JR Gershen-Siegel is a Lambda Literary Award nominee. Her work is published by Riverdale Avenue Books and Writers’ Colony Press.
How long have you been writing and what got you started?
I have been writing for the better part of 50 years. I remember my grandmother had these old calendar books with blank pages, the kinds of things you would get from your insurance agent. I vividly recall drawing in them, and eventually the pictures started to get captions. I suppose this means my first works were graphic novels.
What is the best piece of advice you have for new writers?
Best advice: finish stuff! I think we all get distracted by the siren’s song of a new idea when it gets tough to finish a piece, particularly a longer one. But that’s what a writing ideas jar is all about, something which Ray Bradbury advocated, and I love. Park your newer, shinier ideas, and they will be there for you when you’re stumped and writer’s block is strangling you. But finish the piece in front of you, even if you think Act III is a mess. You can fix it later.
What tips do you have for finding time to write?
For November (because I am doing NaNoWriMo, on top of everything else in my life), I have been getting up early. I work from home, so there’s no commute, but if there was and I was taking public transportation, I would be doing this on the bus or trolley. My goal is to crank out around 500 words every morning. To ‘win’ NaNo, you need 1667 words per day, so that means I’m just about 1/3 of the way done for the day. But the truth is, I have been able to write more like 1000 – 1200 words during that time period. Again, I’ll fix it later.
Do you favor the traditional route or self-publishing?
I’m a mix. My first NaNo novel, Untrustworthy, was traditionally published – I actually won a contest. But the wheels of traditional publishing, particularly for new and obscure authors, grind slowly, so in the meantime I was still writing and that needed some place to go. I wrote for a bunch of charity anthologies which were essentially self-published, and then in 2018 decided to try my hand at getting into some paid anthologies and sites, including Theme of Absence (thank you, by the way).
Are you an outliner or discovery writer? Or somewhere in between?
Once again, I split the difference. Super-short stuff doesn’t get an outline, as the outline would be longer than the piece! NaNo is always outlined as that saves time during November. I tend to write up what are more like the beats for chapters, and I keep a story bible so I can keep track of dates and research, how to spell things, etc. Very useful.
How do you deal with rejections?
I spent 2018 sending out a lot of queries, as in 59 queries on 21 stories (one was a full-length novel; the rest were mainly under 2,000 words although a few were over). I received 3 acceptances and the novel is under consideration. Hence I have seen a lot of rejection, and it’s still not easy, but at least I suppose I’m more used to it. Rejections also mean I’m closer to acceptances. Plus, I know I’m in good company. Every single writer has been rejected or at least critiqued strongly. I have no doubt there are people who complain about King Lear because it doesn’t (normally, at least) have any explosions in it.
Do you ever get criticism from family or friends who don’t understand your passion?
Yes. But I am used to being the odd duck who does things differently. I’ve got a JD and I practiced law back in the 80s – and people thought I was crazy for chucking that, but I was immensely unhappy. They also thought I was nuts for leaving New York (my husband and I live in Boston – fortunately, he is not a critic and, rather, is my staunchest supporter and ally). There’s always someone who won’t get it. Never worry about that – you’re not writing for them.
What are your writing goals for the next twelve months?
My 2018 NaNo project is the third book of a Victorian science fiction trilogy (yes, corsets and ray guns!). For the past few years, December 1st has not brought my NaNoWriMo projects to an end, so I anticipate I’ll still be writing through much of December if not longer. Then I set a piece aside for at least 3 weeks, then edit it several times, then beta readings. If I think something has particular promise, I’ll pay an editor and then shop it around. In 2018, my goal was to write every day during odd-numbered months (so as to include November – essentially, I was treating 5 other months just like November) and do all the other trappings the rest of the year, such as research, outlining, idea gathering, querying, and promotions. I’ll probably pull back on that schedule as my non-writing life is insanely busy, plus I feel there were times when I was dragging too much so as to write something, anything. I haven’t quite decided how 2019 will look, but it will have writing in it that doesn’t happen in November.
What are your writing goals for the next five years?
The five-year-ish plan is to work through what is potentially another trilogy. I want to revisit a world I created but cover it from a different angle. That’s in the early planning stages. I’m also hoping to be published some more, for both larger and smaller pieces. 5 years is kind of an odd goal for me as I will be 61 at the end of that – and that’s going to start pushing my life into changing whether I am ready or not.
Is there anything you’d like to plug? Feel free to share a link.
I think the main thing would be my author page on Amazon, as everything is there and I even divulge the Easter eggs I toss into my longer works. https://www.amazon.com/J.R.-Gershen-Siegel/e/B00QY5N1JM/
