On Writing

Maybe Megaphone would be a better ubervillain name when I’m in spread-the-word mode. Or Loudmouth. Or Obnoxious Girl. Or Broadcast Babe. Hmmm … the possiblities are endless …

It’s not a competition.

Those are the words that my significant other said to me last night when I told him about the myriad of book work I was attempting to accomplish.

My response? Oh, babe. It is so a competition.

Karma Girl comes out May 1, and I have been busting my ass for the last six weeks trying to get stuff done. I’ve set up book signings and advertising and guest blogs. The last two weeks, I’ve spent about three hours a night stuffing envelopes and mailing out bookmarks to readers’ groups and bookstores around the country. Oh yeah, and I need to work on Bigtime 4 too. And my paranormal spy book. And get ready to do interviews. The list is endless …

Evidently, the way I was explaning things, my significant got the impression that I was in a contest with myself to see how much work I could do — and how crazy I can make myself. That’s not the case. I’m in a contest with all the other authors out there.

Every single one.

Because we all have books to sell, and folks only have so much disposable income. I’m a newbie, a nobody really. People don’t know who am I. They don’t know what my books are about. They don’t know that they should give me a chance to dazzle them with my brilliance and campy, fun books.

But I can fix that. And that’s what I’m trying to accomplish with all this stuff — getting the word out. And I have to compete with all the other authors already out there who want you to buy their book instead of mine. I have to compete with the other newbies scrambling for position and the heavy-hitters who already have their fan bases in place.

In short, we are all single women at a wedding, jostling and kicking and clawing in an attempt to catch that elusive bouquet — in this case, a loyal reader and climbing sales.

Don’t get me wrong. I love writing. Love books. Love reading. Love talking with other authors. Love helping people out and spreading the word about books that I’ve enjoyed or authors I think are cool stand-up people.

But I never forget that this is a competition.

Call me cold. Call me cruel and calculating. But by hokies, I want another contract. And another … and another … And if that means that I have to stuff envelopes until the wee hours of the night and visit the post office every single day for the rest of my life, well, so be it.

Folks might not buy Karma Girl, but it’s not going to be for lack of trying on my part. I’m going to work as hard as I can for as long as I can. So consider me your friendly neighborhood ubervillain, Jen-Jen, whose mission in life is to inform you about her books … and take over the world one reader at a time.

So yeah, babe, it is a contest — one I hope to win. And hey, world domination is always fun. 😎

What about you? Do you think of writing as a contest? A sublime experience? Inquiring minds want to know …

I’ve been added as a regular columnist over at Romancing the Blog. I’m going to be writing about reader interests and issues about once a month or so. Today, I’m talking about the end of the Harry Potter series. Check it out!

It’s cold outside, I’m super busy at work, and I have book revisions to do. In other words, I’m coping out and linking to some other cool blogs today. Enjoy.

Want to know about the good and bad of being published? Click on over to Romance Unleashed for the highs and lows of finally selling that first book.

For more smart talk about publishing and writing, visit Magical Musings.

For a take on happy endings, surf over to Romance Worth Killing For.

For reviews and more, check out The Good, the Bad, and the Unread. You have to love a site that paraphrases a Clint Eastwood movie.

That’s it for today. Wherever you are, stay warm! 😎

A visual dictionary? This is too cool for words. :cool: 

It sort of reminds me of how I think — namely the fact that I go off on wild tangents, especially when writing or verbally sparring with my significant other (who, incidentally, sent me this link). Somehow, we started talking about string theory the other day, despite the fact that neither one of us knew exactly what it was. (It’s something about how particles are string-like instead of one-dimensional points).

And this dictionary makes me think about all those brainstorming exercises we use to do back in school. Think of a word. Think of a word related to that word. Think of another word … Somehow, I could always go from blue to asparagus in three easy steps. Weird, I know. But that’s how I roll.

What about you? Do you like tangents in your stories? Or prefer straight lines and plots? Inquiring minds want to know …