone when they’re down is your idea of fun, then in my opinion, you have more things to ponder than just why you think stealing is okay.

In summary:

If you take nothing else away from this very long post, I hope you remember this: e-piracy isn’t free. Someone always ends up paying for it, and sometimes, paying dearly in lost jobs. It will also cost readers in the long run, because the less money publishers make, the less willing they are to publish new authors. Or publish books that are outside what might be considered very mainstream. That’s not the publisher’s fault; they’re trying to stay alive (see Duh 101 business rule again). Plus, it costs readers another way. If a series you love is being pirated more than sold, that series will be discontinued, guaranteed. It makes me sad when I see comments on share sites saying things like “Love the Night Huntress series! Can’t wait to read the next book. Someone please, upload it ASAP!” because those people don’t realize what they’re doing actively hurts my chances to write more books. If I don’t legally sell enough books, my publisher doesn’t buy new ones, period. It’s that pesky Duh 101 rule of business again.

Piracy costs. If you love reading, please support that love by obtaining books through legal channels.

And in the spirit of promoting free, legal reading (and as my promised treat for everyone whose eyes are sore after reading this long post ;) ) I’m giving away three signed copies of FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON, book one in the Night Huntress World novels. To read the first 20% of FIRST DROP OF CRIMSON, plus see the book trailer, click here.

If you want to be included in the contest, just leave a comment with your name asking to be entered. The three winners will be drawn by Randomizer and the giveway closes 5am EST, Tuesday February 9th. Kaz will announce the winners during her post on Tuesday. Yes, I will ship internationally. Best of luck to everyone!

Jeaniene Frost

* Complete FBI message: “Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.” http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/

** Sources http://voices.washingtonpost.com/shortstack/2010/01/digital_pirates_illegally_down.html and http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6714772.html?nid=2286&rid=#CustomerId&source=link

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Posted in Contests, Dame for a Day | 233 Comments »



I’m Not Them, But I’m Just As Scared

Posted on February 5th, 2010

Dame Lili

I can definitively state I AM NOT MY CHARACTERS.

Most of them–Danny and Jill spring immediately to mind for some reason–come from a pretty dark place. Others, not so much. I’ve had some scary experiences in my life (and something tell me I will have still more, life being what it is.) Some of those scary experiences are fuel. Others are just…there. They don’t go into books, they’re too personal. I have to come to terms with them in other ways.

Using the fuel of scary experiences can be good. It can help you process, it can help you deal. There are several different types of artistic fuel, however, and getting hooked on one to the exclusion of all others is a chancy proposition. Art does not live by one fuel alone–and trying to make it can have bad effects on you.

Case in point? Well, me. I’m in a state of highly personal, highly charged change right now. Some of the fuel I was using while I was miserable five years ago, or two years ago, or six months ago is no longer around. I don’t have that whip to push myself on. I am, to put it bluntly, afraid that if I get healthier or happier I will no longer be able to peer into those dark places or face them with the courage needed to pull those characters out of the shadows.

Most of me knows this is silly. As someone wise recently told me, “Those miseries were ways you had of coping and surviving. They worked to keep you whole and protect you. They’ll still be there if you need them again.” I know it’s true–I can put them back in my toolbox and get them out if I need them.

But, dear Reader…I’m scared. I’m scared the characters won’t talk to me if we don’t have the pain-points in common. I’m terrified that I’m a one-trick pony. I’m scared that getting healthier and happier will change something in my makeup and send me spinning and careening off into the woods, where my career will die a lonely death and I’ll end up hungry on the street.

I know it’s not rational. I know I’m feeling this because change is inherently frightening. When you add personal change to the cauldron of insecurities writing can and does uncover, it’s about as comfortable as bathing in a tub full of very angry cobras.

So how do you get through? How do you reassure yourself the words will still be there even if you change?

I suppose a simple answer is faith, with a large helping of stubbornness. I did not get to where I am today by listening to the fear or letting the rejection stop me. The words have been there during every other damn change in my life; this one just feels different because I’m suffering it OMGNOW! Time will add a measure of perspective that will drain my panic.

None of this helps with the agony of indecision, fear, and agitation I am experiencing, yea even at this very moment.

Which gives me hope. Over the course of a book, I take people apart. I feel their agonies while I whack away every single solid thing they rely on and put them through the wringer. They risk everything because they have no choice. It’s who they are, and living requires the courage to do no less.

I guess we’re not so different, my characters and me. Which brings me to my bone-deep stubbornness again. If they can make it through everything I can throw at them, I can make it through this. Jill would set her chin, glare out of her mismatched eyes, and stride forward. Danny’s thumb would caress the katana’s guard, and she’d wear that little half-smile. Kaia would grin and brace herself. Even Theo, the calmest and sweetest person I’ve ever written, would fold her arms and get that determined little glint in her eye.

No, they’re not (and never will be) me. But the strength to write them is and always has been mine. If I’ve lost the fuel of misery I’ll find something else to burn. If I’ve kept the fire going this long, I’ll likely find something else to throw on it. I have to trust–not my gods, not my characters, not other people. I have to trust in my own willingness to let the words come through me. I have to trust that I’m still interesting even when I’m not broken. That this will only make me stronger and better.

I’m not my characters. They can still teach me something. And I can look back on creating them and know there’s no shortage. Remember? My job isn’t to make the magic. My job is to show up every day.

I can do that. No matter how scared I am.

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Posted in Lilith Saintcrow, Writer's Life | 2 Comments »



I’m an idiot…

Posted on February 4th, 2010

because I totally forgot it was my turn to post this morning, and I have nothing prepared. So, instead of me sitting here trying to think of something interesting to say (which is asking a lot at the best of times!), here’s a snippet of my upcoming offshoot series (which has the working title of Dark Angels, and which features a grown up Risa). To set the scene, Risa’s just come out of a hospital, having discovered that something–or someone–has ripped the soul out of a little girl’s body (Please note–this is totally unedited, so forgive the mistakes!):

It was raining again outside and I didn’t give a damn. I just stood there on the top of the steps and raised my face to the sky, letting the moisture soak my skin and run down my neck, washing away the scent of death and the feeling of wrongness.

It was only when I began to shiver than I opened my eyes and looked around me.

And saw my reaper.

He was standing at the bottom of the steps, staring up at me. He was still half naked, the rain beading lightly on his warm, suntanned skin, and running lightly down his defined abs. The leather holding his sword in place seemed to emphasize the width of his shoulders, and the wet denim of his faded jeans clung to his legs, hinting at the lean strength of them. Stylized black tats that resembled half a wing swept around his ribs from underneath his arm, the tips brushing across the left side of his neck. He stood like a fighter. Lightly, warily, as if he expected trouble at any moment.

If he was coming for me, he was certainly going to get it.

I continued to stare at him and didn’t say anything, not entirely sure whether it was wise. I mean, speaking or moving might just bring on the actions I had every intention of fighting.

Besides, for all I knew, this sword carrying reaper might be responsible for the atrocity that had happened upstairs. And if he could do that, then God only knows what else he might be capable of.

“So,” he said, after what seemed like age of us simply standing there staring at each other. “You can see me.”

His voice was mellow and rich, the total opposite to what I’d expected. On any other man it might have been sexy, but this wasn’t a man. He merely held that form.

“I can.” I kept my voice soft. I wasn’t sure whether others could see him, and I didn’t particularly want to be spotted talking to thin air. Mom was a media star, and a daughter caught talking to imaginary people would certainly make good fodder for the gossip magazines. “And you’d better know that I know it’s not my time to die. You try to take me and you’ll have a goddamn fight on your hands. Sword or not.”

Something akin to surprise ran through the bright depths of his odd colored eyes. “Reapers do not steal souls. If you can see us, you should be aware of that fact.”

“The only fact I’m aware of is the one lying in room six-eleven. Someone stole her soul. If not a reaper, then who?”

His gaze rose upwards briefly then met mine again. “Wait here,” he said. “Do not run, because I will find you.”

“If I’d wanted to run, I would have done so before now,” I said. “But in case you haven’t realized, it’s raining and cold, and I need to warm up.”

He obviously didn’t. I could feel the heat of him even from where I stood. It didn’t do a whole lot to warm the chill from my skin, but maybe that was due more to the fear of why he was here.

“If the moisture bothered you so,” he said, “you would have moved out of it before now.”

Had any other man made that statement, I might have suspected he was being sarcastic. But he said it without inflection and without the slightest hint of amusement.

Did reapers even feel amusement?

I had no idea. I might have been aware of them for most of my life, and I might be related to them by virtue of my Aedh blood, but that wasn’t much help. Even Quinn–the half-Aedh vampire who’d taught me to control my Aedh gifts–hadn’t been able to tell me a whole lot about the reapers.

I glanced down the street and spotted McDonalds. “I’ll be in there.”

He glanced briefly at the building then back to me, his expression giving very little away. “Good.”

And with that, he disappeared again.

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Posted in Keri Arthur | 19 Comments »



A Whole Lot Of Nothing

Posted on February 2nd, 2010

By Dame Jackie

I am having a bad day.

No, nothing’s wrong. The family is terrific. I still have my full-time day job. My crit partner will get me her thoughts on RAGE later this week. Life is good. But I’m still having a bad day.

Why?

I’m stuck in Limbo. You know the place: where you’re waiting, and waiting, and waiting to hear something, anything, about something, anything. And you just…don’t…hear…anything. That doesn’t mean anything is wrong. It means…nothing.

Nothing can nibble at your heart.

Nothing can sap your energy.

Nothing can drain you of your will to write.

That’s a lot of nothing. And no, I don’t want to write today. It doesn’t matter that I have a deadline approaching. I. Just. Don’t. Wanna. Write. Not until I hear…something.

Yeah, I’m basically throwing a tantrum. My inner child has taken over, and she demands ice-cream.

So I’m writing nothing today. (Blog posts not included.) And instead of writing, I am going to…

…take a tae kwon do class during lunch. [Edited to add: Dude! I got FOUR STRIPES today!!! I'll be testing for yellow belt in three months. Whee!]

…take a scaldingly hot shower.

…think about what the heck to make for dinner tonight and maybe even go food shopping.

…spend time petting Officekitty.

…help my son study for his math test.

…spend two hours watching LOST.

And you know what? I have the sinking suspicion that somewhere in all that, the start of the short story (that’s due February 28) is going to come to me. Probably when I’m in the shower.

It’s okay to have a bad day. With luck, tomorrow will be a good day. And then, the nothings will be more like this:

Nothing can nibble at your heart!

Nothing can sap your energy!

Nothing can drain you of your will to write!

Tomorrow, nothing will hold me back. For today…where’s that ice cream?

What do you do when you’re having a bad day? How do you pull yourself out of it?

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Posted in Jackie Kessler | 17 Comments »



New Month, New Plan

Posted on February 1st, 2010

Remember to check these two posts to see if you’ve won anything from the Dame Anniversary

Dame winners week #2

Dame winners week #1

by Dame Devon

January is over and we’ve all had a month to get used to typing 2010.  I thought this might be a great time to check in on those New Year’s goals.

How are you doing?

I decided on goals for January, some of which might be like yours: exercise, guilt-free time off, get more organized, write more. I set those goals in my usual style: pick easy, attainable goals and work out a plan for how I could achieve them.

How did I do?  Not so hot. Heck, I’ll be honest–I failed almost all of them. Failed.  So now I’m in a new month, with a whole lot of failure stacked up behind me. What do I want to do about that failure?  Ignore it.  What am I going to do about it?  Stare it straight in the ugly eye, figure out how the failure happened, make a new plan, and get over it.

Let’s look at my writing goal.  I had a goal to write so many words a day, so many days a week.  And yes, for two weeks, I stuck to that plan and  I got the job done.  It felt great. I loved hitting my daily word count, felt proud and excited about my work.  Those positive feelings and confidence washed over to the next day and kept me going even when writing was tough.

Then came real life.  My daily word count started slipping.  I worked harder, dealt with more interruptions, gave it all I had.

And fell short. For an entire week.  (Yes, there were proofs for a book somewhere in there, a quick cover consultation, work on the short story collection, but all that counts as part of “real life interruptions.” When you write for a living, your own career will interrupt your career.)

So I resolved to do better, to pick myself up, to follow the plans I’d put in place.

And fell short again. Another set of Real Life Stuff showed up, these of the familial sort, and slowed my progress.   But by this time, I was really feeling the drag.  I’d had a full week of failing every day, and it didn’t look like the next week was going to be much better.

It wasn’t.

There is nothing that dampens my writing spirit more than to wake up feeling like I’ve failed, and go to bed every day feeling like I’ve failed.  It didn’t matter that I had succeeded in getting words written each day.  The novel was, in truth, coming along just fine, if not as quickly as I wanted.  But the fact that I wasn’t hitting my goal numbers killed me.

It’s easy to look at this from the outside and see an oblivious solution: change the goal. Maybe I had over-reached what I could do.  Maybe I should have settled for something smaller.   But the truth is, those deadlines out there were Very Real. Just as real as all the Real Life Stuff that kept nipping away at my time.  I did not have the time, nor the luxury to do a big “F” fail.  That kind of Fail (blowing a deadline beyond repair, for instance) would be very difficult to recover from, and I did not want to put myself in that situation.  Ever.  In this case, my goal couldn’t change.

So here we are in February.  If you made it through the first month of the year hitting all your goals and resolutions, I bow to your might and willpower (and secretly long to be you.) If you are like me, and got off to a rocky start, then it’s time to pick ourselves up, dust our pockets off, and start looking ahead.

My main problem in January was not setting hard hours.  So I’m doing that.  I won’t be available to real life people until certain times of the day.  I won’t go on line until certain times of the day.  I’ll aim for a solid amount of words written every day with a flexible goal–a high word count I’d like to hit, minimum word count I MUST hit. And exercise?  That’s going to be a morning thing from now on and  forever, amen.   I’m also cutting myself a little slack.  If I’m trying my best–and I mean really sticking to my plan but things still aren’t working–I can rest easy knowing I gave it my all.  Instead of feeling like I failed, I will adjust my sails, make a new plan, and start it the very next day.

Being a writer means you will fail.  A lot.  Being a successful writer means picking yourself up after you fail, and trying again.

Do I think my new plan will work?  I do.  Because doing these things and hitting my goals makes me feel proud, excited, and happy.  And the goal of  living a life I feel happy about, is, in my opinion, a very good one.

So how about you?  How are your resolutions and goals going?  Are you doing something every day that makes you feel happy?  Are you making a new plan to achieve your goals in February?

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Posted in General Posts | 18 Comments »



Damiversary Winners!

Posted on January 31st, 2010

The two-week Damiversary extravaganza is now over. (Awwwww.) The good news is that we’ve got lots of prize winners to announce! I have been tagged to post all the winners here, but since the Dames live in wildly divergent time zones, I’m going to post them incrementally as they come in. So, if you haven’t won anything yet (or even if you have!) you may want to check back later and see if any new winners have been posted.

All winners: please email the Deadline Dames (our address is in the sidebar) with your mailing address and/or any other information requested.

And now, on to the announcements:

Saturday, Dame for a Day Mark Henry’s Winners

  • Comment #35, by Linda D., who says Wow, a male dame! You’ve got some guts, Mark. ;) Thanks for the fab post and now I’m entirely intrigued about Amanda. Many of my protagonists are male so I get the same sort of questions as to how I can write in the mind of the opposite gender…and it’s definitely not so much the sex of the character but the character him (or her) self! And I can totally see how your work as a psychotherapist has given you alot of perspective…I give you alot of credit, that line of work definitely isn’t easy! I wish the best for your series and I will definitely check it out!
  • Comment #86, by Jackie Burris, who says Okay first off thanks for coming to be a Dame for A Day you brave man you. I follow sporadically the League of Reluctant Adults and since I am one find all of you particularly fun to read. Mark am sad to say have not read anything you have out there, sadly this is not due to finances but do to so many authors already reading have not gotten around to your books yet, my bad!
    Thanks for the fun post today and “disturbingly different” indeed but since my favorite Kenyon character is the Demon character “Simi” your work is right up my reading alley, count me in as a new fan who put your books on my To Buy List.

In your email, please let us know which of Mark Henry’s offered books you’d like.

Monday: Dame Jenna’s Winners

The winners of the signed copies of my backlist titles are:

  • Comment #12, from Firewolf, who says: I haven’t read any of the other books yet, but they are on my list. Congrats on the anniversary and thanks for all the advice.
  • Comment # 61, from Elie N., who says: I am new to the series, but after reading all the great comments here I must have been living under a rock. LOL. Thanks for the giveaway. Happy Dame Anniversary.

In your email, please let me know which of my currently available books you’d like me to send. Also, let me know if you want them personalized to you, or to someone else, or just a generic signature.

  • And the grand prize winner, who will receive my homemade ARC of The Devil’s Playground is: Comment #71, from Athena W., who says: O.M.G. Sqeeeee!!! I absolutely adore this series. I’ve been reading it from the beginning. I stalked and haunted my local bookstore until they started to stock your books so that I would no longer have to pre-order and possibly not get it until DAYS after the release date!!! Snippet! Snippet! I Would LOVVVE To get this book early. ARC!!!!!

Tuesday: Dame Kaz’s winners

  • The query critique goes to comment #49, by A.L. Sonnichsen, who says: I just found you through Twitter. Fun! I’d like option #1. I’m in the middle of querying and got some interest at first and now a long string of form rejections, so I’m wondering if I should tweek my query letter a bit.
  • The signed books go to comment #91, by Rhianna, who says: Happy Damiversary Dame Kaz! I would love to be entered for the #2 giveaway… and wow I love the UK cover on Ironside that is soooo pretty!

Wednesday: Dame Rinda’s winner

The winner of the lithograph and Surreal Magazine is:

  • Comment #47, from Amanda, who says: LOVE IT!!!! And the picture is beautiful

Thursday: Dame Toni’s winner

  • Comment #65 from Patti, who says: I love your attitude! I’m not a writer but I really enjoy reading and admire those who do write, I can’t imagine being that full of imagination.

Friday: Dame Lili’s winners

  • Comment #45, from AleBB, who says: Sadly I am suffering of those “I don’t wannas” on my writing and reading lately… And what do I do? I just don’t know what to do, which explains why I feel as if I am going crazy =P I just miss it!!! And when I try doing either of them, I keep getting distracted. But I try to talk to one of my mentors, they alays know the right thing to say, and they are made of AWESOME! I luve them… I feel a bit better after doing so… But I get I just have to find another way of dealing with blockage =P I do think of what I wan, which is being published, and it kindda works and gets me to write a bit ^-^ Music helps, but it can also be a distraction. And these dark days we’ve been having @NYC are def. helping me, I just <3 them.
  • Comment#5, by Julie K who says: I definitely get what you mean about having a hard time telling the difference between motivation issues, laziness and burnout. One thing that helps me (with writing, I won’t even talk about exercise or food issues) is switching to a short project for a while. Usually it gives me enough of a re-charge to approach my novel fresh. I wish I could figure out a way for that to translate to other things in life. Happy Damiversary!!!

And the winner of the $50 gift certificate is . . . Comment #26 on Tuesday, by Donna S.: I would like to be entered for contest 2.

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Posted in Contests | 15 Comments »



I Don’t Wanna

Posted on January 29th, 2010

Dame Lili

First, announcements, then the meat of the post, then Damiversary giveaways. That is the order in which things will occur this Friday. I declare it. Hey, the Muse is just sitting there filing her nails, so I’ve got to be a petty dictator where I can.

Announcements! You can find a taste of my short story Best Friends over at FlamesRising! The story is in The Girl’s Guide To Guns & Monsters anthology, available just around the corner in February. Also, you can find a short preview of my essay Ambiguous Anita for the absolutely fabulous Ardeur: 14 Writers on the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, which will be coming out in April. It was a pleasure to be included in both.

I still have other good news that I’m having to sit on. It KILLS me. But them’s the breaks.

And now, the meat of the post…well, don’t take this the wrong way. But I don’t wanna.

Seriously. I started out yesterday with a huge honking attack of the I don’t wannas. It’s only gotten worse today.

Any disciplined activity you put serious time and energy into–dieting, writing, dance practice–goes through periods where it temporarily gets harder to do. The reasons can be manifold: stress, life changes, boredom, the urge to rest for a bit, what-have-you. It goes in cycles, especially when you hit a plateau right before a leap forward.
I write a lot here about discipline and habit. Think of them as bowling bumpers, keeping your ball in the lane. During good times, when you’re excited and happy to be writing, the discipline is easy to maintain. Your motivation’s high. But there will come times when you just don’t want to, for a variety of reasons. It will get harder to keep a consistent schedule and keep writing a priority. Just like it gets harder to stick to calorie restriction or dance practice when your motivation goes down and a stack of Netflix DVDs plus a box of Entenmann’s are calling your name. (OK, I could be projecting here. Just a touch. But you still get the idea.)

I bump up against the hard edges of the habit of spending several years writing damn near every day occasionally, when the I don’t wannas attack. Sometimes I do slow down a bit and take a rest. It’s hard to differentiate between loss of motivation, just plain laziness, and approaching burnout. I’ve evolved a few questions that I ask myself and a process to tell if it’s burnout, but I sincerely doubt my methods will work for anyone other than me. Part of the difficulty of consistent creative activity is that it is so personal, and the methods of motivation and differentiating burnout from laziness differ from person to person.

Yes, I have trouble motivating myself sometimes. The advice I give is partly because I struggle to keep that consistent discipline and practice. Maybe for some people, it’s easier. I don’t know. The important thing is to keep the habit of discipline strong, so that when the I don’t wannas attack, you have nice strong bumpers keeping your ball in the lane and a fighting chance of getting to the pins.

My motivation to write is pretty simple: I have rent to pay and kids to feed. And yet, still, some days I struggle. It might be worse for people who aren’t depending on their writing to bring home the rent. I suspect it is.

No matter how hard I don’t wanna, I’m still in the habit of doing it every day. So I suppose I’ll just poke at a few things and see what happens.

And now, the giveaway! To celebrate the Damiversary, this time I’m offering 2 T-shirts from my CafePress store. (I really need to get some more designs up…) All you have to do is comment on this post by midnight Saturday (the 30th).[1] If you can’t think of anything to say, tell me what you do to get going when your own motivation suffers. I’m always looking for more techniques to steal, ahem, I mean, good advice to follow. I’ll pick the winners from Random.org, and the Dames will announce them next week along with this week’s winners.

Speaking of which, we still haven’t heard from some of last week’s Damiversary winners! Make sure to go and see if you won something, and look for other cool prizes that were announced earlier this week as well.

Vive les Dames!

ETA: Hey, if you’re on LJ, we have a Deadline Dames community now. Just so you know.

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Posted in Lilith Saintcrow, Writer's Life | 53 Comments »



The Best Job in the World

Posted on January 28th, 2010

I can’t believe I’ve been a Deadline Dame for a year!  What wonderful company I’ve been in.  The Dames inspire me every day.  It’s nice to be around people with the same brand of insanity–strong women writers who will understand what I’m about to say.

As I’m writing this, I just got off a ship after a four-day cruise from Miami to Cozumel and back.  I had a great time seeing all of my old friends from the Florida Romance Writers. In between workshops, we lounged on the deck, danced in the clubs, gambled in the casino and sang some truly horrendous Karaoke.

And, I wrote.

I’m now staying at a friend’s apartment in Miami, where there are wonderful walking trails, a nice pool, and some terrific bars, restaurants and shopping within walking distance.

And, I’m writing.

Next week, I’m going to visit an old critique partner in a different part of the state, for a combination of visiting and plotting. She’s planning some boating and hanging out at beachfront bars.

And, I plan to write.

The following weekend, I’m heading over to the Naples/Ft. Meyers area to give a workshop for the South Florida Romance Writers. They’re taking me to dinner the night before and a party the night after, and I have plans to watch at least part of the Superbowl on Sunday before heading back.

And, I’m sure I’ll write there, too.

I’m sure you’ve been somewhere on vacation—some little beach town or mountain hamlet—and thought to yourself, “What a great place! I’ll bet it would be fun to live here.  But what would I do for a living?”  Well, I have a suggestion…

I know that not all of you plan to make writing your full time career, but there’s still a point to my story. You can always write. You can write anywhere. You can write from a hospital bed, on an airplane, or from the back of a motor home.  You can write when you’re snowed in or, or while you’re sitting on a sunny beach. You can write in the car while your kid’s at soccer practice, in the dentist’s waiting room, or during your fifteen minute coffee break at work.

You can write when you’re broke. It’s free.

You can write when no one has bought your last book.  They can reject you, but they can’t stop you from writing.

What a precious gift it is to have found this vocation—this thing we can do anywhere, anytime, on our own terms.  We don’t need much: a computer, an alpha-smart, a pen, a crayon, or even a voice recorder.  A few minutes a day.

It’s absolutely, positively the best job in the world.

Now, for the Damiversary giveaways….

I’m in Florida, so I don’t know the exact titles, but two commenters will receive their choice of the following prizes:

1.  Three signed urban fantasy titles, including CRY MERCY, my latest release (I’m away from home, so I don’t remember exactly which books I have available, but there will be fangs involved).

or…

2. A free Book Rx manuscript analysis for the first ten pages of your manuscript.

Best of luck!

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Posted in Contests, General Posts, Toni Andrews, Writer's Life | 76 Comments »



And the Party Goes On!

Posted on January 27th, 2010
Dame Rinda

Note: The ROD will return in two weeks!   

I can’t begin to express how honored I am to be a part of the Deadline Dames. I’m in the best of company and had no idea when we first started chatting that this would turn into such an incredible gift of support and friendship. And fun! I also love interacting with readers here and hope you all show up for the party when my sale arrives. ;)

Here’s to many more celebrations!

For this one I’m sharing a slice of new work in progress.  And in a way, because it comes with an image at the end,  it’s my ROD to you! BTW, my giveaway prize is NOTHING like this story. Rae isn’t at all delicate and feminine like the woman in this image.

I chose Nene Thomas  because I wanted to promote someone local and she’s the only person on earth who inspired me to collect something outside of books. I have some framed prints and quite a few of her figurines and ornaments-my favorite is the very first one she designed, Faery of Ravens. For one lucky reader here, I’m giving away this single matted mini lithograph (With matting, it’s 8×10.)  I’m also sending a signed copy of the last Surreal Magazine published, which has my story Descent.  It’s heavier on narration than my usual style, but I wrote it with the words of Lovecraft and Poe slithering in my head. It won a pretty decent first place award, too. Click on this link to go to Nene’s site to see this image large-believe me, it’s worth it.

Comment to be in the running for the lithograph & story and the winner will be announced this Sunday with the others.

And now, for your enjoyment (hopefully) a taste of something new. This is from my next YA series. Normally, I’d guard it with my life, but this doesn’t give too much away.  After the snippet, I offer my visual and audio inspirations.  This is for Heather Dearly, who will hopefully figure out why her writing challenge topic took me so long. Crazy thing turned into a series.

_________________

Unnatural Selection

(A Surviving Scrap City novel)

            The greasy pall that settled over Scrap City thickened at dusk.

            My eyes burned.  Blinking, I let the tears fall. They’d leave crazy tracks in the dirt-caked oil on my cheeks, but I couldn’t care less. Besides, losing my death grip on this sweet piece of sheet metal wasn’t happening.  It was longer than my legs! I’d fought two other Scavs for the prize and had a bloody gash on my arm to show for it.

            They looked worse.

            Tugging on the metal, I propped my boot against the brick wall. The grungy piece of tooth lodged in the tip cheered me.  Scavs have to be a helluva lot quicker to make it in the warehouse sector.  My smirk slid into a grimace as the blood dripping down my wrist made my fingers slippery. Sharp steel sliced that tender, webbed skin between my finger and thumb.

            Maybe today’s take would be enough for another pair of gloves.

            The gnawing hunger in my little brother’s expression this morning flashed through my mind. Gritting my teeth, I tightened my grip and heaved, trying to tear the metal from the wall.  Stupid kid who’d attacked me had run off with my cutters.  It had taken me a good week to clear the brick and old newspapers piled in front of this find and now I couldn’t let go—not even when I heard the first warning siren.

            Curfew.

            Sweat poured down my temples as a cry of frustration built in my chest.  The Salvager’s doors would be barred in an hour!

            Floor grit crackled as someone stepped behind me. I sucked in a breath, let go of the metal, bent and kicked my left leg back. Hard.  A surprised male grunt sounded, followed by the crunch of a body hitting the piles of trash. Most Scavs hunted in packs, so I palmed my knife and spun around to fight.

            But there was only one.

            Squinting, I took in the long, lanky legs sticking out of the rubbish, the short, black hair with the splash of purple in the bangs.  “I know you. War or Bomb—something ridiculous like that.” I tightened my grip on the knife because it kept slipping in the blood. “The metal is mine.”

            “Bomb?” He lifted one dark eyebrow.

            I shrugged, eyed the tall piles of debris for his friends. I always saw this guy with one or more of his team.  It was a cool deal—two to pull the sheets and dig for remnants, two to keep lookout. “Don’t all the kids in your tribe have bad ass nicknames?”

            “Tribe?” He winced and put one gloved hand on his ratty shirt.  It had a wicked boot-shaped smudge across the red.  He climbed out of the pile of brick, broken furniture and newspaper.  Most of the paper was brittle, yellow and it stunk to Mount High from years soaking up the burning oil fumes.  All the metal from the printing presses had been salvaged long ago.

            “Are you capable of more than one syllable at a time?”

            “Some call me Chaos, but I don’t answer to it.  The name is Kerr, Rae.”  He took a step toward me.

            I brought up the knife, tensed my legs. I wore heavy, black boots for a reason. Scavenging built muscle, but I was still skinny. I’d taken down many a Scav with these clunkers. “How do you know my name?”

            “I asked.”  He reached into his pocket.

            I flipped my knife into a reverse grip.

            “Take it easy.” He held up a piece of blue material. “It’s for your arm.  Keep bleeding like that and you’ll attract the cats.”

            Fear skittered down my spine.  Can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that. We called the creatures cats, but they weren’t, not really. Heart pounding, I stilled the urge to scan the trash and looked at the scrap he held out.  It seemed clean, so I snatched it.  “I won’t put the knife down until you back up.”

            Kerr held up his hands, took a few steps back.  “Why don’t you let me help get that piece off the wall so you’ll get to the Salvager in time?”

            I leaned against the brick, slid my knife into its holder and quickly wrapped my arm.  “Don’t trust you, Chaos.” I couldn’t help the slight sneer that slipped into my tone with that name.

            “Fair enough. I’ll leave so you’ll finish. Don’t want to get caught out after curfew, do you?” As he talked, he tugged off his gloves and tossed them toward me.  “Be seeing you around, Rae.”

           ___________________

I’ve had this image of Rae in my head a long time.  Had her name picked out, most of her story down. Then I came across this image. This is so close to how I pictured her, I felt one of those creepy, premonition chills when I saw it.  Couldn’t be more perfect. http://rashel-ua.deviantart.com/art/Disorder-64573199

And the music that flat out goes with this story is mostly harder, industrial type rock. Think Nine Inch Nails. But there are several tracks from this band, Ladytron. Love the build up in this song.;)

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Posted in Rinda Elliott, excerpts | 77 Comments »



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