Clarissa Bannor

Anjali Enjeti is a former attorney, organizer, journalist, and MFA instructor based near Atlanta. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed books Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change, and The Parted Earth. Her other writing has appeared in Oxford American, Boston Globe, Poets & Writers, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and elsewhere.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I have always loved writing for myself but came very late to consider that my writing could or should be published. It wasn’t until I was in my late twenties, after I gave birth to my first child, that I felt the need to get my words out into the world and that others might be interested in reading them.

Which genre are you most passionate about?

This is a tough question for me to answer. I love writing fiction (novels) and criticism (critical essays, reviews, etc.). I love personal essays, too. Essay writing is how I got started. I love any kind of deeply told story regardless of the genre.

What is one of the most surprising things you learned while publishing your work?

How long it takes! For the majority of us, getting a publishing contract, then receiving edits, copyediting, etc., takes a while. From the time I signed my book contracts until my books came out took about 1.5 to two years. There’s a lot of hurry up and wait!

How has being a former attorney influenced your work as a writer?

It’s absolutely helped me with research. I did some pretty immersive research to write my debut novel, The Parted Earth. Drafting briefs, looking through boxes of evidence, and sorting case files helped me figure out how to tackle the process of boiling down a lot of information into a cohesive and compelling narrative.

What advice would you offer new writers?

Publishing and writing are two different realms. Don’t let publication metrics (certain bylines, book contracts, etc.) determine your worth as a writer. Your voice is valuable, and your words are important because of your craft and your practice, and the blood, sweat, and tears you pour into your work, not because someone in the publishing industry tells you so!

Many of us have experienced a writing process throughout our lives, whether it was rushing to complete a school assignment the night before it was due or writing reports for work. Most of our effort is in the creating of a story or narrative we wish to convey to our audience. Hopefully, when we are done we are satisfied with our work and then move on to our next assignment. But for writers at the end of this creative process of writing there is the additional question of, “what now, what is next for my work?”

For many this is the point in the writer’s journey when the author starts working on the business side of the writing process to get their work published, facing the many challenges and decisions to consider regardless of the publishing route they choose.  I also started my writing journey with all my energy focused on putting words onto the page and learning the craft of writing. These are important skills to learn and while I always understood there is a business side to writing I believed that would come later after I completed my final draft, or as close to completion as possible. However, after attending James River Writers master classes and conference sessions or just networking with fellow writers, I soon realized that attention to the business side should begin earlier rather than later in the writing process.

Realizing the need to spend time on the business side was both illuminating and daunting given that I was focusing most of my energy on writing and researching my story. Now I would need to divert my limited energy and time resources on these writing business-related areas also.

Fortunately, JRW offered programs covering tips to integrate and balance both sides of the writing process. At JRW conferences while attending the Book Doctors Pitchapalooza sessions, I discovered the importance of developing an elevator pitch so I would be able to quickly present my story to potential agents and readers.  This also had the additional benefit of zeroing in on the essence of my story and helping me focus on the direction to follow with it.

I also never fully appreciated the importance of building your writer’s brand, the need for an author’s website or the author’s newsletter until I attended Karen A. Chase’s fantastic classes on these topics. These classes presented the importance of writers spending a percentage of time working on building a brand, cultivating a network of readers, and getting their names out to the public as they are working on their stories. I realized as the work progresses from draft to final product, the percentage of time devoted to the business side changes until almost 100% of your time is on the business side as you prepare for your book launch.

All of this demonstrates to me that one of the most valuable resources JRW provides is bringing writers with various experience levels together to network. This network became increasingly important as the world became more virtual due to the pandemic and JRW created virtual programs to fill the need.
One program JRW offers is a free monthly informal virtual meet and greet with other writers on the second Wednesday of each month. Being able to discuss all aspects with fellow writers, not only from the Richmond area but literally from around the world, provided me an important resource to gain insight on how others balance the business side with their writing process.

As I continue my writing journey an important lesson I have learned by attending JRW programs and talking with fellow writers is not to wait before starting the business aspect of becoming a published writer and being able to answer the question, “what is next for my work.”

About the Author

Mike Christos has been involved with JRW since 2003 in various supporting roles. Due to his years of experience as a computer engineer and chief technical officer, he has helped JRW with various computer technical issues and is currently serving on the Board of Directors, chairing the JRW Technical Committee. Although not originally considering himself a writer, he is published in a scientific journal and is at work on a science fiction novel he considers an Indiana Jones/Dr. Who/Dan Brown mashup.

Lindsay Young is a poet from New York, based in Richmond, Virginia. They are a Winter Tangerine alumnus, a 2020 Watering Hole fellow, and a two time 2021 Best of the Net nominee. Their work has been published in The Offing Magazine, So to Speak: Feminist Journal, The Hellebore, and elsewhere. Their manuscript titled “In Your Absence”,” was long-listed for Button Poetry’s 2020 Chapbook contest, and was the winner of the 3rd Annual Backbone Press Chapbook Competition in 2021. Young currently works as a freelance poet and workshop facilitator, and is getting their MSW from Columbia University.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

I first realized I wanted to be a writer in the second grade, after impressing my favorite teacher with my ability to rhyme in long form. The writer in me has been blooming ever since.

Which genre are you most passionate about?

I’m most passionate about poetry. The way it grants everything a pulse.

What is the most surprising thing you learned while publishing your work?

The most surprising thing I learned while publishing my work is that holding a book in my hands has still not made me a millionaire. Go figure!

How has being a youth counselor impacted your writing?

Being a youth counselor grants me a lot of language for different facets of emotionality which has brought  a lot of life to my work.

What advice would you offer new writers?

The advice that I would offer to new writers: Who you are when you start is who you will spend the entirety of your writing career trying to get back to. Remember who you are now, why you write now, what moves you now, and hold onto those things with both hands. You are your best offering.

One of the publishing truisms I experienced very early on in my writing career is that no one really cares whether you write your book or not, let alone whether you ever publish it. I realize that is a fairly sobering way to begin an article, but sometimes ripping the band-aid off is the best way to go.

Now, if you’re still reading this article and haven’t closed it in favor of something more “flowery” about the publishing business, then I have something worth considering. While the world will be just fine without your book, you should still write it. This is not me coming at you with the Wayne Gretzky “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” or the Steve Jobs “real artists ship;” this is about the fact that things can only really happen if you put them out into the universe first.

I’ll share two brief examples about what I mean:

First, in 2012 I wrote a blues novel. I sent it to my literary agent, and she never responded to the submission. Later, when I submitted my next novel, she responded to my inquiries about the former book with this: “Oh, you were serious about that? I thought you knew that book wouldn’t sell.” Undeterred, I decided to indie publish the book. She was right. No one cared about the book, which was reflected in its lackluster sales. Roughly six months later, I received an email from a French translator asking if I still held the French language rights. Thinking it a prank, I almost didn’t respond. Thanks to a little online research, I discovered he was a real person. I consented to have him translate the book, and, with my permission, he pitched it to a publisher he worked with in Paris. The editors loved the book and acquired it, where it would be published in two different versions, receiving critical acclaim from Rolling Stone France and Le Monde in the process. If I didn’t put it out into the universe, that wouldn’t have happened.

My second example is more recent. I indie published a novel composed of one hundred 100-word chapters, a first of its type. Several months later, I received an email through my website from the Chief Narrative Officer of a video game company who’d not only read my book, but made it required reading for the company. He wanted to know if I’d be interested in working with them on their intellectual property. As a result, I am now a senior writer with the company, in addition to my other jobs, which now include serving as a university creative writing professor and freelancer for Writer’s Digest magazine. None of this would have happened, if I had elected to not publish the book.

So, yes, it is true that no one is sitting around at this moment saying, “Man, I can’t wait to get my hands on the next collection of Afrosurrealist microfiction!” But that doesn’t mean that the universe doesn’t have something in store for my work somewhere else down the line. For that to happen, I have to do my part and write the book and get it out there. I hope that you will consider doing the same.

About the Author

Ran Walker is the author of over twenty books. His short stories, flash fiction, microfiction, and poetry have appeared in a variety of anthologies and journals. He is the winner of the Indie Author Project’s 2019 National Indie Author of the Year Award (selected by judges from Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, IngramSpark, St. Martin’s Press, and Writer’s Digest), the 2019 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Best Fiction Ebook Award, and the 2018 Virginia Indie Author Project Award for Adult Fiction.  Ran has taught workshops across the country, including Writer’s Digest conferences in both New York and L.A., and is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Hampton University.  Prior to becoming a writer and educator, he worked in magazine publishing and practiced law in Mississippi.