March 8, 2010

A week doesn’t go by without a question from someone about whether to continue to write–or give it up and do something else. I expect the ongoing state of the economy, plus all the changes we’re seeing in the publishing industry now, are at the root of the questions.

Toto, We’re Not in Kansas Anymore

I’m no longer as comfortable jumping up and down, rah-rahing and chanting, “Don’t quit! Don’t quit!” Each writer is different, and I can’t predict someone’s future success, but there are things you can ask yourself when making this decision. Over the weekend, I read two good articles that asked some hard-hitting questions designed to help you decide if you should quit or forge ahead with your writing career plans and goals.

“Four Signs that You Need to Re-Evaluate Your Writing Goals” included (1) lack of forward momentum, (2) boredom or lack of motivation, (3) low return on investment of your time and energy, and (4) negative or no feedback. Descriptions of each symptom were given in the article. Each area is important to consider in making your decision, says writer Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen.

Another post discussed the signs that it’s time to give up on your writing dreams. Some of the signs included (1) losing the joy of writing your novel, (2) talking about writing more than actually writing, (3) having lost your creativity, (4) dreading the thought of pursuing your goal, (5) inability to overcome lack of self-discipline to write, and (6) resenting the time and energy the goal takes. There are many more symptoms listed in the article.

All of those reasons are valid and important. And since I don’t feel well today, I can truthfully check off six out of six right now. And I recall three distinct periods in my thirty-year writing life where I had all four symptoms on the first list: no momentum, not motivated, no response when trying to find a new publisher, and so little return on my investment of time and energy. I never seriously considered giving up though–and I’m glad I didn’t, since things eventually changed.

How Do You Know?

How do you know when all those symptoms are part of the cycle that all writers go through from time to time (both before and after publication)? How do you know when they are signs that maybe you should move on and try something else?

I don’t have the answers, but you need to consider the questions. If you aren’t feeling this way now, trust me: at some point you will. On what criteria will you base your decision?

A Very Personal Decision

Which of the areas mentioned above figure highest in your concerns? For some of you, it is getting no feedback from agents and editors. For others, you’re finding you hate all the self-promotion that has accompanied your book publication. Others may be writing more but selling less or making less money–and you need the income.

What criteria do YOU use to decide to hang in there and keep pursuing your writing goals? Do you have what it takes to be a successful writer? If you’re not sure, read this list of seven personality traits of writers. You might be pleasantly surprised!

March 5, 2010

“Writing is not everything,” says Lisa Shearin in the April, 2010 Writer Magazine. “And if you want longevity in this business, play isn’t just important–it’s critical. We get so intensely focused on having achieved the dream and working so hard to keep the dream going, that we’re blind to the signs that if we keep going down that road at a fast pace, that dream could quickly turn into a nightmare.”

Recipe for Burnout

I was very glad to read her opinion piece–and I wish that message was published more often. I wish someone had said it to me years ago. Having a healthy drive is good, but letting yourself be driven–by others or your own inner critic–will eventually ruin the joy you originally brought to your writing.

“Dreams are meant to be savored and enjoyed,” Shearin says. “You do have to work hard, but sometimes, the work can wait.”

Too Late

Great advice, but what if you’re already burned out? What if–from overwork, juggling too many jobs and family members, a major loss, or chronic illness–your ideas have dried up? I’ve been there twice in my writing life, and it was a scary place to be.

Peggy Simson Curry spoke about this in a Writer Magazine archive article first published in 1967. She detailed the process she followed to “slowly work [her] way back to writing” and discover what had killed her creative urge in the first place.

Face the Fear

I think most writers would agree with Peggy that fear is at the basis of being unable to write–fear that a writer can’t write anything worth publishing. Burned out writers constantly think of writing something that will sell.

“This insidious thinking,” Curry says, “persuades the writer to question every story idea that comes to him. He no longer becomes excited with glimpses of theme, characters, setting, threads of lot. He can only ask desperately, ‘But who will want it?’”

Healing Choices

Among other suggestions, this writer said it was very important to deliberately get outside, away from the writing, and just enjoy the world around you. In other words, play.

Coming out of burnout can be done, but it often takes methodical, small daily disciplines to do it. For me, digging in the flower gardens and stitching small quilted wall hangings finally unclogged my creativity. Things that help will be different for each writer.

Have you ever felt burned out with your writing? If so, what helped you to come out of it and write again? If you have a minute, please share an idea with other readers.

March 3, 2010

Are you dragging around excess baggage? Is it getting in the way of running the daily writing race set before you?

Is there “stuff” taking up space in your life that you need to dump overboard so you can pick up some speed?

Jumping Off!

I’ve been struggling with this issue lately, and it reminded me of a period in our country’s history. Each spring from 1841-1861 Independence, Missouri, was crowded with thousands of emigrants preparing for the 2170-mile trek we now call the Oregon Trail.

Here merchants competed for the opportunity to furnish emigrants with supplies and equipment for their journey west. A family of four would need over a thousand pounds of food to sustain them on the five-month trip to Oregon. Most emigrants loaded their covered wagons to the brim with food, farm implements, and furniture. 

The journey began, but within a few miles most emigrants realized they had overloaded their wagons. Unless their loads were lightened, they would never be able to make the arduous journey across the plains. Their only choice–if they wanted to go the distance–was to start throwing things out.

How About You?

Do you identify with these emigrants? Have you overloaded YOUR wagon? Are there things (activities, hobbies, interests, bad habits) that you need to dump if you’re going to make a successful journey as a writer?

Remember, those pioneers weren’t throwing out things that didn’t matter. They were giving up precious possessions in order to fulfill their dreams. What have you given up for your writing? [This topic has been on my mind lately because two weeks ago I made a very difficult decision to bow out of my long-running weekly critique group. I needed more time to write, and I couldn't find it any other way. I am still in withdrawal.]

Fulfilling our dreams requires sacrifice. What have you had to “toss overboard” in order to devote some time to your writing? What was the easiest to let go of? What was hardest? Take a moment and share!

March 1, 2010

If you’re a Jane Austen fan like me, don’t miss a fabulous opportunity that will only last until March 14.

You might not be able to travel to her home in England, but for the next two weeks you can experience Austen’s manuscripts, letters, a movie and other treasures from the comfort of your computer.

A Rare Opportunity

“A Woman’s Wit: Jane Austen’s Life and Legacy” is an exhibition at New York City’s Morgan Library & Museum. They have more than 100 works by Austen. Until March 14, the Morgan has assembled an extensive online component to accompany the exhibition.

You can view on your computer the film The Divine Jane, in which artists and scholars describe Austen’s lasting significance.

You can also examine a digital facsimile of the manuscript itself of Austen’s novel, Lady Susan, plus some of her handwritten notes.

Don’t Delay

To enjoy Jane’s movie, letters and manuscripts, first make some tea and scones. Then visit the Jane Austen exhibition online at The Morgan.

February 26, 2010

Some days I feel about as creative as a cement block. Most of us know, however, that we can’t wait to feel creative before we write.

Writers who wait for inspiration before they decide to write are generally known as hobbyists. Working writers-those actively writing and growing in their craft-must write whether the muse is “in” or not.

“Which means, essentially,” James Scott Bell says, “you have to become a walking idea factory.” And he really does mean walking. He said he gets a lot of his ideas for his current work-in-progress when walking. I know other writers who’ve said the same thing.

Dragging My Heels

I love to walk-but I have usually balked at this kind of “work while you walk” advice. After working at my desk, I want a break. And mulling over my novel while taking a walk doesn’t do a darned thing to refresh me. My brain is too tired. When I walk, I want to listen to a book on tape, something Jane Austen-y that I know will feed my soul. Thinking about my own novel just feels like more work to me.

But…that’s not what Bell recommends! In his The Art of War for Writers, he says that after a writing session, “I try to take an hour walk every day and listen to an audio book.” Inevitably his muse or imagination (what he calls “the boys in the basement”) sends up ideas for his work-in-progress while he’s listening to his audio book for relaxation. When that happens, he stops, makes a note in the pocket notebook he carries, then goes back to his audio book and walks some more.

He calls this his system for “being creative without thinking about it. That way you can be ‘working’ on your idea even when you’re not working on it.”

Then What?

For several days I tried Bell’s system. I hadn’t expected it to work-but it did! While walking and listening to Pride and Prejudice on my MP3 player, my brain released a good number of ideas-things that I could later develop (a secondary character’s flaw, a plot twist that would also show the book’s theme, a better setting for the climax scene). I have to admit that I was very surprised how well this worked.

If you want to try it, here are Bell’s steps for becoming a walking idea factory.

• Focus fully on your book or story idea during your writing time.
• Take a walk and relax, then capture the ideas that pop up during your walk.
• Back home, immediately put your recorded bits in a computer file. Expand on them, brainstorm the ideas, follow rabbit trails. Do that with each idea that popped up on your walk.
• Let the ideas cool for a day and then come back to them for assessment.
• Decide which ideas to keep and use in your current work. Set the others aside for another project.

Bell says if you get used to thinking this way, your creativity will explode!

February 24, 2010

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I’ve been reading Andy Stanley’s The Principle of the Path which states that it’s direction-not intention-that determines our destination.

When trying to get from where we are as writers to where we’d like to be, we will need to follow a path to that publishing destination. We are travelers, and we look for maps to guide us. We read books and articles on how to get started, get published, and market ourselves.

This guidance becomes our road map, our GPS system for success. Despite hundreds of maps (i.e. books of advice), few writers are as successfully published as they’d like to be.

What’s The Problem?

Is it because we can’t read a map? Usually not. Is it because we don’t really know where we want to end up? Usually not. Then what’s missing?

The starting point.

No matter what type of map you use (Google map, MapQuest, GPS or the old-fashioned paper kind), you first have to know where you are right now. Knowing your destination won’t help one iota if you don’t know your present location.

And why don’t we writers know where we are at this moment? Are we lost? Not really. More like deluded. We deceive ourselves about our true locations at the present time. And that’s one big reason why our “maps” don’t work and don’t get us to our destinations.

Wearing Blinders

Not long ago, I asked a teacher-writer about this. (He’s taught writing at the university level for twenty years.) His classes focus on both writing and publishing your writing. He said one of the biggest problems he ran into was that his students who hoped to publish had no grasp of their current skill level. Most of them believed they were better writers than they were.

They’d been told all through high school that their writing was fabulous, but now they were competing with the cream of the cream in college. They did surface revisions, unwilling to start over or dig deeper. They were used to posting to their blogs (instant gratification in publishing.) After only one rejection by a print publisher, they often hurried to self-publish instead. Many of them felt ready for Carnegie Hall, but they’d only mastered Chopsticks.

Delusions

Whatever their reasons-whatever our reasons-many writers do not have a clear grasp of where they are right now. They see the golden crowns of success in the future: bestseller lists, big royalty checks, crowded book signings. They’re studying several maps: MFA programs, online programs, quitting their day jobs to write for a year. But they’re deceiving themselves about their starting point.

Some of us need basic courses in grammar and punctuation more than an MFA program. Some of us need to keep our day jobs while writing furiously every lunch hour and all day Saturday for a year. Some of us need to study other successful writers’ published books more than we need to meet an agent at the next expensive writer’s conference.

If you want to reach your writing dreams, you do need to know your hoped-for destination. If you don’t want to waste years and years re-inventing the wheel, you’ll need to find out how other writers were successful and check out their “maps.” But if you don’t know your starting point-if you’re not willing to be very honest with yourself about where you are today-those maps and goals won’t do you any good.

Where Am I Today?

So take some time this week and, with pen and paper, ask yourself the tough questions. Where are you in the skill areas you need? Where are you an expert, but where are you still a beginner? What parts of the writing life stymie you?  How much time per day/week do you really have-or can you carve out-for a writing life? How’s your health, your stamina?

Answers to these questions-honest answers instead of “I wish” answers-are what will be valuable to you. It will be your true starting point. Knowing this will help you choose a map that will actually take you from where you are and point you to your destination: your writing dreams.

February 22, 2010

During the past year I’ve done more novel critiques than usual. Some have been so-so, some were very good, and a few have already sold.

What made the difference between the “very good” stories and the manuscripts that sold? In my opinion, it was the overall strength of the novels.

Often the “very good” book manuscript was strong except for just one area. Maybe there was no felt emotional connection with the main character, or all the dialogue voices sounded like the author’s voice. Perhaps the one weak area was lack of suspense despite beautiful prose, or poorly researched historical facts, or terrible mechanics.

Oops!

Often when I mentioned the trouble I saw, the writer emailed me back and said, “I knew that was a problem. I guess I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.” It’s better to listen to your gut feeling and assume if you know there’s a problem, others will see it too.

“Hoping an editor won’t notice” isn’t a solid marketing plan. Even if they had the time (which they don’t), editors aren’t in the business of fixing the story for you or teaching you how to write. That’s up to you-but what can you do?

Back to School

“Unless you’re working with an expert instructor, you need to be designing your own writing improvement program,” says James Scott Bell in The Art of War for Writers. “Work out a systematic plan to overcome your weak areas by setting up self-study programs.”

We all hope our novel’s strengths will over-ride the weaknesses, but you want your novel to be healthy overall, not just mostly healthy with one or two weak areas. If your physique were great except for flabby underarms, you would target that flapping fat with exercises and a program designed specifically for upper arms. In the same way, if your novel is weak in one or two areas, you need a specific exercise program to strengthen that area.

Make a Plan

For example, if your problem is dialogue that all sounds like the same flat voice, you might need a self-study program called “Creating Distinctive Voices.” Your study question might be: How can I create distinctive voices for each character, so distinctive that I can tell who’s speaking without any identification?

Here’s one plan, and you can adapt it for any area you want to improve:

1. Make a list of novels where you remember the characters coming through in their dialogue as distinctive. (accent, regional speech, slang, choppy vs. languid speech, hip vs. old-fashioned, formal vs. grammatically incorrect, straightforward vs. flowery speech, etc.)
2. Choose several of these novels and re-read them specifically for the dialogue. Keep your study question in mind as you read. Underline passages that do the job and then write a few scenes where you try to accomplish the same thing through dialogue. Don’t copy their words, but try to copy the technique used.
3. Buy some books on the particular writing problem you have and study them. There are good writing books available on every area of craft you can imagine. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel, nor do you have to submit stories that are weak in one or two areas.

In today’s economy, your stories need to be the cream that rises to the top. Ensuring that your novel is strong in every area is one way to do that.

February 19, 2010

Some writers are doing more than just surviving in the current economy. They are thriving! How are they managing this?

“The most important thing I did to thrive in this recession is that I managed my emotions, attention, and attitude at all times. I focused on what I can do, not what I can’t do,” says one much published author. “I  swam upstream, ignoring the people in retreat all around me.”

Uncertain Times

“Call it what you will,” says Mark Haverstock in “Freelancing in Uncertain Times,” “a recession, a downward correction, or a pause in recovery. The national economic downturn has taken its toll on everyone, including freelancers.” (Writer’s Guide to 2010) That’s the bad news. However, the article is full of good news too–and great tips by authors who are thriving despite the economic realties.

In Mark’s “Marketing 101″ section, there are five ways you can market yourself that require time but very little or no money. And keep your manuscripts–many of them–in constant circulation. You can’t sell what isn’t out there. One author pitched a dozen different book ideas with a dozen proposals, and sold eight of them! How?

She said she learned the formats of “book proposals, pitch letters, feature stories, opinion pieces, etc. There are formulas for all of them and once you’ve got the formula mastered, your work is much easier.”

Web Work

Mark has much to say about writing for online publications too. He has lists of resources helping you decide how much to charge, a good number of  websites appealing to “starving writers” that you want to avoid, and five bona fide, legitimate websites that list job leads for writers that pay decent money.

“Freelancing in Uncertain Times” is only one of seven marketing articles in the book, and there are 21 more information-packed articles under Style, Submissions & Career, and Ideas and Research.

Do More, Offer More

With many magazines and newspapers having online web editions–or moving to the Internet altogether–you can rise above other freelancers if you offer photos and videos to accompany your articles. While you need professional ability to shoot for print magazines, it’s not as important with the web.

With digital cameras and phones that also make videos, many writers already have this ability. And if they can supply on-site visuals like this to accompany web content, that saves an editor the expense of sending a photographer on location.

Swim Upstream

Instead of being one of the naysayers and gloom-and-doomers, dig in and determine to overcome the obstacles you’re facing in this recession. Some writers gave up long ago. Others decided to be one of the writers who survived–and even thrived–despite the economy.

Which one are you? Can you leave one tip for others on how you’re staying afloat during tough times?

February 17, 2010

Rejection is part of the writing life. Writers have always struggled not to take rejection personally. Unless you’re super human, it deals a blow to one’s self-esteem.

“To be a writer is to be rejected. I’m not kidding,” says Rachel Ballon, Ph.D., author of The Writer’s Portable Therapist. “Those writers who stop writing the first time they’re rejected can’t call themselves writers because rejection is part and parcel of the writing game. It isn’t what happens to you IF you’re rejected, it’s what you do or don’t do WHEN you’re rejected.”

You Can Recover

I get concerned when my writer friends and students get so beaten down by a rejection. (And with our struggling economy lately, rejections are happening more frequently.) Rejections do hurt, and the disappointment can be huge. All the “don’t take it personally” lectures don’t help much then. You need more, especially in the initial stages when the rejection is new and raw.

“Expect rejection and disappointments with the knowledge that you’ll recover from them,” says Ballon. “Be just as prepared for rejection as you’re prepared for an earthquake in California or a hurricane in Florida.”

Plan Ahead

I never thought of that before: prepare for rejection. It makes sense though!

Most of my family members live in Florida now, and when a tropical storm is building to hurricane status, they go into motion like a well oiled machine. Buy batteries and food staples. Nail plywood over windows. Make sure generator works. Stock up on drinkable water. They don’t just sit back and hope the hurricane veers off and misses them. They know that the likelihood of being hit by a hurricane is low, but definitely possible. Being prepared has saved their lives and property more than once. And their plans for recovery and clean-up go into effect as soon as the storm passes.

The likelihood of writers being rejected is about 100%–much worse odds than destruction from an earthquake or hurricane. But how many of us have a plan for recovering from that particular professional “disaster”? Not many, I’m guessing. But we should have. We know it’s coming from time to time. And I wonder if we wouldn’t respond better if we planned for it.

Strategy

How do you plan for the day-perhaps after months of hopeful waiting or interested nibbles-when your story or novel or proposal is rejected? How can you prepare for it? Well, what makes you feel better when you’ve been rejected by someone in your personal life?

• A hot bath and a good novel?
• A phone call to your best friend?
• A candy bar or Starbucks coffee?
• Hanging out with people who do love you?
• Going for a hard sweaty run or bike ride?
• Journaling?
• Curling up with a “feel good” movie or chick flick?

Chances are, those same things will help you through a manuscript rejection. They can be the solace for your bruised soul.

Plan Ahead-Work Your Plan

I think I’m going to make a list on a card called “Rejection Recovery Strategies” and tack it to my bulletin board. And the next time a book or proposal comes back to me, I’m going to stop the presses, reach for that recovery card, and do as many activities as it takes until I feel better.

I suspect that if we do this for a day or two-the necessary self-care and self-nurturing-we’ll be able to write in a few days. Maybe even sooner. Rejection causes wounds, and wounds need to heal. Pretending the wound isn’t there won’t work. It will just fester if left untreated-and it might get so painful that you give up writing altogether. And that would be a shame.

If you have a minute, share with me a favorite rejection recovery strategy of yours!

February 15, 2010

I spent much of last week sick in bed, but it gave me a chance to read more than usual. I got a couple of “aha!” moments from the book I was reading (Who Switched Off My Brain?) mentioned last week.

The book deals with what the author calls “the Dirty Dozen” areas in our lives where we create our own problems, often by well-meaning efforts. This toxic behavior can derail our purpose in life and steal our dreams–including our writing dreams.

Two of the dirty dozen that hit me between the eyes was “toxic seriousness” and “toxic schedules.” And I knew that I’d stumbled across two of the reasons I was sick instead of fighting off common viruses.

AHA! #1

I’ve known for years that negative emotions like anger and unforgiveness can literally make you physically sick. But did you know that an absence of fun in your life can make you sick too?

Laughter IS the Best medicine!

For a lot of reasons, I grew up with the firmly entrenched idea that “life is a serious matter.” People who didn’t take life seriously annoyed me. I thought they simply didn’t understand the situation!

Well sometimes life is no laughing matter, but you still need to incorporate more fun in your life. [I finally understood why I felt so much better physically after spending time with my grandkids, despite being tired. I laugh a lot more on those days!]

Did you know this? Studies show that “a really good belly laugh can make cortisol drop by 39% and adrenalin by 70%, while the ‘feel-good hormone,’ endorphin, increases by 29%…Laughter boosts your immune system by increasing immunity levels and disease-figthing cells.”

Another medical study showed that humor gets both sides of your brain working together, which is so necessary to writers. We need to be both creative and editor-minded (left-brained and right-brained) in order to do our best writing.

So take time to bring fun into your life today–and every day. Look for the humor in situations–or even yourself. Watch a funny video. Read something that tickles your funny bone. Tell a joke!

AHA! #2

In my case, I realized over the weekend that my “toxic seriousness” went hand-in-hand with what the author called “toxic schedules.” One had a direct impact on the other. My overly serious attitude about life leads to an over-scheduled week that doesn’t work unless I invent a 48-hour day. And, of course, a packed schedule adds pressure and just reinforces an overly serious attitude.

Current brain research shows that there’s a lot more at risk than just being tired when you over-schedule yourself. Of particular interest to writers, without sufficient relaxation in your lifestyle, “you will become a less effective thinker, defeating your ability to accomplish the mental tasks that stole our relaxation in the first place. In fact, for the brain to function like it should, it needs regroup/consolidation time. If it doesn’t get this, it will send out signals in the form of high-level stress hormones, some of which are epinephrine, norepinephine and cortisol. If these chemicals constantly flow, they create a ‘white noise’ that increases anxiety and blocks clear thinking and the processing of information.”

To put it another way, relaxation is NOT a waste of your time. You’re doing your brain–and all of your writing processes–a big favor.

Live–and LEARN

So how did that impact my weekend? I spent Saturday with my grandkids (ages 4 and 7), guaranteed to produce the belly laughs I needed. And I took off Sunday with my husband to visit some family, go to a movie, window shop a bit, and eat out. I slept like a rock last night and feel like a million bucks today.

And now to make this a guilt-free habit!

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