Elle Houston

Adventures of a New Writer

December 10, 2020

15. Now About that Branding…

I like to plan and I like to be prepared. When I don’t know how to do something myself, I like to try and find an expert that can help me. In my career I have spent a lot of time working with brands and I knew building my brand was important to me. I wanted to start early and on the right foot, so when the time came, I would be in a good place to promote myself and my book.

I went back to Reedsy and searched their market place for people that could help with author branding. I found a professional who had a lot of great reviews and decided to work with her. As part of her package she would review what you had posted already and give suggestions on what could be improved. I had to explain that I didn’t have anything, no website, no social media account. I was looking for help getting started.

This was a new experience for her, as she was usually helping clean up other people’s accounts, and hadn’t really been presented with creating a plan from scratch before. Thankfully she thought it was a good opportunity and put together a great packet of information for me, including what kind of content I should consider and what kinds of accounts I should set up. She even gave me great references that helped me get started. I was very happy I invested in this help, because it gave me another roadmap to follow (you know how I love roadmaps!) in getting my brand set up.

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November 10, 2020

14. Going Back to New Orleans

One morning, I woke up to a text from my mom proposing a family trip to New Orleans. About fifteen minutes later, one of my best friends texted me and asked if I was interested in meeting her out in New Orleans. As I finished reading her text out loud and my husband and I both looked at each other, a little stunned, that both these texts had come only minutes apart. Seemed like the Universe wanted us to go back to New Orleans.

I hated the idea of trying to decide between a family trip and a trip with one of my closest friends, but I threw out the idea about us all meeting up together and everyone agreed. I couldn’t believe I was getting to go back to New Orleans again! And this time I had a completed first draft, so if there was anything I wanted to see again or confirm, I had another opportunity to do so.

Almost a year to the day, I was meeting my mom, brother and sister-in-law, my best friend and her sister (with my husband) for a long weekend in New Orleans!  We got to visit a lot the favorites that we enjoyed the first time (a beignet at Café du Monde was still a must!) but this time we also got to check out Frenchmen street and visit a speak easy on Bourbon Street.  We spent more time in the Garden District, where a lot of my story takes place. I tried to pay more attention to the details like how the houses were spaced apart from each other and what the sidewalks looked like. I took even more pictures for reference later.  And New Orleans was just as wonderful to visit the second time.

It was meant to be!

New Orleans from the Mississippi River

New Orleans from the Mississippi River

A Crawfish Boil

A Crawfish Boil

A House in the Garden District

A House in the Garden District

Tiaras and Necklaces at LolaNOLA on Royal Street

Tiaras and Necklaces at LolaNOLA on Royal Street

A view from the speak easy on Bourbon Street

A view from the speak easy on Bourbon Street

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October 10, 2020

13. Finding My First Editor

So I finished my first draft and then let it breathe for a couple months. Stepping away was a good opportunity so I could look at it with a fresh pair of eyes again. I also discovered The Novel Factory could export my manuscript into a digital format that I could read on my Kindle, so when I was ready, I spent an afternoon figuring out how to get it loaded onto my device so I could read it more organically, instead of on the computer (I read all my books digitally now).

It was such an incredible experience sitting with my Kindle in my hands reading a story that I wrote! Curling up in a chair or in bed allowed me to get closer to it than I would have been able to if I was always stopping to correct something while I was at the computer. And I quickly found ways to highlight glaring errors or important notes without dramatically interrupting my reading.

I felt like the opening scene needed work and I wanted a second opinion. My husband sat watching TV in the next room and I wondered. I met my husband when were both working in the film industry and even though neither of us are in it anymore, he still has friends that give him their scripts to read and he always gives them notes. I wondered a little more. He was also an English Lit major, so he’d already and experience reading novels and giving his thoughts on them. However, my story was NOT his genre. But maybe he would at least take a look at the beginning and let me know what he thought.

So I walked out of my room and told him I felt like the opening was a little off and could he take a look at the first 20 pages for me. He looked at me a little skeptically. We both knew I wrote a romcom which was not his cup of tea. But since it was just the first 20 pages, he agreed.

When it came time to give me feedback, he was energized and excited, with lots of encouragement and helpful notes. Turns out, he may not know where the tools are, but he can edit a manuscript. Sensing his enthusiasm, I asked if he would be willing to keep reading and giving me notes and he agreed! So I printed out the whole manuscript for him and every day when he came home from work he would read through chunks of it and drop the next section of notes on my desk. It was so special to me that the first person to not only read my novel, but give me thoughtful and detailed feedback was my husband.

That English Lit degree finally came in handy!

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September 10, 2020

12. Finishing the First Draft

When I got back from New Orleans, I got back to work on my first draft, trying to fit in time whenever I could. Because of how detailed my outline was, I always chose to work through finishing scenes vs word count goals. Finishing a scene was always a natural stopping place for me. It’s always so hard starting with the very first scene, but watching the progress go by and getting to the half way point, knowing I wasn’t in the early scenes anymore, really helped to keep me motivated.

With slow and steady progress, six months later, I finished my first draft. My eyes were watering as I wrote the words “the end.” I couldn’t believe I did it. After slow and steady progress over two years, I finished my first draft! I took a picture, shed a tear and ran out of my office to give my husband a high five and a hug.

If nothing else happened, I knew I finished a complete (110K word) manuscript. I was so proud of myself. I didn’t give up, I kept pursuing and finding the time, even when things didn’t always go to plan and I got it done. Phew! I had discovered in my writing research, that the first draft is really only the beginning…so let the adventure continue!

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August 10, 2020

11. Continuing the “Write” Space

I had claimed the “catchall” room for my writing space and two years later while continuing to work at a folding table, I had finally saved up enough to start building out my office space. As part of the agreement for using the spare bedroom, I had to incorporate a rather large(r than expected) wine fridge into a small usable space, so I was already starting out with a pretty big challenge. 

My friend had given me a bright and happy birthday card and I wanted to use the colors as inspiration. I also knew I wanted to have inspirational art and quotes that would make my office a welcoming place to work. Creativity needed to happen in this environment, so I needed it to feel bright, cheerful and happy (just like the card!). After figuring out a way to hide the wine fridge in a cupboard, the only way to balance out the available wall space (most of the room had closets or doors on each wall), was to build a matching cupboard on the other side. We decided that this additional space would be storage and hold things like the printer.

Based on the set up with two cupboards on either side of the walls, the only place my desk could go, was between them. I was afraid it was going to be a bit of a tunnel for me, but as it was built out, I realized there was enough space between them where I didn’t feel trapped between two objects. The ceiling is really high, so we decided to take the shelves all the way up instead of creating a false stopping point at a normal ceiling height. We also decided a bright white paint would really make it pop.

Everything came together beautifully. My space is filled with colorful art and inspiration, that is always bright and cheerful. I sit with enough room for two monitors, which is a huge help in giving me more space to have documents open when writing and I have the occasional hum of the wine fridge to keep me company.

Outlining the Shelves

Outlining the Shelves

We put up tape to outline where the shelves would go on the wall.

The Card that Inspired My Office

The Card that Inspired My Office

I just loved the colors in this card, they are so bright and cheerful.

Printer Cabinet

Printer Cabinet

This is the side where my printer and files will go.

Where My Desk will Go

Where My Desk will Go

The actual top part of my desk isn't in place yet, but the set up is now built for it.

My Completed Office

My Completed Office

Here it is freshly painted! (The wine fridge is on the left)

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July 10, 2020

10. New Orleans

I decided to set part of my book in New Orleans for two reasons. The first is that from a story perspective it made sense that a movie would choose to film in New Orleans and was the perfect way to get my character out of LA. The second reason was because I had always wanted to visit New Orleans and I hoped that by setting part of the story there it would motivate me to visit.

A special opportunity presented itself when my mother-in-law offered to take us on a trip and we could help decide where we wanted to go. I asked my husband what he thought about New Orleans and knowing how much it meant to me (he had gone before he met me) he heartily agreed. When we asked his mom how she felt about it, she loved the idea too and soon we were booking our flight!

This coincided with me starting my first draft of writing and as luck would have it, the week before our flight, I finished the first act. This was perfect timing because the second act started in New Orleans! This meant that when I got back, I would be able to start writing about New Orleans while it was still fresh in my mind. I was so excited.

New Orleans was everything I hoped it would be. (Except that it was very, very cold. We went in January, during a particular cold spell and it actually ended snowing the day we were supposed to leave, delaying our flight!) Getting to see the architecture I had always seen in movies and photos live and in person was everything I hoped it would be. It felt like we were somewhere in Europe. The history of the city makes it one of the most unique places in the country. We listened to music at Tipitina’s, visited the famous graveyards and learned why bodies are buried above ground. We did a movie tour, visited Commander’s Palace, had beignet’s at Café du Monde, enjoyed dinner at Galatoires and had brunch at Brennan’s.  Anytime my husband or mother-in-law saw something they thought might be helpful for my book they would stop and point it out.

It was such a wonderful trip made even more special by the support of family. Now it was time to get back to writing.

Galatoires

Galatoires

Brennans Kings Room

Brennans Kings Room

Beignet from Cafe Du Monde

Beignet from Cafe Du Monde

Street Car

Street Car

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June 10, 2020

9. Finding the Time

It’s been interesting trying to find a rhythm of incorporating writing into my life. With a full time job, a husband and an active social life, I found it could, at times, be challenging to set aside the time to write. I also knew I didn’t want to pressure myself, as this was supposed to be fun and make me happy. And I didn’t want to feel guilty about not doing something because I felt I should have been writing instead.

The thing I love the most about The Novel Factory is their Roadmap. It’s a very detailed step by step guide that takes you from a sentence describing your story to a full blown novel. By following all the steps/exercises in the roadmap, I always knew my next step. So even when I had to take breaks from writing, I always knew where to pick it up again. And when I say that I was setting aside time to write, my “writing” time was doing all these assignments in the roadmap. By fitting time here and there I was making progress, but I spent over a year just working my way through all the steps without actually starting my first draft. I realized this all could have moved along much faster, but sometimes there would be weeks where I didn’t write at all. I trusted in the process though, because by continuing to build on my work, the basic outline I first started with was turning into very detailed scenes.

And as I started watching tangible progress unfold, I was finding more and more motivation and need to keep going. When I saw long weekends coming up, I would beg my very social husband to leave them open so I could have uninterrupted days to really get in the zone and hit the next milestone of being ready to officially start my first draft. I even took vacation days to bump up against long weekends, to give myself extra time. And it was in those set aside times that plans sometimes changed…friends were in town or had events coming up that we couldn’t miss, and I had to find that balance of feeling this desperation of wanting to do something completely for me and also wanting to be a part of these special life moments.

I think writing will always be a balancing act. I’ll always be trying to steal those extra hours for writing while still making sure I’m present in life. After a year and a half of working through the roadmap, I was so proud that I actually followed all the steps and reached the milestone of officially starting my first draft.

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May 10, 2020

8. Picking a Pen Name

I knew from the start that I was going to write under a pen name. I decided this for two reasons. I felt that if I was going to create a whole brand, I wanted it to be separate from my professional career. I’ve spent many years putting together a resume and I didn’t want internet searches to confuse two very different worlds. I also liked the idea of learning how to build a brand  and starting it from ground zero was going to be a great learning experience.

I was also concerned that my job may not love this creative endeavor, especially as it was connected to rom com and romance books which can be a little edgier in subject matter. So all around, I felt it was a better idea to use a pen name.

But how does one choose a pen name? Mine came  to me pretty quickly. I ended up going with the end of my first name, “Elle” and choosing my great-grandmother’s maiden name “Houston.” I really liked that I could use a family name, it makes the pen name more special to me and I think Elle Houston has a nice ring to it. I can see it on the cover of a novel.

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April 10, 2020

7. Putting Together a Game Plan

I am inherently a planner. I need to know what comes next or I start to get a little anxious. As I started writing, I realized I really wanted to figure out what my next steps should be. A friend told me about GoHighBrow, a site that encourages people to learn something new every day by signing up for “courses” that are delivered by email (every morning) for a quick, 5 minute read. They also only allow you to sign up for one course at a time, as they want to encourage productive daily habits and don’t want to tire out your brain from too much information at once.

I found they had a number of options to choose from and through their free trial, I ultimately ended up signing up for two courses: “How to Self-Publish” and “How to Market Your Book Online.” Both were actually really helpful and included more resources for additional information. What I basically learned was I needed to build a whole brand as an author. This needed to include a website, blog and social media presence. Great, I already had a full-time job, how was I going to make time to figure out how to build a brand, oh and also write my story?!

I decided I wanted to see if I could go the traditional publishing route. But doing this meant I would need to try and find a book agent. I know that’s a competitive field, and if I wanted to try and find an agent, I would need to make sure my book was as good as I could make it, which would also mean finding an editor.

I started to explain all of this to my husband and he told me to just focus on my writing and finishing it first. While he has always been supportive of me, the way he said it made it sound like he was questioning that I would actually finish this project. I was still going through the outlining stages in The Novel Factory, but I knew deep down that I was going to finish this story. It was hard for me to explain to my husband that I needed to figure out these next steps to feel excited and keep pushing myself forward.

Initially, I started doing some research on how to find a good editor, and went down a lot of rabbit holes in the process. I found myself getting overwhelmed by all the options. Ultimately, I decided to take my husband’s advice and just focus on writing my book. But I was glad that I had done this initial research, because it helped me understand additional areas I needed to focus on and I was excited that I now had my next steps.

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March 10, 2020

6. Surrounding Myself with Romance

I have always enjoyed Chick lit and Rom Com novels. Curling up with them makes me happy and helps my anxiety go down. I take pleasure in the love stories and getting a good chuckle now and then…or sometimes a girly squeal when the couple does something swoon worthy! I knew when I started writing my own novel that this would be the genre I would work in.

I needed to immerse myself in the Romance world. First up, I started doing A LOT more reading. I was on a quest to find fabulous new stories. I started using Goodreads for recommendations and suggestions. I discovered more New Adult, LGBTQ, Historical, Contemporary, Regency and Erotic romances. And best of all, The Ripped Bodice, the only brick and mortar romance book store in the United States is located in Los Angeles! How lucky am I?! They are a wealth of knowledge and suggestions to discover wonderful, new books, pushing me past what I would have chosen on my own. Check out this great article about them: https://www.glamour.com/story/the-ripped-bodice-bookstore-interview

I also discovered Passionflix.com, an amazing site/app turning romance novels into movies. I want to work there one day! I couldn’t believe all these wonderful companies were coming into the universe as I was starting to truly understand the genre. And not only appreciate the genre, but learn to be proud of a genre that is largely responsible for supporting the book world as a whole.

Here are some contemporary authors that have really inspired me:

  • Mariana Zapata
  • Elle Kennedy
  • Sally Thorne
  • Kristen Ashley
  • Helen Hoang
  • Lisa Kleypas

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