HelloOoOo everybody!
As a thank you for their support, I asked my newsletter subscribers to send me any of their questions regarding writing, publishing, marketing, or my personal publishing journey. And I'm here to answer them today! A lot of really great questions were submitted. These are questions that are relevant to so many writers, so definitely give this a read, because I may or may not be answering one of your questions.
Let's dive into the questions right now.
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Cricket asks,
“How did you gain the confidence to write, edit, and finally publish? I always feel like my writing isn't good enough, and I tend to put it off even though it's something I love to do.”
I don't personally know a single author who was fully confident when they published their debut novel. Even now, after a decade of doing this professionally, I still have moments where I'm like “Oh my God! I just wrote a stream of flaming hot garbage. There is nothing readable on this word document.”
These are all completely normal feelings. In fact, I'd argue that if you're about to publish your debut novel and you feel super supremely confident—you think this book is God's gift to literature—then that's a big red flag that you are delusional. Now, I'm not saying that all writers are crippled with insecurity. Just that it's normal to feel impostor syndrome from time to time.
So ultimately confidence isn't what gets you to write, edit, and publish a novel. It's sheer grit and determination. For me, it was a few things. It was my desire to prove a lot of people wrong who didn't believe in me, and it was also the fact that it was my dream to be a published author one day, and eventually make it my career. So personally, I think it's more about pushing forward despite not feeling completely confident. Surround yourself with a community of writers who will uplift you. Research storytelling so you can improve your craft. These are things that will help you gain confidence in your writing over time. And it's also worth noting that you don't have to publish to be a writer. You could write as a hobby, and that's perfectly fine.
Mia asks,
“How do you balance writing or know when it's time to take a break when you're dealing with heavier caretaker duties, or when Cliff is hospitalized?”
As a caregiver, I base whether or not I need to take a writing break exclusively on my mental health. Being a caregiver can be physically and emotionally exhausting. It can be traumatic. You can experience compassion fatigue. And it can be really hard to practice self-care when you're going through the motions. So I try to be cognizant of whether or not being a caregiver is stretching me too thin, or I'm starting to feel burnt out. Because I've experienced true burnout before, and it can take years to recover from that.
Basically, if I've been working really hard as a caregiver and my mental health is pure garbage, I'm not going to stress myself out further by writing. If there's a writing project that doesn't stress me out, and I actually feel joy and excitement while I work on it, then I'll do that. But if there's nothing like that and I just feel like a lazy sack of shit, I allow myself to be a lazy sack of shit. Ultimately, it's about listening to your body and making sure the writing doesn't put you in an unhealthy place.
Ashlyn asks,
"One question I had about publishing is if sexism plays a role, and if so, how?”
There's a ton of sexism in the publishing industry. It's not as bad as some other industries, but it's definitely there. If I list it all, we'll be here all day, so I'm just going to keep it general. Statistically, while there are more female authors than male authors, male authors tend to be taken more seriously and are more often regarded as “the greats.” Additionally, female-dominated genres are often looked down upon and not viewed as "real literature." For example, romance is the single most popular fiction genre by a landslide. Romance authors are making a killing. But because it's considered a “female genre” there's considerable sexism regarding both romance authors and romance readers.
Likewise, if a woman enters a predominantly male genre, they should expect to receive some backlash. I personally know female authors who have been shunned by their genre peers simply for being a woman. If a female author enters a predominantly male genre and decides to add a feminine touch to it, they will inevitably experience some gatekeeping. This is something we're currently seeing within the romantasy community. The fantasy genre was a boy’s club for a long time, so there are a lot of people who are really pissed that there's this new subgenre of fantasy that caters to women, and it's actually becoming more popular than the fantasy genre as a whole.
Going into a darker angle, there are quite a few predators in both the publishing and writing communities who have sexually harassed and even assaulted female authors. Some of these men have been exposed. Others haven't, because the victims aren't comfortable sharing that information. But we ladies in the community still know who you are, and we're watching you. And lastly, I've had sexist editors who wanted me to make changes to my novels that were, well, sexist.
Please do not take this point as a sign to avoid publishing. I'm doing it and I'm thriving. I'm also not telling you to avoid romance because of sexism or to stay out of male-dominated genres because of sexism. In fact, I encourage women to get into publishing just to piss off some fragile men. Make waves, dominate the industry, and let those neckbeards cry themselves to sleep. I'm kicking ass in this industry, and the misogynists who tried to bring me down are getting nowhere.
Mia asks,
“When it comes to fantasy world-building, what do you always make sure you get mapped out, and when do you say you've done enough?”
I do have several videos on this, and I also have a chapter on this in Shut Up and Write the Book that details my step-by-step world-building process, so definitely check it out. However, my general rule of thumb is this: What matters to the story and what doesn't? If it's not relevant and it's never gonna come up, I don't plan it.
For example, in The Savior's Army, my characters travel through three different realms and one of those realms is Trogolia. While they're in Trogolia, a holiday passes known as the Festival of Pleasures, thus it was necessary for me to build the details of this holiday. What is this holiday celebrating? How has it evolved over time? Because remember, holidays change. Christmas used to be a pagan holiday, and now it's Christian. But just because I went into depth planning the Festival of Pleasures, doesn't mean I need to plan all of Trogolia’s holidays, because my characters won't be celebrating those holidays. It's not relevant to the book. This is why it helps to build the plot of your story alongside your world-building because then it'll be easier to tell what is relevant to the story and what isn't.
Cat asks,
"How do you find balance between your professional writing career and your personal life? Similarly, how do you balance the business of writing and the actual process of writing?”
This is a hard question to answer because I don't really have much of a personal life. Writing is literally my favorite thing to do. It's my career and my hobby. So if I've got nothing to do, I want to be writing. The best way I can answer this question is that I listen to my body and also my anxiety. If I'm writing and I've gotten to the point where I'm second-guessing everything I put down on the page, I'm feeling neurotic and insecure about my work, that's my time to stop. I'll put away the Word doc, and I'll hang out with Cliff, we'll watch a movie, or we'll play with Butters!
As for balancing the business side of writing as well as the process of writing, it's a lot easier to do once you're established. At this point in my career, I have a virtual assistant and a junior assistant. I have an agent, an editor, and a video editor. This makes the business side of writing a lot easier to handle, so I probably only spend maybe two to three days a month working on it. When you're first getting started, I recommend devoting 1/4 of your time to the business side of writing. That means for every month, spend one week working on the business side of things. Developing your platform, researching the industry, and making connections. There may be times in your life when the business side of things takes over. Maybe you're working on contracts, or you're releasing a book, that sort of thing. If that's the case it's okay for the business side to take over so long as you don't stay in that place forever.
So that's all I've got for you today!
Thank you so much to everyone who sent in their questions! And hey, if you want the chance to have one of your writerly questions answered in a video or blog post, subscribe to my newsletter! It's awesome, you get a free story!
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