When Life Kicks You in the Teeth… (Stress and the Danger of the "Little Things")

Life is comprised of how you handle what comes at you. Those things can be little or big, and sometimes you'll navigate them fine, but sometimes you'll start drowning in it, either because you've lost perspective or because you don't see a way out.

Major events can cause that feeling of being overwhelmed, but… Minor events, little ones that even you think aren't a big deal, can do the same thing.

I had an allergy test this past Friday (meaning I was antihistamine-free and feeling pretty crummy for the whole week prior). I got the test, got home, took a phone call, crashed for ten hours…then fell back asleep for the night, and still felt poorly the next day.

Turns out that I'm ever-so-slightly allergic to cat hair. And when I'm not feeling well or napping at odd times? My cat insists on keeping me company. It's cute (as befits a cat named QTpi), but not helpful. But if I try to kick her out, she thinks she's in trouble and gets even more clingy in apology for whatever she did wrong.

I'm behind on Camp NaNoWriMo. I suspect I won't catch up, though I'll be focusing on it next week…

I'm behind on other life stuff (…like laundry and making tahini for my mother).

My grandparents decided last minute to come visit this weekend. I'm happy to be seeing them, and I'm concerned because Grandpa's not in the best of health.

Any one of those would be a non-issue to most people (me included), but all of them together? Those little things can all add up and be absolutely overwhelming.

Some people are overwhelmed at any series of things, and they respond by being impulsive. They don't think things through because they don't want to.

Some people are obsessed with analyzing everything, to the point that they rarely actually do anything, because they're still thinking it all through.

Most people are skewed one way or the other, having specific topics and situations wherein they respond the opposite way from usual.

I've mentioned before that I'm a detail-oriented person. I see details, I love them, and I'm susceptible to them overwhelming me. (Oh my I can't do my laundry—that takes a whole four hours! …Hey, the library has Thursday Next #4 in; it'll only take me a few hours to read it.)

Funny, the mind games we play with ourselves.

At any rate, our culture is overwhelming, with extroverts dominating. If you aren't go-go-go all the time, people assume you're lazy—or at best insist you have nothing to be stressed about. As if having a bunch of little things going on can't be as stressful as having something big going on.

I am not in any way denigrating the effect major events can have on a person. One semester when I was in college, I had constant gall bladder attacks for an entire term, my laptop (needed for school and work) was on the fritz, a friend died in the middle of finals week, and I had surgery scheduled the following week. My professors were incredibly gracious.

Those events look like major ones now, as I look back, but at the time? Constant pain and/or nausea was normal. Oddly behaving computer? Normal. The upcoming surgery was a relief, if a bit nervewracking due to some allergies that I knew I'd have to be careful to make sure were borne in mind. The only really "major" event to me at the time was the friend's death.

But…friends' deaths are actually normal, particularly as a person ages. It's a major life event when it's unexpected, but when it's expected or commonplace… It can be a little thing.

Your little thing is my big thing. And vice versa.

That's something that we tend to lose track of, when someone admits something that's bothering them, and we call it "not that bad". I have friends with conditions like neurofibromitosis, lupus, fibromyalgia. I am so glad that I am not them.

And all of them are freaking glad they aren't me.

I look at all my allergies, at all the health issues I have, and to me, they're little. I'm used to them. Oh, I'd better double-check my purse for all three antihistamines I regularly carry. Oh, it's hot today, so I'd better not have any caffeine, else I'll get a migraine. Oh, I need to keep a box of vinyl gloves in my purse marked ICE in case of emergency, though they probably wouldn't be used, but maybe the EMT would notice… (I've considered getting allergy tags.) Oh, I should order a Caesar salad—but with no croutons, and no seasoning on the chicken—to make sure it won't have any pork, rice, tomato, almond, etc. in it. (I even have to watch ingredient lists on regular, gluten-full tortillas and bagels.)

But mopping the floor? I'd have to get my cleaner (which I make myself), put on my gloves, fill up the bucket with hot water, get out the mop, scrub the floor, block Mom's cat from playing with the mop, scold Mom's cat when she tries playing in the water, redo the parts of the floor that Mom's cat messes up, dry the floor, dump the water, rinse out the bucket and mop, wring out the mop, and figure out how to get the mop to dry when it's seventy degrees out (F).

Ah! Attack of the littles!

When I find myself getting overwhelmed, I do my best to get myself to a change in scenery. As I type this (Wednesday afternoon), I'm sitting in Starbucks. The coffee's not that great, but the location's convenient, and the perks are good. Pulling myself out of my regular routine and location helps me get some persepctive, helps me slap myself upside the head.

Because really, mopping the floor isn't that hard. Or involved. Or even all that time-consuming, if you bother to time it.

But if you start looking at every little step in anything, that thing can easily become huge.

While the details are necessary to do something properly, the details can't be all that's focused on. The big picture matters, too. No matter what you're doing.

That doesn't mean "little things" aren't stressful. They are. The little things can overwhelm you, drown you, bury you every bit as much as the "big things" can.

The key is in how you look at them.

That's why some people look at starting a business or self-publishing a story or cooking a pizza from scratch (including the bread and sauce) and get all wide-eyed, insisting they can't do that.

Well… They probably could do it. They just feel as if they can't. And the overwhelmed person isn't helped when people are condescending or derisive of that feeling.

Everyone has "littles" that overwhelm them.

Remember: Your "little event" differs from mine, and vice versa.

The way to overcome attacks of the littles isn't to convince yourself how stupid you're being. It's to step out and adjust your perspective. Sometimes that ends up making you feel stupid…but we're all stupid, sometimes, so it's nothing to feel stupid about.

But all too often, we end up burying ourselves in self-derision. And that's the true danger in the littles.

How do you help yourself refocus on the big picture when you suffer from attacks of the littles? Do you have friends or family members who help you balance the way you naturally view things?

—Misti

Should a Blogger Be Discreet or Discrete?

Stretching only a little with the literal definitions of the two homophones involved, bloggers can be discreet about their controversial opinions—keeping quiet about them—or bloggers can be discrete about their controversial opinions—using those opinions to separate them from other bloggers.

And I say that as someone who adheres to some mighty controversial opinions.

Most of them, I'm discreet about. You can identify at least some of them if you find me on some specific sites online, but I don't use my blog as a pedestal and proclaim to the world that I'm a six-day creationist. (Er, oops.)

Okay, so I don't use my blog to proclaim or explain why I'm a six-day creationist.

But some opinions, like my thoughts on how to price your writing and my belief that there are no bad words—those opinions, I announce, proclaim, and explain.

Why am I obvious about those, but not about others?

Any time a blogger gives an opinion, they're giving some readers an excuse to stop reading.

And any time an author gives an opinion, they're giving some readers an excuse to avoid their writing, be it fiction or non-fiction.

This blog is entitled "Another Author's 2 Pence", making obvious from the get-go that it's an author's blog. I therefore have no qualms about admitting writing-related opinions, because authors write. That's what we do. So duh, we'll have opinions on it.

(Frankly, when an author has a blog and never so much as mentions writing, it bewilders me. Even the so-hilarious-her-books-are-on-my-to-buy-list-and-I've-not-yet-read-one Twitter feed by Kiersten White sometimes mentions writing. Often facetiously, because it's mostly intended for her YA-reading fans. Lindsay Buroker's often-O.O-worthy Twitter feed is more chatty, but it still mentions writing at times.)

Authors/writers write.

And we have therefore opinions on the process.

Other things, like my my allergies, my hobbies—I really need to finish knitting that garment, because if it works, it'll save me a good $250—my faith, my beliefs about the world… Those color my writing, so there's a sense in which they're pertinent.

I mean, Zoe Winters is a Buddist. Her paranormal romance world features reincarnation. Those two things are kinda related.

Zoe Winters even comes from a Christian background—possibly Southern Baptist if not fundamentalist, from what she's mentioned on her blog—so when she explains a point of view on her blog, the line of reasoning she sets out makes sense to me. I won't exactly agree, but I can at least follow what she's thinking.

Her novels and blog aren't preachy. Her beliefs are…there, and she doesn't hide them, but she doesn't prosthelytize, either.

Some folks believe that such presentation of personal beliefs is unprofessional.

By that argument, the only "professional" way to write is as an effectual agnostic.

That type of writing has its place. (Example: Press releases.) But agnostics generally believe people are basically good. That produces an entirely different way of looking at the world from someone who believes people are basically bad—a perspective that colors opinions, story worlds, character development…

See the problem?

Your beliefs affect what you write, be it a story or a college essay.

So let's step back and bring up the detail I mentioned about being a six-day creationist. That's actually very pertinent to my writing.

Say what?

Standard evolutionary thought is that mankind is getting smarter through the generations, better, as mutations improve the human race with each generation. I doubt that's news to any of my readers.

Due to how mutations have only been demonstrated to delete or rearrange already-existing information (never creating information), six-day creationists believe mankind is actually losing ability and intelligence with each generation.

That's a fundamental detail that influences the development my characters and story worlds.

For example, due to the belief that genetics are getting progressively worse, my Darkworld stories feature a world wherein originally, everyone could do multiple types of magic, like Destiny Walker of Destiny's Kiss. But by the twenty-first century, she's a freak rather than the norm. Most folks can't do magic. (And that world's scientific community attributes that change to bottleneck effect.)

I'm sure some of you readers are intrigued by that detail—you might not agree with me, but you might like the peek into how another person views the world.

And I'm every bit as sure that some of you readers will now refuse to read anything more that I write.

Will the number of readers who like my forthrightness outnumber the readers who dislike it?

I don't know.

I can't know.

And therein lay the danger of being discrete as a blogger.

Being discreet offends no one, while being forthright about opinions will offend someone.

There's a marketer whose e-mail list I stay on for the sole reason that he's unapologetically Christian. I get a kick out of analyzing his writing, which combines intentionally low-brow grammar and unabashed declarations that "Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life"…

So unprofessional, if you ask most experts.

But he gets attention. (Mine, anyway. ^_^)

Discretion is one tactic; forthrightness is another.

I think every blogger should evaluate the potential gains and losses before picking which to be.

And I think it's rude of folks to pitch fits when others don't adhere to some ideal view of "professionalism". Everyone's opinions and worldviews are different.

What's rude to one person is polite for another. And vice versa.

Unfortunately, a lot of folks are stuck on one definition for "polite" and get indignant over others' presumed idiocy when they demonstrate other perspectives.

Do you prefer when a blogger is discreet about their opinions or when they let their opinions make them discrete from other bloggers?

—Misti

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I hope you're getting value out of these blog posts. Each one generally takes me an hour or two to write. That's an hour or two that could be spent doing paid work. Blogging doesn't pay any bills.

So if you've found the post valuable, please consider leaving a sign of your appreciation in the tip jar. Thanks!

Honey vs. Vinegar

I'm a fan of the saying, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

Can I use vinegar if a situation calls for it? Yes. But vinegar's more drinkable with honey in it, so I always try to bear in mind that most folks don't perceive themselves as villains. (Which helped me figure out that my brother's at his most obnoxious when he's tired—something I had trouble figuring out, because I'm an early bird, he a night owl, so by the time he's tired, I'm exhausted and irritable.)

Case in point: Piracy doesn’t bother me.

I see some fellow authors get frothing mad over book piracy and its potential negative impact on sales (ignoring that there are also case studies showing potential positive effects)…and my opinion is that they aren't doing their health any favors. Life has enough stress, so why stress over something that happens?

With my years as a freelancer ghostwriting web content, it has happened. If I were to fret over it, I'd have an ulcer and nothing productive to show for it.

Will I send C&D letters if I find my work pirated? Yes. Will I get stricter than that if necessary? Yes.

But there's a world of difference between being firm or stern and being so angry that I can't see straight. Piracy might make me sigh, at worst. A repeat offender would irritate me. But furious?

Nah. Bad for my health.

Fury isn't too productive for getting folks to listen to you, either, because all that comes out is vinegar.

Ask nicely, and folks who didn’t intend to steal your content will repair things and go about things properly in the future. Whereas if you’re a witch from the start, you lose potential customers who didn’t intend to steal from you but who like your writing enough to want to use and share it.

Folks who don’t care, who insist content should be free—they don’t care what you think. But I’ve discovered that, again, presenting my side of the argument pleasantly and politely is far more likely to get a long-lasting positive response.

Once you have to get harsh, you lose the chance of making an honest customer and fan of the erstwhile thief. You also lose the chance to convince them to agree with you, so while you might win for yourself, you do nothing for all the others whose content the person then goes on to take.

This concept even applies to things like online games.

I'm a high enough level now in RuneScape that I often don't have to worry about other players stealing my kills and such out from under me, but recently a lower-level player was having trouble with someone suddenly mining the same rocks he was and taking all the ore. The lower-level player started off sharp about it, but I suggested he ask nicely.

After a bit of trying to converse with the thief, we discovered that his first language was Dutch, not English. I used Google Translate to say something along the lines of "It's considered rude to take another person's rock." The guy apologized and immediately went looking for somewhere else to mine.

And I have more success stories than that, many more successes than all the failures I see when folks get antagonistic.

Many more successes than when I get antagonistic, for that matter.

I do hate being antagonistic.

I actually don't much care for conflict, either, though I'll step over that dislike if I have sufficient cause.

But in any case, I find honey far healthier and more productive than vinegar.

Are you more inclined to use honey or vinegar?

—Misti

How Much CAN You Write?

Recently, Dean Wesley Smith did some math to say that it's possible to make a US $40k income per year just from short fiction if you work at it for an average of an hour a day for 6 years.

You might've also seen some of the, ah, less than credulous responses to it.

I don't care if you think it's possible or impossible to follow his advice. Do. Not. Care. (But let's leave the hyperbolic comparisons to scams and pyramid schemes in private where they belong, okies? Thank you.)

Dean's specific pace suggestions might not work for you. Fine. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. He touches on something that's important for everyone, whether you're a writer, a student, or just happen to write e-mails as part of your job:

Know your average writing speed.

average writing speed

the average number of final words you can produce in an hour, including the time for researching, drafting, editing, revision, etc.

Why is it important to know this? So you can set goals that are realistic for you.

Let's back up a moment to what made me think about this: I'm a freelancer, as you might remember me mentioning before. Well, how do freelance writers set their rates?

Freelance writers set their rates based on how long a project will take them.

I long ago discovered that I can easily produce a basic 300-word informational article in an hour—meaning I research, write, and edit in that hour. Therefore, if I find myself on track to spend more than an hour trying to produce 300 words, I immediately know something's wrong.

That "something wrong" could range from me being hungry to the client nagging me every five minutes. (There's a reason I refuse to take clients who demand the right to contact me at all hours: They ignore the detail that they don't own my schedule. People who contact a freelance editor and expect them to be able to begin work immediately have the same problem, but that's another topic.)

It's come to my attention recently that, though I know how long it takes me to produce client work (where I'm told what to write), I don't know how long it takes me to write my own fiction, like short stories, novelettes, novels.

That means, as a businesswoman, I don't know how long it takes me to produce my products (my original stories). Can we spell "dumb"?

But this also applies to college students. Why? You need that number for time management.

How would I know what course load I could handle if I didn't have any idea how long homework would take me? I didn't. So whenever I started a semester, I'd look at the syllabus, pay attention to how long homework took me, and use those estimates to plan out my schedule.)

One key factor that'll help you—whether you're an author, writer, freelancer, student, whatever—is to figure out your average writing speed. That rate includes all researching, copyediting, proofreading, prep time—even rewriting, if you're into that.

(Note: Researching ≠ writing ≠ rewriting ≠ content editing ≠ line/copy editing ≠ proofreading—all are different skills.)

But you'll also want to know your average drafting speed (getting the words on the page), average editing speed, etc.

To figure out these averages, you'll need a chart or spreadsheet that keeps track of the following 5 things for each sitting:

1. date
2. start time
3. end time
4. task (research, write, edit, prep work, cover design, querying, etc.—and make sure to keep names consistent. Don't call the same editing pass "line editing" on one day and "copyediting" on another.)
5. total words in story at end or number of words written in that sitting

When your task changes, make a new entry in your chart.

From those numbers, you can figure out the following data:

• total time spent on each sitting: (start time, subtracted from end time)
• total time spent on the entire story: (all times, added together)
• total time spent on each task: (all the times for a specific task, added together)
• average number of words drafted per hour: (total number of words written, divided by the number of hours spend drafting)
• average number of words edited per hour: (total number of words edited, divided by the number of hours spent editing)
• average writing speed: (total number of words written, divided by total number of hours spent on the story)

If you wanted, you could also eye how time of day and sitting length affected your drafting speed. (Personally, I seem to do better in the morning, but my current sample size is too small to say that for sure. That might just be the narrator I've been on.)

It's best to keep track of multiple stories, of multiple lengths, with multiple types of narrators, etc.

In other words, keep track of everything you write.

Because your average writing speed will change, based on factors you don't expect. It might also change as you gain practice and grow as a writer. If you keep track, you'll be able to adapt to those changes.

So. Once you know your average writing speed—and remember what that is?

average writing speed

the average number of final words you can produce in an hour, including the time for drafting, editing, revision, etc.

So. Once you figure that out, you can do math to figure out what you can handle.

(If you're a non-"writer", you can stop reading now and apply the above to your required writing to help with time management. I'm moving into how to use that average writing speed to figure out writing goals.)

For example, I have a short story that I finished drafting the other night. It still needs the "read through for errors" pass, then the first reader pass, then the next proofread or two—but I've already done the initial cleanup. Including prep time, etc., I've spent about 7.4 hours on 7k words. It's looking as though I'll have the final story completed—and ready to self-publish or send to markets—within 10 hours of work time, so that'll put me at an average of about 750 words per hour, for final product.

Formula for figuring out how many words you could write in a year:

    average words per hour
X # hours you'll work on it per day
X # days you'll work on it per week
X # weeks you'll work on it per year
= # words you could write in a year

Note that all of those have "you'll" in there, not "you can".

Your personality will determine if you adjust that final member to make it high or low. I've tried aiming high and flunked. Now that I'm aiming lower, I've started hitting some of my "high" goals. (The subconscious is a weird and sometimes scary thing.)

Let's run a few examples (all fictional but developed from paces I've seen actual folks give):

1. Writer Amy Apple, who drafts 600 words in an hour, spends 2 more hours rewriting them, then spends 2 hours editing those words, and averages another hour on the proofreading, prepping, formatting, etc. of those words. Total time invested per 600 words: 6 hrs. Amy's average words per hour: 100.
2. Writer Bern Banana, who drafts 2000 words in an hour, then spends an hour each revising, editing, proofreading, and prepping/formatting those words. Total time invested per 2000 words: 5 hrs. Bern's average words per hour: 500.
3. Writer Cecil Celery, who drafts 900 words in an hour, with an average of 2 hours spent on other writing tasks for every hour spent writing. Total time invested per 900 words: 3 hrs. Cecil's average words per hour: 300.
4. Writer Sara Strawberry, who drafts 2000 words in an hour and spends an average of an hour on the cleanup and other writing tasks for every hour spent writing. Total time invested per 2000 words: 2 hrs. Sara's average words per hour: 1k.
5. Writer Tara Taro, who drafts 1000 words in an hour and spends an average of 20 minutes on other writing tasks for each hour spent writing. Total time invested per 1000 words: 1 hr, 20 min. Tara's average words per hour: 750.

I'm not saying any of these paces are bad or wrong or anything like that in themselves. They're examples. I might think that some of the paces are unwise, or I might suspect that some paces suggest you don't have all that many stories under your belt, but that's supposition, not fact.

Let's assume each of the writers work full-time. They can therefore only pull an average of an hour a weekday from their work schedules (1 hour a day, 5 days a week), though they'll sometimes have to pull that from their (off the clock!) lunch break. Let's assume they won't be able to write at all during their 2 weeks' vacation time, so that's 50 weeks a year. (Total time spent on their writing: 250 hours per year.)

How many ready-to-go words could each of our example writers produce in a year?

1. Writer Amy Apple: 100 words an hour X 250 hours per year = 25k words per year
2. Writer Bern Banana: 500 words an hour X 250 hours per year = 125k words per year
3. Writer Cecil Celery: 300 words an hour X 250 hours per year = 75k words per year
4. Writer Sara Strawberry: 1k words an hour X 250 hours per year = 250k words per year
5. Writer Tara Taro: 750 words an hour X 250 hours per year = 187.5k words per year

What does this tell us?

This tells us how many words those writers could conceivably finalize in a year in the current time available to them. The writer could then use that knowledge to set writing goals that are realistic to them.

For example, does Amy Apple want to make her writing goal to be 5 finished short stories? A finished novella? A quarter of a novel?

What about Bern Banana? Does he want to write 2 short-ish novels, 4 novellas, 25 short stories, a combo?

But though Sara Strawberry might reasonably plan to write 50 short stories in a year in her "hour per weekday", that would not be reasonable for the likes of Amy Apple, Bern Banana, or Cecil Celery. Not yet, at least, though they might learn to do that.

Now, let's change gears and assume all of the example writers write "full-time". Let's assume they each spend 2 hours per day marketing, 1 on e-mail, 1 on their favorite writing forum. That leaves 4 hours a day to work on their writing.

Let's assume, again, that the writer will only work on weekdays (5 days a week), with 2 weeks off a year (so they work 50 weeks a year). Total time spent producing final draft words: 1k hours per year.

1. Writer Amy Apple: 100 words an hour X 1k hours per year = 100k words per year
2. Writer Bern Banana: 500 words an hour X 1k hours per year = 500k words per year
3. Writer Cecil Celery: 300 words an hour X 1k hours per year = 300k words per year
4. Writer Sara Strawberry: 1k words an hour X 1k hours per year = 1 mil words per year
5. Writer Tara Taro: 750 words an hour X 1k hours per year = 750k words per year

But let's say our writers have health problems that leave them bedridden for an average of 1 week of every month. That means they can only work for 40 weeks out of the year. Let's also assume that their health only permits them to work an average of 10 hours per week. Total time spent producing final words: 400 hours per year.

1. Writer Amy Apple: 100 words an hour X 400 hours per year = 40k words per year
2. Writer Bern Banana: 500 words an hour X 400 hours per year = 200k words per year
3. Writer Cecil Celery: 300 words an hour X 400 hours per year = 120k words per year
4. Writer Sara Strawberry: 1k words an hour X 400 hours per year = 400k words per year
5. Writer Tara Taro: 750 words an hour X 400 hours per year = 300k words per year

Again, these are all final words. (See earlier in the post where I gave how to figure out your "average words per hour" in the way I'm using the term.)

Now, keep track of the next several things you write, including research, editing time, etc. Figure out your average words per hour.

From there, figure out how many hours you can invest in your writing in a year. (Note: If life sends you a curveball, recalculate. Don't make yourself sick(er) by panicking and trying to hit your original goal.)

Once you have an estimate for how many words you can write in a year—slightly low, slightly high? You should know your own personality well enough to know which is better for you—plan what you'll write: short stories? Novels? Novellas? A mix?

Guess how long they'll be, on average, to estimate how many you'll produce.

If you really want to, you can use those production estimates to guess how much you'd earn from self-publishing them—and that's a good idea to do, if you plan on self-publishing—but you always have to remember that such estimated earnings are guesses, and to guess low. (Personally, I have income goals and production goals, and the production goals are intentionally high to the point that if I'm not hitting the income goals by the time I hit the associated production goals, I'm doing something wrong—but I also might not hit those income goals until I hit those production goals.)

Businesses can change rapidly. If we don't know the variable we do control—what we produce in a year, how much we are reasonably capable of writing—then how can we make informed decisions about the other variables?

Do you know your average writing speed (for producing final words)? Do you know your average drafting speed (for getting words down)? What do you think of using that average to figure out your writing goals? What are your writing goals?

—Misti

Should Authors Blog or Not?

Should the modern-day author blog or not?

Though that seems like a straightforward question, it really isn't. Some say authors should be on every social media site possible, pimping their book out for sales—and, to be fair, trade-published authors often do have a limited amount of time to make the majority of their sales. Some say authors should just spend their time writing the next book, not worrying about marketing.

And some of us just shrug, pick a few social media techniques we enjoy, and work on our next stories. *twiddles thumbs*

That said, I've kept an eye on online media and publishing information and all that jazz for… well, at least 7 years. I've seen very few folks (other than John Locke in his much-debated How I Sold 1 Million Ebooks in 5 Months) say that blogging nets them a worthwhile number of sales for the time spent.

Even if I speak as a blog reader or commenter, I haven't actually bought many books by folks whose blogs I've read. I could count on my fingers the folks for whom appreciation for their blog (or helpful online presence) led to me buying books I wouldn't have otherwise. I'd need more than one hand, granted, but we're talking over 7 years' time, here.

So, since I know it's usually ineffective marketing, why do I blog?

Short answer: I enjoy it.

Long answer: I have a big mouth and like having a place where I can share what I know (or think) and folks can listen (or not) as they prefer. I'm the type of person who will be shopping for a cupcake, hear the person behind me cough, and offer them a horehound candy, after checking if they're allergic to corn, fish, or mint.

(Horehound candies make fantastic cough drops, by the way, and they don't close your throat up like menthol. And genetically modified corn has a fish gene in it, so corn and corn syrup can trigger some folks' fish allergies.)

Back on topic…

Should an author blog?

Before I answer this question, I have a definition to share, as well as a small confession.

copy

writing that seeks to trigger a particular action in the target reader

(That's why ad text is called ad copy.)

Blurbs are copy. Queries are copy. Blog posts meant to trigger a comment or a sale are copy.

And that is the difference between a blog that successfully leads to sales and one that… doesn't. Its copy.

Some blogs are all information, no copy. Some have little (or downright bad) copy. In fact, my guess is that most blogs neglect to actually encourage their readership to take the action that the blog owner wants them to take.

Now, here's a secret to effective copy: It manipulates the reader's emotions to make them want to act immediately.

That's why radio ads tend to yell at you. They want you to get caught up in the emotion, the panic, and to buy Now—now—now! before you stop and realize, "Hey, I don't really need a new car…"

On a less obnoxious note, that's why some blogs (like mine) ask 1+ questions at the bottom of the post. The questions encourage you, the reader, to come up with an answer and to go ahead and share your thoughts with that "Comment" button. That's technically manipulation.

(Yes, my "small confession" is that I'm technically manipulating you into leaving that comment. But it's a kinder, more encouraging type of manipulation. Like when you're trying to get that quiet friend of yours to contribute to the conversation so you're not holding a monologue.)

Copy that produces sales is harder to write, particularly for things that are commodities, not necessities. A manual on how to efficiently write an essay, a guide on self-editing, a gas furnace—each of those is needed by someone, somewhere. Put your sales copy in front of one such person, demonstrate that they can afford it—and need it—now, and viola! Sale made. Probably. And the buyer will even be happy that they spent that money.

A novel about a runaway slave girl who's trying to avoid triggering World War III or a paranoid royal bastard who's heiress to a prophecy?

Who on earth needs that?

Add the detail that the more obnoxious and obvious your marketing tactics, the less effective they'll likely be, and I decided before I even started this blog that I would seek to build informational discussions here, not sales. Sales would be nice, but they aren't my purpose with this blog.

Discussion, commentary is. And I'm happy for all you who join in and make that a success. ^_^

So.

Should an author have a blog?

Depends on what you think the blog will do for you.

If you write fiction and your goal is to earn a bunch of sales, no. The learning curves for writing effective blog copy (and attracting an audience for it) will probably overwhelm you. Don't blog, not unless your background is in marketing. (Which is, not coincidentally, John Locke's background. Which is why his techniques worked so well for him—he jumped in already knowing how to gather an audience and how to write effective copy.)

If you write non-fiction, or if you write fiction and want discussion rather than sales, go for it.

But bear in mind that you'll start out in obscurity. A 2% action rate is often considered good. Most blogs only get comments from 1–5% of visitors, just like most books only get reviews from about 1% of readers.

No, those numbers aren't typos.

Your first goal will have to be to increase your readership, so that your primary goal (be that discussion or sales) will be successful.

Notice that my own blog doesn't have all that many followers. (Yet.) Are there things I could do to raise those numbers? Sure. Could I do more SEO than I am already? Sure, even if search engine algorithms have gotten good enough that specific keyword phrasing doesn't matter as much as it used to.

But honestly, I had a hard time even convincing myself to put the questions on the bottom of my posts. Because it's manipulation. So I feel guilty about it.

Folks tell me I shouldn't feel guilty. I'm polite and don't pressure them.

But I do feel guilty.

And that is something else to bear in mind if you blog: Would (or does) it bother you to write copy?

If so, you might be better off not blogging. Depends on whether or not your blog's primary purpose is to trigger a response in readers.

Do you blog? If so, for what purpose? If not, why not?

…And now that you know these questions at the end of my posts are technically manipulation, are you upset with or mad at me? *looks worried*

—Misti

The Sun Also Sets—Writers and Depression

Maybe it's because of all the time we spend in our heads, riding our characters' emotions as well as our own, but writers are notoriously prone to depression. Just think of all the big-name authors who have died young, either from suicide or other causes, like abusing their bodies. Ernest Hemingway and several songwriters spring to mind, and that's before I even check the Wikipedia lists.

I don't know about you, but it scared me, when I was in high school literature classes. Made me wonder if I was doomed to a gloomy life of depression and angst. (So I was a melodramatic teenager. Shoot me. And be glad I don't inflict my first few novels on you.)

As I've gotten older, I've realized that I'm prone to depression, too.

You may recall the hormone disorder I've mentioned having. Sometimes, it makes me giddy and inexplicably happy, but more often…

If my laundry lingers unfolded for more than a day, I'm depressed. If it lingers folded but not put away… Well, I'd better get some vitamin D ASAP. (Vitamin D's technically not a vitamin; it's a hormone that your body creates out of sunshine exposure.)

That sunlight's often the most effective treatment for depression—for me, anyway. Going out for some frozen yogurt or to visit some friends can help, if neighbors are mowing their lawns, since I then cannot go outdoors. (Alert: if you take melatonin to help you sleep, that can make depression worse, too.)

Okay. Great. Depression's not unusual for writers. Why am I bringing it up, and how does it relate to self-editing?

First, why I'm bringing it up: nobody was interested in my giveaway. That's pretty darn depressing. I'm figuring that it might've been an idea that was better in my head than in practice—or maybe I don't have a large enough following for it to work, yet. So. No more giveaways for the at least the next few months, unless I get personally invited or see an opportunity that seems too good to pass up.

And I'm pointedly distracting myself with songs like "Another Mad Science Love Song" and "Oh, Michelle" by Seanan McGuire* when I start dwelling on the "Nobody wanted a free story!" aspect. I know I can write well. *(Be warned that "Oh, Michelle" has PG-13 cursing, and I'm a fan of black humor.)

Second: how does writer depression relate to self-editing?

If you have to ask that, you've never faced a "sea of red"—a good editorial pen. (And if you've never given yourself a "sea of red," you probably aren't the best at self-editing. Are there exceptions? Yes. Some folks produce very clean first drafts. Are you likely one of them? Not unless you've already a voracious reader and you've written a ton.)

Look, it's not unusual for me to work as tutor or editor. And all the less practiced writers I work with are convinced that they're the most terrible writer ever when they see the corrections I make—even when I reassure them that they're not. (I could tell tales of fan fiction so bad that… Never mind.)

It's the ones who've faced it before that have some sense in how to conquer that "Oh, I suck!" sensation that comes when you're looking at a piece that needs to be edited.

Because not everything needs revision.

It's like A Fistful of Fire. I mercilessly marked up a printed copy of the book, then realized when putting in the edits that most of the changes were downright optional. Which I noticed because I'd bothered to take a step back and to take a deep breath before I dove into it.

If I'd been depressed, I would've applied every little change, some of which would've altered parts of the story into the voice of Destiny's Kiss. (…Ooops?)

When you're writing, when you're editing—whether it's self-editing or with a beta or with a paid editor—you need to pay attention to your personal cues. You should have something that you can pay attention to, to notice when you're getting depressed.

Nip that depression in the bud.

The sun does set.

But remember that it rises, too.

What cues you in when you're getting depressed? Do you notice? How do you counter your depression?

—Misti

Trust Me, I'm a [Insert Source Here]

This has bothered me for awhile, but I tend not to talk about it. Mainly because I don't want to put ideas about my credibility or lack thereof into people's heads.

Case in point: my bank's changing some policies that'll add fees to my two checking accounts. Discussing the matter with them revealed something I could do each month that would waive the fees from those accounts. I joked that I could always [insert loophole that would let the same money be used to waive the fees from both accounts]. The banker got nervous about me taking up that train of thought.

Okay, I realize that my delivery on jokes isn't obvious, but that loophole search is how my brain works. Give me a true/false question, and I naturally think of the exceptions to something being true or false. Give me a DRMed file, and I'll have ideas about what would need to happen to it to crack that DRM, though I've not actually done that. (Oh, but I've been tempted.)

I admit all this so I hopefully don't lose credence in your eyes when I say that people trust others too much.

You're online. Someone gives advice that sounds unusual to you, but you decide to trust it, because "Hey, they're an [author/editor/doctor/whatever]." (I've done this, too.)

Er, what are you thinking?

Let's suppose that that person actually is whatever source you think they are, which is a bigger assumption than many of us like considering. (And is the reason I don't like bringing this up.)

Does that source know everything about your specific situation? No. (At least, I hope not.) Does that source live anywhere near you, to know how your locality affects your situation? Probably not. Is that source infallible? No.

We are all of us fallible, so why do people mindlessly believe what Doctor So-and-So or Agent Shark or Kris Rusch say? Not trying to offend my doctor or Janet Reid or Kris, all of whom I respect. And all of whom I trust as sources who know what they're talking about.

But they aren't infallible. And I think they'd agree with that assessment.

Sometimes, I find myself reading along and nodding with whatever particular folks say, because they're so much older and wiser than I am, with so much more industry experience…

Er, right. Does that mean when someone older than me says "Climb that cliff!" I say "Which one?"? I've always wanted to rock climb, but I've never actually done it. I'm not going to start trying to climb some rock face without any kind of harness, support, or help, just because some bloke tells me I can. I know I don't have the proper training or even strength to pull that off.

I don't care if your vast array of professional experience says that anyone can climb that particular cliff, even a petite girl who's made ill by exercise. I'm physically incapable of doing it. If I let you convince me that I can, I'll only hurt myself.

I've had doctors poison me with things they were told, repeatedly, that I was allergic to (Tylenol and latex-free gloves). I've read enough agent advice to know that one agent's "Don't ever do this!" is another's "Do this!" I know enough writers to recognize that we all have different goals for our careers.

And, as young as I am, I've had enough business experience to know that even the best advice is useless if it doesn't fit your goals.

Be careful who you trust. Know your goals. And develop your own opinions, folks.

Please.

—Misti

5 Reasons You Want Harsh Reviews: How to Take Negative Reviews (3 of 3)

Wait wait wait—you want harsh reviews? Harsh reviews?

Yes, you do. Even if you can't handle reading them. You want harsh reviews, be they earned, partially earned, or entirely unearned.

Ask me why. *waits*

Glad you asked. The reasons are fivefold:

1. Harsh reviews balance the effervescent ones. You know that gushing 5-star review from your MMO guildmate that you just know people are assuming came from your sister?** (Especially if you don't have a sister.) A harsh review provides a dissenting opinion, letting folks consider the feedback and decide what matters to them.
2. Harsh reviews help you nail your target audience. Oh, I'm sure you think you know who your target audience is, but there's nothing like a harsh review to make you realize that a particular type of person is not part of it. Or maybe that there's a disconnect between what you're writing and the audience you intended to reach.
3. Harsh reviews can help you grow as a writer. A harsh review can be like a highly critical critique partner, except the space constraints generally force the reviewer to focus more on big-picture issues than getting hung up on the details. Like any critique partner, the critic won't always be right; sometimes they'll attribute a problem to the wrong source, or they'll be entirely off-base about a problem. But sometimes they'll be spot-on.
4. Harsh reviews can strengthen you. I don't just mean as a writer; I've already addressed that. I mean as a person. Nobody likes accepting blame, but forcing yourself to evaluate negative feedback for the germs of truth that might be buried within it can help you handle mistakes you make in life, too.
5. Harsh reviews provide you with resource material. If you have the nerve to study them, even a troll can provide handy content for you to pull from the next time you need to make a complete donkey of a character. I honestly used to beg for flames when I was a teenager; they were so inspiring.

Now, I'm aware that some people are so depressed by a single harsh review that they'll mope and fret over it and possibly ruin their writing trying to make that single reviewer happy. Don't do that.

There's a secret to being able to handle harsh reviews: You can't make everyone happy.

Got that? You cannot and will not make everyone happy, even in your target audience.

A good friend and I have similar tastes in reading: we both like particular story types, genres, and plot elements. You would think that we share favorite authors.

We don't. In fact, we generally hate each other's favorite books. She loves Vicki Peterson; I prefer Patricia Briggs.

It's taken many attempts to read each others' favorite authors and more discussions on the matter for us to realize: We like different writing styles. On a technical level, something between Vicki Peterson and Patricia Briggs makes each of us love one and dislike the other. Both are fantasy authors who write snarky characters, subtle development, and great humor.

My friend isn't a writer. Okay, so she dabbles with writing, but she's actually an artist. Her paintings are gorgeous.

Imagine if we both were giving feedback to some poor writer. As soon as one of us was elated about a story, the other would go "Meh" or "Ulgh." That writer would have to pick and choose which pieces of our advice to listen to.

Remember: You will not please everyone. Don't try to.

Have you ever entered the "Please everyone" trap?

—Misti

**If you're reading this, Shallon, I do love getting your reviews. I just know that some folks don't take 'em seriously.

A Case Study on Earned Critique: How to Take Negative Reviews (2 of 3)

Some of y'all might remember my post on why I pulled my self-published short "Butterfly Boots". The long answer went into my exposure to fan fiction vignettes and international literature making me produce something that didn't fit my audience.

The short answer? I screwed up.

Now, I realize most of you haven't read "Butterfly Boots", but that shouldn't be necessary. My 2 critical reviewers kindly gave me permission to reproduce their reviews here.

This is a Real Story? July 13, 2011

[by Michael P. Gallagher]

I'm not really sure what this was, although I do know I was struggling to figure out what was going on while reading it - and when the ending came I mentally said, "huh?" This something really had no plot, no beginning, and no end. It's almost as if someone just cut and paste a section from something and slapped it into an eBook.

I found it ironic, and chuckled a little, at the end of the story: there is a brief snippet on the author and it says the author is described as a person that "...took her a while to figure out that `finish a story' thing." No kidding. Can I have my five minutes back?

As I type this review, this book is free in the Amazon Kindle store but that shouldn't make you want to try it - there are several hundred short stories for free right now (just type in "short story" as your search term in the Kindle store section of the Amazon website, and sort from lowest to highest price); most of them are pretty good. This one deserves a wide berth, free or not.

Well... the cover is pretty... July 15, 2011

[by Betty Dravis]

I like the cover and the title of this "little offering," so thought it would be a fun read, one that I could pass on to my granddaughter Melissa's mother to read to her. She loves butterflies and has some cute boots of her own.

I've been warned that some E-books are not up to industry standards and can slip between the cracks easily, but this is the first time I've encountered one. Well, I have seldom been so disappointed in a book. It actually doesn't make much sense, which is too bad because the germ of an interesting idea is here... It is just not developed; the dialogue is jerky, it has no structure, and the punctuation is definitely not up to par. :-(

I hate to look a gift horse in the face (since "Butterfly Boots" - a short story (Aleyi) (Tales from Aleyi) was one of the FREE Kindle offerings), but I simply can't give this a good rating. I'm sorry to be so critical, but I will be happy to read something else by Ms. Wolanski after she takes a few more writing courses. She does, indeed, have a good imagination. :-)

Reviewed by Betty Dravis, July 15, 2011
Author of E-book "1106 Grand Boulevard" and other books

Now, before anyone jumps in and calls these two "mean," remember what I said in my last post, about bluntness not necessarily being mean.

Looking into these reviewers, I find it interesting to note that they're both significantly older than I am. I doubt they read fan fiction, where vignettes are popular. In fact, just the complaints on the lack of structure told me that these two weren't familiar with the vignette form of writing. My first impulse was therefore to dismiss their critique, because "Butterfly Boots" was a vignette.

But, after letting the sting subside, I gave "Butterfly Boots" another hard look. Yes, it was exactly what I'd meant it to be. Yes, it was a vignette. Yes, vignettes aren't a standard literature form (in English, anyway).

…And I had set "Butterfly Boots" up everywhere as a short story. Not vignette. Short story.

That's like calling first person POV "stream of consciousness". Yes, there are come similarities, and yes, they're related, sort of—but they aren't the same thing. Not at all.

I had screwed up.

I faced a choice. I could repair all the blurbs and descriptions everywhere for "Butterfly Boots" and still frustrate those readers who don't know what a "vignette" is supposed to be. Or I could pull "Butterfly Boots" until I had something more significant to pair it with. As a vignette, it didn't make much sense if you weren't already familiar with the world of Aleyi.

So why on earth had I released it as a stand-alone, a free introduction to my world? I have no clue. I've done stupider things, but I like to think that most of them haven't been as public.

At any rate, I therefore decided to pull "Butterfly Boots" until I could stick it as a bonus with something more substantial. Some folks have expressed disappointment that it's no longer available.

Now, one line in Betty Dravis's review still does bother me: "The punctuation [in "Butterfly Boots"] is definitely not up to par." I follow the Chicago Manual of Style with one British modification that didn't show up in "Butterfly Boots"—but "Butterfly Boots" did use dialect. Professional opinions differ on how to punctuate dialect and how to use it properly.

It was tempting to privately grumble (after checking "Butterfly Boots" again) that someone obviously didn't understand proper apostrophe use with dialect. And while that might be the case, something else occurred to me: I like em dashes and ellipses.

It used to be that those symbols (and accented letters) only showed up properly online if you happened to use the HTML code that matched that special character. OtherwiseÀyour symbols got all messed up.

But web applications have improved in the past 5 years. I'd gotten lazy. I'd left the special characters in "Butterfly Boots", so it's possible that they'd messed up and caused Miss Betty's comment. Possible. That's something I can try to fix with some basic use of TextWrangler and the Find… Replace function.

So I earned those critical comments. I also suspect that some folks will consider me "unprofessional" for sharing this story.

I say "Tough." Negative reviews don't have to crush your soul. Take a deep breath and see if you can learn something from it. It may not be what the reviewer intended, but there's a lesson in that review if you care to learn it.

The line between "professional" and "unprofessional" behavior has always confused me, anyway… probably because opinions differ on where that line is…

Post 3 to come: Why you want harsh reviews.

Have you earned a critical review? How did you handle it?

—Misti

Attitude and Negative Reviews: How to Take Negative Reviews (1 of 3)

When I first started writing online, it was fan fiction, most of it in the Star Wars section on FanFiction.net. I was MistiWhitesun for quite some time, and I was a bit notorious for being "rude and a little mean".

Not that I intended to come across that way. But I didn't mind receiving forthright critical reviews, so I gave them, too. After my feedback left an in-person friend offended and hurt, I approached her to figure out why she was upset. I realized:

1. Most folks don't see 100% negative feedback as an implied positive. Me, I knew how much time that took to create, so I knew the critic had to see something worthwhile if they bothered to spend their time reviewing.
2. Folks take negatives better if you couch them between positives. Open with a positive, put the negative in the middle, and close with a positive.

Yes, I actually had to learn that. I'm from the North (of the US), a region that's renowned for being blunt. If someone doesn't like you, they're mean to your face. They aren't all sweet to your face before they backstab you with gossip later. (Yeah, I live in the South(east), now. Talk about culture shock.)

So when folks told me point-blank that a story sucked, I was more inclined to take it as honesty (as they saw it) than meanness.

I have a point to this rambling. A lot of advice online says "Don't read the negative reviews" and "If you must read them, don't reply—and definitely don't agree."

But here's the thing. Negative reviews can be anywhere. Even if you actively try to avoid them, someone will helpfully send you a link to a lackluster review. Someone will send a poorly-formatted rant into your inbox. Your fans may comment on your social media site about this terrible review that they lambasted.

You'll get negative reviews. You'll see some of them, whether you want to or not. So why not learn from them?

Think of negative reviewers as critique partners in a writing group. Some will be wrong. Some will misidentify a problem. And some will be spot on.

What if someone reads your short story and is squicked by the characters who are cousins and lovers? In some regions, that situation doesn't bat an eye. In others, it's legally incest. (And no, the Bible does not have any regulations against first cousins marrying; I mention that because some folks assume it does.)

A reader might be so grossed out by the cousin-lovers that they can't enjoy anything about the story and leave a 1-star review. They may harp on the (presumed) illegality of the relationship. They may call you a pervert and say all sorts of unnecessary things that makes your blood boil.

But what's the actual problem? They can't handle the cousin-lovers. That is not your fault.

I fail to see what's wrong about replying to that person to say "I'm sorry that those characters disgusted you so much. Just so you know, sexual relations between cousins of the first degree is legally permissible in the state of South Carolina." That way, someone else who reads the review gets both sides of the issue.

Now, what if a reader sometimes couldn't keep track of who was speaking? The reader gives the story a 1-star review, saying you don't know how to write, need to take some classes, etc.

A retort "I DO know how to write! I've written professionally for years!" wouldn't help matters. Their opinion of your writing ability isn't the problem. The problem is that one of you wasn't paying attention: either the reader missed some speech transitions, or you didn't put them in. That could be your fault.

So take another look. Maybe the reviewer is way off-base, or not your target audience—or maybe you did screw up the speech transitions. There's even a line in Black Beauty where the wrong name was attributed to the speaker in a conversation. Confused the heck out of me when I was in grade school, until I figured out what had happened.

And then there are the 1-star reviews that complain that the story was a complete waste of time. Those bite, and I've gotten two of them. (I also earned those, and we'll get into why in my next post.)

But consider: What makes someone consider something a waste of time?

When what they get doesn't match what they were expecting. And that, folks, likely is your fault. You (or your publisher) screwed up. The cover, the description, the blurb, the excerpt—something mislead the reader. The reader feels cheated, and you've wasted their time. The chances of them intentionally reading anything else you ever write are slim.

Are there exceptions? Certainly. I know some folks were furious upon getting a graphic novel when they ordered Homecoming by Patricia Briggs, even though it was clearly marked and marketed as a graphic novel. That was their fault, not the author's or publisher's.

Then there are the hateful trolling reviews that are just someone's attempt to tear you down to make themselves feel better, but we'll get into how to approach those in post 3.

Do you read your negative reviews? Why or why not? Do you respond?

—Misti

How to Serialize a Novel (or Not)

Yep, I messed up when I serialized A Fistful of Fire. My screwup wasn't that I serialized the book, but in the details of how I did it.

I even researched before jumping in, but information on web serializing is hard to find. In particular, the model I wanted to follow did not fit much of the advice I was reading. Certain things translated, but not everything. Many serializers are writing in chunks and posting a WiP (Work in Progress).

I already had the novel completed. I just wanted to serialize it as a variation on the "offer first work for cheap" method of indie author promo. I knew from experience how helpful web novels could be when needing to de-stress on a 15-minute break at work.

And, well, hindsight is 20/20.

DON'T:

1. Get "cutesy" or "cool" with your text. Goal is to be read. Don't make that tough with huge sections of hard-to-read text. Sadly, I had to be conked on that one.
   
2. Jump the gun and get started before you have a pleasant easy-to-use blog ready. If you're not sure if the site's any good, don't shrug and figure it's "Good enough". Get it critiqued.
   
3. Use Blogger. There's no way of making the posts show in reverse order, that I've been able to find (short of doctoring the posting dates). Use a blogging service that will let posts show in reverse order.
   
4. Wait until the story's about to end to start advertising and actively promoting. (Yes, this is a "DON'T".)
   
5. Use that cool widget that says how many page hits you get. Took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize how useless that widget is for a blog whose goal for visitors to start at page 0 and read all the posts to the present.
   

DO:

1. Pick a URL that's based on the world of the book being serialized. I didn't, instead choosing a URL based solely on the book itself. Now I'm regretting it. The novel's done. I'm stuck with a blog URL that's specific to that book; what if I later want to serialize something else in the world? Many folks will miss the announcement for the new place to go, and I'll have to pretty much restart my audience-building.
   
2. Set up your Table of Contents in advance so you can figure out its size and how you need to put it on the site. (Note: there are ways to set up even Blogger so a widget will show on some pages but not on others. Take advantage of that.)
   
3. Have a setup and plan for "announcement/news" posts. I hadn't planned to do them. What was I going to do, change sidebar text? Yeah, because that gets noticed.
   
4. Use Feedburner from day one. No, really. And have one of those "plug in your e-mail address to have the feed delivered to your inbox" widgets on your site. I was downright embarrassed when I realized I'd forgotten that, and I was halfway through the posting schedule…
   
5. Include the Google "Follow" widget from day one. (See above for my embarrassing story.)
   
6. Include the FeedBurner widget for how many subscribers you have. Adjust it to match your site layout.
   
7. Prepare the novel and schedule the posts all before going live.
   
8. Have your cover ready in advance, and base your site appearance to match that cover.
   

With me the stubborn little thing I am, I suspect I'll serialize something else sometime, to do it right, this time. (Or, more likely, find new ways of doing it wrongly.)

I have one project in particular that'll probably end up serialized, though I doubt I'll start it until late next year. I'd like to finish the Chronicles of Marsdenfel quartet before I jump full-tilt into that series, though.

I hope anyone who hopes to serialize their novel finds this post useful.

Have you serialized a novel online? Are you planning to?

—Misti