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Seems to me to be bleeding obvious that tweeting and facebooking and blogging and whatever other social media is the flavour du jour do not automatically equal vastly increased sales. Of any kind. But I'll talk about books that being what I am in the business of selling.
So I agree with
Nick Earls' post about how social media works for us author types. Except I don't have a cat and have never had a cat and will never have a cat. ((Apparently pets would not be down with the whole going back and forth between Sydney and New York City thing.))
Loads of authors are being told that they MUST tweet, blog, facebook, tumblr, whatever. Because if you ...
Posted by Justine at 7:19, August 17th, 2012 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, RSI, Writing life |
I have a writing problem which is shared by many writers: I struggle to get started.
I wrote about this problem a bit
way back in 2009 when I confessed to almost destroying my professional writing career before it even started. The first six months of being a full-time freelance writer was one great big procrastinatory guilt-ridden hell.
Since then I have reigned it in so that it's only a struggle at the beginning of a first draft.
For the first week or so on a new book it is a major effort for me to look away from whatever online or offline spectacle is calling to me in order to start typing. I'll have the open scrivener project with ...
Posted by Justine at 6:58, August 7th, 2012 under 1930s NYC novel, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, RSI, Research, Sydney novel, What to write next, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process, Zombies |
So here it is the final day of my blogging every day of July effort and I have succeeded! ((Weekends do not count. No one is online on Saturdays and Sundays. Scientific fact.)) And it was fun. So much fun that I'm going to keep on blogging. Not every day but at least once a week. Turns out I missed it way more than I realised. Missed you commenter types both here and on twitter. I think we had some really cool and interesting conversations over this month and I hope we'll have many more. *hugs blog* *hugs commenters* *cries*
I didn't do all the posts I promised I would. I know. I am badness. But I will do them. In ...
Posted by Justine at 11:57, July 31st, 2012 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, RSI, Sport, Sydney novel, Writing life |
Since so many of you have kindly inquired about how I'm doing ((I appreciate it. Thank you. It really makes a difference to know that I'm not alone with this.)) I figured best to answer you all in a post. Also Sarah Zarr recently posted
about her own trials and tribulations, which reminded me yet again of how common these injuries are.
Yes, I am still dealing with pain. My RSI ((Repetitive strain injury. Basically RSI describes a whole host of different conditions that are caused by a repetitive action such as typing. But many others get RSI too: house painters, factory workers etc. etc.)) has not improved, but it has not gotten worse, and I have learned to manage ...
Posted by Justine at 10:18, July 16th, 2012 under Admin, RSI, Sydney novel, Whingeing, Writing life |
Every time I mention
my RSI people suggest that I use voice recognition software. I do use it. And though I hate it I know that it has transformed gazillions of people's lives. There are people who literally could not write without it. For them VRS is a wonderful transformative thing. Bless, voice recognition software!
I am well aware that what VRS is trying to do is unbelievably complicated. Recognising spoken language and reproducing it as written language is crazy hard. ((Very few humans are one hundred per cent accurate at the task. Even court reporters make occasional mistakes.)) The way we make sense of what someone says is not just about recognising sounds. We humans (and other sentient beings) ...
Posted by Justine at 8:42, February 17th, 2012 under RSI, Ranting, Whingeing, Words & Language, Writing life, Writing process |
This is
my annual post where I sum up what happened in my professional life in that year and look ahead to what's going to happen in 2012. I do this so I can have a handy record that I can get to in seconds. (Hence the "last day of the year" tag.)
This was not a fabulous year for me but it was a whole lot worse for so many other people around the world that whingeing would be tacky. I'll focus on the good:
Finally, finally, finally we were able to announce,
Sarah Rees Brennan and I, that we wrote a book together, Team Human, ...
Posted by Justine at 11:02, December 31st, 2011 under 1930s NYC novel, Food, Garden, Last Day of the Year, Praising, RSI, Team Human, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process, Zombies v Unicorns |
I've been promising a post about writing Liar using
Scrivener for two years now. It wasn't a fake promise. I've been working on the post. But given
my hassles with RSI and othe injuries it's been slow going.
A friend asked about it recently and I realised that I haven't touched the post in a year. The odds of my finishing it are low. When I spend my scant few hours at the keyboard I focus on my novels, not blog posts. So here is my unfinished and pretty rough account of writing Liar using Scrivener:
In the acknowledgements of Liar I wrote the following: "Without
Scrivener this book would most likely not exist." Ever since people ...
Posted by Justine at 3:37, August 25th, 2011 under Excuses, Liar, RSI, Writing process |
Yesterday's post on
my lack of love for voice recognition software seems to have left some with the impression that I'm doing badly. Not so!
There are many people with RSI or other injuries like carpal tunnel much worse affected then I am. There are some who can no longer hold anything, let alone a pen. My RSI doesn't impinge on many activities other than writing. Also I have the resources to get the help I need (physiotherapy etc) to manage my condition. I'm extremely lucky.
I am, in fact, in the best shape of my life. Strengthening my core muscles and shoulder girdle (boxing is excellent for that as one of the commenters yesterday noted) has helped a great ...
Posted by Justine at 7:31, August 13th, 2011 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, RSI, Whingeing, Writing life |
Holly Black recently posted on the subject of the so-called
YA Mafia, which apparently is a "cabal of writers who give one other blurbs, do events with one another, and like each other's books." Also if you cross them they can ruin your career.
In her post Holly said such a cabal does not exist. I suspect she's right. Certainly none of the YA writers I know are involved in such a group. However, there are many YA authors I don't know. Could be a few of them plot darkly together. Who knows?
Thing is plotting ain't doing. As Holly points out, YA authors do not have that power. I have recommended twenty or more of my writer friends to my ...
Posted by Justine at 18:32, March 3rd, 2011 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, RSI, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
This is
my annual post where I sum up what happened in my professional life in that year and look ahead to what's going to happen in 2011. I do this so I can have a handy record that I can get to in seconds. (Hence the "last day of the year" tag.)
For reasons I'll explain in more detail below (but are mostly I was not online much) 2010 was ridiculously productive for me. I now have more than 100,000 words of my 1930s novel. Most of it written this year. And I declare those words to be good. ((I'm sure when I re-read them I'll be less thrilled but right now I think they're fabulous. I'll ...
Posted by Justine at 13:06, December 31st, 2010 under 1930s NYC novel, Admin, Cricket, Excuses, Last Day of the Year, Liar, Publishing business, RSI, Writing life, Zombies v Unicorns |
As some of you may have noticed I've not been around much online. Sorry! Thank you so much for all the concerned supportive emails. They are much appreciated. (You made me all teary.)
Here's where things stand with me:
The good news: The
original injury that caused me to cut back on blogging is completely healed. Yay!
The bad news: The RSI in my hands and forearms got worse.
I took four weeks off from the computer entirely. I have reorganised my computer setup. I've been doing a vast amount of physical therapy. I'm improving. Slowly and frustratingly but surely.
However, my time at keyboard
remains limited and my top priority is my novel. All else---blogging, tweeting, emailing---is on hiatus until ...
Posted by Justine at 11:44, June 7th, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Excuses, RSI, Reading, Sport, Whingeing |
Tessa Kum is a wonderful writer. She does not write full-time. She has not had any novels published. Like the vast majority of writers she finds time to write at the edges of her paying job. She knows, however, many career writers and sometimes
winds up in conversations where they tell her what a real writer is:
Various people at WFC (World Fantasy Convention) told me what it is necessary to achieve in order to be a 'writer'. You must make this amount of money per year from your writing, or you must sell this many stories, or you must be able to live solely from your earnings as a writer. Most of these people shot me down ...
Posted by Justine at 18:29, March 22nd, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Publishing business, RSI, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
(Or answering email or responding to IM requests or to comments or been on Twitter or read many blogs.)
Like almost every writer I know, I have a number of chronic---though not particularly bad ((I know people who have been crippled by RSIs and now can only write with voice recognition software.))---injuries, that were caused by (or flare up when) I spend a lot of time at my computer.
Sitting at a computer for long hours is not good for your body. Which is why so many writers, receptionists, data processors, computer programmers etc etc ((There are bazillions of jobs that involve long hours sitting in front of a computer.)) have repetitive strain injuries, headaches, chronic back and neck problems, ...
Posted by Justine at 21:15, February 28th, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Excuses, RSI, Whingeing, Writing life |
