Bob Mayer – Author Blog

Notes on Pitching

August 3rd, 2010

Below are some notes from an online course I taught on pitching.

I’m seeing a lot of interesting trends. Here are some generic comments about pitching:

1. Think about an anomaly for your protagonist. Often we give clichés. Give us something we don’t expect from that type of character. Regardless of what you think of Twilight (only saw first movie, sorry) it worked. Two anomalies: no sex despite intense desire and sunlight doesn’t kill, it makes them sparkle (I will be taking Cool Gus and Sassy Becca for a run in our Twilight woods as soon as I post this—none of us sparkle—we just get muddy). Makes it a bit different. Russell Crowe in LA Confidential is a thug. But he always protects women in peril. You want to know why.

2. Series. As noted by one of you, yes, you have to sell the hell out of the first book. I’m writing the first book in my series right now, but my agent is up front about having to sell first book, then worry about the rest. Should you have a pitch ready for the series? I think you should know your common concept (for me, West Point, for Brockmann, SEAL teams, for Susan Wiggs, a town, etc) and common theme (for me Honor vs Loyalty). And roughly what the follow on books are going to be (for me, 1st book 1840 to Battle of Shiloh, Book 2 Shiloh to Vicksburg, Book Three Vicksburg to Gettysburg, etc). Also, writing the second book in a series when first hasn’t sold could be fruitless if the second book relies on the first book to have been sold.

3. Title is the only marketing tool you have some degree of control over. In 45 books, I had title changed once without my consent. Changed 3 titles after discussing it with editor. And wished I had changed a lot more on my own following this advice: title should do one (or both) of two things: Invite readers into the book by letting them have an idea what the book is about. CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER by Tom Clancy. AREA 51 (by moi—which was originally titled DREAMLAND which means nothing—has sold over 1 million copies with Area 51 title, would have died a quiet midlist death with original title). Or the title should be a juxtaposition of words that don’t belong together and intrigues you: LOVELY BONES. Bottom line, when your book is spine out in store, the title must make the casual buyer reach out and want to see what the heck this is about.

4. Being a secret keeper. We think by withholding something we’re intriguing the agent/editor and making them want to know more. Nope. We’re just irritating them. Flat out tell them the ‘secret’. Let them know what’s at stake. What’s at the core of the book.

5. What does your protagonist want to achieve? A goal is an external concrete thing. Motivation is why they are trying to achieve that goal. You want to steer away from a protagonist goal where they are ‘escaping’ ‘surviving’ ‘running away’. FIREFLY was interesting, but failed ultimately because the people on the spaceship had no goal other than survival. It wears on the reader/watcher after a while, because there’s never an end in sight.

6. Names mean little. Use a description of the character. Fred tells me nothing except male, unless parents really screwed with kid.

7. I’ve mentioned disjointed several times. If words are so far out of synch it jars the reader in a negative way you’re disjointed. The example, not picking on you, from below is ending with “love, mayhem, and possibly the apocalypse.” The third is so out of the league of the first two, you might as well forget about them. I know it was an attempt at humor in a way, but it didn’t quite work.

8. What goal is pulling the train? Sometimes in the pitch there is a laundry list of goals. You have ONE goal for your protagonist. That’s the key. Everything else is subplot.

More on anomaly, etc: How do we get a character anomaly out quickly? Off the top of my head, some popular tv shows: A private investigator with OCD– his name is Monk. A brilliant diagnostic doctor, addicted to vicodin, who hates people but saves their lives. His name is House. A southern belle in LA, always wears dresses, had affair in previous job with new boss, who heads a major crimes unit in LA and is a superb CLOSER. (Fish out of water story) I’ve watched a lot of canceled series on Hulu lately. Some had really good ideas, but the character just didn’t cut it: LIFE: What if a LA cop is wrongly convicted of murder, sent to prison, but then is exonerated by DNA and as part of his settlement gets 50 million dollars AND his gold detective badge so he can try to find the real murderer. Good idea. The writing was decent. But the character just didn’t pop. Lasted one season. STANDOFF: A male-female hostage negotiation team who are secretly having an affair, have it revealed during a situation. The writing on that show was actually very good. Some excellent episodes. But if your hero and heroine are involved from the pilot, you don’t have that Moonlighting or X-Files sexual tension. I know it’s hard. And I’m not saying you have to do 25 words. You want to put something out there that hooks. Then you can go into more detail. The reality is, if you don’t hook within 15 seconds, either written or in person, the mind starts to numb out. I’ve read thousands of queries teaching, as a publisher. I’ve taken verbal pitches in Maui, Surrey, etc when they do those with authors so we can give feedback. An agent sitting at a table in a ballroom taking 20-30 of these in a day, no matter how hard they try, starts to numb out.

For those interested, the Warrior Writer Loop is a monthly, closed Yahoo loop with several informative posts each week along with links to news about writing and publishing. Available here.

Tags: agent, agents, author, Bob Mayer, publishing, Warrior Writer, Who Dares Wins, Writer, writing
Posted in General Posts | 5 Comments »

A reply to publishers defending low eBook royalties

July 23rd, 2010

After reading another industry blog about how hard publishers work for their slice of the pie, I wrote the following reply. I think most people in the industry are trying to work hard to adapt to the changes and appreciate what their authors do, but there are some who don’t. This is for those handful who think they are so important.

LOL– where is the marketing budget, the promotion, etc. etc.? Come on. Be real. As pointed out, if you aren’t the top of a publisher’s list, they throw some galleys at the usual suspects at best and do nothing to promote their midlist.

I’ve seen all aspects of publishing from bottom, midlist and bestseller status, so I’ve experienced how authors are treated and the huge differences.

Where are authors going to find the money to do the work without advances? Where did every author on their first novel which was written on spec? Did you take no pay at your job for the first year, working on the hope you would be successful? Do you have health benefits? Do you give those to your authors? Is your salary based on how well the books you work with sells? And it comes eight months after sales as it takes that long for you to do the accounting even in this age of Booksense? I find your tone condescending to authors. I very much appreciate many of the people I work with in publishing, but at times with a few, there is a deep lack of understanding of the realities of the author’s situation. And here’s the bottom line for the future. Authors produce the product. Readers consume the product. To act like someone in between is more important than either end is short-sighted and doomed.

All authors hear is that they have to promote their books. To the point where authors are realizing– what exactly are you doing for me publisher? I can hire one of the many now unemployed editors to do that aspect.
What publishers had a lock on was distribution. No longer with eBooks. I find your arguments similar to a dinosaur braying in the tar pits. It’s understandable you want to protect your turf. But 25% royalty for eBooks just isn’t going to fly in the face of reality when eBook sales top print sales.

At the beginning of this year, just six months ago at Digital Book World, publishers and agents were saying– hey, why worry about something that’s only 3% of our market? What happened to that? This blog sounds like worry.
Six months from now, when top name, brand authors, skip publishers and go straight to eBook platforms for 70% royalties, that 50% split is going to look very attractive to publishers.

Do what authors have had to do. Cut your fat, streamline, become efficient and face reality. Or try to hold on to the past and slowly sink into the pit.

Or, quit your salaried job, write a novel for the next year with no income, and try to sell it, hoping some agent will take you on, and some publisher will pay your that mighty 10k advance and face the reality that 90% of first novels don’t earn out in a consignment business with a 50% average sell through rate. When I describe the publishing business model to people in other industries, they stare at me in shock.

We need to work together to develop a better business model in the face of reality.

Posted in General Posts | 11 Comments »

Working a Writers Conference Part II: Getting the most out of your money and time.

July 12th, 2010

There are two aspects to getting the most out of conference: what you do formally and what you do informally.

Formally:
Often, attendees go in with a single-minded focus that the most important thing is the agent/editor pitch. And they do it poorly. An agent/editor appointment is a chance for one-on-one face time. It’s a two-way thing. You don’t have to ‘pitch’ your book; you can get feedback, which is more valuable, if you ask questions instead.

What you are trying to do is communicate your enthusiasm for the book—through the material. There was something about your idea that excited you so much you wrote 100,000 words. You’re looking to communicate that.

In my previous post, I talked about the importance of attending craft workshops. Look at the list of presenters. Pick those who bio is representative of what you hope to achieve in your career path. One thing you can do, is go to workshops that aren’t as “hot”, where there will be fewer attendees and get closer contact with the presenter. There have been times I had only two people attend my workshop and we got a great dialogue going.

NETWORKING—this doesn’t mean take up smoking so you can stand outside with that big time author. Really. Most people are pretty approachable so be courteous. A lot of presenters are fried or busy doing business meetings, so take that into account. A lot of your networking should be with other attendees who might not be published yet—there are future NY Times best-selling authors all around you. Don’t hide in your room, afraid to mingle. A rule is leave in the morning, and don’t come back to your room until late in the evening.

Most writers are introverts so it’s hard for us. You have to expand your comfort zone by going into your courage zone—this is a tenet of Warrior Writer. So force yourself several times a day to introduce yourself to someone new and talk to them. Remember, a lot of people feel the same way and would be happy to talk. Don’t just hang with those people you know. I’m teaching a class this fall at the University of Washington because a year ago at Emerald City Writers Conference I started talking to someone in line for coffee.

Don’t hide in your room ‘polishing’ your pitch. A conference is about the people.

Study the list of presenters. Put faces with names. Check the ones you would really like to talk to. Then DON’T stalk them. Keep your eyes open. You never know who you might get on the elevator with.

Be careful what you say. Don’t bad-mouth people at conferences. Bad karma. It will come back to you—and not in a good way.

Ask people about them. Always a good conversation starter. If you happen to sit next to an agent or editor at the bar, ask them questions—don’t pitch. Ask about what they think the future of publishing is; kindle; what their hobbies are; how did they get into the business; what’s their favorite part of their job—etc. etc.

You can learn a lot.

And it’s a learning experience overall.

Check out these two road warriors, Cool Gus and Sassy Becca, preparing for their trip to a conference:

Tags: agent, author, Bob Mayer, conferences, Leadership, publishing, Workshop, Writer, writing
Posted in General Posts | 5 Comments »

Writers’ Conference: Getting the Most Out Of One, Part I

July 4th, 2010

With Thrillerfest and RWA National this month, many aspiring writers will be attending these conferences. There are numerous writers’ conferences all over the country (check Shawguides for listings). I’ve taught at hundreds over the years. Seven straight years at the Maui Writers Retreat & Conference. Thrillerfest. RWA National—and many others all over the country. I won’t be doing National this year. I was going to present in Nashville, because it had the additional benefit of side trips to Fort Donelson, Vicksburg and Shiloh to do research for my current WIP: The Long Gray Line: Duty. But not many Civil War battles in Orlando. I’ll be presenting a pre-conference Warrior Writer workshop for the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference in Seattle on 22 July.

Based on my experience at many conferences over the years, here are some of my thoughts.

Which workshops to go to?

First, as a Warrior Writer, you have a strategic writing goal that everything you do as a writer falls under. So you pick workshops that support your strategic goal. No matter how ready you are to pitch, I still believe your priority should be attending craft workshops in order to become a better writer. Last year at Emerald City Writers Conference I learned so much attending workshops by Cherry Adair, Susan Mallery and others. Every years in Maui, I’d listen to Elizabeth George, John Saul, Terry Brooks, Dorothy Allison, Jack Canfield, and many others teach. The great thing there was then being able to sit down with them at breakfast or lunch and discuss things.

Underneath your strategic goal, you have a tactical goal for the conference? What do you want to achieve? Too many writers are focused on selling and not on learning. Aspiring authors rush through the doors by the hundreds if there is an Agent Panel, while the published author who is teaching, let’s say, Developing Effective Characters, asks the five attendees to pull their chairs in a circle and let’s do a group hug for support.

Attendees sweat over their ten-minute pitches to editors and agents, but don’t focus on craft workshops. They’ll sit in their room in the evening agonizing over their pitch, instead of socializing and networking. A rule of Warrior Writer is: when you leave your room in the morning at a conference, you don’t go back to it until the day is completely done. No hiding. Even though most writers are introverts, under Force Four, Character, in Warrior Writer we discuss have you have to expand you comfort zone by going into your courage zone and doing things that are the opposite of your Myers-Briggs character type.

Reality check: the odds of finding an agent who will sign you or an editor who will buy your manuscript at a conference are low. Very low. Despite that, agents would love to find that gem in the rough.

But you have to have a gem FIRST.

Be honest with yourself (a tenet of Warrior Writer). How many of you have spent thousands of dollars going to conferences, pitching, networking, marketing yourself on social media, and still haven’t gotten published? But you haven’t spent that much effort on LEARNING to become a better writer. You keep rewriting the same manuscript, or even write new ones (pretty much a new version of the old one craft-wise), but you’re basically moving deck chairs around on the Titanic.

Heck, there are even people who go to conferences and pitch an IDEA, thinking if the agent is interested they can go home and knock the book out in six weeks. Agents do NOT want to hear that.

Others think that the editor will probably want changes or make suggestions and clean the book up for them so why bother cleaning it up themselves? NOT.

Ever go to a museum and see students sketching the successful painters hanging on the walls? Writers need to do this too. Not only go to craft workshops, but study craft every day. How? Read. Analyze. Watch movies. Analyze. Shows. Analyze. Everything in them is done for a purpose. I’m shocked when I ask audiences how many have read X book or watched Y series or seen Z movie and no one raises their hand. Learn from the experts.

Now, I’m going to be very blunt and honest, a trait those who have attended my workshops can attest to: In Warrior Writer I teach a thing called the 5% rule. 5% of people are willing to achieve internally motivated change. This is statistically born out in a number of different fields from getting published to becoming a Green Beret to getting a black belt in martial arts. If you aren’t where you want to be YOU have to change. I’ve had people pitch the same thing to me ten times, supposing, I guess, that eventually I would change and see the brilliance in it. Teaching writing, I have seen only about 5% of aspiring writers actually truly learn craft and change. But when they do, it’s amazing how much better they get. I’ve had workshop attendees who have gone on to become NY Times bestsellers, multi-published, and very successful as writers. Not because I was a great teacher, but because they were great students who were willing to learn and CHANGE.

I could go on about this for a long time. In fact, this is what I do in my Warrior-Writer workshop, which is all about the author. Learning the mindset and habits of a successful author. And learning how to CHANGE. Change is not thinking differently. It’s not just making a decision. It’s SUSTAINED ACTION.

Bottom line for all you Thrillerfestees and RWA Nationalees—focus on craft.

Coming next blog: Maximizing a Writers’ conference Part II: Getting the Most Out Of One, Part II. Where I give you the nasty truth agents and editors won’t tell you. And how you can use that truth to your advantage.

On another note, we’ve redone our covers at Who Dares Wins Publishing after spending considerable money upgrading our computers and software. One lesson we took from this was that those who want to self-publish, aren’t going to find cover and formatting as easy as they think. We just got our first book in the iBookstore. Here are some of the new covers:

This book was finished in last draft a week ago. We will have it available in all formats, including POD, with the next two weeks. Another big advantage of a small publisher that utilizes the latest technology.

Tags: agent, agents, author, authors, Bob Mayer, conferences, publishing, Warrior Writer, Writer
Posted in General Posts | 5 Comments »

The Writing Life

June 27th, 2010

1) What is your writing day like? What time do you start/end?

I get up around 5 am when Cool Gus and Sassy Becca (our 2 yellow lab puppies) start jumping on my head. I feed them, boot up my computer, then take them outside. I come back in, pull up my WIP, (right now it’s The Long Gray Line: Duty), bring up the story grid (a running synopsis of the book on excel) for it and print it out with current page count and put that to the left of my keyboard. Then I begin at the point I started writing the previous day. I clean up what I wrote and get back in the rhythm. Then I have to write a minimum of 1,000 original words before I get to check my email. My daily minimum is 2,000 words. If nothing major comes up in email, I then check sales figures for Who Dares Wins Publishing on Kindle, iBookstore, Smashwords and Lightning Press to see how we are doing. Then I go back to WIP and get at least the next 1,000 words done.

Then it’s usually noon and I take Gus & Becca out for a run in our old-growth forest here on Whidbey Island (we’re talking Twilight woods except we have mud and no sparkly vampires, just two dirty yellow labs). I come home, wipe the dogs down and then get to work on my publishing business, my promotion, my teaching material, and my non-fiction work in progress. Right now, that’s We Are Not Alone: The Warrior Writer Guide to Critique Groups, which will be out by the NJ conference if not sooner.

In the evening, my wife, also a writer, and I, then watch hours and hours of movies, tv series, news specials, Jon Stewart and Colbert and any Family Guy we can find. Well, she finds. I watch what she tells me to watch. She’s always right and I never touch the remote control.

2) How do you balance out your writing life with the rest of life?

What rest of life? I love writing. I occasionally take road trips in my Jeep. I’m trying to get out to the Olympic Peninsula to camp this summer with Cool Gus and Sassy Becca. We go down to the beach on Puget Sound with the dogs every few days and swim them. It’s a quiet life, which I enjoy after my previous life in the Green Berets.

3) In what genre do you spend most of your time writing these days?

Good question. Because I was all over the place for 20 years. In Warrior Writer I teach that you have to write your passion and pick the one genre you want to become successful in. I’ve been successful in romance, science fiction, thrillers, non-fiction, etc. But now I write historical military novels with West Point at the common touchstone. My first book, The Long Gray Line: Duty, goes from 1840 at West Point to the Battle of Shiloh in the Civil War. The second book, which I will be working on at the time of the conference, is The Long Gray Line: Honor, which will go from Shiloh to Vicksburg. And on and on. I love history, I am fascinated by the Civil War and I went to West Point and was in the military, so I present the history differently than a historian would.

4) Do you write multiple drafts or barely need revisions before you type The End?

I learned from Jenny Crusie to rewrite. Best thing she taught me among many others. A question a writer has to answer is this:

I will do anything it takes to succeed as a writer, just don’t ask me to do X. (check previous blog post for more on this)

Well, you have to do X to succeed. And for me, that’s slow down and re-write. Make the book the best I am capable of before sending it to my agent.

5) Are you pressured to writer faster and produce more books per year? If so, how do you deal with it?

I used to write 3-4 books a year. Now I try 2 fiction books a year with 2 non-fiction books a year—well, I guess that’s 3-4 books a year still. There’s no pressure. I just love writing. I’d rather do it than anything else, although I really enjoy teaching also. The world is moving faster. Some writers can do the year to 18 months between books, but I not only traditionally publish, I produce books for Who Dares Wins Publishing which I co-created and is near and dear to me. We’re publishing my fiction original Chasing The Ghost one of favorite books,in two weeks, and plan more original titles. I hope to see Horace Chase in many more books.

6) What part does the business of promoting your writing take in your life?

Content is King. Promotion is Queen. And they rule together. We have a book coming out in two weeks at WDWPUB titled We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media by Kristen Lamb and when I read the first draft (on the flight to Cincinnati to teach) I realized I needed to print out the draft and follow her instructions. Writers generally HATE promoting. But you HAVE to do it. If no one reads your great content, what good does it do you?

Promotion is part of the job description of writer today.

6) Did you have an agent when you sold your first book? What’s your take on agents now? Any change?

Yes. And I got my first agent by breaking rules, another tenet of Warrior Writer is the three rules of rule breaking. But you have to get the book or attend my workshop to get the rules. (Promotion! But it’s what I’m doing at the NJRWA pre-conference workshop, so you’re good to go since you’re signing up, right? Right?). I’m on my fourth agent now and love her. I’ve learned an agent just can’t sell your manuscript, they have to love and SELL your manuscript. If you want to be published traditionally, you need an agent.

8) Since there have been so many changes in publishing in the recent past, what do you see coming in the next few years?

By the end of 2010 I predict 1/3 of all book sales at least will be eBooks. I foresee some major fiction writers skipping traditional publishing and going direct to eBook to get the 70% royalty, like I am with Chasing The Ghost.

Unfortunately, I see 99.9% of those previously unpublished fiction authors who publish their novel themselves in eBook and POD selling less that 99 copies and getting more frustrated with doing it themselves than they were with trying to get an agent and getting traditionally published. My advice to unpublished fiction writers is focus on becoming a better writer (I follow this advice myself, always going to workshops and trying to learn). Don’t waste time, energy and money on self-publishing unless you are the #1 self-promoter in the world with the greatest hook in the world for your novel.

In the middle ground I see small publishing houses like my Who Dares Wins, as options for good writers who can promote themselves, particularly published authors who own their backlist and previously unpublished authors with a great novel and the ability to promote. We’re building a team, and a team is always stronger than being the lone wolf.

9) From your vantage point and experience what advice would you give to an aspiring author?

Learn the craft. Write. Learn the craft. Write. Change. Become a better writer. Network. Learn the craft. Write. Write. Write.

10) What do you know now about writing/publishing that you wished you knew before selling your first book?

Everything I put into my book Warrior Writer. Seriously. It’s 50,000 words based on the fact that there is no training program for writers who become authors. Agents don’t have one for their new clients, publishers don’t have one for their new authors. It’s ridiculous. We’re supposed to learn all this stuff by magic? Even the best conferences, writers groups (RWA), etc. can’t teach you all you need to know. There is a need for a formal program and I developed Warrior Writer to do just that.

Tags: agent, author, authors, Bob Mayer, Civil War, publishing, Warrior Writer, Writer, writing
Posted in General Posts | 4 Comments »

I’ll do whatever it take to succeed as a writer except . . .

June 20th, 2010

I have to give credit where it is due. I listened to Michael Hague present in Portland for the Rose City RWA and he said a fascinating thing. As a writer, you must complete the following statement:

I will do whatever it takes to success as a writer, except don’t ask me to do . . .

Whatever completes that sentence is your greatest fear as a writer. In Warrior Writer, I spend a lot of time focusing on the fears of writers. There are many. Michael Hague’s question is a great way of finding the one that is crippling you. We must attack the ambush, as I’ve written about in the past. We attack directly at that which is stopping us from being the best writers we can be.

For me, it’s rewriting and focusing after the first draft is done. I’ve always said I’ve never had an editor or agent come back with a comment on something I wasn’t already aware of. Thus, I need to focus and make sure they can’t come back with those comments I am aware of.

I also have to promote and market better than I have been in the past. As writers, we tend to dislike that part of our job. But it is PART of the job. Right now, I have to go downtown Langley (it’s one block– we do have some stopsigns) and go to the Saratoga Inn and leave more brochures for my Writers and Warrior Writer Workshops that I hold there. I don’t like doing that, but I have to. Because no one else will do it for me.

So, answer the question: You’ll whatever it takes to succeed as a writer, except don’t ask you to do . . .?

Tags: agents, author, authors, Bob Mayer, editor, fear, publishing, Warrior Writer, Writer, writing, Writing Workshop
Posted in General Posts | 19 Comments »

Guest Blog: Warrior Writer and the Gift of Adversity

June 14th, 2010

by Kristen Lamb

First of all, what an honor to be given an opportunity to blog on Bob Mayer’s page. Thanks so much for that. It’s much roomier here than on my blog and are those….mints? Can I have one? Okay, okay. Back to the blog.

I would not be contributing this blog had I not been fortunate enough to meet Bob at a conference in Oklahoma City a couple of years ago. Had that meeting never transpired, I would never have known Bob and I might never have taken his Warrior Writer Workshop, a class so life altering that I have dedicated a year of regular blogging to sharing its philosophy. One of the largest principles of Warrior Writer?

Beware your comfort zone.

Most of us like being comfortable. A nice ambient 76.4 degrees, please. And I want to be in bed by 10:30 and sleep until 8:00, maybe 9:00. Oooh, and I like the idea of a super-fast computer with all the bells and whistles in my beautiful office overlooking some beach…no, tropical garden. Okay a tropical beach. We will compromise.

I have a confession. I really didn’t like Bob all that much the first time we met. He was a real jerk, you know. He told me that he didn’t like the title of my book. And then, after reading my first three chapters, he had the gall to tell me that I relied far too much on witty dialogue, and that I had no plot! Yeah, well I bet the only reason he got published had something to do with luck. My writing group loved my title AND my book, and there wasn’t one misplaced comma. I had a plot. All he had to do was skip to page 153. No plot. Hmpf! What did he know?

It is tough to admit that was my first reaction to Bob’s critique. I felt that inner three-year-old rise up and stick her tongue out. Why?

Bob was forcing me out of my comfort zone.

It wasn’t comfortable to admit I knew a heck of a lot less than I thought I did. I mean, really. My family and all my unpublished writer friends thought I was super smart and special. It was downright painful to admit that I would likely have to leave my writing group of five years because I wasn’t growing. And I howled with complaint when Bob called me on all my excuses.

How dare he. Sadist.

Of course, over the past couple of years, I have learned enough to know that Bob was giving me exactly what I needed, a good pruning. Now, when I feel most comfortable, I know THAT is when I need to shake things up.

We don’t grow unless we are challenged. Grapevines won’t produce grapes unless they are pruned. Rose bushes will not flower, and fruit trees will remain fruitless. Pruning hurts. It puts the plant into shock. Literally. Trust me, it does the same thing for aspiring writers.

Bob and Warrior Writer pruned the daylights out of me. Have you ever seen what they do to a Crepe Myrtle in the winter? Yeah, that was me. You should have seen Bob trying to teach me about the antagonist (apparently a storm makes for a lousy antagonist). But I had a hard time. I don’t like thinking of people being evil and having evil intentions. It is very, very uncomfortable to have humans as an antagonist. No one judges a hurricane, and I didn’t actually have to grow as a writer to create a character arc for a Category 5 storm. Yeah, he didn’t let me cop out with a hurricane as a bad guy either.

Whack! Whack! Kristen, this is for your own good.

Bob shoved me out of my Snuggie of Mediocrity, and I whined and cried and argued. But, eventually I did it enough, that I stopped fighting. I began to embrace the pain.

Warrior Writer taught me, above anything else, to use my fear and my inner discomfort as a sort of water witch alerting me that I am about to strike something good. When I am feeling uncomfortable, it is usually when I am doing the right thing. And the more uncomfortable, usually the better.

The two most uncomfortable decisions in my writing career have happened in the last year. The first was to start Warrior Writer Boot Camp with some friends who also attended Bob’s workshop. We all knew we had a lot of weaknesses. We suddenly realized that we needed an entirely new kind of group to ensure we were always challenged. We use Bob’s books and principles, and meet weekly where we seek to strengthen what is weakest. In WWBC, if you don’t understand scene and structure, we work on it until you are so good you could teach it. Don’t know about setting? Antagonists? Character arcs? We hold you down kicking and screaming until you do get it. We have lots of fun. Seriously.

It would have been easier to stay with the old friends, doing what I was good at. Warrior Writer made me face the worst things about myself. But, it also made me mature and grow.

Warrior Writer made me step out in faith and dare to be the social media expert for writers. Difficult decision number two. My book We Are Not Alone—The Writer’s Guide to Social Media will be out soon, and it never would have happened if I had stayed in my comfort zone. Now I get e-mails daily from writers who are super grateful for my advice. These writers would have never been helped had I stayed in my happy place.

We all like being comfortable. We like being the best and being admired. We love the ambient sunshine of complacency. And it is a good place to visit, to enjoy the harvest and give purpose to all the adversity we endure. But for those who want to achieve great things, it is a dangerous place to stay for too long.

So suck it up, and the next time something makes you defensive or angry or depressed, don’t dismay. You are just being pruned.

Thanks Bob!

Tags: agent, author, authors, Bob Mayer, Change, publishing, Warrior Writer, Writer, writing
Posted in Guest Blog | 17 Comments »

Home Page

Previous Posts

Follow Us!