Happy New Year from TKZ

by Clare Langley-Hawthorne

As the author of the first TKZ blog post for the new year let me wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2012, full of wild crazy dreams and completed manuscripts! 


Although, I usually start off the year with a list of (often futile) new year resolutions, this year I’ve decided to work on just three key areas (and I confess I’ve nicked these from my sons’ school) – organization, persistence and resilience. So just like ‘Oscar Organization’, ‘Pete Persistence’ and Rosie Resilience’ I am going to tackle the new writing year full-on with optimism and tenacity (hey, it’s only January 2, I can be enthusiastic!)


Given the current state of the world and the in-flux nature of publishing, these also seem like a good triumvirate to take on board. All three are crucial to being a published author (whether indie or traditional) and are the key ingredients to what I like to call ‘bum glue’ – what all writers need to progress from the dream of a novel to an actual, completed manuscript. As I close in on the finish line for my latest WIP, I know that bum glue, which survived the holiday madness, has been vital.


When it comes to the TKZ, I look back at 2011 and am amazed at the breadth of topics covered – though, inevitably, the question of ‘indie versus traditional publishing’ dominated many a ‘comment debate’. So, as the new year commences, I thought I’d find out what you’d like to see more (and less) of in the future from our blog posts. 

  • Are there any areas you think we haven’t adequately covered? (or topics you feel we’ve done to death?!)
  • Do you have burning questions we haven’t addressed? 
  • Would you like us to have more guest bloggers from the industry (editors, agents or publicists for example) or perhaps change the format some weeks (where we give our points of view on one particular topic or question)?
  • Are there any changes/expansions you’d like to see to our existing ‘first-page’ analysis competition? 
  • And given the impending Mayan apocalypse… any last (writing related) requests for us at TKZ?

This is your chance to weigh in on topics/issues or areas you’d like us to cover this year, so let us know! 


Happy New Year!

10 thoughts on “Happy New Year from TKZ

  1. Welcome back! I set a monthly goal that breaks down to 570 words a day, and so far this year, I’m on target. LOL!

    No suggestions for improvement from me. Really all the topics covered seemed to spring naturally from what was going on in the writing world during that time, so it was all good.

  2. I love the format of The Kill Zone.
    BK’s right, things spring naturally from the creative minds that lurk about this site.

    I think having industry pro’s come in from timt-to-time to discuss their POV on topics is a great idea, Clare. I enjoyed the guests that logged in last year.

    Happy New Year Folks. I’m off to write on that WIP.

  3. Thanks, Clare, for starting the new year off so wonderfully. Please send Oscar over to my house ASAP. And have him bring a flame thrower and a hand grenade.

  4. Love the format of TKZ and look forward to 2012 (and 2013, take that Mayans!). I’m back in litigation again so those three guys will be critical.

    1. I love the idea of non-writer industry guests.

    2. I think TKZ does a great job of keeping the traditional vs. indie in perspective. The comment debates usually flare when there has been a new development in the industry and are always timely.

    Terri

  5. Happy new year to all! Like the others, I love the TKZ format and the variety of topics.

    Since you asked, I would prefer to see more discussions of craft. In particular, I’d like to see specific strategies for solving common and not-so-common problems. All the discussions of Indie vs Traditional and Pbooks vs Ebooks – and they were important discussions – sort of stole the show last year. As you might guess, I’m excited about the upcoming first-page analysis competition.

    I also find it interesting to hear different points of view on the same topic so I like the idea of designating a week to certain topics. As a suggestion, why not explore the definition of a writing term (Conflict, for example) or share your favorite plot devices and why you love them? Each would give us a window into your minds.

  6. These are great ideas, and Daniel, I’ll keep your request for more blogs about craft in mind for my own pieces. I like the mention of Bum Glue. With all the distractions lately, I could use some myself.

    Usually I split my goals into writing and business areas. The former is which projects I want to complete, and the latter might include things like doing an author chat or podcast. More how-to’s in this area would be helpful.

  7. Happy New Year to you all. Thanks for asking about ideas for the upcoming year, Clare. Ditto to everything that’s been said. I’m doing the one word thing this year instead of a resolution. So everything through the year will focus on Organization for me. I like that, blogging on it tomorrow for interested folks.

    Love the idea of the guests dropping by now and then, more on story boarding, character motivation, asking for endorsements,and specific problems you all still encounter that will help us with fewer books under our belts. I’m working on book three now, but I swear book two was so much harder to write than I ever anticipated. There must be a sophomore slump for newbies. :)So advice that you all found helpful along the way is appreciated. Looking forward to the year with TKZ.

  8. Great! Thanks for the input and I can send Oscar, Pete and Rosie round anytime:) I just hit the 75k mark so I am having a good start to 2012 – now to get input from beta readers and my ms might be almost there!

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