Writers First Aid

Find a Need and Fill It!

April 23, 2010

survey Today I’d like to take a survey and find out what subjects you’re most interested in. Some of my blog topics strike a nerve, resulting in nearly a dozen comments. Some topics don’t elicit any response, but I don’t know if that means the topics aren’t helpful or not.

So…I thought I’d just ask! What topics would you like to hear more about? Here are some that have “hit a nerve” in the past and elicited many responses:

Some Possible Choices

rejection
writing schedules
setting boundaries
creativity
discipline
distraction
families
writing fears
finding time
getting started
goals
habits
inspiration
motivation
perseverance
procrastination
rejections
schedules
self-care
time management
voice
writer’s block
writing schedule
OTHER_______

Please leave a comment if you have any preferences at all. Or email me at kristi.holl@gmail.com if you don’t want to post a public comment. I’d like to write about the things that matter most to you!

Post tags: writing challenges

Posted in: Uncategorized | | Comments (27)

27 Comments »

I have a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote on my wall in front of my laptop that reads “Always do what you are afraid to do.” I’m afraid…not so much of being rejected, but my work being accepted and my short comings resulting in either a major legal mess or my writing calling me out of the shadows that I live in. How do I overcome my fears?

Comment by PenMOMship — April 23, 2010 @ 7:01 am
PenMomShip, the fear of success is a good topic to explore. I know exactly what you mean. For years I told my writing friends I’d love to be the first runner-up to getting a Newbery because those people are (sorry to say) pretty much overlooked. But Newbery winners appear on “Good Morning, America!” Live TV–argh! Thanks for your comment, and I’ll make a note of it!

Comment by Kristi Holl — April 23, 2010 @ 8:18 am
Kristi, I appreciate ALL your posts! If I don’t comment, it’s because you’ve already said it better than I could–or other commentors have. Keep up your good work!!

Comment by Jane Healy — April 23, 2010 @ 9:18 am
Kristi, you have a wonderful and useful blog so keep it up. Sometimes I find that whatever I need to hear is what you dish up. Thank you.

Comment by Vijaya — April 23, 2010 @ 10:48 am
Jane and Vijaya, thanks for the pats on the back. I do appreciate them! I think our struggles are all so similar!

Comment by Kristi Holl — April 23, 2010 @ 11:02 am
Years ago I bought your book – Writer’s First Aid, but I only recently learned of your blog through a newsletter. I haven’t responded to any topics, but I need to tell you that I look forward to each and every creative post. Even the illustration fills me with a smile. You have a special way of motivating me to press on, so thank you for what you’re doing even when you don’t always receive my feedback.

God Bless You,
Trudy

Comment by Trudy — April 23, 2010 @ 11:48 am
Trudy, thank you so much for your comment. I think I write those “pressing on” posts for me as much as for anyone else. Given the economy, the feedback has been less uplifting than in years past–a testing time that separates the men from the boys, as they say. (Love your blog, by the way.) We’ll keep pressing on together!

Comment by Kristi Holl — April 23, 2010 @ 12:24 pm
Kristi,

Your blog covers it all, and while I don’t comment much, I do read the blog every day. And, magically, whatever I need is always covered at the time I need it. Thank you for your service to the children’s writers community. You do a world of good.

Comment by Anne Bromley — April 23, 2010 @ 12:31 pm
Kristi,

I appreciate and value all of your posts. My lack of response on some is either a time constraint issue or someone else has already commented similarly. Keep them coming!

Karin Larson

Comment by Karin Larson — April 23, 2010 @ 5:34 pm
focus discipline balance voice writing schedules

and anything you want to talk about =)

I don’t always comment — but I do read everything.

Comment by Liz — April 23, 2010 @ 5:47 pm
I like your blog posts, so it would be hard to choose which kind are the best. I check faithfully even when I don’t respond, so I’m sure a lot of other writers do too.

In general, I like blogs that give me information on how to write better, how to make the best use of critique groups, how to work with publishers professionally, how to deal with time management and goals, etc. I think it would be interesting to get some tips on writing for specific genres, such as mysteries, for example.

My main thing when it comes to blogs is that I like them to be short and potent, which yours usually are. I don’t have a lot of time to spend reading blogs, so I only frequent a few of them which I feel are the most useful. (I finally gave up on one that was good, but had enormous posts.)

Comment by Beth Mac — April 23, 2010 @ 6:20 pm
What I need is the Get Published Now, or Get Rich Quick Miracle!

Barring that…lol!…I just need to keep going. I’ve only really been at this, seriously, since the end of last year. I know I can’t complain yet about rejections or schedules, or lack of motivation. Your blogs give me the fuel I need to keep going, keep reading, keep writing.

I appreciate your “tips n tricks”, too. The books and articles you’ve read that inspire or teach you. I borrowed “Reading Like a Writer” from the library, and have added other suggestions of yours to my reading list. So, along with keeping on, I need to keep learning too. Slightly more attainable that getting rich quick.

Comment by Yvette — April 23, 2010 @ 8:15 pm
Kristi, your amazing blog is listed under my “Favorites” I think you cover nearly every issue we have. I may not comment (perhaps I should!) but you give me encouragement. My tenth book was published in Nov ’09. Not a lot, but not bad. I will ALWAYS need encouragement and tutoring from wonderful writers like you. You are honest and open yourself up to be vulnerable through that honesty. Please don’t EVER stop blogging! I’m looking at your list of topics on the left and I’m amazed. You keep writers CONNECTED. May God continue to bless you in your writing.

Comment by Sheryl Crawford — April 23, 2010 @ 8:17 pm
Hello Kristi,
I love your Blog & look forward to reading the next ones eagerly. I don’t always comment but I do read them. Mostly I feel you’ve said it best, no comment needed.
Your ideas and suggestions are always welcome and seem to always hit the spot for me.
Your thoughts about how to balance the chaos that is life for a writer in training; one trying to switch gears from the necessary day job to the writers dream life serve to remind me that we are not alone and we will get there.
Please keep up the awesome blog.
Thanks

Comment by Ally M — April 23, 2010 @ 8:21 pm
Hi Kristi,
I can’t wait to read your blog Mon, Wed and Fri. It is so on target-99% of what you write is helpful to me. You speak to what I need to hear. Perhaps you should request that we post a comment once a week after reading your blog. I stand at the laptop sort of dumbfounded at how your topics hit home for writing and other creative pursuits as well. I have difficulty choosing among ideas to get on with the writing part, and for crafts. What if it is not the best choice? Maybe that is just a paralysis fear. I do marketing writing at work, so that may be a conflicting matter. Thank you for your wonderful inspiration.

Comment by Sarah — April 24, 2010 @ 1:39 pm
Kristi, thank you for your blog. I check it almost every day — even though I’m the “silent type” when it comes to comments. I always find something useful here. As far as future posts, procrastination defeating articles always catch my eye. Maybe someday I will overcome that weakness!
Thanks again,
Deanna

Comment by Deanna — April 24, 2010 @ 5:12 pm
Kristi, I don’t often leave a respond, but I look forward to reading your posts each week. I consider you my mentor. I make note of the books you recommend along with any quotes you share.Thanks for sharing the pictures from your recent trip. Keep sharing your insights and wisdom with us. We benefit greatly from your hard work.

Comment by Beth — April 24, 2010 @ 5:23 pm
Good idea!

Okay, for me, I’d love to see some more topics about-

1. Motivation Motivation Motivation!
This can take a severe nosedive after being intimate with your inner editor for too long…

2. Discipline.
I admit it, I’m not as disciplined as I could be. I have buckled down some, but recently I’ve had problems with turning my inner critic off during the early stages of projects. I don’t enjoy the actual writing as much as I should/really WANT to.

3. Getting Started
Even though I’ve been at this for 6 years now, I feel like I’m stuck at the beginner level in many ways.

4. Perseverance/Inspiration
Though I put this dead last, this is something I desperately need more of as of late. Probably the one thing I’ve always done well is not giving up. I take pride in that. That said, my perseverance has been waning a bit because I had hoped I’d have published something, anything, by this point.

I think the main thing that gets in my way is that I’m comfortable with novel or book length fiction than I am at shorter fiction. Even though I’m currently taking the basic magazine course at ICL, I still feel very weak in this area.

The main problem is that the tight word counts are just hard for me. Anything under 1,000 words is almost always a fragment and not a real story, but making it a real story means it’s going to be over 1,000 words, and since only YA stories are allowed to be that long, and I primarily write MG level stuff, I’m feeling terribly confined.

Don’t even get me started on going younger than 8 year olds, because then I get called out for being too “Complex” or “Too hard” to the point where I’ll either have a 5-7 year old bored to death, or severely irritated because they can’t read it…

I know all too well how long the process is to get book-length fiction out there, but at least the word counts are WAY less stifling.

I’d love to hear ways to make short fiction more accessible to me. Though I’m always going to be a novelist at heart, I’ve been doing all I can to branch out into shorter forms so I can maybe publish something, ANYTHING, before I’m 50, is that so unreasonable?

This last one’s kind of a bonus, but could you please one day post more about “Pleasing yourself as a writer.” I really think that for many writers who like me have had things like “Consider your audience” or “Read books about kids NOW” drilled so harshly into our scalps, that we feel like what we liked as writers and readers ourselves is wrong, or if not wrong, selfish.

Just because I don’t want to write about explicit sex or drug use, doesn’t mean I don’t know what it’s like to be 16 and frustrated with stuff. I’m 22, it wasn’t that long ago for me.

Plus, I LOVE writing stories about talking animals, and no amount of “It’s a hard sell” is going to take that away from me. Especially my talking animals stories are mostly at a middle grade reading level, because trying to make them work for the chapter book set or even younger is beyond frustrating.

To be honest, it’s harder for me to write about human beings in the modern world because all the cool, trendy writers are able to go these dark places that I’m just not ready to go.

I’m not in denial, but I don’t feel it’s right to write about things I can’t even handle myself because it’ll just come off as fake or unintentionally preachy.

Sorry for rambling on, but I hope this will give you some cool topics to post about.

C.J.

Comment by C.J. Rockwell — April 24, 2010 @ 6:26 pm
Wow, everybody! Thanks for all the great ideas. This should keep me going for at least another year! I’ve taken notes of the comments and also all the emails you sent, so we’ll get on those topics ASAP.

Comment by Kristi Holl — April 26, 2010 @ 8:06 am
Kristi,
You are a fountain of helpful advice. Some things I would like advice on are writing schedules,creativity, goals, and time management.

Comment by Connie Salmon — April 27, 2010 @ 10:00 am
Like many of the previous comentors, I read every single blog you post (even if I’m days or a week late getting there) and most of them hit some nerve. Like many of the others, I rarely post because I haven’t aything to add to the wonderful wisdom you’ve imparted. Perhaps WE should be asking YOU — What sort of comments are most useful to you? When do you want us to comment and when is another “right on, Kristi!” just taking away your and our writing time?

Subjects that always hit home with me:
motivation and inspiration
procrastination
perseverence
schedules and time management
balancing writing time and others’ needs/wants

But the most useful posts may be ones we’ve never thought of before. You changed my life when you posted your list of books and classes that was your self-study. I continue to try to do that. I took Margie’s Defeating Self-Defeating Behaviors because of you. I would never have known to ask for a list of self-study, or ask for that class.

I think your blog strikes a chord with so many people because you don’t talk about specific writing techniques (which may be genre specific) but about all the peripheral stuff in our lives and emotions that impedes or enhances our writing. That’s what we all need. Keep it coming, PLEASE!!!!

Comment by Nancy — April 27, 2010 @ 10:52 am
I must thank you, Kristi. I enjoy reading your blog posts and they help to remind me that I am not alone in my frustrations and fears. Your articles and posts help impart me with the courage and self-confidence that I need to pursue my dreams and goals. I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.

-Chad

Comment by Chad — April 27, 2010 @ 2:10 pm
Thanks again, everyone. And Chad–your comment made my day. That is exactly why I started the blog four years ago! Thanks for posting!

Comment by Kristi Holl — April 28, 2010 @ 8:18 am
Thanks for your columns. I nearly always find something helpful.

Right now I am puzzling through creative nonfiction – where the facts are all researched, but conversation makes it more appealing to children, especially reluctant readers. Publishers seem to take a dim view of it. Any help? Thanks.

Comment by Carolyn — April 29, 2010 @ 12:24 pm
Kristi,

I’m struggling with finding new/different ways to say “smiled” in my middle grade WIP. If I try to show a character smiling with something like, “her eyes crinkled,” my crit partners tell me to “just use ‘smile.’”

Also, how does one describe all the multitude of expressions that people show — half smiles, lift a corner of a mouth, stretch lips thin, etc. — that won’t be lambasted by critters or others?

Argh!

Comment by Kathy — May 3, 2010 @ 10:16 pm
Kathy, I took a course (self-study type) sold at Margie Lawson’s website. I think it’s http://www.margielawson.com if I recall correctly. The teaching packets she has for sale are listed on the left, and the one I’m referring to is about showing character emotions. I didn’t take the class–just bought the lesson packet. I found it very helpful with what you’re talking about.

Comment by Kristi Holl — May 8, 2010 @ 2:48 pm
I am still taking the Institute class and love reading what you have to say My main concerns at this time are: writing schedules, discipline, finding time, time management and the like. I REALLY want to finish this course and write, but find myself distracted by other committments, and things around the house. What am I stalling for? What am I afraid of? Thanks, Wendy

Comment by Wendy — May 15, 2010 @ 5:35 pm