Why I Didn’t Pay for My Most Important Lesson in College

Did you learn a lot when you were in college? I know I did. But the most important lesson I learned when I was in college wasn’t during a classroom experience. It didn’t happen while I was doing research in the library. It wasn’t even a boozy revelation during a game of beer pong. It was a far more basic moment than any of those.

I was crossing a street with two blind curves. Most of the drivers were my age, which meant they weren’t really thinking about pedestrian safety. I don’t remember exactly why I felt I needed to cross at that spot, but I’m sure it wasn’t necessary. So, I looked both ways, hoped I wasn’t doing something stupid, and ran.

Obviously, I lived to write about it. Nothing happened. Well, nothing bad happened. But at that moment, I realized that I was the only person holding myself back from accomplishing the things I wanted to accomplish.

I might have remembered something and needed to change direction. I might have seen a pretty girl who I briefly chatted with and privately mused about what might have been if I’d ever asked her out. It’s all fuzzy now. What mattered is that, at that very moment, I realized what the biggest obstacle to my success in life was: me.

That was the lesson: I’m the one getting in my way.

Speaking as a middle-aged guy with young children, I know now that the lesson I learned is not the one I’d get today if I were standing at that same spot. Today, I’d encourage my daughter to find a safer spot.

But playing it safe can be an obstacle too.

I still strive to overcome myself. Sometimes I succeed, like when I decided to create Elephant’s Bookshelf Press. I was already deep into the process of creating Spring Fevers, the first anthology from EBP. I had created the Elephant’s Bookshelf blog years before ever thinking about creating a publishing company. From there, it was an easy step to naming Elephant’s Bookshelf Press. Soon after, I was applying for an LLC. It seemed like a no-brainer.

But there are still lots of moments where I discover the speed bumps that my intellect constructs, and I suspect the same is true for you. How do you overcome your fears and your own nay-saying? Are you filled with self-doubt? Most writers I know still would admit to harboring that bugaboo.

Here’s what works for me:

Read and write voraciously. I’m lucky to work as a journalist, so I’m paid to read and write every day. But I also read as much as I can. And as widely as I can. This helps me to:

Think elastically. A creative mind is one that can stretch an old idea into something new or connect seemingly disparate concepts into something that feels altogether different. It may be the most important element of:

Innovation. Take what has worked in the past and break it down into its vital elephants… er, elements. Can any of those pieces be upgraded? If so, what happens?

Ask questions. Do you know how your favorite author got started? …

“Write” every day: Though I physically write at least five or six days a week, I keep a loose definition of writing here. To me, writing includes imagining. Many of my best ideas come when I’m not able to jot them down or expand on them. I often come up with ideas while watching my daughters in their swimming lessons. Perhaps I should, but I don’t take notebooks with me to the pool. But I love musing on where some characters or settings might go, even if it’s just 15-20 minutes to mentally play that day. Write every day and you’ll see your writing flourish.

Plan and schedule. I used to write on the fly and see where a story took me. I read an article by an author who broke down her routine on her blog and later built a book on how she turned her writing routine into a 10,000 word a day habit. The key was starting with a light outline of what she wanted to accomplish that day. It helped her organize her thoughts and focus her mind. I’ve tried to apply that not only to my personal writing but also the day of writing and editing in my day job. In many ways, I still write by my pants, but I know when I’m going to write now and have goals for words or tasks. Which leads to the next item …

Create – and stick to – deadlines: I apply deadlines to all goals: daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, quarterly goals, and annual goals. When I know I have a busy Saturday ahead with family stuff, I usually list all the things I need to accomplish and scratch them off when they’re done. Sometimes I even write down things I’ve already done before starting the list – run 3 miles, feed the cats – to mess with my own mind and convince myself I’m getting things done. Sometimes it also helps my wife know where I am and what I’m hoping to do; she’s been known to add to the list, too.

Establish some sort of accountability system. This is the tough one for me. The truth is, keeping accountable is very difficult for a lot of writers. It’s too easy to say, “Oh, I just don’t feel it today. I’ll write twice as long tomorrow.” Or to be distracted by any of the myriad legitimate interruptions that occur from day to day. Sick kid? Sick parent? Got to take the car to the shop? Any of these things can ruin a day or drag on to several. Having a good friend or a touchy acquaintance whose job is to harass you when you’re trying to blow off your writing time is a good idea in theory, but I’ve learned that it doesn’t work every time.

Reward yourself for your accomplishments. In contrast to the accountability issue, this can be too easy sometimes. It’s important to recognize your accomplishments, but celebrate worthy goals and with supportive techniques. You obviously don’t want to say, “if I finish 100 words today, I’ll celebrate by not writing at all tomorrow.” It’s not only too few words and likely to have accomplished little, but you’d be taking a step back by not writing the next day. But if your goal was 50,000 words for a month and you reached your goal, take your significant other out to dinner, or for some ice cream, or something else pleasant and festive. You deserve it.

Of course, you may have different issues that get in your way of your writing. I can only imagine. But maybe you have found ways to overcome them too. I’d love to hear from you. Please share!

Lost Wings Is Live!

We are so proud to announce the release of Lost Wings, the first urban fantasy novel from Elephant's Bookshelf Press. I know it seems everything I've posted this year has been about Lost Wings (that may even be the case; I haven't checked), but the book has brought about a real shift in my thinking, especially with regard to promotion. It's really a significant book for EBP.

Over the past several months, I've listened to dozens of videos and read at least a dozen books and blog posts about the various nuances of book promotion, but the way I see it is: If you don't have a great book to promote, no one will care.

In my opinion, Lost Wings fits that description. But the opinion of readers is what's going to determine whether it does well in the marketplace.

I'd love to hear what you guys think.

You can order a copy on Amazon, available as an ebook and in paperback. If you post a review on Amazon by October 1, I'll have the author send you a signed copy of the paperback! Just send me an email with the link to your review and your mailing address, and we'll take care of the rest -- even if you hated the book. (Of course, why would anyone who hated the book want a signed copy?)

An interview with "Don M. Vail"

With just a week to go until the launch of Lost Wings by Don M. Vail, I wanted to share the first-ever interview with this mysterious debut author.

Enjoy!

And there's still time if you want to get an advance PDF version of Lost Wings. Send me an email at matt@elephantsbookshelfpress.com and I'll send it to you. And if you post a review to Amazon (doesn't matter whether you liked the book or not, we're just looking for honest reviews) by October 1, we'll send you a signed copy of the paperback!

I set out to interview Don M. Vail, the author of the next book from Elephant’s Bookshelf Press. It’s a very different novel for EBP, which to date has published novels written for young adult and middle grade audiences, though many of the stories in EBP’s anthologies are written with adult protagonists and with adult audiences in mind. 

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Tenderloin. Don came with his alter ego, Robert K. Lewis, author of the Mark Mallen crime fiction trilogy: Untold Damage, Critical Damage, and Damage. Of course, Don is the pseudonym of Robert, and he explains the genesis of not only the pen name but also the story behind Lost Wings, Don’s “debut” novel.

Elephant’s Bookshelf: What inspired the character of Richard Eastman and this story?

Don M. Vail/Robert K. Lewis: Well, it’s really about redemption. With me, it’s always about redemption. With the Damage Series, the protagonist, Mark Mallen, is on a road to redemption. He had a life that he lost. A home, a wife, and a child. All that Mallen wants to do is make it right, win back what he’s lost. That’s of course what redemption is all about for me: an attempt to make things right, to atone for past sins. This sense of redemption is what fuels Richard Eastman. He finds his chance in helping this wingless angel named Avesta. And given who Richard is, I feel sorry for anyone who wants to stop him.

When did you complete your initial draft of Lost Wings?

Jesus, I think it was about twelve years ago. Lost Wings was the third book I’d written, and it’s been said that it takes two or three books before you really get a handle on the form. From the beginning, Lost Wings felt like my first “real” book. So, yeah, I think about 2005 is accurate regarding the time I finished the first draft.

Why did it take so long?

(Laughs) Well, because nobody wanted to run with it. Like I said, Lost Wings was the first book that really felt like “a book.” I queried every agent out there, and also any publishers that dealt with Urban Fantasy, Sci Fi, or even Horror. I got close, but no cigars. So, after getting nowhere, I put it away in my desk drawer and went on to the next project, the one that would eventually get me published, Untold Damage. However, over all those long years since its inception, I would take Lost Wings out of the drawer and rewrite it again. Like so many other authors, I had “that” book; the one a writer just can’t let go of and always keeps around in the hope that at some point in time, it would see the light of day. For me, Lost Wings was that book.

What was it about the story that kept coming back to you?

(Pauses) I believe that every person has a small kernel of hero inside them, and that this kernel is just waiting to come out, given the circumstances. In Lost Wings, Richard is not a hero in the classical sense, like the paladin figure of Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings. He’s, in my opinion, closer to Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone where the hero is the reluctant hero, called by the “horn of fate.” Maybe in a more modern, non-sword iteration, Richard Eastman is more akin to John McClane from the movie Die Hard. I love a story about a person that crawls from the wreckage and keeps on moving forward. That’s Richard Eastman in a nutshell. You can’t stop him. Yes, he’s a derelict war vet. Yes, he’s drowning in his own pain, and also the pain of the Tenderloin. But even then, when that horn sounds, he stands up and starts down that road of redemption. I love pain-filled heroes, but then again… I guess all heroes are filled with pain.

Aside from your affinity for down-and-out characters living in San Francisco, there isn’t much that is similar to your crime novels. How is writing urban fantasy different from your other work and what do you see as similar?

The first thing that comes to mind is that when I’m writing crime fiction, there is an inherent reality in the world that I’m working with. It’s San Francisco. It’s the Tenderloin. Along with that reality comes a certain set of expectations. There are cars on the street, there are criminals that have to be arrested. There will be bullets and blood. However, I found writing urban fantasy to be incredibly freeing. I mean, sure, there is the Tenderloin, there is San Francisco, there are bullets and blood, but now I’m free to add a wingless angel, or Lucifer as a little girl who runs a pawnshop, or even a hero that both visually and metaphorically takes a trip through hell. In crime fiction there is no visual trip through hell, that trip only exists in a metaphorical sense. Again, it was incredibly freeing to write urban fantasy, especially after growing up on Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melnibone series, and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels. However, at its core, the similarity lies with the fact that both Richard Eastman and my detective Mark Mallen walk the same hero’s road, and that they both possess a moral compass that is always kept, well… pointing north.

Where did you come up with the back story of Don M. Vail?

All three Mark Mallen novels are dedicated to my best friend, life partner, and spouse, Dawn M. Vail. This time, since I took a pen name, I thought I should shake it up, and so Don M. Vail was born. She’s had to put up with so much in regard to me being a writer, and since I can’t afford to give her combat pay, I felt that this was the best homage I could come up with under the circumstances.

The book noticeably has “Book One” on the cover. What can we expect of Richard and Avesta in book two?

(Pauses) How can I say anything without giving away too much? All I can say is that the seed that is planted in book one will come home to roost in book two, x 2.