Zero

What is zero? Well, zero is what you get when you put forth zero efforts.

You have to work hard to learn the craft of writing. That takes practice and studying. If you don’t, your work will be subpar if you self-publish it and rejected if you send it to publishers and agents.

You need to know how publishing works. Whether it’s learning how to write queries or researching the steps to self-publish. Otherwise, you’ll waste time and effort.

You have to create an attractive product. If you’re self-publishing, you have to invest in your book, from the cover art to the editing. Zero effort here means no one will buy your book and if they do, they’ll regret it.

You have to plan ahead with your marketing. You need to plan blog tours, real life appearances, giveaways… You might even have to create the promotional tools. If you don’t and you just toss your book out there with no preparation, no one will know.

And through all of that, if you make zero effort to reach out to others, both for support and to offer support, you will travel a lonely path.

We’ve reached the end of the A to Z Challenge – have you made an army of new friends this month?

Your Daily Routine...

 Have you ever wondered about the routines of some of the world’s most famous writers? Here are some snippets... (you can read the full article HERE)

Ray Bradbury: “My passions drive me to the typewriter every day of my life, and they have driven me there since I was twelve. So I never have to worry about schedules. Some new thing is always exploding in me, and it schedules me, I don’t schedule it. It says: Get to the typewriter right now and finish this.”

E.B White: “I never listen to music when I’m working. I haven’t that kind of attentiveness, and I wouldn’t like it at all. On the other hand, I’m able to work fairly well among ordinary distractions. My house has a living room that is at the core of everything that goes on: it is a passageway to the cellar, to the kitchen, to the closet where the phone lives. There’s a lot of traffic..."

Haruki Murakami : “When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4:00 am and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for 10km or swim for 1500m (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at 9:00 pm. I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.”

Ernest Hemingway: “When I am working on a book or a story I write every morning as soon after first light as possible. There is no one to disturb you and it is cool or cold and you come to your work and warm as you write. You read what you have written and, as you always stop when you know what is going to happen next, you go on from there. You write until you come to a place where you still have your juice and know what will happen next and you stop...”

Maya Angelou: “I write in the morning and then go home about midday and take a shower, because writing, as you know, is very hard work, so you have to do a double ablution. Then I go out and shop — I’m a serious cook — and pretend to be normal. I play sane — Good morning! Fine, thank you. And you? And I go home. I prepare dinner for myself and if I have houseguests, I do the candles and the pretty music and all that. Then after all the dishes are moved away I read what I wrote that morning...”

What does your writing process involve?

X is for X-FACTOR

We all strive for the elusive X-FACTOR, that quality that will distinguish our novel from every other novel in our genre. That special something that will set our prose a flame and drive us to instant stardom.

It happened to others; others being authors like Mordecai Richler, Alexandra Sokoloff, Yann Martel, Alice Munro, Margaret Lawrence, Leonard Cohen,. Their work includes the X-FACTOR, and it shows.

So, where do you get it? This X-FACTOR?

If Tolstoy were here, he'd say you do your homework and more. The man understood what he was talking about. He spent 4 years researching Napolean before ever thinking of starting War and Peace. And this was before electricity~!

You never get lazy and pick the easiest word to describe what others have described before you. You write from your gut, not that safe place that has ample verbs that are so predictable. You create a hero that we can cry over, yell at, cheer for. And mostly, you drive yourself nuts trying to get it perfect. Oh, and you treat your reader like an adult.

I read a novel recently for the sole purpose of writing a review and posting it everywhere. That's what we're here for, to support each other. I couldn't finish it. The writing was fine. But it was clear the writer didn't stretch, didn't go that extra mile to write original prose, or most importantly, give me a protagonist I could cheer for.

There was no X-FACTOR.

Now I'm left writing no review (I can't lie) and hoping I never get asked why.

--
joylene, who's off to make sure the X-FACTOR is in her story.

ps. If you haven't already, read War and Peace. Honestly, it covers every theme you can think to write about.