Nancy Conner, Ph.D.,
is most recently the author of Google
Apps: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly, 2008). Her ability to explain complex
technical material in language that's clear, simple, and fun has made her a
sought-after author for the Missing Manual series. She's written on a wide variety
of topics, from eBay to QuickBase (an online data-sharing service), from the
Unified Modeling Language to field-programmable gate arrays.
Her first novel,
a mystery titled Peace, Love, and Murder, will be published by Five Star Mysteries
in 2009.
Q I see you have several nonfiction books out can you tell us a little bit about them?
A I write how-to and reference books on technical subjects. Several of my books are for end-users of Web applications, such as Google Apps and QuickBase, an online data-sharing service from Intuit. I like taking complex tasks and breaking them down into easy-to-follow steps. Three of my books are in O'Reilly's Missing Manual series, and I enjoy being able to inject a bit of humor into those books. So much technical writing is dry, dry, dry. I try to make it interesting and fun.
Q I know you write Fiction as well, have you always wanted to be an author?
I'm really looking forward to her Mystery Novel Peace, Love and Murder coming out. She's an excellent writer.
A I've certainly written ever since I could hold a pencil. And my career goals have always involved writing in some way: teaching it or editing it, as well as actually doing it. But for a long time my focus was on becoming an academic: I earned a Ph.D. in English from Brown and then landed a tenure-track job at Auburn University in Alabama. I was a medievalist; my dissertation was on saints' lives and I taught a lot of Chaucer. I loved research and teaching both--especially teaching. There's nothing like the give-and-take of a good classroom discussion. While I was a grad student and later, an English professor, I didn't do any creative writing. A couple of years beyond that, when I was teaching in a private high school, I felt a strong urge to start writing again--first poetry, then fiction. And I haven't stopped since.
Q What advice and tips do you have for a beginning writer, on writing and publishing?
A I think there are two equally important tips for beginning writers: write every day, and read, read, read. Writers write. Don't wait for inspiration to hit; set aside some time each day where you sit down and write, even if you don't feel like it, even if you can't think of anything to say. As with any other art or craft, daily practice leads to mastery. As for reading, I'm often shocked by the number of aspiring writers who don't read. If you don't read anyone else's books, why should you expect anybody to read yours? Even more important, though, is the osmosis that takes place when you spend time reading. You get a feel for phrasing, the rhythm of sentences, how a scene works. Understanding these things through absorption is far more valuable, in my opinion, than trying to figure them out in a vacuum. If you want to write, read everything you can get your hands on, both in your genre and beyond it. Write every day, and read every day--no excuses.
As far as publishing goes, beginning writers shouldn't worry about that too much, not at the start, anyway. There's a perfectly natural urge to share your writing with the world, but it's worth giving yourself sufficient time for an apprenticeship. Master your craft, then start to think about publishing. Join a good writers' group that gives constructive feedback, and learn from others' thoughts about your work. If you're in a good group, they'll let you know when something is ready to send out. Then, submit to ezines and small literary journals. Don't get discouraged; these places are flooded with submissions, so it might take a while before something is accepted. But if you've put in the necessary time--learning, reading, writing, revising, polishing--you'll succeed in getting your work published.
Q Would you suggest to a beginning writer that they create a blog or have one created for them? Or website?
A This is a trick question, right? Because although I'd definitely recommend this, I haven't yet done it myself. :-) It's on the list, though! I think it's important to have an online presence, because the Internet is where people go for information. If an editor or a reader Googles your name, for example, you want to have something in place for them to find. Blogging can feel a bit lonely; it can take months of frequent posts before you start to build a following. But if you think of it as part of your daily writing practice and you don't give up, it can be very worthwhile. One piece of advice I've read that I intend to put into practice is to make sure that you give readers something of value--who's your audience? what are they looking for? Don't just talk about yourself; think about what makes you keep reading when you land on a blog or Web site--and also what makes you surf on to something else.
I think spending some time on social networking sites--Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn--is also worthwhile. So is participating in discussion groups and forums that are related to your book. If you write mysteries, for example, join an online mystery book club or start reading and commenting on your favorite mystery blogs. Contribute something of value to the conversation; don't just pester people to buy your book. Become a member of the community first, make some friends, stir up some good conversations. Once people know you in that context, they'll be interested to know that you've written a book. But if you show up as yet another author flogging yet another book--and no one has any idea who you are--you'll get ignored or even booted off.
Of course, all this blogging and Web site maintenance and community building requires a lot of time. If possible, don't let it detract from your writing time. If you can, schedule it into your week. That's what I'm trying to do, although I haven't quite figured it out yet.
