Do You Have a Thick Skin?

Issue #10: January 2014

New Year, New Goals to Tackle

Welcome back, fellow authors! Since it’s the New Year, let’s recap last year’s accomplishments and set our goals for 2014. Remember, we are accountable for our own productivity, or lack thereof, not to a boss or a publisher who sets deadlines, but to ourselves. As independent writers, we set the goals, the pacing and evaluate the outcomes. It may be the most difficult part of our “jobs”. Today I’m sharing my goals and evaluations with you, but I hope you’ll do this for yourself as well.

2013 Accomplishments  

·  20 Blogs Posted

·  6 Stories Submitted

·  First Novel: finished & published as eBook on Amazon Kindle & Paperback on Create Space – 4 eBooks sold, 311 distributed free and 27 in the UK as a marketing technique, 1 paperback sold

·  Character Facebook Page created

·  Novel Facebook Page created

·  Began learning marketing techniques

·  Built Author Platform (Author Facebook Page created, Author Website built)

2014 Goals

·  Post 29 New Blog Entries (6 blog entries for Must Read, 6 blog entries for SciFi Analysis, 4 blog entries for Prodigal Writer, 12 newsletters for Contributors’ Corner)

·  Write & Submit 12 NEW short stories, plus find new possible publishers for existing stories

·  Build a following for Author Facebook

·  Create a blog about novel research

·  Sell total of 75,000 novels by Nov.

·  Finish novel sequel by Oct & publish

·  Make regular entries on Character Facebook Page

·  Use marketing funnel to promote novels

·  Continue learning & using marketing techniques

NOTE:

A guest blogger on Funds for Writers (sorry I don’t remember her name), said she set a limit of 200 story submissions before she’d give up. I’m currently at 35 submissions, so I need to continue submitting regardless of outcomes!

I was surprised and dismayed by the number of submissions I made last year. It really should have been more. I’m also dismayed that all of them were rejected by the publishers. But remember, rejection is part of the process. I hope you’re receiving Hope Clark’s newsletter, Funds for Writers, because she included a quote from Thomas Edison in the December 13th issue:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

I’ve found 35 ways that don’t work, which means I’m going to have to work harder to catch up to Edison or Hope guest blogger! This is an excellent reminder for ALL of us that success is about perseverance and perseverance is about taking the hits of “failure” in a different light. Edison obviously had tough enough skin to take those hits and realize he was learning from them. Like others, I’ve had to take a few hits, too, but they’ve given me a tougher skin.

One of those hits was going through a divorce in 1982. During that time I attended “Success Seekers” meeting with AMWAY and learned that other successful people have developed technics to take the hits of failure and keep going. We read a wonderful little book by Scott Alexander called Rhinoceros Success. It is as easy-to-read book as a child’s book, so I ended up reading it to my five-year-old, Chris. This inconspicuous little book is packed with humorous instructions about how to become a successful rhinoceros. It helped me toughen my skin and grow a thicker hide in order to survive the chaos of living through both the divorce and the extreme life changes which followed it. Scot Alexander suggests creating a postcard for your bathroom mirror and reading it every day as an affirmation:

“I am a rhinoceros! I have a damn-the-torpedoes spirit and I can’t wait to get up in the morning to start charging!”

Writers need tough skin, too. We must face the many torpedoes of rejection letters during “the process” of getting published. I hope you’ll join me this year in gaining 600 pounds, developing thicker skin and learning the joy of charging. And since you’re charging, make sure to join our writers’ group and charge after publication. GO, RHINOS!

Need Practice Taking the Torpedoes?
Good news, fellow authors: Contributors’ Corner is now easier than ever to join! Just go to Rhodes FitzWilliam and fill out the form on the home page. Remember, ONLY active writers can join this writers’ group or receive the newsletters. Once you’ve joined, you can submit your stories to us for review BEFORE you submit them to a publisher. We’ll help you tweak your stories and toughen you skin for facing the rejection letters. Just get used to it, because we all take those hits before we get published. Those are the writers’ dues and it can hurt unless you’re ready for it. We can help you over that hurdle. We are a group of writers with one purpose: to help one another improve their writing and get published.

What’s a Writer’s Platform?

Here’s a question for the new age of writing. The 21^st century writer must not only create a good story, she or he must know how to market themselves. To that end, the concept of a writer’s platform has played an integral part of the publication process. From the articles I’ve read, it doesn’t seem to matter if you self-publish or go the traditional route with an agent and publisher. It seems the first question on an agent or publisher’s lips is, “Have you established your writer’s platform?” To which the mouth falls open and the eyes round into saucers and we ask, “What am I paying you for?” whether we actually say it aloud or not.

Ah, the dilemma of the 21^st century, emblazoned as the Age of Technology, has changed life for writers! Marhsall McLuhan said,

As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of ‘do it yourself.’

Since McLuhan was the Canadian philosopher of the communication theory who predicted the worldwide web 30 years before its existence, he might be on to something here. Writers now have to be their own do-it-yourself PR agents. We must create our own writer’s platform and learn how to attract our specific audience. This isn’t easy for most writers, our creative nature seems to make us feel somehow violated by the need to prostitute ourselves for money. But that’s part of the game as well. We’re freelance whores, friends, and we need to stake our claim to a street-corner and market our wares, ergo, the writer’s platform.

Now I’ll make a prediction about technology, too, that seems to already be playing out: As technological advances create further physical distance between people via e-connections, computers and cells phone, people will need to make those intimate connections electonically. And, friends and authors, that’s why Kimberley Grabas writes:

Actually, the most important aspect to building an author platform is understanding that it’s about engagement; about connecting and interacting with people who are aligned with your message and affected by your story.

Your Writer Platform

You are going to want to add her website, Your Writer Platform, to your favorites and reference it frequently. I’m a firm believer in going directly to the horse’s mouth, aka, those people who know what they’re doing and can offer construction advice. Kimberley is an author who has already tread the path of building a platform and she’s willing to share what she’s learned.  One of the things she says she’s learned is:

“Don’t hoard creativity; sharing increases both its flow and value.” So true, so true! That’s way we join writers’ groups!

So basically the writer’s platform is you, your passion for what you write about and how you connect with whoever is likely reading your work. Yes, we have tools we use, like Facebook and Twitter, but it’s how we use them that will make the difference. Do we respond to readers’ comments and connect with them as people? We do if we want to attract readership. We are not part of the super-famous and infamous. We are the hidden face behind the words and a lot of people want to know who that is. It is the person we are, the beliefs we have and the ability to be real people who are accessible that will create readership.

Speaking of readers, you have to have something for them to read. So, let’s jump into the writing challenges for this quarter and remember, you must Join Our Writing Group to participate in having your work reviewed and reviewing works by other writers.

Writing Challenge #10:
Toughen That Skin by Submitting!
Write story in which you set your character in a moral dilemma. Maybe they’ve been raised to believe in pro-life and have to make a decision of whether to keep an unplanned child or not. Maybe there faced with the question of “pulling the plug” on a loved one. Or perhaps they’ve done something that goes against their beliefs (had an affair, killed someone, etc.). The process of making the decision or adjusting to their new-found situation is what we want to see in this story. How are you going to get your character from point A, “good” person, through point B’s moral dilemma, and the point C of resolution. Remember if you’re writing for a specific magazine or contest to get your word count through the conflicts, climax and resolution in mind as you write. You can use the tools below to you stay on track.

Plot Graph & Story Map in Excel

Until next quarter, live well, love fully and write with all your heart!