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Nink: How to Build a Strong Relationship with Your Editor

This article by Joanne Grant is from the May 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

Like any relationship, the relationship you build with an editor may take time. But when it’s right, it can be magical and beneficial to your publishing career. Here are some key tips to help foster a healthy rapport with your editor.

I want to note up front that relationships require respect and effort from both parties. You cannot control how your editor works, but you can set the tone of how you want to work together to get the best result from your relationship.

Professionalism
First and foremost, your relationship should be professional. This is at the root of your healthy editor/author relationship and everything else stems from here. I don’t mean you should only behave in a strictly formal, business-like manner. I’ve had some of the most amazing, fun times with my authors over the years that were certainly not formal!

Professionalism is remembering that fundamentally an editor and author are two business people entering into a legal agreement from which both will benefit: your publisher wants your book, you want your book to be published, and therefore you both stand to make money from each other.

All good relationships are based on mutual trust and, whilst this can take time to earn and build, remembering that it is a professional relationship can help with this. Trust that your editor has the best interests of your work at heart because they want your books to be successful—it is their job!

  • Professionalism shows itself in the way you hold up your end of the publishing deal. This includes:
  • Putting in your best effort to produce quality work.
  • Being open to constructive feedback and executing revisions—the revision process benefits both parties.
  • Taking personal responsibility for your work, such as fact checking and improving your craft.
  • Keeping to deadlines, but being in touch in good time if you’re behind schedule. Your editor will thank you as they are working multiple deadlines.

Communication
Communication is key: when it goes wrong, it can cause unnecessary worry and conflict and cause long-term damage by undermining trust. If your editor doesn’t ask how you prefer to work and communicate, then I would actively encourage you to raise the conversation.

For example, you may find telephone conversations difficult, preferring to receive feedback in writing first so you can absorb the information and follow-up with a call. Or perhaps you prefer the immediacy of a call to discuss your work so you can bounce around ideas and solutions. There is no right way to work with your editor, only the right way for you.

Your editor will likely have a default style of working but that doesn’t mean they can’t adjust to your needs. But they won’t know if their way of working isn’t good for you unless you tell them!

The practicalities of working life mean that email will be the primary mode of communication, and we all know how easily emails can be misinterpreted. For example, a terse response to a simple question may leave you thinking, “Have I done something wrong?” or “What are they not telling me?” when in fact, the email was bashed out quickly to get the information to you in between meetings. Which is why I feel a lot can be gained in building a rapport and clearing up misunderstandings through an occasional conversation, even if you prefer emails.

Furthermore, in an ideal world authors and editors would meet once a year in person. So much can be achieved in terms of relationship building if it’s face to face. After all, most of human communication is non-verbal, plus it opens up opportunities for that fun I referenced.

However, I worked for years with authors I never had the chance to meet, yet managed to build good relationships, so you can work with what you’ve got.

Here are some further tips on effective communication between you and your editor:

  • Be open and honest about concerns and misunderstandings rather than letting them fester.
  • Keep communication respectful in tone and language.
  • Use moderate responses in reaction to revisions, publishing news, etc. Remember, it’s a business relationship. If you feel the need, vent first, delete, re-write, then send.
  • Be patient in waiting for a response from your editor, even if two days feels like two weeks when you’ve sent in your latest manuscript.

Boundaries
As you work together and build up trust and respect, it is likely you will connect on a personal level. This is part of the author/editor relationship that can be so special. I went on to become long-term friends with authors and that personal connection for me was a truly wonderful part of being an editor.

However, being mindful of the boundary between personal and professional is important to protect you both. Your editor is your cheerleader, your in-house champion, but they fundamentally represent the publisher and there may come a time when they need to deliver some difficult news. For example, they may have to relate sales results, an advance rollback or even that your contract is not being renewed. When the boundary is in place you can more readily accept the news as a business decision or an aspect of the marketplace. However, if you’re too far over that boundary, it can hurt you on a personal level, knock your confidence and break that bond with your editor.

So, can you protect yourself and still have that fun, easy rapport with your editor? I believe you can, and again, it all comes down to professionalism. Here are some suggestions:

  • If you don’t have one already, consider hiring an agent as your mediator. They can handle the main business chats so you can focus on the creative process with your editor.
  • Even with an agent, remind yourself that your editor is working on behalf of the publisher. “It’s not personal, it’s business” is a good mantra.
  • Keep aware of when the personal chit-chat ends and the business talk begins. Separate them if necessary, and/or ask your editor to clearly signpost specific business conversations so you’re not blindsided.
  • If you do get to have an in-person meet with your editor which is more social in tone, recognise when the time for work chat has ended and don’t overstep that boundary.

What to do when it’s not working…
Like any relationship, it may not work out, often with no fault on either side; you’re just not a good match. If you find yourself in a situation with an editor that is becoming detrimental to your writing, it is important for your own career to address it.

I know from experience that authors are wary of “complaining” about their editor because they like their editor and don’t want to upset them, they worry that they’ll be seen as troublesome, or think it may harm their career at that publisher. None of these reasons are coming from a place of professionalism or healthy boundaries.

Let’s get back to what this relationship is all about: selling books. If you cannot produce your best work because this relationship is failing, then it is in the publisher’s best interest to look for ways to fix this.

So, what can you do?

  • I would encourage a conversation with your editor first to see if you can find a resolution to whatever issue is at play. Often it is a misunderstanding caused by a communication disconnect and an honest conversation can help.
  • If you’ve tried to address this with your editor directly, or don’t feel as though you can, then involve senior members of the editorial team. You can speak to them directly, or go through your agent.

Remember, you are under contract with a publisher who wants your books, so finding a solution is beneficial to both parties.

Keep in mind these three key points: professionalism, communication and boundaries. They will help lay the foundations for a strong relationship with your editor. A healthy relationship benefits your publishing career, because when you’re connecting well with your editor, that’s when the magic happens. You’ll produce your best work and you may even have some fun along the way.

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Joanne Grant is an editorial coach with over 16 years of editorial expertise working for Harlequin. Joanne has edited hundreds of romance novels over the years and understands how to coach authors of all genres to overcome their barriers and deliver their best work. If you’re interested in finding out how she can help you achieve your writing goals, get in touch—Joanne loves to chat! For inspiration, tips and offers, sign up for her newsletter, join her Facebook group Motivation for Writers! or connect on Twitter @JoanneMGrant.

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Nink ~ Finding the Sweet Spot: Using Keywords and Market Research to Plan Your Novel or Series

This article, written by Tara Wyatt is from the April 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

Starting a new book or series can be daunting, especially if you’re not sure what you want to write is marketable. Using keyword research and market analysis can help you determine where you fit in the current marketplace. It can also improve your chances of writing a more marketable, sellable book. Even if you’re writing in a tiny niche, keywords can show where your book fits in today’s marketplace.

In this article, we’ll cover how to do the actual research (both the paid way and the free way), and we’ll take a look at author Ines Johnson and how she put keyword research to use in planning her wildly successful series.

It starts with you
Get clear on something crucial before you start diving into this exciting market research. What do you want to write? There will be people who tell you to write the “book of your heart” and others who’ll tell you to write to market. I don’t think those two things are necessarily separate. If you look at the Magical Diagram of Writing Happiness you’ll see that there’s a sweet spot where what you want to write overlaps with what’s selling in your genre. Using keyword and market research can help you find this sweet spot and nail down where your book fits.

But before you start digging into the metadata available, you need to come to it with an understanding of what you want to write.

If you write romance, know what subgenre you’re writing in, whether it’s contemporary, historical or paranormal, for example. Know what heat level you’re aiming for – are you sweet, or are you so spicy your books melt readers’ Kindles? If you see something dominating the bestseller list, you don’t need to pivot your plans to follow the trend. Don’t write a dragon shifter romance if you’re not interested in writing a dragon shifter romance. Part of the beauty of keyword and market research is finding where you fit. I believe we can all find that sweet spot where you’re writing what makes you happy while satisfying the needs of readers.

Once you know what you want to write, it’s time to delve into the nitty gritty of keyword and market research.

 

 

Paid vs. free keyword research
When it comes to doing keyword research, you can either spend money or you can spend time. The size of your budget and where you are in your writing career will likely inform this decision. If your time is limited and you want the research done for you, then I highly recommend a tool called K-lytics. K-lytics is a website where you can purchase reports that analyze the ebook market. The reports are divided by genre, and examine sales volume, rank momentum, pricing, competition levels, keywords, tropes, and categories. The reports are quite lengthy and detailed, but everything you could possibly want is at your fingertips. All you have to do is sort through and analyze the information in front of you.

However, there are a couple of drawbacks to using K-lytics. It’s a helpful resource, but far from free. Individual reports start at $37, and each report only focuses on one genre or subgenre. So, if you’re researching multiple genres, it can get pricey quickly. Another drawback is that all of the data is from Amazon. And while Amazon is still far and away the number one platform, it doesn’t take into account other ebook vendors, such as Apple, Nook, Google or Kobo. Lastly, reports are only released or updated once per year, and as we all know, a lot can change in a year. There’s a small chance you’re working with slightly outdated information. That being said, I still believe K-lytics reports are useful tools – more on that in a bit.

If you don’t want to spend the money, then you’ll have to spend the time to do the research yourself. Start by examining the top 100 bestselling books in your genre or subgenre, and drill down as far as the bestseller list will let you. For example, if you’re writing a romance set in 1308, don’t just look at the historical romance bestsellers. Drill down to medieval romance and start looking at the top 100 books in that category. Read the blurbs to see what keywords jump out at you and write them down. Not only is jotting down keywords part of researching the market, but it’s an excellent brainstorming exercise. For example, you might write down keywords such as “castle,” “knight,” “time travel,” “bride,” “royalty,” “highlander,” and so on. Playing with the keywords in different combinations can spark story ideas that are still fresh, but fit the current marketplace. You’re writing what you want – a medieval romance – but with an eye on the market thanks to your research.

From reading the blurbs, you can also glean an understanding of what the popular tropes are, and you should write those down as well. For example, you might have tropes such as marriage of convenience, forbidden love, handsome protector, and enemies to lovers written down. Just like keywords, these function as both market research and brainstorming fodder.

While looking at the top 100 books, pay attention to the books’ other categories. Make a note of how the books are priced, if they’re part of a series, and any commonalities among the covers. Is the trend to have a couple? A single shirtless man? A woman in a gorgeous gown? What colors and fonts stand out? Look at all the metadata available to you, even page count because this will give you a sense of word count in the most popular books in your desired category.

Coming back to your list of keywords, open a private or incognito window in your browser, head to Amazon and start searching. See what other suggestions come up when you type “time travel romance” and look at the books in your search results. Doing this kind of research can be tedious and time consuming, but also invaluable when it comes to understanding the market and where the book you want to write will fit.

Putting it all together: keyword analysis and market research in action
Overwhelmed yet? Don’t be. While the process can seem daunting, it’s not. To walk us through a real-life example, I spoke to author Ines Johnson, who writes sweet romance under the pen name Shanae Johnson. Johnson used keyword research and K-lytics reports when planning to launch her new pen name.

“I knew I wanted to jump into the sweet [romance] market and I wanted to have that as a second business to complement my steamy name,” said Johnson. To learn more about the market, she turned to K-lytics and spent a lot of time pouring over the data in that year’s clean romance report. “I was interested in what tropes were popular with clean and wholesome romance. I was interested in what keywords were the most popular as well as what people were typing into Amazon. I wanted to see any patterns. I wanted to understand how to price my books.”

From this research, her popular series The Brides of Purple Heart Ranch was born. Johnson analyzed the keywords in the report to come up with a series concept that fit the sweet category, but that hadn’t already been done to death. Using the K-lytics report, she was able to gain an understanding of what readers in her target category (what she knew she wanted to write) were interested in and wanting more of. She also learned what to avoid and what was oversaturated. By analyzing the tropes, categories, keywords and trends, Johnson was able to craft a unique series concept, price it appropriately, give it covers that fit with the bestselling books in her subgenre, and realize her dream of paying her bills with her writing.

“When I first started, my goal was to make $85 a day because that [added up to] $2500 a month. That’s what it cost me to pay my rent, buy groceries, pay the electric bill and get my kids to and from school,” said Johnson. Using keyword research to plan a series – by writing both what she wanted and something that fit within the marketplace, she accomplished her goal.

Now Johnson uses her strategy to energize her backlist as well. “I think we forget about the backlist,” she said. “It’s already written; how can we keep selling those books? New release money is nice but backlist money is constant. So, look at the bestseller list, look at what’s hot and trending now. How can that apply to your backlist?”

Ways to improve the backlist include re-writing blurbs to emphasize popular tropes or keywords, or rebranding with new covers.

Whether you choose to spend the money or the time, engaging in keyword and market research is invaluable for authors who want their books to find a home in today’s crowded marketplace. It’s possible to write both the book of your heart and a book that will sell. You just have to find that sweet spot. Understanding the market will help you do just that.

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Tara Wyatt is a contemporary romance author who lives near Toronto, Ontario. Known for her heat and her humor, her books have won several awards. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing with her daughter, reading or bingeing Netflix with her husband.

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Nink ~ A License To Steal: My Annual Conversations with a Special Agent for the IRS

This article, written by Patricia Burroughs is from the April 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

Ever heard of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Special Agents?

They’re the folks who bring down the mob when the FBI can’t. They also back up the Secret Service when needed, as they are all special Treasury Department agents.

One of them married my best friend.

Poor guy. For a few years he fielded my annual phone calls about whether or not something was deductible – always with my justification for why it should be deductible for me, a writer.

Fortunately, the Special Agent always found my latest research expenses entertaining, and always responded, “Yes, for you that would be deductible.”

This finally resulted in his pronouncement made with a lot of humor and no little bit of awe:

“Pooks, being a writer is having a license to steal.”
Let me give credit where credit is due. I’m not a tax professional of any kind, nor would I ever give anybody tax or legal advice. I only knew what unexpected expenditures might be deductible from the collective experiences of many other writers since I first became a Schedule C-filing writer in 1986.

It’s all in the name of research. Only a writer’s R&D is a wee bit different from a tech firm’s.

Let’s look.

All it took was 17 years of newspaper subscriptions and two words.
Case Study No. 1: From the beginning, authors told me that every movie I watched, every book I bought, etc., was deductible as research – not just the ones specific to subjects I was writing about right then. This even included newspaper and magazine subscriptions.

As if on cue, an author friend who had claimed her daily newspaper subscription for years saw a small filler article buried deep in the back. Two words jumped out at her. Two words, and she was off to start scribbling down her idea.

The words? Heir hunter.

The newspaper gave a few bare facts about a private eye who specialized in finding heirs for wills that need to be settled.

Carol Jerina sold that romantic comedy/adventure, Tropic Gold. It took years of time and reading and subscription fees before she found those two words but they paid off.

“I wish somebody would pay me to write about wine.”
Case Study No. 2: Editor and SFF author Laura Anne Gilman is a wine aficionado. She and her agent were commiserating one day about a food and wine expo they both yearned to attend but couldn’t because of work and expense.

“Write a fantasy about wine,” her agent said and they both laughed.

The next day Laura Anne sent back an outline for a fantasy trilogy where the magic was in wine. Not stopping at the kind of book that would justify the expenses of a wine expo or two, in her world each wine’s magical powers were influenced by the soil they were grown in, the very things that make regional wines different in our world. Her agent sold it, and Laura Anne took a dream trip to vineyards across Europe, to learn first-hand about the way the soil and climate affected the wines, the way they might go wrong, or how they might go very, very right. Those wine regions became the basis of the lands in her fantasy world, their terrain, weather, and other details provided by their European counterparts.

The first book in The Vineart Wars trilogy, Flesh & Fire, was on Library Journal’s “Best Books of 2009” list and was a Nebula Nominee for Best Novel that same year.

“Every trip I take is a research trip. Every. Single. One. I make sure of it.”
Case Study No. 3: Another writer considers almost every trip he takes as research because his magpie brain is collecting ideas everywhere he goes. He buys books – often many books – about local history that tantalizes him and about the local fauna and flora. He buys a local newspaper so he’ll have a deeper feel for what the place is like. He always talks to people; he’s a people person. But these conversations also become more research as he jots down any local jargon or phrasings along with brief notes on an attitude, a facial tic, any significant details that seem idiosyncratic to this place.

Once he’s home he organizes his notes, adds to them as things pop up from his memory, and jots down the story ideas that might have flitted through his muse’s imagination, if there are any. He “sets up the desk,” so to speak, so it will be organized and at his fingertips whether he returns to it in 10 days or 10 years. It may not be sheer happenstance that this material, along with his receipts from the trip, might come in handy if he gets audited.

He’s been surprised at what he ends up using later and how he uses it, but then should he be? He wouldn’t have been drawn to those tantalizing and peculiar things in the first place if they hadn’t tickled his muse.

The reason so many of writers claim deductions for every single book they buy, movie they rent, symphony they attend, trip they take, etc., is because they are research.

For writers, everything is grist for the mill.
We all know this because we all can point to ideas that seemingly came from nowhere. But where do you think those alluvial layers of creativity in our brains come from in the first place?

They accumulate in layer over layer of experience, reading, watching, learning, even hearing music that raises the hair on our arms. They become the primordial soup where stories begin.

Educators often look for the siblings of a gifted child to also show giftedness. Genetic? Maybe, but there’s more. The same family culture that allowed that giftedness to broaden – often being read to, being given experiences beyond the home – will be at play with the younger siblings, as well

That’s our brains – our gifted children that need to be fed with a vastness of input from many directions if we want to create.

But just between us, is it realistic to claim all my reading expenses?
Reading is research, even when it doesn’t seem like it.

Books, movies, and television, can be our continuing education. They keep us current on the marketplace – what genres are trending, what kinds of books are selling.

Beyond that, whether we’re reading a centuries old classic or the hot, fluffy new comic novel that everybody’s talking about – we’re always analyzing and assessing at some level; we may be noting story structure or character tells or new voices. How many times have you been distracted from the story you’re watching or reading because the writer made a misstep and it annoyed you? Because the plot is lagging and you’re now analyzing what should have been cut instead of who the killer will cut next? How many writers have said, “I just can’t enjoy books or movies anymore because I end up dissecting them?”

And then there are all the sparks of ideas we’ve been talking about. Ideas pop up even if we are supposedly reading something that has nothing to do with what we write, even if we’re reading true crime and writing sweet romance.

In Case Study No. 1, that newspaper subscription didn’t look like research to a non-writer eventually paid off with two words that led to a contract, advance, and royalties.

The writer in Case Study No. 2 grabbed the power to make her passion tax deductible. She fanned the flames into a trilogy that took her on a dream trip she’d never have been able to afford otherwise.

In Case Study No. 3, the writer considers every trip he takes as a research trip and claims the expenses on his taxes. He likes the deductions on his Schedule C, but knows that any of the materials he picks up or buys can end up in an article, a novel, a short story, or a screenplay.

The bottom line for any deduction in the case of an audit is, can you prove it is valid?
Prove you spent the money and keep those receipts. It’s then up to the auditor to determine whether said expenses were spent in the pursuit of your business rather than your hobby. You have to justify it as a business expense.

One friend has been audited more than once and has never had to prove a thing. She explained to the auditor that she was a pro writer first published in whatever year, and had published novels, short stories, and articles. Her secret weapon was the thick file folders of ongoing projects. She figured they wouldn’t want to dig through them but, if they did, she’d let them know that the rest of her proof was still in the car, that she hadn’t wanted to carry in the boxes unless absolutely necessary. She didn’t need them, but she’d been prepared to prove her claims.

Look, taxes are scary. Everybody’s tax situation is different. As a reminder, none of the above is meant as tax advice.

But as for that license to steal?

This is our truth. We aren’t stealing anything.
We spin straw into gold, and if we learn how to make that straw more financially beneficial to our bottom line? That’s just business.

And you do.

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Award-winning screenwriter and novelist Patricia Burroughs is a lifelong Anglophile. She travels the British Isles researching The Fury Triad, the epic YA romantic fantasy that she is currently completing. She knows which dog breeds get capitalized and which do not. She and her husband are living happily-ever-after in Dallas.

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Nink: Common Barriers Writers Face – and How to Overcome Them

This article by Joanne Grant is from the March 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

I have worked with writers long enough to recognise that the key to success relies not only on skill and talent, but a strong self-belief and a mindset for growth. I have also noticed a number of common barriers that writers face that threaten to hold them back. In this article, I am going to focus on three of these barriers and offer some tips on how to identify them and overcome them.

Perfectionism
There is nothing wrong with an attention to detail when it comes to your writing. It shows care and professionalism, and your editor will thank you for it! However, perfectionism in its most extreme form is toxic, inhibiting, and can not only hold you back, but sap potential joy from your writing too.

When perfectionism becomes problematic
You may describe yourself as a perfectionist because you always try your best, or are striving to improve—these are pursuits to be encouraged. It becomes problematic when you’re torturing yourself with another proofread, or editing to such a degree that you can’t move forward and it becomes detrimental to you and/or your work.

At its worst, perfectionism can prevent work from being finished, but for the published perfectionist, it doles out a punishment of a different type.

If you’re always striving for perfection, feedback wounds deeply, and there is a nagging feeling that you could’ve done better. But no book will ever be “perfect” because nothing created is beyond criticism. As a result, these writers never feel satisfied with their achievements as they strive for the impossible: perfection.

Overcoming perfectionism
If you can relate to this, then don’t worry—you can make steps to wean yourself off this unhealthy habit whilst maintaining quality, because the likelihood is your perfectionist tendencies are contributing little, or any value to your work.

Step 1: Ask yourself, what is the worst thing that could happen if you were to dial back on your perfectionism a notch? Be honest about it.

Step 2: Commit to dialling back your perfectionism a step or two. For example, if you habitually proof your manuscript five times before submitting to your editor, reduce it to three times.

Step 3: Sit back and analyse the results of your experiment through the lens of your worst-case scenario. Has your editor actually sacked you because you only proofed your manuscript three times? No, didn’t think so!

Recognise that perfectionism can slow you down, cause you pain, and the amount of time you’re putting in is likely disproportionate to the outcome.

As with anything, the more you practise reducing your perfectionist tendencies, the easier and more natural it will become.

Inner critic

Whether you call it your inner critic, your inner editor or something else, that voice that crops up when you’re writing and makes you doubt yourself can be a real barrier to creativity. But how can you tell the difference between your own voice and the inner critic?

Identifying the inner critic
The inner critic is sneaky. It often sounds like your own voice, but it can sometimes take on the tone of someone you know such as a teacher, parent or editor. This can make it easier to identify. Either way, the inner critic is usually negative or downright mean, with its agitated or worried tone. It speaks in definite terms that welcome no discussion; there are no shades of grey and things are either good or bad.

Underneath it all, your inner critic is trying to keep you safe by holding you back from something you are fearful of. It taps into that fear, exploits it, and sadly, if you believe these negative statements, can become self-fulfilling.

The good news is once you’ve recognised your inner critic, you can tackle it!

Overcoming your inner critic
The key thing to remember about your inner critic is that it offers opinions, not facts. If you question these opinions, you’ll discover there is little or no evidence for them. Next time your inner critic shows up, try this exercise.

Step 1: Distance yourself from the inner critic by referring to it as “you” rather than “I.” For example, change:

“I’m the worst writer in the world!” to “You think I’m the worst writer in the world.”

Naming your inner critic can further help create this distance.

Step 2: Address your inner critic calmly by thanking them for their opinion, then ask them politely to leave. They’re less likely to argue back if you take this approach.

Step 3: Replace the negative statement with one that is more balanced, rational and realistic:

“I may not be the best writer in the world, but I can work to improve!”

Once you start to recognise the inner critic at work, you can unravel these negative statements by questioning the truth of them and replacing them with a realistic, proactive thought to keep you moving forward, rather than holding you back.

Comparison
Have you ever seen a post, blog or tweet from a writer sharing how quickly they’ve finished their first draft, or they’ve just landed (what seems like) another book deal and it’s made you feel bad? I don’t mean a pang of jealousy, that you soon forget, I’m talking about a reaction that lingers and negatively affects you and your writing.

Maybe it triggers your inner critic on all the reasons why you’ll never be like those other writers. Or the green-eyed monster is in full flow commenting that some writers get all the luck.

Whatever the reaction, it sucks away your motivation, confidence and creativity. You know logically there is no malicious intent directed at you, and that what is posted on social media isn’t always the truth or the full picture, but the damage is done all the same.

So, what can you do to address this?

Overcoming the comparison trap
You now have some tips to quieten down the inner critic, but if this is something that really affects you, next time something sets you off, try this exercise.

Step 1: Ask yourself, why does it make me feel this way, what is really going on? This may be uncomfortable because you’re taking the focus internally, rather than blaming your feelings externally on the post or the person, for the way you feel.

Step 2: Take whatever it is at the root of what affects you and decide what you can do about it.

For example, if those posts about high word counts make you feel inferior before you’ve even started writing for the day, then explore ways to increase your productivity. Avoid social media first thing and set your own realistic goals for success.

Step 3: You’ve identified what it is you can do, now make it happen! Put a plan in place to achieve your goals so next time you see a post about word counts, you can think: “That’s great—they’re hitting their word count goals and so am I!” Goodbye inner critic and green-eyed monster!

❄︎

The truth is, what underlies these common barriers is fear and self-doubt.

Recognising how they show up in your writing is the first step to learning how to overcome them followed by putting into practise techniques to help.

The other big truth here is: often the biggest thing holding you back is yourself. Lean in to your fear and choose to do something about it in a proactive, meaningful way because you can take back control of your writing journey.

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Joanne Grant is an Editorial Coach with over 16 years of expertise working for the global publisher Harlequin. Joanne has edited hundreds of romance novels over the years and understands how to coach authors of all genres to deliver their best work. If you’re interested in finding out how she can help you achieve your writing goals, get in touch – Joanne loves to chat! For inspiration, tips and offers why not sign up to her newsletter, join her Facebook group Motivation for Writers! or connect on Twitter @JoanneMGrant.

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Nink: From Cancer To COVID – 12 Tips for Surviving and Thriving at Writing While Stuck at Home

This article by Gigi Pandian is from the March 2021 edition of Nink, the monthly newsletter of Novelists, Inc.  (NINC). Nink, which is packed each month with informative articles for career novelists, is a benefit of NINC membership. 

When COVID began to spread in early 2020, we were all shaken by our distressing new reality. For most of us, lockdown was a new experience to navigate. For me, I’d gone through something similar a decade ago, so I had a jump-start on figuring out how to keep writing, both emotionally (writing through incredibly stressful circumstances) and physically (writing at home in a small house I share with my husband).

Nearly 10 years ago, when I was just beginning my writing career, I was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. I was 36, with no family history of the disease. Needless to say, I was not prepared for this news, nor the year of cancer treatments that would follow and knock out my immune system. I was forced to stay home, isolated from the world, for much of the year.

A dramatic life event, like cancer or COVID, can help put priorities in perspective. I knew I needed to focus on my health and my loved ones, and also my dream of being a writer. But how?

Before cancer, I was not someone who could write at home. By trial and error, I learned many things that year that have served me well in this year of COVID.

Below are a dozen tips that helped me successfully complete a novel during my year of isolated illness during cancer treatments and write two novels during lockdown—while keeping my day job. That cancer-year novel was the one that propelled my career to the next level, and one of this year’s novels sold at auction, which was a first for me.

1. Stay offline. Install an app on your computer that saves you from yourself by turning off the internet. I don’t know about you, but I cannot be trusted to do this myself. I think I’ll look something up for book research or to check the news “for just a minute.” It inevitably turns into 30 minutes—or longer. To save me from myself, I use an app that turns off the internet for a specified amount of time, such as a 45-minute work block, or even for the whole morning. If I forget and try to view a browser, my app shows me an inspirational quote instead, such as A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. (I use Focus on a Mac, and many writers I know enjoy Freedom. There are others too.)

2. Put your phone in the other room. This was difficult for me at first. Very difficult. But I promise the world will not end if you don’t look at your phone for an hour.* Especially if you have any notifications that will pop up and distract you, leave your phone in the other room, or at the very least far enough away you cannot reach it from your chair. (*If you really do have a reason you need your phone, such as awaiting a call from a doctor or elderly parents, change your settings so your phone will ring for preset priority callers even if your sound is off for everything else.)

3. Create your own background noise. Listen to café sounds, rain sounds, or instrumental music. While experiencing stressful circumstances, it’s especially easy to get distracted by small noises around you. It helps if you control the noise. iTunes and other apps have background sounds of all kinds, including café sounds (I found one that reminds me of my favorite café where I used to write). Some days you might feel like visiting a café, and other days a rainstorm will do the trick. Thunder on the speakers can give your creative brain a boost, whereas hearing the laundry cycle stop will throw you out of the story. Maybe you like classical music or some other type of music that serves as relaxing background music.

4. Join an online writing meet-up. It’s amazing how much you can get done in 30 minutes to an hour, and it’s so much easier to get started if you know there are online friends waiting for you. There are a lot of public write-ins organized online, many through writing organizations, or you can form one yourself with writer friends at a time that works well for you. My favorite is one I organized with a few writer friends because we agree to chat about life for 15 minutes before we start writing. It’s a good balance of having support for the stresses of life and being productive.

5. Find an accountability partner. Beyond online meet-ups, tell someone your goals. It’s much easier to keep them if you’ve said them aloud to someone else. See if you can find a writer friend to check in weekly to report back to each other about your progress. Or perhaps you want to tell your spouse or post your goal publicly on social media.

6. Try a writing prompt. A writing prompt can help your fingers start moving when you don’t know what to write next, or when you can’t still your mind from the real world around you. A prompt can be something like “take away one of your main character’s senses” or “an unexpected package arrives on the doorstep.” You don’t have to come up with them yourself; there are many online resources and books. You can experiment with what type of prompt works for you.

7. Pick up a paper notebook. The brain works differently on paper than on a computer, so if the words aren’t flowing on screen, try putting a pen to paper. If you’re having trouble writing the first word on that blank notebook page, because the stressors of the world around you are vying for attention, my personal trick is to write the word “perhaps.” That way, your brain knows this doesn’t have to be the way the story goes, but “perhaps” this happens. On paper, you might be able to write wild ideas that you were too afraid to write as “real” words on the computer.

8. Go outside. Step into your backyard or balcony. Sitting inside next to a window isn’t the same as fresh air, so take that paper notebook outside. Even when you can’t go far, a little bit of fresh air does wonders. When I was going through cancer treatments, I didn’t always have the energy to go far, but even looking up at the trees (in my small, semi-urban backyard) did wonders for my mental state.

9. Shift your view inside the house. This is for those of you who don’t have a dedicated writing room. I have a desk in a room that needs to serve multiple purposes. I sit at one side for non-creative work, then switch to the other side of the desk, with a different view out the window, for my writing. The small physical change can lead to a big mental shift.

10. Take a break to move your body. Yes, this tip is obvious, and I know you already know this. But as writers, all too often we forget this, so I’m including it here. It doesn’t have to be exercise. Stretching for a few minutes counts too. However, simply refilling your coffee mug doesn’t!

11. Ritual. Find something that signals your brain you’re writing fiction now. My ritual is that I plug a typewriter keyboard into my laptop when I’m going to write fiction. The clacking of the keys tells my brain it’s time to be creative. Maybe you light a candle with a particular scent, or drink coffee from a special mug with an inspirational quote. Whatever it is, give yourself that signal that it’s time to push aside the real world for a dedicated amount of time, however small. This is your writing time.

12. Go easy on yourself if you’ve had a bad day. This is the most important tip. Even with all of the lessons I learned in 2011 and 2020, I’ve had some lost days. A lot of them. I didn’t stick to the beautiful schedule I planned in my calendar, but I still got new books written that I’m proud of. Now it’s time for me to get back to work on the next one.

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Gigi Pandian is a USA Today best-selling and Anthony Award-winning mystery author, breast cancer survivor, and accidental almost-vegan. She writes lighthearted mysteries a cross between Indiana Jones and Agatha Christie. Stay in touch via her monthly email newsletter and find her on Instagram @GigiPandian.

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