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Articles by Indie Next
The Final Word on Genre
After writing book-length fiction for 30 years, publishing for more than 10, and reading literally countless books, posts, blogs, and essays debating and discussing genre, I’ve finally condensed everything I know about genre down to one simple statement. Here’s what we as writers need to understand about genre: it simultaneously does and does not matter. Genre doesn’t matter while you’re writing, because the book is yours and yours alone.
Taking Your Book Ideas to the Next Level
How do you keep track of your book ideas? Write them down in your phone’s Notes app, on a white board, in a notebook that you keep close, on a notepad on your nightstand? As with so many things about the writing process, there’s no wrong answer. What works for you works for you. But while I’ve had a habit of keeping my ideas separate, starting a new note in my Notes app every time I think of something that might turn into a book, I’ve recently tried something new.
Anything Is Possible
You can do anything. You can write a book. You can get an agent, if that’s what you want, a real powerhouse. You can get a great advance. You can click with your editor in a life-changing way. You can emerge from the editing process with a beautiful book, a wonderful book, a book readers will love. You can write a bestseller. Then you can write another one, a second book that readers embrace just as warmly as the first. You can do this over and over. You can be a career writer for the rest of your life.
Good Writing Can’t Be Taught
As I started circling this topic for this month’s post, I figured I’d start it with a question: can good writing be taught? But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I already knew the answer: no. Good writing can’t be taught. But a willing writer can always learn.
Write Anywhere, Write Everywhere
When my first book came out, I was working full-time, writing, and parenting two kids under three. It was, to say the least, hard to find the time to write. It was also hard to find a place to write. Neither of these problems were insurmountable. (Obviously, because my first book was not my last.) Because my schedule was tight, I was good about making use of time when I had it. On weekdays, I’d finish work at 5 and pick up the kids from daycare at 6.
Reading as a Writer
I don’t remember the time before I was a reader, just as I don’t remember the time before I was a writer. I’ve always read for the joy of it. Now, as a published author, I read for a number of other reasons as well, but the joy, if I look for it, is still there. It’s one of the reasons I don’t have much patience for people who think they should write a book but can’t remember the last one they read once that wasn’t assigned in high school or college.
The Balance of Letting and Making
I’ve never been one to follow the “rule” that a writer needs to write every single day; judging by conversations with my writer friends, few of us do. However, many of us, myself included, feel like it’s equally foolhardy to say that a writer always has to wait for a moment of inspiration in order to write. We believe in inspiration, but we also believe in sitting your butt down in the chair whether or not you feel like it.
Becoming a New Writer in the New Year
Just a few days into January, you may already be tired of the idea of resolutions. There’s nothing special about January, really, if resolving’s what you want to do: you can vow to change your habits or renew your dedication to your goals just as easily on February 1st or June 7th or September 15th. But what we have right now that other times of year don’t offer is a sheaf of blank calendar pages. The unknown. The unwritten. We don’t know what 2026 will be yet, for the world or for ourselves.
Is Getting Published the Hardest It’s Ever Been?
It’s nothing new to lament the times we live in. First of all, that’s true in general: social media is full of “gotcha” quotes where people lament the rapid pace of “today’s lifestyle” that turn out to be from 1805 or whatever. Second of all, I feel fairly confident that writers have been commiserating about how impossible it is to get published basically since the earliest moments that publishing existed. And yet, it feels particularly impossible these days, doesn’t it?
Reviews are for readers, not authors. There’s a reason other authors will tell you not to read your Goodreads or Amazon reviews; the vast majority of those reviews aren’t thoughtful, carefully considered analyses of your work. And what they definitely aren’t—even if some reviewers say they are—is feedback intended to help you grow as a writer. They’re meant to let other readers know what one person’s reading experience was, so those readers can decide if they might want to read the book.
Why Bother Writing a Good Book?
It’s one of the most common complaints online from discontented writers: the books that sell the best aren’t even good. I’m not saying it’s true, but it’s a common refrain. Quality doesn’t matter, unhappy writers say. People buy what they see on TikTok and the rest of us are out of luck. What sometimes goes unspoken, sometimes not, is the deeper level of the complaint: I believe that my book is better than this successful one; why did that writer get success that I didn’t?
The Power of Giving Up
As writers, we’re often advised not to give up in the face of challenges and obstacles. Just keep going! The only one who can stop you from being published is you! You’ll get there! Globally, over the long term, this is great advice. But in certain situations, when you’re facing a particular obstacle or fork in the road? Giving up is the only way forward. I just completed a shiny new draft of a manuscript that I’m very, very excited about.
Acceptance, Rejection, and the Acceptance of Rejection
I’ve long believed that persistence may be the most important trait for a writer to have. Persistence keeps you going through the setbacks; it pushes you forward when you’d otherwise stagnate or give up; and it’s essential to a long career in writing and publishing, as the only guarantee over the years is that things–almost everything, really–will change. But I’ve been wondering lately if another ingredient is also absolutely essential to the writer’s recipe: acceptance.
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