Writer Wednesday Revisited

Last year, I had a few writers on this blog to talk about writing in a bi-weekly blog-fest called Writer Wednesday. I thought it was time to revisit some highlights.

Julie R. Andersen: Writing is an Addiction I’m Glad to Have
Julie shares her experience of what to me sounds like a nightmare: what do you do if you can’t write?

Joshua Alan Doetch: How Can You Write This Stuff And Not Get Screwed Up?
Joshua tackles the age old question: why do we love writing horror? And who better to attempt to describe that lust, than the person who writes horradorable fiction?

Krista Holle: My $20,000 Mistake
Krista shows and tells us the difference between first and third person, and why she prefers one over the other.

I hope you all enjoyed revisiting these posts as much as I did.

Good News, Everyone: I’m Employed.

It’s not a writing job and not a permanent position, but I will be working until the summer of 2014 on something semi-related to my degree. The Research Council of Norway has hired me for their Tax Incentive Scheme and their Core Competence and Value Creation in ICT program. So far, it’s both challenging and fun.

In addition to professional life, I’m doing two parallel training programs, participating in a relay race and a Norwegian Spartan race, and trying to keep my morning writing routine going. I’m slipping a little, but I’m sure I just need to get used to my new work load. I’m working on a new novel, and once I get my scheduling down, I should be writing that in the mornings, and editing the other one in the afternoons.

I repeat: the most important thing is to keep writing. Just keep writing.

Early Bird Writer

I’ve started a new experiment. Every day I go to a cafe and write for an hour before work. And now, after a whole week, I’m ready to share my initial findings.

1. My daily word count is up.
It’s impressive how much more I jot down while my brain is fresh. My goal is 350 words per day, but so far, I’ve been averaging at about 800.

2. My inner editor is off.
I struggle with my inner editor. There’s a voice inside me that tells me to polish and polish individual sentences, keeping me from producing more text to slave over. But whether it be the already mentioned fresh brain, or the semi-desperation of caffeine deprivation and half-sleep, when I sit down at 7:45AM, I write without second-guessing.

3. The quality of my writing is improving.
I think the early morning flow is something for me. A quiet cafe. A quality cup of coffee. An hour to myself. It’s a great way to start my day, and it shows in my writing.

But there’s a back to this coin. The extra hour at work makes me grumpy, unfocused and dead tired. After training, my evening consists of lying on the couch, watching television or reading. Then again, I used to spend those hours writing, but I didn’t produce more than I’m doing now. Perhaps exhaustion is a fair price to pay for better quality text?

What do you think? Have you tried writing before work? What are your habits like, and what works for you?

Find the Thing You’re Most Passionate About

…Then Do It On Nights And Weekends For The Rest Of Your Life
By David Ferguson

I have always been a big proponent of following your heart and doing exactly what you want to do. It sounds so simple, right? But there are people who spend years—decades, even—trying to find a true sense of purpose for themselves. My advice? Just find the thing you enjoy doing more than anything else, your one true passion, and do it for the rest of your life on nights and weekends when you’re exhausted and cranky and just want to go to bed.

It could be anything—music, writing, drawing, acting, teaching—it really doesn’t matter. All that matters is that once you know what you want to do, you dive in a full 10 percent and spend the other 90 torturing yourself because you know damn well that it’s far too late to make a drastic career change, and that you’re stuck on this mind-numbing path for the rest of your life.

Is there any other way to live?

Read the rest of the article over at The Onion.

Anyone else out there who want to quit their jobs and dive in 100 percent after reading this? I sure do.

Force-Caleb-Read-Harry-Potter-A-Thon

Caleb J. Ross, author of Stranger Will and I Didn’t Mean to be Kevin, butt of (or genius behind) the epic Fuck Caleb J. Ross campaign, and former guest poster here at nascentnovelist, has decided to help save the world. Part of it, anyway.

He’s participating in the March of Dimes campaign, and his quest for money is taking an interesting turn. He decided to merge the fundraising efforts with his nerdy video-making hobby and nerdy reading hobby. And thus, Force-Caleb-Read-Harry-Potter-A-Thon was born.

Watch Caleb outline the project in this video:

The Lure of Social Media Marketing

I’m a big fan of twitter. Not gonna lie, it might be my favourite social media. That’s why I’ve been bitching and moaning about all the indie authors out there who’re using it mainly as a tool to spew out ads for their latest novel. Why on earth would they do it, I asked myself. Don’t they know that it’s dull? That people skim past the noise to look for actual tweets? That they might be sorted out or unfollowed?

And then I entered a contest. And I wanted people to vote for me.

Suddenly, I wanted to yell the loudest. I wanted to tweet every hour. I wanted to hold up a virtual sign over my head saying “Make my dream come true!” and jump up and down until everyone realized my book was the best and voted. I got it.

But even though I get why people want to tweet five (or ten, or twenty) times a day about how great their book is, it doesn’t change the truth: it’s bad marketing. I follow people on twitter because they’re funny, interesting or quirky. Not because they blast me with tweet after tweet about their five-star reviews.

There’re two days left of voting in the contest. My book, number 56: Fire and Blood, is currently at ninth place and I’m hoping and praying for more votes. But I won’t tweet about it. At least not more than once a day.

Backspace Scholarship Competition: An Update

The voting for the Backspace Writers Conference’s scholarship contest is in full swing. Close to 2400 votes have been cast and they’re still ticking in. There are a lot of good quality manuscripts in there, but clear winners are emerging. This is the current top five list of manuscripts:

As I’m sure you notice, out of 110 entries, my book (number 56: Fire and Blood) is hanging in there in 5th place.

This is just a preliminary, however. The voting is open until March 15th. Much could happen yet. I hope, of course, that people will keep voting for my book so that I can go to this great conference, and get to see my first novel in print.

Fingers crossed!

Shameless Self-Promotion. Read: Help a Writer Out!

I have entered to win a scholarship to the Backspace Writers Conference in May. I need to get the most votes out of about a hundred entries. Read the entries here.

This is my log line:

Entry 56: FIRE AND BLOOD | Urban Fantasy

When Montreal police start finding bodies of youths with magical potential, Trinity McCormac, the only powerless descendent of a legendary family of witches, knows the killer has learned the secret she once uncovered: that it’s possible to steal people’s powers by eating their souls, but she cannot go to the authorities without making herself a prime suspect. Can she catch the killer before he succeeds in making himself the most powerful witch of all time, and can she defeat him without becoming a killer herself?

All I need from you you, dear readers, bloggers, friends, is a small vote. One small vote each. It would make me a very happy blogger and grateful friend. Also, I bake. Did I mention that?

Anyways, if you think my entry is worth a trip to New York, or if you have other, darker reasons to vote for me, I won’t judge, just click this link and vote for number 56: Blood and Fire.

Remember, a vote for number 56: Fire and Blood is a vote for the future!

I’m not going to promise it would make the world a better place, but it just might. It just might.

Starve Better

I’m trying to figure out my best path to success. Is it through freelance writing and translation gigs, working long hours but with the freedom to set my own schedule? Or is it through a safe and well-paid job that leaves evenings and weekends open for writing?

Option A stressed me out, and the long hours left little creativity for my own projects. Option B made me complacent and slow, leaving me with little push to drive my own deadlines.

So which do you prefer? Do you like to starve on your way to inevitable success, or risk the dangers of complacency in a safe and well-regulated office environment?

I don’t know which fits me better yet, and I’m definitely open for secret option C. Lay it on me!

Out in Italian

In 2005, I published an article called The Collective’s Little Red Book. It was collection of thoughts and ideas on how to organize live action roleplays collectively (yes, I’m a mega-geek). This week, that article came out in the Italian Symposium Ragionando di larp. Opinioni e riflessioni sui giochi di ruolo dal vivo (Reasoning about larp. Opinions and reflections about live action role-playing) by Andrea Castellani.

Order your print versions here for a measly $8.75 or get the ebook version for free.

Now I can say that my work has been translated into Italian. How cool is that?

(Before you start thinking I’ve turned this blog into a bragging space, let me tell you that I’ve been rejected from publications 4 times this week. I’m keeping the balance right between good news and bad.)