Extras

Assorted blog posts covering early concepts, nonfiction articles, and more

Welcome to Cindy Rae Writes

by Cindy Rae

Dear Reader,

Welcome. So glad you’re here!

I am finally emerging from survival mode due to personal circumstance and am in the process of rebooting my life as a writer. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Or, if you’re new, thanks for taking a look.

I am an aspiring novelist. While my first series, Salvage, is science fiction, I write across genres and even dip my toe in nonfiction waters from time to time.

Reading is embedded in the fabric of my life, and I like to connect with other readers who enjoy a good story.

With a curious mind, I like to learn — about the craft and business of writing, about how the mind and brain work, about full-time remote work, and so much more. You can read some of my blog posts for writers here.

Salvage:Book 1
Salvage:
Book 1

The start to a coming-of-age saga of a girl plagued by nightmares and thwarted by circumstances in a perilous interstellar world 

Salvage News
Portfolio
Professional

My thoughts on the craft and profession of writing

The Writing Profession
Personal
Personal

Personal news, my interests, background, and life

Personal Posts

Thanks for stopping by.

Cindy Johnson

Writer and Owner of Cindy Rae Writes

P.S. If you’re looking for a software developer, you can find my tech alter ego over at CodeOnward.com.

5 Ways Your Business of Writing Will Change

by Cindy Rae

Your business of writing will change. To help you as a writer, here are 5 tips centered around the fact change happens.

1. The Unknown Becomes Known

  • You don’t know what you know until you know it– except…
  • You discover what you like
  • You discover what you don’t like
  • You discover you have more talent for one kind of writing over another
  • You understand the industry better
  • You learn more about the business of writing
  • Through experience and feedback you learn better of not only how to “level up” your writing but also of its quality

2. Your Circumstances Change

  • You have more time to write
  • You have less time to write
  • You go through a trial that informs and shapes what you want to write
  • You go through a trial that changes your physical or mental abilities
  • You have one or more of life’s major stressors going on

3. Connections Change

  • You learn how to engage with others in your field
  • You learn how to find your readers
  • You get to know one of your writing heroes
  • You get in touch with others in the same writing boat, online or in-person
  • You connect with others who train you to be a better writer — critique groups, podcasts, conference speakers, etc.

4. Market Changes

  • The market changes for what you are writing, like cross-pollination
  • You discover market demand for something else you’d like to write
  • Demand surges for a particular format (audiobooks)
  • Demand surges overseas for your market
  • You learn in what market segments demand is growing for your writing
  • You learn to that “marketing” isn’t a dirty word, the difference between publicity and marketing, and how much marketing depends on engaging with others

5. The Industry Shifts

  • Major publishing houses condense further (or expand, but not likely)
  • Independent bookstores rise in popularity
  • Amazon totally changes their ebook strategy, and you flourish (or perish, depending)
  • Different distribution channels appear or disappear in the industry for your supported formats (a channel allowing easy access to ebooks in libraries, for instance)
  • Technology impacts drive production changes, or publication changes, or popular formats, or revenue models

Platform Re-Org Upcoming

by Cindy Rae

A platform re-organization for this site will happen soon.

I’ve felt for some time this blog is not focused enough, covering too wide a variety of topics. In revising my business plan for 2020, I’ve figured out my audience for my platform, including the blog:

Venn diagram of writer's platform audience to use in platform re-org of the blog

Since I’m unpublished, this, in turn, can be simplified to focus on an audience more specific to my work-in-progess, Salvage:

  • SF Readers
  • SF Writers
  • Industry Pros

I’m considering readers as potential buyers, writers as peers, and industry professionals for the business side, although all three are potential buyers. And, all three are groups filled with people I’d like to get to know better.

It’s not all about the buying.

Engaging with other readers to share enthusiasm, growing with other writers, and learning from industry professionals are all elements crucial to my author aspirations. I want to give something to my tribes out there, not just take to make money.

I’m hoping once the platform re-org for this site happens, I can spend more time finishing the draft of Salvage, Episode 1, but personal circumstances may dictate a much slower progress on both writing fronts than I want.

Time will tell, and life is filled with uncertainty.

Marketing is Making Connections

Writers: Marketing Means Connections

by Cindy Rae

Writers, stop thinking about marketing and start thinking about connections.

Many of us do find marketing intimidating (Credit: Karen Arnold, Pixabay)

Intimidating and Overwhelming

The insecure, the nerdy, the introverted, the unproven writers among us (pardon me while I raise my hand for each of those) can find the concept of marketing to be intimidating and overwhelming, a mountainous thunderstorm of unknown looming in the distance, casting its ominous shadow over the our road we want to travel.

We hear “build a platform” to “market” your books. But maybe we need to rewire.

Rewire your brain, replacing "marketing" with "connections". (Credit: OpenClipArt-Vectors at Pixabay)

Marketing to Connections: Rewire and Rethink

Let’s rewire our brains. Every time you hear “marketing,” replace it with “connecting”. Or connections. Or connect. Or engagement. Or meeting new people. Or relationship. Or… you get my drift. Whatever word or phrase that helps you, that makes sense to you.

Connections: Be Intentional

Blindly following advice on your marketing platform may not be the best choice (Credit: Gerd Altmann, Pixabay)

And, let’s be intentional. You don’t have to blindly create a blog or post daily ramblings on Twitter or have a Facebook page or a presence on Goodreads or… whatever the next piece of platform advice tells you. It’s not about blogging weekly or tweeting daily. It’s not about joining every possible writing-related group online or journeying far to make a conference. It’s not about joining the “best” critique group or becoming a super-fan of the rock stars of our industry.

Marketing: Meaningful and Individual

Your platform is as individual and unique as you are. (Credit: Gerd Atlmann, Pixabay)

It’s about doing whatever makes sense for you to connect with others who have something in common with you, with your interests, or with who you want to become. That’s your platform.

Your writing is meaningful and unique to you. Your marketing — excuse me — connections — will be as unique.

And that set of connections? It should be meaningful, as well.

Conclusion

Your time is precious. You want to spend the bulk of your available time writing, not blindly building a platform with pieces grabbed randomly on some pundit’s recommendation.

In the next post in this series, let’s talk more about being intentional. Let’s consider some of the factors in choosing connections.

Distractions of Today

by Cindy Rae

Focus is a Writer’s Superpower

One of hardest battles I fight as a writer is the battle for focus. So many things pull at my attention, but I am my own worst enemy.

Distractions of the last hour:

  • This blog: Writing this of course! And I should plan future posts. Maybe one one business planning for writers? Or 5-act structures. What will I write on Salvage? Oh, I should be writing.
  • The window: Oooh, look! Spring! Where is my neighbor going? Their grass is so green. Cool! Is that a chickadee calling? I haven’t seen those in awhile…
  • The environment. It’s 39 outside! Turn on the heater. I need music — where’s Spotify? But Pandora and I are old friends…
  • Family: Has my son eaten breakfast yet? Oh, drat, he didn’t finish that chore yesterday. I should write him a chore list…
  • Household: I should get a load of laundry going. Wait — the cat’s making for my unmade bed. No!!! No cat hair on the pillow!!
  • Self-care: I should at least do my morning stretches, face, etc.
  • Facebook: Oh, no! I’ve fallen into the black hole that is Facebook! What time is it?

The Three-Act Structure Visualized

by Cindy Rae

Whether the three-act story structure is new to a you, or a favorite, take a visual tour.

May these different images and links of the different ways to think about the three-act structure spark your creative juices.

This post is part of a series on visualizing your novel.

Rise and Fall Over Time

Steven’s Balagan

Balagan’s 3 Act Structure

A deeper dive into the three act, balancing the protagonist’s journey with story tension

Euan Mitchell

The Three-Act Story Model: A Frameowrk Not A Formula

A detailed look at the three-act, with information on character

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My Favorite Women Characters in Science Fiction

by Cindy Rae

Actually, a Partial List, a Very, a Very Partial List

It’s not a surprise the protagonist of my Salvage series is female. I like strong women characters. Some of my favorite women characters in science fiction, in no particular order:

Goodread’s List