A New Year's Goals, Not Resolutions

By Claire Booth

We’re a week into the new year, and have I made any resolutions yet? Nope. I’ve never really been into that sort of thing. I think that’s because I’m very aware that life can throw you curveballs – good and bad – and to navigate them requires a certain amount of flexibility that a resolution doesn’t give you. (You pass or you fail. The end.) 

Resolutions: Carved in stone.

Now I do have goals for the coming year. Finish the book I’m writing and start another one. Train the new puppy. Go to crime fiction conferences. Plant a garden.

But notice how those are goals, and not set-in-stone promises? Maybe I’ll decide to enroll in classes that will use up my budget for conferences. Maybe I’ll break my leg and be unable to plant that garden.

(Okay, I’ll admit that the puppy training isn't something that can be modified or exchanged for something different. It must be done. She’s currently gnawing on my slipper.)

I don’t like being pinned down, and I’ve always felt that resolutions do that. So instead, I’ll go into 2018 with some flexible goals and an appreciative anticipation of the unexpected.  

What's in a Pen Name?

by Holly West

Hello there, lovelies! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and that your new year has started on a positive note. I allowed myself two weeks of utter freedom, if you call hosting family and friends for several large meals freedom. It just so happens that I do call it freedom and it felt wonderful.

Over my Christmas vacation I finally came up with a pen name for myself. I have no immediate need for one and truthfully, I hope I never have to use one--that is, I hope I'm able to sell my next novel using my own name. Well, if we're being really honest here, I hope I'm able to sell my next novel period. On the cusp of submitting it to my agent, I have that same peculiar blend of authorial confidence and withering self-doubt that fueled my initial foray into publishing. But I'll get to that in a minute.

My pen name is not particularly sexy and it's far less cool than Holly West is. I get an obscene amount of compliments on my name, which seems weird. It is, after all, just a name. But people love it.

I went back and forth on whether I should make my pen name unisex but quickly decided if I couldn't sell a book as the female I am then so be it. I also didn't want to use initials because I get confused when authors use them. I can never remember what the initials are--in my addled brain PD James becomes PF James and while that probably won't prevent me from finding books by that author, I'd like to avoid any possible confusion for my own books.

Ultimately, the name I chose is practical and a little nostalgic. It's a bit old-fashioned and maybe hints that I'm older than I am--or at the very least hints at my actual age, which is old enough. It reminds me of my heritage, but mostly, it frees me of the constraints of being Holly West. Being Holly West is awesome but for the last year or so I've wanted to get away from her, writing-wise. I'm not sure what that means yet but I'm looking forward to exploring it, even if I never actually use the pen name.

Back to what I said about authorial confidence/self-doubt. From the day I wrote the first sentence of my first novel, I never had any doubt that I'd be published. If I had, I might never have tried. This was just before self-publishing became an acceptable and common practice, so that wasn't a consideration for me. No--I was going the traditional route and that meant writing the book, securing an agent, and selling it to a publishing house.

In the end, I achieved this goal, though not in the exact way I imagined. Though being published hasn't thus far been what I thought it would be it's still been pretty great. Having just written that sentence I'm reminded of my supposed regrets and realize I don't actually have any regrets at all with regards to what's happened since my books were published.

Wow. Who knew that writing a simple DSD post could bring me to such a profound realization? I have no regrets. Maybe I don't need that pen name after all.

Ah. I forgot about the second part of the equation--the self-doubt. Although perhaps its not self-doubt at all. It's the knowledge, based now on hard experience, of how difficult it is to make it as a writer. "Making it"means something to different to each of us but regardless, it's a tough slog and one that we have little control over, even if we're self-published.

And yet still, I try. That's where the confidence comes back in. The confidence that one way or another, my books will reach an audience. Maybe this one won't but the next one will. Or maybe this book by Holly West didn't catch on, but this one from insert pen name here will.

Here's to 2016. I'd raise a glass of champagne but since it's Dry January you'll have to settle for coffee.

Survival tips for writing during the holidays

by: Joelle Charbonneau

I don’t know about you, but for me, writing during the holiday season isn’t just hard.  It’s near impossible.  Between the gift buying, gift wrapping, Christmas card sending, cookie making, tree trimming, outdoor light stringing, birthday (yes, we have a birthday in our house) celebrating, holiday school stuff and dozens of other things that make the holiday seasons festive, it is more difficult than usual to find not only the time, but the focus to get words on the page.

What’s a writer to do?

Well, here are five ideas that I have, which could aid you in your quest for holiday writing sanity.  Not all of them will work for you.  So treat this like a box of cookies and only consume those that are to your liking.  If the gingerbread cookie doesn’t ring your bell – don’t eat it.  (I will.  I LOVE gingerbread.)

1)  If  you don’t have a looming deadline and the holiday festivities combined with writing is making you feel like the Grinch that drop-kicked Christmas – stop.  Give yourself permission to take time off from writing.  Really…the holidays are about family.  If you don’t have a deadline and the additional stress of writing is causing you to be irritable and annoyed, ditch it and decompress with those you love.  The story will be there when the last tree is trimmed and the final gift is unwrapped.  Time with family is precious.  Don’t waste it.

Sadly, many of us can’t afford to stop writing for the next couple of weeks.  (I wish I could, but the INDEPENDENT STUDY tour approaches and I am pretty sure my writing time is going to be seriously impacted in the month of January.  YIKES!)  So, if you have to move the story forward, here are a few suggestions.

2)   Set reasonable-for-the-holiday-season goals and be happy when you meet them especially on the busiest weeks.  Don’t use your non-holiday goals for productivity during this time of year.  Trust me.  I’ve been there and done that.  All it caused was sadness and frustration.  Yes, you need to move the story forward.  Celebrate every day that you do that, but don’t expect yourself to write 5-10-or 15 pages every day.  (Unless you really are the Grinch and you closet yourself in your room and refuse to come out until after the New Year.  If so…ignore all of this.)  Set low benchmarks so you don’t set yourself up for failure.  Failure leads to unhappiness and stress.  And aren’t the holidays stressful enough?  Don’t add to it!

3)  Reward yourself—a lot!  For every page your write sneak a cookie or a chocolate covered pretzel or a wreath-shaped Rice Crispy Treat.  Treat yourself to blaring your favorite holiday tune.  Kiss someone under the mistletoe.  Whatever it takes to get you through.  Personal rewards are always a good idea to help self-motivate.  For this time of year, I suggest you bump those rewards up and enjoy each time you get one.

4)  Take a break from social media.  Let’s face it…as fun as tweeting and posting on Facebook can be, those things suck up time.  And time is precious during the holidays because there never seems to be enough.  So, take the fifteen minutes or hour or more that you spend on social media and use that to write.  Trust me when I say, most people are so busy during the holidays, they aren’t going to notice if you aren’t discussing your work in progress or whatever show you watched last night on television.   You can also stretch this to blogging and other online activities.  Scale back where you can and put the time you save from those adventures into writing and holiday fun.

5)  Make Santa and his Elves do the writing for you.  Sigh…sounds great, but none of us would ever actually allow someone else to write our stories.  So, instead, each time you pull yourself away from holiday preparation or make yourself leave a party early in order to get those pages done remind yourself of the reasons you write.  Go over the reasons that you chose this job in the first place.  Lord knows it wasn’t for fame, fortune and stress-free holiday seasons.  Think of each time you sit down at the computer as a gift you are giving yourself and a gift that you will at some point in the future give your readers.  It doesn’t make it easier to write the words, but remembering how much you love telling stories can ease some of the annoyance you might feel when you can’t watch It’s A Wonderful Life for the hundredth time.

Deadlines can be stressful.  The holidays, as much as most of us love them, can try even the most patient and organized soul.  The combination of the two can lead to some really unhappy moments if you don’t give yourself permission to make some adjustments to your writing routine.   You might be that super person who can work through the holidays at the same pace as every other time of the year, but if you’re not make sure you develop a plan that allows you to get the most out of the last days of 2013.  And if you have any other suggestions for writing survival throughout the holidays please share.  I need all the help I can get!

A new year -- now what?

by: Joelle Charbonneau

HAPPY 2013. 

Another year is over.  The world didn't end.  And hey, guess what?  Neither did publishing.

Traditional publishing and self-publishing are still co-existing.  New bookstores are popping up.  Some are fading.  E-book readers are creating a new breed of reader for both traditional and self-published books even as some people I know have grown tired of reading on a screen and have decided to go back to buying paper books.  The circle of publishing life is spinning.  The only constant in the ever changing cycle of the business is that writers are sitting down in front of their computers and writing.

With ever new year, I see lots of posts that attempt to predict what will happen in the upcoming year.  In publishing, there are guesses as to what books are going to hit big.  There are also articles speculating on which publishers will merge, by what percentage print books will be supplanted by e-books, and how long it will be until publishing officially dies.

Every year someone is speculating that traditional publishing will end.  Why?  I have no idea.  Probably for the same reason that everyone was waiting for the world to end on Dec. 21st.  Because it is fun to speculate.

Which is why I'm giving you a chance to give me your thoughts on what you think will happen in 2013 - in publishing and otherwise.  Who do you think will win the World Series?  What actor is going to get arrested? Are you going to land a new job?  It is time to roll the dice, get out your crystal ball and place your bet on the upcoming 359 days.  What will they hold?

New Year. New Damage

By Russel D McLean

Before we start today, can I just lend my appaluse to our wonderful Flashers who took over for the last couple of weeks. Honest to goodness, some wonderful stories. And while I'm here, can I thank the guest bloggers who helped out over 2010. You know who you are.

"Helped out over 2010"... that means the year's over and...

Whaddaya mean its 2011? Already?

But… what about those plans o’ mine? I mean, I’m hitting a birthday this year by which time I thought I’d have it made. Like, bestseller, internationally renowned actor and pretty much not having to worry about the bills. Yeah, those were the dreams, man, the life plan and…
And you know, I know now that they were pretty unrealistic and that if my teenage self could see me now he’d probably be a little vexed at what happened and wonder who the weirdo with the beard was.

But the truth is that despite some small hiccups and perhaps a few rough edges I’d wrinkle out, I’m pretty amazed at how life’s turned out. I mean, for a start, the publishing biz is so much meaner than I thought it was and here I am, twice published and with a string of credits in short stories and reviews. And sure, I struggle to pay the bills like anyone else, but I still somehow made on a world tour of America in the summer of ’10 and had a ball doing so. I’ve met – through the writing and just through sheer chance – some amazing people across the world and more than that I’ve had complete strangers take time to come and see me when I’ve appeared to talk nonsense not only during the World Tour of America but even here at home.

Life ain’t perfect, sure, but it’s pretty good. And 2010, despite some sadness in there, went by without too much of a hitch. There were bumps in the road – a project that went nowhere, the horrific moment at Bouchercon where I told an author I admire that I loved his book despite the fact the title I quoted at him was written by someone else, a few setbacks that really grated at the time – but on the whole, I think things could be a lot worse, and in fact I think I've achieved a hell of a lot this last year and I've had a real blast doing it... and I thought nothing could beat the first year of publication!

As we enter 2011, I say a quiet sorry to my teenage self that I’m not where I thought I’d be by now, but I also say a thank you to the world for allowing me to have done so many amazing things and meet so many amazing people. And I know that in 2011 I’m going to have even more amazing experiences that my teenage self never expected. Of course, I’ve still got my sights set on most of those teenage dreams (except the acting part, maybe) and perhaps I can admit they’ll just take a little longer to achieve than I expected. But there’s an old cliché that says, “getting there is half the fun” and let me tell you, getting there the way I am, it’s a bloody blast, my friends!

So thank you, all of you, who helped make ’10 wonderful, and may all of you have a wonderful 2011.

2010

By Russel D McLean

2010.

Its here. The bells rang at midnight. Jools Holland's annual Hootenany on the Beeb likely had some great music (and probably a few guests where you think, what the hell is that? But its all part and parcel of his eclectic new years mix), some awkward interviews with celebrities who just want to keep drinking and ended with some boogie-woogie. Edinburgh either had an amazing street party or gave up because of the weather. Inverness made the best of scuppered celebration plans And across the world, we wake up in a new decade. Some of us with hangovers. Some of us still suffering from end of year colds*.

2010.



It seemed so futuristic. I mean, when I watched Roy Scheider lead that US/USSR team of astronauts out to Europa I was thinking, "all of this seems so far away - I'll be an old man when this happens."

I'm thirty years old.

There are no space flights. There are no monoliths.

But the future still seems exciting and full of possibility.

2010.

I make no predictions. I just look forward to whatever happens.

And I want to say thank you to all the new friends I have made in this decade, the ones who have helped me personally and professionally. You know who you are. And you know why I am thanking you.

And I want to say a big thank you to my friends here at DSD for making me feel finally like I'm part of a gang. A good gang. Not a knife wielding one. And especially to the readers. I hope you'll all come with me into the new decade with as much enthusiasm and joy.

And a special thank you from all the DSD gang to Rob Kitchin at View from the Blue House for making us one of his blogs of the year. We're still the new kids on the block, but we're incredibly honoured. We'll try and keep up the standards this year as well.

2010.

Its here.

So let's make it a good one.

*at the time of writing, none of this had happened, of course, and I was merely speculating on various new yearly celebrations and their outcomes - whatever yours was, I hope it was a good 'un.