writing Archives - Page 9 of 11 - Elizabeth Maria Naranjo

My Most Important Resolution

Posted on January 1, 2015 ·

Read more. Write more. And one more thing…

Last New Year’s Day, determined not to set myself up for failure, I chose only one resolution. It worked; I’m happy to say I kept my promise to read 52 books in 2014. I started the year with Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane and ended with Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming. And what a way to end the year. Woodson’s memoir, written in verse, was hugely inspiring, and so beautifully written I didn’t want it to end.

In between I read fantasy, horror, young adult, science fiction, literary short story collections, historical fiction, and much more. It was refreshing to set a reading goal instead of a writing goal. I’m an ambivalent writer—sometimes writing makes me feel wonderful and other times it makes me feel terrible. But reading always feels good. There’s no guilt involved, no self-doubt, no fear of failure.

Maybe that sounds like a cheat, like setting a reading goal wasn’t a real challenge. But it was—finding time for anything can be difficult—and what helped was tracking and publicly posting my progress with the Goodreads Reading Challenge.

Completed

I’m joining again this year, with the same goal of 52 books, only I’ve resolved that half of those books will be nonfiction. This was partly inspired by Woodson’s memoir.

I considered choosing a writing resolution for 2015. In July I turn 40, so there’s already something momentous about the year ahead. In a good way—no birthday so far has ever felt sad to me. When I turned 30 I had this amazing little girl by my side. At 35 I had a wonderful husband and a beautiful son. At 39 I had a book contract and later that year, my first published novel. So when it comes to turning 40, I just feel lucky that my greatest dreams have already been realized.

Still, there are many things I want to accomplish this year. I want to finish my second novel. I want to submit my essays and short stories more frequently. I want to take more chances. I want to stop being afraid of what people think. I want to celebrate my writing successes instead of apologizing for them (thank you, Angela Jackson-Brown). I want to trust those successes instead of doubting their validity. I want to eradicate the aforementioned guilt and self-doubt and replace them with confidence and pride.

Above all, I want to be kinder to myself. I think I can accomplish everything I want to this year, including all of my writing goals, if I just do that one small thing.

New Year’s resolutions 2015:

1. Read an average of one book per week.
2. Read one nonfiction book for every fiction book.
3. Be kinder to myself (and the rest will follow).

And you?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Goodreads Reading Challenge, New Year's resolutions, reading, reading goals, writing, writing goals

It Only Takes One “Yes”

Posted on December 7, 2014 ·

Image from Flickr by jepoirrier

Friday was the anniversary of a pretty special occasion for me. On that day, three years ago, I received my first acceptance letter, for a short story called “Eleven Seconds.”

I will never forget the moment I received that email. It was a cold December evening, and we were gathered around the fireplace. I remember when I saw the subject line I cried out, and Abbey, who was nine years old, thought something was wrong. Then I hugged her and I hugged my son and I hugged my husband. I would have hugged you too, had you been there.

I’d been writing stories since grade school, but it wasn’t until my thirties that I began seriously submitting my work. Sometime after my son was born I just decided to go for it. I decided my dream of turning the title “aspiring writer” into “published author” was a good dream, and it deserved to happen, and the only way it would happen was if I stopped hiding behind the idea of it and actually put my work out there.

So I did, and I spent years collecting rejection slips. They didn’t bother me as much as you’d think. Simply corresponding with editors made me feel as if I were moving forward. It put me in a different category of writers. There are those who think about submitting their work, and then there are those who submit their work. Only writers from the second category get their work published, and the rejections they collect along the way become a kind of badge of honor.

I’d heard that once a writer breaks through, the acceptance letters start coming in pretty regularly. And that was true for me–within a month I had another one, and more would soon follow.

But there will always be rejections. Nearly everything I’ve had published was rejected first.

For example, “Eleven Seconds” was rejected three times. The Fourth Wall was rejected twenty-two times. Don’t worry too much about how many times you hear “No,” because it only takes one “Yes.”

Don’t give up.

Here’s the text of my little story that could, which originally appeared in SLAB literary magazine in the spring of 2012. Read it, if you like, and then go submit one of yours.

ELEVEN SECONDS

It started in the kitchen. A clinking of porcelain, a delicate, dreadful trembling, cups and saucers and unused dinner plates jumping in the cupboards like those little beans from Mexico. What were those called?

Thunder ripped the ground and the old man jerked up from his chair, instinctively, but the fear passed through him like a bullet. His heart fluttered once. He sat back down.

From his seat in the living room, the old man watched his kitchen heave forward and burst apart. The world could shatter around you; he knew that. Bending forward, he plucked a fragment of china from the ground, like a flower. His wife, Winnifred, had painted this piece, before the cancer took her last year. He could see her clearly, her pale knotted hand curled around the thin brush, looping and twirling like a dancer. The old man pressed his hands together and folded them over the broken china, like a prayer.

Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: publishing, rejections, writing, writing inspiration

What NaNoWriMo Says About Writers

Posted on November 21, 2014 ·

Image from Flickr by gothick_matt

On Saturday I forgot to take my phone to work. With this realization came a flash of near-panic—it was too late to go back, and I couldn’t fathom an entire nine hours without checking my email or accessing social media accounts.

I knew without a doubt that my husband would bring the phone; we live seven miles from my job. But I also knew that flash of near-panic was kind of pathetic–*gasp* nine hours without email!–so I challenged myself to go a day without the Internet. When I called Alex from the company phone to let him know not to bother texting me, he offered to bring my phone.

“No, I don’t need it,” I said bravely. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Just check it here and there, let me know if I miss a call.”

“Okay.”

I got by fine, and I had remembered to bring my Kindle, so there was something to read on break. When it was time to text Alex at lunch and see how his day was going, I instead dialed his number and asked if I’d missed any calls. He said, “No, but there’s some people…Tweeting? About Nay-no…something? I don’t know, some guy named Jason is Twittering, or whatever.”

I giggled. “It’s NA-NO. For NaNoWriMo. Twitter’s just letting me know a bunch of people are talking about NaNoWriMo.”

“Oh. What IS it?”

I proceeded to explain the concept of National Novel Writing Month. A month when hundreds of thousands of writers join in a quest to write a novel in thirty days, and thousands more cheer from the sidelines. Everyone supports each other; it’s not a competition but a common goal, and there are no failures because any progress toward a first draft is a reason to celebrate.

I told him about the write-ins, the sprints, the forums, the pep talks—all the ways writers motivate themselves and other participants to reach the finish line. And in doing so, I realized two things:

It’s nice to have one quality phone conversation with your spouse instead of texting back and forth throughout the work day.
When describing NaNoWriMo to a non-writer, it really hits you how supportive and tight-knit the writing community is. It’s incredible, you know? And pretty wonderful.

How’s your NaNo project coming along?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: motivation, NaNoWriMo, writing

Book Sales and Royalty Statements

Posted on October 31, 2014 ·

Image from Flickr by Leo Reynolds

“So, how are sales going?”

I get this question a lot, along with the more direct “How many books have you sold?” I wish I could tell you. Unfortunately, published authors can’t track their sales in real time.

The only indication I have of how day-to-day sales are going is watching my Amazon rankings, and I have no idea what they mean. I don’t think anyone does, really. The ranking is depicted with a line graph which sometimes spikes, which maybe reflects sales, but you can’t tell how many or where the sales came from.

Other than that, I rely on semiannual royalty statements, and even those don’t tell me much. I can see how many ebooks sold in the prior six-month period and how many books were sold via direct sales (purchased through the publisher’s website) because those sales are final. Distributor sales are different, however; those books are returnable.

For example, for my book launch party at Changing Hands Bookstore, the store purchased 70 copies of The Fourth Wall. Fifty people showed up, half of the copies sold, and the host had me sign an additional 12 copies for the shelves. So that’s 47 books; what happens to the other 13? The bookstore can return them within a certain period of time.

So for my July royalty statement, those 70 copies show as distributor sales, but I don’t get paid yet because the sales are subject to return. My January statement will reflect how many books the bookstore returned, and then I’ll get paid for the remaining sales. Make cents? See what I did there? 😉

Yes, Nielsen BookScan tracks retail print sales which Amazon reports, via Amazon Author Central, on a weekly basis. But that’s not an accurate number; not all retailers use Nielsen BookScan. Amazon estimates the number at 75%.

Anyway, I’m still trying to find an appropriate and satisfying answer to “How many books have you sold?” without burdening my well-meaning friends with the above info. I guess a good answer is this: “More than one and less than a million, but who’s counting?”

Authors, how do you respond?

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Amazon rankings, book sales, publishing, royalty statements, The Fourth Wall, writing

Do You See What I See?

Posted on September 26, 2014 ·

Image from Flickr by gradesi

When a writer publishes fiction, she understands that her work will be interpreted differently by different people. In his book On Writing Stephen King says, “Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”

You shouldn’t try to force your reader to see something exactly the way you imagined it.

Which becomes interesting when publishing creative nonfiction. It can be surreal having readers interpret in a different way something that actually happened.

Last week I had a piece published in Brevity Magazine called “Code Talkers.” True to their name, Brevity only publishes essays of 750 words or less. I love writing this way, taking a moment in time—one scene, one turning point—and trying to tell a story based on that moment.

I love allowing readers to imagine the rest of the story.

What struck me about the comments I received on “Code Talkers” was that, although the essay is written from a child’s point of view, several readers perceived it from an adult’s point of view; some even saw the cop as a sympathetic figure.

This is intriguing since part of the story has to do with misunderstandings and assumptions. To the young girl those misunderstandings and assumptions belong to adults, but to adults the misunderstandings would naturally belong to the young girl.

Anyway, I’m blown away by the response to this piece. Thank you to everyone who commented publicly and privately. And to those of you who kindly asked after my brother, he is doing fine. 🙂 We are as close as ever, and we still sometimes talk in code.

To read the essay, click here.

Have you ever written something and had a reader see it differently than you imagined or remembered it?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: publishing, writing

Giveaway! Enter to Win Feather Earrings

Posted on August 13, 2014 ·

Frankie’s handcrafted feather earrings from The Fourth Wall have become quite popular! Of course, it was my husband who made them, and I have ONE pair left to give away.

To enter the giveaway, just pop your email address into the subscription box for Elizabeth’s Newsletter. You’ll receive a confirmation email from MailChimp; once you confirm your subscription, you’ll be entered into the drawing.

The newsletter will be published twice a month beginning mid-September. It will include writerly inspiration, insights into the publishing process, and discounts on classes and critiques. Your email address is safe with me, and you can opt-out anytime, so there’s nothing to lose. But hopefully, you’ll stick around for awhile. 🙂

The newsletter subscription box should be to your right, or directly below this post. The giveaway ends Saturday at midnight, MST, and the winner will be notified on Sunday.

Go enter, and good luck!

UPDATE on August 17:
The winner is Maria D.! Thanks for entering, everyone. 😀

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: giveaway, prizes, The Fourth Wall, writing

The Secret to Social Media–One Year Later

Posted on August 8, 2014 ·

Image from Flickr by mkhmarketing

This month I’m celebrating a birthday. No, not mine! What are you thinking? I turned 39 in July, and I’m not ready to turn 40 quite yet. 😉

What this month marks is one year of blogging, tweeting, pinning, and goodreading, although my computer tells me that’s not a word. In one of my earliest blog posts, The Secret to Social Media, I wrote about my initial reactions to each of the following four sites, and in this post I’ll tell you what’s changed a year later.

Pinterest

Then: As a writer, I’d forgotten the pure joy of expressing emotions solely through visual imagery. With Pinterest, you can create boards that reflect the things you care about, and you never have to say a word.

Now: Yep, sounds lovely, but Pinterest was the one to go. I still have an account and I’ll probably revisit it sometime, but it’s just not possible to juggle five or six social media accounts. I knew this going in, but I figured the one to fall would be…

Goodreads

Then: What I love most about this site, so far, is I have one place to list my “to be read” books. Now I can collect all the scraps of paper, sticky notes, and electronic lists buried in my phone and shelve those titles in Goodreads.

Now: For a long time, this was all I could do on Goodreads. The problem is that it’s not a user-friendly site. But on January first, I resolved to read a book each week for 2014. Goodreads came in handy for this resolution because of their Reading Challenge—where you publicly declare a reading goal for the new year. Anyone can view your progress. That was the motivation I needed to stay on task, so I dug my heels in and learned how to navigate the site. Now I truly love Goodreads, and I’m only three books behind my goal.

Twitter

Then: This was supposed to be my favorite, because that’s what everybody says. I do like Twitter—there’s something about the immediacy of it that’s freeing—but it’s confusing.

Now: Surprise! Guess which social media site is my favorite? Twitter did take time to understand—in fact, it would be months before I caught on. But once I got comfortable jumping into conversations with total strangers, I met some amazing people. Most are generous—Twitter is all about sharing and discovering. Many are also fall-down funny; I’ve laughed myself to tears on more occasions than I can count. The only downside is that it can be a distraction.

Blogging

Then: My personal favorite. This has been a shock—I worried about the time it would take to blog, I worried no one would read my blog . . . now I know it’s about perspective.

Now: I admit I’ve lost that perspective several times. There’s no question that blogging can feel frustrating because it is time-intensive and once in a while seems as though you’re talking to yourself. To ease that frustration, I made some adjustments:

I no longer spend several hours on each post. Yes, I did that. Those early posts were drafted on Mondays and heavily edited throughout the week, then published on Fridays, which could take all morning.
I stopped worrying excessively about typos.
I started posting less frequently. In the beginning, I posted weekly, but twice a month works better for me and I actually get more visitors that way. I think you have to give people a chance to miss you. 🙂

One great thing about blogging is looking back on old posts; it was sweet to read the first one—written a few days after I received my contract. I was so unsure of what lay ahead: I didn’t know what the book title would be, or what the cover would look like, or when it would get published. All I knew back then was a dream had come true, and that was enough.

Oh, and the secret to social media? It hasn’t changed: give yourself permission to have fun.

(See the original post HERE.)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: book promotion, goodreads, marketing, social media, Twitter, writing

Oh, What a Night

Posted on July 11, 2014 ·

Changing Hands Bookstore did a lovely job hosting the launch party for The Fourth Wall, and my friends and family made the event a HUGE success. Over fifty people showed up; there were goodies, giveaways, and some surprise guests whose appearance threatened to ruin my mascara…but I managed to keep my game face on. 😉

Read on for details, and enjoy the pictures!

My host, Brandi, was setting up when my daughter and I arrived with the cupcakes and lemonade. Brandi had a nice display table (shown above) with copies of the book and a beautiful arrangement of flowers. The flowers, I would learn later, were a gift from my childhood bestie, Megan Russo, who lives in Kansas. For those of you who have read The Fourth Wall, you may recognize her name…

The cupcakes, made by Confection Insanity, turned out perfect. There were four dozen, each topped with a book made of marshmallow fondant. My friend, Shawna, brought donuts and coffee, and her daughter made those pretty little cherry-topped cheesecakes.

Before all the guests arrived, I stole away to the front-of-store display with Abbey. On our way back, we weaved through the aisles and checked out some groovy handbags. And that’s when I spotted some familiar faces passing by in the main aisle. I grabbed Abbey’s arm and said, “Oh my God. Your papa’s here.”

My father, who lives in central California, had texted me about half an hour earlier, wishing me luck at the launch. He and my step-mother, Oma, gave no indication they were coming, and it never crossed my mind that they would–it’s a twelve-hour drive. I stood there stunned, and then noticed they had with them a very tall, very blonde young girl.

That’s my niece, Makayla; I haven’t seen her since she was thirteen. Makayla is now seventeen, but she hasn’t changed much. She’s still sweet and wonderfully silly, and she still LOVES to read. She’s followed my progress on The Fourth Wall since I started writing it, and always cheered me on.

When it was time to step up to the podium, I was a little nervous. But once I started talking, the feeling disappeared. I talked for a bit about what inspired The Fourth Wall, and then I read a few passages from the novel.

After the reading, I just wanted to mingle and thank everyone individually. But my host was urging me toward the signing table where people were lining up, and I didn’t want to keep them waiting. So I asked my dear friend Amy to bring me some goodies and I dashed off to the table where I would stay for the rest of the event. See the nice plate of sweets Amy brought me?

Why, yes, I am going to eat these cupcakes. Yep, the cheesecake too, sorry.

Let’s get a closer look at the sweets.

While I was signing books, Brandi drew names from a jar–three people would be walking away with the handmade prizes my husband crafted for the giveaway. I’d asked Alex to replicate a pair of feather earrings from the book. He did, along with a pendant. The first name Brandi drew belonged to my friend Shawna’s younger daughter. She chose the pendant. I was glad the first prize went to this generous family who’d provided treats for everyone.

This is one of my best friends, Tyler. She didn’t think she could make it to the launch because of her work schedule, but when she showed up just in time I was not surprised. That’s because Tyler’s always there for me; she even became an ordained minister to officiate my wedding in 2009.

And this is Tyler’s dad, Fred. He was the lucky winner of the first pair of earrings.

But wait, will these earrings really look good on Fred? He’s quite a smashing fellow, but can he pull off this look? What do you think?

Um, maybe not. But no worries; before the night was through, Fred’s wife, Kim, had the silver feathers dangling from her ears, and they looked lovely on her.

My daughter, Abigail, had the task of taking pictures throughout the evening. I’d given her my iPhone and told her to get lots of shots. I realized later that she took nearly all of them from this vantage point, as my daughter never leaves my side for long. 😉 But she DID take plenty of shots; so many my phone died. She even took pictures of people taking pictures. That’s my girl.

Okay, back to the giveaway. The third winner was my friend Cristin, and this made me really happy, because she had driven up from Tucson to come to the party. Cristin was all smiles when she collected her prize, and it was the perfect end to the giveaway.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the night. Those seven amazing ladies you see are all part of a workshop I take called Mothers Who Write. Each one of them has supported my writing efforts over the years, and they’ve shared their writing with me. That’s a very personal thing, and it can be a scary thing. But when we get together and share our stories, it always feels safe.

All in all the launch party was a blast. The only leftovers we had were a handful of cupcakes. We gave those to the staff at Changing Hands Bookstore, who were gracious throughout. They even hinted that I come back in January for a very special event…but I’ll keep you posted on that.

Thanks for helping me celebrate!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: book launch party, Changing Hands Bookstore, publishing, The Fourth Wall, writing

Release Day!

Posted on June 10, 2014 ·

Today’s the day! The official release date for The Fourth Wall. THANK YOU for all of your support–so many people have come through for me, and I couldn’t have done it without you.

Here’s more information on the book and how to get a copy. 🙂

“The dream sequences in The Fourth Wall are skillfully told; some are beautiful, some are terrifying–all are intriguing.”
–Rebecca Lloyd, award-winning author of The View from Endless Street and other short story collections

Book Description

When Marin was little and monsters chased her through nightmares, she learned to weave her own dreams. Her mother called the lucid dreaming a gift, and when an accident takes her mother and leaves her baby brother an empty shell, Marin uses this gift to spin a new reality for herself. One without time or sorrow. A world without memory.

But just when Marin thinks she’s safe in her make-believe fantasy world, the monsters come back and her dream turns to a nightmare. Something in the dream doesn’t want Marin to wake up. In order to heal herself and her family, Marin must face the truth she’s forgotten and conquer what lies behind the fourth wall.

Release Date: June 10, 2014
Format: Paperback
Publisher: WiDo Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-937178-51-2
Price: $15.99

Copies will be available at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe on June 11!

Also, save the date: Changing Hands is hosting the LAUNCH PARTY on Tuesday, July 8. More information HERE.

If you want a signed copy of The Fourth Wall and you can’t attend the launch party, call Changing Hands Bookstore to pre-order a personalized copy: 480-730-0205

*The Fourth Wall may or may not be on the shelf at your local bookstore. If it’s not, you can request that it be ordered. The more demand for a book, the greater the chance a bookstore will stock it.

For Online Ordering:
Order from Changing Hands Bookstore
Order from Amazon
Order from Barnes & Noble
Buy on Kindle for $3.99

To enter the Goodreads giveaway, click HERE.

Finally, and once again, thank you. And happy reading!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: book launch, Changing Hands Bookstore, launch party, The Fourth Wall, writing

Party Time!

Posted on June 6, 2014 ·

Image from Flickr by foxypar4

It’s hard to believe, but the launch date for The Fourth Wall is less than a week away. I remember scribbling in a little spiral notepad the idea for this book nearly three years ago. I still have the notes, and it’s funny to look back at my original vision and see how much has changed. The only thing I seemed to know for sure was how it would end.

That’s the great part about writing fiction–you can choose your own endings. When it comes to publishing fiction, at least in the traditional sense, you can work hard to influence the ending but you don’t get to choose it. Ultimately it’s up to a publisher whether or not your book ends up on bookshelves, so when you get that kind of happy ending, you have to throw a party.

You’ll come help me celebrate, right? OF COURSE you’re invited. And I’m bringing cupcakes…

BOOK LAUNCH PARTY FOR THE FOURTH WALL
Tuesday, July 8 at 7 p.m.
Changing Hands Bookstore
6428 S McClintock Dr.
Tempe, Arizona

Reading, Signing, Cool Giveaways

And did I mention cupcakes?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: book launch party, Changing Hands Bookstore, publishing, The Fourth Wall, WiDo Publishing, writing