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    The Rocky Road to Publishing: Advice on Writing
    The Rocky Road to Publishing: Advice on Writing
    The Rocky Road to Publishing: Advice on Writing
    Ebook144 pages2 hours

    The Rocky Road to Publishing: Advice on Writing

    By Judy Fitzwater

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    About this ebook

    Noted author Judy Fitzwater (The Jennifer Marsh Mysteries, Drowning in Air) lends her trademark wit to her own experiences, offering a candid look into what it truly takes to be a writer. Get a frank, fresh take on the realities of the writing life, process, and industry. Fitzwater provides practical advice, humor, and lots of encouragement for those engaged in the tough business of writing fiction and insider insight to readers who’ve always wondered what it’s like to be an author. Whether you’re a novice in need of guidance, a pro looking to relate, or simply a fan, THE ROCKY ROAD TO PUBLISHING is a delightful read full of candid tips and tales gleaned from more than fifteen years of experience in the publishing world.

    "The Rocky Road to Publishing goes down like the ice cream flavor, thanks to the breezy voice of acclaimed novelist Judy Fitzwater. Judy shares her writing life and insights with a healthy dose of the humor the readers of her mysteries and thrillers have come to treasure. A great guide for new and experienced storytellers alike!" --Eileen Charbonneau, author of Waltzing in Ragtime

    “If you ever wanted to sit down with an author over a cup of coffee and say, ‘Tell me everything,’ you will love this book!” --Edie Claire, author of the bestselling Leigh Koslow cozy mysteries

    “Encouraging, thought provoking, and just plain helpful fun for any writer.” --Dani Sinclair, two-time RITA finalist in romantic suspense

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJudy Fitzwater
    Release dateAug 23, 2014
    ISBN9781311295743
    The Rocky Road to Publishing: Advice on Writing
    Author

    Judy Fitzwater

    Judy Fitzwater grew up an Air Force brat and has lived in ten states, including Maine and Hawaii. Her first mystery, DYING TO GET PUBLISHED, was plucked from a stack of unsolicited manuscripts at Ballantine Books. It was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Mystery. The subsequent eight-book series, THE JENNIFER MARSH MYSTERIES, was a delight for her to write, especially the scenes with Jennifer's quirky writers' group. Judy has also written two suspense thrillers, DROWNING IN AIR and NO SAFE PLACE, and the ghostly romantic comedy, VACATIONING WITH THE DEAD. She's very excited about her newest release, LOVE AFTER DEATH, which takes characters from both DYING AT HONEYMOON INN and VACATIONING WITH THE DEAD on new adventures. She has plans for more mystery, suspense, humor, and paranormal stories to come. She hopes you enjoy reading her books as much as she enjoys writing them.

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      Book preview

      The Rocky Road to Publishing - Judy Fitzwater

      Chapter 1

      DECIDE WHAT YOU ARE AND BE THAT

      Call yourself a writer. It’s that simple. Do you write? Yes. Does that make you a writer? Yes, it does.

      Oh, I know why you, if you’re not yet published, may be reluctant to call yourself a writer, even if you’ve finished an entire book. After all, the first response you’re likely to get is Are you published? or Where can I get a copy of your book? Of course that’s after you get one of those assessing stares that says nonverbally, Are you any good? By the way, if someone asks you that out loud, reply, Yes, I am. They can’t check. You’re not published yet. Better yet, if you are, maybe you’ll make a sale.

      Owning your identity is a great stride in your process. You’re grown up. You’re supposed to know what you want to be. Writing may or may not be how you’re currently making your money. Besides, we all have different sides, more than one thing we’re good at. It’s okay to be a Renaissance person. As a matter of fact, I can’t think of anything better.

      Confidence is essential to getting published. People are going to stand in your way. People are going to scoff that you can be successful. Proclaiming yourself a writer is putting the bull's eye on your own chest. It’s saying Take your best shot to whoever doubts you can write. You’d better get used to it. This business isn’t for sissies. It’s time to start growing that thick skin before the arrows start flying your way.

      Before I was published, I was working part-time, writing, and trying to keep my children alive long enough to reach adulthood, which is not as easy a task as one might believe. Anyway, at some point I mentioned in passing to someone who asked me why I worked part-time that I was also a writer. I had to confess to her that I wasn’t yet published. She replied, That’s nice. I think everyone should have a hobby. Murder crossed my mind, and, despite the fact that I write about it, I’m not a violent person with homicidal thoughts, at least not usually. I had a momentary lapse.

      My writing was not, nor has it ever been, a hobby. I’m a professional. I was before I was published, and I continue to be after. So, just because you may not have a New York publishing pedigree, if you are an active writer and you intend for this to be your profession (or one of them since writers frequently need two because we like to eat like the rest of the species), then tell people, I am a writer.

      Admitting your addiction has its benefits:

      If you say it out loud enough times, you’ll begin to believe it yourself.

      People will begin to take your writing more seriously because you, yourself, will take it more seriously.

      You are far more likely to connect with like-minded souls. You’ll find that many people want to write and that some are actually doing it. You need to find as many people in the writing community as possible. Some will help you. Some won’t. But you can learn from all of them.

      Only by asking the universe, can it answer you. I’m getting a little metaphysical with this one, but I connected with a talent manager because I put out the word that I wanted to sell the dramatic rights to my series. And someone who knew someone found me exactly the person I needed. My series was optioned for a television series by one of the best known companies in the business. It has yet to be made, but it affirmed for me that some major players really liked my work, and I've had continued interest in it over the years.

      So, proclaim who you are. Get used to saying it. And then do it. Writers write. You can’t call yourself something you’re not. It may just be the kick you need to get yourself to do the work.

      Chapter 2

      MAN, THIS IS HARD WORK

      Yes, writing is hard, but what isn’t? Surfing the Internet, playing video games, binge watching Game of Thrones. That’s not work. That’s avoidance.

      My husband insists that I don’t like to write. He says I like to have written. He’s right, but I don’t like to admit it. Creating anything is difficult.

      I used to sew a lot. I’d find the most challenging patterns and make clothes or shades or window toppings—whatever I could pour my creative talents into. But writing is different. There’s no pattern to follow, no real set of instructions—rules, yes, instructions, no. This is like being on Project Runway without the deadline or even a theme of the week for inspiration. You get mired down on a regular basis, staring at a computer screen that offers no inspiration at all. You feel inadequate. We all do, even the most successful of us. It goes with the territory. Accept it and get back to work.

      So at least you’re writing, and some it’s not half bad. As a matter of fact, you may have just finished the best scene you’ve ever written…and now you have no idea where to go from there. It’s not writer’s block. It’s writer’s reality. But there are some tricks that can help, and I’m not the first one to come up with these. (See the introduction that suggests listening to every writer you ever have the opportunity to meet or who's giving a presentation.)

      At the end of a work period, stop in the middle of a scene, so that when you go back to your book the next day (or weekend or whenever you can since some of you have really demanding work and/or family situations), you have a clear idea of where your story’s going. I love having the doorbell ring at my character’s apartment/house/mansion/trailer and thinking a particular character is on the other side of that door, only to find out the next time I go back to the manuscript, it was another character entirely. It can be a phone ringing. It can be a bomb going off. It can be anything that will dislodge you from being stuck in your plot. Remember you have a whole world to draw from. Your characters live in a real world, just like you do, populated by real people, some they and you may not yet have met. Best of all, they live in a world you control, one that is limited only by your imagination.

      Some people outline their entire story before they begin to write. Boy, I wish my mind worked like that. It doesn’t. If yours does, more power to you. I almost never know where my plot is going. It’s called writing by the seat of your pants. I say, quite truthfully, if I know where the book’s going, I’m going to wind up with a short story. After all, a lot of the fun in writing is going along for the ride with your characters, discovering what’s happening right along with them.

      Those of you who do outline will most likely find a time when you throw that outline out the window, or at least deviate from it in some major way. If you don't, wow! I'm impressed.

      However you write is determined by how your mind works, so don’t ever let someone tell you that you’re doing it wrong. I once heard a suspense writer say it was absolutely necessary to do an entire outline of the plot before putting a single word on paper. My thought was, Guess I won’t be writing suspense. But I have. I’ve written two suspense novels, and I’ve loved every minute of it. Someone was chasing my heroine in each of them, and neither they nor I knew who that was, at least not initially. I found out only a few steps ahead of them as the plot unfolded. That’s my process. That’s also why it’s hard for the reader to anticipate my plot twists. Yes, I do have to go back and make the plot fit and flow and make sense. But everyone has to edit and not just for grammatical errors. All plots must be made to flow. The very best of the best are books you want to reread as soon as you finish them to make sure all the facts were there, and you just didn’t pick up on them. Now, that’s good storytelling.

      Chapter 3

      WORK HABITS: DO I REALLY HAVE TO WRITE EVERY DAY?

      No, you don't, but writing one page a day will get you a finished book in one year, and I’ll even give you weekends off. Sounds easy, but it’s not. It’s about dedication, about doing the work on a consistent schedule. We all have days when we don’t want to work. Okay, most days we don’t want to work. But those pesky little words are not going to put themselves on your computer screen all by themselves, and little elves are not going to show up and leave you a completed chapter while you sleep.

      Some days you’ll write only one page. When I first started writing, there were days when I was lucky to get one paragraph. The good news is that other days you’ll get more than one page. You may get six or even more. I won’t, but you might. I set my goal at two good, usable pages a day. I usually write about four when I’m writing regularly. By keeping my goal at two, I’m pleasantly surprised if I manage four, and truly ecstatic if I ever get five. I know plenty of writers who push themselves to write ten pages each day. Trouble is I don’t like to scrap my writing. If I wrote ten pages a day, half of them wouldn’t be any good, and I know that. I can’t push my creativity. Other people can. What you can do is determine how much time you’re going to write each day. It can be one hour or four hours, depending on how much free time you have. More than four is pushing it. Less than two is iffy because you and I

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