Cozy or cool – writers, what do you wear?

Dear writers, if you’re in the Northern Hemiphere you are probably trying to keep warm as you tap away on your keyboard or scratch out an account of your life from your attic room. On my writing.ie blog I’m asking writers to share the details of what they wear when behind closed doors doing their writing thing? Is comfort the main factor or do writers dress for the office? How many layers is acceptable and what about accessories, lap blanket, hot water bottle, foot warmer. Just what does it take to keep that bestselling endeavour on the road.

You can read more, with links to more fun articles on personal grooming etiquette and braving freezing conditions on my writing.ie blog here (Writer, Bare All – What is your writing Uniform?).

Writing,ie is a fantastic resource of how to articles and personal stories, competitions and new release info, so you can log in to comment. If you’d rather, leave your comments here! See if your weird and wonderful habits are share by your fellow writers. It would be great to hear from writers from other climates (other than the cold, damp and dismal.)

The bounties of blogging

Last week Hazel Gaynor (Hot Cross Mum) and I featured in an article in the Irish Independent by Bernice Harrington on Mums and blogging. Here is the Facebook link to the article which was the cover story in the Mothers and Babies supplement (requires a further download)  I started blogging in April 2009 and as is mentioned in the article it’s had a tremendous impact on my development as a writer and becoming part of the general blogging, writing, and fiction (fabulous #fridayflash) communities. In November I was asked to blog for the national irish writing site www.writing.ie which has been a great experience. My blog, under Guest Blogs is called Random Acts of Optimism and covers writing, headspace and in particular short stories and flash fiction. Following on from some of my articles on writing.ie I’ve been interviewed on flash fiction as a literary medium for the Irish Times and will let you know when that comes out.

Blogging can be time consuming and it’s necessary to prioritize and schedule blogging activity so that it doesn’t take over. My main priority is to write literary fiction, at the moment that means finishing the first draft of a novel. However blogging has given me wonderful connections and opportunities. Without sounding too calculating (I hope) it can be a great way for writer’s of presenting yourself to the world, both your personality and competency as a writer and your interests and views on literature. It is a lovely way of connecting with and getting know others in your own locality and further afield. I’m preaching to the converted here I am sure but I just wanted to let you know a little bit of what blogging has brought me. What about others who blog, what is the greatest bounty blogging has given you?

In the manner of all things serendipitous, my twitter pal Derek Flynn has written this insightful post with brilliant quotes on What’s the Point of Blogging and on writing.ie the lovely Caren Kennedy gets to the heart of what blogging is with I’m blogging for blogs sake are you?

All the options: One Stop Self-Publishing Conference

I attended the One Stop Self Publishing Conference on Sat Oct 17th at the Fitzpatrick Killiney hotel Dublin. It was organised and facilitated by Vanessa O’ Loughlin of Inkwell and Eoin Purcell of Green Lamp Media. As a fiction writer I was interested in interested in exploring the self-publishing option as one of the many possible avenues in the currently transforming publishing industry. The conference was well attended by people with both a fiction and non-fiction writing background as well as general industry interest.

What was particularly evident in this jam-packed but well sequenced and executed conference, was the calibre of the speakers. The information delivered was relevant, concrete, practical and well presented.

Informative and engaging were John Manning’s overview of Gill and McMillan’s distribution service and David Jones on his books to print business. Freelance designer Claire McVeigh’s talk on cover design and typesetting was eye-opening and useful as was Adrian White on what book sellers want. Benjii Bennett, a self-publisher of children’s picture books was inspiring with regard to motivation. Sarah Franklin and Patricia O’ Reilly gave important insights into the process of editing and self-publishing.

There were several highlights for me. AJ Healy‘s not-to-be-missed talk on how he brought his children’s book Tommy Storm to publication was remarkable and practically comprehensive, from the initial decision to diverge from his agent to self-publish his story out to the business like manner in which he approached publicity and distribution. Sarah Franklin’s excellent case study of a marketing and publicity campaign she undertook with one of her authors on his Joyce inspired novel emphasized how self publishing writers need to plan and time their media engagements and have a clear idea of their own story as well as their book’s key message. Catherine Ryan Howard’s presentation on Social Media and Online Marketing was well delivered and revelationary for much of the audience. Ryan Howard self-published her non-fiction book Mousetrapped using the online service CreateSpace. She has successfully used online media and strategies such as contests and Amazon Associates to generate sales and revenue. Her e-book version has been highly successful. Of particular interest to me and great practical value was Eoin Purcell’s presentation on Digital self-publishing. He discussed digital formats, digital publishing options like Amazon’s Digital Text Publishing and Smashwords and useful digital publishing tools such as Storyist.

As a writer looking to inform herself of the various publishing options available this excellent conference far exceeded my expectations. For those with a particular self-publishing project in mind it was invaluable. If you are serious about writing and publishing, put next year’s conference in your diary now.

Writing and Publishing: Who makes the rules anyway?

In the world of writing there are many rules; almost as many rules as there are for parenting. There are rules for grammar, structure, plot, point of view, narrative, character, use of adverbs, length, genre. There are rules for writing regimes, how often and when. There are rules for raising your profile, gaining an audience, social networking. There are submission rules, how to find an agent rules, how to find a publisher rules and how to be commercial rules.

Rules are good. Rules are helpful. Rules are there for a reason. They stabilize society. They streamline processes, they make books marketable, they help you make the most effective use of your time, they help you to become a better writer.

Rule-consciousness is one of Cattell’s sixteen traits of his personality trait theory. How rule bound you are is sometimes measured on personality tests determining your suitability for certain kinds of employment. You may be the kind of person that is susceptible to social or peer pressures. Or as an artist – are you a free thinker, an experimentalist, a subvertor of convention, a mould breaker?

As a parent, as a writer, I want to fit in. I want my children to be accepted among their peers. As a writer I want my books at some point to be read and enjoyed, to make sense to people. But also I don’t want to be caught in the river of the done thing. I don’t want to spend a fortune on my child’s birthday party because every one else is doing it. I want to write from my gut first and foremost, dare to say no to convention and create something that will inspire.

The rules are changing in publishing. E-books and self-publishing, blog posting fiction are now a way of reaching an audience, not just an alternative to conventional publishing. This may lead to greater democracy, rule bending, the breaking down of categories, where the reader now rules. This may be the time when we can be the writers we want to be, using the rules to guide but not dictate, to give coherence but not stifle, to ensure quality but provide freedom.