Tanya Lisle

  • It’s been a rough year reading-wise! Not because of the books read, but because of my health making it a hell of a lot harder than usual to actually read. Fiction in particular has been hard, but the first half of the year carried a lot of really interesting stuff, and the things I’ve been able to get through in the latter half of the year have provided some interesting ideas!

    For my top books, these are the ones I read and enjoyed the most in the last year. These are not necessarily award winning, but the stories that left me feeling something and maybe gave me ideas that I wanted to work with more. In no particular order, these are my favourite reads from 2022!

    An Elderly Lady Must not be Crossed

    I have a soft spot for vignette style narratives. And also the idea of seemingly innocent things being responsible for terrible actions that were done entirely intentional. I have no intention of reading the first book, but I find myself liking the story of a little old lady murdering every inconvenience in her path throughout her life the more I remember it. ((And it’s a format I might go back to while I continue to recover!))

    Dead Steam II

    This was a really fun collection. I didn’t like all of the stories, but the ones I did like I loved. It’s very much a case of some resonate with me at different times, and there’s a wide enough spread that I can always find something. Stuff that didn’t click when I read it the first time I’ve found myself liking more later, and it’s been a fun one to casually pick up now and then.

    Wire Wings

    I stand by what I said. The pacing still feels off, but it was something that had me coming up with ideas afterwards, which is the mark of a book that I enjoyed. Especially with all the talk of VR and the Metaverse that happened in tech circles this year, I found myself thinking a lot more about some of the ideas this book brought to my mind. And also, well, the idea that my intact brain could exist in a place where it wasn’t dependent on my body functioning is kind of aspirational right now.

    Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic

    I was so worried this was going to be a romance, but instead it was a strangely Vancouver book. The cover looks so disinctly like a meet cute romance, but instead it follows the story of family troubles, identity, and murder. Which are all things that I really enjoy both writing and reading about, so it was very squarely in the realm of things that felt made for me.

    Also it reminded me of this cupcake store I used to frequent downtown. Which is unrelated.

    Questland

    I don’t know why this stuck with me so much. Maybe because I knew most of the references, or because the concept of the world was so much fun. It was very light as a read on its own, but it’s another book that made me think a lot more about some of my own ideas and sparked some inspiration in the way it went about the story. Plus, it’s nice to have books that are just fun sometimes.

    No Gods, No Monsters

    This might be the odd one in the group, but I feel like I like this more than I think. This is one that I am thinking about going back to when my brain is a bit more recovered, since I feel like it’s something I will like more when I can concentrate better. The elements of modern day monsters in hiding, entirely separate narratives that are interwoven in strange ways that are sometimes in concept only, and very ambiguous world building are all right in my area, but I feel like this was a favourite that I came upon at the wrong time. I’m looking forward to revisiting it.

  • As an author, you are a creative person. So what do you do when that creativity starts to pull you into a different direction? How do you deal with the desire to write in new genres that might not be anything like what you’ve already curated your author brand around?

    You don’t do what I did, I’ll tell you that much. But I know what’s been proven to work with others!

    Consider what you’re branching out into

    Really take a look at the thing that you want to write. Is it a new genre, or just a new theme on the genre that you are already writing? Do they have similar themes to what you’re already writing? Because if it’s similar enough to what you’re already doing, there might not be the need to do anything! If your new stuff has the same audience demographic as your old market, you’re probably fine to keep going as you were and not worry too much about it.

    Check in with your audience

    If you’re not sure, just check in with your existing audience to see if they would be interested. If they are, you know you’re fine! If only some are interested, it might be a good idea to segment those people interested to bring them along on your journey on pursuing a new genre.

    Craft a new identity

    In order to ensure you don’t confuse your old audience, it’s usually a good idea to create a new name for the new genre you are going to pursue. This is so that you are not potentially confusing either your old or your new audience. If they look you up, they will have an expectation of the kinds of books they will find and it’s up to you to make sure that expectation is met! Creating a new name is an easy way to ensure that happens!

    Start the communication

    With this new identity, you’ll want to do all the thing you’ve done with your existing author persona: Create your profiles and lists! This includes:

    • Social media profiles
    • Newsletter mailing list
    • A site or landing page that allows people to find all your content

    Start targeting readers that new genre

    Do a little research into your new genre and take a look at how to attract readers. The tactics might change between genres, so it’s good to make sure you understand how readers in that new genre communicate, where they congregate, and what they respond well to. Once you have that understanding, be sure to start engaging those new readers on their terms and get them reading!

    Decide if your existing audience would be interested

    If you think there’s at least a portion of your existing audience that might want to follow you on this new endeavour, give them the option to do so! Make an announcement about the new identity and let them know. You might be surprised to see how many of your existing fanbase are willing to follow you into this new endeavour.

    Or do what you’ve already been doing!

    I am someone who did none of this and I can tell you that you will still be fine if you don’t go through the effort of creating a whole separate identity and brand for every possible identity for each genre you want to try out.

    It does come with a financial cost, though. Authors with very tight niches and strong branding tend to do much better than those who go ahead and write whatever they feel like, but you will still have plenty of opportunity to find a fanbase who will love what you do, no matter what you’re doing.

    Just try not to start making jewelry. It’s a lot harder for an audience to make that kind of jump.

  • I thought I had read this book before when I took it out, but there was no history on it. Upon closer investigation, this appears to be a part 2 to his previous book: Hooked. And it is weird.

    This book largely focuses on different strategies to take back your time and how to not be so distracted by the world around you. And if you are reading it for that purpose, it is awful. The useful stuff appears on just about every productivity tips list, and there is a complete lack of nuance or acceptance that different people have different lives and needs. The work section in particular really requires that you have control over your own schedule, and he advocates for making your friends and family feel bad for looking at their phones.

    But as a sequel to Hooked, it is fascinating. He previously wrote a book about how to use psychology to make addictive products, and in this one he’s putting the onus on the user to not fall for the things he pushed for in the previous one. The first one was from the perspective of the product, this one from the user, and he never puts together that he is remotely responsible for creating the problem in the first place.

    And that’s really a larger tech and design issue that I am not getting into right now.

    Overall, if you are looking for ways to become better at controlling your own attention, not this one. But if you read Hooked and you want to watch the author completely avoid any accountability in creating a world where technology is specifically designed to be addictive and blame the user for allowing themselves to become addicted to technology and the world at large around them, including I think using several of the same studies from the first book reframed as a bad thing, it’s actually pretty interesting.

    Get it now

  • I’ve been actively working on figuring out how to make my life into a more ideal version of itself for a while now. I’ve read just a ton of books about improving my life and habits and generally how to get myself together. I’ve put together whole work plans to make myself recover when I got sick. And throughout it all, I’ve been adjusting this system.

    But it’s coming to the end of the year and it feels like a good time to think a little about the process so far and what I’m finding.

    I’m more aware of what I’m doing in general

    This has a lot to do with the fact that I’m sitting down and very intentionally tracking everything right now as a result of the health issues, yes, but I had started moving towards this before. I have a better idea of what my priorities are, how often I switch between them, and how long they maintain my interest before they slip away. In the new year, I’ll be continuing this to get a better understanding of how to structure things, break them down, and create points where I can leave things for a while to let my creativity wander.

    I am starting to really think about what I want

    I have never been good at self reflection. I don’t think a lot about the things I want from that emotional or self reflective place. With everything that’s happened this past year, I have gotten a lot more insight into, if nothing else, the things that I really don’t enjoy, which has led me to try and think more about what I would like to do instead. And from that angle, I’m getting a better sense of what I want out of life.

    My life does feel a lot more together

    You guys, I have been an absolute chaos monster in the past. I hop between strategies to organize things, abandoning each over and over again in favour of something new and shiny that will be the actual cure for everything. But I finally feel like I’ve started from the right place and I’m putting in systems that are intended to be abandoned for a while or changed and focusing a lot more on the things that I’m realizing matter more.

    Seeing progress is fantastic

    Did I know before that I loved seeing the numbers change and watching myself get closer to my goals? Of course! But did I ever realize just how much seeing the changes happening would actually help with my motivation? I feel like I should have realized that this was going to happen like this.

    I don’t feel as bad about not hitting my goals as I thought

    There are a lot of things that had to be put aside this year that I’m not happy about, sure, but I’ve also made so much progress in other areas that I’m not as upset about the fact that I’ve had to let a lot of things go. There were some things I just lost interest in, some things that came up that I wanted to do instead, and a lot of things outside of my control that happened. And overall, I think I’m still doing pretty well for myself.

    Now to figure out how to made adjustments for next year!

  • Am I having some bad brain times that have made me unable to really read anything fiction, so I’m going to be on a bit of a nonfiction kick for a while? Yep! You have been warned. But this one isn’t self help or about how to better yourself this time! This one is about personal tracking. Which… well, very relevant given all the brain stuff for the moment.

    The book explores the people who track their lives digitally and how that impacts both themselves and the world around them. There’s the more traditional things you might expect, like using that data to better optimize your day and otherwise use it for the purpose of improving their lives in some way. But there’s also the lesser talked about portions about people who share this information and develop an audience that are interested in the data they can get about others mundanely shared online, from comparing steps with peers to social media posts documenting the food you eat.

    Below all of those levels, I really liked the reflection that a lot of this data collected is not matched with the level of reflection about the meaning of it. It’s definitely something I have seen in previous attempts to otherwise optimize various aspects via data tracking. Also interesting is the more positive social aspects of data sharing, such as being able to more accurately put together the day a pipe bomb went off in Oregon. We hear plenty about the negative aspects of data tracking and putting your information out there, so it’s refreshing to see something positive come of it.

    Overall, I thought it was a really interesting read! I liked the discussions around the reasons behind tracking, where there were opportunities, and where it was maybe not accomplishing what people really intended.

    Get it now

  • If you’re looking for a way to add a little extra flavour or realism to your fictional universe, you may be tempted to use the current holiday season as inspiration. And you should! Adding holidays is a great way to make your world feel more well rounded and is an interesting way to provide insight into the way the world works.

    But what are some ways that you can create a holiday that don’t feel like you’re just copying real world holidays? Here are a few things to consider!

    When is there an influx of food?

    A very common reason to celebrate is food! Think about how food plays a role in the celebrations we have in this world, and how that might translate to the world you have created. There is a long history of harvest festivals, or even just holidays that are based on creating tons and tons of food to bring people together to eat.

    In these cases, consider what kind of food would be available that is worth celebrating! These kinds of holidays are often seasonal and dependent on the earth operating in a fairly regular manner, so there’s a lot of opportunity to use this kind of holiday as a means of expositing things like how the environment functions and if there’s been any large changes from one year to the next that are unusual.

    Environmental events

    The longest and shortest days of the year are used here to determine the changing of the seasons. Full moons and solar eclipses and first snowfall have also been causes for celebration, though they are not as regular. Does your world have any traditions around these smaller events?

    Alternately, was there a large scale environmental event that caused a great change that the people in your world want to remember? Traditions could be formed around the idea that it might happen again, or just to remember the last time.

    Ruling powers changing

    In terms of a monarchy, the changing of power can be a big deal to the people under that rule. The death of a beloved or hated monarch might kick off a celebration of some sort, or even the crowning of the next in line.

    For a democratic society, there might be traditions around the day in which the people come together to decide on their new ruler. A day off of work for people to come together, or something that the people can witness as those in the running for power compete to take the rule.

    Cultural or religious reasons

    If your world has something unique about their culture or religions, are there any holy days or generally sacred practices that occur on a larger scale? Is there a public version of those traditions for those who may not be part of that culture or religion to also participate? Christmas is a holiday celebrated by people often regardless of religious affiliation, so does your world have something like that as well?

    A combination of these things!

    Sometimes these ideas can intersect! A full moon may be the day that the new ruler is crowned, or the harvest festival coincides with a large religious holiday. Look at ways that these things can intersect and see the opportunities that you can craft to use it to help with adding a little more flavour and interest into your worldbuilding.

    Write Your Story: Unlock Your Creative Potential

    Are you ready to embark on a journey into the world of storytelling? Look no further! Introducing Write Your Story, a comprehensive resource designed to fuel your imagination, enhance your storytelling skills, and bring your characters to life. Whether you’re an aspiring writer, a seasoned author, or simply someone who loves crafting stories, this workbook is your ultimate companion.

    This Workbook Contains:

    • Story planning spreads
    • Setting and location spreads
    • Character spreads
    • Writing session tracker

    Have you created any holidays for your fictional universes?

  • Today in taking out random books from the library, a book about Cirque! I have never been myself, but have always wanted to go. There’s a tent that I can see from the train when they come into town, but I haven’t been yet. So obviously I had to check out a book about it, even if it looks oddly like a business book.

    It’s not a business book, though, not really. It’s a motivational book about how to improve your life, but told through the framing device of a sports talent rep discovering the world of Cirque and having the people who work behind the scenes give him life advice via telling him about the intricacies about their job and how inspired they are by it.

    It’s clearly fictionalized if not entirely fictional. There is no way that everyone in Cirque speaks in quotables, I am sorry. But I did find it to be a very effective and entertaining way of getting the message across of finding your passion and understanding that the risks are worth the rewards of happiness in the end. It is a little heavy handed at times, but I still enjoyed it.

    If you’re looking for something a little different in the motivational self help genre, this one is certainly an interesting read. It’s also a very quick read, and you’ll be able to get through it without much trouble.

    Get it now

  • I may not be able to make my brain write fiction lately, but I’ve been keeping busy with a whole bunch of other creative adventures in the meantime!

    We have jewelry!

    We have Remy’s face on stuff!

    We have a super secret thing that only the newsletter is hearing about!

    And I have a quick update! I’m going to hold off on releasing any new stuff until January, so please stay tuned and I’ll let you know when there’s more! Yes, I know Christmas is just around the corner and I should be doing more but I am trying to rest for the year, so look forward to new releases come January.

  • Do I want to try and make my art into a business? Yes. Do I want to do what I’m required to do in terms of marketing and getting an audience to do it? Do I want to create a solid brand presence, niche down, get rid of half the stuff I’m doing so I can be consistent, build a loyal following off of that, and then diversify back out later? Nope! But I will read a business book or two in order to feel like I’m actively doing something to help my cause!

    This book is very much what I expect a girl boss business book to be. It feels 85% empty platitudes about how you can do anything, you’re awesome and amazing! There’s about 5% advice that is presented with the same kind of framing, with “Put it out into the universe” language without pointing out that getting your idea written down in a way where you can look at it and revise it is actually a good and practical thing. And then there’s about 10% actual business advice that I’m pretty familiar with in terms of how to find your target audience and be a brand.

    Also, there were pitches for her course throughout it and I am not a fan of that inside my library books. Make me look you up, don’t try to grab my email address in exchange for information you keep alluding to and never getting to.

    I like a lot of very concrete and practical advice, so this was very much not the kind of book I think I was ever going to be compatible with. The little bit of useful information that’s in there is pretty widely available elsewhere, but if you need a bit of that emotional support in your entrepreneurship journey, maybe it will work better for you.

    Get it now

  • Like most authors with a newsletter, you want more information about the people reading your books and check your newsletters out. You want to know about what other books they like so you know how to position your own books in the market, or you want more information about the demographics to know if that young adult novel is being read by young adults!

    Or, you know, if they’re actually reading your books at all.

    Here are some other questions you can ask that will help you get answers to your questions that people might actually answer without feeling like you’re being overly invasive. And also get some great recommendations from your audience in the process!

    Question: Have you actually read any of my books?

    • Which is your favourite book of mine?
    • How do you feel about [Plot point from the 1/3 point of your book]?
    • Which character do you want to see more of?
    • Tell me what you think happened after the end of [Book title]!

    Question: What some comparative titles or authors to me or my books?

    • What’s your favourite book?
    • Recommend me an author!
    • Recommend me a book!
    • Recommend me a movie or TV show!

    Question: General demographic information such as age, location, etc.

    • What was your favourite book growing up?
    • What shows did you love growing up?
    • When is your favourite time to read?
    • Where is your favourite reading spot?

    Question: How should I position or market my book?

    • What’s your go to social media platform?
    • How do you find new books?
    • On a scale from 1 – 10, how much do you hate spoilers?
    • What kind of behind the scenes content do you love seeing?

    Question: What do you want of my books?

    • Do you prefer paperback or ebook? (Or whatever you have available, such as audiobook)
    • What are your favourite tropes?
    • What disappointed you about the last book you read?
    • What was the best thing about the last book you read?
    • What makes you put a book down?

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