Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? What seems to work for unleashing your creativity?
I simply stop work on the project that is blocked and work on something else instead. I find that when I return to the original project I have magically “unblocked” myself somehow, and am able to proceed.
Technically speaking, what do you have to struggle the most when writing? How do you tackle it?
If I type “teh” for “the” one more time I’ll shoot myself… Seriously, sometimes it seems like someone has rearranged my keyboard when I wasn’t looking and I keep on transposing letters as I type. Because it bugs me to see that on-screen I keep going back to fix the typos – and throw myself out of the story again and again and again. The frequency of this increases when I get really tired and my fingers start slipping more – I don’t “touch type” as such, but I’ve done so much typing in my time that I literally don’t need to see the keyboard when I am typing but rather stare at the screen as the words appear there. Sometimes I do wonder if I would do better if I had formally learned to touch type in some sort of class, though.
How was your experience in looking for a publisher? What words of advice would you offer those novice authors who are in search of one?
Look in the right places, and persevere. It is said that Stephen Donaldson, author of the Thomas Covenant books, sent his novel out to every publisher in the directory, going from A to Z – and when they had all rejected it, started again at the beginning. At which point somebody picked him up and published him and the rest is history, with the books out there on the bookstore shelves as we speak. Do not, however frustrated and impatient you are, break any rules – if the publisher says they don’t want simultaneous submissions then don’t send them any, and don’t rely on the fact that they might not find out. Editors talk to each other. A lot. You don’t want your name to come up in those conversations too often in a negative connotation. Play by the rules but remember – never give up, never surrender…
What type of book promotion seems to work the best for you?
Bookmarks handed out to potential readers work well; so do personal contacts and appearances. I find that people who have actually met me or spoken to me or heard me talk at a convention panel are far more likely to go out looking for the book. Blogging has become a very valuable tool in recent times – both my own blogs and the occasional guest blogs I do at other sites, as well as blogs I do on a regular basis for several sites (www.SFNovelists.com on the fifth of every month, and www.storytellersunplugged.com on the thirtieth of every month). Writing these blogs keeps my writing muscle honed, my muse at home, and my name out there on the Net where people might be looking for new authors to read.
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