By Adrienne Giordano
Like most authors in their sophomore year, I can honestly say my debut year taught me more than I can possibly put to paper. A few of those things surprised me. The first being that I was shocked at how much I didn’t know.
And I’m not
just talking about editing lessons. Nope. I’m talking about non-craft related
things that ever so slowly caught up to me and clubbed me. What are some of
those things? Here are my top three:
1. Time
is Sometimes the Enemy
During
my debut year, time was my enemy. I was lucky enough to be a debut author who
had five releases in thirteen months. My first book launched in July of 2011
and by August of 2012, my fifth book had been released. Of course, I didn’t
have to write five books in a year. When I sold the first one, I had two others
written and had an idea for a fourth. In between, I was asked by my publisher
to write a novella for an anthology.
I
remember one month where I was in three different rounds of edits on three
different books while writing a fourth.
I literally carved my day into time chunks. I worked on one book for a
set period of time, then the next, then the next. And I was brutal about my
start and stop times. If I said I’d work on Man
Law for two hours and two hours came, I stopped and moved on to A Just Deception. It was hard, and I
didn’t like having a hard stop, but it was the only way to get all the edits done
on time.
Let
me just mention that in between all of this, I had to get my website revamped,
get my Twitter and Facebook pages up and running, create author accounts on all
the various social networking sites and create a newsletter. Prior to signing
my first contract, it never occurred to me that the marketing end of being
published is a full-time job.
When
I added the time I spent on marketing to my writing related tasks, I realized I
needed to clone myself. With cloning out of the question, I forced myself to decide
how much writing time I was willing to sacrifice to complete my non-writing
related tasks. My initial thought was that I would never be done with
marketing. Ever. Based on my limited experience, it seemed there would always
be something marketing related to do. Once I gave in to that idea, I was able
to allocate a timeframe that would protect my writing time.
After
all, the best marketing will only go so far when there’s not a next book to
sell.
2.
Stop and Smell the Roses
With
all the insanity leading up to my first release, I realized I’d forgotten to
take a moment each day to absorb the fact that I was about to become a published
author. I was so busy getting my work done, I hadn’t slowed down enough to take
it all in. Sure, I’d have more releases, but there would only be one
debut. I’d waited years to be a debut
author and I was letting it slide by in a blur.
From
that day forward I took time every day, even if it was only a minute or two, to
close my eyes and savor what I’d accomplished.
Which
leads me to the third and what I think just might be the most important lesson
I learned during my debut year.
3. Recharge
After
my hectic year, I plowed right into two new single titles. I kept telling
myself I could pound out another two books while doing the marketing for my
latest release. No problem. If I survived the previous thirteen months, I could
do anything. Right?
Wrong.
I
wouldn’t necessarily call what happened to me writer’s block. I’d categorize it
more as self-doubt. In short, I became convinced every word I put on the page
was utter crap. My critique partners all assured me the work was good, but that
self-doubt, it’s a nasty sucker. It kept whispering in my ear and tearing me
down.
Finally,
while on the phone with my agent one day, I told her what I was feeling. She spent the next hour convincing me to take
some time off. To put the manuscripts aside and let myself rest. She told me to
go to a movie or do something that relaxes me.
I
may have been skeptical, but I was also desperate to enjoy writing again, so I
did what she advised. I read a few books, went to the gym, met friends for
lunch and enjoyed time with my family minus my laptop and phone. I lost precious writing time on a contracted
book, but I considered it something I needed to do to reclaim my writing
confidence.
Within
a week, the writing itch returned and I took to my desk again. What I learned
from this experience was to make sure I’m giving my mind time to rest. Sometimes simply going for a walk or standing
in the sun for a few minutes is all it takes to recharge and keep my creative
juices flowing.
And
when you’re a writer, keeping those juices flowing is a fairly important thing.
What about you? What do you do to keep
your creativity soaring?
Bio:
Adrienne Giordano writes romantic suspense and mystery. She is a Jersey girl at heart, but now lives in the Midwest with her workaholic husband, sports obsessed son and Buddy the Wheaten Terrorist (Terrier). She is a co-founder of Romance University blog and Lady Jane's Salon-Naperville, a reading series dedicated to romantic fiction. For more information on Adrienne's books please visit www.AdrienneGiordano.com. Adrienne can also be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AdrienneGiordanoAuthor and Twitter at http://twitter.com/AdriennGiordano. For information on Adrienne’s street team, Dangerous Darlings, go to http://www.facebook.com/groups/dangerousdarlings.
Adrienne Giordano writes romantic suspense and mystery. She is a Jersey girl at heart, but now lives in the Midwest with her workaholic husband, sports obsessed son and Buddy the Wheaten Terrorist (Terrier). She is a co-founder of Romance University blog and Lady Jane's Salon-Naperville, a reading series dedicated to romantic fiction. For more information on Adrienne's books please visit www.AdrienneGiordano.com. Adrienne can also be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AdrienneGiordanoAuthor and Twitter at http://twitter.com/AdriennGiordano. For information on Adrienne’s street team, Dangerous Darlings, go to http://www.facebook.com/groups/dangerousdarlings.
