This last month has been horrendous. Despite scrambling to find ways to get through everything financially, we’ve worked incredibly hard on other projects in hopes of establishing a means for the future. All that hard work and effort has definitely been worth it, but my creativity has greatly suffered. In fact, I had not written a single creative word since mid-July, and knowing that was really starting to bring me down.
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It’s Sunday morning, and I let myself sleep in until almost nine today. 0_O not sure how the hell that happened, considering my brain is in anthology overdrive. Not only am I wrapping up final edits on From the Dark Side, and sending sneak peeks off into the interwebs, but I’m also starting edits on the Farrago anthology to help raise money for Michael Bekemeyer’s film project… We are hoping to launch that anthology in time for Bekemeyer’s early August birthday…

So why am I sitting on the back deck frying in the sun when there are so many things to be done?
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This last week was probably one of the busiest, most productive weeks I’ve had in a long time. Moving forward anxiously with edits, writing and work, I had a lot on my plate in the last seven days, and though there were times I felt too full to keep going, I kept at it and prevailed.

Last Saturday and Sunday, while out walking the dog, I started chewing on this really cool idea for a short story. By the time I woke up Monday morning, I had outlined most of it in my head. I shared the idea with James, who offered feedback and his thoughts, then I started writing. By the time mid-afternoon rolled around, I had written just over 1500 words, and I hadn’t even started my workday yet.
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I am working on a short story right now that is closely related to people and events that occurred in real life. I know, you say, much of what inspires us is real life anyway… art imitating life, and all that, but this story is so close to real life in a number of places, I find myself wondering if I should tone it down, or just keep going.

My mind started processing this in Ghostbusters fashion, with Egon standing behind me warning, “Don’t cross the streams!” Crossing the streams is bad, dangerous things might happen, and we don’t know what they are. In the end, however, it became necessary to cross the streams in order to make things right in the world.
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I started out on the right foot this week. After editing and reformatting the intro and chapter one of Goblin Market, I felt like I could take over the world. So Tuesday, I got cocky. I only had to write one work article Tuesday, and James said Monday night, “You could spend the whole day working on fiction if you want to.” That made me beam with glee, so I did it.

After tooling around on the ‘Net all morning and writing up a blog post, I cracked my knuckles and got to work on edits. By one o’clock that afternoon, chapter two was fully edited with an added 400ish words. I was very happy with it, and just as I was getting ready to save. Some doofus pulled the plug out of my computer… that doofus: me. Fortunately, the autosave backed me up, and I didn’t lose anything.
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Tao
Pronunciation: \ˈdau̇, ˈtau̇\
Function: noun
Etymology: Chinese (Beijing) dào, literally, way
Date: 1736

1 a : the unconditional and unknowable source and guiding principle of all reality as conceived by Taoists b : the process of nature by which all things change and which is to be followed for a life of harmony
2 often not capitalized : the path of virtuous conduct as conceived by Confucians
3 often not capitalized : the art or skill of doing something in harmony with the essential nature of the thing—Merriam Webster

All my life, I have been swimming in the stream of my own conscious and subconscious, trying to maintain a sense of balance and harmony with myself. I decided if maybe I wrote about it from time to time here, I might get some thoughts and philosophies from others who swim in the stream… either Battlestar Galactica Cylon 2 style, or just in general.

I wrote about my nature of control the other day, how I feel unproductive, even after a long day in which I spent the majority of my time producing, ie., via work or in my own creative vein. My tendency to spend an hour or more in bed at night before falling asleep hashing through my entire day and looking for ways I could have done more has really been weighing on me lately.
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Whenever I start writing a story, the first paragraph is often the lead in from the original inspiration I had for the story. Often, it’s flat and stale, just a kickstart to get me writing in the first place. By the time I get to the end of the first draft, I go back to that first paragraph and often wonder, “What was I thinking when I wrote that?”

You know how they say, “You only get one chance to make a first impression?” First paragraphs are exactly like first impressions. They are the baited hook that will tempt your readers into reading the rest of your story, and if that first paragraph falls flat, chances are your readers will pass on the rest of the story, rather than reading on. If you are attempting to publish your work, that first paragraph is key to keeping an editor interested long enough to check out the rest of your story.

So, what should your first paragraph do, exactly? As I mentioned above, that paragraph acts like a hook, sinking into the meaty flesh of your reader’s mind and compelling them to read on. It should introduce the main character and a peak at the story about to unfold. For example, in the short story I just put out through the Dark Journeys collection, “Treed,” the first sentence of the story is:

I know it’s stupid, but I wish I had a backpack full of brains instead of a week’s supply of granola and dried fruit.

Not only does this set the tone for the narrative, but it makes the reader want to know more about the speaker’s dilemma. What are the brains for and why does she have a backpack full of granola? In the following sentences of the first paragraph, the reader learns that while on a big hike, she found herself stuck in a tree, just out of reach of the walking dead.

As I said above, sometimes when I first start writing, the first paragraph is just a lead in to the story. I often find myself going back after the first draft is done to polish the introductory paragraph.

Your entire story is important. Making sure every paragraph and sentence is solid is an essential part of maintaining reader interest once you reel them into the story, but if you don’t manage to reel them in with that first paragraph it won’t matter how great the rest of your story is.

With many of us putting our work out directly these days, via podcast, free PDF or for sale in places like Amazon and smashwords, we bypass the editorial eye that might otherwise reject our stories on account of stale paragraphs. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t focus on making sure our work resonates with readers from the very first sentence on through the last.

If you’re not sure about your first paragraph, ask a fellow writer/reader you trust to tell you what they think. Find out if it hooked them and made them want to read more and go from there.

We owe it to ourselves as writers and our readers to put out the best content we can. The first impression you make with the introduction to one story could carry over into your other work, either intriguing readers to check out more of your work, or influencing them to pass and try something else.

I have written novels. I have even completed a lot of them. Goblin Market, for instance, and a paranormal romance on my flash stick called “Heart and Home” that got torn apart by me after the first draft, and now lies twitching in the darkness. That isn’t to say I won’t finish it, but I’ve noticed a big pattern with myself.

It’s been weeks since I worked on Running Down the Moon, and even then, it was a minor tweek here and there, with very little actual writing. It’s not that I haven’t been writing. I just haven’t been working on my novel. Even now, I sat down to work on the novel, and found myself flailing in the thick of it, wanting to cry.

I noted on twitter that sometimes when writing said novel, I feel like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew. While that is definitely true, as I’m looking at the complicated strands that tie the plot together, I also found that because i was working on it during NaNoWriMo there is a lot of unnecessary wordiness–especially in the conversational sections.

The thing is, I know I’m better than that. I know I can finish a novel. Like I said, I’ve done it before. I really want to finish THIS novel. It’s a good idea. I just think that maybe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, and I need to find a way to trim things down so I can get back on track and get to the real beans.

So, I am going to sit down with the novel, bounce some ideas with my partner in crime, and get back to it. I may have to strip out an entire part of the plot, which means serious reworking, but I believe in this idea. I just need to find a way to tie it all back together if I tear out that piece.

Cheer for me, please, friends. I know I can do this. I want to finish this novel’s first draft before September. That is my goal.

Patrick Pillars and I chat back and forth quite a bit via twitter and our blogs about writing and publishing, and recently we’ve been talking a lot about traditional short story publishing. Like me, and a lot of other people we know, Pat has been attempting to publish his short stories the old fashioned way, with little to no luck. Now, one might argue that the quality of our work is lacking, and that is why we don’t get accepted more often, or that we just need to keep on keeping on if we want to leave a lasting mark, but publishing in magazines and journals over the years has left me feeling a little jaded.

One of the pitfalls of publishing short stories is that rarely, if ever, do you receive editorial feedback. About 95% of the time you get a polite, stock rejection letter thanking you for considering them, but they have no use for your work at this time. Usually they wish you luck placing your story elsewhere, and encourage you to consider them again in the future.

Since most experienced writers spend a lot of time reading, you can imagine how much time and money we spend on magazines and journals both within and outside of our preferred genres every week. We do our homework because we want to: 1. Get an idea of what kind of work these rags are publishing and 2. Try to step a tad outside of the box so we’re not submitting the same ole same ole and getting rejected because our work is too commonplace.

For years, I played that game. I will probably continue to play it because I believe in my work, and want to share it with readers. On the other hand, traditional publishing has obviously been turned on its ear recently because of how easy it is to sell one’s work on the Internet, bypassing the editorial games and going directly to the readers with our content.

I used to joke with a group of writer friends that I wanted to change my name to something like Joyce Carol Gaiman just to catch eyes, because after getting rejected repeatedly from major magazines, the upcoming issues were always chock full of major players like Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman and others. And don’t get me wrong, I love Neil Gaiman’s work. Joyce Carol Oates is an inspiration, but breaking the mold as a new author is downright impossible when editors jump on major players time and again, bypassing newer and upcoming authors.

As with any creative endeavor, we all have to pay our dues. So don’t take this blog as a whine and cheese fest saying boohoo, it’s not fair I don’t get published. I’ve been published in a handful of magazines and journals, so it’s not that I don’t think they have merit. The thing is, as a reader, most magazines are publishing mediocre work we’ve all seen again and again, relying on the same authors all too often.

In essence, the same old stuff over and over again gets tired, so as readers we start seeking other alternatives. We buy eReaders or Kindles, start browsing Amazon or Smashwords for $.99 short stories, rather than dropping $5-7 on a magazine with maybe one good story in it. Magazine sales drop, putting the publisher in jeopardy, and one by one, the magazines go out of business.

The thing is, I enjoy reading magazines for the most part, but as a reader and a writer, the lack of representation for new and upcoming authors is off-putting. Is it too late? Maybe. More fiction magazines seem to be going under these days, and they have no one to blame but themselves. As authors, we have more opportunities now to publish online, than we do through more traditional mediums, which means potentially, readers will be looking for fiction elsewhere.

As a reader, I don’t feel bad for looking elsewhere, and as a writer, I feel better having more control over my successes. It’s harder work, but at least I know I’m getting my work out there.