Posts Tagged "Gini Koch"

• Tuned to the Nike Channel

  Lessons Learned
  

  G.J. Koch...is NOT procrastinating...she swears...

  I don’t buy into the idea of writer’s block. I do, however, buy into the idea that outside and internal influences can and will affect anyone and everyone, including writers. Probably especially writers. Writers seem to live to be distracted. Oh, not ME of course — hey, is that a hummingbird outside my window? Where’s my camera? — but others tell me they get distracted all the time.

  Among the many things that can cause “writer’s block” are work and family challenges, boredom with life or whatever it is you’re working on or both, feeling overstressed or overtired, and false pressure to make every word on the page shine.

  So, what do you do when you feel frozen and the words won’t come?

  There are a lot of techniques I use. I switch up the music I’m listening to until I find the right band or song to rev me again. I watch a movie or TV show I love and analyze what they’re doing in the various scenes. I break down and walk my dogs. (Hey, exercise and happy dogs are a guaranteed outcome on this one.) I switch off from the project I’m working on, even if it’s on deadline, and work on something else for a while, until I feel like the words are flowing again.

  But sometimes, none of that works.

  So, what then? Especially when a deadline looms, truly, what THEN? (more…)

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• How to Con for Fun and Profit

  Conventions and Conferences
  

  G.J. Koch

  Unlike most authors, I’m not an introvert. I like people, and I like interacting with them in reality, as opposed to only in my head.

  My first career was in marketing. And, unlike most promotions, sales, and marketing people, I loved trade shows. I loved attending them, and I loved working them. Apparently I have Carnival Huckster in my blood, because I enjoy getting people to come over and look at and/or buy something they originally had no interest in. (This has served me remarkably well in my current career, too.)

  Therefore, this should shock no one when I say that I love going to conventions. I go to all kinds — big, medium, and small.

  Why to Con?

  Lots of reasons, really. Exposure, though, is the number 1. My first con as a published author was San Diego Comic-Con. I was on a panel, did a signing, had my books in the bookstore. Not only was it fun, it helped me get onto the local con circuit much faster than I could have without the SDCC Bump. At cons you have an opportunity to reach tens to thousands of readers who, until this very con, didn’t know you or your bookie wookies existed. Hard to beat that kind of exposure. (more…)

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• To Sin or Not To Sin, That Is the Eternal Question

  Balance
  

  G.J. Koch

  I’m a full time author, meaning I’m a full time believer in doing something in my career every day, which includes writing every day.

  But some days…I don’t.

  Most of those days involve being at conferences, dealing with the business side of the writing business, interacting with fans, promotion, and so on. Those aren’t “off” days. Those are days when the hours are filled with work that ensures the writing career continues, because, yes, if you don’t do the business side, it’s hard to keep getting your books onto the shelves and into the hands of readers.

  However, I still try to get writing in, as much as possible, every day, even if it’s only 100 words (I’m a proud member of Club 100 for which I give a great deal of credit for my becoming focused enough to now have to do all the business side of the writing business).

  Recently, though, I’ve heard a voice in my head. Oh, don’t get me wrong — I hear voices in my head all the time. I mean, I’m an author. Of course I hear voices, and lots of them. Constant, whining voices, demanding that their stories be told, and first, and hurry it up, will you?
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• It’s Never Over ‘Til the Big Dawgs Howl

  Wolf Pack of One?

  One of the things I hear all the time from other authors, and readers, and random people on the street, is how solitary our pursuit is. How we sit in silence, all alone, working away on our books, shunning all contact with others, dreading the time we have to open the door to the UPS man.

  Maybe them. But not me, baby. I’m a chaos writer. Bring on the noise, bring on the funk, bring on the words, that’s my motto.

  In order to write, first off, I need music. Loud music. Rock ‘n’ roll for preference but anything with lyrics will do. Don’t even have to be lyrics in my native tongue. I can and do listen to French and Spanish language songs, too. And German. Really, anything with a beat and singing, that’s my thing.

  A bottle of Coca-Cola up from Mexico is also a nice, helpful addition to my writing, as is chocolate. As is alcohol. But I can and do write without any of those. Oh sure, not all the TIME. But still, I can manage without if needed.
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