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!

June 11, 2010

After the post a month ago on WriterMag.com: A Place to Learn, I was asked if this was the best writer’s magazine. The student could only afford one magazine, so which one (he asked) would give him the most for his money?

Bear in mind that the following is only my opinion. When my writing students graduate, I recommend that they continue learning by subscribing to a writing magazine. The two most popular are The Writer and Writer’s Digest. I subscribed to both for over twenty years. Just two years ago I dropped my subscription to Writer’s Digest.

Why? Two reasons. (Or really just one reason, and a sub-reason of that reason.)

What Are You Paying For?

The Writer has very little advertising. Most of the magazine consists of articles on the craft of writing. There are lots of interviews, practical tips, and great advice. By contrast, the last few issues of Writer’s Digest, before my subscription ran out, was overloaded with advertising. That was my main beef. I know magazines need advertisers to keep publishing, but it was pages and pages before you found the writing articles.

My “sub-reason” for cancellation was this: a large amount of the advertising was for self-publishers. Not the occasional small-to-tiny black-and-white ads like in The Writer, but many large (sometimes full-page) colored ads. These businesses might call themselves self-publishers, or independent publishers, or vanity publishers, or co-op publishers. All of them wanted the writer’s money.

Feels Misleading

Based on the large number of ads for such printers, I felt that it could give my students the feeling that “this is the way to go” and “everyone has to pay to publish.” Each year shows an increase in the stories of innocent writers who believed everything they read and got taken.

I know this sounds more like a rant than a blog post today, but I do honestly think The Writer is a better buy–and well worth your money. Just this week in my copy were several articles that I’ll be tearing out and filing: an excellent article on setting, an article on how to make your story about loss into a universal story, how flexibility and adaptability helped a writer break in, a method for revision, and how to know if feedback is toxic or not. (And that’s not half the articles in the magazine.)

If you can afford it, subscribe to both writers’ magazines. If you need to choose, I’d recommend The Writer.

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.