Day 3 (Motivation) - Best in Studio Means Noting In The Real World

Being the best in the studio means nothing in the real world. Once you're out there, everyone is strong. Everyone is flexible. What makes you different? How you show up. How you recover. How you adapt. How you tell stories through your dancing. ~ Akay Anil

I really love this thought because it really comes down to a competition level and how we spend too much time trying to be the best, to be better than the other person, to be one step ahead of someone else. Now, don't get me wrong. I am someone who believes that there is something to be said about competition. It does push people. But if that is all we think about, then it tends to make us have a misguided perception of the world and even of ourself.

In the end, as writers, we are all the same. When you sit down at your computer, or you sit down with your legal pad and your pen and paper, you need to know that around the world, there are thousands of others who are doing the exact same thing. 

Every author out there, whether they are new to storytelling, or they have been writing for years, or have been published by a major press, or have self-published or are still trying to find that first contract still struggle with the same things. They all look to figure out what their characters are doing. They look to find the right word and the right phrase to convey the right mood or feeling. 

Your job, is to bring your own voice to the table. Quit trying to be a copy of someone else. Be yourself. As Anil notes in her comment, show that flexibility but show what makes you different and show who you are when you come into the room.

Does this mean to be so completely different and "weird" that people just stare at you? No. But you should be that person that people "see" you in the group.

I am reminded of two authors in particular I saw at conferences. Both just stood out because of "how they showed up." These were working conferences and, as always, I am someone who "people watches." Both of these authors came into rooms and they just stood out as being different. They moved in the room as being professional. They dressed professional. They carried themselves with confidence. They were not cocky or arrogant. You could see they were new authors, but they stood out. I was fortunate to have both pitch to me. Both had projects that were great, but what really stood out was how the demonstrated that they were different and they could tell their stories through how they presented themselves in their pitches. 

So, what can you do to stand out?

Day 2 (Motivation) Your Technique Won't Save You If You're Not Coachable

Beautiful lines won't matter if you can't take correction. adapt quickly and listen. adapt quickly, and listen. Directors want dancers they can trust - not ones who need to be convinced. ~ Acay Anil

We talked about this yesterday when we talked about learning. This is also about mindset but also about being open. 

There is nothing wrong with having opinions. We love having opinions. We love having thoughts. But there are times when it is important to just be quiet and listen. 

This line from HAMLITON is so right on the money. If an editor or an agent has to spend time trying to convince you that a chance in your story is necessary, what is that telling them about you? Are you someone that they will want to work with in the future?

I have overheard authors at conferences talk about agents and editors who they have left, but when they continue talking, you realize, the issue was not with the agent or the editor, it was with the fact that the writer was the individual being difficult. The author was not the person being "part" of the team and "part" of the conversation. 

Being in business or society means interacting with other people. It requires considering where other people are coming from and sometimes listening. Remember, you as an author went to that agent because that person was the expert who, a you said "knew the system and knew how to guide you in your career." So listen. Remember, it is the editor, who has gotten other people to that coveted list that you are trying so hard to get to telling you what to do to get there. So why are you telling them now you know better? 

Day 1 (Motivation) Talent Is Overrated

It might get you noticed, but it won't get you hired - or keep you hired. What matters more: how consistently you show up, how you take feedback, and you carry yourself in the room. Your energy often speaks louder than your steps. Talent gets applause. Work ethic builds a career. ~ Ayca Anil

But Scott, wait a minute, isn't it the talent that gets us the contract? Isn't it what the editors and agents first when they are looking at those submissions?

Well, sort of... But that is not what we are talking about here.

If you really focus on what Anil is talking about here, it is about consistency and presence. It is about work ethic. Sure, we will read about those authors who come out of no where, make it big and then what happens? They disappear. They become a nobody. Why does that happen? They seem to think that now that they have made it, they feel that they have the talent and they are so good, they don't need to do any more than to live on that talent. Oh how wrong they are!

Just because your first book sells does not mean there is not room to learn. Someone can always give us a new insight into what we are doing, but we have to be open to just listen and consider what that person has to say? We also have to be open to take that feedback. We cannot slam the door on someone who gives us feedback because we don't like them, or because it hurts our feelings. In fact, Ayca's post on social media actually starts off with the comment, "Dance Career Advice I'd Give you If I Wasn't Afraid of Hurting Your Feelings." Sorry, but "Suck it up, Buttercup." It is time to learn and listen to what other people have to say."

It is also about how you show up in public. Again, too often I have seen authors, who have once they have gotten that "first big contract" suddenly become a DIVA, and refuse to talk to "those below them." They seem to have forgotten that just days below, they were one of those underlings. Regardless of your talent, regardless of whether you are on the NY Times Best Sellers List or you are just selling a lot of books with a smaller line, you still have the same number of legs and the same number of arms as those who still are trying to trying to get there. Be humble. Be nice. Come in with an energy that says, I am here to learn with you and I am also here to help you get to where you want to want to be.

Sure, some people will get those standing ovations, but you can sit there and, in your heart know, you are doing great work and being a great person. 

Commit: Go Big Or Go Home

I was working through some edits with one of my clients this weekend and this concept came up. It was about an element she was using in her series she was working on. I don't want to go into too much detail on the concept here but, we were doing something kind of unique. In any case, in her first book of the series, she used a bit of this concept, enough that made it important enough to the storyline. Now, here is the kicker. When we hit the second book, that concept was barely noticeable which was reading amazing without it. Ugh.

This is when I got thinking. What do we do? We have two options now: 1) eliminate the concept in the first book; or 2) add the concept in the second? Technically, either way works... maybe????? Or does an option ruin one of the books?????

When it comes to doing something unique in your stories, you have to fully commit to it. You have to decide to, as the title of the blog says, Go Big Or Go Home. You cannot half-way do things. Let me give you a couple of examples where I see this happening a lot.

Authors who try multicultural romances. I think these are great stories. This is a chance to truly dig into the cultural experience. The problem, however, is that they don't Go Big Or Go Home. Just having the two characters with different skin colors is not a multicultural romance. Sorry, it isn't. First of all, do not get me started on the concept of culture here. My wife, who is a communication instruction who specializes in this will get on my be all over this blog, but culture is more than skin color. It goes MUCH deeper. These stories have to really have culture literally being a character in the story. 

Think of it this way. While I loved the TV version of Bridgerton, changing the ethnicity of the characters did nothing to change the storyline of the story. 

It did not suddenly make this a multicultural story. It is still the same Julia Quinn novel.

Does that make sense?

Authors who want to write "hot steamy stories". I get this all of the time from authors who send queries and tell me that they know that hot steamy stories are the new "in thing" so they have written one. But do they? No. They often take two approaches. They either spend the entire novel writing nothing but erotica and what they think is hot writing (which ends up as nothing more as graphic sex scenes with no plot), OR, they write everyday stories and then, in the middle of the story, write one scene that is very out of place with a hot scene, which is often writing the same thing that previous author did, but just one time. 

Not what we are talking about.

Those hot steamy stories are the ones where the characters are hot and steamy through the whole thing but guess what? It is not about the graphic sex. It is not about how many times we can use graphic words and descriptions. If you want to write these stories, GO BIG OR GO HOME. Really tell the romance and make it true. 

Authors who want to write time travel. Ugh...I am going to leave it with this one. Again, GO BIG OR GO HOME. These stories have to be just like those multicultural stories. Remember how culture had to be a character? Well guess what? The time travel has to be as well? Just transplanting your heroine in the Regency period and calling it quits is not time travel. It is now a historical. If you think about Outlander, Claire and Jaime are constantly having to deal with the issue of knowing too much about the future, about what Claire knows about how to get back, about what if she goes back and leaves Jaime, about the fact that her kids can go back and leave her family.... the list is endless. Time matters. It IS a character. This is not just a historical. 

Get the idea?