Here at Trashionista we love hearing about aspiring writers, and when we heard about Jenny Ryan and her fabulous blog, we simply had to feature her. Jenny is currently working on a novel, but there's a twist - rather than the traditional book, You Were Going to Be Fantastic is a blog-based, choose-your-own-adventure story in which readers can assist in deciding the fate of heroine Katie.
So this week Jenny will be joining us with Be Your Own Pimp - a feature about self-promotion. Read on for part one!
I'm a librarian. Unlike
many in my profession, I didn't become a librarian to fulfill a lifelong dream.
I became a librarian because I'd pretty much given up on my lifelong dream - to be a full-time writer.
Why give up the dream?
"It's unstable", I told myself. Other people told me this, too. They also said
things like, "What about a dental plan?" "The publishing industry is killer."
"You don't own a printer." The excuses were many, and they stacked up against
the only real reason I had for following the dream: because I wanted to.
When you're 28 and single
and living on a line of credit and you steal your Internet from the neighbours,
because I want to doesn't seem all that compelling a reason to pursue
something, especially when a good job that'll pay for dental care and
decent cable is waiting for you at the library.
So I took the secure salary
and for a while I did both; working full-time at the library and at night and
on weekends I wrote. I bought myself a printer. I sent off manuscripts.
I had some stories and poems published in small literary journals, and I
won some contests. I got some very nice rejection letters from publishers
and agents, who were kind and supportive, but they, like so many guys in my
past, refused to commit.
After two years of this I
gave up. "This is hard," I thought. "Besides, my printer broke." I stopped
writing. I threw myself into my "career" and I was happy for a while. But it
wasn't enough.
I knew I had write again.
I could not give up the dream entirely.
I decided, though, that I
would change my focus. I would stop writing for publication, for the book deal,
for the agent, for the film rights. I would write for myself, and for my
family, and for my friends. These were the people who loved my stories, the
readers who had never rejected me, kindly or otherwise.
I decided to write a novel
for them.
I started working on youweregoingtobefantastic.blogspot.com during a long prairie winter.
Using Blogger, I created a place where friends can read the current chapter,
and then vote on what they'd like to see happen in the next chapter. Each
chapter ends with two scenarios. ("Will Katie do A or B?") The next chapter
starts off with the suggestion that got the most votes.
I've discovered that this
is a great way to write a novel because it means that readers feel a sense of
ownership and dedication to the story -- they are, after all, helping me write
it. You can't spend too much time worrying over the plot or the ending, because
those elements are basically out of your hands. Also, writing and publishing a
novel online means you don't have to worry about having a printer.
So my small group of
readers and I were doing fine. But I wanted a new bunch of readers. And in
order to get them, I had to sell myself. I had to become my own pimp.
