C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

09/29/2010 • 9:53 PM 0

Author Websites

I’m not much on preamble, but I’m really excited to share some really helpful stuff in tomorrow’s blog. We’re talking about the book business, yes, but we’re really working on improving the project that is you (and me!)

Tomorrow I’ve got a couple of stories for you about networking. The word has a bad spammy vibe. That’s unfortunate because the traits of an excellent networker serve anyone who wants to promote their book, their business and simply connect with people to enrich their lives. Good networkers are good at life. I’m going to introduce you to a guy who is excellent at connecting at people—a master, in fact. That’s the preview. Don’t sleep. Stay giddy. Tomorrow’s blog could really help you. It’s helping me.

Tonight I want to take a moment to discuss author websites. To get there, I’m going to tell you what a smart buddy of mine said a few years ago. We were talking about investments. I was worried about what to invest in. His reply was, “It’s less important what you invest in. It is essential that you invest.” Don’t suffer from paralysis by analysis.

I thought about that lesson earlier this year when I was talking to an aspiring author. I told her how I was working on this website. She said she knew it was important for her to establish a web presence and get a fan base going. However, she hadn’t started and it seemed she had no plans. What was holding her back? She was concerned that editors and agents would look at her site and find it lacking. Her theory was that they might like her manuscript, but if they didn’t care for her website, the deal would be sunk.

She was waiting for…actually, I’m not sure what she was waiting for. I guess she was waiting for the time to be right, or for the energy to be higher or to develop a ton of content that was perfect. Unfortunately, if you want a book deal some day, the best time to start your website would be years ago at the Internet’s inception. Second best time? Now.

There is no right time, the energy will never be high unless you concentrate on the task and realize perfection is an illusion. Strive for excellence. Reject perfection. Universal acceptance of all you write isn’t any more realistic than is expecting every editor and agent to clamor for your manuscript.

The only time to avoid working on your web presence is when it’s cutting into your writing time. Do not sacrifice your writing time for your website. That’s the caveat. Otherwise, ditch the excuses and start up. Start small if you like and you can choose to update weekly instead of daily. You can choose to upgrade later. Just begin. As with your manuscript, something is better than nothing.

It’s less important what you do. It’s more important that you do.

BONUS:

Tomorrow, in Part I of the networking story, I’ll also introduce you to an awesome author I met at Word on the Street in Toronto. Her name is Sue Kenney. You can check out her website at www.suekenney.ca. And yes, her website is great!

How To Get Published, Part 11: What Comes Next (blogher.com)
DIY MFA: What Happens Next – Wrap Up (Part Eleven) (stirrup-queens.com)
Not So Obvious (or Rejections Are Fun!) (thesplinteredmind.blogspot.com)
New writers take the Internet route to reaching readers (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Finding Your Writing Voice without Losing Your Mind (psychcentral.com)
Interview with Children’s Author Donna McDine (blogcritics.org)
How to Do A Content Audit of Your Website (tjantunen.com)
The 9 Worst Ways to Use Twitter for Business (hubspot.com)

Filed under: Publicity & Promotion, publishing, web reviews, Writers, author websites, publishing, writer blogs, Writers Resources

09/29/2010 • 4:02 PM 0

Book Recommendation: 179 Ways to Save a Novel

If you’ve got a manuscript that’s not selling, or are building one to sell, you need this.

Filed under: book reviews, writing tips, better manuscripts, help for writers, saving a novel

09/29/2010 • 10:00 AM 0

Cool Word of the Day

: ersatz

ersatz:

Genuine

Something artificial that replaces something genuine.

eg Ersatz conservative Stephen Colbert makes me laugh, but I’d rather be interviewed for my book by the genuine liberal, Jon Stewart.

(Jon would give me a hug. Stephen would make me pee my pants.)

Will Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Rallies Hurt Democrats’ Election Chances? [Rallies] (gawker.com)
Jon Stewart’s ‘Earth’: Everything An Alien Tourist Needs To Know About The Planet After Human Beings Are Gone (PHOTOS) (huffingtonpost.com)
Stephen Colbert: March to Keep Fear Alive vs Jon Stewart Rally (nowpublic.com)

Filed under: Cool Word of the Day, cool word of the day, what does ersatz mean?

09/28/2010 • 10:00 AM 3

10 Things that Happen When You Win a Writing Contest

You get the letter or the phone call. You’ve won a short story contest!

What happens next?

1. Dance.

2. Call your spouse. “I knew you could!” they say. “This makes all those times I watched the kids while you wrote…almost worth it! Dinner’s on you tonight, Snoogums!” Get your freak on.

3. Call your non-literary friends. “Congratulations!” they say. Then, “I have to get back to work. I don’t hang around a home office, alone all day celebrating like some people I know.”

4. Call your literary friends. “Congratulations!” they say, through gritted teeth. Make encouraging sounds. Assure them they could have won in your place, but it’s a subjective business. (True, though you will never, can never, think of these small triumphs as mere luck. To continue as a writer, you must know you deserve it all. Otherwise you’ll come to your senses and start making money doing something more people value, like grouting.)

5. Call your parents. “Congratulations!” they say. “How much money did you win?” For most contests, when you buy the celebration dinner tonight, there goes at least half. (I won $1,000 for a short story once. I blew that on paying taxes. Whoo-hoo.)

6. Go out for a coffee. This is an obvious ploy to tell strangers. They don’t care. Tip the barista well.

7. Wait for the prize and or publication. The prize may come along quickly assuming it’s a legitimate contest. If publication is part of the prize, it will be a long wait.

8. Discover typos or tiny changes you’d love, nay, need to make to avoid immortalizing the coming ridicule. They won’t make the changes. The release you signed but did not read said so in a sub-paragraph. You’ll try to pester someone about it, but the happy people who called to say you won will now no longer return your calls. (This is also when you figure out you gave away more rights to the story than you would have if you weren’t so giddy when they called. Don’t blame yourself. When they called to inform, you were like the zittiest kid at junior prom asked to dance by the prettiest girl.)

9. Before you can tell them you’re pulling it, you shall receive rejections from other contests and magazines for the same story who apparently thought it sucked. (Don’t let the spark of your enthusiasm get drowned out.)

10. (a) Publication and then anonymity as history moves on.

(b) Publication on the net will result in comments (possibly even an awful blog post railing against you as happened after one of my tiny triumphs) from a bunch of bitter losers who can’t believe their genius went unrecognized. Oh, they’ll be mean. They’ll demand the judges quit and express disgust at your existence, you know-nothing poseur!

BONUS:

11. Reminisce about your past triumph, write something else, put something else in the mail and sublimate your rage with a passive-aggressive blog post.

Two more contests, Dialogue, and more (motleyvision.org)
Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘In the Absence of Mentors/Monsters’: Narrative Magazine (huffingtonpost.com)
9 (Arbitrary) Ways to Get Your Writing Rejected (psychologytoday.com)

Filed under: What about Chazz?, writing contests, writing tips, Contest, short stories, short story, Winning short story contests, Writers Resources

09/27/2010 • 11:22 PM 10

Chosen Ones: Three Blog Contests

SCROLL DOWN FOR FRESH CONTENT OR CLICK MORE↓

TWO CONTESTS LEFT! DETAILS HERE TO WIN!

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: blogs & blogging, book reviews, publishing, writing contests, writing tips, Blogging Contest, book reviews, comments, essays, writer

09/27/2010 • 2:45 PM 0

The Short Story: Find the Right Ending

Image via Wikipedia

A novel is a long journey with many plot developments. In short stories, the major change is in character. It’s up to you to make the ending a satisfying, surprising and yet inevitable revelation.

But sometimes we get stuck. The story unfolds, but we aren’t sure how to end it correctly. When you get stuck for a last paragraph, I suggest you look to your first paragraph. Your ending’s seed often grows from the opening.

The right opening is intriguing, informative, gives a sense of place and introduces the problem. You may think of your closing as a callback (as comedians label a bit, perhaps a finisher, that recalls an earlier premise.) After the last word, ask yourself how your reader will interpret the story. How did the character change? What was learned (without being too obvious or moralistic)?

Short stories shouldn’t be too obvious in their endings, of course, but you have to find a balance between showing a situation and telling your reader what to think. Too often, in an effort to be subtle, writers veer off into the obscure. Sometimes people write arty endings. Some teachers even seem to encourage that. I don’t.

As a writer, a mysterious ending makes me think the short story author is trying to distract me from their muddled thinking. I am not distracted by flowery words that say nothing. I’m irritated by that. As a readers, unclear conclusions feel like camouflage for a place where the writer stopped the story rather than ending it.

Opaque writing is unsatisfying. You can be subtle without leaving the reader stunned into incomprehension. Good short stories, with a proper beginning, have a clear ending. Give it an interesting middle and you have a story.

Tall orders, I know. But that’s what it takes. I’m struggling with a short story ending now. However, I’m confident the solution to that tricky last paragraph will be found in the first.

Must A Novelist Begin With Short Stories? (advancedfictionwriting.com)

Filed under: My fiction, short stories, writing tips, fiction, Literature, short story, short story endings, writer, Writers Resources

09/27/2010 • 11:29 AM 0

Word on the Street Toronto

Image by mgerskup via Flickr

I spent a good chunk of yesterday at Toronto’s Word of the Street books and magazine fair. The event is huge. I remembered it when it was a much smaller festival. Now they take over all of Queen’s Park and close the streets. I met some old friends and made some new ones. Word on the Street takes place across Canada in various cities. If you can go, I recommend it.

I know I loaded you up with links last week. As a result of my day trip to Word on the Street, here are just a few more:

The Horror Writers Association is the only organization dedicated to the support of authors of dark literature. Check it out at www.horror.org.

Details about Bloody Words, the Canadian Mystery Conference, can be found at www.bloodywords.com.

For information on the Crime Writers of Canada, go to www.crimewriterscanada.com. Members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers and literary agents as well as developing writers.

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression is a non-profit organization supported by Canadian Journalists and advocates of free expression. They defend the rights of journalists around the world. www.cjfe.org

PEN Canada also advocates for writers in prison, writers in exile and works to promote freedom of expression. www.pencanada.ca

This Sunday: THE WORD ON THE STREET TORONTO AT QUEEN’S PARK (newswire.ca)
Yann Martel headlines Word on the Street (thestar.com)
CJFE and PEN Canada Deeply Concerned about Death Sentence for Canadian in Iran (newswire.ca)
Iranian-Canadian ‘blogfather’ faces death penalty (cbc.ca)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) Announces 2010 International Press Freedom Awards Honourees (newswire.ca)

Filed under: banning books, Books, Media, publishing, writing tips, Crime Writers of Canada, Freedom of speech, Horror Writers Association, Toronto, Word of the Street, writer associations

09/24/2010 • 10:37 AM 1

Writers: Publishing Advice Links

Seduced By History: Author One Sheets ‏One Sheets are a great networking idea.

Accentuate Writers Forum – Writing Contests & Writing Grants

10 Lies that Cripple New Bloggers

Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully: in Ten Minutes with Stephen King. By the way, my favorite book on writing is undoubtedly Stephen King’s On Writing.

Freelance Writing Jobs Network: Traffic Secrets for Writers

Six Free and Amazing Ways to Promote Your Business

Book Review: Blockade Billy by Stephen King (blogcritics.org)
The King of Writing (costadevault.com)
The Pernicious Momentum of First Ideas (nathanbransford.com)
What’s this anvil doing in my backpack? (ask.metafilter.com)
How to Write (Better): Author Branding and Unmarketing in the Publishing World (blogher.com)
Stephen King Talks About ‘The Dark Tower’ Film and TV Adaptation (slashfilm.com)

Filed under: blogs & blogging, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, writing tips, freelancing, Stephen King, useful writing links, writer, Writers Resources, writing

09/23/2010 • 6:00 PM 1

Are You a Consumer or a Creator?

To cleanse the palate of all the publishing links I’m sharing this week, a brief original post to tide you over if that’s what you crave:

You love books. You buy books from bookstores. You whip out your credit card for books from Amazon and Chapters. You poke about the used bookstore down the street that has that ugly mixture of the aromas of old book glue, yellowed pages and desperation.

And if you read this blog, you’re want to write books as well. Tell me, are you a creator or just a consumer. There’s nothing wrong with being a consumer, but if you have dreams of writing a novel, you really have to sit and get your hands on a keyboard.

There are so many things I love. All things Kevin Smith does amuse me, for instance. The director of many films, small and large, has developed quite a cult and at this moment is leading a podcast revolution and redefining what it is to have a comedy show. The jokes come not from stand-up comics, but a bunch of his friends have become sit-down comics who deliver fun and interest not by thought-out routines, but by arguing with each other and asking a lot fo what-if questions. The comedy can be uneven, but he’s developed a following who may or may not love his movies. Simultaneously, Kevin Smith has taken a low-tech medium—podcasting—and redefines its use for large numbers of people who have, ironically, abandoned radio. He has also resurrected a form that has hovered near death for a long time: he’d brought back the milieu of the raconteur.

In short, Kevin Smith is a creator and still retains his title of indie film legend, though he hasn’t made an “indie” in quite some time. That’s not a criticism, but a tribute to his success. His movies are getting bigger and bigger budgets because all his movies make money (even the perceived flops.) In podcasting (or smodcasting as he and Scott Mosier have name it when they do it) he gives much away free. Obviously he has a lot of fun doing it. He travels the world building his brand (and the continent by his own tour bus.) He recently bought a small theatre for his podcast home and he’s behind six smodcasts in total. He’s busy and productive, continuing his schedule despite having a new film, Red State, in the works.

As much as I admire Mr. Smith and his quick wit and filthy sense of humour, my idolatry reminds me that I, too, have to get off my ass. Or, more accurately, get on my ass, and write. I am a dedicated consumer. Recently, after beginning a diet, I resolved that I needed to get out of the house so I wouldn’t eat something I shouldn’t. The problem was, if I was going to go somewhere and not eat…where would I go? I settled on the library and the closest bookstore. The experience made clear to me that, as much as I consume books, I must allot time for my novel (and other income-generating products.)

I reconsidered my priorities. A friend’s example on Twitter reminded me how productive I am the earlier I start the day. Good health makes me more energetic so I plotted time for the gym on a regular basis. I must commit to a schedule at regular times (daily) to ensure that progress on my own work continues. I enjoy reading helpful publishing information (and today’s writer must be more aware of the market much more than writers from just a few years ago.) Instead of medicating myself with delicious sugar and carbohydrates, I’m writing more. I’m being proactive in my reading so I don’t use the sly anaesthetic of more and more reading as an unconscious tool of procrastination.

In short, I’m more aware. I’m watching how I spend my time and marrying up those activities with my goals. If you’re stuck as a writer, perhaps you should reevaluate how you’re spending your time, too.

Today’s Book Recommendation: The Other 8 Hours by Robert Pagliarini will help you focus your energies to your greater success in managing your time and becoming a creator, not just a consumer. Money flows to creators (among many other less tangible, but no less important, rewards.)