New Year's Blah Blah Blah

2014 was a bumpy year in authorville. The second book is doing well but I'm struggling to get a third off the ground. I've been all over the place in terms of characters, plot, form, bouncing from one idea to another. I wrote an entire ms that's not quite right, along with giant chunks of two others. Maybe I wrote too much. You know, sometimes you ought to tell yourself to change out of the sweats and look up from the keyboard because this sh** isn't going anywhere.

Thankfully, I had an epiphany on Thursday, December 18th. Sorry for waiting to tell you about it :)

The afternoon began with 90 of minutes helping 100 kids (grades K & 3) make "Candy Trains," which are very messy gingerbread house type dealies. I left covered in frosting.

Isn't he darling?

From there, my third-grader and I raced to a local Panera Bread Bakery,
went inside, ordered fast, and met with a high school senior I am tutoring in writing. I ordered something delicious but full of onions. Translation: Bad breath to go with the eau-de-frosting I already had going on.

Dashed to my son's baseball clinic and thought about calling it a day. That was where my delightful husband turned up and said he'd take the boy home and I should go into Seattle for the SCBWI Holiday Meeting & Cookie Competition. I don't know why I went, but I'm so glad.

• Even though it took 90 minutes of driving in the pouring rain to get there.
• Even though I really smelled interesting.
• Even though my cookies didn't win.

It was wonderful to connect with my tribe, to hear stories of success and frustration, to admit things you can only admit to other writers. Then Martha Brockenbrough gave an inspiring presentation about the writing life in which the vital point was that THE ACT OF WRITING HAS VALUE even if a given work doesn't find its way into a binding. There was lots more but here's my take away.

1. Yes, it's worth doing what I'm doing.
2. (And this was more of an indirect lesson) I HAVEN'T BEEN WORKING HARD ENOUGH.

I've gotten cocky. A few nice reviews, and a couple of award noms (no wins) made me think I could send something imperfect to an editor. I've realized that, for whatever reason (and I know some people can sell books on a three-sentence pitch and a promise), I need to stop rushing, stop waiting for gratification because it "feels like time" to have another book in the pipeline.

I NEED TO WORK HARDER.  I NEED TO TAKE TIME. AND I NEED TO BE OKAY WITH IT.

I think, finally, I am.

PS: My friend Dawn won the Best Tasting Cookie Prize!

Happy, Happy Holidays!

Here's a present from me to you...

My 14yo photographing "his mountain."

I took up skiing as an adult. It has been a struggle to conquer fear, to develop discipline and technique, to not give up. Remind you of anything...?

WRITE ON

Fearlessly

With focus and determination

Do not stop

Go head. Go sit at the computer today! You're welcome ;)

Blogging from the ABYSS

Here we are at December again. The culminating month of the year and a time for both contemplation and celebration.

This year saw the publication of my second verse novel, THE SOUND OF LETTING GO, which has received some lovely critical notices including a star from PW and selection by the Junior Library Guild. Recently, I was delighted to learn that it's been shortlisted for the Pacific Northwest Book Awards. Can I take any credit for this? Well, I did write the book, of course but, in terms of promotion, I have done far less than I did for AUDITION.

This is a photo of salmon swimming upstream,
taken near my home this fall.
Read to the end of the post and you'll get it :)

Why?

1.  MOTHERHOOD. This year my youngest started at a new elementary school, my eight-grader has been applying to different high schools, my senior is applying to college and my eldest is a college sophomore. Can you say complex family logistics and massive needs for "mom time"? Yep, I've been busy with the kids.

2. FACING FACTS. After coordinating a cross-country bookstore tour AND an epic blog tour for AUDITION, I have concluded that as a fledgling author who is not also a reality television star, chef, or dog trainer, there is little I can do to push unit sales of my books in any cost-and-time-effective way. (CAVEAT: The AUDITION book tour, called Stages on Pages, regardless of organization, time and travel costs, was an opportunity to make amazing writer friends I have to this day so it was worth it all the same and I'd recommend authors try it at least once.)

3. LIMITS. Without massive effort, constant giveaways and the generation of a great deal of newly-written content, my blog, FB and Twitter follow stats have pretty well plateaued (sp?). At this point, I feel a strong need to conserve my writing energy for a number of fiction projects that are exciting me beyond belief. I AM WRITING STORIES. In support of this decision, you can search the webs for articles about blogger burnout, the pros and cons of social media for authors, and agents reminding writers to focus on producing their very best work.

Yet, I continue to blog, albeit less than before, because I love keeping this online account of my writing journey and occasionally celebrating the work of other writers. I hope some folks out there in the virtual abyss stumble onto my blog and find it useful. I suppose what I most want to convey here is the VALUE of this writing life, no matter the financial outcome, no matter that sometimes we hunch over the keyboard feeling like we're accomplishing little more than salmon struggling upstream. Readers, however you got here, please know that the stories you tell MATTER and that IN YOUR belief in the act of writing as a vital component of the act of living, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Rewarding Courage with a Long Nap

Following up on my previous CHICKEN-HEART post, I am happy to report that last night, after many days of angsting, rereading and tweaking, I sent my completed ms, along with a synopsis and opening chapters of something new, to my editor with the note: 

"Yes, you can read this now." 

This morning, I woke up early, made breakfast for the kids, packed lunches, loaded the dishwasher and...went back to bed for an hour. 

It was a delightful treat and a necessary break from thinking about the fact that I have again let pages fly out into the universe which I find awfully stressful. I am not alone. Scrolling through the social media portals of writers, you will find... 

• laments over weight gained while revising
• opuses on the struggle to stay physically active while committing to daily word counts
• worries about giving up paying jobs to take a risk on one's own fiction
• panic Tweets about being out on sub
• and general musings on the tension between writer-life and, well, life.

Being a writer takes courage, people.

In sum, I'm just saying I think I earned my nap. And it was faaaantastic.

Are you writing this summer?

Summer is a challenge for the writer-mom. The beautiful, reliable schedules of the school year have fallen to late night family poker games, pilgrimmages to SafeCo field to watch the Mariners play, and hours spent shuttling kids to drama camps, baseball clinics and so on. S'mores? We've made 'em. Thrice.

With a manuscript nearly done, I am torn between my desire to make memories with the kids (particularly my eldest who is briefly home from college) and my deep love of routine, my anxiety about getting to the end of this new story. I've also got several freelance jobs awaiting my attention and things are starting to break down in the house (broken drawer in kitchen; irremovable stain on living room rug; and the dust, oh the dust!).

So, where does that leave me?

I have not cracked the spine of a single book I've been saving for summer reading. I have not knocked off any freelance jobs. The manuscript still hovers at 350 pages of not-yet-finished.

I can't figure out whether I'm procrastinating OR I've lost my touch OR I'm reprioritizing OR I'm burnt out OR spending too much time on social media (well, I am doing that, too) OR what. Am I lazy? Maybe. Am I depressed somehow? Who knows? I keep wanting to get the book done and then failing.

Some days I feel ready to really focus on the work and then the phone rings and somebody needs a ride or a bit of conversation. Or the sun starts to set and my husband gets home from work and suggests we open a bottle of wine. Or I go to sit at the computer and get that LOOK from my eight-year-old that reminds me about the weight of the guilt I carry over ignoring my family to write.

This post has reached the point at which it requires an upside, some insight...A CONCLUSION. Have you got one?

When to let go of your book...and what that really means for a writing career.

On February 6, 2014, my second novel, THE SOUND OF LETTING GO hit the shelves. It got lovely reviews and sold better than the first novel, AUDITION. Now, on the brink of July, the book hovers above the Amazon rankings million mark. Despite great feedback from teens, librarians and adult readers, it hasn't made lists, YALSA or otherwise. My Google alerts (I know, turn them off) begin with free download links so, thanks internet. I'm doing a Goodreads giveaway to remind people I exist and have spent wasted $50 on a Goodreads ad. And I've been toying with some summer promo. But maybe it's time to let go. I've done all I can and the time has come to focus on the next manuscript. That's logical, right?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Sound of Letting Go

by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Giveaway ends August 09, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Here's the catch in terms of a baseball metaphor in honor of my 8yo son: The odds of continuing a writing career after two base hits but no home runs are worse than the odds of the Mariners winning the World Series. You can write the book of your heart. It can be fantastic and beautiful. But you're tainted goods. You've been tried in the big leagues and come up short. Publishers, like ball club managers, now weigh the odds of betting on you a third time (heck, a few seasons of experience probably HAVE made you a better writer) or signing a fresh-faced, sales-figure-unblemished rookie debut novelist too green to realize the marketing department is ignoring them. OR they could pass on you AND somebody else and sign a sexy nerd superstar like Neil Gaiman or John Green or Andrew Smith who you will never be due to your enormous knockers (your welcome, hubs!) (and yes, that is me being a touch cynical & bitter).

What to do? Give up this business? Realize it's a chew-you-up-spit-you-out endeavor and even many editors wind up bailing so writers are likely to finish as casualties? Self-pub, try to monetize your blog, write swill for hire for the insurance industry? Realize you rolled the dice, lost and it's time to leave the table? Go back to school for your teaching certificate or an MBA?  Focus of marriage, parenting, friendships, communities less focused on word counts?

I know this isn't pretty. It's not meant to be a downer, either. However, I have met many wonderful writers in this business and, as we "grow up" together, these are the endgame questions for most of us. Prescriptives? Suggestions? Writing prompt for the week? Nah. But I'll leave with this fact:

Me? I'm still writing. So my Twitter description must be right. I am SLIGHTLY CRAZY! 

On July 30, 2007...

I wrote my first post at Writer on the Side. That's nearly seven years ago. At the time, I was writing plays, not novels. I had no agent, no book deal. My youngest son was not yet two. I hadn't skied on any run that wasn't green.

In the seven years since I started chronicling my writing journey, I've achieved some writing goals, survived two rounds of driver's ed, seen my eldest off to college, taught, choreographed, and skied a black diamond. The requirement that authors have an internet presence to support book sales has gone from "give it a try" to "you must" to "kind of optional unless you've a YouTube channel, a Tumblr, and a kazillion Twitter followers since the rest of you struggling author types are pretty much white noise."

I've watched some book bloggers succeed marvelously, some give up, and some become authors in their own right. I've seen some authors have great success, some flame out, and some continue to tread the waters of the midlist, like me.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Sound of Letting Go

by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Giveaway ends August 09, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

So, why am I still blogging? Do I have some great revelation to share? Nope. But this blog is a nice memento. A kind of public personal journal. And, for what it's worth, here are a few micro-insights:

• Blogging helps you figure out your internet presence and is an inexpensive online "home base" for authors who aren't super tech-savvy
• It's up to you whether you want to be snarky and political, or peace-loving and rather neutral. I've seen authors succeed both ways but it's best to choose and not flip-flop
• Goodreads Giveaways are effective and generally well-subscribed (I'm running one above, see?!).
• Rafflecopter giveaways on your own blog are not worth the cost of prize mailing UNLESS you engage the help of other bloggers to publicize your giveaway.
• The blogger community is amazing and blog tours for books are tremendously helpful for getting the word out about your books but don't overdo it--the community is fab but insular
• Make peace with who you are as a writer, self-marketer, and PERSON-OUTSIDE-OF-THE-WRITING/BLOGGING-WORLD. Your family needs you, too. Probably more than your computer :)
• Don't blog at the expense of writing your books!

I'm not bitter...a midlist author's thoughts about the BIG BOOK CONFERENCES

As we wrap up the frenzied and fabulous spring conference season, let me be the first to tell you that BEA and ALA are awesome. If you haven’t been, you should go. Invite yourself. Anyone can buy a pass to the exhibit halls and they're amazing. 

This year (and last), however, I made it to neither. As a midlist author, you don't get invited to much. While missing book events is a bummer, it can be depressing wandering  through convention centers beneath enormous posters celebrating John Green, Laini Taylor and Andrew Smith while you worry whether anyone will ever want you to sign anything.

Am I jealous? A little. But after decades in the biz, I've got perspective. So many books are being published so fast and the industry is in such a state of confusion that you can’t be bitter if your book isn't chosen as your imprint’s banner title. Writing, like acting, dancing, filmmaking, ice skating and baseball (look at farm teams, everybody) are tough, competitive and (for most) low-paying professions BUT...

That is because we've chosen to try to make a career doing something we LOVE, something LOTS of people are willing to work at for very little compensation. Let's not pretend we didn't see this going in. We get to be WRITERS; nobody ever promised us more than that. The amazing Nova Ren Suma writes compellingly about keeping perspective on writing on her blog while encouragement for fighting the good fight is given by Elizabeth Eulberg via Novel Novice.

So, I'm not griping. I'm facing facts and celebrating the choice I have made. How? By giving stuff away. Enter and celebrate with me! Who’s partying now, huh? Okay, okay, it’s still the BEA people but you get it!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Sound of Letting Go

by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Giveaway ends August 09, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

A Summer Giveaway...

Here are some truths about me:

• I am not Veronica Roth.
• I did not write the amazing Grasshopper Jungle nor the delightful Eleanor & Park.
• I did not get to go to Book Expo America this year, therefore...
• There was no giant flag featuring the cover of my latest book hanging from the ceiling of the Javits Center.

But I'm hanging in. I'm writing and teaching. I'm walking my dog. I invented a pretty amazing recipe for a sort of tiramisu/trifle thingy bathed in dark chocolate. And, despite not having been the toast of NYC...

I'M HOPING YOU MIGHT WANT TO WIN MY BOOK ANYWAY

(honestly, it's been getting great reviews and I think you may enjoy it)

I'm giving away 2 signed hardcover copies PLUS swag

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Sound of Letting Go

by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Giveaway ends August 09, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Feeding-the-Family Gripes & T-G-I-Friday Fun

T. S. Eliot called it "cruel" but, thus far (and despite launching a novel in February), April is shaping up to be the busiest month of my 2014. It's Poetry Month AND Autism Awareness Month. I'm THIS CLOSE to finishing a new ms. My sons are playing Lacrosse, Ultimate Frisbee and Flag Football which means that I am doing a lot of standing on sidelines in the rain. Oh, did I mention the kitchen faucet is leaking? And the garage is sorely in need of cleaning? And the family needs meals EVERY DAY? Okay, done griping. (Honestly, none of the above counts as a real problem.) Here comes the fun!

Over on Facebook, PENGUIN TEEN is doing a great Poetry Month book giveaway:

I'm sending some SWAG out into the world this month in support of Autism Awareness--you can ENTER HERE.

That's just the beginning. At the end of the month, @VikingChildren's will be hosting a Twitter Chat with MOI via the hashtag #TSOLG with prizes AND suprises! More on that soon!

Hope you have a fun and sunny first Friday in April!

Things every writer needs...

As we all know, the writing life is glamorous. It's all private jets, chocolate dipped strawberries and champagne. Oops, that's Oprah's life. And maybe John Green's.

Let me try again...for most of us the writing life is a big of a slog. It's all about frantically checking your Amazon stats, struggling to write and submit another novel, and drinking cold coffee.

Having lived the writing life for several years, I've decided to share with you a short list of MUST-HAVES so that you, to, can enjoy this enviable lifestyle.

1. FUZZY SLIPPERS. Replace yearly or when they begin to, well, smell.
2. A GOOD COFFEE MAKER or TEA KETTLE, depending on your preference in the hot-brown-beverage department. NICE MUGS are also good.
3. A PLACE TO WORK THAT HAS A WINDOW. Just admit it. You don't go outside much because you zealously guard your at-the-computer time and between that and the laundry, there's not a lot of daylight left. (Added tip: Occasionally wash said window.)
4. A PET. Good to have someone to talk to who will never give
   
   editorial feedback. Also, helpful for warmth if you can't find the aforementioned slippers. Mine is a dog, pictured here with two of my humans.
5. A NICE OUTFIT. Even if you prefer one-on-one time with your keyboard, it is important to attend the occasional conference, writing class, or author event and even participate in non-literary social activities. This outfit should not consist of your "best" jeans with a top. Get a whole outfit. No denim and no fleece (okay the fleece may just be my problem)!

What have I missed? Please share in the comments below!

Back to Business: RESEARCH ON VIRTUAL MARKETING

I am writing an article about the ways authors (traditionally and self-published) use the internet to promote their books. I would be so grateful if you would take the survey below. I promise that I will contact you for permission in you say something "quotable" and I'll post a link to the article when it pubs! THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME!