Fear of Genre Hopping - Fairy Tales and Zombies?

You may or may not have noticed the updated 'Sample Chapters' page. I've included a link to Cinderella and Zombies, which is due to come out later this spring. This book is WAY outside my comfort zone. I didn't even think I liked zombies a year ago.

There's a scared little voice in the back of my head that keeps telling me that people aren't going to like Fairy Tales + Zombies. Or that the people who loved The Fairy Tale Trap are going to hate my zombie fairy tales and never read my work again. (Have no fear. I'm still working on The Fairy Tale Twist. I promise.)

But should I really let those concerns keep me from writing something new?

I hope to be the kind of author that readers want to be curious about. What will she come out with next? If my readers don't LOVE everything I write, that's okay

Maybe I'll write the time travel romance that keeps swimming around in my head. Maybe you'll hate it. If that's the case, I hope to have the kind of readers who will say, "She's better at fantasy. I'll stick with those."

I think I'll always keep coming back to YA fantasy. That's where my heart is. But I also want to branch out. I want to write stuff just for fun, because I hope other people will also think it's fun.

So. If you think there's a chance that you'll like Cinderella and Zombies, please read the sample chapters. If you like them, leave your email in the comments on the sample chapter page. When the book comes out, I'll email you a coupon for a discount on Cinderella. It's a thank you for trying something new.

Morning Pages: Results

Before I report on my Morning Pages, I want to let you all know that I plan to attend the Pennwriters Conference May 14-16. It looks like a great writer's conference that covers a wide range of genres (including Fantasy, YA, mystery, horror, sci-fi, thrillers, etc...) and it fits in with my schedule. (Or I'll make it fit!) Plus, some top agents will be there. It'd be great to see some of you there, if you can make it.

Now. The Morning Pages. Two weeks ago, I blogged about a technique that could cure writers block called Morning Pages. I tried it.

For 14 days, the very first thing I did when I woke up was write three pages of whatever popped into my head. I'll admit, some days were hard. If my little girl woke up early, I had to fight her while I wrote. But most days, I woke up (on my own!) early enough to get my pages done before anyone else woke up. (Let me tell you, for me, that's a miracle.)

The result: Wow.

Writing those pages relieved so much stress. Anything that was on my mind, all those little oh-no-I-have-to-do-this things floating around in my head suddenly seemed like nothing to worry about. I remembered to do them. And I didn't worry about them. So pluses for memory and stress reduction.

As for getting up early, I'm not sure how I did it. I think the memory pages must have helped. I'm wondering if maybe the morning pages helped me to wake up 15-30 minutes earlier than usual without an alarm. And I haven't been as tired during the day. There are a number of factors that could have helped with this, but it all began when I started morning pages, so I thought I'd mention it.

I got more creative work done. I was less stressed, less tired, and so I was more motivated to get work done. And the quality of work wasn't too bad, if I may say so. I wrote out some new scenes for my book (by hand) and I was impressed. Setting, character development, and voice improved without me giving much thought to it.

Cons?? 3 pages seemed to take a long time on some days. It never took more than 15 minutes, but sometimes if felt like a lot longer. And then the thing with my daughter. That was a little difficult. But it only happened twice. There was one day when I had to take care of her first and then write my pages, but I still got them done before 8am. Overall, not too bad.

I'll definitely keep this habit going. :)

Rachelle Gardner had a recent guest post on journaling and unlocking creative thinking.

Possible Cure for Writer's Block?

First off, a quick announcement! I've been writing a lot about Holly's How to Revise Your Novel class, but I know the price can be a deterrent. SO she's offering a 7-day Crash Revision course for $5!! The link is here, if you're interested.

Now. Down to business.
Julia Cameron, author of the bestseller, The Artist Way, has a tool for overcoming writer’s block that I'd like to try: Morning Pages. I heard about the method from Jennifer Blanchard. She explains the process in detail here, but I'll summarize:

Every morning when you wake up, before you do anything else, you write 3 pages. Hand-written, stream-of-consciousness... whatever is on your mind, write it out. Usually my mornings start off with "oh my goodness I have so much to do today, where do I start?". So I would write that down.

The beauty of this process is that you turn off your inner editor. This is stream-of-consciousness writing, so anything goes, it doesn't have to be "right" or "perfect" or even nice. You write whatever is on your brain. This process will tap into your Muse, giving it a chance to pour out creativity without having to battle the ever-editing left brain.

And apparently, all that stuff that you worry about, all those negative thoughts, will be voiced first thing in the morning, helping you to move past them and have a more productive, more positive day. (Who couldn't use that?)

Instructions:

• Place a notebook and pen/pencil by your bed.
• First thing when you wake up in the morning, grab your notebook and write 3 pages. Whatever comes to your mind.  
• Don’t do anything else until you write your pages. In fact, you might as well just sit in bed and write them.  
• Once you’ve finished three pages, close your notebook and get started with your day.

 Simple enough. I want to try it. 

Now, I'm not a morning person. Never have been. So giving up some of my precious sleep time will be difficult at first, but I'm sure it'll pay off. And it'll probably help me get onto a more consistent sleeping schedule, which I've been meaning to do for a while.

After two weeks, I'll report back and let you know how it's working. Now... where to find a blank notebook...