January 29, 2010

If you’re a plumber hired to unclog my drain, but I catch you sitting and looking out the window, I can, in all fairness, say you’re not working. If you’re my cleaning lady, but I catch you rocking in a chair staring into space, I can say justly that you’re not working.

What about writers? Not so easy to tell!

Thinking vs. Writing

According to Wallace Stevens, “It is not always easy to tell the difference between thinking and looking out the window.” It’s also not always easy to tell the difference between thinking and going for a walk, between thinking and washing dishes, between thinking and daydreaming, and between thinking and grazing in the fridge.

Why is this true? Lots of thinking precedes writing. For fiction writers, thinking about characters, getting to know them, listening to their voices-all this happens in the head while “thinking.” Plot twists and turns give birth while “thinking”-and woe unto the writer who skips thinking and writes the first thing that comes into her head.

Although all this pre-thinking is critical, that isn’t all the thinking you’ll have to do. Even while working on revisions, you’ll find yourself thinking and staring out the window, thinking and walking, thinking and grazing. You understand that “I’m thinking” means ”so please don’t interrupt.” Chances are, your family won’t. Instead they will walk into the room where you’re “thinking-writing” and say, “Oh good, you’re not doing anything. Can you hold the ladder for me?”

Thinking in Disguise

That’s why I prefer to do my thinking in private if I can. Otherwise it just seems to invite interruptions, often at a critical moment when I’ve just about figured out my theme or where the climax scene needs to go.

If I’m home alone, that’s no problem. If it’s in the evening, though, or on a weekend, I weed flowers or fold a load of laundry or wash dishes when I need to think something through. (Nobody bothers you when doing chores-they might get roped into helping.)

Reap the Rewards

Contrary to the life of a plumber or housekeeper, a lot of the writer’s real work happens when she’s looking out the window. Sometimes my clearest thoughts, my best insights for how to fix things, come when I’m not thinking about the piece of writing at all.

Give yourself enough of this “mindless” time, and you’ll be amazed what bubbles up to your conscious mind. Despite the heckling you may receive, during this thinking time you’re a writer at work. And the pay-off will be huge.

January 27, 2010

All of our actions have results, or consequences. That’s not news to anyone. And yet, do we act like we believe that?

Not all that often.

Too many writers (myself included sometimes) believe that if we work our hardest and try our best and keep a good attitude, we’ll end up successfully published. Why? Because we have good intentions. But it’s “direction-not intention-that determines our destination,” says Andy Stanley in his new book The Principle of the Path.

Here’s a simple illustration. You may intend to be a great archer. However, if you work hard, shoot arrow after arrow, and lift weights to have stronger biceps-but don’t pay attention to direction-shooting arrows is a waste of your time. Oh, you might luck out and hit your target once in a blue moon, but that’s about it. Sadly, many writers approach their careers like this.

Good Intentions-No Direction

In every part of your life (health, relationships, writing career) you’re moving in some direction toward a specific destination. We don’t end up at that destination out of luck or sheer hard work or good intentions or because “it all worked out somehow.” Destination is the end result of the choices you made yesterday, added to the ones you make today, added to the ones you make tomorrow.

There are paths we choose that lead us to destinations we never intended, and there are paths we’re on right now that are leading us away from-not toward-our dreams and goals. If we’re headed in the wrong direction, no matter how good our intentions or how hard we work, we won’t reach our goal.

Personally Speaking

It’s the decisions you make on a daily basis that determine your path and your destination. For example, for many reasons I want to be super-healthy the older I get. I want it more than most other things because it affects all areas of my life. I know a lot about nutrition and exercise and weight loss and what my body needs to run its best. A healthy body is my intention and has been for years.

BUT the daily decisions I made last year to eat candy instead of the hated vegetables, to watch a movie instead of go running, and skip the weights work-outs have NOT led me to great health in 2010. My path led to higher cholesterol, higher blood pressure, much less stamina, and more headaches. (I bet you can guess what my goals are this year!)

Writerly Direction Needed Too

I see writers doing the same thing. They’ve got their goals written down, they’ve set deadlines for themselves, they’re determined to finish that novel and submit it, and ultimately they want to be published. They knock themselves out to create websites, network on Facebook and LinkedIn and writer chat rooms, write newsletters and blogs-but they never have time to actually do much writing. They spend so little time actually writing that they don’t improve.

Despite their great intentions, their daily choices are not taking them in the direction they want to go. (That’s my main reason for staying off the Internet till the afternoon, as mentioned in my Not-to-Do List. It diverts me from the path I want to take.)

“I know it’s tempting to believe that our good intentions, aspirations and dreams somehow have the ability to do an end run around the decisions we make on a daily basis,” says Andy. “But at the end of the day, the principle of the path determines the outcome. Simply put, you and I will win or lose in life by the paths we choose.”

What path will you choose today?

January 25, 2010

It’s not so easy to put first things first. It’s not even easy to decide what should be first!

I want to write first in my day because so many writer bios of famous successful authors say that’s what they do. They stumble to their offices first thing, in their slippers and carrying coffee, to pound the keys for a couple of hours before breakfast. I’ve always wanted to write first.

Not Always Possible

For many years, early rising babies and children clamored for my attention first thing every morning, and let’s face it, hungry kids and soaked diapers won’t wait a couple of hours. Even after the kids were older and there was just the dog, he had to go outside very quickly every morning. Waiting two hours for that “first” would have also been disastrous.

So many things vie for first place in your day! Some health gurus say exercise first because you’ll never do it later, and it’s critical to your wellbeing and stamina. Others say eat a healthy breakfast first. Still others say you must journal first and dump whatever is bothering you where no one will ever see. If you’re an e-mail junkie, you may feel checking that must be first since something there might affect the course of your day. Your pastor will suggest that devotional time needs to be first or it will be pushed aside when you get busy. There are calls to make and showers to take. They all “need” to be first in your day before you lose control of your time.

Calgon, Take Me Away!

Enter Decidophopia. It’s a term I read in Carol Rottman’s writers in the Spirit. Here’s how she describes it: “Every morning from those early stirrings in bed of sluggish body and scattered mind, I must make some choices. What first? What next?…As I face my desk each day, I know I’ve got [Decidophopia]. I must decide, but I am afraid. To make one thing first pushes everything else lower on the list. My desk is usually covered with notebooks and loose paper in stacks-each one a ’should.’”

Do you have Decidophopia? When my children were small, I didn’t have. There were few choices. The kids’ needs came first. The writing stuff came later-often much later when they were down for naps. Years down the road, when the kids were in school and then grown, Decidophopia set in. Suddenly I had some choices. Even with teaching part-time, I could schedule most of my days however I wanted.

Choices! Choices!

I learned fairly quickly that I love structure. “Going with the flow” every day just fed my Decidophopia and made it worse. Making that “what next?” decision every hour or so resulted too many times in cruising on out to the kitchen for a snack or reading e-mail. As boring as it may sound to many people, I now have a written list for my important daily stuff. I like order.

My devotional time comes first. My exercise comes next if the weather is decent enough-otherwise it comes at noon. My shower and healthy breakfast are next. And the writing comes next. (I use a timer, and every half hour I take a five-minute yoga break for my neck and back, followed by a short break away from the desk.) Then it’s back to writing for thirty minutes.

The writing periods in the morning are actual writing on a novel. The afternoon writing periods might be studying market guides or making submissions or doing a bit of online marketing. (I write these blogs on Saturday, load them on the blog to post without me on M-W-F mornings, and that allows me to stay off the Internet till afternoon.)

No One Right Way

What’s your routine like? Or do you have one? Are there so many “important firsts” vying for your attention each day that it’s hard to get started? Are you able to be flexible and “go with the flow,” or do you need more structure?

I love hearing how other writers work-we’re all so different and there’s certainly no “one right way.” Leave a comment about how you handle decidophopia!

January 22, 2010

While taking a writing break today, I read a short chapter in James Scott Bell’s new writing book called The Art of War for Writers. It was about writing with heart, with passion, with purpose.

I don’t know about you, but I find it really difficult to write something that my heart just isn’t in. It feels flat, and when my critique group gets hold of it, they say things like, “It’s really smooth, but I don’t feel any emotional connection to your main character.” They can’t connect with her heart. Ouch.

The Heart of the Matter

So how do you get this heart on the page? Bell has an intriguing formula for it. He says,

“Heart = passion + purpose.

Passion means heat. Strength of feeling.

Purpose means you know what you want the reader to feel when she gets to the end of your story.

Heart means directing passion so it serves your desired purpose.”

All Styles Need Heart

All writing styles can have heart. Light humorous styles. Darker serious styles. Breezy styles. It’s not about your style. I recently read two fantastic adult novels that both had tremendous heart. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was lighter, often humorous, reading. The Help (a first novel, by the way) was in a more serious vein, but the passion and purpose in both novels had me turning pages as fast as I could.

So how do you put “heart” into your writing? It isn’t just about passionate feeling. We’ve all read stories with tons of passion, but it meandered all over the place and then just stopped. No purpose. And we’ve all read books-or at least started them-where the purpose was bold as a billboard-but without passionate feeling, it wasn’t engaging.

Simple Exercise

Bell suggested a simple three-part exercise for discovering the heart for your next novel.

1. Make a list of things you feel very strongly about.
2. List your favorite books and movies, describing how each one made you feel at the end.
3. Choose one item from each list and brainstorm on how you might combine them in a story.

I haven’t tried this exercise yet, but I’m going to. With my current novel, I know the purpose. But somewhere along the way of several revisions, I lost touch with the passion part. I think I’ll take my main character for a long walk and get reacquainted with her-and see if I can’t get that passion back. It will be good for the book-and I’ll enjoy the writing a lot more!

January 20, 2010

As one of my time-saving endeavors in 2010, I made what my best friend calls a Not-to-Do list. I couldn’t squeeze more writing into my day unless I eliminated some things. Once I identified many of the problems, fixing them wasn’t that hard!

And a Not-to-Do list really works too. The first week in January I was able to add 16 hours of writing time to my schedule, and the second week I added 15 hours. I was thrilled with the changes—and believe it or not, I’m finished earlier in the day and able to take all of Sunday off.

I’ll share my list, and then I hope you’ll leave a comment and share something you’ve given up to make more time for writing. Altogether, we could generate a really helpful list! 

The List

Since what you don’t do often determines what you can do, let the weeding out process begin!

1.      I use my answering machine and don’t take calls from numbers I don’t recognize. I let it go to Voicemail on my answering machine, which is turned up so I can hear the message. If it’s important, I can interrupt the message and take it. Nine times out of ten—or more—it can wait.

2.      I don’t get on the Internet at all until 2 p.m. This has been the single most beneficial change I’ve made this year. I let my kids and friends know my new schedule and said to call me if they needed an answer about something before that time. If I answer email before that, I’m stuck online for several hours, flitting from site to site.

3.       I don’t email after supper anymore. Again, it’s because it expands until that “ten-minute check” has eaten up an hour or two. It robs me of sleep I need, plus relaxed reading time that helps me unwind.

4.      I no longer agree to appointments and meetings in the mornings. That ruins my writing for the whole day, for some reason. So far, I’ve never had trouble getting the time changed to the afternoon, and as late as possible.

5.      I now just check email twice a day, at 2 p.m. and just before I quit work about 6 p.m. Since I’m starving by 6, there’s no temptation to linger and read all the email ads I get for losing weight.

6.      If I don’t know, I say so. I can’t tell you how much time this has saved me already this year! I probably have an ego problem, but when someone emails and wants to know how to do XX, and I have no experience with it, my past behavior has always been to Google for the answer, send a lengthy reply, and give the person lots of URLs to check out. Now, if I don’t know, I say so. I apologize for not being able to help, but that’s it. I now let people Google things for themselves.

7.      I have a simple cell phone. I just got a new cell phone because my old one broke. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I didn’t buy one with any bells and whistles. I don’t want to be able to get online or check email by phone. I want it mostly for emergencies—mine. I no longer carry it around everywhere either. I leave it in my purse for emergencies on the road.

8.      I’m declining parties and showers for people I barely know.

It’s good to focus on getting things done, but sometimes you can’t get more organized until you weed out the time-eaters in your life. So now, let me ask: what things are going on your not-to-do list this year? Please share!

January 18, 2010

Every week I get questions like this: “I don’t have a book out yet [or my first book came out last year], but do you think I need to have a website, a blog, a newsletter, be on Facebook and LinkedIn, and also tweet on Twitter daily? Is all this self-promotion necessary?”

I wish I knew!

A Voice of Reason

If you believe everything you read that “they say,” you might think you needed to do all that self-promotion. However, I’m inclined to think James Scott Bell in his new book The Art of War for Writers is closer to the mark.  In talking about self-promotion, he said, “The more anxious you are about forcing success through self-promotional effort, the less creative energy you have for the writing itself.”

Why? “Because,” Bell says, “the most important promotional tool you have is your best book. Period.”

Creating that “best book” of which you’re capable takes hours and hours of writing and revising, learning new skills, honing your craft, your heart and soul, your blood, sweat and tears. He cautions writers not to dilute their strengths by obsessing over promotion. (Isn’t that a breath of fresh air?)

Good, Better, Best

Bell gives an interesting list of the “ten best forms of self-promotion.” Only one item on the list deals with the Internet. He simply calls #4 on the list your “web presence.” Guess what SIX of the items on the list are. Your book. He says that a good book-and the word of mouth it generates-will do more for your sales than all the Internet marketing efforts put together. That has been my experience personally, but it’s rare to find such a successful author say so. Rare and refreshing!

Concerning the questions I receive weekly about Internet promotion: I think I’m going to start quoting Bell’s book from now on. His simple guideline for “how much” self-promotion to do is this:

“Do what you can without (a) taking away from the quality of your writing time; (b) taking away from the quality of personal relationships, and (c) taking on debt.”

Now that’s food for a lot of thought.

January 15, 2010

Optimism is good, right? Usually. But not when it’s a cover-up for fear and denial.

I read a quote last week that got me thinking about the current publishing economy and my career. I’ve lived through a couple of publishing recessions before, and without me making many changes, it eventually “righted” itself.

Not In Kansas Anymore?

My attitude has been the same during this recession. I planned to just ride it out and not make any changes. The following quote, plus some recent reports on the state of the industry, are making me re-think things. What do you think about this quote?

“There’s no difference between a pessimist who says, ‘Oh, it’s hopeless, so don’t bother doing anything,’ and an optimist who says, ‘Don’t bother doing anything, it’s going to turn out fine anyway.’ Either way, nothing happens.” ~~Yvon Chouinard, climber

Digging Deeper

Fear is hard to face–for all of us. Sometimes we disguise it as optimism, assuring ourselves that things will somehow work out (whether it’s a problem at work, an issue in our marriage or with our children, or the increased difficulty in getting published.) I’ve always been an action-oriented person, but something about the above quote bothers me. I think it’s because it describes ME lately.

According to Timothy Ferriss (The 4-Hour Workweek), most people don’t like to face fear, so they dress it up as optimistic denial. They don’t want to quit their jobs, so they assure themselves it will all work out eventually. They don’t want a divorce, so they assure themselves it’s just a bump in the road. The issue with the child is just a phase–it will pass. And publishing as we knew it will be back soon–we just need to wait it out.

Maybe–but Maybe Not!

How can you tell if your optimism is realistic or simply denying a problem you don’t want to face and deal with? Here are some of Ferriss’ pointed questions:

• Do you really think it will improve or is it wishful thinking and an excuse for inaction?
• Are you better off than you were one year ago, one month ago, or one week ago? (If not, things will not improve by themselves.)

Now What?

I think I’m going to journal this weekend about these questions in several areas of my writing life. I’d love to hear your reactions as well.

January 12, 2010

“People who blog, tweet or use Facebook to post opinions about consumer products could be fined $11,000 for repeat violations of new federal disclosure rules.”

Why?

New regulations passed last fall by the FTC warn bloggers to give full disclosure for any products they endorse. (This includes books.) The FTC calls bloggers “endorsers” and makes endorsers liable, along with advertisers, for false or unsubstantiated claims.

Since I endorse a lot of books in the course of a year, I am studying this further. (FYI: Usually they are books off my own shelves, and never have I been paid for a review. And even though ICL hosts this blog, they do not tell me what to review or pay me to “plug” their products.) I know many of you blog and write blog reviews, or have Amazon affiliate accounts. You may want to check this out and make sure your blogging practices won’t get you in trouble.

Don’t Panic

An excellent, easy-to-understand overview of this topic–and some solutions–can be found in an excellent post by publisher CEO, Michael Hyatt.

“Bottom line,” says PRSAY, “no blogger will be dragged off in chains nor any time soon be hit with stiff civil penalties, except in very extraordinary cases.” However, I’d recommend that, if you blog, you read these articles and make sure you’re on the right side of the law.

 

[1/19/2010 update: After getting advice from an attorney, a simple notice was put at the bottom of my "About Kristi" page as a permanent fixture. You may want to do something similar.]

January 11, 2010

Over the years, I’ve discovered that TRUTH is like brussels sprouts–an acquired taste. It isn’t accepted right away.

Instead of the truth, most of us prefer something more comfortable. Writers do it too. We often prefer one of the four D’s: denial, delusion, distortion or disguise.

However, refusing to accept some simple truths can hurt you and your career.

Definitions

Denial means to “refuse to accept or believe the truth.” I see this too often with students when they are ready to submit their stories and articles. Some refuse to accept the truth that you must study the markets and you must submit what they are asking for. If a magazine you love requests health articles only, but you send them your teen romance because you just love that magazine, the editor isn’t going to buy it, no matter how good it is.

Delusion means “the belief in something that contradicts an established fact.” One established fact is that learning to write well takes time and it takes commitment–daily, if possible. You’re deluded if you believe you can dash off several pages every few months and become a successful writer. That’s no more likely than if I practice Chopsticks every few months, I will end up playing Carnegie Hall.

Distortion means “taking the truth and slightly changing it into a partial truth.”  This is like when a writer tells an editor in a query or at a conference, “I’ve had five books published.” If you have five books in your hand that you paid someone to print for you, they are not five published books. They were printed, and there’s a world of difference (to both editors and potential buyers.) If there was any cost involved, you paid all or part of it (if your books were printed). You might not have paid anything, but only if there was no cost involved to your “printer” either (e-books or print-on-demand books).

Disguise means “camouflaging a lie so that it resembles truth.” I’m sorry to say that, due to technology and the current economy, wolves in sheep’s clothing abound in the publishing arena. People wanting your money may call themselves “independent publishers” or “co-publishers,” but they’re still just the old vanity presses. You do not have to fall for this. Thanks to the Internet, you can Google anyone and find out about them. Also become a regular reader of sites like Preditors and Editors and Publishing Scams and Writer Beware.

Choose Truth

Facing the truth is difficult at first. Like brussels sprouts, it sometimes has to be absorbed in small doses. It’s your choice. You can believe the distortions, live in denial, embrace delusions and be fooled by disguises.

Or you can choose to believe the truth about writing. You do need to study the markets. You do need to write regularly. You do need to check out publishers in these days of so many scams. And if you choose to self-publish, you do need to face the fact that you will probably have to lay out money to someone, then do much of the marketing, publicity, promotion and sales yourself.

Whether or not to believe the truth is your choice. There’s just one catch. Only the truth will set you free–to be the writer you want to be.

January 8, 2010

Shocking but true–you need stress in your life in order to grow and in order to attain your goals. Sound weird? It did to me too until I understood the two types of stress.

Distress? Or Eustress?

We all know what bad stress is (or distress). It’s the rejection letter (like the one I got on Monday), the flu bug you can’t shake, the fight with your teenager over curfew, bad news about the publishing economy, and being stuck in traffic when you’re due in the dental office.

The effects of bad stress are well known now: high blood pressure, inability to sleep, weight gain, sore bodies, heart attacks, snarly relationships, overdrawn bank accounts, and having your rotten teeth fall out (after being stuck one too many times in traffic.)

Healthy Challenges

Eustress, on the the other hand, is good for you. Yes, it is a challenge to your body or mind (or both), but the end result is growth and moving toward your goals (instead of away from them.) Eustress might come in the form of a trainer or coach pushing you to stretch your limits, or choosing to study something at night instead of watch TV, or going to counseling with your spouse. Remember, eustress is stress that is healthful and helps you grow in some area.

In many of the choices you make every day, it’s a choice between distress and eustress. The one BIG difference I’ve noticed is that distress tends to overtake you and fall on you without you needing to make any effort at all, while you have to actually choose eustress.

How Much is Too Much?

Can you have too much eustress? We all want to attain our goals and make progress as quickly as possible. Is eustress always a case of “more is better”? No, it’s not. If you’re out of shape, taking a walk each day, and building up the miles over time, is good for you: eustress. Running a 5K race after you’ve done nothing but watch TV for ten years is bad for you: distress.

The same goes for your writing. If the most you’ve ever written is thirty minutes per day, then aiming for 1-2 hours per day would be eustress (good). Deciding to write 8-10 hours per day, on the other hand, would usually cause distress (to both mind and body).

Writer Eustress

For years, I did my best to avoid criticism in all forms, including critiques. I had a very thin skin and couldn’t handle it. It caused me distress. But it wasn’t until an editor at a workshop practically forced me to read my story in a group–and learn to handle constructive criticism–that I discovered there were two kinds. Destructive criticism was the kind to avoid where someone rips your writing apart and haughtily calls you names. However, the good criticism could be immensely helpful, even if it was uncomfortable to hear.

Today, I don’t know what I’d do without my critique group, both for writing help and for their friendship. Yes, even a good critique can cause eustress for a while, but it’s a catalyst for growth.  

You Need To Do Both

If you want to achieve your writing goals this year, you will probably need to do two things. First, be aggressive in getting rid of the bad stress in your life. Second, be just as determined to find sources of good stress to challenge yourself to move forward.

Do both things often enough, and it will literally change your life.

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