Changing lanes? Is this woman trying to teach us how to drive?

Not exactly, but I will hopefully offer sound advice for navigating the sometimes-harrowing roads of writing and publishing.

Never doubt for a second that writing is a journey of winding roads, potholes, roadblocks, and detours. You can be traveling along minding your own business while singing with the radio and BAM! The unexpected happens. There’s a flat tire, your GPS has let you down, or your battery dies. In the writing world, those equate to a book underperforming expectations, reaching a point in your story and don’t know which way to go, and then there is burnout. The one that’s the hardest to come back from is not the underperforming book, by the way. Everyone has hits and misses sometimes in their career. Stalling at a fork in the road often means you didn’t know enough about your characters’ conflict and internal struggle before you began writing the story. Those things are stressful, but burnout is the hardest. It’s not only physically draining, but emotionally exhausting as well.

One of the ways to prevent burnout is by changing lanes. In this case, I mean exploring other genres or sub-genres in our M/M community. Whoa! That sounds scary, right? There might be a huge semi-truck in your blind spot poised to run over you as soon as you ease into the other lane. Or, say you do get over, what happens if the abandoned lane becomes too congested and you can’t get back over in time and miss an exit? Those are legitimate concerns but changing lanes can also be exhilarating. It’s a lot like the moment you’re suspended at the top of the first big roller coaster hill waiting to plummet—breathless, anxious, and with your heart in your throat. Good. It means you care about the outcome.

You have a choice: you can either throw your hands up in the air like the cool kids in the front coaster car or hold on for dear life as you plunge into the unknown. Neither option is wrong, by the way.

Here are a few things to help combat your nausea:

1. Always signal before changing lanes. If you want readers to embark on this journey with you, then fill up your car with snacks and invite them. Talk to them. Tell them about your passion and why you’re excited about writing the new book. If you’re not enthusiastic about the words you write; they won’t be either. That’s just a hard fact. You don’t have to give away your plots, your titles, or even snippets each week. You just need to tell them why you care so they will too. While not all your fanbase will tag along, the M/M community consists of people who are as diverse as the books they like to read.
2. Kick it old school with a map. We’ve all had a GPS let us down, so it’s handy to know how to read a real map. In this instance, the map is your plot. You don’t have to know every rest stop along the way, but you need a solid plot/plan if you want to avoid driving off the cliff. Before you can begin, you at least need to know your character’s inner struggles and the conflicts he’ll battle during the trip. What has brought him to this point and where the hell does he want to go? Knowing your end destination helps keep you on course. You take detours and hit potholes that might knock you out of alignment but being able to visualize the destination enables you to find an alternate route.
3. Research attractions. How many people go on a trip or vacation without researching popular things to do in the area? Some people jump in their cars and drive without knowing a thing about their destination, but I think it’s rare. Writing outside your usual genre or sub-genre is no different. Read the books that readers love and can’t stop talking about. Not because you need to compare your word-wizarding skills to those authors, or because you need to imitate someone else’s style, but so you can get a feel for the expectations. Reading makes us better writers. We learn different techniques, genre-specific vernacular, and voices. As you read complex plots unfold, you can see where you’ve gone wrong with yours, or how to tighten it up. You take everything you’ve learned and find ways to make it unique to your In addition to pleasure reading, I strongly advise craft books. There are books written for general plotting and writing advice, such as Story Genius by Lisa Cron, but there are also books to guide you through specific genres, such as Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes or Mastering Suspense Structure & Plot by Jane K. Cleland. I cannot stress this enough: to be the best writer possible, you need to keep learning. Many jobs require continuing education classes, and writing shouldn’t be treated differently.

I hope you’ve found my suggestions helpful. Writing these articles also serve as a reminder to myself when I wrestle with doubts and disappointments. I remember I’m not taking a short trip to the convenience store; I’m setting myself for a trip around the world which requires planning, patience on congested roads, and many pitstops to stretch, breathe, and check in with my people.

Until next month… Happy reading!

xoxoxo