#LoveOzYA for authors: Your weakness makes you strong

*I wrote this piece recently for inclusion on the Wheeler Centre website, but we ended up turning it into a more general article to word up the general public on the #LoveOzYA movement.  So I've put this up here: an article on #LoveOzYA just for authors.  Thanks to Simmone Howell for proofing, and for reassuring me that it didn't sound too 'Voice of the People'.

The #LoveOzYA campaign has been a topic of conversation recently.  Much has been made, in the last few years, of the fact that Young Adult Lit is a growth area in the publishing market, and I suppose that may have lulled us into feeling as if we’re all doing okay.  But when the May 2015 Australian Library Information Association lists revealed that of the top ten most-borrowed YA titles in Australian libraries, only two titles were Australian-made, it was (as Emily Gale pointed out) a kick in the pants.  We realised that we needed to have a conversation about this.  That conversation flowered into a realisation that much work is yet to be done in the promotion of Australian YA stories for local teenage readers – and that the responsibility is on us to make it happen.

It’s not the situation that Australian YA books aren’t being read because they’re not good.  They are good – let me qualify that further and say, they’re excellent.  But other market issues are at work.  Blogger and emerging YA writer Danielle Binks has written articles in Kill Your Darlings and Kids Book Review that explain how local YA is ‘being underrated in its own market by global forces’, specifically how local voices in the market are often crowded out by the number of overseas buy-ins and blockbuster titles.  How Every Breath made it onto the ALIA list is still a mystery to me (not that I'm not happy!), but it's noteworthy that it was the only title without a movie tie-in or a big marketing budget.  Without that external big-budget push, more needs to happen to promote homegrown YA literature if we would like to see the industry continue to thrive, and our own work to be read and sold.  Not all that work can be done by already-stretched publishers, or literature organisations that have just been de-funded.  Clearly, we need to shoulder some of this responsibility ourselves.  That’s how the #LoveOzYA campaign came into being.

From an author’s standpoint, I guess I feel like we’re coming from a point of vulnerability.  We pour our hearts out into our work, in ways that leave us feeling shaky and exposed.  We’re often living ‘balancing-act’ lives, juggling day jobs, parenting, writing – and with that often comes financial instability, which can make us feel like we’re on a literal tightrope.  The recent disembowelling of the Australia Council has left us even more vulnerable.  We’re working without a safety net.

But in some ways, I suppose none of that is new.  Justine Larbalestier said it well: “Making a living as an artist of any kind is a long shot”.  But what can we do, as individuals, that can make a difference when we’re already strung so thin?  Well, we can sit back helplessly…or we can act.

The first thing we can do is be visible, and use that visibility talk about #LoveOzYA.  We’re in the middle of Book Week, the mad-busy time for writers all over.  It’s a great reminder of what we already know, as authors: that the time of writing and delivering a manuscript and then retiring quietly to our writing caves has long passed.  It’s necessary to come out into the light in person – to visit at schools and libraries, to attend festivals and speaking events, to communicate with a wider readership and support network online, and to engage with the larger community in general.  If we want to support an effort to promote and profile-raise for Aussie YA books, we need to continue to be visible, and to speak about #LoveOzYA when given the opportunity.

We can also get in touch with organisations.  We’re well-placed to contact organisations like the Australian Society of Authors, the Australasian Children’s Literature Association for Research, SCBWI and writer’s organisations in our own states, and let them know we’re on board with the campaign – and encourage them to get involved.  Other organisations who work in schools to promote Aussie literature, including the Centre for Youth Literature, IBBY, YABBA, the Australian Children’s Laureate Alliance, the CBCA and The Stella Prize, might also like to know we’re pitching in.

As authors, we also have support networks of other kinds – the large community of teachers, librarians and booksellers, who are always keen to be supportive, and the growing community of reviewers, book bloggers and book tubers out there who are actively seeking books to love and promote.  Heck, our publishers might like to know we’re supporting the campaign (which they will surely appreciate).  We also have our networks at home – local bookstores, local and high school libraries.  We can let them know we’re supporting the campaign, and suggest that they come aboard.

The best way to communicate the message is by being positive.  It can be dispiriting when we go into our local library or bookstore and see that they aren’t stocking our titles – or the titles of other Aussie authors.  But librarians, teachers and booksellers really want to help: having a healthy local publishing industry benefits them, too.  We’re all professionals, and our relationships are based on respect and friendship…and we all love books.  In our exchanges with people who work in the wider networks of reading and literature, it’s important to give positive encouragement.

Ultimately, this is an industry based on mutual support.  None of us would make it without a helping hand – we encourage each other, give suggestions and advice, share information, and help spread the buzz about new work at release time.  So the #LoveOzYA campaign is about more than just profile-raising for the industry: it’s about creating a close-knit community.  As individuals, we can do our bit, but united, we’re more than the sum of our parts.

And that’s another key thing we can do: support other authors and create community.  We all read widely in the category to stay up-to-date with what’s happening, and we’ve all read awesome books by other Aussie authors, books we would happily press into someone else’s hand.  Applaud and encourage each other, and talk about other Aussie YA authors when you have the chance – they will undoubtedly love you for it, and return the favour.  You will never hurt your own career by supporting other writers.  Giving other authors a leg-up is really a form of self-help.

But probably the most important thing we should be doing is: our job.  We need to keep writing.  Without the books, there’s nothing to promote – and nothing to nurture the steadily growing interest of readers.  We can find support, where and when we need it: from family, friends, writers’ networks and organisations, and the wider community of OzYA authors.  We can reach out for advice and information, and remember that we’re not struggling alone.

Please keep writing!  We need Australian stories, told in Australian voices, in which Australian kids can see themselves reflected.  We are the people who write those stories.  Keep writing, #LoveOzYA, and don’t lose heart.

xxEllie

Can you feel the #LoveOzYA tonight?

Something exciting happened.

Every Breath was listed as one of Australia’s most-borrowed YA library books.  YAY!  I’m incredibly honoured to be included on the ALIA list – thank you to everyone who borrowed Every Breath, you’re all awesome!

One thing that stood out, though, was that Every Breath and The Book Thief (by Markus Zusak) were the only two YA titles in the Top Ten list.  The other eight spots were taken by blockbuster American titles, almost all of them with movie tie-ins.

My first question is: wow, what made my book so attractive to readers, and how can I duplicate it?? Because I would totally bottle that, in a heartbeat. I mean, I just write the books mainly to entertain myself (or my 15 year old self, anyway) – the kind of books I would love to curl up with in a hammock at the beach, or on a couch by the fire on a rainy holiday afternoon, the kind of books that transport me into something exciting and moving, full of thrills and feels and adventure.  I guess it seems that other people like those books as well, so…yay!

My second question is: why are there so few Aussie authors on the list?  To answer this question, I did what I often do – I asked the hive-mind (mainly other authors and booksellers, and library and publishing peeps).  And the answers that I agreed with were things like – a) because the market here is smaller, we don’t have the budget to push local voices as much as they deserve; b) the North American market is bigger, in every way, including budgets – that means that overseas books have a larger market/distribution/promotion capacity, which impacts on us Aussies a lot; c) when the market is saturated – so when a book is promoted online, on screens, in films, in print ads and bookstores and toy stores and fast-food outlets and etc etc etc ad infinitum – it’s kinda hard to ignore, and more people buy it.

Here’s another important point – if you want to see local content, you need to invest in local cultural capital.  The Australian government has just ripped $100 million bucks out of the Australia Council, which directly supports local artists and art producers (including authors) to create new work.  A lot of those arts grants go towards supporting and developing small individual writers – me included.  I mean, I was gonna apply for a grant in June, to support myself while I wrote a new book – but in the wake of the budget cuts, that funding round has been cancelled.

So how exactly can you publish and promote local authors if they haven’t been given the opportunity to write new books and get signed by publishers? Good question.  Maybe we should be thinking a bit more about investing in our cultural and arts sector, in the same way we invest in the business and mining sectors.

Anyway, in the light of the lack of Aussie YA on the lists, and in the interests of promoting AusYA, a new hashtag has been born!  To show support and help spread the love for Australian YA, I encourage you to use the #LoveOzYA tag in your tweets, FB updates, Instagram and other social media posts about Aussie YA books – and if you follow the tag, it’ll lead you down a wonderful rabbit hole filled with awesome OzYA recs.  A lot of folks out there are already doing it, so I urge you to go for it! 

And this weekend in particular is a great weekend for following #LoveOzYA – because it’s Reading Matters weekend!!  If you love YA, and you happen to be in Melbourne, this AMAZING conference is being run by the State Library and the Centre for Youth Lit, right in the heart of town at the Arts Centre.  Here’s the link – go check it out.  I will most definitely be there from Friday to Saturday, not as a panellist but in the audience (which is just as good, because I can dress daggy down and drink wine at lunchtime).  Use the #YAMatters tag to follow along.  And if you’re a reader, a teacher, a librarian, a bookseller, a publishing friend, a friendly author, or you’re just around the traps at Reading Matters and you spy me from across a crowded room, please come and say hi :)

Some other good news - I’m going to be the InsideADog writer-in-residence blogger for the month of June, which is awesome!  So if you’re a regular lurker at InsideADog (the Centre for Youth Lit book blog), or even if you’re a regular reader/commenter, please make sure you give me a wave and say hi next month.

On top of that, I’m going to be visiting a bunch of libraries soon, and my first visit will be at Ashburton Library on Monday 1 June at 7pm.  If that’s your local and you’re free, come on down and listen to me ramble on, and grab me for some questions or to have a chat afterwards. Here's the link!

And I have some exciting news about Continuum soon too…so keep your ears to the ground about that.

Okay, I’m not going to write much more, because June will be a mega-blog period at InsideADog – my blog updates will be posted there, although I’ll still check back in here if anything noteworthy comes up, or there’s an event on.  Hope you’re going well, a quick shout-out to the girls from Presentation College, who did a workshop with me last week (Hi girls!  You were awesome!) and catch you again soon!

Xx Ellie 

Falling over the edge

We’re well into autumn here, and the fire is crackling over at our place almost every night.  It’s getting cold, working outside in the study, but I don’t mind – I’m really picking up speed with this new book, and everything seems golden.

But it isn’t always like that.  I was kind of inspired to write this post after reading another writer’s question recently, asking ‘what’s your hump point?’, and also because I’ve read a few articles lately about writer’s block.  To my mind, the two things are linked (and remember, folks, this is just my mind we’re talking about here –those of you who know me, you’ll recall that my mind is sometimes an odd and contrary place to be.  I just don’t want to generalise here about All Writers, cos, hey, for a few golden years there my kids thought I was some kind of super-being, but I ain’t that super).

First, the author’s question about ‘hump points’ might need some clarification.  The author was asking what’s the hardest point in your writing process with a book – do you struggle with beginnings?  Or maybe it’s middles or endings which you find hard.  Or is the whole thing just a slog from start to finish, like pulling teeth?  How do you combat that?

Writer’s block is a regular topic of conversation in the writing community – in fact, if you Googled ‘overcoming writer’s block’ you’d probably get thousands of hits for articles and queries about it.  I have a peculiar relationship with writer’s block, which is that I don’t really believe in it.  It’s not that I don’t think writers get blocked – I know they do, and I’ve experienced blockage myself – but I don’t call my periods of drought ‘writer’s block’, because to me that sounds like some sort of inescapable disease, and I don’t want to label it like that because I think that gives it power.

This post isn't really about writers block, but I do struggle with hump points in a manuscript draft.  I had one with Every Move, and I just got through one with the new book, so I may as well throw in my fifty cents worth on the subject (actually fifty cents sounds expensive – let’s just call it two cents).

So here’s the situation: you’re drafting a new project, and it’s all flowing well.  You’re excited, cos it’s new, and you’ve got lots of initial ideas, and the writing is really moving.  A few weeks in, and it’s all looking good.  Then one day, you wake up and pull out your pen and paper/keyboard/charcoal and crayons, and you look at it there, and…you’re drawing a blank.  Your ideas are kind of turning around in circles chasing their tails.  You don’t know what’s gonna happen in the next scene, or the writing feels flavourless and dull.  Everything feels foggy, and suddenly you’re just hitting keys (in my case) hoping and praying that your mojo will return.

You’ve hit your hump point.

For some people, it comes early in the process – getting the crank started is really really hard.  For others (and I think this might be more common), you hit a point at about the middle of the book, when everything you’re writing seems like crap, and you can’t figure out what to do next.  For yet others, it’s tying everything together at the end – oh my god, you’ve written yourself into a corner, now how the hell do you get out of it?

Other (way better and more experienced) writers have shared their wisdom on this issue, so let me summarise their suggestions: take some exercise, get some sleep, take a break and interact with friends and family (remember them?), get some fresh input (films, tv, music, art, nature, other people’s books), make sure your health is ok, try to reduce or wait out external stress, put the manuscript away for a week or more and go back to it for better perspective, go back to a point where the writing was flowing and see if you made the characters do something OOC, stop writing and do some plotting-out, or even stop writing and let the characters live in your head for a bit to find out where they want to go, change your work routine, do some research, work on something else for a while…  There are plenty of potential solutions.  Some authors I know have even opted to scrap the entire draft and write it again from scratch (*cue wailing and gnashing of teeth*), or put it aside and resolve that this manuscript is not yet sufficiently ‘baked’ in their head for them to complete it (again, weeping, but for some folks, they have a sense that this is the right course of action).

My own attitude is a bit of an amalgam of all these things (and yes, I have dumped a project at the 40,000 word point – never a whole book, though, that’s gutsy).  It’s also complicated by the fact that each book is different, and often your process varies (I like to say ‘matures’, heh) every time.  Which, as Lili Wilkinson once pointed out, is what it should be – feeling locked into a certain way of doing things, a certain way of working, can make your life kinda difficult if the project requires a change of attitude or approach.

With Every Move, I was on deadline, so I was under external pressure.  I’d also written a crazy-arse number of plot threads that needed tying up, and I felt overwhelmed.  That required some pleading with my editors (actually not too much pleading, cos they’re awesome like that) for a little more time, and some plain old sitting down and mapping out what had to happen (see ‘plotting-out’, above).  But my struggle with that manuscript was really about making a personal realisation: I didn’t want the story to end.  I loved the world, I loved the characters, and I was having a hard time letting go.  It wasn’t until another author friend (thanks again, Simmone!) kindly pointed this out to me that I had a little lightbulb moment, and after that, tackling the ending of the book was considerably easier.

With this new book, No Limits (working title), it was different.  I got stuck about a third of the way in.  But it felt familiar, and I realised that it was a bit like the way I’d felt when I was writing my first book, Every Breath.  That’s when I figured out something.  Again, this is a personal experience, so it won’t apply to everybody, but what I figured out was this:

By the time I’ve written about a third of the book, I feel a great reluctance to go on.  I can’t sit in front of my screen for more than a few minutes at a time without wanting to just jump up and do something else.  Turning on the internet to get on social media seems hugely attractive – in fact, doing the washing or sweeping the house seem hugely attractive at this point.  Or reading a book.  Or watching tv.  Anything but sitting down in front of that goddamn manuscript.  I’m not doing any work, but I’m thinking about the manuscript all the frickin’ time.  I get a horrendous amount of doubt – doubt about the characters I’ve made, doubt about the plot I’ve set up, doubt in my own ability to pull it off.  I become a tetchy, dissatisfied, all-round horrible person to live with, and then I feel guilty that my family has to put up with me (sorry, honey!). 

This is usually what writers mean when they say they’re stuck – they’ve hit the wall (in running terminology), and every word they put down at this point starts to sound terrible.  It’s like getting a cramp.  And because writers live in their heads so much, getting a brain cramp is really painful and frustrating (and sometimes, cos writers can be a bit insecure like that and doubt+insecurity is a bad combo, it can be really debilitating).

So here I am at my hump point.  I’ve invented all these threads, created this whole world with the characters, y’know?  But I’m stuck.  I do as many of the things on the ‘writer’s block solution list’ as I can – I talk to people, I get more sleep, I watch tv and read books, get some exercise, do research, yada yada – and some of them even help a little.  Although I’m still assailed by this awful feeling like I’m teetering on the precipice.

But that, I figured out, is a good thing.  It means that I’m coming to terms, within myself, with the idea of completing this thing I started. 

My tetchiness and dissatisfaction have a genuine cause - I’m about to fall over the edge, into the unknown.  I’m scared.  I’m working without a safety net.  Anything could happen.  I could fail.  I could write a really sucky book.  I don’t know if I’ve got the goods to make it work.  I don’t know if I’ve got anything meaningful to say, that people will want to listen to.  I’m at a crossroads moment.

I said I spend a lot of time with my characters inside my head at this point – that is actually really necessary.  I’m fleshing out their existence as people, and I’m churning over alternative ideas about what will happen.  I’m rolling it all over in my head.  Although I often scribble down notes in an exercise book when these points hit me, it’s a very mental process.  And it’s a kind of ‘dragging up your courage’ moment.  I have to come around to the idea that I’m capable.

So finally, after I’ve tetched and churned and agsted about as much as I can stand (which is about the time my family wants me to leave home and go live in a monastery or something), I finally throw up my hands (y’know, my mental hands) and say, okay, bring it on.

Do I really want to write this book?  Um, actually – yes.  Yes, I really do.

So now I’ve done it.  After this point, I’m committed.  I’ve got to go on, I’ve got to see it through to the end, no matter how difficult or frustrating or nerve-wracking it might be, or how doubtful I might feel about my own ability to make this story work.  Soon after that, most commonly, I’ll sit down with the manuscript and…it’s back.  I’m back.  The system has rebooted, my mojo has returned, the flame is burning again.  Interestingly enough, after I get past this point of decision, this point of mental commitment, I’m utterly invested – the ideas are coming again, and fast.  I’m eager to get back to the writing, I can’t wait to be in front of the keyboard.  I’m impatient for writing days to come round (which leads to its own brand of tetchiness, when I’m denied writing time by Real Life, but that’s another story).  This is the time when – like I did with my first novel – I actually jump out of bed at some ridiculous sparrow-fart time of the morning, feeling excited, because I’m getting the chance to dive back into it.

So to me – and excuse me if it sounds like I’m thrilled about re-inventing the wheel here, but personally, this was a recent revelation – it’s about making the mental commitment to continue with the work.  That’s my hump point.  And now I know, I can give myself a swift kick when it comes around again (or at least, y’know, not stress out so much about it) and remember that it’s normal.  What got me through, on this occasion, was a quote from multi-award winning, multi-book writing romance author Valerie Parv, in response to the question “How do you know when you start writing that you can do it?”.

Her reply?  “The answer is that you start writing to find out if you can do it.”

I hope your own writing is going well.  I hope you haven’t hit the wall, or gotten stuck, or blocked, or arrived at a hump point.  But if you have, I hope this helps, somehow.

And I guess that’s my two cents on the matter.

Xx Ellie

PS – you know how I had a massive giveaway here on the blog for the Every Move release?  Well, I had it, and it’s over, and there was only one problem – one of the winners didn’t get in touch with me.  And it’s been, like, two weeks now, and I really want to send this parcel to somebody!

If you are Elizabeth Gordon, can you please contact me in the next 48 hours?

If you’re not, and you entered, you’re still in the running.  If Elizabeth doesn’t get in touch, then I’m gonna have a re-draw from the existing pool of entrants (I still know who you are, so don’t stress).  I’ll pick a new winner, let people know on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  If I don’t hear from the new winner within 48 hours, I’ll choose a new name, and so on, until we get this parcel won!

That’s it.  Have a good week :)

Xe

What we call the end is the beginning

This is the first week I’ve had off in a looong time.  The past few months have rocketed along, and the busy-life stuff was a bit wearing, but I am absolutely not complaining – I still can’t believe I get to do this book business as a job.  But yeah – it’s been busy!

First of all, we had the book launch for EVERY MOVE.  Thank you all so much for coming along, or lending support, it really was an amazing night – I don’t think we even had so many people at the launch for EVERY BREATH – and Readings Carlton did a super job.  I got to meet a bunch of bloggers, vloggers and fans!  They are all so gorgeous!  A blogger from North America actually sent her uncle to the launch, to get an early copy of EVERY MOVE (hi, Yash!), which was pretty incredible, and I think I was signing for about an hour and a half, wow.  Adele Walsh was THE BEST – she made a wonderful speech for the launch, which you can find here, and because it was her first launch, she was about as nervous as me!

I didn’t get to say hi to everyone, which is pretty normal, but I always feel bad about it – if I didn’t get to grab you on the night, please know that I would’ve liked to, and I appreciate you took the time to come along.  And if you’d like to relive the glory of the night, it’s right here in two vids – one is from Miranda at Books101, and one is from Rachel and Annette at Tome Travellers (thanks, ladies!):

I also have to announce that the EVERY MOVE book launch giveaway was rolled up by me and my son (he picked the names), and we have winners!  Elizabeth Gordon, @SnugglyOranges, and Alyssa Hamilton, please send me your contacts via DM (or you can email elliemarney[at]gmail[dot]com), and I’ll be sending out your parcels early next week (after Easter is over and the post office is back in business).  If I don’t hear from you by next week, I’ll draw another winner from the hat.

There were also two winners from over 800 entries on the GoodReads giveaway (see right), and I’ll be sending those at the same time.

On Tuesday, straight after the book launch, I jumped on a plane and flew up to the Gold Coast, where I attended Somerset Celebration of Literature, a week-long extravaganza for students, parents, teachers and authors.  What a festival – my god, I had no idea before I arrived that the celebration would be of such an incredible magnitude.  There were fireworks and Dippin’ Dots, a photo booth, a book shop, a Writers Wall, performances, amazing food, students dressed as literary characters, signings, author talks, karaoke, poetry and novella competitions, bus-loads of kids from schools all over the country…  It kind of blew my mind.  The parents and teachers were incredible – so much of it was organised and carried out by people who had taken time off work to support the festival.  And the students were wonderful!  So engaged and diverse, and with such fantastic questions!

As well as all that gorgeousness, there was the company of other authors.  I don’t know if you’ve gathered this already, from my other blog posts, but I live way way out in the country – about two hours away from Melbourne – and while there are quite a few writers up around here, we all come from different areas, and rarely get together and hang out.  So I don’t really get the chance to just sit around and chat with other authors that much, maybe just a couple of times a year.

Somerset, on the other hand, was like a giant sleepover party with just about every cool author I’ve ever wanted to meet.  We saw each other’s talks, bumped into each other at the hotel, joined each other for dinners, went and had drinks together, and gasbagged the whole time.  I felt like I was in Wonderland, honestly.  I had a long chat with Richard Newsome (The Billionaire’s Curse) about writing a book a year (we agreed that it’s hard), discussed writing kissing scenes with Melissa Keil (Life In Outer Space) and Clare Atkins (Nona & Me), talked about feminist writing practice with Melissa and Nova Weetman (The Haunting of Lily Frost) and Sarah Ayoub (Hate Is Such A Strong Word), reunited with Adele Walsh (who had some interesting things to say about fruit…), argued about the best Dr Who episodes with George Ivanoff (Gamers series), and was given excellent social media advice by Alison Tait (The MapMaker Chronicles).  I even talked about pearls with Tara Moss! (The Fictional Woman)  I made a lot of new friends (hi, Christine Bongers – Keith Austin – Rachel Spratt – Michael Gerard Bauer!) and met some of my heroes (Kari Gislason rocks).  Overall, I had an AMAZING time, and even though I missed my family at home and don’t usually love living out of a suitcase, I didn’t really want to leave.  Everyone who would like an annual Australian Kid’s Authors Gossip and Catch-Up Camp, raise your hands now J

I guess I’d better sign off – we have to chop wood for the upcoming winter today, so I’ll be getting out my chainsaw and slinging on my boots.  I’ve had a lovely week-long break now, so I’ve got no excuses not to work!  I’m getting back into writing again (how I’ve longed for some solid writing time!), and the manuscript for NO LIMITS is shaping up pretty well – it needs a lot more done to it, but I’m happy with it so far (and I’m gonna shut up about it now, so I don’t put the moz on it).

Thank you all, for supporting the EVERY series, and for sharing the excitement of launching the final book – I couldn’t have done it without you.  Take care of yourselves, have a happy and peaceful holiday season, if it’s your time to celebrate, and see you next time!

Xx Ellie