Baby Steps

I believe in baby steps, especially when it comes to writing books. If you tackle the whole project head on, it's bound to be overwhelming. For more suggestions on taking baby steps go here.


Quick Take:

Avoid appending up to verbs as in hurry up, lift up,  stood up, climbed up, rose up, spoke up. Up is rarely needed as an adverb.Standing or lifting implies an upward cast...

Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart

Thought for the Day:
I believe that – if you are serious about a life of writing, or indeed about any creative form of expression – that you should take on this work like a holy calling. I became a writer the way other people become monks or nuns. I made a vow to writing, very young. I became Bride-of-Writing. I was writing’s most devotional handmaiden. I built my entire life around writing. I didn’t know how else to do this. I didn’t know anyone who had ever become a writer. I had no, as they say, connections. I had no clues. I just began. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

Meet Christina Katz

Christina Katz writes, teaches and inspires writers and is such a whiz at promotions you’d be silly not pay attention to her work and work ethic. Her latest book, The Writer’s Workout 366 Tips, Tasks, & Techniques from Your Writing Career Coach has just been published by Writer’s Digest Books. It has a nice heft and paging through it you will find thought-provoking ideas and possibilities to push your writing career to the next level. I especially liked the focus on creativity and the muscle memory that happens when you work out regularly. Because writing is a workout.

I’ve been paging through it this week and have found myself needing to set it down so I can jot down new ideas---my favorite sort of reading.  You can listen to a podcast of her reading the intro here. She’s also written Get Known Before the Book Deal, and Writer Mama. Her writing career tips and parenting advice appear regularly in national, regional, and online publications.

Q: You've really found your niche in writing about and working with mothers and writers to launch their careers and navigate the new gig economy. Can you tell us how this focus came about?

A: As a writing coach, I am a specialist, though my expertise can be more widely applied to suit a range of writer-types. So while I specialize in working with mom writers, I also serve a larger community of writers of all types and levels. Even though working with mom writers is my sweet spot, I also teach and coach folks who are not moms. Although I work primarily with nonfiction writers, much of my advice carries over for writers of other and multiple genres.

Q: In your new book, The Writer's Workout, you're advising writers to smash through all sorts of barriers and establish new habits and procedures. What has been the advice or uidance that has worked best for you in your career?

A: This is a great question. What works best for me is working with others as I grow my career and sharing the best of what I learn as I go. Teaching others inspires me. I inspire them. They inspire me. As my writing career progresses, I am always learning new and valuable (and sometimes painful) lessons about how to maintain the delicate balance of writer, teacher, speaker, blogger, trainer, lifelong student, and creative. Somehow, I’ve learned to make it work for my disposition.

Q: How do you think that writers can balance having a productive, profitable writing career and also write about topics and in genres that have meaning for them?

A: Well, in an ideal world, there would not be separation between what a writer is passionate about and what they write about. However, there’s always the danger that strong emotions will become stumbling blocks rather than bridges to inspiration. In my teaching and in my books, I coach writers to lead with and follow their gut instincts which I believe transcends mere emotion. The only way a writer can marry love and writing is to have a clear connection to their intuition on a moment-by-moment basis. If you begin with the assumption that you can combine the two, then you can. If you think you can’t, well then, by golly, you can’t.

     

Q: Over they years I've met so many writers who complain that they hate marketing and self-promotion. What do you say to these writers?

A: Well, first I chuckle like I’m doing right now. Yes, I’ve heard this more than a few times. By now, folks have wised up enough to know that if they say this to me, I’m not going to cluck my tongue in sympathy at their plight. I’m not a big fan of the writer as victim point-of-view.

We all have our challenges and tripping points. Our weaknesses are a lot easier to face if we also know our strengths and lean into those instead of harping on what we cannot or will not do. I’m much more interested in what the writer is going to do to grow. You don’t like marketing and self-promotion? But it comes with the job. So what’s the writer going to do about it? I have plenty of suggestions—books full of them—but if the writer is not willing, I won’t waste my breath.

Q: What is the most challenging aspect of writing for you and how do you tackle it?

A: I guess I have written long enough at this point (twelve years) and deeply enough (three books, eight classes, an ebook, and hundreds of articles) to appreciate all the aspects of the process—even running late on deadlines. I’d say my biggest challenge is that I love the immersion of writing, but the people I love are in this world not that one. I would say my biggest challenge is that I can stay in the writing world a lot longer than some folks would like me to. If I could clone myself, I would.

Q: What is your best advice to writers in 12 words or less?

A: All excuses are off. Get to work! (You know you want to.)

Q: Pasta or sushi?

A: Definitely sushi. I’m hypoglycemic.

Q: What books are on your bedside table?

A: None. I don’t have a bedside table and I am not much of a night reader. By the end of the day, I’m pretty spent. My favorite place to read for fun is at the local library while my daughter is gathering books. I grab a stack of magazines (O, Real Simple, and Living) and marvel at all the airbrushed people with all their perfect houses and expensive stuff. That’s not my life. My life is much more Wabi-Sabi. But it’s fun to fantasize.

Q: What's next for you?

A: Another great question. I tend to live in the moment. I’m not a planner in the traditional sense. The furthest ahead I tend to think is one year at a time and that’s really setting intentions more than making long-term plans. I’m not really looking to make any major life changes. My career momentum today comes from the momentum I already have. I just go with it. Every day the question is: where can I go from here? What’s coming next will let me know when it is time for me to know. My job is to stay open to whatever that may be and enjoy today.

Christina will be the keynote speaker at Making It in Tough & Changing Times Mini Writing Conference on January 28th. She’ll be speaking about The Prosperous Writer: Tips For Navigating The Gig Economy Writing well, closing sales, narrowing your focus, continuous learning, and a career-long willingness to self-promote—these are the five qualities of prosperous writers. But how will you sustain your creative productivity and juggle all of these skills at once? These are the creative productivity secrets that most writers rarely share. Myths will be busted. Truths will be bared.

A Big Congratulations

to Emily Whitman. Her YA novel Wildwing has been nominated for Oregon Book Awards! She'll be teaching writers how to edit their own stories and sentences at the Making It in Tough & Changing Times Conference on January 28th in Portland. Join us--it's going to be a day of practical, doable advice and craft workshops along with a hearty dose of inspiration.

Thought for the Day: Jennifer Weiner's Advice for Writers
Among her tips:
6. Get a Dog
Okay, you're thinking, what does getting a dog have to do with becoming a writer? More than you'd think. Writing is about talent and creativity, but it's also about discipline - about the ability to sit yourself down in that seat, day after day, often after eight hours of work, and make yourself do it, day after day, even if you're not getting published yet, even if you're not getting paid, even if ABC is hosting an all-star reunion of your favorite cast members from The Bachelor and The Amazing Race. It's a form of training that's as much physical as mental in nature - you sit down, you do the writing, no matter what distractions are out there, no matter that you're tired or bored or uninspired.
Being a dog owner requires a similar form of discipline. You wake up every morning. You walk the dog. You do this whether you're tired, depressed, broke, hung over, or have been recently dumped. You do it. And while you're walking, you're thinking about plot, or characters, or that tricky bit of dialogue that's had you stumped for days. You're out in the fresh air. Your legs are moving. Your dog is sniffing the butts of other dogs. It gives you a routine, a physical rhythm, a loyal companion, and a way to meet new people when you're in a new place. It gets your body used to doing the same thing at the same time - and if you're walking the dog for half an hour at the same time of every day, it's an easy step to go sit in front of the computer and create for half an hour at the same time every day. So go to your local pound or rescue organization, and get a dog. Trust me. You'll be glad you did.

Crafting Novels & Short Stories

Fog seems thicker as the morning goes along...mysterious and wintery looking and as if a Dickens-style counting house or some sinister outpost might appear in the mist.
Writer's Digest Books has compiled excellent advice in one volume, Crafting Novels & Short Stories.  You can also download exlusive interviews with authors such as Stephen King and Ann Tyler. It includes a forward by James Scott Bell and a chapter on pacing written by me. I've been leafing through it this morning and it's a soup-to-nuts sort of book including suggestions for everything from the writing life to creating knowable, troubled characters (the only kind)  to fixing a story when it stalls. I'm happy to say my advice is in excellent company here since the compilation includes some of the best experts on these topics.

From an editor's desk: Baggage
The fog is so thick this morning that the Douglas firs half a block away are only a blur. Fabulous morning for staying indoors and reading my client's manuscript. Also, I've had this nasty cold, lung misery that's been circulating for weeks now and feeling the need for lots of tea, sympathy, and coziness.

I've written five books for writers now and sometimes I cannot remember which book I covered certain topics in. Somewhere along the way, I believe in Between the Lines, I talked about emotional baggage that a character carries. If your protagonist doesn't carry this baggage, and if his background doesn't create deep emotional needs for him or her in the story, then the story won't have enough potency.  Now, some stories are mostly designed to showcase, or solve problems from the back story, especially those that have a frame structure. This means that they start in the present, then wind backward to explain how things came to be. Daphne DuMoire's Rebecca is a classic of this type.In most structures the character's motivations in the front story and emotional needs from his back story sort of collide, or collaborate to push the story forward.

It's especially important that serious traumas in a character's childhood are brought to light. Which brings me to DPS--Dead Parent Syndrome. In my book Bullies, Bastards, & Bitches ( go here for bonus tips) I wrote about how a key to writing characters is vulnerability. Readers relate to vulnerability because we have all felt these uncomfortable feelings, especially in childhood. If your characters aren't vulnerable, readers don't worry about them, and if readers aren't worried, they stop reading. Orphans bring on instant sympathy and empathy in readers. Novelists and storytellers throughout the ages have known this, and have used this trope, creating personality traits and back stories that screwed up their characters.

Which is why there are so many orphans in fiction--Dorothy Gale, Harry Potter, Tom Sawyer, Hannibal Lector to name a few. My favorite orphans as as a kid were The Boxcar Children and twisted little sister that I was, I played orphan for years with my cousins and sisters.  Many characters also have one dead parent--Nancy Drew and Huckleberry Finn come to mind.  And when if comes to missing parents, it's just plain easier for a writer to dispense with them and then send a young hero/protagonist off on rollicking, dangerous quests that any sane parent wouldn't allow.

However, and this is a big however, if your protagonist has a dead, or even a missing parent, this needs to leave a big, unhealed hole in the heart. The death of a parent is a scarring, lonely tragedy. Make this a factor in the story and how your character acts and reacts. Otherwise, you're writing a cheesy melodrama.

Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart

10 Ways to Harness Your Fears and Fuel Your Writing

In  the spirit of launching 2012 with a giant gallop, here's an inspiring article by the magical and wise Sage Cohen (see for yourself herehttp://pathofpossibility.com/).
I especially like this one:
#3 Focus on process instead of results.
Fear tends to be focused on projected outcomes—which we cannot control. So, why not use fear as a signal to turn your attention to your process, instead? What we do have influence over is the intention, commitment and labor of love that goes into our writing. When you give your attention to following through on a goal, taking steps to improve your craft, researching places to submit, or reading that book on marketing, you are creating a forward motion that makes it harder for fear to hold you back.

Keep writing, keep dreaming, harness your fears

The sun is breaking through here again this morning. We might be having the driest winter on record, although when it does rain, it seems to do so with a vengeance. And just as I was giving up, the birds are finally finding our feeders in the backyard. I've been worried that all the cats and crows have been keeping them away. J and I keep speculating why there's such a big crow population in this neighborhood. I've lived in various neighborhoods in Portland, usually closer to the river and once on the banks of the Columbia, and have never seen or heard so many crows. Lately, they've been flocking and battling with seagulls for territory. Strange to watch this avian warfare in my midst.

Just wanted to pass along the link to this piece 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing. Warning that some of the language is X-rated. But the ideas make sense for our times. 

Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart

“Write what should not be forgotten." ~Isabel Allende

Thought for the Day: It was wonderful to walk down the long flights of stairs knowing that I'd had good luck working. I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day. But sometimes when I was started on a new story and I could not get going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, "Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know." So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut the scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written. ~ Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Quick take:

Voice + style = writer

101 Most Useful Sites

Make that extraordinarily useful sites for writing and online life. Find them here.

Happy New Year to all

Keep Writing, Keep Dreaming, Have Heart

Thought for the Day: Woody Guthrie's Resolutions 1942

Let's all adopt "stay glad"

January

Thought for the day:

"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out" ~Ray Bradbury

Endings

Morning sky is sooty and bleak looking here in Portlandia. All the firs out my office window are still as sentinels and a flock of crows keeps circling around as if looking for trouble. I’m a person who sometimes writes about the bitter truths of the writing business. No starry-eyed romantic, I’m prone to depict the writing life with the bleakness of a frozen graveyard. In Minnesota. In January. And there’s been a rash of deaths in the land of the wind-chill factor (likely from pneumonia) and graves need to be dug. Or maybe we'll just need to store those corpses until a thaw...

And when it come to the elements of storytelling, I'm all seriousness. Good stories are balanced. No unnecessary digressions or complications, no skimpy endings, no added characters or subplots or silliness simply designed to fill in pages. It's hard to list what are the most important elements of stories, but stories live or die by their beginnings and endings. It's what editors buy and readers buy into. 

Laura Miller of salon.com has written an intriguing piece about how difficult it is to talk about a great ending here. Here's an excerpt:

"The trick of a good ending, of course, is that it must capture and equal everything that has gone before. The line “He loved Big Brother” (from a novel that ends as masterfully as it begins) means very little until you understand exactly who Big Brother is. A first line or opening scene need only arrest a reader’s attention and stoke her curiosity; a final scene or paragraph is expected to provide that sensation so rare in real life: completion. The better the book, the more nuanced and persuasive, the more difficult this is. We want a novel to swell with a sense of limitless possibility at the start and in the middle, but we also want it to zero in to a point of inevitability as it ends.

For this reason, last lines, like first ones, often suffer from a bad case of Trying Too Hard. Any writer can swoop up from the particularities of character or story to assert a magisterial generality and come across as terribly grand. If you like the 100,000 words that come before it, this tactic sorta works. Yet so many endings sound a note of profundity without actually being profound. (I confess that, lovely as Fitzgerald’s famous last sentence is, it doesn’t strike me as any truer than his equally famous remark about there being no second acts in American life.)"


I'll be writing more about endings and other elements of writing in the new year. Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart 

Thought for the Day:

“Teach yourself to work in uncertainty.” ~ Bernard Malamud.

A poem a day. Alan Heathcock shares my sentiment about how reading a poem every day brings balance and inspiration. "The older I get, the more life passes in a harried traffic of cars and people and events. This world of shallow speed often sends me to sleep feeling I've been to battle. Battle at dance practice and the soccer game and the drive-thru window, battle to pick up the dry cleaning and get the kids new shoes before I have to attend parent-teachers conferences. Battles at work, battles in my relationships, battles with myself. If you're like me, you long for a bit of quiet, a morning in the chapel, a walk in the woods. If only I had the time to still my mind, take an accounting of myself, find my balance once again."

Toward a more complete measure of excellence The end of the year always means a slew of "best of" lists appearing. I'm a suckerfor these lists and best of anthologies, though I often want the editors to range further when they make their choices. The Rumpus has a thoughtful assessment of excellence with a link to Jeanette Winterson's essay in The Guardian on literature and readability.

After reading the New York Time's Top Ten Novels of 2011 I bought Swamplandia! by Karen Russell and have been reading it and am wowed by the language and imagination of the story. Set in Florida Everglades, you can almost hear the lethal mosquitoes buzzing around you as you read.
Here is the opening to the novel:

"Our mother performed in starlight. Whose innovation this was I never discovered. Probably it was Chrief Bigree's idea, and it was a good one--to blank the follow spot and let a sharp moon cut across the sky, unchaperoned; to kill the micorphone; to leave the stage lights' tin eyelids scrolled and give the tourists in the stands a chance to enjoy the darkness of our island; to encourage the whole stadium to gulp air along with Swamplandia!'s star performer, the world-famous alligator wrestler Hilola Bigtree. Four times a week, our mother climbed the ladder over the Gator Pit in a green two-piece bathing suit and stood on the edge of the diving borad, breathing. If it was  windy, her long hair flew around her face, but the rest of her stayed motionless. Nights in the swamp were dark and star-lepered--and although your naked eye could easily find the ball of Venus and the sappire hairs of the Pleiades, our mother's body ws just lines, a smudge against the palm trees."

A Meaningful Life

My column about how writing leads to a meaningful life is at my website here. In it I imagine a town filled with writers....I fantasize, okay, I romanticize, about some aspects of the town, but cannot speculate on the murder rate...

Top Ten Blogs for Writers  2011/2012 is here....stiff competition and includes the illustrious Jane Friedman.

Don't forget about the Writing in Tough & Changing Times mini-conference on January 28th in Portland, Oregon. Space is limited and reservations are coming in.

Keep writing, keep dreaming, have heart