A Frantic Spirit

Writers are a sordid lot. They're also a sorted lot. (I love words like that.) It seems that all writers and artists are on the same mental plain or if you're so inclined, on the same mental "plane", flying in the same direction to the same destination. When their creative spirit flows, art is created. Those who live without this creative streak say things like, "This is an inspired work" or "Where do they come up with such ideas?"

To the writer or artist, such ideas and creations are as much of a surprise to them as they are to the observing public. We don't know where it comes from, we are simply compelled to paint it, chisel it or write it. If we don't, we feel our heads might explode from the idea growing and pressing against our brain.

This is why I'm writing this post. My head is not threatening to burst with ideas. It's already done that and I have 4 1/2 novels and countless short stories to prove it. My problem is the fact that I can't share my stories with the world. I can't find an agent or publisher, which would be my vein or channel to the world. My spirit is feeling frantic to have a writing CAREER.

People say, "You already have a writing career. You're writing, aren't you? Then you have a career." It's not like that, folks. Now that I've gotten my inspiration on paper and it's honed and ready for public consumption, I have no place to put it.

Here's a good analogy: Imagine yourself standing on a pillar of rock. This pillar of rock is at least ten stories tall and you're surrounded by the chasms of the Grand Canyon. On your pillar, you have approximately enough room to sit down, but no more. In your arms you hold all of the things that are nearest and dearest to your heart. Piled high in your two little arms you have your children, your spouse, your college degree, your photo albums, your skis or your treadmill (whatever floats your boat) and you're carrying them all gingerly and with great care, holding them as close to heart as possible. Suddenly, you have to pee. What do you do? Where can you set your things down? You turn in circles on your little pillar of rock. Beads of anxious sweat begin to trickle down your brow and your precious things have suddenly become very heavy. No one can hold your precious thing for you and you can't set them down. If you give in and take care of business as it were, you have no choice but to drop your most precious possessions into the great chasm, never to be seen again. As Keanu Reeves said in Speed, "What do you do?"

This is how my spirit is feeling. I'm frantically dashing around the literary planet saying, "Can you help me with this?" "Excuse me, do you have a home for this story?" "Pardon me, I'm sorry to bother you, but would you possibly be interested in publishing my work? I have lots more where that came from." I've gotten to the point where I just want to scream, "Heeeeyyyy! I'm a damn good writer. Publish me or point me to someone who can!!"

I can see you now: giving your computer monitor a wary leer as you contemplate just how mentally unstable I am. You may be on to something there, but I am in no way certifiable. I'm just getting older. I'm running out of time to achieve my dreams and my stories aren't doing anyone any good gathering dust in my proverbial drawer. They are homeless stories, without a voice, without an adoptive family. I am merely a catalyst, a foster home for these stories. I need someone to give my stories wings. If my stories never learn to fly, I will never fly and I'm feeling the pressure.

I'm writing this post against my better judgment. I feel that blogs of professional subjects should remain just that: professional, but according to Neil Gaiman, you should speak from the heart in your blogs. Let the world see you. I hold a lot of respect for Mr. Gaiman, so I'm taking his advice and giving you a glimpse of my own frantic writer's spirit.

We writers are a sordid lot; a sordid, sordid lot. *sigh*

There's No Such Thing as an "Aspiring" Author

First of all, I hope everyone's Holiday went smoothly and with minimal drama. If not, I feel for you. If it went well, please don't rub it in.

Mine was better than expected. Being low on funds this year, my husband and I decided to forgo gifts for each other and concentrate on giving our 11 year old daughter an awesome Christmas. Her belief in Santa Claus is hanging on by a frayed and fragile thread and we figured we'd better make this Christmas count before all the fantasy and magic of Santa was a thing of the past.

Due to the Holidays, this blog has been neglected. Until now I was dreading to post, but now that all the hubbub is over, I have no excuses, so I sucked it up and here I am.

The aforementioned request for my full manuscript was rejected two days before Christmas. This is my twelfth official rejection, although this one hurts more than the rest. I felt that I had a pretty good connection with this agent, if not the potential for a blooming friendship. Our lighthearted communications were encouraging and gave me a glimpse into this person's personality. I crossed my fingers even tighter at the thought of acquiring such a wonderful agent.

His rejection letter was kind with a air of regret that he must reject my story. That in itself made me feel a little bit better, although I couldn't help but wonder if I'd ever get the chance to work with an agent that was so personable and, for lack of a better word, normal.
It is with a heavy heart that I feel compelled to deliver this message to every aspiring author out there. Are you ready?

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN "ASPIRING" AUTHOR.

Yes, you heard me right and I hear you saying, "Well, I haven't been published yet. Therefore I am in the category of 'aspiring'."

Not true.

The truth of the matter is, if you have written anything, be it an epic novel or a limerick, and you intend to do it again, you are a writer. There's no "aspiring" about it. You've already done it.

When I finished my first novel, I hadn't yet decided whether or not to seek publication, but I knew one thing for sure: I had written a book, which is something most people only talk about. I did it and I loved it. I loved it so much that I decided to write another book and another and another. I am now working on my fifth book, but I am in the same swaying, rocking boat as all the first-time writers out there; the SS Author. We're in this together, you and I. Don't short-change yourself and don't let anyone tell you that you are less of an author simply because your story hasn't graced the bookstore shelves.

I say, welcome to Author-ship. (pun intended)

OMG!!!

He requested the full manuscript...

He requested the full manuscript.

THE FULL MANUSCRIPT!!

What a great Christmas present this would be if only...if only...

Jeez, I'm going to give myself a heart attack. I need to calm down. Where's the chocolate?

More later.

I'm Officially Official!

Hello Everyone!

I told you that I'd let you know when my website was up and running....

My website is up and running! I'm very proud of it. It's beautiful thanks in large part to my friend and tech-wiz, Anne. Thank you Anne. You are a blessing beyond measure.

Here's the link: http://jenniferbfields.weebly.com/. On my site, you can read summaries and excerpts from all of my work as well as find some very helpful links. I'd appreciate it if you visited the "Get Jennifer Published" link and left a little encouraging word for any agents or editors that may pop in.

I'm looking for unpublished authors to feature in the upcoming "Author Spotlight". Here, I will post a short bio about a promising author to watch along with an excerpt from their work among other things. Each author will remain on the "Author Spotlight" page for up to two weeks. If you're interested in being featured, contact me here or on the "Contact" link on my website. It's a great way to get your name and your work out there.

So, I'm officially official! My name is Jennifer Fields, and I have my own website. How 'bout them apples? :-)

Characters in Your Midst

Those that enjoy writing novels, poems or essays share the same mentality, I've noticed. It can be paraphrased as a "creative mind", but that label doesn't seem to cut it. Imagination abounds for writers and artists. They see the world differently than those with literal or analytical minds, and thank goodness for that. If no one had any imagination, books would be terribly boring.

I got out of the house the other day, which is a rare accomplishment for a writer. (Most suffer from self-imposed agoraphobia.) As I was driving down the street, I spied two old men sitting in the old-style metal lawn chairs with a black and white dog in between them.

They'd obviously been working on the property and were taking a break when I happened by. Their flannel shirts were rumpled and faded, their jeans hopelessly smudged with dirt. Both men had scraggly, Santa Claus beards and one man puffed on an elaborate pipe as they chatted with their faithful herding dog looking on. What a picture! A snapshot that was worth a million words. I could create a story just from that image alone.
People watching is a great way to find characters for your books.

For instance, I met Tom at karaoke one night. I live in a small town and I thought I knew everyone. But up walks Tom, a bow-legged old cowboy with a belt buckle as big as his head. He grinned an enormous, toothless smile and let out a rolling cackle of a laugh that was reminiscent of an old pirate. This was character worthy enough, but my character meter went into overdrive when I saw his expertly-curled handlebar mustache and long gray ponytail beneath his gallon-sized cowboy hat. I was in love! I had to stop myself from salivating and scramble up a napkin to scroll down what I saw. It was too deliciously juicy to pass up.

They're out there folks, but you have to keep your eyes peeled.

Inspiration is everywhere. The next time you're hurrying about your errands and fighting your way through traffic to get home, stop a moment and look around. The crazy old lady with the rainbow-striped socks that seems to endlessly be waiting for the bus every time you pass by, the woman with the really bad wigs at church or the toothless old cowboy you saw at the bar the other night; you never know which one is begging to be a part of your next book.

And hey, they sure make life interesting, don't they? Imagine what they'll do for your writing. ;-)

Platform: A Jumping Off Point

If you're like me, you're a writer who's earned their chops on the page and shamelessly promoted yourself a time or two. You're also trying to get published and doing whatever it takes to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, if you're anything like me, the one area that you fall short is your platform.
Are you familiar with this term?
A platform is an editor-invented word for "a way that the author can pick up the publicity slack." Fewer people are being signed to book deals nowadays, due in large part to the slumping economy. Agents and editors can only spread their funds so thin. If an author has a strong platform--there's that word again--it gives him or her a leg up on other hopeful authors. Possessing a strong public presence can make agents and editors salivate when you approach them.
It also tells them that you are: A) A serious writer
                                       and B) You know what you're talking about
Until recently, a solid "platform" was more of a concern for non-fiction writers. Along with a winning book proposal, an agent would ask the author about their platform. In other words "What are you planning to do to take some of the advertising heat off of us?" This practice has spread to all genres. It is now an vital part of any authors life.
So how do you develop a platform?
Here's where it gets interesting. We live in the internet age. Throwing yourself out there just got that much easier. Start by setting up your own website. That's what I'm working on now. I went with weebly.com. It's a free hosting website and there are lots of free sites to choose from.
On your new website, link the crap out of yourself. I'm not kidding! This is your chance to shine. Don't worry about how conceited you look. Slather the self-promotion all over your website. It's yours after all. It's all about you. Get a Facebook page just for your writing and link it. Get on Twitter, start a blog. Enter all the writing contests you can handle. Get yourself out there any way that you can.
Ta-da! You're off to a good platform start.
Then check out any number of books on the subject. For instance, an author friend of mine and Facebook buddy Christina Katz wrote a book called Get Known Before the Book Deal (See below.)
 

• Learn the definition and meaning of an author platform
• Find out why most books fail
• Answer the three key questions about platform to increase your chances of success

Excerpted from Get Known Before the Book Deal by Christina Katz



Having your own platform is something of a mystery to aspiring writers like me. I'm a nobody. I come from Small Town Nowhere. Who's going to remember me? There are ways and I intend to find them. You're officially caught up to my level of expertise. Can any of you supply me with a marketing idea that I haven't thought of yet? I'd love to hear about it. In the meantime, good luck to you and good luck to me. I'm sending my friend Christina a knowing wink ;-)
TTYS

Look Mom, No Computer Skills!

I'm sure everyone feels like doing that once in a while. In my case, I feel like committing hardware homicide on a daily basis. In my infinite imagination, I've daydreamed and fantasized the many glorious ways that I could end the life of the machine that loves to mock me. Don't get me wrong, I know enough about computers to get me through the day, but I'm am frequently reminded why I utterly and completely failed freshman computer lit.
I do not speak computer. My mind doesn't work that way.
That is why I am thanking the shiny stars above that I have a computer savvy husband and tech-literate friends who love me. Without them, I would never start a website of my own.
That's what I've been working on today. It's not up and running as of yet, but the prototype looks beautiful! I am in awe of the intricacies of the process; click this, add that, drop-down menus, control/V, text boxes, formats, jpg's, click this box, don't click that box...YIKES! My head would have imploded within five minutes if I'd tried it alone.
Thank you Anne for all your hard work today. And to all of my followers, my website should be ready soon. You'll be the first to know.
So don't kill your computer. It may not be able to show it's affection for you, but it does love you all the way down to its little pixels.