August 21, 2009

Like many of you–especially those with kids and visiting grandkids–I’m wondering where the summer went. Lots of trips, company, overnights with grandkids, picnics–fun! But now it’s time, since school is back in session, for writers to settle down to a routine as well.

Revisit Your Goals

Last December I set for myself a “Self-Study Advanced Writing Program.” It consisted of studying certain writing books, reading many good books in my genre, and being critiqued weekly. Until school got out for the summer, our critique group and children’s book club met weekly.

However, because of summer schedules, both those things went by the wayside. We will be starting again in September. So now I’m “Dealing with Delayed Goals”. I intend this weekend to re-read everything I’ve blogged about on goals and remind myself of a few important strategies.

Set Up Your Schedule

Hopefully you at least journaled through the summer, but now it’s time to get serious again about your writing schedule. I intend to go back to using the highly effective (for me, anyway) “unschedule.” I will also remember the power of writing things down and keep track of my writing accomplishments–and celebrate them! This time I won’t forget to make the writing fun!

My ideal schedule includes two hours of writing time, two hours of teaching time, two hours of marketing (social networking and blogging), and two hours of study time. My schedule doesn’t always allow for my ideal day, but it’s what I strive for.

Stock Up on School Supplies

Don’t you just LOVE the displays of school supplies in every store this time of year? Every August I buy a year’s worth of supplies (well, actually, judging by the state of my office closet, I buy about two years’ worth every summer.) I just can’t pass up packages of college-ruled paper for fifty cents, Bic pens ten for a dollar, bottles of glue for a quarter, and pocket folders covered with psychedelic frogs and fish. I actually feel myself hyperventilating when I get near the school supplies.

The back-to-college supply sections are equally important. This year I got two new flash drives for only $9.00 each! And my new desk lamp, organizer and clock (all brilliant orange) only cost $5.00 each. Looks like I have a new office.

Set Your Alarm Again

Now to the least fun thing about “back to school”… If you’ve developed the habit this summer of sleeping in, reading a novel after breakfast, then taking the kids to the pool, you’re in for the same shock your school age children are feeling. Bite the bullet and set your alarm again. Get up early. Get the kids off to school with smiles on their faces. Pick up the worst of the clutter, then head to your office.

Not to your email. Not to your Facebook or to post some Tweets. Head to your writing desk. Stay off the Internet until you’ve put in some serious writing time. Take time to reward yourself a bit, but then return to your desk for as long as you can.

I know it’s a shock to the system at first, but even for writers, it’s time to get back to school!

August 12, 2009

According to an article in the May/June 2009 Writer’s Digest (“The Must-Have Online Marketing Plan” by M.J. Rose), “Ultimately, no matter what you do, careers are made on the book, not on the marketing.” That’s very true. Just as true is this statement from the same article: “Someone–either you or your publisher–is going to have to get the word out about the book.”

More and more, today’s author is expected to do his part in the marketing. It includes creating a website, maybe a blog, making video trailers, doing blog tours, getting your book reviewed online, commenting on others’ blogs–and the one thing I’ve been dragging my feet on: social networking.

Why Social Networking?

Until I heard several speakers last week at a leadership conference, I’d been avoiding most social networking because of the time it takes. (I Twittered for a while, then I’m afraid I let it slide, other than using it to post new blog entries.) But these leaders mentioned that a high percentage of people now are checking Facebook accounts four times more often than their email. Social networking appears to be the new way to connect with people. 

I’ve actually had an active Facebook account–but I only have eight “friends” (all relatives). We all joined Facebook the first time my daughter was deployed as a way to connect the family. It’s very personal–both the content and the family photos. It wasn’t anything I wanted to share with the world–and most of the world probably wouldn’t find umpteen photos of my grandkids half as entertaining as I do.

Lately, though, I’ve had so many people (including an editor) ask why I wasn’t on Facebook or LinkedIn. I told them I was, but my site was very personal. They suggested I create a separate Facebook account, just for my writing. (I hadn’t known you could have two accounts. Sometimes I’m not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.)

Join Me on Facebook

So the last couple days I set up a Facebook page, and I’m launching it today. One thing you might enjoy are the fifty photos I uploaded of my trip to England, including visits to the homes of Jane Austen and C.S. Lewis. It was hard choosing fifty pictures out of the 950!

I hope you’ll come to Facebook, join for free if you don’t already have an account there, then do a search for “Kristi Holl.” There’s more than one–I’m the one in the red shirt. Just ask to join my friends group. It will be a fun way to keep in touch and hopefully learn more about you as well.

If you have time, leave a comment below about your own social networking experiences. Which avenues have worked best for you? What are the pluses  and minuses you’ve encountered? Looking forward to your ideas!

August 5, 2009

I read a terrific article today about writing, being professional vs. being a hobbyist, finding your best creative habits, and writing even when you don’t feel inspired.

I hope you find this article as helpful as I did.

 

“Organizing: Writing When the Spirit Moves You”

          by Randy Ingermanson (used with permission)

“I write when the spirit moves me,” William Faulkner once said. “And the spirit moves me every day.”

What about you? When do you write? What do you do on the days when you just don’t feel like writing? Do you write anyway, or do you prefer to do your writing only on days when you know you’ll be good?

I’ve heard from a lot of writers on this, and the strong impression I’ve gotten is that most writers, most days, don’t feel like writing. That’s as true of professional novelists as it is of the newest novices.

In fact, it may be more true for the pros. For a novice writer, writing is a new and exciting hobby — a way to have fun during time stolen from boring Real Life. Whereas writing is a professional writer’s job, every day, every week, every year.

What makes the professional novelist a professional is the fact that most professionals, most days, write their word count. It doesn’t matter whether they feel like it or not. They sit in the chair and type their quota.

Doesn’t sound very sexy, does it? Well . . . it isn’t. Writing fiction is a job. You put in the work. Then you get paid. If you don’t put in the work, you don’t get paid.

If that was all there was to it, then of course we’d all quit this game and go into something more fun and less risky, such as lion dentistry. 

But the fact is that writing fiction is fun. When you’re fully into the flow and the story is pulsing out of your fingers onto the page, then you barely notice time whizzing by. That’s fun. When the spirit is truly moving you, it feels like you’re flying. 

What isn’t fun for me is getting ready to write. Sitting down at the computer isn’t fun. Opening up my word processor isn’t fun. Staring at the blank screen for the first couple of minutes isn’t fun. The fun starts after the first few minutes, when the screen isn’t blank any longer and the voices in my head start talking.

Here are three things you can do to get past those first few horrible minutes when writing isn’t fun:

* Daydream about what you’re going to write before it’s time to write. Do this when you’re supposed to be doing something else. If you have a day job (most writers do, even most professional novelists), use any down time to daydream about your story. Some jobs have more down time than others, but most have at least a few minutes during the course of the day. Spend that time wishing you were writing your novel. When you finally get a chance to write, you’ll be primed for it.

* Get a running start by editing what you wrote yesterday. It’s hard to start typing on a blank screen, but if you quickly read through what you wrote last time and fix any small glitches, after a few pages your head will be fully in the game and you’ll be itching to go. DON’T get so caught up in yesterday’s work that you have no time for today’s. Save the real editing for later. Just use this editing time to get the juices flowing.

* Make sure you’re using the creative style that’s right for you. Last month, I talked in this e-zine about various options you have for creating your first draft. Some writers work best by writing “seat of the pants.” Others need to take an “edit as you go” strategy. Others prefer to map out the high level part of the story in advance, leaving the details to emerge in the first draft (using a tool like my Snowflake Method to guide them). Other writers do best when they’ve worked out a full, detailed outline up front. You are who you are. Use whatever creative style is best geared for your particular brain.

Writers love being creative. I like to think that being creative is what makes us human, or keeps us human, or helps us to fake being human. Whatever. We like being moved by that pesky spirit.

The trick is to regularly show up in a place where the spirit can move you. Then hang around long enough for the spirit to get rolling.

What happens after that is the magic of writing.

Award-winning novelist Randy Ingermanson, “the Snowflake Guy,” publishes the Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, with more than 16,000 readers, every month. If you want to learn the craft and marketing of fiction, AND make your writing more valuable to editors, AND have FUN doing it, visit http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com.

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