Making Excuses — Privilege, Prose, and More

Time and time again when I check my social media, I see cisgender, white, heterosexual authors saying things to authors along the lines of,

“Your excuses don’t matter. Nobody wants to hear your whining.”

“Quit making up reasons for not writing. Sacrifice yourself for art.”

“Do more. You’re slacking. If you want to write you need to put in the blood, sweat, and tears.”

“Your excuses are not interesting. Your fear is not valuable. Your doubt is killing you. Hold your nose and dive the fuck in.”

When did I crash land on planet asshole, exactly? I’d like to leave.

Excuses to some people are actually valuable time to recharge for others. What looks like, “Excuses.” to you means someone leaving one job, coming home, and starting the work for another one. If I watch an episode of a show to let my brain relax instead of instantly jumping into drafting another book, perhaps try considering how physically and emotionally exhausting it is to not only have to present as neurotypical on a daily basis at a high-pressure job, but to have to present as a gender that I do not identify with for my safety. It leaves you raw, drained, and utterly without reserves. If I were able to recapture the feeling in an image, it would be the ‘low battery’ symbol.

I shouldn’t have to validate how I spend my very limited free time to people making $50,000 more a year than I am, that don’t live in poverty, aren’t trans, and aren’t queer. Try living on $10,000 a year while in my situation. You wouldn’t be preaching to me and so many other marginalized writers about, “Excuses.” then. “According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, transgender people are four times as likely to have a household income under $10,000 and twice as likely to be unemployed as the typical person in the U.S.” I highly doubt that the people saying these things have lived in poverty, or realize their immense amounts of privilege.

Fear, in my case–is very, very valid. Given last week where I was misgendered and mocked by a very popular “diverse” (who names these cishet white people as diversity spokespeople? I’d like to have a word with them.) author–even moreso. I live every day in fear of being misgendered, outed, murdered, stalked–the list goes on. Cishet people don’t experience half of the fear that trans and queer people do. Social justice and taking a stand against transphobia is becoming more common–which I am fortunate to have in my own life. I have many friends that stood up for me over the last weekend, and I am very grateful for that.

Telling people to, “Pick themselves up by the bootstraps.” is privileged. Saying that people cannot have fear, doubt, or just plain not want to write for a day or two is not helpful. That doesn’t make people want to write books. I know it doesn’t make me want to write them. I know we’re all supposed to be blessed by the fountain of cishet white wisdom bestowed upon us, but mostly it just makes me depressed.

Don’t tell people they need to do things exactly like you or they, “Don’t want it bad enough.” it’s not okay. Ever.

Src: http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/headlines/beyond-stereotypes-poverty-in-the-lgbt-community/#sthash.0rpyrRgp.dpuf

Gilded Invites to Twitter Pitch Parties

There is no bigger trend today in publishing than that of twitter pitch parties. Authors, agents, and independent presses all join in on specific days. A twitter pitch contest is for writers with a completed manuscript to potentially gain the attention of an agent or publisher that’s interested in their novel. Many well-known Twitter pitch contests are #AdPit for Adult and New Adult novels, #sunvssnow which is a pitch contest occurring between winter and spring, and #PitchMAS around the holidays.

I participated in #PitchMAS with amazing results for my first time ‘out of the gate’ so to speak, with an astounding response rate to my pitches. I’ve got my manuscript, EMBERS, under consideration at a few publishers as a result. I was even lucky enough to get a partial request for pages from an agent. Will you see the same results? Perhaps. If you follow the pitch party rules, are polite, and above all–have a hook that interests people! Writing a boring pitch means that your work is easy to scroll by. If you have a hook that’s not clearly defined, or you don’t use the genre hashtag in at least one of your tweets throughout the day, it might be hard for people to grasp why your book is the one that they’ve been hoping for.

Regardless of an author’s choice of contest, they must always do their research. Agents and publishing companies will ‘star’ or ‘favorite’ an author’s novel hook on Twitter when they use the corresponding hashtag. If they do so, an author is instructed on how to submit materials to them. Prior to submitting materials, research that the agent or press you have worked with is genuine. I cannot count the number of ‘favorites’ my own work has gotten from publishers and agents that had pages of warnings and ‘author bewares’ about them. An agent or publisher should respond to questions, have clear turnaround guidelines, and above all be reputable. A simple Google search can tell you this information before you submit.

Need a little help with your pitch? I’d be more than happy to hear from you on Twitter. I can help you formulate a pitch for a competitive price, or refine one you already have!