Wednesday, October 17, 2012

So You Think You Can Write? Then Shut Up and Do It

Last week I was all caught up in Harlequin’s “So You ThinkYou Can Write?” contest.  It’s a competition for unpublished writers to showcase one chapter of a manuscript.  It’s open to almost anyone who has finished a novel and the winner of the contest receives a book contract.  The top 25 entries receive feedback from a Harlequin editor on their completed manuscript – prize enough in itself.

                                    I entered the first chapter from the novel I wrote last year: Unbreak My Heart.  Spoiler alert: I did not make it into the top 25 of the contest. Sigh.

But the worst part was not that I didn’t make it into the top 25. The worst part has been my behavior during the contest and results.  I entered the contest on Monday, October 1 then watched with an almost out-of-body experience as I went looney-tunes crazy for the next two weeks.

I don’t even want to talk about how crazy I was because it’s really embarrassing.   But I’ll give you the highlights:

1) I bugged every friend I had (or used to have, most of them probably unfriended me) on Facebook for TEN DAYS STRAIGHT asking them to vote for me in this contest.

2) About 2 days into the contest, I realized I could also TEXT PEOPLE and ask for them to vote for me on their phone.  Aren’t most of you glad I don’t have your cell number?

3) I went to the Apple Store at the mall 8 days in a row and voted for myself on every device they had hooked up to the Internet (which is 57, btw).

4) I made my children vote for me on their Nintendo games and iPods.  And told them to ask their friends to vote too.

5) Do you know that the public library has multiple computers patrons can use? Want to know how I know that?

6) Because voting was blind, I had no idea how many votes I had versus the other entries. What I could see was how many Facebook “Likes” an entry had (which had nothing to do with voting, but still… at least it seemed like real data). So I went through ALL 690 ENTRIES and wrote down the title of any entry that had more than 100 Likes. There were 120 of them in case you're wondering.

7) I got ABSOLUTE NOTHING done the three days between when voting closed and they announced the finalists because I was so nervous and anxious to find out the results. Nothing – I don’t even think I cooked or took a shower.

8) On Monday, Oct 15 when they began to announce the finalists, I checked my email incessantly even though my email gets sent to my phone and Tom Hanks announces “Houston, we have a problem” on my phone whenever I get email.  Still, I manually checked. You know, just in case it was broken…

8) I didn’t help my kids with their homework on that Monday because I was so busy watching Twitter to see who the winners were.

9) I threw an absolute fit when one of the finalists started tweeting about how she didn’t even have manuscript finished so she better start writing *fast* so she’d have something to turn in.
HAVE SOMETHING TO TURN IN???? I have an entire book ready to turn in! How good can yours be if you’re writing ¾ of it in 2 days?

And… scene.


Do the words: outlandish, preposterous, ridiculous, or absurd come to mind? They should. Basically I lost two weeks of my life to this stupid contest. And by “stupid contest” I mean: “a perfectly reasonable contest in which my behavior was asinine.”

It’s hard to watch a train wreck while you’re also conducting it. But somehow I managed.

Ultimately, I got over my disappointment of not making it into the top 25, and even cancelled the hit I put out on the writer who hadn’t finished her book. I had a Butterfinger Blizzard. A friend sent me an awesome link of some famous authors who were rejected by publishers multiple times, which gave me hope. Looking back on it all now that I’m older and wiser (you know, by 36 hours) I’ve realized some things.

I wasted so much time with this contest – not just begging for votes, but worrying about it and wondering about it and counting FB Likes that had nothing to do with anything.  Being busy is not the same thing as being effective. If I had applied this time to writing, I could’ve been 1/3 of the way done through another book.

So ultimately, I think Harlequin is asking the right question in their contest to beginning writers like me. It just took me a while to find the phrase that should follow their question.

So You Think You Can Write?

Then quit worrying about this other stuff and sit down and do it. Writers write. Always.




37 comments:

  1. At least it sounds like you're out the other side of unproductive and freakish behaviour. My laptop's been turned on automatically when I wake for a long time, but instead of diving straight into writing, I'm on Twitter, then the community boards, then the Facebook groups and then back to Twitter in case there's any more news. And I still haven't stopped!

    I don't think my self-respect can take another competition like this.

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    1. Blahahahaha, Jo, I'm right there with you! I'm still on Twitter all day until they release the official list - can't seem to make myself stop. But I don't have any real hopes any more.

      Right now I need to concentrate on writing good stuff. I can worry about publishing and social networking and all that other stuff later.

      Let's keep in touch! Looking for a halfway-around-the-world critique partner? :)

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    2. Love one, as long as you don't expect a halfway-around-the-world running partner. Far too energetic for me!

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  2. Janie
    This is an awesome post - thank you for being so honest and funny. If you write your books like this you'll be snapped up.
    Nina xx

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    1. Thanks, Nina! It has been so wonderful meeting new sytycw people.

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  3. Janie
    I think most of us #sytycw2012 crazies totally understand, I stopped and looked around my house yesterday and went eeewww! My Husband has been totally patient and understanding (for which I am grateful!) Now I must go clean...and get my manuscript ready to enter through normal publishing channels! Good Luck!

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    1. My husband has been a total blessing also, although my house looks like a tornado has hit. Good luck on your manuscript!

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  4. Janie~
    Your blog is hilarious and I want to read more of your book. SO, keep writing both. Congrats on being brave enough to even submit a writing piece and having the presence of mind to call off the hit. :)

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    1. Thanks, girl! I do have the book finished, so I'm going to look into other possible options.

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  5. They say that writing a book is like running a marathon (or it is the other way 'round?) Clearly, you rock at both! Love your blog, have loved your Tweets & your posts on the 'Quin board. Thanks for not being the only person who went a little overboard during the results day . . . All the best, a new fan.

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    1. ooooo... I love new fans! :) Thanks for the kind words.

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  6. It's funny Janie, but a friend (who entered the comp) and I were talking about it a couple of days after it all went live, musing on the madness that seemed to take some contestants. I think my friend was only able to take a back-seat on the promotional front because she's been so busy with other writing projects she literally did not have the time.
    And it was a form of madness - rational women sucked into a vortex of promotion over which they had no control. Until exactly four days before the competition went live, I'd had every intention of entering. I wish I could say in all certainty that the madness would not have possessed me, but I can't. I remember all too vividly the obsession I had when I entered New Voices and that was before I was on twitter! I dread to think how many people would have unfollowed me if I'd been able to tweet my link every ten minutes.
    The only reason I didn't enter sytycw was because I got The Call just in time to stop me diving headfirst into the madness. And I made it all on my own via the regular slush pile - my foray into the world of New Voices 2010 and 2011 got me precisely nowhere.
    Janie, as Nina has already pointed out, this blog post alone is testament to your skills as a writer. You write beautifully (believe me, I wouldn't be leaving this comment if I didn't think that). Keep plugging away and knocking on the Harlequin door - before you know it, you will be the one getting The Call. And then the madness will really start!
    Wishing you all the best for the future, Michelle xxx

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    1. Thanks so much, Michelle. I just read your call story on your blog -- truly gave me hope! Thanks for sharing your story.

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  7. I have never laughed as much as I did at this blog. I'm picturing you snarling at any poor kid who wanted to come into the Apple shop and touch an iPad. And I had a hissy fit at the same tweet as you. Here was me thinking having a completed manuscript was part of the rules.... I wish you lots of luck for the future. Keep writing and keep submitting. You never know when an editor will see your submission and thinks it sparkles!

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    1. Oh, if you could've just seen the looks I got at the Apple store! People could not understand what I was doing. :) Thanks so much for the encouragement.

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  8. Awesome post Janie! Pretty sure you're a mad genius ;) I think we all teetered on the edge of sanity. The most stressful part was feeling like maybe we DID have some control over it, like some crazy romantic manifest destiny. I would have unfriended and unfollowed me this week too. I had a total of 45 tweets until Sept. 30 and now I have 475. And of course 430 of them were on the #sytycw2012 hashtag. I'm trying to wean myself off it. I need a detox. Gotta get my head back in the real game again and let it play out. I am so happy to have met such cool writers though, and I can't wait to follow your career. Keep up the good work :)

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    1. Thanks Lisa! You may have to start another media campaign soon if your book is in the top 3! I'll head back to the Apple Store for ya. :)

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  9. OMG Janie I loved your chapter! And like Nina said above, if you write with this humour I would snap up your stuff! :) This is fantastic.

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    1. Congrats on making it into the top 28, Jen! I can be excited for you and still miserable for myself because I'm multi-talented. :)

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  10. Loved your post. Agree with everything you said. Wish I'd thought to run down to my local Harvey Norman (your Apple store equivalent in Australia) and commandeer the computers! Next year, watch out. I can see all us budding writers now, fighting over the terminals. Good luck Janie. I look forward to following your blog.

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    1. Thanks, Lily! We'll all have to come up with a voting plan for next year. :)

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  11. I entered the contest also, and was rejected. I also bugged everyone I could to go vote for on FB (Under Teresa Waltman) in hopes to gain many votes. As writers we will never give up on our dream becoming published. Best to you :)

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    1. That's right, Reese: never give up! Best of luck to you too.

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  12. I also entered the SYTYCW, but I did nothing for self-promotion. I knew the top 25 vote getters would get a look, but I did nothing to push myself into it. I think you probably got more votes in the Apple Store in one day than I got totally - but my experience was positive in learning the fine art of finishing my project.

    If this is how it works, I will not be entering SYTYCW again. Like you, I will just keep writing.

    Great blog! It's an honest expression of how much we can lose perspective when something we want badly is seemingly in our reach.

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    1. Yeah, it was a hot mess, alright. I definitely wouldn't do it the same way again.

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  13. This is an awesome list of crazy! I know exactly how it feels to be this kind of crazy -- it's like aliens taking over your body for a short time.

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    1. Yeah, I definitely cornered the market on crazy... :)

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  14. I think all us #sytycw2012 will need therapy after this. It's like some madness just takes you over. I'm glad I'm not alone in the craziness that took place during that contest. Best of luck!

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  15. Wow. Pretty great story! Thanks for sharing and making us smile. I hope your life has calmed back down. But wait...I guess it hasn't! You had better news! Best of luck!

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    1. Shhhhh! I haven't told the blog-folks yet. :) But I'm very happy!

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  16. LOL. After my frantic summer of stalking my inbox for news from my agent, I realized I was susceptible to the crazy. I tweeted a few times and mentioned it on Facebook, but after day two or three, I forced myself to disengage and get back to writing!

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    1. I wish I could say I was so mature. Seriously, I never want to be this crazy about a contest again! :)

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  18. You are a fantastic writer!!! I thoroughly enjoyed this blog, pretty much summed up my craziness these last few weeks. On the off chance I was that writer who had to start writing "fast" in order to finish on time I want to thank you for calling off that "hit" ;).

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    1. I forgot to sign my name. I didn't mean for this to be anonymous.

      ~Kristen Parr

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  19. Your blog is a scream!! And I would have done exactly the same thing had I anything finished to enter. When you posted # Facebook likes on eharlequin, I had to go read them all, then check out their Facebook pgs to see what they were doing. Did they have thousands of followers? Then I googled them... See? Not even in the race and I wasted writing time on it.

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