1. Summer Slump in Writing: Beth and Lisa discuss how summer activities can lead to a writing slump and share personal experiences and tips for overcoming it.
2. Character Development: Lisa shares her struggle with her character's emotional journey and how understanding her character's background helped overcome writing challenges.
3. Author Accelerator Book Coaching: Beth talks about her experience with the Author Accelerator's book coaching certification, emphasizing the importance of understanding a character's motivations.
4. Platform Building Challenge: Recap of the platform building challenge that starts on June 1st, with daily tasks to help authors build their platforms. The challenge is collaborative, involving various social media platforms. USE #wwwplatformchallenge to tag your posts!
5. Upcoming Book Events: Lisa discusses her book launch events for "Hart & Souls," including signings and panel discussions at the ALA conference.
Episode Summary: In this episode, Beth and Lisa discuss the challenges of maintaining writing momentum during the summer and the importance of deep character development. They also introduce a 31-day platform building challenge for authors starting June 1st.
1. Summer Slump in Writing: Beth and Lisa discuss how summer activities can lead to a writing slump and share personal experiences and tips for overcoming it.
2. Character Development: Lisa shares her struggle with her character's emotional journey and how understanding her character's background helped overcome writing challenges.
3. Author Accelerator Book Coaching: Beth talks about her experience with the Author Accelerator's book coaching certification, emphasizing the importance of understanding a character's motivations.
4. Platform Building Challenge: Recap of the platform building challenge that starts on June 1st, with daily tasks to help authors build their platforms. The challenge is collaborative, involving various social media platforms. USE #wwwplatformchallenge to tag your posts!
5. Upcoming Book Events: Lisa discusses her book launch events for "Hart & Souls," including signings and panel discussions at the ALA conference.
Episode Summary: In this episode, Beth and Lisa discuss the challenges of maintaining writing momentum during the summer and the importance of deep character development. They also introduce a 31-day platform building challenge for authors starting June 1st.
Hi friends, I'm Beth McMullen and I'm Lisa Schmid, and we're the co-hosts of Writers with Wrinkles. This is season three, episode 23. And today we're talking about a whole bunch of odds and ends, starting with the platform challenge that begins June 1st, and then we're gonna talk a little bit about some of Lisa's book events that are coming up to celebrate her forthcoming release, and then we're gonna talk to you a little bit about some scheduling stuff. So doesn't that sound fun? Don't you want to hang out with us now? I want to hang out with us. Okay, so before we get into the you know, before we get into the stuff, we were talking a little bit before I hit record about the summer slump.
Beth McMullen:
Do any of you guys experience the summer slump? Can you define summer slump for our guests, our listeners, not our guests, our listeners? I think so many times when we hit summer, things just start happening Vacations, kids are out of school, the weather's nice, you want to get outdoors and it's. I think it's hard to like hunker down in your dark, you know writing cave and get to work and and it's funny because usually summer is when I I do better with writing, and I think it's because I don't have to worry about my son's grades or you know what's going on or you know whatever. So for me it's I don't really have a summer slump, I think. I'm like I'm in a slump all the time. It's not seasonal, it's permanent. Yeah, seriously, I, that's something that I relate to pretty well right now. You know what You're. You're really good about. You know setting your mind to a book and sitting down and writing it. You're very structured and I admire that about you. And if I'm like, like lately I just haven't been inspired and I was talking to you earlier before we started recording is I've really struggled with this book and I wonder if people go through this as well I'm sure they do I just couldn't get, I couldn't quite nail the inspiration about what my character story arc was Like.
Beth McMullen:
I was writing a story but I was just I kept thinking like what's his emotional journey? Cause he doesn't have like a. Really I didn't want to give him anxiety or you know all those things. I just wanted him to solve a mystery, but in doing so it wasn't working for me. Apparently, I'm an angsty person and I want him to have sort of emotional growth, and so I can't just write that straight mystery without, like him, having to, like, overcome something. And so I finally, I couldn't figure out what it was, and I couldn't, I wasn't inspired to sit down and write, and I was struggling with the story and it finally dawned on me you know what his arc was, or what his angst was that he's a lonely kid, he's, you know, the son of a single parent, and that he's at home all the time alone because she has to work. And so I'm like, okay, I can relate to that, you know. And so now I have something to tap into.
Beth McMullen:
And so I think, if you're struggling with a story and you're not feeling inspired, I think it's time to look at your character and say, are you relating to that character and do you care what happens to them? Because I was kind of like, yeah, I kind of don't care what happens to him, and that's the problem. I just, I was just like I hope he figures it out. You know, it is a problem, because if you don't want to spend time with them, then you don't spend time with them, and then it turns into your summertime slump, because you're just thinking of all sorts of excuses not to do the work right, like I would rather do anything than spend time with this character, who I find uninspiring. And you got to figure. If you, the author, find the character uninspiring, then the readers are going to read three pages and just like Nope. I did that with the book. I'm not going to tell you what it's called. It's pink as a pink cover, but like every single book seems to have a pink cover these days. And I read about 20 pages and I thought to myself this character, I just don't care. I don't care what happens there, I'm uninterested in what happens here. And I gave it away to somebody else. I did tell them. I said this did not work for me. Maybe it'll work for you. And it's just.
Beth McMullen:
I love the concept of my character that he's totally into gaming. But I couldn't like why is he into gaming? Like that was his problem, like he was too into gaming, but why was he there in the first place? And I hadn't nailed that down. And so all of a sudden I'm like there it is and it I like just had written in a sentence, and then that kind of triggered something and so now I care about him. But honestly, friends, if you don't care about your character, nobody else will so find something to connect, and it's usually something that's personal, that resonates with you and that resonates with me. You know being that kid at home alone, and so I get that. So now I finally have something and it's not anxiety or it's just a, it's a condition. Now you like him again, I do, I'm interested in him and I want him to get back out into the world and not be lonely anymore. So it that is.
Beth McMullen:
My big advice today is find, make sure that you're resonating with your character, and if you're having trouble writing, that may be why? Look, it's a good point. I'm doing this at. Well, you guys are going to hear about this a lot in the future. I'm doing this certification for book coaching through the author accelerator, which is actually really fun and quite a bit of work. Surprise to me, not surprise to me. It shouldn't be a surprise. I should have known it, but I always do these things and then I'm like, wow, this is a lot of work. Anyway, it's really fun, but something that keeps coming up in when we're talking about the outlining process, or what they call blueprinting your novel before you jump into writing it, which is something I'm very, very bad at. So it's been a good lesson for me to try and learn.
Beth McMullen:
Is that why? Why, in all the ways that you can think about it? Why is the character doing what he's doing? In your case, he's a gamer. Why is he a gamer? So, all of these opportunities to question why something is happening the way it is, I think it's something that that, if you are stuck, is a really good way to go to the page and say, okay, why am I, why is this person here doing this? Why did this event happen? And it has to be deliberate, like your here doing this, why did this event happen? And it has to be deliberate, like your choices in writing the novel have to be deliberate, or you just end up with a big mess that you have to try and untangle later and that's not fun. That is not fun. And I'm more than halfway through this book. And so, once they made that determination, it's like, okay, I just need to go in, like chapter by chapter, and make some tiny tweaks, like it's nothing horrendous, thankfully, so I can feed in that emotional angst that he's going through. And then I already have the last line. Now, like I know what the last line is and so I never, you know, I knew how it was ending. But I now, all of a sudden, I'm like okay, now I know exactly where he's going, I know why he's going there and I know why he. He was where he was at the beginning Because at the beginning it was just like you know, I was thinking about all the kids who are so obsessed with gaming now because they got stuck in the house during COVID, but I didn't want to bring that up, so I just I couldn't think of another reason why he would be gaming all the time and I'm just like that's so obvious. How did I not think of that? So that's, that's my big Don't.
Beth McMullen:
You feel sometimes that you have to spend a certain amount of time with the character before you figure them out. I mean, my problem is that I struggle to understand the protagonist when I first start writing something, because it's like you meet somebody for the first time and you don't really know them. You have to go about the process of getting to know them in various ways and hanging out with them and doing stuff together and blah, blah, blah, and I feel sort of like that's the same thing with the character. You have to spend some time with them in whatever way possible, either writing chapters or thinking in your head or whatever it is and then you start to unravel what their motivation is for the things that they've done and what challenges they're facing. So I think it's good that you figured it out, rather than getting to the end and being like, nope, I still don't like this person, and now I don't have to make up excuses to you. Still I haven't been writing Right.
Beth McMullen:
Because when I say to Lisa, did you write today and don't you lie to me? And she goes completely silent. I know that she hasn't done anything. That's the tell, that's your tell, that's my tell the silence. When I can see you going, what am I going to say? You know, I'm such a slow writer, as I've talked about before, and I just it doesn't matter, like if I was slow before, I'm working backwards right now. I'm so slow Like I just I can't like even write a paragraph. I'm like I just wasn't into it, it was sad. I'm like I'm never getting another book deal. I might as well just, you know, get ahold of my agent and say find somebody else. You know, oh, my God, it's nothing like that. This is a good book, it's going to sell. It's fun, and now that you've figured out the motivation for the character to behave, to be behaving the way he is, all the better, right? Yeah, we need motivation, we do.
Beth McMullen:
Okay, talking speaking about motivation, dear listeners, we are right on the verge of beginning the platform building challenge that we talked about in I think it was episode 19. So if you have no idea what we're talking about, go back and listen to episode 19 for all the details, but a brief recap. So this is a challenge to you that lasts the month of June to help you build your author platform so that, when you're done, you have something solid, something that looks like something. Obviously, you don't need a platform, but they really can help you and this is an easy way to like get going on it. This is going to be a fun and collaborative activity, so you won't feel lonely. You won't feel like Lisa's lonely character gaming all the time, because you're going to have friends out there doing this with you. I'm doing it, lisa's doing it, the show is doing it, everybody's doing it.
Beth McMullen:
Can you talk a little bit about where everyone is going to be able to find the daily platform building tasks? Yes, so there's going to be a couple places that folks can go out there and just to kind of touch on it. We talked about it last time, but it'll be things like do you have a website? Like, if you don't, think, maybe take that you know portion of it and work on your website. Or, and then I'll have like whatever forms in social media you're on things to do, things to post, that will help you get some followers and build your community online. Get some followers and build your community online.
Beth McMullen:
And so there's going to be 31 different tasks to do throughout the month. But it's up to you to kind of pick and choose the ones that are going to work for you and what kind of lines up with what your goals are. And so we're working in association with the fabulous Bitsy Kemper. She has the platform challenge. It's a 31-day platform challenge that's already up on the website. So you can we'll be referring to that you can go check it out and see what kind of an overview she has the whole month listed as far as what you need to do and what you can plan ahead for. So that is a good starting point to check that out that every day we will be reminding you.
Beth McMullen:
This is what you're supposed to do today, and and our goal is to help everyone get some type of platform, and I know that not everyone wants to have like a million followers, but you do need something. Whether you're going to be self-published or traditionally published, people need to know where to find you. Yeah, that's really true, and just doing it tiny little bit by tiny little bit makes it way less stressful than thinking, oh, I have to build an entire platform, forget it, I'm not doing that, it's too much. So this is a way to chip away at, kind of the big idea of building a platform. So we are going to cover a lot of the social media feeds, so we will be on Twitter, facebook, instagram. I'm going to put it on threads because I'm over there too, so you'll see it no matter where you are, and we would love for people to jump on in and tell us what they're doing to fulfill the task on a daily basis.
Beth McMullen:
If you have something clever that you're doing that you think this is great. I think it could help people. Please be sharing that. It gets people inspired. This is also a really good way to find people to follow who are kind of in the same universe that you are. It's a great way to build up your followers and to find other people to follow. So, you know, social media.
Beth McMullen:
I think there are those days when I am so uninspired and don't feel like doing anything and I'll go onto social media and I followed enough people who are kind of doing the same thing I'm doing, and I'll inevitably find somebody who is saying something that kind of gets me going again. So it's good for it's good for that, and I just really like the idea that we're going to all do it together, because I'm very motivated by that. Well it is. It's like, you know, it's like community effort and we want everyone to use community effort and we want everyone to use. If you do something, use the hashtag wwwplatformchallenge to like this when you post, so that other people who are doing this and you can build that community too. You can search that hashtag, find out who else is doing it, follow them. Hopefully they'll follow you back, and so it's just another community building roadmap.
Beth McMullen:
And also there is that sense that you don't have to reinvent the wheel. People are really smart and they come up with smart things to do that you'll look at and say, oh yeah, I can totally do that. So then you don't have to come up with the idea, think it through totally do that. So then you don't have to come up with the idea, think it through, create it. You can just piggyback on somebody else's smarts and benefit from what they've done by doing it yourself. So you know less work.
Beth McMullen:
I think the idea is that all of these things are going to. Some of them are going to be a little bit more time intensive, maybe some are actually more long-term for you, depending on where you are in your platform, but some of them are going to be really easy. You can just knock it off in a little bit of time and then it's done. And you've. You've done that thing. You've taken one step forward.
Beth McMullen:
I am a huge proponent of the micro goals small, small steps, baby step toward what you want and you will get there. If you're looking at the huge picture of I don't have a platform will get there. If you're looking at the huge picture of I don't have a platform, I need a platform, you're just going to freak yourself out. We don't want to freak anybody out. So join us, it will be fun. It will be fun.
Beth McMullen:
So that launches June 1st, it is a 31 day platform building challenge. I do realize that June only has 30 days, but just think of that extra day as a bonus. So we're giving, we are overselling, we're giving you more than you've even asked for. Just you know, cause that's the kind of people we are and that's how we roll, so we do Okay. So we also have very exciting book release of Heart and Souls, lisa's middle grade novel, coming out soon. So I want her to tell you where she's going to be. So if you are at any of these places, you can connect.
Beth McMullen:
Today's episode is really about connecting, isn't it? You know, it's hard to believe that it's coming out in two months. And, yeah, I think the book world moves so slow and I think I signed the contract for this book like two and a half years ago I mean, it was, it was a long time ago and I remember when they gave me update I was just like oh my God, that's. You know, that's a long way away. Shocking reality for people who are not in the publishing universe to realize that literal years go by in between signing your book contract and seeing your book on the shelf. I'm working with somebody doing the practicums for my book coaching certification and I had to explain that very thing. This is a long, slow, somewhat arduous process and if you expect to be sell the book and two weeks later it's in all the bookstores, then you're living in a fantasy world. Every time I see a movie where they're they have such absurd things like I'm going to go meet with my publisher and then my book is out in like a second. It's like no, it is a very, very slow moving world and it is funny to think that it was that has been so long and it was a very long process. But now you're here, you're like staring down, I know, and so I'm super excited about that.
Beth McMullen:
So I do have my book launch party coming up at Ruby's and Folsom July 27th, with my dear friend Beth McMullen will be in conversation. We're going to be there together. I kind of want to record it and turn it into a podcast or live stream or something I think we're going to. I think my son's girlfriend is going to do it for us, so we'll get her to record it and maybe we'll put it up as an actual video. Yeah, it'll be fun, so that people can see what we look like and then they'll be like wow, you guys really are wrinkly, holy cow.
Beth McMullen:
And can I just say as a side note, the other day when I saw you in person, I was like I'm going to get Botox on my forehead because I've got this horrible like I've got frowny lines in between my eyebrows and you are such a buzzkill. You're like, oh so when you get poison shot into your forehead, I'm like, well, now I'm not doing it. Side note, listeners, there are no frowny lines on her face Again. She's living in that publishing fantasy world. It's so funny. I'm like, when you put it that way, I'm certainly not doing it. No, I think what I told you was make sure you go to somebody reputable, because there's bad Botox going around and people are ending up in the hospital. I'm not doing like back alley Botox for you. Okay, bernie decided against it. Like right, when you said that, I was like that really doesn't sound that good. I can live with my wrinkles. You've already done your parade. That wasn't good. Now you know what you snapped me back into. You know common sense, yes, so, anyway, so, and I was going to do that, because I'm like I'm going to ALA and nobody needs to see my brownie lines and do you have your ALA schedules? It's so funny.
Beth McMullen:
So I fly in on my actual birthday, which is June 28th, so I fly in San Diego on my birthday, so I will be in San Diego looking for somebody to hang with. Ok, people, this is where you have to step up. If anybody's at ALA on June 28th, please find Lisa and wish her a happy birthday. I'm not going to be there, so I'm going to have to just text her, and that's not as fun. I'm wandering around by myself and so you know what. I have some friends down there, so hopefully I can like hook up with them. My good friend, tara is down there.
Beth McMullen:
So, but on Saturday and Sunday I'm doing two signings, one on Saturday, one on Sunday and then I'm also doing a panel discussion. So and it should be a really fun discussion it's not so spooky middle grade novels. So I will be there with a few other authors talking about that subject. That's awesome. So, people, if you're going to be at ALA, it sounds like it's going to be super fun. There are a lot of cool people that are going to be there, lisa included. So please find her and go to her event and buy the book and I'll be in there geeking out.
Beth McMullen:
You know how I am around other authors, so I'll be like, ooh, you know, running around talking to everyone, they're going to be escorting you to the door. They'll be like too much fanning, you're too much fan girl. Well, I just got an email from them saying you need to get on and do something. You're a speaker or whatever and I was like, oh my God, I'm legit. So I went on and it's basically they ask you to sign a waiver saying that you're not going to do like, you're going to behave appropriately. It seems easy enough. So I'm like, yes, I promise to be a good girl. So, appropriately, it seems easy enough. So I'm like, yes, I promise to be a good girl. So that's happening.
Beth McMullen:
And then I got the Kirkus review. Everybody worries about Kirkus reviews, myself included. I've seen some really snarky reviews. They like really dish it up, and so they were really kind to me for all the Oxley. And so I've just kind of been bracing myself for heart and souls and I just got it last week and I'm pleased to say it was a good review and it is live right now. So if you want to see my review, go to kirkus and check on heart and souls and you can see what they had to say about it, which makes me very happy. I can can breathe again, you can exhale. Yeah, it's very nerve wracking. It's really nerve wracking. It's really nerve wracking and it's utterly beyond your control. Right, you've done everything you can do and then it's up to them and honestly, sometimes you feel like, okay, this person's just having a bad day or didn't have their coffee or whatever.
Beth McMullen:
So my middle grade novels and I wrote seven of them. They were all really well reviewed by Kirkus. They were digging me in that space. And then I went and I looked at my very first adult novel and it was like a fine review, but it wasn't great. And then I couldn't remember if I had ever looked at it. I don't remember looking at it. I probably didn't even know it was a thing. Right, it was my first book. I had no idea about anything and I was kind of patting myself on the back for being so clueless. Because who wants to have that moment where you're like, wow, they didn't love it, I love it. Why didn't they love it? You know what, when you're starting in publishing, there's so many things that you are clueless about. And I look back on that and think I'm so grateful for that ignorance because I don't know, knowing everything, I know now how I would have been like yeah, I'm doing this because it's.
Beth McMullen:
There's many times where my husband, where I'm sitting there crying over something or I'm losing my mind, and he's like why do you do this? It doesn't seem like you're having a good time and publishing is hard. I can't, there's no time. That's another why we were talking about the importance of why earlier. That's a big one. Why are you doing this? What's your motivation?
Beth McMullen:
I'm sure he's looking at me like I literally one time, when I was going through the Ollie Oxley book deal phase and that one was about six months and I wasn't agented, I was like managing it myself and I was so stressed out I lost hair over it and I remember just sitting down on the kitchen floor and just crying. And I remember just sitting down on the kitchen floor and just crying and I was at home alone and all of a sudden my husband walked in and he's like oh, my God. And he's like what's going on? Are you OK? Are you bleeding? What's happening?
Beth McMullen:
It's just like so hard and I'm a very emotional person. As you know, you've had to deal with me the last six months, not just last six months. Last six months has been a little hard and poor bath has had to live through my torment. But now you're. Now you're in the now you're in the homestretch where you get to have fun and enjoy the fruits of your labor. So funny Cause I remember like at one time I was losing my mind about something.
Beth McMullen:
You were like you're an emotional teenager right now and I'm like you know what I am. That's me there to belittle your feelings whenever you want me to. You totally nailed it. I was just like I was. My emotions are out of control and I think it's just like when you're putting yourself out there and you want, you know you expect some consideration in return. It's just like when you're putting yourself out there and you want, you know you expect some consideration in return. It's high risk. Writing is high risk, is emotional. It's like walking the high wire for your emotions because you're putting them all on the page and then people say stuff like, eh, don't care, not very good, that's yeah, big stuff, big stuff.
Beth McMullen:
We were happy about the Kirkus review. That was good, that's good stuff. So we were happy about the Kirkus review. That was good. That was a great way to launch into your summer of book selling. So, speaking about summer, summer slumps, blah, blah, blah.
Beth McMullen:
We are going to be running a couple of encore editions of past episodes in June, twice, because we are on the road. I'm on the road, lisa's on the road. There's too much going on. We're just not able to get a guest in and do justice to them with this tight schedule. So look for those. We're going to pick two good ones that are worth hearing again.
Beth McMullen:
And don't forget to get ready for the challenge. That's going to be really fun. So I want you all to do it. Ah, and don't forget to tag, to hashtag and tag us and do all that kind of stuff so that we can give you kudos and support you and celebrate you. Hashtag, www platform challenge and we will have it on all of our feeds. So all you have to do is go find us if you forget what. It is, all right. So that's it for our sort of odds and ends episode today. So, listeners, please remember to visit our lovely website, writerswithwrinklesnet. We have lots of stuff there. There's a blog you can subscribe, you can follow, you can recommend. Next week will be the first of our Encore episodes, so tune in for that and until then, happy reading, writing and listening. Bye Lisa, bye guys.
