December 30, 2009

Writing is a lot like farming.

We raised our family on a farm in Iowa. Some years the conditions were just right: perfect temperatures, exact amount of needed rainfall came at the right times, and there were few insects. The farmers worked hard those years, and most were rewarded with bumper crops.

Publishing has had its bumper crop years when conditions were just right too. Writers worked hard then as well, but the rewards came more easily.

Lean Years

Some years on the farm, however, were very lean, and there were even a few crop failures. Farmers probably worked even harder those years, but lack of rain, freezing temperatures, and bugs combined to give even the hardest-working farmers scant return for their effort.

Publishing seems to be having one of those years-or two. What are you going to do about it?

Will you be like the farmers who threw up their hands and sold out? Or will you be like those who hunkered down, refigured their profits and losses, studied all the current research on new farming practices, applied themselves, and survived until the economy turned around?

Out with the Old, In with the New

Yesterday my friend Sherryl and I had our semi-annual Skype talk to review 2009 goals and set goals for 2010. Because of the economy, we are both doing some things differently. Because we both need to make a living, one thing we are studying is our ROI (return on investment).

What writing are we doing that is actually bringing in the most income? Can we duplicate that? What writing projects and activities are taking the most time but returning very little? What can we do to increase our chances next year of surviving and thriving during the current economic situation?

Individualized Plan

It’s good to hope for a bumper crop, but in times like these, it takes planning ahead now, plus hard (although usually enjoyable) work later. The plans Sherryl and I made for 2010 aren’t identical because our goals aren’t identical.

It’s not a “one size fits all” kind of planning you need to do. My writing “ground” has a few more weedy bad habits to deal with than Sherryl’s, for one thing. And I’m lacking some writing skills she possesses–I will work on those.

But we both need to overhaul our rusting equipment a bit (a few health issues), and we’ve both been horribly bad most of 2009 at adding fertilizer to our writing ground (self-care activities to feed the writer’s soul.)

Ready, Set, Go!

Next Monday we’ll be in 2010 already. I urge you to take some time before then to review your progress in 2009, see where your strengths and weaknesses are, then make a plan to improve and grow as a writer next year. In the end, we can let these “lean years” make us better writers, if we want to.

December 28, 2009

Lady writers, do you have box envy? I do!

We laugh when we talk about men’s and women’s brains, how women have spaghetti brains where everything is interconnected, where the concern over her children is tangled up with her financial worries and affects her weight.

Men, on the other hand, have brains like waffles (according to a popular author). They have little square boxes, with nicely separated categories for each segment of their lives.

Strange, but True

We laugh at the anology because it’s true. Surely you recognize this scenario. You have a fight with your spouse at breakfast, and then you both leave for work. The wife ruminates all day about who said what, why it was said, what should have been said, how to make up that night, or IF she should make up.

The man, on the other hand, closed the lid on the “wife” box when he drove out the driveway. He thought about nothing on the drive downtown. He opened the “work” box at work. He didn’t open the “wife” box again until he got home at night-when he wondered what was for supper.

You know the rest! She is about to explode, wanting to share and talk and rehash and resolve the argument in order to restore harmony. He can’t even remember the argument.

Box vs. Spaghetti Writers

What does this have to do with writing? It makes the act of writing-concentrating despite circumstances-easier for men. It’s the only time in my life that I would gladly trade a sensitive feelings brain for a “box brain.” I had determined years ago to write a mega bestseller if I ever discovered the “secret” of sorting all that spaghetti into boxes so I could be a more focused writer.

Well, someone discovered it before me. Enter Simple·ology.

Rescue Me!

I had heard about this free course more than a year ago, but I hadn’t felt enough pressure to take it seriously. However, the last four months, due to my own poor scheduling, were busy beyond belief.

I had said “yes” to so many people that I was only home two evenings in November and one evening in December before Christmas. I worked during the days. It was crazy while it lasted-but it’s now thankfully over. During the worst two weeks, I scrambled to find ways to get my work done faster and find some more energy.

That’s when I remembered the free Simple·ology course that Randy Ingermanson (the “snowflake guy”) so highly recommended. I downloaded the free 30-day 101 course on finding time and achieving goals, loved it, and then bought the 103 course on increasing energy. (The 102 course is on money, but my immediate needs were for more time and energy.)

The Test

Last week, I had a period of two days where I was both sick and very upset with someone, but I had a lot of promised work to complete. I reviewed the “5 Laws of simple·ology,” fixed them in my tired mind, and got to work. As suggested, I kept the list of “memory joggers” nearby for review when my mind would wander.

You are making decisions every few minutes that either take you toward your goal or away from it-and Simple·ology helps you keep moving steadily in the right direction. The result? I got work done in two days that would normally take me 3.5 days! 

The Simple·ology Box

This weekend I took a long walk and two bike rides, despite the cold, and during one of the rides, it occurred to me that Mark Joyner’s Simple·ology laws were teaching my spaghetti brain to think inside a box! I had been able to focus well under very trying circumstances, and the work I did was good.

I’ll write more about this in coming weeks, I’m sure, but for now, I’d recommend checking it out. In addition to the course “rules” (which most of us would forget shortly after reading them), Simple·ology comes with a free “web cockpit” to download. It’s fun, keeps you on track, and includes a daily 15-minute exercise to make sure you are applying the principles and hitting your targets.

As you look to the new year and set goals, I’d highly recommend that you check out this free Simple·ology course. It might be just the ticket to move you from setting goals to achieving goals.

December 25, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First of all, Merry Christmas to you all!

Because today is Christmas, I’m going to leave you with a poem from a great book for writers called The 4-Hour Workweek (expanded and updated) by Timothy Ferriss. The poem was in an email he received several years ago.

The poem is by child psychologist David L. Weatherford. I love it. It speaks to all busy people, but this poem is my Christmas gift to the writer moms and dads out there. It’s the philosophy I tried to apply to my children–and now my grandkids. Yes, your writing is important and should be a priority. But it doesn’t come before family.

 

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids

On a merry-go-round?

 

Or listened to the rain

Slapping on the ground?

 

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

 

You’d better slow down.

Don’t dance so fast.

 

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

 

Do you run through each day

On the fly?

 

When you ask: How are you?

Do you hear the reply?

 

When the day is done,

do you lie in your bed

 

With the next hundred chores

Running through your head?

 

You’d better slow down,

Don’t dance so fast.

 

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

 

Ever told your child,

We’ll do it tomorrow?

 

And in your haste,

Not see his sorrow?

 

Ever lost touch,

Let a good friendship die

 

Cause you never had time

To call and say, “Hi”?

 

You’d better slow down,

Don’t dance so fast.

 

Time is short.

The music won’t last.

 

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting there.

 

When you worry and hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift thrown away.

 

Life is not a race,

Do take it slower.

 

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

 

(By the way, those are my grandkids in the photo–ages 7 and 4. The t-shirt was a Christmas gift from their mother and says: “This is what the world’s greatest Nana looks like!” Take time for the kids–the work will always be there.)

December 23, 2009

When you get up on the wrong side of the bed, are you deep in a blue  funk before you realize what’s happened? Don’t you wish you could catch yourself at the top of that downward slide–and reverse it?

Help is Here!

I read a terrific blog post that gives you the tools to do exactly that. The article gives specific steps for thwarting that “negativity spiral” and it’s written by Carol Grannick, a writer and licensed clinical social worker in private practice. She works with writers and non-writers who want to create and maintain more resilient, meaningful lives.

The article itself is good, but get a cup of coffee or tea and settle back. In order to get the full impact of the article, you’ll want to follow the five or six embedded links to related articles. (I was surprised to find the last link actually came back to my own blog.)

Thing About What You’re Thinking About!

Noticing and stopping this spiral is going to be one of my New Year’s Resolutions. Catching ourselves at the top of the negativity spiral should certainly be easier than digging ourselves out of pit we’ve fallen into.

I believe this is one of those places where an ounce of prevention truly IS worth a pound of cure!

December 21, 2009

When my first book was published in 1983 by Atheneum Books for Children in New York, things were black and white. You were either published by a reputable publisher (usually in New York) or you used a (gasp!) vanity press.

There was only one real distinction: real publishers paid you, and vanity presses (self-publishers) required you to pay them for services rendered. It’s still the definition I go by. I can’t make a living by paying someone else to publish me.

Blurred Outlines

Today, new writers are confused. I can tell by the large number of email queries I get, questions from my students, and email “blasts” announcing someone’s “just published” new book by XXXX vanity publisher of some kind.

I hate to see my students and other new writers get suckered into this. If you look at your options and still choose to self-publish, that’s one thing. But I find it alarming how often I hear that writers are plunking down HUGE amounts of money to some vanity press, thinking that that’s the way it’s done.

Take Time to Study

Today I found a terrific discussion (and at the end of the article, read the definition of terms) that it would be wise for every writer to read. It’s at the Writer Beware blog and called “Blurred Distinctions: Vanity Publishing vs. Self-Publishing.” 

This would be a great blog to subscribe to, by the way. Knowledge is power, but you need to take time to be informed.

December 18, 2009

“Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I’ve been reading James Scott Bell’s excellent book The Art of War for Writers (all five-star reviews on Amazon.com), and he says that “the biggest mental obstacle–in writing, in war, in life itself–is fear.” I would agree 100%.

How do we fear writing?

Let me count the ways… Bell mentions several kinds of fear that plague writers. Do you find yourself in this list? Do you have additional fears?

Fear of:

• not being good enough
• not getting published
• getting published but not selling
• getting published once but never again
• getting stomped by critics
• getting stomped by family members
• wasting your time

The Quality of Fearlessness

Bell wrote about the young Teddy Roosevelt who was a sick, frail, fearful child–and what changed him into the fearless leader of history. Basically, he learned the old adage of “fake it till you make it” or “act as if.” Bell says that fearful writers become fearless writers in the same way.

Sure, you will set goals and get prepared and (if you’re like me) pray for help, but in the end you will need to act as if you’re a successful, fearless writer until (over time) your feelings catch up with your behavior and you actually become one.

Start Today

When fear in some form hits you today, what immediate action step could you take in the face of that fear? How would a professional, successful writer deal with that fear? What is one way you can channel that fear into energy for your writing?

Be fearless today and, as battle buddies, share one tip you’ve used successfully to win the war on the many fears of writing.

December 16, 2009

While the Christmas season may have put a crimp in your writing schedule (it has mine!), it’s not too soon to be thinking about writing in the new year. With that in mind, I’m repeating some advice from a writer who knows what she’s talking about–and is well worth listening to. Heeeeere’s Jane!

Telling It Like It Is

Two years ago at a workshop, award-winning writer Jane Yolen made a statement that stunned the group of fourteen published writers who attended. Before the workshop, Jane had read and critiqued chapters submitted by each writer.

When she handed back the critiqued manuscripts, she said (paraphrased), “Half of you here have as much talent as I do. About one-fourth of you probably have more talent than I do.” (Imagine fourteen mouths dropping open in disbelief.) “But,” Jane added, looking around the circle of writers, “I guarantee you that I write more than any of you.”

Quantity AND Quality

She claimed it was a big key to her immense success. If we wanted to grow as writers, she advised us to write every single day, even for just half an hour, and for two reasons. One was to keep our minds immersed in our writing projects. The second—the most important to me—was that daily writing should improve the quality of our writing.

I had signed up for the workshop, hoping to find the “magic key” I needed to bring my writing up a notch or two. And there it was: write more. If you want to bring your writing up to the next level, write more. If you want to improve in your handling of the English language and all its creative components, write more. If you want to publish more, fall in love with writing again, and feel like a “real writer,” write more.

How Much and When?

The workshop weekend also included a private 15-minute critique with Jane. We were allowed to ask anything we liked. Among other things, I wanted to know her writing schedule—especially as I knew from her online journal that she traveled extensively to speak and she was (like most mothers and grandmothers) very involved with her family.

Come to find out, Jane does write a lot—and read a lot—but it wasn’t some horrendous schedule like ones I’d heard about. I had half expected another “I get up at 3 a.m. and write for twelve hours, seven days a week” explanation for her prolific output. But that wasn’t the case.

She got to her desk at a decent time, maybe around 8 or 9, did some email and checked a few things, then got to work. If my memory is correct, she said she worked till mid-afternoon or so on those days she was home to write. She wasn’t a hermit though—she frequently had meetings and dinners with friends.

She travels to speak many days out of the average month. She deals with family and life issues like everyone else. Still, I believed her statement about writing more than all of us was probably true. She has a huge number of published books of the highest award quality to show for it.

Start Where You Are

Sure, many of us can’t write five hours every day. There are full-time day jobs, children and grandchildren underfoot, sick parents to care for, etc. But to improve in our writing, we all need to start somewhere. We’re just talking about writing more. Writing more for you might be increasing from two hours per week to three, or increasing daily writing time by fifteen minutes.

So what’s the big deal about writing more? Well, it’s been shown that more hours spent writing equals more quantity equals better quality. “Writing more” certainly produces more quantity: more stories, articles, books, plays. But I think the often overlooked “plus” of writing more is that your quality goes up.

Real Results

In the month after the workshop, I wrote more “new words” and did more revising than probably in the previous six months.  The drafts got cleaner, and descriptive language started to flow, with less effort on my part. (Sometimes it even surprised me, since similes and metaphors have never come willingly to my typing fingers.)

I hope to get closer and closer to Jane’s advice about writing every day. As Susan Shaughnessy says in Walking on Alligators, “Writers are those who write…Days off are deadly. One follows another, and all too soon fears creep back in. Nothing is as easily delayed as writing.”

One of my writing goals for 2010 is simply to write a lot more. In these final days of 2009, I’ll be exploring strategies to do that.

December 14, 2009

Did you know that there’s actually no such thing as procrastination?

When people claim to be lazy or procrastinators, it’s assumed that they are doing nothing. That actually isn’t possible. According to my Simpleology course, “procrastination and laziness are really just ineffective actions masquerading as INaction.” In other words, you are always acting, even when you think you’re not.

Acting (Incognito)

I took a poll among friends and asked them what they did when they procrastinated instead of writing. Most said “nothing.” I challenged them that they couldn’t actually do nothing–even if they were staring out a window or thinking, that was doing something.

“Oh well, in that case,” they said… The list of ineffective actions they performed instead of writing included many of my own favorites: thumbing through junk mail ads, reading email, staring out the window, berating myself for procrastinating, watching mindless YouTube videos forwarded to me, grazing in the pantry…you get the idea.

Choices, Choices

In other words, procrastinating isn’t about making yourself do something instead of nothing. You’re already doing something! And that something has an impact on your writing.

Procrastinating is about making choices–choices that have consequences. I’m choosing to eat a bunch of candy instead of writing. What is the result of that choice? Well, after the sugar high, my energy plunges to zero. I have no appetite later for my healthy supper and so miss the nutrients my body actually needs. And so my energy level goes down further, and I’m very slow and unproductive.

Or I might choose to watch silly TV or YouTube videos instead of writing. And the results of that choice? Time is gone quickly that I could have been writing. Depression sets in because I got nothing done today on my book. I need some chocolate or other comfort food to perk up my mood. (Or if you’re a shopoholic, maybe you need to buy yourself something to lift your spirits.) Either way, we’ve lost time and/or money.

Making Wiser Choices

Procrastination ISN’T doing nothing. It’s usually choosing to do something destructive. Those choices nearly always deplete you in some way. You end up with less energy, less time, or less money.

The next time you decide to procrastinate instead of sitting down to write, at least be honest with yourself. I have been doing this lately, and I tell you, it feels pretty lame to say, “Right now I am choosing to eat candy bars instead of write” or “I choose to water my plants instead of write today.”  I’m not having trouble getting started. I’m simply choosing one activity (with poor consequences) over my writing (which usually carries good consequences.)

More and more lately, when I face the fact that I’m making choices with consequences, I’m choosing to write instead. And it feels good.

December 11, 2009

“Where did all my time go?”

This is the question on my mind the last few days as I’ve analyzed 2009 in order to meet a lot more of my goals in 2010. What was keeping me from living the writing life I had envisioned and fully intended to live?

As mentioned in The Law of Clear Vision, I had over-committed to a number of volunteer groups and ministries this year. I wasn’t sure how I’d been hooked so thoroughly–nor how to keep it from happening again. And then I read something about trigger foods that turned on the light for me.

Look Out!

All you veteran dieters know that “trigger foods” are those foods that you’re particularly sensitive to, the ones you can’t have in the house because eating one serving triggers a whole binge. Maybe it’s chips or chocolate or rolls. Triggers spark unhealthy behaviors that you swore you wouldn’t do again.

I’ve over-committed myself to outside activities in years past, learned how to set boundaries and say No, and all that very good stuff. So what was my problem this year? What triggered me to binge on so many outside activities that I couldn’t do my own work or stay healthy?

Needs

Needy people are my triggers, I’ve decided. And they come in many forms.

Seeing sick or tired-looking people prompt me to make offers of baby-sitting and help with housework and office work.

Phone numbers I don’t recognize are triggers because they might be hurting people wanting to join one of my support groups. I feel uncomfortable letting my answering machine take the messages because often times people just hang up.

Readers of my blog or website who want help getting started writing can easily “hook” me because I identify with them so much. I remember how it was in the beginning–and how helpful it would have been to know someone who could answer my questions.

Whoa, Nellie!

Years ago, when my children were small and I held four or five jobs in our church, my pastor took me aside and told me to cut back before I got sick. “The need is not the call,” he told me gently. “Just because there’s a need doesn’t mean that it’s a job you should take on.” I liked what he said, but to be honest, I never could tell the difference.

Maybe it’s just those of us who grew up very needy that have trouble saying “no” to people, with or without guilt. It’s hard to know where to draw the line, but my health has suffered this year, so I know it’s time.

Other Types of Help

I may need to begin giving less personal help. For example, when someone wants advice on how to start a writing career, I may need to adopt my youngest daughter’s constant refrain: “Just Google it!” Instead of researching things for people, I would do better to tell them how to find the answers themselves and let them explore all the writing websites and books out there.

My best friend suggested that I also create some “canned” email responses since many of the email questions I receive fall into five or six similar categories. I could create some fairly lengthy, helpful emails on certain topics that come up repeatedly and have them ready as a response.

How about you other writers out there? What tricks do you have up your sleeves for helping your fellow man, yet knowing where to draw the line so you can get your own work done and get sufficient sleep? I’m open to suggestions!

December 9, 2009

December is the month of reckoning. And I’m not satisfied–not even close–with what I’ve accomplished this year.

I’m great at making goals, writing them down, setting deadlines, posting them on my bulletin board, and getting to work. Until fairly recently, I was also very good at accomplishing whatever I set my mind to. Throw me an obstacle? I’d climb over it, tunnel under it, or go around it to meet my writing goals.

Hmmm… So what happened?

I’ve been reviewing my 2009 writing goals this past week, and (it’s embarrassing to admit) I only accomplished three of my twelve goals.  I think at least ten of them were  do-able too. I truly was puzzled by this. It is so NOT like me. Admittedly, I had added a couple of writing projects that lasted about a month each, but that wasn’t enough to make so much difference.

Luckily I journal a lot, so it wasn’t hard to go back over the year and see where my time went. Much of it went to paid critiquing and lessons, but not enough to account for my dismal showing. I had had grandkids here weekly, plus over spring break, but I loved it–and it didn’t account for the failure either. I had taken on three church/community leadership jobs for five months, and that accounted for my fatigue, I knew.

But not one of these activities actually caused my failure to meet many writing goals.

Lightbulb Moment #1

Then I realized that although none of those activities took more than 4-5 hours per week, when I added them up, it came close to 15 hours per week of “extras.” Sometimes it was more, when I did some special event.

I need to remember in the future to add up EVERYTHING I’m doing already before taking on something else, even if the solicitor promises the job will only take one hour per week. I need to add prep time, travel time, and time to answer email from people–and factor it all into the equation. In theory, I was only volunteering 3-4 hours per week. When it was all added together, it turned out to average 14 hours.

Lightbult Moment #2

Last year I signed up to do Mark Joyner’s free Simple’ology course, but didn’t actually do it. This week I finally read through the workbook, and one thing struck me forcefully. “The Law of Clear Vision states that in order to hit a target, you need to see it clearly.”

The author had you do an experiment where you stand in the middle of a room and try to reach a targeted object on the wall. In the first try, you close your eyes, turn around five times, then (still with eyes shut) guess at the target’s location and wander toward it.

The second time you do the same turning around, only you keep your eyes open and head to the target. “It’s obvious that Method #2 will get you to your target 100% of the time. Method #1, on the other hand, will get you there only rarely.”

Bingo!

As soon as I read that statement, I realized why I hadn’t met many of my goals. I had written them all down (much like hanging the target on the wall). But instead of keeping my eyes open and on the target, I blindfolded myself and twirled around, hoping that I’d somehow hit the target by accident when I was wandering around doing a lot of other things.

I learned the hard way this year that it does no good to write down your goals or even post them on the wall if you don’t look at them again. I lost that “clear vision” of what I wanted to accomplish this year and why. I did accomplish many good things for some very deserving people, but when I lost the clear vision of my own goals, things got way out of balance and off track.

Time to polish the glasses, get clear again, and face the new year with better understanding and more resolve to stay focused.

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