Category Archives: Networking

Being Creative While Working a Full-Time Job

A guest post by Nick Ruva.

One piece of advice you will hear repeatedly as you embark on a writing career is, “Don’t quit your day job.” Many of us know that all too well. Either you do not make enough as a writer to pay the bills, or you need the security of a consistent paycheck and those much appreciated health benefits. Whatever your reason may be, trying to squeeze in your writing time while working a full-time job can be difficult. It is harder if you are working a job that challenges you to find creative solutions to problems. I cannot prescribe a way to squeeze more time out of your day to write. I am a staunch believer in the idea that when we say we do not have time to write, what we are really saying is there are other things we would rather spend our time on. I get that, and by all means if you would rather spend time unwinding after a long day by watching the tube or shooting baddies online, I cannot blame you. I have been there a million times. When I was asked to write an article about working a job that consumes you night and day, but still finding time to write, I had to sit down and think about it. Sure, I am busy often, and I work some long hours, but at the end of my day I still have time I could be writing, but sometimes I mentally cannot. I have found that there is a limit to the creative output I can muster in a day. Some nights all I want to do is flop on the couch and nullify my brain watching TV. The trick for me has been finding a balance.

I work as a Configuration Management Engineer, which is a fancy way of saying I manage the automated building and release of software. My job requires me to research and solve complicated problems. We need a product to build faster, or a process improved so it is more stable or does something else. It is a job where you are constantly being presented with a problem and asked to find a fast and elegant solution. It is a lot like creative writing, and it ticks a lot the same creative pleasure centers in the brain. Over the years I have had several jobs that did not challenge me, such as my early years in retail, or doing simplistic quality assurance testing. Now, some QA testers need to be deviously creative, but my stint was ticking boxes on a checklist as either pass or fail. Do this, record result, repeat. I would not say it was mind-numbing, but it did make me desire to be more creative during my downtime. As the skill and creativity necessary for my day job increased, my writing productivity took a hit. Again, it was not for a lack of time. I have the time to write, and I feel guilty if I am not working on a story, but finding the drive when I am already creatively satiated during the day means I need to use other criteria to motivate me. So what do you do if you find yourself in a similar situation?

The first thing I would recommend is to reach out and meet other writers. Writing groups can be incredibly helpful. While at the University of Southern California, I took a few creative writing courses which allowed me to meet other writers on campus and establish critique groups with other newbie writers. After school, I went to a few local bookstores and looked for fliers for writing groups in the area. I am still in a group thanks to a post I found years ago. Likewise, I have met writers online and at classes and workshops, and we have created an online critique group that is still in its infancy, but is already having a huge effect on my writing. A good writing group will help you on so many levels. First, and maybe most important for us busy folks, a writing group will encourage you to write more. I feel extremely guilty if I do not bring something to my critique groups, and shame writing is still writing. If that is what you need to motivate you, I am right there with you.

A critique group also offers a network of writers you can grow and learn from. I have received some amazing critiques over the years, and my writing gets stronger every time I submit. For instance, I had a horrible tendency to write characters who stare. They would stare at everything and everyone, and it drove someone in my critique group up the wall. Looking back over my work, it was a pattern, and a problem, that I have corrected. Likewise, I like my fiction sparse, but that’s a fine line to walk, and if I submit a piece and get too many “white room” comments, I know I have not gotten the balance right. The writers in my critique groups have been instrumental in making me a better writer.

Just meeting and being around other writers can be an enormous help. My writer friends and I like to commiserate and daydream about writing. It helps when you have an all-consuming job, especially if you can talk with other writers in similar situations. If you’re having trouble meeting writers locally, I recommend the more networking heavy seminars, such as the Superstars Writing Seminar. Superstars, and other seminars like it, throw you in an incubator with around fifty other writers. Thanks to social networking sites, we have kept in touch and continue to help promote and nurture each other’s work. Seeing status updates from other writers, yes, even those: “I just wrote 5,000 words this morning,” that shame me into writing, are wonderful motivators. When you are feeling burned out, and all you want to do is click yourself numb on the Internet, having some streaming encouragement definitely helps.

I know what you are thinking. I am telling you the way I find more time to write is by hanging out in writing groups, meeting other writers, and going online to Facebook. OK, so, those are motivators, but what about actually writing. For me, it is trying to find the right mix of time to productivity. I have tried to schedule daily writing times. Early morning before work, during a lunch break, right after work, before bed. When I try to make a set schedule, especially at a set time, I normally start strong and fail miserably in a few days. The biggest issue I have is making the time to write when I am actually feeling inspired. If I am feeling especially creative, and I am excited about a story, I will fly through a couple thousand words. If I am feeling tired, or forced to write, I will resist even opening my manuscript.

I am also leery of setting daily word count goals. I know they work for many of my writer friends, but if I set a goal for a thousand words a day, I will probably slack off thinking, “I can do that in an hour. I’ll just bang out a few paragraphs before bed.” Never happens. If I am crunching, for say NaNoWriMo, I will do hourly goals. For instance, instead of shooting for a thousand words a day, I will force myself to it sit down for two hours and set a goal of five hundred words an hour. Something about moving the goal up and making it smaller, and more immediate, helps me stay accountable. It is not perfect, and sometimes I will balk at that two-hour window, but it helps. For the most part, I am against the writing word count goals as they normally make me less productive, and I sometimes feel defeated if I miss too many in a row.

What has worked for me was creating a little leeway for creative time during the day. I know this may not work for everyone, and maybe you can schedule a solid block of time and work like a champ, but if you are like me, do not feel guilty stopping your daily work here or there for a few minutes to write a paragraph of fiction when you’re inspired. I started doing that a few years ago, and barring a meeting or a catastrophe at work, I can usually find fifteen or twenty-minutes each day to work on some prose. I have also found that it energizes me when I return to my day job, especially if I am stumped on a particularly hard problem, or if I am simply not in the mood to be 100% productive for the nine to five. Completing a few writing goals has worked wonders and I have hammered out a few solid short stories recently on work breaks that have gone over well in my critique groups. Again, your mileage will vary, and make sure that your writing does not jeopardize your day to day. I know how easy it can be to get lost in your writing and lose a few hours of time. You need to find that balance, but I have found writing during my day as a great tool that has made me more productive in my day job and my writing life.

Finally, you need to ask why you are doing this. Over the past year I have been putting my writing life into better perspective. I look at myself as a small business owner, and my writing as a product I need to ready for release. Every time I skip a writing session, or get nothing done for the day, I am pushing my release date out. If I want to get my product on the shelf, I have to put in consistent work. You need to find that big, juicy carrot to dangle in order to keep you motivated even when there is a full DVR to distract you. For me it is simply to write when inspiration hits. I cannot count on having an hour of quality brain-time later. If I can put things on pause for a few, write that scene, and then go on about my day I am that much closer to my finished product.

Nick Ruva Bio:
Nick Ruva is a literary writer who dabbles in Sci-Fi and Fantasy. While he is not practicing the dark arts of fiction, he manages the release and build process of software products and specializes in process control and automation. A Los Angeles transplant, Nick has worked with local LA writers, editors and publishers who are working to promote the independent L.A. writing and arts scene. Nick is a Superstars Writing Seminars alum, David Farland Death Camp survivor, and was a member of the inaugural Writing Excuses “Out of Excuses” Retreat.

World Fantasy Convention 2013

World Fantasy LogoEarly this month the World Fantasy Convention finished their 39th convention.  The convention was filled with hundreds of published authors, nearly a hundred artists, dozens of editors, and many fans and hopeful writers looking for their big break.  While this is true for pretty much every convention, the World Fantasy Convention has one aspect that I find unique and enjoyable, the number of attending memberships are limited to 850 and typically sell out early.  If you can plan ahead and get a membership, you become a member to a convention that has amazing authors and well known publishers, but retains the small personal feeling you get at the smaller cons.

This year we were treated to Neil Gaiman acting as toastmaster and were specially treated to a guest appearance by Sir Terry Pratchett.  We had about 60 publishers in attendance from all over the world willing to answer questions and talk shop.  It wasn’t uncommon to see Neil walking around the bar or encouraging spontaneous musical guests to perform for us.  Authors were friendly and the talk and great camaraderie was felt throughout.

With all that said, I’m sure it’s not hard to figure out why such events are great for networking.  The limited numbers means you have a greater chance to talk with the people that matter and get actual feedback and opportunities to pitch your work.  This is definitely why I first started coming, but I found another element to this convention that I didn’t realize until after my third year of attending.  There really is a community that is formed within these smaller conventions.

I started going to the World Fantasy Convention in 2009 when it came to San Jose, California.  I’ve heard of the convention before, of course, and would follow the World Fantasy Awards to see what was popular and find new books to read.  As a writer looking to get published, it seemed like a good environment to put myself into.  I would walk around and introduce myself.  I would meet many different people, with many different reasons to attend.  All were friendly, and they all treated me as a fellow author, despite being unpublished.

I knew after the first one that I wanted to attend the next, and signed up right away.  Each year I would meet new people, and each year I became closer friends with the other members who attend yearly.  I began to form my own community of writers from all over the world.  Writers who care about my works, as I care about theirs.  We encourage each other and each year I come home with renewed vigor ready to get to work and finish my next manuscript.

I don’t do it so I can join their ranks.  I’m already a member of their community, and they never make me feel like less of a person for not being published.  I do it because they are the people I want to be like, and just by being around them I’m encouraged to work harder for my own dreams.  The convention just has the added benefit of including many of the publishers and editors that I want to see my work.  The network is there to help, and the opportunities are available to those who seek them out.

The World Fantasy 2014 will be held in Washington, D.C. on November 6-9, 2014.  If you don’t currently go to any conventions, it’s not a bad one to start.  They welcome newcomers with open arms and the community is open to everyone of all skill levels.  There are other communities around as well, and they all have their benefits.  This is just the one I’ve found and I enjoy.  Keep writing, and get your novel out there!

Commissioning an Artist

NobleArk_Left ThumbnailWhen I decided to self-publish my novel, Noble Ark, I had no experience with self-publishing, and little information. Thanks to Superstars Writing Seminars, I knew that a professional cover, typesetting, and editing were paramount, but I went into the process somewhat blind, or so I thought. As I took each step, the next one fell into place. Let’s start at the beginning.

Why? Why should you commission an artist rather than put together artwork yourself? That is a viable option. Here are a few things to consider. Is your book’s subject matter such that you can find usable artwork online? If so, then I direct you to istockphoto,  shutterstock, and bigstockphoto. If you do a search of stock photos, there are a lot of websites to choose from.

If you’re an artist or know something about art, you can probably photoshop the images you want in engaging ways and do your own cover art. If you are not an artist, don’t have typesetting training, or don’t have hours and hours to spend putting together the perfect cover then I suggest hiring someone. That cover is the first thing readers see and if it isn’t engaging, they will likely move on. Some suggestions on companies that do cover art: Ebook Artisan Design, JD Smith Design or ask around to your writing friends for their suggestions.

But what if you have one of those books that doesn’t easily fit into what can be found among the stock photos? What if one of the main focuses of your book series is an alien race that’s uncannily similar to humans, yet also vastly different. What if you believe showcasing these aliens and bringing them to life in the reader’s eye before they even open the book is paramount? That’s where I found myself, and so I decided to commission an artist.

Where? That’s the first step, isn’t it? You can’t commission an artist if you don’t know one. I know a few, but thankfully, I also knew better. About a year ago, I asked a friend of mine, a budding artist, to see what he could do with the Noble Ark concept. No promises, but if he was willing to try, I’d be willing to pay. He came back to me with the prototype, and though it was good, we both agreed it wasn’t the quality needed for a professional novel.  He wasn’t quite there with his craft yet. Friends are great, but remember that professionalism counts. Only work with friends if you know that you can approach one another as professionals.

I’d learned about an art website, Deviant Art, from workshops, Superstars, and from my friend, so I decided to join and see what I could find there. Be prepared, I had to spend some time. A lot of the artwork is fantastic, but I wanted an artist who fit the style that I foresaw for my books. I perused the site on and off for weeks. I found six.  Some of them weren’t accepting commissions because they already had an overfull workload. One of them was accepting limited commissions for projects that she liked, which meant I had to win her over. Don’t think that you can peruse through the artwork, pick an artist, and he/she will fall at your feet and be thankful for the work. Good artists have plenty of work and they don’t generally need unknown authors. I sent a note to Suzanne Helmigh, told her about my book and why I thought her art style would do well with my subject matter. She replied that she was interested and to send her more info.  I had to hook her with my book synopsis the same way we hook readers to look inside the cover to the first page. Once we’d passed a few notes back and forth through deviant art then she agreed to the commission.

How? Suzanne recommended  we do thumbnails first. The picture at the top of this post is a thumbnail. It’s a rough sketch, a type of concept art, to give the author an idea of how the finished artwork will be set up.  They’re not free, but I believe they’re worth it. By purchasing the thumbnails, it gave me something to show Kickstarter investors, and it helped me cement what I wanted on the cover before moving forward with the commission.

commission rules diagramThen came time for the contract. I’ve never put together a contract and hadn’t the slightest clue, but I’d been collecting useful websites and I have some great friends.  I read this article, http://blog.gallegosart.com/2012/10/how-to-commission-illustration.html and downloaded the free book. There’s an important concept in the book, shown in the illustration to the right. Learn it. Believe it. If you look online, there are dozens of contract templates. I used this one by Kelly Nomad, and a couple of author friends let me study their contracts for a few tweaks. After showing the contract to my artist, Suzanne, she suggested a couple of changes that were mutually beneficial, so I incorporated them into the contract then used Docusign to make it easier for both of us. I highly recommend the company and they’ll let you send up to five contracts free without obligation.

A few days ago, I sent Suzanne her down payment via Paypal, her preferred payment method. It’s a little bit of work to commission an artist, but I think it’s worth it. The cover for Noble Ark will stand out and catch readers’ attention. I hope the information I’ve found is of some use to someone and I hope to see more beautiful covers on e-shelves in the future. Good luck to us all.

How Writing Badly Can Help Your Career

Sounds a bit silly, doesn’t it? But as I’m sure everyone here knows, one of the biggest stumbling blocks for any aspiring author isn’t really how good their book is. It’s how finished their book is.

After all, you can’t have a business without a product, which is, in our cases, a completed story.

The key is to be productive and with just about everyone I know, one of the biggest obstacles to their productivity (right next to the two hour commute or the kids who can’t seem to do anything without parental help) is that voice in their head that keeps popping up to say, “What are you thinking? That comma’s ruining the emotional thread of this scene!” or “Jeez, this is crap. Let’s go play on the Playstation where it at least feels like I’m accomplishing something.”

A recurring session during the Superstars Writing Seminars is Kevin J. Anderson’s productivity tips (which he is currently covering on his website for NaNoWriMo). This is where I first heard his #3 tip: Dare to Be Bad (At First)…Then Fix It.

And the guy must be on to something because he makes prolific authors look lazy.

Now, I do spend some time prewriting to figure stuff out, for the most part I find my story as I’m writing it. For the longest time, I’d get stuck in that loop that made me want to re-read what I’d already written and tweek the text until I had to force myself to move on to the next scene. And then I gave myself permission to write badly. This was incredibly freeing. Now, when I’m doing a first draft, I can write upwards of 20-25k words a week, knowing that I’m going to edit it like crazy once the first draft is done. They aren’t great words, sometimes they’re downright horrendous, but they come together to form a completed work.

Now, your process might be different. But ask yourself, is your book stalled because you keep going back to that one or two scenes that seem so pivotal but your inner editor keeps telling you it’s just not right and if you don’t fix it now the whole book will fail utterly?

Stop that.

A house builder doesn’t sit there working on the same bathroom for years because they can’t get the shower to the perfect dimensions. They have a whole house to build and if someone isn’t living in it, it has no purpose. The same goes for you. Don’t let a desire to write perfection stop you from finishing the book, because if no one reads it, it also has no purpose.

Once the first draft is done, then you can let your inner editor run amuck…somewhat.

I usually have to step away for a bit before diving in the editing/revision process, otherwise, I’m just polishing the punctuation. Some people go ahead and send it out to alpha readers to get feeback. You’re process should be whatever works for you, but the real key to editing your own work, I think, is honesty.

Yes, that scene in your epic fantasy between the hero and his pet parakeet makes you cry every time, but does it move your story forward? Yes, you skipped that escape scene in your adventure to get to the emotional angst, but is the reader still engaged? Yes, you left out the detailed description of your cyborgs in your SF because it slowed the pacing, but can the reader really understand your world?

They may be you and your critique group’s favorite scenes. They might be hard to write. But if the story and the reader isn’t served, be honest. You’re going to have to fix it. The nice thing is that you’ll probably like the result better.

It’s actually kind of funny how often I tell someone that a scene isn’t working, or the story is missing something, and they say, “Yeah, I was kind of thinking that, too.” If something doesn’t ring true, or a scene doesn’t seem right, don’t wait for someone to remind you of something you already know. This instinct might take some time figuring out on your own, but the only way you’re going to learn how to tell what works and what doesn’t, is to keep writing and reading your genre.

It’s all so much work, I know. But that the difference between a hobbiest and a professional: get the work done, then make it the best you possibly can.

Dare to be bad. Fix it later.