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Today J.R. Wagner, author of the newly released Exiled, joins us with a guest post on the emotional trails and traits of writers. I understand the self-doubt and worry J.R. mentions–I think many of us have been there. Welcome, JR!

By J. R. Wagner

A neurotic writer? Preposterous!

Please. I’ve been exposed to enough of ‘us’ to realize that I am far from the only writer who suffers from, as the dictionary so nicely puts it:

feelings of anxiety, obsessional thoughts, compulsive acts, and physical
complaints without objective evidence of disease, in various degrees and
patterns, dominate the personality

At the end I’d tack on ‘while writing’.

Think about it. Maybe it doesn’t happen during your first draft, maybe it does, but it happens. You start to second-guess yourself. Is this the right way to express what I’m trying to express? Am I really using the character’s true voice when I write this? Does this word even make sense? Does this sound too much like (insert a well-known book title here)? And so the questioning and self-doubt has begun (along with the anxiety).

Is this where it ends? Hell no. You’re just warming up.

You have a draft and you’re ready to share it with some close friends or peers. You think to yourself, (on more than one occasion) is this really worth sharing? Maybe I should do another round of edits before I show it to anyone. What if they think it’s terrible? Have I wasted my time writing this? Maybe I should change that scene in chapter twelve first. Did that dog really need to get hit by the car?

Eventually, most likely after another round of edits (or two or three or four), you ‘man up’ and share your work. You’ve been writing for a while so it isn’t as bad as the first time you shared your work with someone…is it? If you’ve published, there are expectations of higher quality. (Maybe you’d better run over it one more time.)

While they’re reading it, you have to fight the urge to check in and see how things are going. You may find yourself doing some unusual activity to keep your mind off of how far along your reader has gotten. You were really psyched about the first chapter and she blew through it without saying a word. Did she hate it? Why wouldn’t she say something –anything? You’ve put countless hours into this and she has the nerve to remain silent! Perhaps you should re-think your friendship. Maybe she won’t get a copy of your next project. Look at her…sitting there… reading …with that arrogant expression on her face. What does she know about writing anyway?

You get it back. Finally, someone else has read and commented on your work. Was it positive? Negative? Riddled with change suggestions? Maybe they didn’t say anything at all when they finished and you have to pry an opinion from them –what a nightmare that would be!

Somehow, you’ve been convinced that your work is good enough to publish. Time for another round of insecurity and doubt as the rejection letters start piling up –all based on your one page query. How do you base an opinion of someone’s work after reading just one page? You get single phrase replies like ‘Not for us�

I love books (reading them and writing them) and comics. And to find the two together is a delight. Check out these great comics–and if you know of any other comics about books, reading, or writing, let me know.

UnShelved, a comic strip about librarians.

InkyElbows (Debbie Ohi’s) Will Write For Chocolate
This is one of my favorite comic strips, and my top-favorite writing and book comic strip!

Will Write For Chocolate comic, written & illustrated by Debbie Ohi (illustrator of I’m Bored!)

The Writer At Work, a comic about the struggles and life of a writer.

Comic Critics, a webcomic about comic.

You can also find a selection of individual stand-alone comic strips about reading by Randy Glasbergen

Alex The Librarian on FaceBook….

And then there’s the funny Apostrophe Man comic by Judy Horacek. I wish it was more than a one-off!

I try not to get bugged when I see signs in the street that misuse punctuation…but it just grates on me. So I love this comic, Apostorphe Man. Check it out!

Do you like writing humor? I do. Check out the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks. You’ll find photos of many signs with quotation marks in places they really shouldn’t be. For instance, today’s photo of an actual sign says:

Please have “payment” ready at “window.”

So, er–the payment and the window aren’t real?

Enjoy!

Humor writing continues to be in great demand = as always, comic relief keeps the darkness at bay.

Writers with the gift or innate talent to write funny lines make it look easy. It's not. As with most aspects of writing, humor writing can be taught: timing, subject matter, and how to keep from crossing over to satire. With humor writing, the reader laughs along with the characters. Satire holds human folly and vice up to scorn, derision, or ridicule and causes the reader to laugh at the characters or at least at the characters' action.

Good humor writing can blur aspects of character development, dramatic action, and even thematic significance when going for a laugh. A character can even act "out of character," if doing so is funny and furthers the story.

In the end, however, humor writing like every other genre in that the story at its core is still about the protagonist's transformation. Humor writers, like all writers, benefit from plotting out in logical and meaningful character change step-by-step to the ultimate transformation that drives the Climax. The character who delivers the punch line at the end of the story behaves differently at the Climax than the character we're introduced to in the Beginning. At its deepest level, that change is what the story is about.

At the Climax, the protagonist faces her biggest fear, deadliest antagonists, most taxing test, deepest prejudice. This is the moment the entire story has been steadily marching toward.

After the Climax, the energy of the story immediately drops. In the Resolution, the character acts in her newly transformed way. This reinforces that her new skills are fully integrated in her new life. The character, now surrounded by allies, has nothing to fear. Here, at the end, she demonstrates her new behavior with ease and great humor.

Here’s a funny, enjoyable video about the way one writer imagined the publication process would go, from writing to getting an agent to getting a publisher–all a breeze, an easy dance. I do like the dancing. And the way the agent and editor tear through the pages is hilarious.

Thanks to Pub Rants for the link.

Like to doodle, or know someone who does? Designer Julia Mariscal has created a Writing Spoon–a spoon with a tip like a fountain pen–that you can dip into your coffee or soup or hot chocolate to doodle or make designs while you sup.

It looked like it would be a bit frustrating for me, but then I’ve never liked fountain pens. (I like pens that you don’t have to keep dipping into ink.) But I love the playful idea, and the pairing of a pen with food seems fun.

Watch the video to see what you think.

Thanks to Gizmodo for the link.

If you write, it’s really important to be part of an honest but respectful critique group, or to have a critique partner. Critiques can help you polish your writing in a way that you couldn’t without an honest and experienced audience.

Jackson Pearce illuminates this is a humorous way in this video–but don’t be fooled, there’s a lot of sound advice here.

I often find signs that are wrong–through use or typos–interesting (though sometimes annoying).
I think it has to do with my love of words and reading–and the importance of words for me. How about you? Do you find them interesting? If you do, you might like this site.

Clearly Closed is a site that features photos of businesses with “Open” signs, when the business is clearly closed–for the night or for good.

I only got through the first page, because, well, they’re all doing the same thing (unlike signs with various typos). But I think it’s still an interesting site to check out.

28 Days Later is a Brown Bookshelf Spotlight on Authors & Illustrators in celebration of Black History Month. Some of these authors and illustrators, you know. Some of them, you don’t. Among them are authors who have served as pioneers, blazing trails in their genre; two self-published who stood out in the very competitive market of independent authors; a National Book Award finalist, and Coretta Scott King honorees and award winners. All of them are playing an essential role in the field of children’s literature. Come find out more about these authors and illustrators and their work, their passion for children’s literature and what to expect from them in the future.

Sounds like a law firm, doesn’t it? I’m going to mention the Schneider Award for one reason and one reason only: The winner of the middle school category is Tracie Vaughn Zimmer for Reaching for Sun. The announcement of this book was heralded by some definite whoops in the audience. The Coretta Scott King author award goes to — no big surprise here — Elijah of Buxton, by Christopher Paul

So, I’m not going to the ALA Midwinter Conference after all. Not that I had said I was, but I had thought about it. As it turns out, Philadelphia is three hours away, not two; the focus seems to be on adult literature, not kids’; and I’m really burnt out, not just a little burnt out. If you’re going, make sure that you drop by the kidlit bloggers’ lunch on Saturday — info at Readers Carousel. I’