Jodi Spins Stories

A recent conversation in the Missed Deadlines Discord (hey, all!) got me thinking about the way new writers tend to interact with rules. And when I say rules, I mean “rules” with quotes. In my experience, new writers tend to approach learning the rules of writing in one of two extremes. • Rule followers: We love the rules. We need the rules. The rules are there for a reason. If we follow the rules well enough, we will eventually get X + Y = Z, where Z is publication, fame, and fortune.

For the last few years, Iā€™ve been in a state of (seemingly!) endless and overlapping deadlines. I mean, Iā€™m not anymore. Iā€™ve mostly fulfilled my contracts and now itā€™s a matter of the books releasing. And while that deadline state is a state Iā€™m desperately relieved to be out of ā€” itā€™s also one Iā€™d desperately like to get back into. Writing as a job is filled with strange and contradictory feelings.

There’s a weird feeling that comes along with writing a series: the sense that you’re writing for a smaller and smaller audience with every book. And if you think about it too much, it can feel really bleak. You might start to ask yourself . . . why am I working so hard? Should I bother? Who the heck is even going to know this book exists?

One of my things is helping authors understand the industry so they can better advocate for themselves. And find good advocates for their careers — good agents, good publishers. I thought a lot about whether I wanted to talk about Bindery, the new publishing startup.

If thereā€™s one thing about writers, itā€™s that we love to tell stories. If thereā€™s another thing about writers . . . itā€™s that most of us are desperate to have some kind of control over our careers. Or at least feel like we have control. Iā€™ll be honest: Iā€™m no exception. Let me tell you how I deal with it. From the moment we decide we want to be published by a traditional publishing house, most of us start looking for some kind of Magic Get Published Button.

I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a slow writer. Or a fast writer. Or a somewhere in-between writer. And how what we want to be can change over time — and how we can get trapped in cycles that force us into undesirable production speeds. Primarily, I’m going to talk about wanting to slow down. But I need to acknowledge the privilege in that. The fact is, I have work. I have had work. And boy do I feel lucky.

This is a post I wrote years ago, which I am dragging back into the light after a discussion about query letters in one of my writing groups. I should say upfront that it’s been . . . a while since I’ve queried. But I do still write them for myself — and for proposals I share with my agent, which eventually get shared with editors.

Last week, we turned in another draft of MY SALTY MARY, which means itā€™s time for . . . DAWNBREAKER first pass pages, due this week! In my Discord group, someone asked what pass pages entail. So I thought Iā€™d talk briefly about how I used to do pass pages, how I do them now, and a couple of small difference between the two publishers Iā€™ve worked with so far. In case you donā€™t know what Iā€™m talking about, this is the final stage (for authors) of a bookā€™s production.

Just a couple of quick updates! GREAT news, audiobook readers! Recorded Books (the audiobook publisher for NIGHTRENDER) has put NIGHTRENDER on sale for a limited time — it’s 70% off! Now is the time to grab a copy for yourself . . . or for your friends and/or enemies. (Books make great gifts/threats!) The sale is through the audiobooks.com only.

A couple of things have happened in the last few days: I hit a nice round milestone number of subscribers to this newsletter! Hello and hi to all the new folks! Iā€™m so happy youā€™re here! Itā€™s my birthday. Today! It also is a nice round number. A new decade! I didnā€™t actually expect these things to happen at the same time, but this seems like a good point to do the thing Iā€™ve been thinking about doing for a while: Open a paid tier to this newsletter.