Tag: writing advice

Ten amazing pieces of writing advice

I have done a lot of talking this week. But now, I think it’s time for me to take a break.

While writing often feels like talking to yourself all day, some of the best writing advice you can ever take is to listen. Listen to people’s stories. Listen to how they talk. And listen to the advice of people who have gone before.

So today, I thought I’d share ten of my favorite pieces of writing advice. These are from some of my favorite authors. Women and men who have inspired me through my career. I hope they do the same for you.

Be sure not to discuss your hero’s state of mind. Make it clear from his actions

–Anton Chekhov

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have

–Maya Angelou

In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person- a real person you know or an imagined person and write to that one.

–John Steinbeck

Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on

–Louis L’amour

Getting the first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor.

–Joyce Carol Oats

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.

–Stephen King

Don’t identify too strongly with your work. Stay fluid behind those black-and-white words. They are not you. They were a great moment going through you. A moment you were awake enough to write down and capture

–Natalie Goldberg

You have to be careful as an author. You have to remember that you are not the protagonist’s friend. You are actually the enemy of the protagonist. The idea is to get the protagonist in as much trouble as possible and then finally get them out at the end.

–R.L Stine

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.

–Maya Angelou

Use all your seasoning sparingly. Do not worry about making your characters shout, intone, exclaim, remark, shriek, reason, holler, or any such thing, unless they are doing it for a reason. All remarks can be said. Every time you use a fancy word your reader is going to turn his head to look at it going by and sometimes he may not turn his head back again.

–Shirley Jackson

So what do you think? What is your favorite writing advice? Let us know in the comments.

And don’t forget, we’re still doing a giveaway every day for Paper Beats World’s tenth anniversary. Like this post and leave a comment if you want a chance to win a free copy of Station Central.

See you tomorrow.

If you liked what you saw here today, please consider liking and sharing this post. Or you can support the site financially on Ko-fi.

Broken Patterns is available now for preorder! You can order it now on Amazon.

0

Ten toxic lies I believed about being a writer

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was thirteen years old.

Thirteen years old is still basically a child, despite the insistence to the contrary by any thirteen-year-old. And some Republican lawmakers. Children don’t have a very good grasp of what their dream careers actually look like. When a kid wants to be a doctor they don’t imagine the paperwork or fighting with insurance companies. And when a kid dreams of being a writer, they don’t picture staring at a screen with a brain that can’t give them anything but the lyrics to the Carmon Sandiego theme song.

My perception of what a writer does and what kind of lives they live have changed dramatically in the two-plus decades since I was thirteen. My perception of a lot of things has changed, thank God. But some of these toxic beliefs followed me further into adulthood than I’d like to admit. Some of them didn’t go away until I started meeting and spending time with other writers.

Some of these still haunt me today. So I wanted to share them with you. To call them out for the limiting bullshit they are.

All writers are very serious people

I thought this about college professors, too. Until one asked during a Zoom convention panel if another panelist’s dog was ‘pickupable’.

I love that man.

This one really messed with me, because I am not a very serious person. I am a very silly person. I like watching children’s shows and painting with my cats.

But no, you don’t have to be a serious person to be a writer. Even if you’re going to write about serious things.

All writers are very smart people

All you have to do is meet a few writers to know this one’s bullshit. Or read some books that have been published by actual publishing companies.

This was great news to me, though, because I do not consider myself a very smart person anymore that I consider myself a very serious person. I am clever. I am smart about many things, but not everything. About some things, I am a dingus.

That’s kind of the human condition, though. So please don’t ever feel like you’ve got to be smart all the time to be a good writer.

Writers write all the time

And I mean, all the time. Real writers, as I thought when I was a kid, want to write all the time. They skip meals, don’t go out, have trouble keeping a day job, and make terrible partners because they just don’t want to do anything at all but write.

Or read.

And while that seems lovely in theory, it’s not exactly realistic. For one thing, most of us do not want to write and read all the time in the same way that we don’t want to eat ice cream and sushi all the time. It sounds fantastic until you do it. Then you realize you miss French onion soup.

You are allowed to enjoy other things and still be passionate about writing. This world is too full of amazing experiences to limit ourselves. Even if it’s our very favorite thing.

Writers are often tortured by their work

How often do we see this in the media? A writer is suffering from writer’s block. They can’t think of an ending. They can’t get their character right. Their plotlines are more tangled than secondhand yarn.

It’s tearing them apart, Lisa!

Look, I’m not going to say that I never feel messed up when my writing isn’t going well. But it doesn’t wreck my whole day. Rather, it’s a puzzle I’ll keep coming back to. A song that gets stuck in my head because I don’t know all the lyrics. But most writers aren’t chain-smoking because they can’t get a line of dialog right.

Writers focus more on their work than their family

Maybe this is just the inherent guilt I felt being raised in a church that discouraged women from doing anything for themselves. But yes, I understand this concern very well.

Let me tell you, it’s not going to kill your family to deal without you for an hour. And no, writing will probably not, as we already discussed, take all of your time away so you have no time to care for the people who depend on you.

Drinking makes you a better writer

I don’t know where this one got started. I can’t write well when I’m drinking. I can’t even string sentences together without using fuck like a comma. I’m sure not writing anything worth a damn.

Worse, being dependent on a muse that comes from a bottle (or other places) only kills you. You need to be healthy to write. Overindulging in drinking isn’t a healthy decision.

Stay safe, drink tea.

The only way to be a real writer was to be traditionally published.

Boy howdy, was this one wrong. And because I was so sure that this was the truth, I jumped in with both feet for the first company that would take me.

We see how that turned out.

Self-publishing used to be laughed at. But these days it’s a respected option and one that I am so glad to see.

Once you are traditionally published, your career is on lock

I think we also know that this one didn’t work out how I thought it would.

Anything can happen in the publishing industry. Your company can liquidate. Or drop you. Or decide to break your contract. Or maybe your book doesn’t sell as well, so they refuse to buy any more books from you. The point is, just because you have a published book doesn’t mean you’re set. You’ve still got to put in that hustle.

Writers don’t bother with social media

Maybe this is just because I’m a bit older, but I never thought writers would be on social media as much as we are. And honestly, I love it. I keep up with my favorite writers and my writing friends. Social media also allows me to let people know what projects I have going on.

Real writers only write books or poetry

This one is a killer. So many writers write screenplays, scripts, podcasts and blogs. There are some fantastic writers on Wattpad.

Yes, I am a novelist. But I’m also a scriptwriter. I’m also a professional critic and blogger. These are all also valid writing. And even if I didn’t write novels, I would still be a real writer.

Remember, all you have to do to be a writer is to write. Everything else is a bonus. But also, don’t develop a drinking problem.

We are still doing our Paper Beats World anniversary giveaway. Like this post and leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Virus. See you tomorrow.

If you liked what you saw here today, please consider liking and sharing this post. Or you can support the site financially on Ko-fi.

Broken Patterns is available now for preorder! You can order it now on Amazon.

0

Ten kinds of books every writer should read

Before we begin, I just found out that Natalie Goldberg put out a new book in July. How did nobody tell me? And she wrote a whole book about haikus?

Don’t worry, reviews are forthcoming. Just as soon as I read them.

Today, though, I want to talk about a different kind of book. Ten different ones, to be specific.

Some of the best writing advice from Stephen King is to “Read a lot and write a lot.” Alright, fair enough. But what should we read?

There are many lists of books writers should read to be better at our craft. And while that’s great and all, these lists can be highly subjective. My original plan for this post was to write a list of books I think every writer should read. But there again, my list was highly subjective. I always suggest Dance Macabre, but that book isn’t going to do shit for you if you write historical fantasy.

So what we have instead is a list of ten kinds of books every writer should read. Feel free to fill in the blanks yourself.

Books everyone loves

The ever-popular books are popular for a reason. Well, sometimes. Sometimes things are popular just because they’re popular. But even then, it doesn’t hurt to know why everyone in your internet circles can’t shut up about a book.

Books everyone hates

Sometimes you hear about a book for very different reasons, because no one can shut up about how bad it is.

Reading a bad book can be incredibly educational. You learn all the things not to do. This is easier with a laugh track though, if you can get it. A great example of this is the Behind The Bastards episode where Robert reads a book by Ben Shapiro.

(Take a bullet for you, Babe. IYKYK.)

Books in your genre

This one’s a no-brainer, right? And if you’re writing in a genre, you’re probably already a fan. No one had to tell me to read Stephen King and Anne McCaffrey. I just wanted to.

Books as far removed from your genre as possible.

This is the one that seems to throw people. But we don’t learn to write just by reading our own genre. We learn by reading widely. We also open ourselves up to unexpected joy. For instance, I have no interest in writing historical fiction. But I read the hell out of Philippa Gregory.

A brief understanding of other genres can greatly help your understanding of your own. And there’s always a chance you’ll be inspired by it. While I’m not likely to write historical fiction, I might write a historical fiction slasher.

That’s a pretty good idea.

Books that teach you about writing

I love books that teach you about writing. Mostly because I love to hear other writers talk about writing.

Even if you don’t agree with all of the advice, it’s great to get someone else’s perspective on the craft. Some of my favorites are On Writing, Elements of Style, and anything Natalie Goldberg writes.

Books that teach you about anything else

Anything you learn can feed your writing. I mean anything. I’ve toured coal mines my whole life (I live in Western PA) and this has influenced my writing. You can see it even in my fantasy work, like in Starting Chains.

Read about history, science, and politics. Read about anything that sparks interest in you. I often find I don’t even try to intentionally write about things I learn in my books. I just do it. The book I’m writing right now is going to have a character who likes bugs because I like bugs.

Learn about anything that brings you joy.

Books that teach you the history of your genre

I mentioned Dance Macabre earlier. It’s an overview of the gory history of horror.

I’m sure it isn’t the only one like that. And I’m equally sure that there are books that go over the history of other genres. I just haven’t found them yet.

Understanding the roots of your genre is imperative. Even if you don’t love the classics (and some of them are dry AF) it’s important to know them.

I’ve read Dracula. I’ve read Frankenstein, Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde, Beowolf, The Oddessy, and Lord of The Rings. Some of these these were fantastic. Some were a learning experience. None of them were ever a waste of my time.

Short story collections

Every story has something to teach us about writing. Short stories are a different form of storytelling than novels. So if you want to write short stories, and there are many reasons to write short stories, it stands to reason that you’d want to read enough of them to see how a smaller plot and smaller cast are achieved.

Poetry collections

Writing an eloquent, beautiful line is a joy. Conveying an emotion that seems brand new and also impossible to deny. Like dust brushed off a desk flutters in a sunbeam, dancing fairies who might have attracted the muses if we weren’t so intent upon our cleaning.

You can picture that, can’t you? I certainly hope so.

The best place to find this sort of writing is in poetry. Poetry is like a sketch of an emotion. It should make you feel like you’re standing in a certain place at a certain time.

If you can convey this in prose, you’re doing alright.

Comic books

Finally, I’d like to make the suggestion that you read some comic books.

Comic books, first off, have some fantastic stories. Especially the indie ones. Bone was fantastic. So was Transmetropolitan, The Boys, Maus, and Preacher.

Reading comic books lets you focus on the dialog. I read a lot of comics when I’m working on AA scripts because that’s all dialog. It was a great education. And, frankly, it was fun.

We are on day five of the PBW Anniversary celebration. Like this post and leave a comment to be entered to win a copy of Quiet Apocalypse. And I’ll see you back here again tomorrow.

If you liked what you saw here today, please consider liking and sharing this post. Or you can support the site financially on Ko-fi.

Broken Patterns is available now for preorder! You can order it now on Amazon.

0

My ten favorite writing content creators

Writing isn’t a team sport. But it also kind of is. We’re not all shooting for the same goal. We’re not all scoring the same, or even using the same metric to define what scoring means. We’re often competing against each other for spots in magazines, podcasts and publishing companies. Some of us are showing up for practice every day, some are more weekend contributors.

But we are all on the same team, even if it feels like some of us are playing football while others are playing lacrosse. Because every time one of us hooks a new reader, that person will be a reader forever.

Since most of us don’t live in a big lovely writing commune, our main way of interacting with our fellow writers is online. And it feels like there’s a new way to do that every week. It should surprise no one that what writers want to talk about the most is writing.

Today I want to share with you a list of my top ten favorite writing content creators. Some of these people are educational. Some are inspirational. Some I follow because they say out loud the things I was already screaming in my head. While most of these are Instagram accounts, there are some YouTube and even podcasts included as well. Inspiration can come from anywhere.

Ursie.writes

Rory Ursula’s Instagram is so aesthetically appealing. It’s all pinks and grays and tans. I love it.

Aside from the aesthetics, you’ll find mini moments of writing frustrations and joys. I don’t so much learn from this Instagram, but I feel seen.

Bert Slenchner

Bert’s Instagram writing inspiration comes in the form of his personal goal-setting. He shares his progress, his cooking, and his cats. It’s a friendly feed.

Escape Pod

This is an aspirational podcast for me. It’s easily some of the best short fiction around. And they will sometimes do interviews with the authors, which is wonderful.

Mary Robinette Kowal

Following Mary Robinette on Instagram is like following an auntie who writes. She shares her work, writing tips, and videos of her cat Elsie.

Nanowrimo

Specifically, I’m talking about the Nanowrimo Instagram feed. It’s full of writing joy and inspiration. And while it usually updates more around November, April and July, there’s always something going on.

Write as Rain

AKA Rain Sullivan, this Instagram feed is so funny. It shares Rain’s frustrations and joys along her writing journey. These are so relatable it feels like she reached inside my head to pull them out.

John Green Writes Books

Yes, that John Green.

While he doesn’t post often, Green’s quiet determination about his writing career is amazing. He is the steadfast voice we all need.

Behind the Bastards

Yes, this is a podcast. Yes, it’s mostly about bad people doing horrible things. However, they sometimes read books by horrible people. Horrible people who write horrible books.

These book readings are masterclasses in what not to do when writing a book. They’re like an inoculation against shitty behavior on the page.

Writing Excuses

I know I’ve mentioned this podcast before, but it continues to be a fantastic place for writing inspiration. While the hosts change over time, the writing advice and career comradery do not. And I appreciate the homework given every episode. Because learning about writing is all well and good, but it means nothing if you don’t put it into practice.

Writing With Jenna

Finally, we’ll end on a twofer. Writing With Jenna has a fantastic and informational YouTube channel. She also has a fantastic Instagram feed. Both are full of great advice on writing, marketing, and living as a professional writer.

Don’t forget, that today is day four of the Paper Beats World Anniversary giveaway. Like this post and comment for a chance to win a copy of Man in The Woods. Check back tomorrow to find out the winner.

See you tomorrow.

If you liked what you saw here today, please consider liking and sharing this post. Or you can support the site financially on Ko-fi.

Broken Patterns is available now for preorder! You can order it now on Amazon.

0

How do you know when your series is done?

For most of my writing career, I’ve worked on three book series. Woven, Station 86 and AA. All three series were planned out, with a specific number of books and a specific storyline in place.

Woven ended up being one book longer, with a prequel novel. Station 86 was supposed to be three books. Then it became four. Then five. Now I’m working on the last one for real this time. And at this point, I have no idea how many seasons AA is going to have. I think I know how it’s going to end, but I guess we’ll see.

Long-running book series, TV shows and comics can feel like institutions. It can very much feel like they will never have an ending. Some shows, like Star Trek, Dr. Who and The Simpsons, really feel like they could go on and on forever. Book series aren’t as prone to this, but we all know there are some series that will probably go on even after the original author passes. Looking at you, Rita Mae Brown.

So how do we know, as writers, when to stop writing? When do we know that the story, and the series, is finished?

While every story will ask something different from a writer, here is the best advice I can give regarding the matter.

Start with an outline

This isn’t a safe space for pantsers, sorry not sorry. If you’re writing a story that is going to span several books, you need to at least have some idea of where the damn story is heading. You need to have a destination in mind. That way, even if you take a winding path to get there, you at least have some direction.

When I wrote Woven, I knew how I wanted the story to end. And I stayed pretty true to that. It was going to originally be one book, but ended up bloating and growing so much that it needed a whole trilogy. Then, of course, Grace had to sneak into my mind and refuse to let go, so I had to give her her own story.

The thing is, I could write more in this world. And I might yet. But for right now, I had a specific story in mind, and I told it.

If you stop having fun

I know I harp on this, and I’m not likely to stop. Writing is supposed to be fun. Not all the time. There are some times when it’s absolutely a nightmare. Sometimes writing will shatter your soul and your will to exist. But your passion for the work cannot wain. It cannot feel like a slough.

When writing starts to feel like work, it might be time to set this series aside. Maybe just for a while. Maybe forever. But if it’s work to write, it’s gonna be work to read. And nobody wants that.

If you start repeating yourself

I mentioned Rita Mae Brown earlier. I used to love her books. I also loved The Cat Who series by Lillian Jackson Braun. But even though Brown is still around and writing, I’ve stopped reading. Because it became repetitive.

There are only so many stories one person wants to read about a cat and corgi who solve mysteries. Especially when it doesn’t feel like any of the characters change or grow. Given that, it’s easy for all the books to feel the same. So if you feel like you’re on repeat, it might be time to give that story a rest.

When all the loose threads are accounted for

Even in continuing series, there are some overall plots. Maybe it’s just a running gag or a long-standing irritation. Maybe one character is constantly one-upping another. Think of Lucy and Charlie Brown with the football.

I certainly suggest having things like this in your writing. It’s fun. But when you think you might be ready to stop writing your series, it’s time for some payoff. It’s time for Charlie Brown to get to kick the football. Or, just become savvy and self-assured enough to walk away from the situation.

Now that I’m working on the last Station 86 book, I’m re-reading the whole series. Because I want to make sure I don’t leave any of these loose ends

When you feel passionate about a new project

Sometimes it’s easy to get in a rut, even with our creative work. We sit down and start writing a story in the same way we’ve always written stories because it is the same way we’ve learned to write stories.

Then, something new comes along. A new idea. Maybe a whole new genre. A new character steps into the light and asks for your attention.

Then demands it.

That might be a sign that it’s time to put your current tale to rest. I’m not suggesting dropping the story mid-draft, or if you have a cliffhanger out there. But if the muse is tempting you with new, exotic tales, they might have a very good reason for doing so. And you might have a very good reason to listen.

Don’t forget, we are on day three of the Paper Beats World’s tenth anniversary giveaway. Like this post and leave a comment for the chance to win a copy of my 2024 Preptober Planner. Check back tomorrow for the winner.

If you liked what you saw here today, please consider liking and sharing this post. Or you can support the site financially on Ko-fi.

Broken Patterns is available now for preorder! You can order it now on Amazon.

0

10 things I’ve learned about blogging in 10 years

I’ve been writing Paper Beats World for ten years now. And it’s impossible to do anything for ten years without getting better at it. At least, I hope so. I’m always learning new things, trying new styles and doing what I can to make Paper Beats World a fun place to be on the internet.

So, today I want to share with you the top ten things I’ve learned about blogging after doing it for ten years. If you have your own blog, or you’re thinking of starting one, I hope some of this advice helps you.

People like hearing about how you screwed up

I messed up a book launch and wrote about it. That post got so many likes and views. My publisher dropped me, and my site traffic went up.

Posts where I talk about what’s going right don’t do have as well as the posts about when I’ve truly stepped in it. I don’t love that, but here we are.

I tell you this not to suggest you write a blog full of doom and tragedy. Rather, I want to encourage you to share your setbacks along with your wins. Instagram might be a highlight reel of your life, but your blog shouldn’t be.

The posts you don’t expect to do well take off

I try my best with every post. But of course, some come out better than others. Some I’m just more proud of, and some do better traffic-wise.

Those two things don’t always match up. They usually don’t. Posts like my series about using tarot for storytelling, which I spent so much time researching and writing, do fine. But posts about writing dark poetry, which I enjoyed writing but didn’t think anyone was going to care about, become literally the most popular post on the site of all time.

There is no telling what’s going to go viral and what’s going to end up forgotten. So you might as well just put out what you want to put out and hope for the best.

You never know what is going to be a huge drive for your blog

Do you know what I do that brings the most people to Paper Beats World? I post about them on Pinterest. That draws more traffic than anything else. It upped my traffic so much that the year I started doing it, I doubled my views from the year before.

While I don’t believe in using social media I don’t like just because it will get traffic (There’s a reason I’m not on Facebook or Twitter) I do think you should try some things out. You might like the site more than you think at first. And you might find an audience ready and eager for what you have to offer.

Quality over quantity

When Paper Beats World started, I was writing three posts a week. It was exhausting. When I stopped, I had more time to focus on what I was posting. And my views went up. Because rather than blasting out posts, I was carefully putting out good work. Or, at least better work. One good post is always better than three meh ones.

Every time I change the style of the site, views take a hit

Occasionally I like to change up the style of the site. Use a different theme, change the font. And every time I do it, numbers drop. I’m not sure why, but the math maths.

Maybe it’s because people inherently dislike change. Maybe because the site looks different they can’t find their way around. Or maybe I make too many changes too fast and regular visitors find it unrecognizable. And I wish I could ask, but I assume the people who leave don’t come back. If you’re someone who left the site for a while after a style change but is back now, please let me know why in the comments. I am genuinely curious.

Don’t judge your numbers by last month, but last year

When I look at my stats for the month, I will sometimes be depressed if one month isn’t as good as the one before. But of course, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. People are spending more time online during certain parts of the year. When it’s nicer out, people want to touch grass, not their laptops.

My outlook got a lot better when I started comparing my numbers each month to that same month the year before. It also gave me a better sense of trends over time.

Pictures matter so much

I didn’t care much about my pictures when I started the site. I was writing, after all, not doing visual art. But when I wanted to post my work on social media, a graphic was needed. And it improved the overall feel of my site dramatically when I started taking that seriously. Rather than just throwing any old thing up if it kind of made sense.

Now I use a structured type of image, to convey the feeling of the post while still looking somewhat uniform. I hope most of you can spot one of my posts in your feed at once, based on the ripped paper title.

SEO makes no damn sense, but it works

I hate SEO. I hate it with every fiber of my being. I hate that if I use a header at the beginning of a new paragraph instead of just bolding it, more people find the page.

While some things about SEO make sense, some do not. Adding graphics helps your SEO. Writing longer posts. Linking to other sites. All of those things make your site more attractive to search engines. I wish I didn’t have to take any of that into consideration, but I do. And it’s, damn it, helped the traffic.

Every post is a new challenge, no matter how many you’ve written

You would think, after writing over a thousand posts for Paper Beats World, I’d have this down. But every time I sit down to write a blog post, it feels like I’ve never written one before.

When you think about it, though, this makes sense. No matter how many books I write, every one feels like the first. Every short story, every poem. Every time I commit words to the page, it feels like I have never done this before. It further feels like I cannot possibly do it again. Whatever muse I had has left me alone, and I am a dry old sock of a writer now with nothing clever to say.

Of course, that isn’t true. But it never gets less intimidating, the blank page. It never gets easier, you just get stronger.

Content has no expiration date

The most popular post so far this year is Three Creepy Podcasts I’ve Been Loving. I wrote that in September of 2019. That is a pre-covid post, and it has more popularity than anything I’ve written so far this year.

I should probably write an updated version of that.

The point is that you shouldn’t feel down if you write a post and it doesn’t get a lot of traction right away. There’s every chance that it’ll spark and go viral later.

Words are not milk to go bad. Words are not rocks to be washed away by the sea. Words are the sea, changing and returning over and over again. We still tell the story of Beowulf. We still read Shakespeare. We still read Rosemary’s Baby. It should be no surprise that blog posts written years ago will still get some attention.

Now, I’d love to hear from you. Let us know in the comments the best lessons you’ve learned about blogging. And don’t forget, everyone who likes this post and leaves a comment will be entered into today’s giveaway. Today, I’m giving away a copy of my Preptober Planner. I’ll announce the winner in tomorrow’s post.

Best of luck, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

If you liked what you saw here today, please consider liking and sharing this post. Or you can support the site financially on Ko-fi.

Broken Patterns is available now for preorder! You can order it now on Amazon.

4

Writing when someone you love is ill, part two

Last week we started talking about balancing a writing career when you have a partner with a chronic illness. If you haven’t read that one, I’d suggest starting there.

If you’ve never experienced living with someone with a chronic illness, it can be a struggle. There’s a lot to balance. And it takes a significant toll emotionally. But it’s something that plenty of people deal with every day. And if you want to have a creative career while caring for someone with a chronic illness, you can do it. You should do it. You deserve to do it. And today, we’re going to take another look at how I do it.

Decide how much or how little you want to share about this journey

Part of being a creative content creator in 2024 is having an online presence. And at least some of that online presence is probably going to be about your real life.

Mostly this consists of fun, happy things. We share content about our pets, our homes, and our writing process. We show pictures of our coffee and book signing. One author I follow shares videos of her cat using talk buttons. Another shows food pics. I like to show my tarot decks and library hauls. And, of course, pictures of my cats and dog.

Another author I follow shares info about her books and YouTube videos. She shares pictures of her adorable dog. And sometimes, she talks about her husband’s chronic illness.

It makes me feel like I’m not alone. And I love her for that. It is because of her that I decided to write this post. Her name is Jenna Moreci. She writes fantasy romance.

I bet that a lot of people I follow are also living with chronic illness. Or they have a partner who has a chronic illness. They never talk about it. Jenna doesn’t talk about it much. I don’t talk about it much either.

We don’t owe that part of ourselves to the internet. We don’t owe any part of ourselves to the internet.

When it comes to your family, how much or how little you share online is up to you and your family. Please don’t ever feel pressured to share more than you want. But if you want to share, that’s okay too.

Accept help when you can

It’s easy to feel like we’ve got to do everything ourselves. Society sure as hell tells us we should. We see people who are working full time, with immaculate homes and homemade meals.

I’m sorry, but that just isn’t real life. And when your partner has a chronic illness, you’ve got a lot of pressure on you.

It’s not just that you’re dealing with their illness and whatever demands that makes on your time and energy. It’s also that the care of the home and family will fall all on you more often than it would if your partner was able-bodied. Housework is work.

If you have a support system, let them help you. Let someone grab your groceries for you. Let a sibling take your partner to a doctor’s appointment if you don’t have time.

The darling husband and I don’t have a lot of family. For a long time, I felt like I had to take care of him, the house and the pets by myself. Over time, I’ve realized that this is unsustainable. So I started having our groceries delivered. We order in when we need to. And I lean on my friends for emotional support. I tell them when I’m struggling. I tell them when I’m scared. And that’s sometimes all that I need, just someone to listen to how hard this day was.

Ask for help when you need it. Accept help when it’s offered. You do not need to do everything by yourself.

Take care of you

I know that taking care of yourself takes time. And time is the thing you probably have the least of. But you have got to care for yourself.

Make doctor’s appointments, even if you’re sick to death of doctors. Get rest, even when you have a million things to do. Take care of yourself, eat good food, drink water, and take your meds if you’ve been prescribed meds.

We have to keep ourselves healthy or we won’t be able to care for our partner. So take good care of yourself.

Art can save us in our darkest hours.

So why would you still want to write when your partner has a chronic illness? With all the other demands on your time, why still put this extra burden on yourself?

I can’t answer that for you. But I can tell you why I still do it.

Art has saved my sanity. While parts of the writing game feel burdensome, the act of writing never has. Whether I’m writing a blog post, a review, a chapter of my novel or a short story, writing is always great. Creating is always great. Through writing, I can have a voice that I might otherwise be denied. It allows me to process my emotions. It allows me to face my demons on the page. It allows me to breathe. I do not think I would have survived the last ten years without my writing.

That’s all I can think of for now, advice-wise. If I think of other things I might do a follow-up. But now I want to hear what you think. Do you have a partner who has a chronic illness? Do you have a chronic illness that you manage while writing? Let us know in the comments.

Paper Beats World is a labor of love. If you love what we do here, please like and share this post. You can also support us financially on Ko-fi.

Man in The Woods is now available on Smashwords and almost everywhere!

0

Writing when someone you love is ill

I didn’t mean for this post to be late today, but it does kind of fit into the theme.

My husband has several chronic illnesses. I don’t want to go into details because that’s not my story to tell. Suffice it to say that caring for his health is a full-time job for him and a part-time job for me.

If you’ll recall, I also have a full-time job, as well as trying my damndest to have a writing career.

Having a partner with chronic illness is a journey. It’s difficult to watch someone you love suffer. It’s terrifying to come close to losing them. It’s hard to make plans for the day, let alone the future when you just have no way of knowing how their health is going to be from day to day. Some days he’s fine, some days he can’t get out of bed. Some days he goes to the hospital.

There are countless books and blogs about living with a partner with a chronic illness. That’s not what I’m here today to talk about, that’s way out of my lane. What I do want to talk about is maintaining a creative career while caring for a loved one with a chronic illness. Because it’s what I’ve been doing for almost ten years now.

You do not have to keep writing for an audience

Let’s just get this out of the way first. If you don’t want to keep writing for anyone but yourself. I don’t care if you are in the middle of a series. I don’t care if people are waiting with bated breath on the cliffhanger of a lifetime. I don’t care if you’re Stephen King. If Tabitha King suddenly took a nose dive health wise I would light a candle for her and expect to never see another King book.

The people you love will always be more important than any success you might find in this world. If you don’t have the physical or mental bandwidth to create for days, weeks, or even years at a time, that is okay. You don’t owe your art to anyone. Everything else in this post is for people who want to keep going.

Don’t feel guilty

That being said, you do not need to feel guilty if you want to keep writing. My writing career has gotten me through some very dark moments. Having work that I was passionate about has given me something to focus on when I felt useless. It gives me something that is for me. And we all deserve something that is for us. We all need something that is for us.

Be realistic about how much you can take on.

I might seem like the worst person to talk about this. I’m working on a sci-fi series, a podcast series, multiple short stories, writing for this blog, and writing reviews on Haunted MTL. And yes, sometimes that is too much. That’s why this post came out in the afternoon instead of in the morning.

But let’s be fair, there’s always more I could be doing. Things I’d like to do. I’d like to create audiobooks. I’d like to write a serialized story on Wattpad. I’d like to make a true crime podcast series, enter more contests, write more short stories, do more micro-fiction on social media. I want to do so much more than I realistically can do.

Here’s what I suggest. Make a list of everything you want to do. All the projects you would love to work on. Take your time.

Then, list all of your projects from the ones you most want to do to the least.

I keep a whole list on Notion at all times. Sometimes projects drop off the list, and sometimes more get added. But I’m always putting my energy on the top priorities of that list. So if I can only get one thing done, it’s at least the most important thing.

Learn to write in strange places

I am so blessed to have an office in my home. I use it to work from home and write my stories and I love it. It’s bursting with light, colors, art and books. I have ample desk space, a comfortable chair and a place for all my pens.

I don’t always get to write there, though. I have gotten very good at writing in waiting rooms and hospitals. I have written in a notebook balanced on my knees in an uncomfortable plastic chair. I have written on my laptop, sitting on an emergency room couch and trying not to think of what sort of fluids that couch might contain. I’ve written in cafeterias, on patios, with bad cups of coffee and the same Lipton tea every hospital seems to have.

Because of this, I’ve always kept a writer’s bag. I can do an updated post about this if you’d like. I don’t go anywhere without a notebook and pen. Even if I don’t know I’m going to be stuck somewhere for a time and might as well do some writing, I might suddenly get stuck somewhere and be inspired to write a little short fiction.

Be flexible

This one sort of goes along with the last piece of advice.

When you’re dealing with a chronic illness, things cannot always go to plan. This is true for most of us anyway. Washing machines break. People call off at work so you have to go cover for them. The power goes out. The internet goes out. People with chronic illness and their families aren’t immune to these things. We just have that extra hurdle of health to consider. I might be right on pace to meet a deadline, or get a blog post out in time, and suddenly get waylaid because a health concern took precedence.

This is why it’s important to under-promise when it comes to deadlines. Whether you’re working with a publisher or just setting a deadline of your own. If you think something’s going to take a week, plan for two. Trust me, no one is ever angry that you beat a deadline.

You have to be ready for your day to not look how you expected it to look, and roll with it. Trust me, I hate this. This is not where I thrive. I thrive when everything happens exactly how my Google calendar says it’s supposed to happen. I am mentally prepared for that, I have supplies and snacks for that. But we don’t always get to live the day we planned for. We have to live the day we have.

I have a lot more to say about this topic, but we’re running long as it is and this post is late as it is. So I’ll be doing part two next week. See you then.

Paper Beats World is a labor of love. If you love what we do here, please like and share this post. You can also support us financially on Ko-fi.

Man in The Woods is now available on Smashwords and almost everywhere!

1

Writing your second to last book

Nova comes out in a week. This is incredibly exciting. But, you probably already knew that. You probably also already knew that this is book 5 in the Station 86 series and that it is the second to last book.

What you might not know is that this is the first time I’ve ever written a series this long before. Woven was only four books, and one of those was a prequel. So, technically, that was only a trilogy.

Writing a long series, as I’ve found, is a whole different creature. Now that I’ve written the penultimate book in my series, I’ve learned a few things. And so today, I’d like to share what I’ve learned with you.

Have a series outline as soon as possible

I’ve talked a lot, and I mean a lot, about bad endings. Especially in my reviews on Haunted MTL. Endings that don’t feel satisfying, don’t fully answer all the questions asked during the series or simply don’t fulfill the promises of the story.

One of the ways you can avoid that sort of bad ending is by establishing a series outline as soon as possible. Ideally, before writing book one. I had a series outline for Station 86 after book one, and I honestly wish I’d have started earlier.

This is important for several reasons. The first is that it enables you to start working in foreshadowing from the start. A great example of this is Futurama. Spoilers ahead.

In the very first episode, we see a shadow on the floor when Fry falls into the cryogenic tube. It is several seasons before we find out who that shadow belonged to, and the significance of Fry being frozen.

Writing a series outline also stops you from feeling paralyzed when starting your next book in the series. Unless you’re writing a continuing series that doesn’t have an overarching plot, like The Cat Who series, you have an overlying story that you’re telling through the series. So it’s important to understand, at least a little, how each book is going to move that main plot forward, while also being a satisfying story by itself.

For example, the main storyline of Station 86 is that there are hollow mechanical things that are killing people for seemingly no reason. This is the main issue our heroes have to face. Each story has been about some new aspect of that.

Seeming set the stage, introduced our characters and world, and established that Earth had gone dark and wasn’t sending or receiving messages.

You Can’t Trust The AI was a story about AI dogs attacking Station 86, because the Hollow Suits had taken over their home station.

Virus was a zombie sci-fi story, that happened because someone was trying to create a weapon against the Hollow Suits.

Station Central was the first one to include an actual attack by the Hollow Suits. And Nova is where we finally learn what the Hollow Suits are, and our heroes come face to face with them.

None of this was by accident. It was all in my initial series outline.

But understand that it is not set in stone

This is something I think a lot of people don’t understand about an outline. Just because you have one, doesn’t mean it can’t change dramatically. If you come up with something better, or your original outline just isn’t vibing anymore, you can redo it. You can change it. You can toss the whole thing and start over.

For example, Nova was not going to be a book at all. All the important parts were going to be flashbacks in the final book, the one I’m writing right now. Then, I realized that there was simply too much to tell, and too much I wasn’t going to have the space for if I tried to do that. It would feel rushed, and unsatisfying. So, I wrote a whole other book. And in doing so, I had to rewrite the final one.

This is why this book took so long, but that’s a whole other issue.

The important thing is that you don’t have to stick to your initial outline. Your series is going to surprise you. Let it.

Anything might happen

A series ender can bring all sorts of surprises. People who you never thought would come back might. People you never thought would get back together might. People you thought were certainly going to live to the end of the series might not.

This is when it’s time to pull no punches. This is when your character’s worlds are unraveling. It’s when they’ve leveled up, been beaten down, and are standing just outside of the big boss’s reach. Which means it’s time to go for broke.

Which sometimes means making some tough decisions. Like killing a character you didn’t want to kill. Or having a love story end badly. Because, well, that brings me to the next point.

It can look like the bad guys won

No one wants to read a book where the antagonist is a pushover. They need to be someone intimidating. Someone it seems like the hero can’t possibly beat. And so, it’s okay if it looks like good is temporarily defeated in your second to last book. Maybe their team has been thinned. Maybe they’re imprisoned. Maybe we think they’re on death’s door.

Maybe any number of things. But, it’s okay for your second to last book to not have a happy ending. I would argue it’s probably for the best. Because we all like a comeback story, right? We all love the times someone defeats all odds and comes out with a win.

That’s what your last book is for. It’s the finish line, the moment of triumph after years and years of writing for you and years of journeying for your readers. So if you want that comeback, you have to knock your character down first.

Know what’s happening in your last book

While I was writing Nova, I had a document open the whole time for notes on the last book. Because, of course, this is what it’s all been building to. And so it’s fair to say that the last two books in a series are one book, just published at different times. Never is it more important that the story should flow from the last page of one book onto the first page of the next. I’ll be honest, I was tempted to write Nova and the new book at the same time, going through drafts together as though they were one large book. I might have done that if I hadn’t let so much time lapse between Station Central and this one. But if I do another long-term series, I’ll probably do just that.

If you’re writing a long-term series, I’d love to hear about it. And if you have any suggestions or tips, let us know in the comments.

Paper Beats World is a labor of love. If you love this post, please like and share it. And if you want to support us financially, you can do so on Ko-fi.

Nova is coming out next week! You can preorder it now on Amazon.

0

Creating like a child

I’ve started taking art classes at my local library. I’ve been to two so far. We’ve painted canvas bags and decorated ceramic tiles. In both cases, mine looks like the work of a child.

I love it. I love the crafts we do. I love meeting the wonderful people who come to these events. Most of them are older ladies and it’s an uplifting environment. Everyone compliments each other’s work and shares the glue. It’s like an elementary school art class, except with people you might want to spend time with.

I am a writer. Creativity is my job. I write stories, posts, reviews, and poems about the birds I see out the window. I make graphics for social media to showcase my work. Creativity is a mainstay in my life.

And yet I am constantly looking for other ways to create. I scrapbook. I draw. I keep a bullet journal and decorate my planners for fun. Like, as a hobby. I get that a lot of people do this, and I still think it’s a little weird we’ve made a whole hobby around the book we keep to make sure everyone gets to their dentist appointment on time.

But I digress.

My writing in novels, here on the blog, in my reviews on Haunted MTL, and on social media need to be good. They at least need to be competent. I am a professional writer. So if I’m going to put out a piece of writing, it needs to be as good as I can make it. All the I’s dotted and T’s crossed. It needs to be good, professional work.

When I am crafting, none of that need apply. I can just make something. And that might be the best thing that I do. It might be the best thing you do, too.

Creation for creation’s sake

To start, creating just to create is a freeing activity. It’s a wonderful feeling, to simply make something and not worry about how it turns out. It’s a mediative, healing thing. Especially if you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, or several other emotional issues.

Physical creations are great for this. I love things like working with clay, paints, or pastels. It’s wonderful to simply feel something in our hands, to craft something that didn’t exist before you started.

I have certainly done some crafts that didn’t turn out how I wanted it to be. Lots of them. Scrapbooking pages, sketches, even a handmade snow globe. The result was, for lack of a better word, shitty.

And that’s okay. The result didn’t matter. What mattered was the act of creation. What matters is losing ourselves in the act.

As we learn this truck, we can apply it to our writing. We learn to turn off our inner critic with clay and paint by telling ourselves that it doesn’t matter if someone else likes it. And as we learn the trick of quieting the critic, we can carry that trick into our rough drafts, allowing the muse free reign to inspire work and words that you might not have thought of with the critic pointing out every perceived flaw.

Novelty is to be sought after

Every new activity stretches our understanding of the world. This might not seem to apply to something like making coasters with alcohol ink. But even that, because I’d never done it before, allowed me to experience the student mind. This is harder to activate when you’re out of school, but it’s no less important.

Learning that a new craft might be fun and accessible also allows you to find something else that can bring you joy in your life. This applies to a concept I learned from therapist Mickey Atkins on YouTube. She calls it ‘diversifying your portfolio’ in regards to things that make you happy.

The theory is this. If you are only feeling alive and enjoying life when you are doing one or two things, then a lot is riding on those things. Let’s say you’re only happy when you’re reading or writing. Well, then what do you do if you’ve read so long you have a headache? What if you’ve run out of good books? What if you have simply read so long that you’re bloody well sick of it? But there’s nothing else that makes you happy, so you read so long you make yourself even more sick of it, sucking all the joy out of something you once loved?

But if you love reading, writing, playing video games, scrapbooking, crocheting learning new cookie recipes, and watching YouTube, then you have a lot of things to do to bring joy to your day. So if one of those things fails you, you aren’t stuck.

Novelty also brings out your creativity. Anything can inspire your writing, even if it’s an evening making a canvas bag with other people. You just don’t know what it will spark until you have the experience.

We can do things just for fun

Finally, creating is fun. It’s an enjoyable experience, even if it does nothing else for us.

It can feel very much as an adult like everything we do has to be productive. Anything that’s fun without another purpose feels like a waste of time. But it’s not.

I am not doing anything productive in my craft classes. I am not learning a skill that I can make money from, or crafting things that I will then not have to purchase, thereby saving myself money. I am just having fun for the sake of having fun. I am enjoying being alive, enjoying living.

The best thing we can produce is a happy life for ourselves. A life full of things that make us joyful. A life full of things we look forward to. Otherwise, what’s the point of all of this?

If you have the chance to take a craft class in your community, I can’t suggest it enough. If you can’t, check out YouTube for some craft lessons. You never know what you might find that will bring joy to your life and inspire deeper wells of creativity.

Paper Beats World is a labor of love. If you want to support what we do, please like and share this post. You can also support us financially on Ko-fi.

Nova is available now for preorder on Amazon. Get your copy ordered now before the launch on May 17th.

0

A WordPress.com Website.

Up ↑