It's time to support some indie authors and get a chill in your bones at the same time.

There is a lingering perception in the publishing world that self-pubbed authors “couldn’t make it” at getting trad-pubbed. That the only reason you would self-pub is if your book is bad and trad pub isn’t an option because it keeps getting rejected by agents due to being bad.

And let’s be real, maybe your book IS bad. But that’s not the only reason agents feel they can’t sell a manuscript, and therefore your book is not worth their time.

There's a fresh-off-the-grill free short story available for new subscribers to my newsletter!

When you ask a writer what their least favorite part of the job is, nine times out of ten, the answer isn’t taking criticism, or writer’s block. It’s having to market yourself. Now, if you’re strictly a hobby writer and don’t care if anyone reads your stuff, that’s one thing. But if you want people to know your book exists, and pay money for it, then you have to market yourself.

One thing I’ve learned on this writerly journey of mine is that attitude is a huge part of what makes people stick it out and Do The Thing, or quit in frustration. Writing is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and a poor mindset will sink you faster than a dark matter particle aboard the Titanic.

Get The Case Of The Cheap Suit Plot for only $2.99 on Smashwords during July!

There’s a lot of not-so-great advice being regurgitated over and over because someone else said it a long time ago. Certain things, like the rules of grammar or story structure, are not really negotiable, of course. But today I want to go over a few writing “rules” that don’t work for me, and probably don’t work for a lot of other writers, either.

I thought today I would go over some of the things I did to cut a hefty chunk out of my book, bringing it down to the slim, trim 119k words it is today. Yes, I cut a novel’s worth of words out of my novel. So, let’s take a look.

So. Tomorrow, my debut novel, The Case Of The Cheap Suit Plot, is officially released. It’s been on pre-order for some time, but starting tomorrow that bad boy gets downloaded to readers’ devices of choice, and those who want a physical copy can get the paperback as well.

At my day job recently, a co-worker asked me, “So, the day your book comes out, are you going to have a party?”

Hahahaha…no.

I know a lot of authors will often talk about their influences. If you’ve been following me a while you may have noticed that I don’t. At least not as much as other authors. This is because somewhere in the back of my tiny little mind, I worry that folks will somehow figure that my entire writing style/stories will be like the books and authors I name.

Logically I know it’s not true. I know most readers will not assume that of me and my work. Every once in a while I need to remind myself though. Thus, today I figure I’ll talk about three books that had a tremendous impact on me and my writing…

I’m a writer with ADHD. And some days, I sit down at my computer with about 12,000 ideas on the tip of my brain, ready to make those satisfying clack-clack-clacking sounds on the keyboard as I unleash my genius. Other days, just getting to the computer chair feels like wading through molasses.

I can in no way rely on being *~inspired~* in order to write with any consistency. The reason I’ve finished a novel, and then finished two more that are ready for beta readers, and then finished a draft of one more, over the last year and a half is because I made myself write. I sat down, most days of the week, and said, “I’m going to write. It may not be good. I may delete all of it tomorrow. But I’m going to write.” For me, routine is everything.

So, today I thought I’d talk a little bit about what I need around me to get in the headspace for writing. These are the five indispensable items I cannot be without.

There are a million guides on how to structure your plot out there. The Hero’s Journey, Save The Cat, The Rollercoaster Method, etc. But all of them have a few basic components. You have to start with a little exposition followed by an Inciting Incident. Then, well, more stuff happens. This eventually leads to a climax, followed by tying up any loose ends.

So what goes in that part of the book in the middle, between the Inciting Incident and the climax? That’s the bulk of the story, after all. Heck, for my book, that’s Chapters 3 through 34, out of 36. Well, there are a whole host of things you can put in the middle of that book, and some of it will depend on the genre you’re writing and/or the structure model you’re following. But one thing I feel is an important addition to nearly any story is a “win”.

A topic I’ve seen brought up with frequency in the writing community is, “How can I trust beta readers, critique partners, and/or editors not to steal my ideas and release my book under their name?” I personally think this fear is blown out of proportion, for a few reasons.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a little bit about what I like to see in a book’s first chapter. I also touched on the Inciting Incident, and I want to expand on that topic in this blog post. Personally, I’d never heard the term before I started trying to write professionally, but it’s a cornerstone of any work of fiction – whether you know it or not.

If you’ve been in the writing community for more than five seconds, I’m sure you’ve heard about how important your first chapter is. There are whole writing courses on how to craft a first chapter. Some editors even offer a service where they critique only your first chapter, and all the hype is for good reason. Your opening volley is what readers see when they use the “Look Inside” feature shopping online, and if they’re browsing a paperback at a physical store, they’ll likely flip to Chapter One as well. If they don’t see something intriguing, they’re probably not buying the book. So today I thought I’d discuss what I, as a reader who also writes, like to see in that all-important Chapter One of a book.

So, early last week I revealed the official cover art for my debut novel, The Case Of The Cheap Suit Plot. The response has been overwhelmingly positive (huge sigh of relief). Now what?

When I sat down to do this blog post my original thought was to talk about how drawing informed my writing.

But the truth is, I’ve been drawing for years, and I know some people —especially my family— are probably wondering why I stopped. Even if you don’t know me, you may have seen the sketch work I’ve done for The Case Of The Cheap Suit Plot and thought to yourself, “Is this guy a writer or an artist?” Why have I chosen to go the writer route instead of the visual artist route?

There’s no short, easy answer. I realize that at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks I SHOULD do, only what I want to do. But I want to offer something of an explanation, so I think I’ll address that in tonight’s post.

Probably one of the biggest points of contention in the fiction writing community is Pants versus skins Plotters. Some swear by pantsing, others claim plotting is the only means to good writing.

Even the world’s most famous authors seem divided when asked about their methods. Many have talked about being a pantser, plotter, or something called a plantser.

Now, no single method will make you a famous author. Whatever works best for you is the method you should use. Knowing the difference between the three will help you to figure out which one that is.

I grew up on cartoons. My favorites from my childhood in the 80’s were shows like G.I. Joe, Thundercats, The Real Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Silverhawks. There were a couple that I wanted to see more of, but for a family living on Long Island without cable television, I could never catch more than an episode or two of shows like Robotech, Voltron, and The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers.

These shows laid the early groundwork that would become my love of anime. While parents failed to see it, dismissing these shows as big-budget toy commercials (and they were exactly that) the people who worked on these shows did something no one expected. They made stories we cared about.