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Exciting news!

October 7, 2015 by Jana 31 Comments

GUYS. I wanted to wait until Friday to post this but I’m just too damn excited to wait a few more days.

This is not the big project I referenced yesterday. I won’t be done with that for many months. But it’s still big.

Yesterday, I was hired to be an Acquisitions Editor. At a publishing company.

That means I get to read books and manuscripts and work with authors who want to publish their books traditionally. I get to help writers see their books published and put in actual bookstores. And since that’s always been a dream of mine, getting to help others achieve that same dream is extra special and meaningful to me.

I’m also currently building my client list, accepting proposals and all the other good stuff that an acquisitions editor does. So if you or anyone you know is writing fiction or nonfiction and wants to go the traditional publishing route, please put them in touch with me. If you or anyone you know has self-published a book and might want to revise it and traditionally publish it, please get in touch with me.

I can’t even tell you how exciting this opportunity is. And I have it because of this little blog. A friend I met through blogging knows the owner of the publishing house I work for and everything snowballed from there. So even though I’m a small blogger (I like it that way, if I’m being honest), big things have happened for my career (which is not even remotely close to the career I went to college and grad school for because what fun would that be?). Why? Because even when I wanted to, I didn’t quit. And rather than obsess over stats and sponsored posts and followers, I made friends. I formed network. OF PEOPLE.

People are what matter. Not the other shit.

So, what’s my point? Well, I’m not really sure but if I had to make one, it’s this. Don’t get discouraged if things aren’t happening for you right now, especially if you aspire to use your blog to launch your career in a different direction. Don’t compare your blog or your progress to someone who’s a professional blogger or who’s doing what you think you want. Keep going.

Make friends.

Foster relationships

Understand that your success might not come in the package you expect.

Mine didn’t.

And I’m damn happy about that.

This week in: Randomness at its finest

February 20, 2015 by Jana 21 Comments

This week in adulting…Realizing I need to get back to work. Staying home is great and wonderful and when I had my mentoring program to run I was busy and had income but now I don’t and I’m bored. Even though I love writing and am still working on a book, I’ve come to the grown up conclusion that the odds of me making a living as a novel writer are very slim and I like earning money. So now I look for a job. Preferably one that involves writing.

This week in reading…Of the four books I’ve finished this month, I’ve enjoyed all but one. Last night I started Carolyn Kepnes’s You, per Steph’s recommendation. I’m about 50 or so pages in and holy hell, is this a creepy book. If it starts out this way, I can only imagine what comes next.

This week in TV…I finally caught up with Better Call Saul. I like it! Dark and weird, just the way I like my shows. Also, did you guys catch the SNL special on Sunday? How awesome was the Opera Man appearance? And Celebrity Jeopardy? And Wayne and Garth? Fun fact: I met Adam Sandler when I was in college. He’s as odd as you’d expect.

This week in frustration…Early morning cheer competitions, insomnia, school problems, finding out that at 8 years old, my daughter needs to start with orthodontia, staggeringly endless cold weather, fidgety pets, unexpected expenses, and writer’s block are all on my nerves this week.

This week in listening…The best $10 I spend every month is on my Spotify subscription. I have been listening to my Shinedown radio station for hours every day and it makes me so, so happy. Especially when a song I haven’t heard in a while comes on. Also, if you love 90s music like I do, check out the #ThrowbackThursday playlist. It’s spectacular.

This week in awesomeness…John Green. I love him. And this week, he apparently learned that a quote, misattributed to him, was actually written by a 13 year old Nerdfighter and he took to his YouTube channel to make it right. I wish more people would do this. Not only own up to the mistake but rectify the situation. This is the kind of stuff that makes you a badass and earn respect. Not the shit that Kanye pulls.

This week in sports…Pitchers and catchers reported this week. Everything is good again. And my beloved Mets were not picked to finished last in their division! That honor went to Philly and that makes me happy. #sorrynotsorry, Philly friends.

This week in hilarity…Do you guys watch Billy on the Street? With Billy Eichner? I freaking love it and it’s hysterical. This week, he did an episode with Michelle Obama and Big Bird and, if you can get past the fact that Big Bird sounds completely different and the mini-soap box platform for healthy eating, it’s worth the 12 minutes. If nothing else, fast forward to around 11:00 and watch the lightning round. Trust me. And also this:

What’s going on in your life this week? Any exciting weekend plans?

Linking up (a day late) with Kristin and Joey:

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Simplifying in December

December 4, 2014 by Jana 34 Comments

Third month of Choose Your Own Adventure challenge is in the books. And I’m pleased to report, it mostly went well.

So that’s good.

As a refresher, I focused on organizing three areas of my house, with a plan to work on my Pinterest boards as well (you can read the full post if you want). With regard to Pinterest, I did eliminate some pins and boards, but I’ve decided this is a work in progress. There’s just too much in there to have dealt with all in one month. I’m hoping to have this all done by January as long as I can follow my new rule of one pin in, one pin out.

With regard to the three areas of my house I wanted to organize this month–my living room table, my front entrance closet, and my daugther’s homework station–I got it all done. I only remembered to take a before picture of the homework station so forgive me for the lack of complete details.

Here’s the results. I’ve highlighted all the things I used to complete the challenge and I only needed to spend $1 (on the crayon caddy) to do it. Everything else was ~~taken~~ repurposed from another part of the house. Not pictured are the trash bag of coats and shoes for Goodwill and the mountain of paper tossed into recycling. I apologize for my shitty photography and also the puke green color of my wall. I hate it and haven’t yet picked a new color to replace it.

The theme for December is simplify. I like this and I actually got an inadvertent head start when my husband and I decided that our daughter would have a choice–a big birthday party again or just a few friends for a sleepover and then a family activity of her choosing on her actual birthday (which is a Saturday so that makes for easy planning). She chose the sleepover. And this is awesome because her friends are great kids, mostly well behaved (two of them are sisters from a set of triplets; the third is a boy and is definitely not invited), and they all get along. They’ll be at my house around 8 so it’s cupcakes and snacks. I’m not even buying crafts for them to do. They’re creative. We have Frozen. It’s easy, cheap, and I don’t have to put on pants. Simplified birthday FTW!

I felt like I needed to come up with something else to simplify because I had the birthday thing already planned and settled before this theme was announced and using it as the only challenge seems like cheating. It proved to be harder than I anticipated. I’m not really one to make things complicated. I’m pretty good at keeping things simplified. I know my limits, don’t pack my schedule, am good at saying no to things I don’t want to do (unless it involves my family), and clutter makes me anxious. This list had some great ideas to focus on except I already do a whole bunch of them. Christmas Eve is just the three of us and we have our simple traditions down to a science.

So I got stuck.

Then I started looking around and I realized I can simplify my blogging life. I have no fewer than 6 notebooks full of ideas and two planners I’m working from. It’s very easy to get confused. If I can consolidate all of that, and perhaps start using some automated tools and an editorial planner, I can focus on other blogging stuff and my two(!) new projects for 2015. So that’s my focus. Simply blogging tasks.

Are you guys participating in the simplify challenge? What are you focusing on?

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Amazon gift card giveaway if you haven’t already!
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Defining success YOUR way

October 15, 2014 by Jana 15 Comments

I want to start by saying THANK YOU to everyone who commented on Monday’s post. Your support and encouragement and thoughts mean more to me than I can adequately express. While I’m sure I have my share of detractors, having a group of supporters makes it that much easier to deal with those who don’t like me. I’m not exactly the toughest chick around but I’m working on thickening my skin. Because if I’m going to write and publish a book, I’m going to need it. I mean, you’ve read some of those Amazon reviews, right? Holy hell, people are cruel. I need to be able to handle it. So maybe it truly was a blessing in disguise that she and I had that conversation.

It’s all about the silver linings, right?

I like to think so.

One topic that I didn’t touch on in Monday’s post was the fact that, throughout our conversation, she kept talking about different measures of blogging success–page rank, page views per month, email subscribers, Twitter followers, stuff like that. Things that definitely matter, especially when you’re like me and will be shopping a book to agents, but in the grand scheme of blogging, they’re just measurements. They’re not indicators of quality or community or even being interesting. They’re indicators that you know how to get people to like and follow and you’re good at drawing traffic.

But when you get those readers and followers, are they really, truly reading? Are they sticking around? Do they support you? Have you formed relationships?

Or do you treat them like a statistic? If you do, that’s okay. I’m ~~only judging you a little bit~~ not judging you at all.

As for me, I don’t treat anyone like a statistic. Because that matters to me is forming relationships and connecting with people. I want what I write to mean something. I want readers to come away with feelings, even if that feeling is hatred mixed with contempt. The rest doesn’t matter. It’s not important to me to use SEO tricks and clickbait headlines (clearly. I mean, you’ve seen my post titles) vanity metrics to quantify my “popularity”. When I finish my book do I want people to buy and read it? Yes. Of course I do. I need justification for my global book tour. But I want people to read and buy the book because they like me. Because they like my writing. Not because I’ve bribed or tricked them (for the record, I’m not necessarily above bribing. Just ask my child).

And the reason I feel this way is because, after 3 years of blogging, I’ve finally defined and come to terms with what’s important to me. What matters to me. And I bring all of that to my personal definition of success. Which is not a word that has a universal definition (I mean, yes, it has a dictionary definition but the real life, practical definition is way more subjective than what Webster says. The dictionary. Not the guy from TV. Although that would be awesome, too).

See? He thinks you're doing just fine. — See? He thinks you’re doing just fine.

There’s nothing wrong with the traditional definition of success. But when you look at it objectively, we all have different measures for success, with blogging and with everything else. Because what I think is successful for me might not spell success for you.

For instance, you might think success is losing 100 pounds. I might think success is losing a pants size. Both are fine. Both are successes.

You might think success is having 50000 newsletter subscribers. I might think success is having 100 newsletter subscribers. Both are fine. Both are successes.

You might think success is having the biggest, faniciest house on the block. I might think success is simply having my own apartment. Both are fine. Both are successes.

You might think success is having a multi-book deal through a traditional publishing house. I might think success is self-publishing my first and only book. Both are fine. Both are successes.

You might think success is having a million dollars in your savings account. I might think success is saving $15 per month. Both are fine. Both are successes.

You might think success is having a booked social calendar. I might think success is having one close friend I can count on. Both are fine. Both are successes.

What it all boils down to is this–perspective. Your successes and failures are based on your perception and definition of those words, and the history and goals you bring to the table that contributes to your definition of those words. And since we’re all different, we’re all going to bring different experiences which in turn leads to–you guessed it–different definitions. And to put your subjective definition on someone else isn’t fair.

So don’t do it.

I’ve tried 100 different ways to end this post on an uplifting, empowering note. But none of them seemed quite right. Instead, I’m ending with this quote. It sums up everything I’m trying to say.

It’s Wednesday so I’m linking up with Liz. No confessions this week but you should go read all the awesome ones that link up with Kathy.

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5 lessons learned from being told “you suck”

October 13, 2014 by Jana 38 Comments

Jon Acuff talks about something he calls “critics math”. What he means by that is you could have 100 reviews of something–a book, a picture, your blog, whatever–with 99 positive and 1 negative and you will only focus on the 1 negative.

I definitely know that’s true for me.

Which is why, lately, I’ve been obsessing over how much everything I do totally and completely sucks.

Because two weeks ago, I had a conversation with someone who told me that “your blog sucks, your Twitter following isn’t any good, and your mentoring program will never make any money”. Those where her exact words, and I’ve whittled down the negative feedback for the sake of brevity.

I can’t even begin to tell you guys how much this hurt me. I work hard at having a nice looking blog that has consistently good content, I’m constantly thinking of ways to improve my mentoring program, and my social media followers, while important, are not something I use to measure my popularity or quality. So to be told everything I do sucks and all my effort is essentially for nothing has taken a huge toll on my self-confidence, my desire to even continue to try, and makes me rethink every decision I’ve made regarding writing and blogging thus far. This woman made me believe I’m wasting my time and I should pack it in.

And I almost did.

But you know what?

Fuck her.

Because I am a good writer. My blog doesn’t suck. And my mentoring program absolutely has potential. And there is absolutely no reason for me to quit, despite her horribly negative assessment of me, my abilities, my blog, and my short and long term plans.

And while I’ve definitely been dwelling in a place of “I suck and will never be successful as a writer, business woman or anything else”, there are a few takeaways from my conversation with that woman:

Look for the immediately actionable. While they may be buried underneath harsh statements, there’s probably one or two doable tasks or ideas you can implement quickly. Those little tweaks can breathe new life into a project or blog, and it might not have been ideas you had thought of before.
Look for the long term planning. Again, these may be buried underneath cruelly worded sentences, but those critiques will force you to take a hard look at what your long term plans are. You might find it necessary to go in a different direction than you had previously thought but it might be an even better direction.
Reevaluate your elevator pitch. I’m a big believer in personal responsibility so maybe the reason the person is so negative and harsh has to do with the way you’re presenting what you do. Maybe you’re not positive or enthusiastic or descriptive enough about it. Maybe you don’t present your message clearly. Take your critic’s response as an opportunity to reevaluate how you talk about your project.
Assess the true value of their opinion. Is this someone who has a vested interest in you? Or is it a casual acquaintance or someone you’ve just met at a party? While you can look for the value in those conversations (see 1 & 2), if it isn’t someone who knows you, isn’t familiar with anything you’ve done beyond a cursory glance, or doesn’t give a shit if you succeed or not, don’t internalize their words too much.
Keep going, regardless. It’s important to accept the fact that not everyone will like you. I’m sure not even Beyonce has universal appeal. She doesn’t stop. She keeps doing what she needs to do, both for herself and for her fans (I’m assuming. Bey and I have never really sat down and talked about this). And so should you.

It never feels good to hear you suck. Especially at something that’s been your lifelong dream. And it’s easy to let those voices sing a loud chorus, especially if you already have low self-esteem or are unnecessarily hard on yourself. Those critics validate all the things you already tell yourself, which only gives you more self-doubt. Trust when I say I understand. More than I can tell you.

But the best thing you can do to silence them, and prove them wrong, is to not quit. There’s a reason there are so many choices and there is room for all different voices. Everyone likes something different and simply because one person isn’t a fan doesn’t mean 99 other people aren’t as well. Don’t let one detractor keep you from pursuing your dream.

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Exciting news!

This week in: Randomness at its finest

Simplifying in December

Defining success YOUR way

5 lessons learned from being told “you suck”

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