My writing friend Jody Hedlund has an interesting post today on being flexible.
Traditionally, I’ve not been the most flexible person, internally What that means is that, if I’m volunteering for you at school, or if you’re a friend that I’ve got a lunch date with, or if my child is coming to your house to play, and your plans change suddenly—I’m extremely pleasant and understanding about it on the outside. “It’s no trouble at all. No, I totally understand. We’ll take a rain check.”
On the inside, though, I’m a big mess. My day has changed in a way I wasn’t prepared for. Now I need to look at all my lists and switch them out. Figure out a new game plan. It stresses me out. Which is ridiculous, but I’m Type A . It’s just the way I am.
Writing, actually was the first place I learned to be flexible.
This, I attribute completely to the fact that even rats in mazes can be trained to recognize rewards for successes. They’ll remember the successful path through the maze to end up with the treat at the end. And every single time I was flexible with my writing, I ended up with some sort of small success or reward.
I responded to stimuli. :)
It started with my first editor. I’d actually hired an independent editor back in 2003ish. He was the kind of editor that took no prisoners and didn’t suffer fools lightly. I’d never, ever shown anyone my fiction, so this was a rough initiation into revision for me. On the one hand, since I grew up with my English teacher dad, my grammar and mechanics were in good shape. But there was all kinds of stuff that needed to be ironed out with showing-not-telling, etc.
I suffered through the process. It irritated me to make changes to a manuscript that I thought was good enough to sell. I made all his suggested changes, but saved an old copy that I didn’t revise. And, was astounded to discover that his suggestions made my book much better.
To this day, 9 times out of 10 I take the suggestion of first readers and my editors.
Then there was the querying process. Which took forever for an impatient person like me. I was absolutely bent on having a particular agent at this particular agency. I’d done the research and this person seemed like the perfect match.
Then came the rejection.
I remember actually thinking that I’d just write another book and try again to hire this particular agent. But I realized that wasn’t an effective Plan B. Instead, I was flexible and started sending out queries to many agents who represented cozy mysteries. And got another flurry of rejections. So I decided to change the plan again and send directly to targeting publishers.
And ended up with a contract. Another little reward for flexibility.
Promo was another area where I needed to learn flexibility. I wasn’t wild about promoting. I wasn’t happy about leaning social media. I don’t enjoy selling things.
Being flexible with marketing means that not only have I sold many more books than I would have if no one knew me, but means that I’ve also developed many online friendships along the way.
Now I’m trying to be flexible again. I’m trying to respond to a changing publishing industry. Which is hard—I worked hard to get published traditionally. But I’m quick to recognize change (even if I never like change), and so I’m preparing a book I wrote several years ago for e-publishing.
This hasn’t been easy for me, either. I’ve been used to having a publisher’s art department come up with concepts, having them to the interior book design, not worrying at all about the actual process of publishing a book. But I’m going with the flow again—why not publish both ways? That way I’ve got all my bases covered. Flexibility.
Now if I can only be flexible when my children’s plans for the day change! I’m working on it.
How flexible are you as a writer? Have you seen a payoff when you are?
Elizabeth – I think in today’s publishing world, one absolutely has to be flexible. Everything in the industry is changing so much that it makes no sense not to be flexible.
As for me, I’m flexible in certain ways as a writer. I’m always willing to listen when people point out obvious flaws in the plot, or mechanics things, etc. I admit, though, that I am having to learn to be more flexible when it comes to the core of a story. It’s a little harder for me to give up my concept of the main plot and characters. I’m learning…
Elizabeth, it is very important to be flexible to be successful. If we are selling anything, it really needs to meet the needs of the consumer. This may mean changing.
However, I really want everything my way, please! :)
Change is inevitable, so being flexible is a requirement. I am very similar to you, Elizabeth. The chaos occurs internally, but I’m working on it. I guess it boils down to not being attached to our to-do lists so much. Hard for us Type A’s, huh?
Karen
I like your rats in a maze analogy. (And people who are TOO flexible can learn to straighten up the same way.)
And you’re so right about keeping options open in this changing world. Even those who have gone completely independent are finding their world changing as we speak.
But it is a great time to be a writer (if you can hack the twists and turns).
“…even rats in mazes can be trained to recognize rewards for successes.”
LOL!
Well, I am trying, and I suppose you can see it as a sign of flexibility that I have changed tack and begun to self-publish. And I am beginning to realize that I don´t mind using Goodreads, facebook & twitter nearly as much as I absolutely hate writing queries.
I am, by nature, usually pretty darned flexible, but I think in writing I may not have been without the very painful training of peer review/editorial review in the scientific domain. I came to my writing long ago with the belief I knew best, but you LEARN if someone takes issue, chances are they won’t be the only one. If someone is confused, you haven’t been clear.
And I am completely with you on being flexible and adaptive. I love that you are going to bring Myrtle Clover back–have you got your rights back on the formerly published? I think a shelf that has several of her books has a great chance of selling pretty well–especially since you now have a name ‘out there’ to work with.
I plan to do a mix somewhere in my head, though I am going to go slow toward the self-pub, as I may find a small publisher, and I am early enough in my career that I don’t think it’s optimum timing. I’m curious if you’ve talked all this through with Ellen and what she thinks.
It seems that especially now, with publishing changing almost daily it seems, flexibility can only help us stay relevant. I like your idea of self-publishing an older manuscript, and have read that doing so actually boosts book sales of current books you’ve published :)
I loved Jody’s post today. I’d say I’m most flexible in my writing than in the rest of my life. This business has taught me flexibility and patience–two of my weaker traits!
Congrats on exploring your self-pub e-book options!!
Margot–I’ve gotten so that an editor could tell me that they want something completely backwards (they want the murderer to be the victim and vice versa) and I could deliver it with grace. But it has taken me a LONG time to get to that point. Now I look at it as a fun challenge when before I looked at it as more of a chore.
Teresa–True! And, I think what the consumer is demanding right now is variety for a low price. I’m probably not providing *variety* (my stories are pretty traditional), but I’ll keep prices for what I publish low. We’ll see how it goes.
Karen–So, so hard! At least I can be pleasant on the outside when plans change! And I’m trying not to get too stressed out by change on the inside, either.
The Daring Novelist–Good point! I think there are people who don’t have *enough* structure or rigidity, too. I’m looking for that happy balance. It *is* a good time to be a writer, I think. A little scary, but good!
Hart–I’ve not talked it over with my agent/Ellen, no. I’ve hesitated asking her help or opinion on it, knowing that I’m going to cut her out of the profits with the e-pub. So I actually even drafted the letter to my publisher myself, asking about reversion of rights. I got all my rights back to the characters, in writing. :) So I can publish prequels and sequels with those characters, that setting, etc. I’ve got my rights to the very first Myrtle Clover book, which I’ll rework, and I’ve got a sequel that Midnight Ink passed on that I’ll be publishing. It’s exciting…and unnerving at the same time.
Joanne–That’s what I’m hoping will happen. I’ve got a small backlist and I’ve got a book that wasn’t picked up that I’ve edited and cleaned up. I’m crossing my fingers that what I’m planning on doing will work out well for both my traditionally published books and my self-publishing experiment.
Jill–Those are 2 of my problem areas, too! I think, for writing, I’ve just personally experienced the way being flexible can work for me…as far as patience, I’ve just had to realize that things crawl in this industry! It’s been tough for me. :)
It’s not so much unflexible as I’m a creature of habit. However I won’t beat myself against a brick wall if I’m not getting through!
As a teacher I’ve learned to be pretty flexible most of the time – to a point. I tend to overplan and have back up plans hovering around in case they’re needed :)
Alex–Sometimes it almost *takes* a brick wall for me.. :)
Dorte–Ha! Social media beats querying…for sure!
Great topic, and you’ve put it so well. Flexibility certainly is the key in today’s wild-west publishing world. Things do change by the day. (I’ve got to go set up my Google+ page right now.)
And you’re right about the rats. We who have learned one way very well are having a harder time than the people just jumping in, learning the way for the first time. When we’ve been endlessly querying agents for years, to suddenly be told agents are more likely to notice you if you self-pub a good Kindle book than if you write the best query in the world–
Wha??? Hard to take it in. We knew the way through this maze and now we don’t.
Life or writing, it doesn’t matter, I have to have my five minutes t _itch. Then the flow rolls smoothly :)
Anne-It’s very disorienting. Just when we think we’ve got it all nailed, they pull the rug out from under us.
They keep *changing* the maze! It’s very inconvenient. But as long as I’m getting treats, I’ll keep working my way through it… :)
Good luck with Google+! I don’t *think* I got an invite from Google! I’m disappointed. :)
GigglesandGuns–When I first start writing, I think I’m all over the board, too!
Jemi–Oh, I *like* the idea of over-planning! Always good to have more plans, in case things don’t work out. In publishing, too. :)
I’m much like you in that I’m internally inflexible with schedule changes or unwanted interruptions. Yet, when it comes to writing I find I’m very flexible, quick to let go of a bad process or concept and just as quick to adapt to new information.
The difference, I think, is that making adjustments to our writing and how we handle it is far less stressful than a sudden schedule shift that can put us behind in everything else.
Great post and best of luck with the e-pub. I’m sure you’ll do great :)
Very good post. Flexibility is one of the ingredients of lasting success, I think. Some of the best crime writers of the past 30 years have shown a lot of flexibility. Ruth Rendell is just one example, in terms of writing styles. And other established authors are, like you, doing very interesting things with online communications and ebooks.