Last week we covered why you need to write, even when you don’t want to. Today we’ll talk about how to bring this about. I’ve warned you already—there will almost never be a perfect, serendipitous confluence of all aspects of your life at which point writing with a clear head and humming mind is the only thing you can dream of doing. You will ALWAYS feel the tug of obligation—homework, children, housework, significant others, friends, your favorite sports team, taxes, dental appointments. Sometimes you will find yourself with some free time, and still not want to write, because another entertaining opportunity has arisen.

This is okay. This is normal. This is life.

But economists and scientists, studying the allegedly rational choices humans make, have shown time and again that procrastination is not only in our blood, it’s in our brains. For all our best intentions, A Serious Man languishes in our Instant Queue while we settle for Transformers 2. We bemoan our lack of time on Facebook, then waste two hours on Mafia Wars. We measure opportunity costs in the here and now.

What stops you from making the hard decision to write? If publication is something you truly, desperately want, there’s a good chance it’s fear—that you won’t write well enough, that your time will have been wasted flailing and putting nothing on the page except hard evidence of your own incompetency. It could be mental or physical exhaustion, and Writing means saying Important Things, and Important Things take Effort, and Effort is hard.

So make yourself (and me) a promise. One time this week, when you are tired and want nothing more than to flop down onto the couch and catch up on You’re Cut Off! On VH1 (no judgment here, I love rich girl catfights too), I want you to drag yourself to the keyboard instead. Open up a blank document. Say out loud: “I will write for sixty seconds, and I don’t care how terrible the words are, because as long as  I write something, then I will have something to edit.”

Butt in chair, hands on keyboard, go.

Getting started is often the biggest obstacle to overcoming that mental and physical exhaustion. We cannot even fathom changing our state from relaxation to effort. Like Newton tells us, a body on Tweetdeck tends to stay on Tweetdeck. But once you’ve taken that first step, I promise you can accomplish more than you would have otherwise.

And I bet when you look back up at the clock, way more than a minute will have passed.

This week, I’ll be blogging a series of articles called Wake Up and Write. My aim is to present unpublished authors with the realities of the writing life, not to discourage, but rather to arm them with the mindset and coping tools they’ll need to wake up and write.

There’s a certain kind of author who only has to write when all their chores of daily existence are settled, their mind is clear, their children and animals serene, their friends and lovers harmonious, their day planner empty, and their muse singing like it’s auditioning for the Met. They can only write when the mood strikes them, they say; they won’t put ballpoint to paper until they have just the perfect words.

They’re called unpublished.

Lest you think I’m being unnecessarily harsh—no, I’m not saying every unpublished (or yet-to-be-published) author is guilty of this behavior, or that there aren’t any such tortured artists who have found their way into publication. However, we’ve all fallen prey to the myth of Tomorrow I’ll Do Better, and there is a steely reality that anyone with serious designs on becoming published must face. After the champagne’s popped and your agent is pleased and your book is sold and your shiny new cover art posted for all to see—that isn’t the END of your journey. You’ve only just gotten started.

Once your novel sells, your agent will want to know what you’re working on next. Your publisher may have signed you to a multi-book deal, especially if you wrote the first book in a planned series. And you’re going to have deadlines: deadlines for revisions, deadlines for line edits, deadlines for Manuscript No. 2, deadlines for Proposal No. 3, and on it goes. Subscribe to a few of your favorite authors’ blogs. Cherie Priest is often writing three or four books ahead of her publishing schedule. Maggie Stiefvater is a few books into new projects, when the final book of her previous series isn’t even on shelves.

And unless you snag a six-figure advance or wind up with a “New York Times Bestseller” appellate, chances are great you’ll need to keep your day job. Yes, writer-frens, you’re going to have to meet all these deadlines while working twenty-five to sixty hours a week. And fulfilling your promoting and marketing obligations. And, please, remembering to feed your pets, plants, and child-like things.

But here’s a little secret: YOU CAN DO IT.

And the sooner you get into the habit of doing it, the easier it will become.

The truth is, literary agents aren’t just looking for someone with great writing, fun plots, and complex characters. They’re shopping for a business partner, as well. Someone who can make deadlines. Someone who can put up with criticism without falling to pieces. Someone who will work, even when the universe isn’t perfectly aligned for them to do so. If you’ve held your day job for more than a few weeks, you already know how to do this—work when you don’t want to, complete something even when it feels less than perfect.

So let’s do it, shall we?

Next time: Write Already.

I received the ARC of ONE HUNDRED CANDLES from the publisher via NetGalley, and purchased my own copy of PAST MIDNIGHT. Please read this for more on my reviewing policy.

Let me set the record straight. My name is Charlotte Silver and I’m not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV…no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show. And while I’m usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven’t gone unnoticed. Something happened on my parents’ research trip in Charleston—and now I’m being stalked by some truly frightening other beings. Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents’ creepy occupation a secret from my friends—and potential boyfriends—is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear. All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive…

If I have just one kryptonian weakness, it’s ghost hunting shows. From the serious and scientific (Ghost Hunters) to the obnoxious and sensationalist (Ghost Adventures)—I love ‘em all. Fortunately, Charlotte Silver’s parents are in the former camp, working hard to disprove every paranormal claim they encounter. Countering Agent Mulder’s motto, their slogan, painted on the side of their equipment van, is DOUBT.

As the younger and self-described plainer daughter of these famed ghost debunkers, Charlotte is used to lurking behind the scenes. She holds up boom mics while her glamorous older sister helps with investigations, and drifts from school to school like a spectre, unable to to leave her mark anywhere—quite unlike the residual energies her parents have devoted their life to studying.

It’s Charlotte’s pragmatism and straightforwardness that attracts us to her story, just as it draws in the ghosts of a broken family in PAST MIDNIGHT. She’s a modest heroine: she makes friends easily enough, but endures the same social missteps of any high schooler, sometimes asking questions that pry too much, or keeping the wrong secrets, or not knowing how to handle the emotional bullies. I love reading Charlotte’s stories because she stays real, no matter how creepy the ghosts, or how daunting the demons in ONE HUNDRED CANDLES.

Purnhagen’s writing style is sparse, though there are gems like this: “When I was thirteen, we lived in a house where you could hear violin music drifting up like smoke from an empty basement…” My favorite aspect of her writing is how well she weaves in foreshadowing. The hints and clues of what’s to come are vague enough to build up subtle tension, instead of broadcasting twists and turns ahead. As a storyteller, she makes us really believe in her characters’ motivations. Everyone’s personality is so clear that even when they do something surprising, it isn’t unbelievable.

ONE HUNDRED CANDLES builds off the storyline in PAST MIDNIGHT directly, and I wouldn’t recommend reading them out of order. The paranormal entities of ONE HUNDRED CANDLES are far creepier and threatening, but PAST MIDNIGHT’s secondary plot is stronger—Charlotte’s new friend, Avery, struggles with her boyfriend’s death, and tries to place blame on herself and others.

The Charlotte Silver series hunts for answers—normal and paranormal alike. If you’re a fan of believable YA paranormal, or have ever struggled to feel normal in an abnormal world, you and Charlotte will get along just fine. ONE HUNDRED CANDLES is on bookshelves tomorrow, February 22nd. And visit Mara Purnhagen’s official website!

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Win a copy of the first book in the Charlotte Silver series, PAST MIDNIGHT! Just post a comment on this review, telling me your favorite ghost story, book, TV show, or movie. Entries close Sunday, 6th March, at 11:59pm EST.

My best friend cringes anytime she hears the word “moist,” and she declared it the Grossest Word in the English Language. I sent J into a fit the other day by saying the word “vesper” over and over (we were talking about Bond Girl names). “Why would you do that?! That’s disgusting!”

The vulgarity of some words are obvious—most of them four-lettered—but we all have certain consonant clusters that tend to set us on edge, or syllables that get stuck in our craw. (Ew. I got chills writing “craw.” Maybe that’s my Ick Word.) I heard once that cuss words grew out of harsh consonant/vowel sounds, the sort of brutalist phonetics one would instinctively reach for in anger or pain. It would certainly explain why no one swears with the word “lull.” But maybe there are similar sound attributes that tweak our gag-reflex. (Ew. “Tweak.”) Or maybe it’s all in the word’s meaning.

I discovered my Most Hated Word while doing some shopping Georgetown, and I passed a high-end teen clothing boutique. The store’s sign announced that it was named “Cusp.” For reasons I cannot quantify, this GROSSED ME THE HELL OUT.

What icky, squicky words repulse you, beyond all logic? Do you find yourself irrationally discounting a writer who seems to favor them, or avoiding them in your own work even when they’re the appropriate word for the job? I recently read on a book forum where multiple readers were irked with China Mieville’s affinity for the word “puissant.” How about you?



I got two YA Highway Valentines for the price of one, and I couldn’t have picked any ladies cooler than these two. Pam and Marquita are cousins with a lot of similar passions—they both work in education, they both live in my sister state of Virginia, and they both can’t get enough of reading and writing. Not only do they blog together about their writing endeavors, they’ve even launched their own literary magazine, Black Fox Lit. How cool is that?

I won’t do them the disservice of cheering them on in verse, but let me share, in brief, why these awesome ladies are my Valentines:

Quita’s thesis for her MFA (isn’t that alone awe-inspiring?!) is about murderous main characters in literature, and how authors make them sympathetic in spite of our gut-instincts to the contrary. This concept is near and dear to my heart—not only do I love villainous “heroes” like Dexter and Dr. Horrible, but my own WiP stars the gal who, in any other fantasy story, would be the evil sorceress the so-called heroes would have to defeat. Best of luck with the thesis—and can I get first dibs on a read-through?

Pam shares the pitches for her YA manuscripts, and reader-frens, they are killer. Not only is she tackling LGBT issues seriously, instead of the Hallmark card pastiche we usually see amongst the secondary characters of YA novels, it is juicy. In WANTS, Two girls from different social circles find out their boyfriends are secret lovers. Tell me that doesn’t sock you in the sternum! I can’t wait to read that!

And—perhaps most importantly—Pam and Marquita strike the perfect balance in their friendship and co-blogging experience. They disagree, but they reconcile it, and do a great job taking turns and showcasing/respecting one another’s viewpoint. Any working relationship should be so lucky.

Check them out at Y(A)? Coz We Write!, and browse their amazing lit mag at Black Fox Literary Magazine.

You know that cheesy “trust fall” exercise they make you do at daycamp and corporate retreats? (Is that even still a thing?) Well, I’ve just reached the trust fall portion of UNDER A DEAD MOON. Acts I and II are finished, and now I have to tumble off that cliff of Act III, hoping that the net I built with the first two acts will hold when I reach the bottom.

Terrifying. But exhilarating.

I’m really bad at finishing projects—as the half-sewn dresses, half-knitted scarves, and half-organized boxes in my junk closet will attest. I’ve reached “the end” before, but only on the adrenaline high of my first successful NaNoWriMo. Do I even know how to end a book? Can I even make this come together?

But as I’m falling, I keep finding these loose branches jutting out to slow the descent. That throwaway detail I wrote in Chapter 18 because I found it vaguely amusing at the time turns into the perfect means for the villains to unleash unholy terror. The characters I set up to have awesome roles and then subsequently forgot are making their awesome roles useful in spurring the main character to action.

I still can’t see the net at the bottom, but the closer I get, the surer I’ll be. Maybe, from a distance, it might even look like I planned it all along.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, for those of you buried under snow drifts this past week, but it ain’t January anymore. The new year is well and truly launched, and your resolutions are probably wavering, if not already collapsed under their own weight. But don’t fear. You don’t have to be perfect. Keep trying, and keep in mind the following:

Think about one year from now. Where do you want your writing to be by this time next year? I’d like to have at least one complete, polished, glossy novel on submissions, and at least two more in good shape. I’d like to have upheld my goal of a daily 500-word count average.

But don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get there. Remember: anything you do that brings you closer to your goal is better than doing nothing. Your words might be malodorous monstrosities. But at least you put pen to paper. At worst you’re learning what doesn’t work for you, and that will shape and improve your writing in the future. More likely, though, you’re getting down the bones. They may need reshaping, but trust me, that’s easier to do when they’re already there.

Don’t let the calendar defeat you. Work for your goals—work hard. As long as you keep at it, you’ll at least end up better off than you began.

How are you doing on your 2011 goals? Have you only just set them? Tell me all about it!