Writing Gear

I got my first contract in 2008, and since then I’ve published nine books, including three different series for two different publishers. I don’t expect you to be impressed. I’m just telling you that for background.

Those first few novels were like a fever in my blood. I had no idea what was going to happen in the next chapter or even on the next page. I didn’t know if what I wrote was good, bad, or in between. I just knew I had to get it out of my head.

These days things are a little different. Fans ask, “When’s the next Loser novel coming out?” and I know they have questions they want answered about her. Publishers ask, “How many books will the Simon and Elizabeth series contain?” and I know they’re looking at the bottom line. And editors ask, “When can you get the changes for the next Dead Detective book done?” and I know they have schedules to meet.

It’s not just my eager fingers making me write these days.

Published authors know that writing really is work. It becomes a little less of a Great Adventure and more of a Project. There are people out there with expectations, which is different from the days when we used to write as much as we felt like writing, any way we wanted to.

That said, I still look forward to the next book. It’s exciting to turn the ideas in my head into a full novel that people are out there waiting to buy. As I write, things come to mind that add meat to the story’s backbone or flesh to a character’s frame. I’m likely to laugh out loud or do a little celebratory dance when a particularly good idea hits.

And there’s a point where the writing becomes a fever again, when I begin to live inside the book. My characters matter to me—a lot. I forget about publishing houses and editors and even fans. It’s my story. I want to tell it. I know what has to happen, and I know how it has to be told.

When I finish, I emerge from my cloud of fiction to face the real world again. I listen to my editors’ suggestions, do what my publishers request for promotion, and let the fans know that Another One is available. At that point, though, the book isn’t mine anymore. It belongs to the readers, but yes, thank you, I did have fun with it during the brief period when it was only mine.

Time and Timing: Where Did September Go?

The last week of the month, and I'm definitely not ready for October. As a writer,I try to take stock monthly of what has been accomplished so I can assess my success and plan what still needs to be done.
I went to Bouchercon. That was a lot of fun, but a lot of work, too: arranging to be away from home, traveling the distance from Michigan to Missouri, and smiling, smiling, smiling, no matter that my feet hurt or I felt like the smallest fish in the pond at times.
I did a lot of promotion for the upcoming release, POISON, YOUR GRACE, and got some response: great reviews from PUBLISHERS WEEKLY and LIBRARY JOURNAL. I also heard yesterday that THE DEAD DETECTIVE AGENCY is a finalist for best mystery novel in the EPIC (electronically published) judging. All good stuff.
So what didn't I do?
I meant to get the second Dead Detective Mystery off to my publisher on Sept. 1st. It might go out today.
I meant to finish the third Simon & Elizabeth Mystery. It isn't even close.
I wanted to edit a stand-alone I've been working on for a couple of years. I'm maybe a third through that one.
As a writer, I'm often swamped with ideas: so many stories I want to tell. There just isn't enough time for everything I want to do. There's no one standing over me with a club. It's my own desire--maybe need--to write that drives me onward (and maybe a little crazy).
With all that I wanted to accomplish, September has slipped from my (constantly typing) fingers, and I barely noticed.
Oddly enough, for me this is happiness.

My worst enemy...

Okay, so it's true. All of it. I have an enemy that confounds me at every step, forces me to do things I'd rather not and sometimes sends me into fits of morose despondence or bestial anger and frustration. Why do I let this be? How did I lead myself to this moment? Only to escape but then return to it again and again as if it were some pernicious drug that I am addicted to? Because that's precisely what it is. A drug. A balm. An enemy to be vanquished when I finally get over my moments of weakness and indecision and decide to deal with this enemy head-on. Perhaps I'll take the easy and most sensible way out and make friends? Maybe I'll smile and make googly eyes at this creature in the hope that I can sneak up on it and take it by surprise? Either way I'm afraid I must face it... time after time, over and over again... because I must. And face it I will, until once again I conquer it and send it scurrying back into the shadows from whence it came, knowing that I am again its victor. This craven enemy... this haughty tormentor... this blank page.

Allow Me To Introduce Myself

My name is Austin S. Camacho and I’ve been invited to join this esteemed group of bloggers. I am a published author with a four-book detective series to my credit, but there are lots of those lying around, so why should you listen to anything I have to say - especially since the first sentence you heard from me here is in passive construction?

Well, I can say that my opinions are not only strong but backed by experience. I’ve published my novels through a Print On Demand company, then by way of genuine self-publishing. After that a small press accepted my work so I actually got an advance, which I think is the line you cross when you can call yourself “commercially” published. And I have a New York agent who is trying to sell a couple of my manuscripts to the big guys, the mythical “mainstream” publishers we’ve all heard so much about. I’ve taught writing to adults at a local college. I’ve given classes and sat on panels at a number of writing conferences.

I’ll never talk so much about myself again, I just wanted you to know that no matter what kind of writer you are, we have something in common. And there’s this other thing. I love to write. Mostly I love writing mystery novels, but short stories and articles come out too.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s also writing I hate. I hate writing submission letters. I hate writing press releases about me or my own work. I hated writing a treatment for a potential screenplay of one of my stories. I’m hating trying to write discussion guides for book clubs that might want to read my novels.

That kind of writing is marketing, either to publishers, producers or readers. Not liking it doesn’t change the fact that it’s half the writer’s job. I spend a lot of time on marketing, which is why a POD company asked me to write a book on marketing fiction. (Don’t buy it – an updated version will be out in 2 months.)

So, bottom line, I’m a writer with all the oddities and foibles you have. I’ve learned a lot from the other writers here. I've traded opinions with Cheryl Kaye Tardif and now I hope to do so with you. I’ll be back when I have something to say, and now you know who I am.


Austin