Heidi Heilig

Archives for March 2015

Does a Writer Have to Write Every Day?

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Short answer: No.

If you still have a few minutes, here’s the long answer.

There are a lot of quotes around saying that a writer must write every day. Michael Connelly: “Write every day, even if it’s just a paragraph.” Ray Bradbury: “You must write every single day of your life. . . ”  Robert McKee: “Write every day, line by line, page by page, hour by hour.” Articles purporting to be habits of highly successful writers usually include this bit of advice.

But it is WRONG.

NO. BAD PINTEREST.

Writers–like humans–come in all types.

There are writers who cannot survive without writing every day. They keep slips of paper in their pockets and pens in their hair and sometimes they wake in the night and write in their journal, which is on their nightstand, open to a fresh page.

There are writers who have been into photography recently but when go on a road trip with friends, they livetweet the experience and then Storify it on the spotty wifi at the last motel before home. Then after they unpack, they take up knitting.

There are writers who just recently heard the word “NaNoWriMo” and googled it and thought “Huh. Why not me?”

There are writers who have grueling work schedules and come home to families that need feeding and have no time to wash their hair, but while they’re standing over the stove making some delicious mac n’ cheese, a thought moves in and makes a home behind one ear and eventually starts to expand into all the rooms in the head. Then one day that writer gets fired and they spend their first week freaking out and the next week helping that idea move to paper.

There are writers who find it impossible to get out of bed on very dark days, much less drag themselves three feet to the computer, but on the good days, they write hilarious stories and make their readers laugh and laugh.

This is not an exhaustive list of writers. There is no one way to be a writer. And the ways a writer writes may change over time. Frankly, I think it’s a very privileged to say that a writer must write every day, because not every writer can. Of course a highly successful (i.e. HIGHLY PAID) writer is more likely to be able to write every day. But you don’t stop being a writer when you put down your pen.

So, no. Writers don’t have to write every day. Imaginations can be boundless, time is still limited. Writers write. . . eventually.

Interview at DiversifYA

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I’m honored to say I was interviewed over at DiversifYA. Check it out if you want to read about my crazy hapa self!

I highly recommend reading the interview archives. There are a whole bunch of diverse writers talking about their experiences, with bonus advice for authors who want to write diverse characters*.
*That’s all of us, right? RIGHT??

The “Ta-Da”–Timelines in Publishing

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I’m seeing lots of Twitter Chatter (Chitter? … Uh) about the Bologna Book Fair, and that’s how I know that my Book Deal is just about one year old!

“So why isn’t it out already?” says all my very well-intentioned family and those friends who are not aware of publishing timelines.
Why does your book still look like a stack of printer paper?
Is this some kind of marketing thing?
A year and a half ago, I, too, would have been asking this question. I had a very hazy idea of How Huge Word Docs Become Books. It seemed a bit like magic. “See here, in one hand, an agent, in the other, a publisher–I bring them together and ta da!”  A puff of smoke, and there you are in a ruffled party dress, sitting on a tall stack of your own books at the launch party in your favorite local indie. Right? 
Well. Ask any magician, they’ll tell you that “ta-da” covers the interesting and complicated part. 
Unfortunately, in publishing, unlike in magic tricks, the ta-da can take years. (Which is still faster than in musical theatre where the ta-da can take decades…but that’s another timeline!)
So far, my timeline looks like this:
  • Mid-November 2012: “What’s this thing everyone’s doing writing books or something?”
  • July 2013: “Finish” manuscript. 
  • August 2013: Finish Query Letter. (Thank you Query Shark!)
  • Fall 2013: Querying. I try to send out one letter a week, taking the time to make sure that I’ve got the submission correct–first five pages pasted into the email, or first ten in a pdf? Or no pages at all? I always feel like it shows respect to follow directions and I wasn’t in a rush.
  • December 2013: I speak to two agents and sign with Molly at The Bent Agency.
  • January and February 2014: I polish the manuscript with Molly–one of the reasons I felt like she was the best fit for me was that she had ideas to edit the MS and her comments were very astute.
  • March 2014: Molly takes the manuscript to Bologna. Editors are interested. There is a bit of upheaval at home; I have an out-of-town friend visiting in our tiny studio apartment, I’d just gotten out of the hospital for pre-term labor problems, and some of the editors are wondering if I have ideas for second (and possibly third) books in the series. I’m supposed to be on bedrest but my friend needs the couch, so I lay on pillows on the floor in the kitchen and put my computer on my lap and bang out some outlines for potential future works. 
  • April 2014: There was enough interest that Molly sent out auction rules. Then multi-book pre-empt offers come in with Greenwillow at HarperCollins and Hotkey in the UK, and we accept happily.
  • May 2014: I panic and start working on Book 2.
  • June 2014: I have a baby! The birth is very dramatic. Also, I get my edit letter. Good times! If you have never rewritten your debut novel with a sleeping newborn on your lap you are missing out. Does wonders to focus the mind. I get the work done two weeks before the deadline. (I just reread this: it sounds snarky but I am in complete earnest. I was high on hormones and adrenaline and it was marvelous.)
  • August 2014: The contract from Hot Key arrives. 
  • September 2014: I send back my edits, and the contract from Harper Collins arrives. (All this time, my tireless agent had been negotiating behind the scenes with the contract people at both Hot Key and HarperCollins; Molly is like a swan, poised and lovely but the feet are paddling like mad under there. Also, she’s can be dangerous; if you see her heading straight towards you, divest yourself of any buns and get out of there.)
  • October 2014: I get my 2nd round edit letter.
  • November 2014: I send back my 2nd round of edits. I am asked about my ideas for covers and I sort of shrug and flap my hands to try to indicate exactly how bad I am at visual and artistic design.
  • January 2015: I get a few more small notes and make the fixes. I realize that Book 2 is due in another few months and I start freaking out all over again.
  • February 2015: I get ONE more note, no biggie, just REWRITE THE FIRST PAGE which was more angst than every single other rewrite thus far. I use nearly the entire allotted time to work on it and get it in just a day before deadline.
  • March 2015: I get a couple more edits, I send them back the same day. BOOM. Done with line edits. Uh. . . except now we’re off to copy edits!
And that’s where we are now. Sometime soon, I’m aware that covers will be developed. Jackets and layout will be designed and copy written. Then ARCs will be printed, I think? People will read and possibly review them. “Marketing” will happen. (I think probably marketing is a magic trick of its own.) I will try to plan a launch party, complete with ruffled party dress. Other things too, I’m sure–I’ll keep you posted. But you can see that there’s a lot going on, and even just editing and contracts take a while to happen. 
Part of it is that the book is complicated–time travel is always particularly hard to edit. I also did so much research but I have a terrible memory so I have to keep checking notes–for example, I remember looking at reports from Honolulu in 1884 to figure out the phases of the moon (Full-moon parties were A Thing, before electricity was as widespread as it is today.) If we changed things by even a day, the phase of the moon might be off and that Just Won’t Do. (The copy editors might be happy knowing I already looked at that stuff? I hope so.)
The other thing is that we had a little more time built into the contract–a lot of other books that sold around the time mine did were slated to be published in Fall ’15, but Greenwillow’s fall list was already full by then.
But looking back at the past year, I’m quite happy with the process. After all, the “Ta Da” is where all the magic happens. And I need time to shop for that party dress. 

Four Letter Word, Rhymes with Duck

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Luck, of course! What did you think I meant?

Recently, a friend who’s just finished a manuscript wanted to talk about my path to publication. Her first question was an interesting one:

“How much of getting published is luck?” she asked.

My immediately answer was: LIKE ALMOST ALL.



I mean, on top of accident of birth to a privileged family which resulted in, among many things, excellent schooling and lots of disposable time to read and write, I had a story in me that managed to interest both The Greatest Agent In The World and The Best Editor On The Planet. And we all work really well together. Also, I live in an apartment where 3 gourmet donut shops have opened within walking distance in the past year. This is like primo luck and I did nothing to deserve it.

Because that’s what luck is, right? The stuff we can’t control.

So I thought about that and wondered, how useful is it to talk about luck, really? Maybe instead I should talk about the stuff I know I had a hand in. The stuff I can recommend doing. 

So what isn’t luck? What can you control?

The writing, of course. You start with a blank page–you control every word that goes on it. They’re your accomplishment–or your fault. So make them good. Reread them and make them better. Then go off for a bit and read other people’s words very critically, and then come back to your words and make them the best you possibly can.

What else though? Well, it gets a little tricky there. 



You can do a lot of research and query the right people for your project. You can try to pay attention to larger trends or manuscript wish lists so your work has a better chance of being au currant. You can be your best self and a good Literary Citizen so that when it comes time for you to work with agents and editors, you’ve practiced your social graces and can make good small talk. But all of these things take luck, and also sometimes they don’t matter. 

Personally, I didn’t know much about agents before I started querying, I didn’t know what a manuscript wish list was, and I am socially very ungraceful: like I said, I’ve been very very lucky. And the nature of luck is very unfair. 

But it can also be very freeing.

Because knowing the rest is ultimately out of your hands means you can focus on those beautiful words. And–at least for me–that’s always been what I cared about most.

So fill those pages. Tell your stories. Write. 

And I wish you the very best of luck!




Google Is. . . .

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Inspired by a cardiologist friend who was checking out what Google users think of doctors, I thought I’d procrastinate working on Book 2 by playing with my search engine (not a euphemism).

What does the world think of writers? I typed in “Writers are” and waited for the auto-complete.
Hm. While I’m know some writers are “crazy*” (*waves*), and I think probably some writers are. . . um. . .oh right, forgetful, I disagree with the third whole-heartedly. Ever seen a baby come into this world holding a pen? I hope not. I checked with my doctor friend just in case, and he agrees.
But these answers aren’t really the greatest. I’m hoping for something a little more . . . oh, how to put this. . . ego-boosting? So what about novelists? Okay, Google, do your thing:
Are novelists considered employed???? I told my doctor friend and he was like “Wow, put some ice on that BURN, this is my professional opinion btw.” Then I asked him if he was a novelist who was a doctor also; he asked me if I was crazy, and I was like “WHY DON’T YOU GOOGLE IT.”
I needed to feel better about myself so I went back to Google a third time, trying “authors.” This time I was vindicated! 

Rockstars??? Wow, AWESOME. But. . . then. . .  I wondered. . . .
Ugly? NOT COOL??? 
So about this time I decided to stop procrastinating and find something more productive i.e. flattering to me personally. But wasn’t there anything Google and I could agree on? As it turns out, yes there was.

Alright, Google. As long as you’re good to readers, I can forgive.
*”Crazy” is NOT always the preferred nomenclature here, just a tip, but this will have to be another blog post for another time.