Pages
- 50 Tension Techniques
- About Kristi Holl
- De-Stressing the Writing Life
- More Writer’s First Aid
- Time Management for Writers book list
- Writing Mysteries for Young People
- Quantity vs. Quality: Big Issue for Today’s Writer
- It’s My Company Policy
- Motivation: the Icing on the Cake
- Help is Just a Click Away
- Commitment Without Compromise
- Motivation or Committment? [Part Two]
- It’s No Mystery!
- Motivation or Commitment? Only ONE is Necessary
Blogroll
- Advanced Fiction Writing Blog
- Books and Writing
- Chip MacGregor.com
- Christian Writer’s Den
- CRITIQUES by Kristi
- cynsations
- Editorial Anonymous
- Institute of Children’s Literature
- Kristi’s Website
- Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent
- SCBWI
- Sharing with Writers and Readers
- So You Want to Be Published
- The Working Writer’s Coach
- The Writing Life
- Writing Fiction Right
Archives
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
Categories
- 50 Tension Techniques
- agent
- Artist's Way
- attitudes
- authenticity
- award
- balance
- beliefs
- blogging
- blogging software
- book marketing
- book releases
- books
- books on tape
- bookstores
- boundaries
- budget
- buying
- career planning
- character development
- checklist
- children
- Children's Book Insider
- children's writing
- Christian writing
- close reading
- commitment
- conferences
- consistency
- contests
- courage
- creativity
- critique groups
- critiques
- deadlines
- depression
- disappointments
- discipline
- distractions
- dreams
- ebooks
- editing
- editors
- Editors and Predators
- electronic media
- emotional balance
- encouragement
- energy
- estimated tax
- excellence
- expectations
- families
- fears
- fiction
- figures of speech
- finding time
- finish line
- fitness
- flexibility
- focus
- focusing
- friends
- FrontPage
- genres
- getting started
- goals
- habits
- healing
- health
- holidays
- honor
- humor
- ideas
- income tax
- inspiration
- Internet
- interruptions
- interview
- Jane Austen
- Jane Yolen
- Jerry Jenkins
- Joshua Bell
- Jott
- journaling
- Julia Cameron
- language
- learning disability
- lexophile
- LifeJournal software
- lifestyle
- Madeleine L'Engle
- making money
- marketing
- meditations
- Memorial Day
- mentors
- More Writer's First Aid
- motivation
- mysteries
- NaNoEdMo
- NaNoWriMo
- networking
- New Year's resolutions
- nonfiction
- novel writing
- organization
- pace
- pain
- passion
- perfectionism
- perseverance
- persistence
- picture books
- platform
- preparation
- priorities
- procrastination
- productivity
- promotion
- proposal
- psychology of writing
- publicity
- publishing
- query
- readers
- reading
- recovery
- rejections
- renewal
- research
- retreat
- revision
- rough draft
- sabotage
- sales
- scam
- scams
- SCBWI
- scenes
- schedules
- search engines
- self-care
- self-discipline
- self-promotion
- self-publishing
- SEO
- shaping
- Sherryl Clark
- simplify
- sleep deprivation
- social needs
- social networking
- soldiers
- solitude
- strategy
- studying
- success
- support
- talent
- taxes
- Terry Whalin
- thinking
- time management
- tips
- toxic behavior
- traffic
- Uncategorized
- used books
- vanity publishing
- voice
- waiting
- Walking on Alligators
- websites
- Weebly
- wisdom
- word count
- words
- work in progress
- Write4Kids
- Writer Beware
- writer homes
- Writer Magazine
- Writer's Digest
- Writer's First Aid
- writers
- writers block
- writers magazines
- writing
- writing advice
- writing anxiety
- writing books
- writing challenges
- writing classes
- writing coach
- writing conferences
- writing contests
- writing course
- Writing for the Soul
- writing habits
- writing honest
- writing information
- writing inspiration
- writing journal
- writing life
- writing more
- writing mysteries
- Writing Mysteries for Young People
- writing output
- writing phases
- writing process
- writing schedule
- writing space
November 15, 2010
Do you ever wonder if you’re a REAL writer? If you have doubts, it might be because you have a bad case of the “shoulds.”
Symptoms of the “shoulds” include:
- You should write first thing in the morning.
- You should write daily.
- You should keep a journal.
- You should write down your dreams every morning.
- You should have a room of your own and be organized!
- You should write for publication.
What if some of the “shoulds” just go against your grain? Are you not a real writer then? What if you write best after 10 p.m. instead of first thing in the morning? What if you start journals repeatedly and never last more than three days? What if you can’t remember your dreams? What if an organized office makes you freeze and you secretly prefer writing in chaos?
Are you a REAL writer then? YES!
What Am I Exactly?
If you struggle with your identity as a writer–if you don’t seem to fit the mold no matter how you’ve tried–you would love the book I found over the weekend. It’s called The Write Type: Discover Your True Writer’s Identity and Create a Customized Writing Plan by Karen E. Peterson, who wrote the best book on writer’s block I ever read.
This book takes you through exercises to find the real writer who lives inside you. You’ll explore the ten components that make up a writer’s “type.” They include such things as tolerance for solitude, best time of day to write, amount of time, need for variety, level of energy, and level of commitment. Finding your own personal combination of traits helps you build a writer’s life where you can be your most productive and creative.
Free to Be Me
To be honest, the exercises with switching hands (right brain/left brain) didn’t help me as much as the discussions about each trait. I could usually identify my inner preferences quite easily through the discussion. It gave me freedom to be myself as a writer. It also helped me pinpoint a few areas where I believed some “shoulds” that didn’t work for me, where I was trying to force this square peg writer into a round hole and could stop!
We’re all different–no surprise!–but we published writers are sometimes too quick to pass along our own personal experience in the form of “shoulds.” You should write first thing in the morning should actually be stated, It works well for ME to write first thing in the morning, so you might try that.
What About You?
Have you come up against traits of “real writers” that just don’t seem to fit you? Do you like to flit from one unfinished project to another instead of sticking to one story until it’s finished and submitted? Do you need noise around you and get the heebie jeebies when it’s too quiet?
If you have time, leave a comment concerning one or two areas where you have struggled in the past with a “real writer” trait. Let’s set ourselves free from the tyranny of the shoulds!
June 30, 2010
Is the advice “write what you know” valid? Yes, definitely. And no, not always.
It’s confusing advice!
Practical Knowledge
“Write what you know” makes sense when you’re ignorant in some area. For example, I know nothing about vampires, have never read a vampire book, can’t understand the whole vampire movie thing, and can’t for the life of me figure out why a blood-sucking boyfriend would be romantic. It’s just me.
This is the point though: I don’t know about vampires, and I have no business sitting down today to write a vampire novel. It would be so full of ridiculous ideas and mistakes that it would be laughable. I don’t care to look that foolish.
Use Yourself
On the other hand, says Ursula K. Le Guin in “Make your fiction truthful” (The Writer, July, 2010), “Write what you know doesn’t mean you have to know a lot. It just tells you to take what you have, take who you are, and use it. Don’t try to use secondhand feeling: use yourself.” So, does ”write what you know” mean “write exclusively about your personal experiences”?
No, I don’t think so. What you “know” can come from your personal experience–that’s true. But it also comes from other people’s experiences, from books you’ve read and movies that moved you, from research and travel–all blended together when you use your imagination.
The Best of Both Worlds
I believe in “write what you know,” but I’ve also had eleven mysteries published. I will swear to you that I’ve never stolen, kidnapped, set a place on fire, or blackmailed anyone, but I’ve written about it.
However, I made aspects of those stories familiar too. I set those mysteries in the midwest, where I lived all my life. Five are set in real places I’d visited many times. I used many people I knew for my characters. I developed themes that were coming true in my own life or my children’s lives. The character growth and change was real–and it was often me.
Get to Know Yourself
Le Guin says it this way: “If you take it in its deepest meaning, ‘write about what you know’ means write from your heart, from your own real being, your own thoughts and emotions…If you don’t know who you are and what you know, if you haven’t worked to find out what you yourself truly feel and think, then your work will probably be imitation work, borrowed from other writers.” (I hope you’ll get a copy of The Writer and read her entire article.)
You may not think you know much or have had enough interesting experiences, but you’d be wrong. If you have my Writer’s First Aid book, read the chapter on “Getting to Know You…” Take the lengthy survey about your life and
keep the information in a writer’s notebook.
The answers to that survey will unearth enough information about YOU to last you a writer’s lifetime.
December 7, 2009

Are you a hero
or a fool?
I had never considered the question in regards to writing–until this past weekend when I was reading James Scott Bell’s new book, The Art of War for Writers: fiction writing strategies, tactics, and exercises.
Fools Rush In…
This book is written in very short chapters, just right for my weekend, which entailed a multitude of car trips back and forth across town. I just read as I was carted from place to place. You may be familiar with Bell’s other writing craft books (one of my favorites is Plot & Structure), but this book is different.
In addition to the section where Bell helps writers pull their stories up another professional notch or two, he has sections on how to plan and behave in the writing world. I was particularly struck by his comments on heroes and fools in today’s writing world. I’ll describe both, according to Bell. I hope you find yourself much more in one category than the other!
You’re a Fool If…
- you think publishing should happen for you immediately
- you don’t think you have much to learn
- you demand to be noticed even if your writing stinks
- you get knocked down and whine about it forever
You’re a Hero If…
- you know it takes hard work and a long time to get published
- you learn your craft, always studying to get better
- you fight to make your writing worthy, even when no one notices
- you get knocked down and you quietly regroup to write again
I think you get the idea. I’m sorry to say that in our “instant gratification” world, I’ve seen a faster growth in fools lately than in heroes. However, if you’re a writer who recognizes himself in the “fool” category above, it’s never too late to change. If you haven’t alienated editors and agents with your foolish behavior, so much the better.
Be honest with yourself. If you recognize yourself in the foolish description, resolve to change. Choose humility and hard work instead of arrogance and laziness. You’ll endear yourself to other writers as well as agents and editors. And you’ll prepare yourself for a long and satisfying writing career.
Be a hero.