FROM THE TRENCHES: MAD

We’ve all heard the saying that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.

I’m not going to mince words.

Whatever you do guys, please, make sure it makes you happy. Money is fine and all, but if you’re miserable, the job will be another job and nothing more. It won’t bring you joy and it won’t bring you peace.

Since I think it’s safe to say that everyone here loves writing to the point of insanity, I’m going to gear this towards that, and say that writing is sometimes just plain hard.

It’s not always easy, but if you really love it, you’ll push through that. You’ll keep going even when it’s hard, because there is a light at the end of that tunnel.

Don’t believe me?

Ask a published author. I’m sure they’ll tell you that when they were just starting out, they didn’t think they’d make it either.

But you know what?

They did.

I’m going to end this post now, before I say something really stupid. :)

FROM THE TRENCHES: MAD

I really hope all of this makes sense. I have no idea what I sound like to other people when I blabber…

As I prepare to go on sub for the first time in my life (!), I’ve been thinking a lot about the best tool a writer can have, and it isn’t material, like a spiffy laptop (I dealt with a laptop for months that shut off every five minutes and demanded its own personal fan, and I was extremely tempted). In my book, it doesn’t even involve other people.

I think the best tool a writer can have is a good attitude.

I mean, when you think about it, your attitude can affect your success as a writer in a ton of different facets.

If you don’t have the perseverance, you may never reach that one agent who falls in love with your work, no matter how much work it might still need, because you let those rejections bog you down.

If you’re not open to critique and correction, you might never reach your full potential as a writer, and your writing might not be as good as it could be. There are enough people out there resting on their laurels. Being one of them doesn’t really get one anywhere.

On the other hand, if you’re willing to leave your ego at the door, keep your head down and work hard, asking for opinions and thoughts on your writing, you’re going to be a much better, and much more humble, writer.

I know that my writing has improved tons since I’ve dropped the whole “I don’t need crit partners” crap and really buckled down and seen my work in an unbiased light. Now I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I know how much hard work and persistence can pay off, guys. With aikido—my seven month anniversary is this weekend, and I couldn’t be happier—I work extremely hard, and when I say I work hard, I mean I WORK HARD.

I’m there every week, for every class. I get there early and I practice, practice, practice. I ask my fellow students (who are above me) and my sensei to nit-pick me and to constantly tell me what I can improve on, because I WANT TO GET BETTER. I’m willing to lay my faults out there and have someone tell me how terrible something was, and then how I can fix it.

The best part is that all of my hard work’s paying off. I’m 6 months ahead of schedule with rank testing, and I pretty much know everything below black belt because of how hard I’ve worked. Not only does it make me feel good, but it gives me an advantage on future tests.

I give all of the credit to my success in the martial arts to my hard work, and nothing else.

My point, guys, is that the only thing you really need to worry about with your writing is your state of mind. Everything else will take care of itself.

Does that make sense?

FROM THE TRENCHES -- MAD

*If this doesn't make sense, I'm on very little sleep right now. I blame that.

With 2012 already here, it's got me thinking a lot about resolutions, and goals both practical and lofty.

For me, my resolutions for this year are to make more time for my writing and art, take at least 2 aikido tests, get an agent, and sleep more. Notice how every goal is dependent upon my effort output except for getting an agent. That is out of my control simply because it's subjective.

That's what I'd like to talk about today: lofty goals.

Personally, I think we all need a  few lofty goals as writers, to keep us going when things get tough--which they will, no doubt. Getting an agent or becoming a bestselling author are great goals, but they're also not entirely in out control, so that's where the practical ones come in to keep us sane, like higher word counts and less purple prose. BUT, the lofty goals, while we achieve our practical ones along the way, help to keep us striving for better things.

All goals make us better, I think, lofty or not.

SO.

Tell me. What are YOUR goals, lofty and otherwise, writerly or not?

FROM THE TRENCHES-- MAD

I learned a lesson this week, when my GED results came back, and I think it resonates very well with us as writers.

Here goes…

I’ve been waiting for my GED for months. I took it mid-October, and here it is, early December. Needless to say, I was biting my nails over it all, because even though I had taken my time, and at the time of the test, I’d felt pretty good about how I’d done, during the waiting period, I let that little voice get the best of me.

You know. We all have one. It’s that voice that says we didn’t do well, that we’re not good enough. It’s that voice that tells us that we’re foolish to think we’ll ever make anything of ourselves.

That has been my pitfall since I got my scores back. I walked around thinking I was going to have to retake the tests. I thought I didn’t do very well. I was really depressed about it. I was beginning to doubt my intelligence, and trust me, you don’t want that. (No one is stupid. I don’t care what anybody says.)

Then my scores came, and I realized that my worries were unfounded all this time. I passed everything; I had worried too much, and it was a worry fueled purely by my lack of confidence, and the ever-encroaching doubt I had in myself.

I felt so good about how I did that I stuck a copy on my fridge and I still find myself stopping in front of it many times a day just to look at my scores because I’m proud of how I did. But, I also know it makes me no better than anyone else; test scores aren’t everything. That’s where the keeping-yourself-in-check part comes in.

So I think there’s a real delicate balance that we need to strike between being confident in ourselves, and being proud of our accomplishments, and letting our egos taint that. Everyone should be able to feel good about times when they do well.

The trick is not letting it go to your head, and I think if we, as writers, constantly try to keep our heads on straight, and stay humble throughout the praise we’ll all get eventually if we keep working hard, we’ll have better careers and we’ll be setting better examples for everyone around us.

That’s my two cents. :)

From the Trenches: Mad

Guys, you should be very jealous of me this weekend, because I get to take an 11-hour GED test. I'm scared to death. O_O

Ahem. Moving on...

Last week, in some depth or another, I talked about the fact that when you send off queries, the only person you’re really competing with is yourself. Today I’m going to elaborate on that.

When you send out queries, you’re not competing with anyone else. None of the other writers matter, because not all writers are equal, and they’re not just unequal because of talent—it has just as much, if not more, to do with timing, the agent’s personal tastes, and pure luck.

That’s why you shouldn’t worry about the competition, because when you look at it like this, there is no competition. Most things about the publishing business rely solely upon subjectivity anyway, the way I see it.

So, in my eyes, the only thing you should be worried about is yourself and your work. Have you taken the time to polish? Have you researched your agents until you consider yourself a stalker?

That’s really all you can do. Just roll the dice and hope you don’t get snake eyes.

 Question for the comments: what do you guys think of my little theory? Agree or disagree? Talk to me.

From the Trenches - Mad

Hey guys! Sorry this is so late. I haven't been home all day and this is coming from my phone. Plus, I'm getting ready for bed because I have to get up early for aikido.

So here goes...

Writing is tough. There are lots of drafts and edits and betas to go through. It's easy when you don't have an agent to think you'll never get published. The stats are against you, right?

Wrong.

Why, you ask? That comes next week. ;P

Last week, I asked you why you wrote. This time, I want to hear what you write and what, if you remember, got you hooked on that genre.

Yeah, I know my post is lame, but I promise to lurk in the comments tomorrow! :)

From the Trenches: Mad - Introductory Post

The reason this post is so late is because my poor little dog had teeth pulled today and I've had zilch minutes for myself. I've been too busy watching her stumble around, keeping her from falling down the stairs, and watching her tongue hang out. Also, my laptop's not cooperating, but Lizzy could give you a dissertation about that piece of crap.

OK.

This time, I SWEAR, I'm going to introduce myself without sounding like a crazy person, which, obviously, I am.

*Grin*

Certainly you all must have at least HEARD of me by now. My name used to be AWriterGoneMad until the lovely Lizzy started calling me "Mad," which has a dual meaning because it just so happens that I really am mad. I lived in obscurity until the wonderful Authoress asked me to become her assistant and revealed on Twitter that she had been stalking me.

Naturally, I hyperventilated. :)

I love reading and writing and aikido, and those close to me can probably tell you that I stay up way too late way too often to watch Criminal Minds. I have the morbid love of watching surgeries, and I like shooting and rifles and I've been writing for adults since I was fifteen. I turned eighteen in July.

My life basically looks like the following:

 

 

 One thing I often talk about when I'm asked to do a post is the importance of always moving forward, no matter how many rejections you get or how many times you feel like you need to revise or polish something.  It might get a little monotonous, hearing it from me all the time, but I really feel like it's just so important. I think it's so easy to get hung up on an aspect of the writing process that we can forget why we really do it. So to end this post that won't format properly, I will ask: why do YOU write?