July 30, 2010

Over the weekend, I hope you’ll have time to check out some very helpful and thought-provoking blogs I read this week.

Kick back, relax, and enjoy these gems!

Gems of Wisdom

**Agent Wendy Lawton wrote a series called “Career Killers.” Full of wise advice! One post is on speed writing. Other “career killers” included impatience, playing “around the edges,” sloppiness, and skipping the apprenticeship. If you avoid these mistakes in your career, you’ll be miles ahead of the average writer.

**Are you trying to combine babies with bylines? Try “Writing Between Diapers: Tips for Writer Moms” for some practical tips.

**Is your writing journey out of whack because you have unrealistic expections? See literary agent Rachelle Gardner’s post “Managing Expections.”

**Critique groups are great, but you–the writer–must be your own best–and toughest–editor. See Victoria Strauss on “The Importance of Self-Editing.”

**We’re told to set goals and be specific about what success means to us. Do you have trouble with that? You might find clarity with motivational speaker Craig Harper’s “Goals and Anti-Goals.”

**And finish with Joe Konrath’s pithy statements in “A Writer’s Serenity Prayer.” You may want to print them out and tape them to your computer!

Share a Gem!

What have you read lately–online or off–that you felt was particularly insightful or helpful or thought-provoking? I’d love to have you share a link of your own!

July 26, 2010

Does your mind ever go ’round and ’round like it’s on some infernal hamster wheel? Mine does–and I waste so much time I could be writing. 

I try to stop because I assumed obsessing was a negative thing. It doesn’t have to be, though, not according to Eric Maisel in Brainstorm: Harnessing the Power of Productive Obsessions. Maisel is a psychotherapist who works with writers and artists, and author of another most helpful book, Fearless Creating.

The Life of Obsessing

First, does the writer below sound like you? (Frankly, Maisel could have been eavesdropping on my brain waves and transcribed my thoughts!) This is what one of his writer clients shared.

“I have always wanted to make a living as a writer. But I always let things hold me back. I let having a day job sidetrack me; I let fear sidetrack me. I procrastinate wildly; and yet the less I write, the unhappier I become with everything. I can’t let go of the desire to write, but I need to let go of the unproductive obsessing I do  about writing–the worry about not being good enough, the worry that I won’t be able to make a living, the worry that I won’t be able to think of anything wonderful to write about.”

And the result of all her obsessing?

“I get more and more stressed out, and I write less and less, and it becomes a particularly nasty downward spiral.”

Surprising Goal!

The author’s book isn’t about stopping the obsessions. In fact, Maisel encourages them! His idea is about harnessing all that brain power you’re using in a negative way and turning it into a positive brainstorm of ideas.

A productive obsession is an idea that you choose for good reasons and pursue with all your brain’s power. It might be an idea for a novel or the solution to a personal problem.

According to Maisel, the super focused productive obsession is the mind-set of the creative person. It sounds wonderful to me! I’ll be writing some more about this throughout the week, I think.

Tell Me I’m Not Alone

Do you have trouble focusing that prevents you from getting in the flow of your writing? Do you ever have the above-mentioned “hamster wheel-itis”? I sure hope I’m not the only one! Maybe we can find an answer to it together!

July 12, 2010

Most of us start out writing because we feel a yearning, a call, a really strong desire to be a writer.

We have stories inside us burning to be told. We see the world in a slightly different way, and we want to share how we see people and events, all wrapped up in a spell-binding story.

Then What Happens?

Somewhere along the way, I’ve noticed, the calling often becomes a career mindset. It might happen with the first sale, or it might not happen until years into publication. With me, it happened after I’d had two or three novels published by Atheneum.  Status became more important than telling a good story.

Warning: this can happen to you too! Be aware of the signs and what can trigger it.

A Common Story

With me, it was financial need. It was the 80s during the farm crisis, and we were in danger of losing our Iowa farm. Suddenly sales were crucial. Advances had to be bigger and bigger. I began to worry more about whether I needed an agent than if my current book was better than the last one. Achieving excellence took a back seat to making money.

I wish I had seen it coming. Getting back to your calling-your love of storytelling-is a lot harder than maintaining it in the first place.

An Agent’s Perspective

Literary agent and author Donald Maass (in The Fire in Fiction) suggests that writers are either those who desire to be published, or those who desire to tell stories. They may start out the same, committed to making it as writer, to being the best storyteller he/she can be. He says that over time a writer’s real motivation will emerge.

Admittedly, I took the ICL course with a hopeful eye of staying home with my children and having a career too. But did that necessarily mean that I had to change from being a storyteller to a status seeker? No, I don’t think so. I think your calling and career can co-exist within you-but only if you guard your writer’s heart carefully.

What needs to stay in the forefront? A pursuit of excellence, for one thing. Keeping the writing fun for another.

Warning Signs

What are some signs that you’re moving from a storyteller to a status seeker? Maass gives some insightful signs:

• The majority of status seeker writers seek agents and publication years too soon.
• When rejected by an agent, the status seeker writer immediately offers the agent something else from his desk drawer. (Not something better-just something else.)
• Status seekers grow frustrated with rejections, thinking landing an agent is a matter of luck. Storytellers know that something is missing from their writing and they work on it.
• Status seekers ask how they can just make their stories good enough to sell. A storyteller is more concerned with making his story the very best it can be.
• With a first contract status seekers are very concerned with what they are getting for blurbs, advertising and promotion. Storytellers have a more realistic grasp of retail realities; they promote some, but then get to work on the next book.
• Status seekers go full time too soon, relying on advances for their living. Storytellers keep their day jobs for as long as it takes.

More details are given in his book to distinguish status seekers intent on building a career and storytellers who are called. You can also download (free) the author’s earlier book The Career Novelist by going to Maass’ website.

Do you think you can have a career–yet keep your “calling” as a storyteller the most important? How can a writer keep his priorities straight? What do you think it would take?

May 19, 2010

A few weeks ago in “Find a Need and Fill It” I asked for your input concerning the topics you find most helpful in this blog.

Thank you all for the responses! It’s been very helpful. The requests fell into three main categories. Since I blog on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, that made it easy for me. From now on, this will be my general blogging schedule so that I can cover each topic area regularly.

What You Can Expect

Monday = Inner Motivation (includes:)

• fears–all kinds!
• discipline
• focus
• goals
• rejection
• lack of motivation
• encouragement
• a writer’s dream life
• procrastination
• working with our “inner editor”
• enjoying writing more
• perseverance
• creative inspiration
• writer’s block

Wednesday = Outer Challenges (includes:)

• setting boundaries
• time management
• distractions
• discipline
• writing schedules
• goal setting
• balancing writing with chaos in life
• balancing day jobs with writing
• our writing needs (vs. “their” needs)
• self-defeating behaviors

Friday = Tips ‘n’ Tricks of the Trade (includes:)

• specific genre help
• writing books I’ve found helpful
• blogs I find useful
• classes I’ve taken
• voice (writer’s and character’s)
• critique groups
• conferences
• working with publishers
• marketing–all kinds
• considering the audience when writing
• dealing with publishers who don’t respond
• finding good markets
• developing depth in writing
• selling “unique” pieces instead of jumping on the bandwagon

Thanks for Your Input

All your feedback has been immensely helpful in organizing future blog posts and making sure I cover topics you want to hear about and find useful. If I missed anything on these lists, feel free to let me know!

May 10, 2010

When I’m frustrated, it’s usually a sign that I’m trying to control something I can’t control. This can be a person or a situation or an event. The process can churn your mind into mush until you can’t think.

On the other hand, making a 180-degree switch and focusing on the things I can control (self-control) is the fastest way out of frustration. This concept certainly applies to your writing life.

Words of Wisdom

Remember the Serenity Prayer? It goes like this: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

How about reducing frustration with your writing life by applying that wisdom to your career? Here are some things to accept that you cannot change:

• How long it takes to get a response from editors and agents
• Rejections
• Editors moving before buying the manuscript they asked to see
• Size of print runs
• Reviews
• Publisher’s budget for your book’s publicity and promotion

Trying to change anything on the above list is a sure-fire route to frustration and wanting to quit.

However, do you have courage to change the things you can? Here are some:

• Giving yourself positive feedback and affirmations
• Reading positive books on the writing life
• Studying writing craft books
• Writing more hours
• Reading more books in the genre where you want to publish
• Attending local, state, regional and national conferences you can afford
• Joining or forming a critique group

Wisdom to Know the Difference

If you’re battling frustration and discouragement with the writing life, chances are good that you’re trying to control something beyond your control. It will make you crazy! The fastest way back to sanity is to concentrate on what you can control about the writing life.

Choose anything from that second list–or share an additional idea in the comments below–and get on with becoming a better writer. In the end, that’s all you can do–and it will be enough.

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.

October 16, 2009

A year ago, I urged you to sign up for the free Muse Online Writer’s Conference. It’s been running this week, October 12-18, and my brain is over-stuffed at the moment. (Next time I won’t sign up for 28 different workshops!)

I’ve attended lectures on voice, overcoming creative blocks, writing tight, plot points and tension, enjoyed Q & A with agents and editors, pitched my middle-grade novel to an agent and got a “go ahead,” and so much more. Forums contain lecture notes and assignments, plus postings of lessons with feedback. The handouts were especially good, and I have a small binder full.

It was also especially helpful to me this year for health reasons to be able to sit in my good office chair, sleep in my own bed, eat my own food, and get up and walk around when necessary. I Skyped with a writer friend a couple of times this week (who was also “attending” the conference via her computer.) Discussing some of the workshops was helpful.

Don’t Miss Out!

It’s been a full week, and admittedly I got behind on the assignments. Next year, if I’m lucky enough to get one of the 1,000+ spots available, I will have to be more selective. I was, admittedly, like a kid in a candy store–where the chocolate was all free!

There are so many wonderful things about the Muse conference, and directors Lea Schizas and Carolyn Howard-Johnson are to be commended for the tremendous amount of work they’ve done to give writers this chance.  I’ll let you know when it’s time to sign up for next year’s conference. You don’t want to miss this opportunity.

October 7, 2009

I attended a terrific writers’ conference last weekend in Austin, TX, and during the social time, we discussed various career challenges, the economic downturn, puny sales of well reviewed books, and other writer maladies common to us all.

Are there ways to get out of this slump? Yes! I found such a list of great ideas today on Janet Kobobel Grant’s post. (Janet is an agent with Books & Such, and we met at Mt. Hermon eighteen months ago.)

“Many of us have the misconception,” Janet writes, “that the toughest part of developing a writing career is finding a publisher. Nope. In actuality, most careers have a slump or two built into them. These often occur just when you think you’ve built up some momentum, such as when you’ve written and had published about six books. What kind of advice can an agent offer at this crucial moment in a career? Everyone’s situation is unique, of course, but here is a peek at some of the advice I’ve given.”

I thought Janet’s career advice was very helpful–and it’s given me some new ideas about a couple projects. Thanks, Janet!

September 9, 2009

“Blogs are like a box of chocolates…” Isn’t that how the saying goes? I love opening a new box of candy–the picking and choosing, the sampling, the enjoyment!

Well, in today’s blog, I’m offering you a box of chocolates from various blogs I read. Here are some of the best I’ve read lately. Pick and choose. See what looks good to you. Enjoy!

Take Your Pick

You’ll want to give yourself a whole weekend for this particular blog entry. It will take that long to check out the 100 Essential Tips and Tools for Writers of the Future. It covers marketing, creativity, niche writing, finding paying work, and much more.

How can you think outside the box and create a novel that is unusual and meaningful? In this hurry-hurry world, what can we do to unleash our hidden creativity? Author Gail Gaymer Martin gives you ten great ideas here.

When you land an agent, here’s how NOT to make your agent worry. Read Agent Wendy Lawton (Books and Such Literary Agency) on this subject.

If you’re hoping to write full-time, you need to do career planning. Here’s a realistic step-by-step guide from top literary agent, Chip MacGregor.

Time to Sample

Open your box of chocolates, settle back in  a comfy chair, and enjoy this sampling of some fine articles!

June 22, 2009

How do you make good use of the notes and information gleaned at a writer’s workshop or conference?

A woman in my weekly critique group spent last week in Honesdale at one of the Highlights Foundation Founders Workshops on novel writing. The rest of our group was “pea-green with envy,” as Scarlett O’Hara said. From the enthusiastic email we received from her, she learned as much as she’d hoped and came home greatly encouraged. This Thursday at our critique meeting, we are setting aside an hour or more for her to share with all of us what she learned last week.

The book Networking at Writer’s Conferences: From Contacts to Contracts (Spratt and Spratt) has a section about what to do after the conference is over. In a chapter called “Where Do You Go from Here?”, the authors talk about returning from the world of the conference to your world of day jobs and the outside world clamoring for your attention. Before you get caught up in it again, how can you retain what you learned from your conference? I hope our friend’s mini-presentation at group on Thursday will do just that.

“Before you file them away [the conference notes]  for the future, review them (and your postconference evaluation) for new ideas, new information, and new possibilities gleaned from your conference…If your notes contain any gems dropped by conference speakers, post the most encouraging statements in your office or writing area where you will see them often–preferably every time you sit down to write.”

Share the Value

When our writing friend gives her talk to us on Thursday, I think it will help all of us. It will certainly be a treat for those of us who couldn’t attend the workshop to learn some “members only” insider tips and insights and techniques for writing deeper. I think the sharing process will also help my friend “cement” her revision ideas and talk through her critique suggestions.

I will also make sure she posts those very encouraging comments from the workshop leaders on her writing wall beside her computer. She will need the reminders as she delves into her four-week revision process.

 

Conferences are expensive and time-consuming to attend. So be sure you are well prepared beforehand, work hard during the conference, and take the necessary time to follow up when you get home. Sharing your new-found insights with other writers is one (generous) way to do this!

What thing(s) do YOU do when you get home from a conference or workshop so that you retain what you learned? Share some ideas!

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