Fascinating…
Artists often struggle with marketing. There are many reasons (and excuses) that we all give, but the fact of the matter is that if we don’t get better at marketing, no one will know we’re creating anything. Artists need audiences for many reasons. The deepest, most important one, I think, is that art is made for an audience. Books and paintings and songs and culinary creations, at best, are conversations. Artists start to feel isolated and lose perspective on what they create if they don’t have anyone with whom to share.
Of course, the other issue is that there are only twenty-four hours in a day. If we need to eat and sleep and make a living, making art ends up in the nooks and crannies of our lives. If we can earn at least part of our living from our creative efforts, then we have more time and energy to give to those efforts. Thus, learning to market is a key part of the life on an artist, be it painful for us or no.
There’s a lot of noise out there in the world about getting online, about shouting your message to the world, over and over, anywhere people are listening. I’d rather approach marketing as a way to share my passion with the world, in my own unique way. I’m an artist, after all.
One tool I’ve found very helpful in gaining perspective on how to think about my marketing is the intriguing research Sally Hogshead has done on Fascination. On her site, one can take a test to learn about what unique triggers we unconsciously use to influence and lead others. Understanding those strengths can make creating a marketing plan a comprehensible task. You’re not doing what everyone else would do. You’re doing what YOU do. Also, Sally’s test will help you see what you may be unconsciously doing that is undermining your message.
Once you know your strengths, the next step is figuring out what the core message you have to share is. Not the product you’re trying to sell today, but the underlying contagious idea that you’re passionate about sharing. You have one, you must, if you’re an artist. Another post on that topic soon.
For now, though, I recommend checking out Sally’s site and taking the test. There’s a small fee involved, but it’s worth the cost in self-revelation.
Blog Hoppin’ Around
A huge thank you to Marsha Qualey, one of my Hamline Creative Writing MFA faculty, for inviting me to this blog hop! I enjoyed thinking about these four questions and the opportunity to peek inside the writing process of my author-friends. And speaking of author-friends, don’t miss the three talented authors I’ve featured at the end of this post!
And without further ado, a little Q and A…
Q: What are you working on right now?
A: I’ve just dipped my toes into the water of writing a new novel which is so new that it doesn’t even have a working title yet. I’m revisiting characters from a work I recently completed titled Reflecting Hours. I’m in the stage of writing where I’m not even trying to write scenes in sequential order yet, instead simply accumulating scenes in order to hear the voice of the story. Soon, very soon, I need to take the plunge and dive into the deep water of the book, but for now, I’m giving the creative process space and giving myself room to play. It’s an interesting creative tension, the drive to finish a book and the need to enjoy the journey. One important lesson I learned through the process of writing and publishing the four-book From Sadie’s Sketchbook series is that to be a working author, one needs to take joy in every stage of creation, not just in the moment when one holds a finished book in one’s hands. Those moments do come, but the reality of being an author is that when you finish a book, the process starts over again. The beginnings of a book whispers to you, and you start to scribble it down on whatever paper you can find, until after weeks and possibly months, you have a draft to revise and polish and reshape. One of the most essential tasks of being an author is finding one’s rhythm, and I feel like even more than working on a book right now, I’m working on that even more important task of shaping my life as an author. Im working on finding a workable pace that will allow me to grow and develop with the writing of each new book, while still finishing the process in a reasonable amount of time.
Q: How does it differ from other books in the genre?
A: Reflecting Hours and it’s untitled sequel are what I’m calling “Chem-Punk.” Similar to Steam Punk, the books are set in an alternate reality where science has progressed differently than it has in our world. However instead of relying on steam power, the world of Reflecting Hours is built on advances made through chemical technology with deep roots in alchemy. The line between technology and magic has always been thin, being that one generation’s magic is another generation’s invention. Such is the case in these books. Magic clashes against science and Elixia, who has magical abilities she doesn’t fully understand, is faced with impossible decisions that have no simple answers.
Q: Why do you write what you do?
A: When I first started writing, I thought I’d only ever write fantasy. My writing heroes are Madeleine L’Engle and C.S. Lewis, and my bookshelves are stuffed with Cornelia Funke, Anne Ursu, Edward Eager, and Susan Cooper. However, I also have a full set of the Anne of Green Gables books, and many other books that explore the magic in real life by authors such as Sharon Creech, Shannon Hale, Kate DiCamillo, and E. L. Konigsburg. What I discovered as I learned the craft of being a writer, is that what I really want to do is explore the space between real and magic, those thin places where we ask, “Is it possible that…?” For me, life is fuller, deeper, more adventurous, when the answer to that question is, “Maybe so.”
Q: What is the hardest part about writing?
A: For me, the hardest part about writing is the hardest part about being an artist, or maybe even about being human. It seems like my whole life has conspired to slam me up against the truth: you can’t grow unless you’re willing to fail. Actually, you don’t only have to be willing; you have to truly fail sometimes, too. You don’t aim to fail, of course, but you take risks that put you in a position where you aren’t sure you can succeed. Sometimes you succeed at the new challenge and you grow at a steady, predictable pace. But sometimes you fail, and how you handle the failure is the crucible for exponential growth. For a person like me, a down-to-the-bones perfectionist, even the possibility of failure (particularly public failure) brings with it heart-thumping terror of a kind that should be reserved for giant spiders, tight enclosed spaces and things that go bump in the night. When we write, we put our hearts on the page with as much skill as we can. Despite our efforts, sometimes we don’t communicate what we’d hoped to say. Other times, we say exactly what we meant, and we rile others up. Sometimes the story that we see is on a far-away vista that our current skill can’t help us to reach. Most failures are much smaller, though, the daily moments when I read the words I wrote yesterday and I have to admit: I can do better. These private, small moments are the ones in which I build the muscles I need to become the kind of writer (and person) I long to be. I want to be a person who looks at my efforts and says, “I did my best yesterday, and now, today, I’m going to do even better. It’s okay that I’m not perfect the first or fourth or twentieth time. I’m growing and learning and becoming who I’m meant to be.” This kind of thing is much easier to say than to do, and I’d never want to become the kind of person who gave in to being adequate. It’s not that we shouldn’t dream big or aim high. We should. And because we do dream big and aim high, we won’t always get it right the first time. The important thing is what we do when we see that we’ve fallen short. Will we get up and try again? Getting up, trying again, that’s the hardest part of writing for me.
And now, drumroll please… here are those three amazing authors I was telling you about. All of these lovely ladies are celebrating upcoming book releases!
First, Erin Dealey, whose book, DECK THE WALLS, A WACKY CHRISTMAS CAROL is coming out this September. This picture book is for the whole family and celebrates the joy of family and tradition and fun.
Second, Sue Fliess, whose picture book ROBOTS, ROBOTS EVERYWHERE (can you guess what it’s about??) has just hit the shelves.
Third, Holly Schindler, whose THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY for middle grade readers is scheduled to launch in February 2014.
I hope you’ll visit their blogs and check out their books! And if you’d like, I’d love to hear from you about what the hardest part of writing is for you. Share away, below.
Seeking Balance: Projects and Habits
So, have you come up with your areas of focus?
If you’re anything like me, once you have these shiny new buckets, you want to put the system in motion, feel as though some new breakthrough is happening. You need to SEE movement, growth, or evidence of this new-formed balance.
This post is going to be very practical. Before I go into specifics, though, I want to point out that research shows new habits take thirty consecutive days to form. Not thirty days helter-skelter. Thirty days in a row. So, if you really want to create a new thinking habit in which you stop berating yourself for all you’re not doing and you start celebrating the very interesting balance of the many factors in your life, you’re going to have to commit to it and stick to it for at least a month. When those pesky, “ACK, look at all I’m not doing” voices begin clamoring, you’ll have to assure them that you’re in process, you’re doing things one at a time, and that ultimately, balance is the measure of success, not the amount of tasks done.
I bet you’re nodding your head, saying, “Yep. I’m going to do this.” Unfortunately, nodding your head isn’t enough. You’ll forget that head nod when the going gets rough. You’re going to have to write an agreement with yourself. Here’s what should be on your agreement:
1. What are your areas of focus?
2. How will you know if you’re tapping into each? Will you journal at the end of each day, or do a mental check in before you fall asleep? Will you blog about your journey?
3. What will you do when you lose focus or balance? How will you move yourself back onto the course you’ve set?
4. How will you feel in 30 days after you’ve stuck to this commitment and given yourself daily acknowledgement for your successes?
Put this agreement somewhere that you can access easily, and look at it each day for your 30 days. The reminder will keep you on track, especially when things go awry.
Okay, now that you have your commitment, you need a more specific plan.
You’ll probably want to look back over your list of to-do’s that you used to figure out your areas of focus. I bet a lot of things on your list are parts of larger projects. Some may not be able to be done until others are done. See if you can make the list more manageable by naming the projects and listing any to-do’s you’re currently thinking of under those projects.
For instance: Write the Novel will likely have tasks involved, such as do a character interview, make a pinterest board to explore my setting, write chapter one, etc. SIDENOTE: Do not get caught up here trying to detail all the tasks you can possibly think of that go with this project. The point here is to make sure that anything that’s on your mind now, clogging up your mental space, is written down and in it’s proper place.
Once you’ve sorted projects, you’ll have remaining tasks. Some of them are just miscellaneous one-off things. For now, you can ignore these. Others are important things you want to try to do on a regular basis. I call these habits. For me, some examples are: run, write, sketch, choose a new book, plan meals, email friends to check in, etc. These are the things that aren’t on my t0-do list, and consequently, the parts of my life that suffer when I’m busy. Also, notice that they are the things that are most likely to help me stay healthy, creative, calm and connected. It’s no good to cram all of these into a day and then ignore them for another two months.
For each of your areas of focus, you should have at least one habit, and you’ll probably also have projects.
Use colored markers or pencils or a fancy program to categorize these. In a future post, I’ll share some of the techie tools I use to manage these kinds of lists, but for now, the important thing is seeing your life on a macro level.
Here’s what I want you to do. Focus for the next week on the habits. Make sure you get to each of them at least once this week. We’re all used to completing tasks and taking care of our to-do’s, and most likely you’ll get around to the projects on which you can make reasonable forward progress. But make the habits a priority. Do that, and stick to your commitment, and see how you feel after a week. I predict that your feeling of success will lead you to commit even more fully to your 30 days, and then what? Possibly a true life-transformation. A life in which you prioritize what matters to you. Worth the work? I’d say so.
photo credit: AForestFrolic via photopin cc
Seeking Balance-It’s in the Thinking
I want to pause before elaborating on how I use these categories in my own life.
I was asked a good question about overwhelm and how I do so many things. It’s true. I do a lot of things in my life, mostly because I wear many hats. But what we’re talking about here isn’t about doing more things. It’s about the way we think about the things we do. The brutal truth is, no matter how many experts write books on task management and how many researchers explore efficiency, no one will ever discover a magic solution that will allow one to write a chapter of a novel while also answering email, paying bills and working out. I know, it’s disappointing news. I remember my similar disappointment as a child when I finally accepted the fact that short of recording multiple tracks, I would never be able to sing harmony with myself no matter how I manipulated my vocal chords. Being human… it’s tough.
Sometimes one can order tasks differently to speed things up, but in the end, we can honestly only do one, or maybe two things at one time. (If, say, we’re listening to an audio book and running at the same time.) But wouldn’t you say that attempting to pack more into every second is the opposite of balance? For me, balance is having a steady measuring stick that reassures or challenges me. I can easily look back over my day or week and say with clarity: I’m paying attention to the things that matter. I’m not a puppet being pulled by the strings of my life. I’m taking stock, adjusting, and while I’m never going to be perfect, I’m rather proud of myself for where I am right now. And perhaps, tomorrow, I should pay more attention to that big-picture priority that I seem to be avoiding.
I believe that overwhelm also starts in the thinking. It starts when you wake up with the to-do list scrolling through your mind, and that tiny inner voice whispers, I’ll never get it all done. You’ve started your day already behind, and you race through, trying to get to everything, and when you lay back down at night, you scold and berate yourself: I didn’t get it all done! I’m a complete disaster-mess.
Here’s the truth: you’re not going to get it all done. There’s far too much interesting, exciting, important stuff to do in our lives, and we’re just not capable of experiencing or accomplishing all of it. I used to tell myself this in one breath and in the next wave it away with a: Yeah, but I’m different. I might just be able to… Maybe you’re superwoman or superman, and you’re different from all the rest of us. But unless that’s the case, every day is going to be a fail until you change the way you think.
What I wasn’t willing to do was to simply accept that I wouldn’t get it all done and let myself be buffeted by the winds of chance and my overflowing inbox. Other people shouldn’t have the power to determine what you do with your time. Other people probably don’t want to. They haven’t sat quietly and set overall life goals for you and thought about priorities and considered your whole life. They’re just trying to make it through their own. The person who needs to reflect and consider and pray and contemplate to determine what’s important is you. And once you’ve set your priorities, you can ensure you’re dealing with the important things with the frequency they require. So, that’s why you need a list of your core priorities. But please don’t think of this list as a new to-do list. Call it your priority list or your essentials list or your “what I can’t live without list.”
I’ll write more soon about how I use my list in case you want tips for what to do with such a list once you have it. Until then, peace and balance to you.