Beyond the Elements of Style » Process Matters

It’s Not a Suggestion!

Jeannette — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:07:03 +0000

On Sunday, I wrote my daily writing tip about submission guidelines, and felt as I did that it’s probably worth spending more time with it than the couple of short paragraphs allowed in a Facebook update.

Here’s the point of it all: when a publisher posts submission guidelines, they’re not suggestions. They’re not something you might try if you’re not feeling particularly creative today. They’re not even something the publisher dreamed up solely to make your life difficult. There’s actually a pretty good reason that they were written as they were, and following them shows the publisher a number of things:

you’re bright enough to follow directions
you know how to read
you won’t be troublesome down the line as you’re willing to enter the publisher’s turf and play by the publisher’s rules.

Don’t like the guidelines? That’s your right. But move on. Find someone else whose guidelines you do like.

A couple of months ago a colleague and I decided to create a couple of anthologies. Here are the guidelines that we sent out:

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR A HOLIDAY ANTHOLOGY

Imagine your favorite holiday stories. Chances are good the protagonists are a man and a woman, possibly even with children. But where are the stories that feature men together, or women together, that will also warm our hearts at this special season?

That’s where you come in. We’re collecting holiday stories for two anthologies, one featuring male protagonists/couples/families, the other featuring female protagonists/couples/families, and we’d like to hear from you!

Your story should run between 2,000 and 4,000 words, contain no erotica, and be in a winter holiday setting. The only requirement is that it be historical fiction. We’re looking for tomorrow’s classics in time for next year’s holiday season!

Pay will depend on securing a publisher and will be negotiated at that time for accepted stories. Deadline is June 15, 2012, but the earlier, the better. Send Word docs to Jeannine Allard at jeannine@jeannineallard.com.

If you were reading that, you may have picked up on three relevant points. We’re looking for:

LGBT stories
historical fiction
winter themes

I didn’t think it was that difficult to read. But I got deluged with stories about cousins, pets, grandmothers, and straight couples. Stories that were situated in the future or on another planet. Stories written by people who clearly hadn’t even bothered to read the entire call for submissions, but who just sent whatever they had on hand.

It was all a little insulting. A waste of my time (because I am courteous enough to read the stuff and respond to it) and a waste of the writer’s time, as well.

So that was me, one time. I can only imagine what acquisitions editors or literary journal editors must be thinking when these things cross their desks day after day after day. And I can guarantee that none of it is complimentary to the writer.

Do you really want to shoot your literary career in its metaphorical foot? Do you really want your name to be associated with slapdash work, with not being cooperative, with being difficult? Listen, it’s hard enough to get published as it is. Do you really want to make it that much harder?

Trust me: they’re not going to discover your fine literary talent hidden in the midst of your inappropriate submission. It isn’t going to happen. So consider going back to basics: read the call for submissions, submit exactly what they ask you for, no more and no less, and behave like a professional. And then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Clients and Money

Jeannette — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:11:56 +0000

Yikes. Difficult terms when juxtaposed. This post is for the freelancers and would-be freelancers among us, the owners of sole proprietorships, anyone who does the creative work and is also their own accounting department.

Not one of us likes to think about money when we’re first in the throes of New Love with a New Client. It’s like mentioning divorce on a first date. It’s unseemly.

It’s also one of the reasons that freelancers routinely lose money, every year, by doing work for which they are not ultimately paid. Well, check out this infographic, and then let’s talk, shall we?

Created by: Masters Degree

Bet you caught the part that says nearly eight in 10 freelancers has had a client not pay, to the tune of $6,000 total. Are you one of them? I am. I am, and I’ve learned, and I still occasionally get taken. But I’d like to give us both some tips to at least help with the problem, if not solve it altogether.

Talk about money right away. This doesn’t mean that you need to quote a price for anything if you need to research it some; all it means is that you need to talk about money. I tend to listen to the client’s needs, give some imemdiate feedback, and even if the client is ready to hire me on the spot, I tell him/her that I will put my ideas together in a proposal that will include the payment plan. Let’s face it, the money is the elephant in the room: talk about it. Other professionals don’t seem to have the problems that freelancers do getting down to the nitty-gritty.
Get some money upfront. Especially if it’s a new-to-you client. If it’s a small project (under $100, for example) get all of it upfront — come on, it’s not worth your time to pursue someone for $25, and they know it. If it’s a larger project, then work out a payment plan that includes, for example, one-third upfront, one-third halfway through, and the final third on delivery.
Sign a contract with the financial obligations spelled out. Seriously. Professionals don’t work without contracts. It’s that simple.
Do not begin work until your contract has been signed by all necessary parties and everyone has a copy of it, and until the deposit has cleared your bank account. This isn’t being nasty. This is being professional.
Find out the client’s payment process. If you need to invoice on a certain day, find out what day that is — one of my clients only writes checks on Tuesdays, for example. Get names and contact information for the accounts payable department if relevant.
If a client misses a payment, follow up immediately. Don’t assume that it was an oversight and that the check should arrive at any moment. Don’t delay because you hate confrontation. And, most of all (speaking here from experience, folks) don’t do any additional work for that client until payments are current!
There are a lot more ways to work money into your business, and I’m sure you have tricks and ideas that work for you. Why not share them here? Then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Remember Why You’re Doing It

Jeannette — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:48:43 +0000

The other morning I was listening to an early-morning radio show and heard an interview with someone who talks about and coaches people around what he calls a “creative obsession.” He talked about changing the paradigm we’ve all come to accept: instead of finding meaning in life, he says, we have the ability to infuse our lives with meaning, to make our actions and thoughts and work meaningful.

One of the examples he used was writing.

I sat and thought about this for some time after the program was over. I think that most of us write, not because we woke up one morning and decided, “Hey! I think I’ll be a writer,” but rather because the difficulty wasn’t in writing, it was in not writing. We write because we cannot not write — which is a pretty good definition of an obsession.

But as time passes, other issues become part of our obsession. We enter the ongoing, never-ending process of trying to get published: the submissions, the rejections, the submissions, the rejections, a stream that going on forever. And even when success comes, we need to enter yet another world, the world of marketing, of getting the word out about our work, of making sure that people actually read it.

The obsession, in short, becomes a business.

It’s inevitable: I’m not here to tell you otherwise, and indeed if you follow Beyond The Elements of Style, you know that I spend a fair amount of time giving tips for the business end of what we do.

But here’s the thing. I got up especially early this morning, with plans to work on my novel-in-progress, and instead found myself all over the social media sites promoting two of my other novels. And wondered when it was that I stopped beginning my days with my creative self and started beginning them with my marketing self.

It’s essential, I think, to stand back from time to time and remember why we’re doing this. Refocus on the passion, the need to write, to tell a story, to communicate an emotion. Remember why we’re here.

For me, physical distance is always a way of getting grounded again. Even though I arguably live in paradise at the tip of Cape Cod, inspiration to any writer, I still go away several times a year, get away from my usual writing-space and my usual view and my usual routine. That’s why there are so many writer residencies always on offer all over the world: getting apart, becoming a stranger in a different land, helps us remember who we are where, as poet Miller Williams says, the spirit meets the bone. If you don’t travel, consider doing it.

Reading others’ tales of their passions and obsessions can also help you remember why you’re here. I keep a Toni Morrison quote on my writing-table: “I’m just trying to look at something without blinking,” she wrote, and it’s a reminder of my own calling in my own fiction.

Whatever you do — and you may be far more creative than I am in finding these ways to remember — make sure that you find a touchstone in some part of every day. It will keep you true to your calling, and true to yourself.

How else can you remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing? Share your thoughts here, and then you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

What’s In YOUR Schedule?

Jeannette — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:59:20 +0000

My stepdaughter used to be one of the most disorganized people on the planet. I can remember going through binders with her in middle school, trying desperately to make some sense of them, and knowing that they were going to come back the next time with the same chaos. These days, however, she’s in all honors high school classes and is getting pretty much straight As, and you don’t do that without organization.

Her secret? It’s all in the scheduling.

These days, Anastasia charts out her free time so that blocks of it can be devoted to various projects and bring them to completion within her deadlines. Sounds a lot like the time issues that freelancers in general, and writers in particular, need to deal with every day!

Do you find yourself pulling an all-nighter when your deadlines are looming? Wasting time at the front end of a project and then scrambling to get caught up? Juggling several projects poorly so that none of them gets your full attention?

Scheduling may be your problem, too.

So let’s talk about creating a schedule that works for you … and your clients, as well!

The first step is recognizing when you work best. One of the freedoms of freelance work is the ability to choose your hours … so choose them! I’ve found that I am the most focused and the most energetic in the mornings, so I’m up early and at my desk before most people have even hit the first snooze. I have an artist friend who is starting to wind down and go to bed at about the time I’m waking up. We all have internal clocks that tell us when we’re at our bast: take advantage of that and schedule your most difficult, most intense work for when you’re at your best and brightest.

Block time out for social media. I’m serious. Facebook may keep you in touch with your virtual water cooler, but checking it all day is a time sink. On the other hand, social media is about the best marketing tool that many of us have, and using it consistently and correctly is a strong path to success. So block out some time and be armed with a list for what you want to accomplish during your social media marketing periods.

Speaking of periods, many people find it easier to work in increments, rather than all at once. There are a lot of good reasons to do this. It keeps your mind fresh and your body rested. It keeps you from developing tunnel vision around a project so that you’re less effective at it. Working in pre-determined blocks of time will allow you to step away from your work, do some stretches, drink some juice, and clear your head before continuing.

While you’re blocking time out, remember to reserve some for client interactions. Again, this can take up your whole day if you let it, so resolve to check your email once an hour, and set aside the next ten minutes for responding to those emails that need instant input. Put your telephone calls together, too, and let your clients know when you’re available to them … and, perhaps more importantly, unavailable!

Scheduling your work will keep you in charge of it … and keep it from being in charge of you! Try it, and you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!

Finding Time for Writing

Jeannette — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:16:57 +0000

“I’d write a book if I only could find time to do it.” How many times have I heard that phrase! But the reality is that while time is not the only ingredient for getting writing done, it’s still an important one. My colleage, mystery author Stacy Verdick Case, has some thoughts about how writers can … find time to write!

***

Everyone’s life is busier every year. Work, family, friends, church, volunteer obligations—we’ve loaded our lives with so much stuff that writing is often neglected. Finishing three to four hundred pages in this chaos can seem impossible.

Yet the dream of holding your first book in your hands persists. You know you have to do whatever it takes to keep your dream alive.

Great!

This is written just for you, not for those who pay lip service to writing. Since none of those unsavory types are here right now, draw closer, I want to share some tips on finding a few extra minutes here and there for writing.

First, writing time isn’t found: it’s made, and you need to decide where you will make time. I don’t know your life, so I can’t tell you exactly where your writing time goes. You need to be honest with yourself about where you waste time during a day.

A friend lamented that she has very little time to write. Yet, almost every conversation we have includes the following questions: Did you watch such and such show? No. What about this show? No.

Don’t get me wrong I have my favorite shows, but DVRs and VCRs were invented so I don’t have to sit through twenty minutes of commercials. If you watch two one-hour long programs a week, you can recover forty minutes to write.

Are you a perpetual volunteer? I’ve done my share of time on boards and committees, but there comes a time when you have to say no. Volunteering is a monumental time vacuum. Practice saying this with me, “I’m sorry, but I can’t help this time.” Trust me, it gets easier each time you say those words.

Maybe neither of these is you. Like I said, I don’t have a crystal ball into your life. Think long and hard about the activities you participate in, and ask yourself, do I want this more than I want a career as a writer? Then scale back the activities you can’t live without, so you can fit a few more minutes of writing into your day.

At the very least, schedule a half an hour of your day to write. It shouldn’t be too hard I just saved you forty minutes, but if you’re not a TV watcher then, wake up a half an hour early, stay awake a half an hour later, or sit in your car at lunch, whatever it takes to get that half hour. Your family can live without you for thirty minutes. Shocking I know. I was mortified to find out my husband didn’t sit in stasis when I’m not around, waiting for me to come home and plugged him in again. So use that time for writing, the world will keep revolving even if you’re not supervising.

Stop telling yourself, “I can’t write because …” You CAN accomplish anything you want. When you say, I am going to do x-y-z, then x-y-z gets done. Make writing a daily activity like changing your underwear.

The only way to get to THE END is to sit down, begin, stay seated, and keep working. Writing is hard work. Writers who succeed make a commitment to their work. You can too.

Stacy Verdick Case carves her half-hour out every morning, and guards it like a lioness. She is the author of the Catherine O’Brien mystery series. The first book in the series A Grand Murder is available in paperback, ebook, and now audio from Before the Fall Books. Visit Stacy on her blog, for more information on her writing—and general musings.

Check out her book and blog, and you’ll be … beyond the elements of style!