Growing A Thicker Skin with Ryan Graudin

It’s time for a new interview series… like NOW. No really, actually it’s called NOW (Newly Omniscient Authors). This blog has been publishing since 2011, and some of the earlier posts feel too hopeful… er, dated. To honor the relaunch of the site, I thought I’d invite some of my past guests to read and ruminate on their answers to questions from oh-so-long-ago to see what’s changed between then and now.

Today’s guest is Ryan Graudin, who debuted in 2013 with All That Glows. She famously did not have a smartphone in 2011 when she got notification that she was going to be a published author… and so had to borrow someone else’s to check her email.

Has how you think (and talk) about writing and publishing changed, further into your career?

Early on, I placed a lot of emotional energy on little things. Marketing swag. Cover changes. A one star Goodreads review. Especially during my debut year, there was this attitude of “make-it-or-break-it” that haunted my brain space. As the years—and the books—have gone by, I’ve realized that even things that feel huge, such as a rejected manuscript or an Amazon snafu on release day, are simply a part of the game. They say if you’re in publishing long enough, everything will happen to you. And for some reason, 8 years feels oh-so-long in this industry! The highs are high and the lows are low and it all evens out in the end. I hope to keep writing and publishing, so for my own sanity, I try to keep this perspective.

Let’s about the balance between the creative versus the business side of the industry. Do you think of yourself as an artiste or are you analyzing every aspect of your story for marketability? Has that changed from your early perspective?

Both? I’m certainly aware of what readers seem to gravitate toward in my catalogue, and it’s a good thing to keep in mind going forward. I recently had 200+ pages of a fantasy novel that I was working on, and when I went back and read it, it was good, but I knew it wasn’t the kind of story that readers would obsess over, so I decided to strip it back down to the roots and rework it. I’m still reworking, and let me tell you—I LOVE IT. It’s still art, but I think it’s super marketable art, which is the best kind.

The bloom is off the rose… what’s faded for you, this far out from debut?

The joy of that very first acquisition is something that’s so hard to recapture. Now, new contracts feel more like relief (I get to keep my job, hooray!) instead of the giddy high that comes with first finding out you’ll be published.

Likewise, is there anything you’ve grown to love (or at least accept) that you never thought you would? 

I’m less impacted by negative reviews. Notice I didn’t say NOT, but my skin has definitely gotten thicker with each book. Back when I was first starting out, certain one stars would make me physically ill. I’m better about protecting my mental space and understanding that no one book is universally loved. 

I’ve also found that I’m pretty good at public speaking, which I hadn’t had too much of an opportunity to implement before going on tour and doing school visits!

And lastly, what did getting published mean for you and how was it changed (or not changed!) your life? 

Getting published was a dream come true, and whenever I find myself frustrated with set backs or industry quirks, I remind myself that this is still the dream and my stories are important. Meeting readers, visiting schools, talking to producers, doing book events in different countries… There are so many doors publishing has opened for me, and I hope to keep going through new ones in the years to come.

(Also, I have a smartphone now. I don’t have to use my friend’s to check emails like I did eight years ago! Lol.) 

Wednesday WOLF - Ketchup

I've got a collection of random information in my brain that makes me an awesome Trivial Pursuit partner, but is completely useless when it comes to real world application. Like say, job applications. I thought I'd share some of this random crap with you in the form of another acronym-ific series. I give you - Word Origins from Left Field - that's right, the WOLF Er... ignore the fact that the "from" doesn't fit.

It’s summer! Time to barbecue, grill out, leave the corn on the cob and put the ketchup on, well… everything. Ketchup actually began it’s life in China, and was a mix of pickled fish and spices known as kê-chiap. British explorers eventually crossed paths with it, and thought it was pretty awesome.

But ketchup as we know it - tomato based - didn’t become a thing until the 19th century, possibly because people used to believe tomatoes were poisonous. This is possibly because the latin name - Lycopersicon esculentum - literally translates as wolfpeach, and that particular word origin may have its roots in the fact that 3rd century physician Galen used something similar to to poison wolves.

Are tomatoes poisonous to dogs? Technically a good question. The tomato plant comes from the same family as nightshade, which you totally don’t want to eat (or your dog). Also, don’t eat your dog. But actually, if your dog picks up the rest of your burger when you drop it on the lawn because you had too many beers at the barbecue, don’t worry about it. The actual danger would be in the green leaves and stems, which produce an alkaloid compound called solanine, which can be dangerous.

In the end, ketchup is no longer made of fish bits, and also isn’t poisonous. Eat it and be merry.

Balancing Promotion & Creativity with Rory Power

Welcome to the SNOB (Second Novel Ominipresent Blues). Whether you’re under contract or trying to snag another deal, you’re a professional now, with the pressures of a published novelist compounded with the still-present nagging self-doubt of the noobie.

Today’s guest is Rory Power, who grew up in New England, where she lives and works as a crime fiction editor and story consultant for TV adaptation. She received a Masters in Prose Fiction from the University of East Anglia, and thinks fondly of her time there, partially because she learned a lot but mostly because there were a ton of bunnies on campus. Her debut, Wilder Girls, released this week!

Is it hard to leave behind the first novel and focus on the second?

I’ve actually found it to be something of a relief! By this point I’ve read my debut, Wilder Girls, so many times, and it’s refreshing to be diving into something new, where I can make as many mistakes as I like with the knowledge that I’ll fix them later. It is hard, though, to keep myself from comparing this new book to the first. I’ve found myself struggling with where to draw the line between keeping a consistent brand, so to speak, and covering too much of the same ground.

At what point do you start diverting your energies from promoting your debut and writing / polishing / editing your second?

I try to do these at the same time. They require very different parts of my brain, and for me particularly, it’s good to not let myself get too deeply entrenched in any one project. I can definitely go full tunnel vision if I allow myself to, so it’s nice to have two things to bounce back and forth between. The trick, I think, is making sure that you don’t let one distract too much from the other. I try to set aside some time at the beginning and end of every day to check in on social media, and keep the middle of the day for drafting, revision, and other work on my second book.

Your first book landed an agent and an editor, and hopefully some fans. Who are you writing the second one for? Them, or yourself?

The original kernel of the story is absolutely for me, but I find that some of the ways in which I’ve developed this second book have been more for the reader. Through editing my debut novel I learned that there are some things I don’t personally value all that highly in a story that in fact matter hugely to most readers. For instance, I don’t mind at all when books are ambiguous or not entirely clear, but especially in books with a mystery at the core, a lot of readers like solid answers. So while the original idea, or the question, so to speak, of this book is for me, the answers, and the clarity with which I express them, are for my readers.

Is there a new balance of time management to address once you’re a professional author?

Absolutely. There are so many things you don’t quite realize will fall onto your plate - emails, so many emails - when you’re starting out, and dealing with them can absolutely sap your creativity. But there are so many ways to make your schedule work for you, whether it’s reserving different days for different tasks or dividing up your time into blocks. I’ve found that changing my location around really helps. I try to draft in one spot and do other work in another, which helps me keep my focus.

What did you do differently the second time around, with the perspective of a published author?

I outlined in much more detail this time. With my debut, I had all the time in the world to rip it apart and put it back together. Nobody was waiting on it. But this second book is on a deadline, and I don’t have the time to make as many mistakes. By outlining, and re-outlining, and outlining again, I’ve cut down on the rounds of revision I’ll have to make later. Or at least, hopefully I have.