Wait Time

At a recent writing workshop I attended, an agent on the panel described the pace of the publishing world as glacial. Those of you awaiting responses on queries, contests, and submissions can verify that the agent was not exaggerating. Publishing is a slow process. But if you want to be successful within that world, you must be prepared to wait…a lot. And let’s face it, we live in a ‘fastfood’ society; waiting is not our strong suit.

When you're in the waiting zone, it can feel as though your forward momentum has slowed to a snail’s pace.

Being stuck in the limbo of the unknown is unsettling. But here’s the thing, there’s nothing you can do to speed up the process; however there are some things you can do to make the wait more enjoyable…or at least more bearable. All you need to do is take a "queue" from Disney's Imagineers. 

If you've ever stood in line for one of the popular attractions at Walt Disney World, you know the wait times can be daunting. 

But you also know Imagineers put a great deal of effort into making those waits as painless as possible. So what does waiting in line to ride an exciting attraction or meet your favorite character have to do with waiting to hear back from an agent or editor? 

 

It's all about keeping you moving, distracted, and entertained.  

   

The first tool Imagineers use to battle the dreaded wait time is movement. Regardless of the length of the line, they keep their guests moving. It may be weaving back and forth through the queue or moving from one room to another, but they keep you moving forward during your wait.  

In writing, you must do the same. Don't stop and wait. Revisit an old project or start a new one, but keep writing. 

Another tool Imagineers use to help guests forget about waiting is distraction. They place visual, auditory, and tactile distractions all along the queue. 

After you send out your query, manuscript, or submission, distract yourself with a non-writing related hobby. Pick a task you enjoy and can lose yourself in. Something you can channel all that nervous energy into. Most importantly, choose an activity that gives you a sense of accomplishment and rock it out.

The third tool Imagineers use to keep guests sane and happy while waiting in line is entertainment. There are "pre-show" videos to watch, facts about the attraction to read, interactive video games to play, and play areas for the young and young at heart. 

 

Entertainment is a great way to pass time while waiting. Read a novel you've put off while writing or a book on the list of an agent or editor you've queried. Watch a movie you've been dying to see or catch up on that series everyone's been raving about. Play a video game. Go to a concert. Take a trip or visit local areas of interest. Chat with other people in the "publishing queue." They feel your pain. Compare wait time notes and keep each other company.
Or like me, get a puppy. A puppy will keep you moving, distracted, entertained, and slightly sleep deprived. 


But above all enjoy yourself. 

You can't make time go by any faster when you're waiting, but you can do things to become less conscious of that time. Your answers will eventually come. In the meantime, have some fun!

And regardless of how you choose to pass your wait time, stay positive and remember these two quotes...

and

You're not alone in your waiting. There are many of us waiting in the queue with you. So hang in there, and I hope you get good news soon! 

Revise vs. Edit

I recently completed an extensive revision of my manuscript FINDING OBENO, and like Punxsutawney Phil being yanked from his faux tree stump in the early morning hours, when I finally emerged from my revision cave, I was a bit skittish of natural light.

However, unlike the detested bearer of bad news and extended winters, I did not have the press awaiting my appearance, so I have no triumphant photos of my feat. But trust me, I looked pretty much like this.

While I was busy in my revision cave, my Writer’s Dojo blog was left to languish, but now I’m back and ready to tackle a new post on the very topic that had me occupied these last three months: REVISIONS.

Revising is a huge part of writing. And whether you are revising at the request of an agent or editor or revising based on your own intuition, it should be the part of the writing process that takes the most time. When I think of the writing process, I picture those inspirational photos of icebergs representing the depths of imagination. Writing my first draft is just the tip of the iceberg.

Where writers sometimes sabotage themselves is by confusing editing with revising. 

The official definition of EDIT is to prepare (written material) for publication by correcting, condensing, or otherwise modifying it. I consider editing as polishing up words, making sure all grammar, spelling, and punctuation are correct and tinkering with lines and swapping out the occasional word for a more interesting synonym.

Revising, on the other hand, deals with the structure of your story. The official definition of REVISION is a change or a set of changes that corrects or improves something: a new version of something.

But let’s break the word down to its essential meaning.

The prefix RE means “again” or “again and again” to indicate repetition.

The root VISION means the faculty or state of being able to see, if used as a noun, or (and I love this) if vision is being used as a rare verb it means imagine.

So at its essence, REVISION means to see and imagine again and again…and again. 

With that in mind, let’s equate your manuscript to your house. It’s an easy analogy because as writers we spend a great deal of time living in our stories. If your manuscript is your house, when you edit it, you are cleaning it up; dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing, mopping, and polishing your words until they sparkle.

Revising is not editing. It’s not cleaning up your story and words. It goes much deeper and takes a lot of blood, sweat, tears, pulling of hair, and often gnashing of teeth.

With that in mind, let’s return to our house analogy. If editing is cleaning your house, revising is renovating, remodeling, rearranging, and redesigning it. These tasks take time. Don’t rush through them. Revising is looking at the structure and elements of your “house” and doing the heavy lifting needed to make your house a home, where people will want to visit and live.

Revising may entail taking out walls (just make sure they’re not load-bearing) or adding walls and support to the existing structure to strengthen the foundation. 

It may necessitate removing beloved pieces of furniture that no longer fit or match the theme design and introducing new furnishings to create a welcoming flow to your house.

Think feng shui. Create harmonious surroundings that enhance the balance of your structure. You want your story to have a natural, organic flow. 

So chuck out or rearrange elements and pieces that disturb the flow of your story.

In my manuscript, the hope of the story, which is essential to the core of FINDING OBENO, was lost in chapter after chapter of darkness. I needed to bring more light into my “house” and ended up adding eleven new “windows” of hope in the manuscript to guide my readers through the dark chapters. 

When deciding how to renovate a manuscript, first make a plan to follow. I prefer creating a poster size chapter breakdown with colorful post-it notes, which I can manipulate until the design meets my needs.

The chapter breakdown becomes my revision blueprint. While revising existing chapters and writing new ones, I refer to the blueprint frequently, so I don’t veer off course and accidentally place a toilet in the closet instead of the bathroom.

After months of working on all the re- verbs: revising, renovating, remodeling, rearranging, and redesigning, I then begin to edit. It would be a waste of my time, as well as my critique partners’ time, to edit before revising, as many of the words I'd be polishing may end up cut, moved, or altered during the revision phase.

In 2011, I attended a writing workshop led by Editor Stephen Roxburgh. While discussing editing and revising, Stephen told us something I’ve never forgotten. “You can’t polish a turnip.” 

Make sure when you spend time scrubbing your words, they are in a story that can be polished. Revise first. Then polish away.

Regardless of what type of “house” you are building, before you focus on editing, take the time to REVISE. Look past all of your beloved words to the structure of your story. See your story and imagine it again, and again…and again. And when it’s structurally sound and organized so your plot flows through the space, decorate it with beautiful words and make them shine.

I promise, if you give your revisions the time and attention they deserve, when you emerge from your revision cave, you, too, may look like Gollum, but you will be clutching a manuscript both you and your readers will view as precious.

Top 10 Twitter Behaviors Writers Should Avoid

Avoid the Ugly Side of Twitter

In preparation for an upcoming panel discussion on the pros and cons of social media for writers, I compiled a list of the top ten behaviors all writers should avoid on Twitter.

 

 

1. TIME SUCK

Twitter, like all social media, takes time away from your writing. 

Use Twitter to build your writer's platform as a tool to supplement your writing, not as a substitute for it.

  

2. TMI

Don't overshare. Everyone can see your tweets, including agents and editors. Be yourself, but make sure what you share is appropriate and reflects on you in a positive light.

 

3. Twitter is not a therapist couch

Social media is not the place for writers to share their doubts, demons, fears or anger about their writing and the writing/submission process.

Agents and editors are looking for writers, who are confident in their work and professional in their behavior.

 4. Play it close to the vest

Don't tweet about requests, R & Rs, or offers until you've signed a contract.

Don't tweet about rejections or not getting selected for contests.

 

 5. Do your homework

Take the time to read agency websites, agent/editor blogs, and contest sites BEFORE you tweet questions.

Agents, editors, and contest organizers get understandably annoyed when you tweet them questions when the answers are readily available on-line.

 6. No pitching outside of contests

Do not pitch your manuscript directly to an agent or editor on Twitter.

 7. No nudging

Twitter is not the place to nudge agents or editors on a query or submission. If you are absolutely determined to nudge an agent or editor, use email. But patience is a virtue. Embrace it.

 8. Don't be a Debbie Downer

 No one wants to read constant complaints and “Woe, is me” tweets.

 9. Keep it positive

Don't criticize agents, editors, or other writers on Twitter.

 10. Ultimately, it all comes down to the writing!

 Twitter pitch contests, networking, and a high follower count may get you and your manuscript a look, but they won’t get you an agent or editor.

Good writing trumps all!

My Pitch Wars Mentee Bio

Welcome visiting Pitch Wars mentors to my Writer's Dojo!

Kick off your shoes and feel free to look around.

 

Inspired by Christopher Keelty & Phil Stamper's creative posts,
I give you my Pitch Wars Mentee bio.

 

Due to the fact that there are four mentors, to whom I submitted my entry, here are four reasons you want to pick me as your Pitch Wars mentee:

 1. I literally kick butt. I am a black belt and sensei in Isshin-ryu karate.  Studying martial arts takes dedication, perseverance, spirit, and patience.

 (In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m still working on the patience piece, but I’ve got dedication, perseverance, and spirit in spades!”

2. Fearless, Focused and Flexible  In 2009, I competed in the Isshin-ryu World Championship Tournament. At the last second the judges had me perform with a staff bo that was longer and heavier than my bo. During my kata, a child ran through my ring as I was swinging the six foot long staff. I adjusted my swing, so I wouldn’t hit the child, finished the kata, and left the tournament with two first place trophies.

(So we could add "I don’t hit kids with sticks" to my pros list.

That’s a definite plus!)

 3. Time spent studying my target group in their natural habitat. I have several years of experience teaching eighth grade English. Teaching middle school is a full immersion program into the teenage culture. During my time as a teacher, I have observed the interactions of teenagers in the classroom, cafeteria, at their lockers, sporting events, dances, parent-teacher conferences, play practices, assemblies, and in restrooms (Let me clarify, that those observations took place only in the girls’ bathrooms and only when the staff bathroom was occupied during my 2-minute break between classes.)

  

                            Chocolate letters of recommendations from my students

 

     In addition, thanks to my 13-year-old son, I now have the pleasure of studying a teenager in his home habitat.  All of these observations serve as rich, authentic fodder for my YA writing.

4. Team player Instead of describing my strengths in this category, as I have so humbly done in the categories above, I asked Anywar Ricky Richard to describe how I work with others. Ricky inspired the manuscript, FINDING OBENO, which I’ve entered in Pitch Wars. Here is what Ricky emailed in response to my request:

I have been working directly with Keely close to three years now on my personal life story as a child soldier and how I am using my freedom and personal story to heal others with the same experiences so that they can find their home.

I would personally describe Keely as an extra-ordinary gentle person, for she applies herself with absolute dedication to her writing, she is social and has strong analytical skills and hand on approach to her writing.

Keely has demonstrated high level of maturity and commitment towards her writing while working with me.

She has strong personal motivation, interpersonal skills and ability to work effectively with people across all ranks and cultures. She has demonstrated strong writing skills and is very action oriented.

Keely always keeps time with her writing and is very cooperative, hard-working, very patience and kind.

I am enjoying working with her, especially her skills, experience and flexibility, being self-motivated, cooperative, highly sound minded with good proven integrity.

I strongly believe that Keely writing career is strong and she will be writing many books in the nearby future to come.

Anywar Ricky Richard, Founder of Friends of Orphans

 

As you can see, I work well with others and pour my heart and soul into our collaboration. It is also important to note, that according to Ricky, I am of very sound mind, which is good. You don’t want to be working with a crazy mentee.

Okay, sometimes I can be a little nutty.

Thank you for visiting my blog and reading my mentee bio.

If it made you laugh and you are enthusiastic

about my Pitch Wars entry,

I would love to work with you.

 

 

 

Writing Process Questions

This post was inspired by the amazing Fiona McLaren's blog about her writing process. Based on my current work-in-progress, I have answered the same questions Fiona addressed in her blog. Once you've read through my responses, please answer the same questions on your blog. Be sure to post a link to your blog in the comments section, so that we all may visit and learn about your process. Alright, here we go...

 

 

1. What are you working on right now?

I'm finishing the rough draft on a YA mystery thriller. This poor middle manuscript has been sidelined several times over the last five years while I worked on other manuscripts. Now is its time. I've gained a whole new respect for mystery writers while working on this project. 

 

I’m having a blast fitting together the puzzle pieces of this genre and swooning over the romance thread woven throughout the murder and mystery.

 

2. How does it differ from other works in its genre?

Though my main character is the target of a killer, she is no victim. Unlike other female MCs in thrillers with a romantic element, my main character is not looking for a knight in shining armor to swoop in and save the day.

 

She’s no Snow White.

 

 

 

She’s Megara.
 "I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day."

3. Why do you write what you do?

Characters dictate where my stories begin and where they go. I’ve always been fascinated with the events and forces that shape people and motivate them to do what they do and become who they are.

 

As a reader, I enjoy many different genres. It is the same for my writing. I love variety and tackling new challenges. 

  

4. How does your writing process work?

My writing process differs based on the project. My first manuscript I just wrote. No plot charts. No outlines. Just butt in the chair and wrote. My second manuscript necessitated an outline and plot chart as it is based on true events. It was imperative that I kept myself on-track and authentic to Ricky’s story. My current WIP is a combination of both approaches. I have plot charts and chapter breakdowns plastered on my writing space wall, but some days I just write.

 

It's comforting to have a road map to follow, but sometimes the best writing takes place when my characters veer from the path and take the story off-roading.

The only approach that has maintained consistent in my three manuscripts is that I always start each project by writing the first and last chapters. I need a clear starting point and ending point. The journey may be a mystery, but the destination never is.  

 

So there you have it. My writing process in four responses. Now it's time for you to share yours!