My Typical Day as a Writer

My Typical Day as a Writer

By Nancy Carty Lepri

Many people ask me, “What is your day like as a writer?”

“Good question,” I answer, for I never know what my day will be like. How I’d like it to go, and how it actually does go, is another story.

I would love nothing more than to spend the whole day in my office writing—but that’s not likely to happen.

My day usually goes like this… I get up around 9:00 a.m. and grapple with what to eat. Then I’ll sit at the kitchen table immersed in either HGTV, “Dr. Phil” or the news. That’s sure to get me off to a great start. Yeah, talk about procrastination!

Then about 10:00, I’ll make my bed and shower, determined to get to work. If I’m not doing laundry or some other mundane household chore, my husband usually wants to go out somewhere. So much for working. Make a note: If you are a beginning writer, don’t try to start this career when your husband retires. It’s not going to happen, especially if you tend to procrastinate, as I do.  

If and when I have a day where I’m not acting as a domestic goddess or running to the grocery store, I plunk myself in front of the computer with my “to do list” determined to pump out several pages. Of course, I have to check my email first, play a game of Free Cell then see what’s happening on Facebook. Did I also mention I am addicted to Bejeweled and Words with Friends?

Before I know it, it’s mid-afternoon. Have I written the tons of pages I’ve promised myself I would? Heck no! I’ve been too distracted with other things. Argh!

Usually my creative juices don’t kick in till about 3:00 p.m., and if I’m lucky enough to have the discipline and determination to not let anything prevent me from writing, I’ll go strong until it’s time to make supper. When I look at the clock, I groan…another day with nothing or next to nothing accomplished.

After supper, I head back to my computer, but by this time I’m involved with working on an edit for an author, a critique for one of my group members or writing reviews, so in a “good day” I’m lucky if I get two hours of uninterrupted writing of my own manuscript done. At 7:30, I turn off my computer then crawl into bed with a good book hoping for inspiration and ideas.

A writer’s life is a lonely one and how true that is. If I could keep myself from the many distractions that plague me, I’d be fine. Nevertheless, that’s something I need to put on my “to do list.”

Meanwhile, I keep plugging along and treasure those days when I do find several hours where I can be alone, concentrate, and actually manage to get some of my own writing done. Luckily, I started on this path several years ago, without the distractions of a 24/7 husband, and I’ve learned that the key is discipline. Discipline, desire and a thick skin are what helps one achieve this goal. Oh also, a good lock on your office door and ear plugs help too!

MAKE SOME MAGIC IN YOUR LIFE

Make a Magic Wand and Create Some Magic in Your Writing Life

This week, get creative and make a magic wand that will help your writing dreams become a reality. Many people are seeking a fairy-tale, quick fix to live a happier life. Here is your opportunity to bring a piece of that magical thinking into your own life. Visit an art supply start or your local dollar store.  

Obtain the items you would need to make two beautiful magic wands. Use your imagination and creativity to make magic wands that demonstrate your unique style and personality. You will keep one of these magic wands and give the other wand to a friend or family member along with instructions on how to use it. If you want to make a magic wand from scratch, wrap an empty paper towel holder in some glittery wrapping paper and glue a paper star to the end of it. Or you may choose to but a pre made wand at a costume shop or toy store and personalize it with your own artwork. Decorate your magic wand with paint, crayons, glitter pens or even old photographs or magazine clippings. Be gentle with yourself and resist the temptation to skip this exercise because “you are not an artist.” Give yourself permission to be messy, child like and imperfect.

Each day, spend some time holding your magic wand and imagining what wishes you would most like to be granted. Pretend as if your magic wand has real power. This exercise will help you instantly connected with a sense of joy and purpose. Be sure to write down a list of you daily wishes. Your daily list will tell you a lot about what is important to you and directly influence your writing goals. As you hold your magic wand feel how wonderful it would be if all your greatest desires manifested into physical form. Each day, spend at least five minutes imaging that your most coveted wishes have been granted. Visualize yourself on that seven city book tour or living in your new oceanfront beach house. Each day, spend a few minutes being generous and granting imaginary wishes to friends, families. You may choose to use your magic wand to end world hunger or help your daughter get into college. Lastly, spend a few moments granting positive and life transforming wishes to people that you do not like or have difficulty connecting with. For example, if your noisy, trash collecting neighbors annoy you to no end, use your magic wand to grant them a winning lottery ticket. At first, this exercise may feel forced or phony. However, with practice, you will notice that you genuinely feel more forgiving and generous in many of your relationships. Amazingly, you will also see the things you wished for showing up in your life. 

Quantum physics tells us that when we focus daily on a desired event or object with positive feelings, it is more likely to manifest in physical reality. So go ahead and surprise yourself with the mysterious powers of your new magic wand.

Aileen McCabe-Maucher is the author of the book "The Inner Peace Diet" which was published by Penguin on December 2, 2008. She is a licensed clinical social worker/psychotherapist who has helped many people find inner peace and discover their unique life purpose. Aileen has worked for over fifteen years as a licensed psychotherapist and registered nurse providing individual and group counseling to a diverse client population. Aileen is currently writing her third book and can be reached via email at innerpeacediet@gmail.com


Click on the link below to view free samples of Aileen's books:
http://www.amazon.com/Aileen-McCabe-Maucher/e/B003IUBRLK

Tips to Writing a Good Book with Kasey Crawford Kellem

Though I have only written the five books for my Mind Over Matter Book series, I feel pretty knowledgeable about what makes a book good. I have not only read hundreds of children’s books, but I have utilized such books in instruction when I taught younger children earlier in my career. I had my own library of books in my classroom that I had inherited from a library that closed.

The books chosen by the children to borrow often intrigued me. It seemed that the more vibrant the illustrations, the more interested the child. The simpler the message, the more captivated the reader. The more creative the graphic design was for the wording, the more engaged the reader. Most importantly, I observed that a child wouldn’t even acknowledge a book if the cover wasn’t appealing! Vibrant colors and creatively fun illustrations are a good start! A catchy title is a must! A meaning that is appropriate for your readership is vital, as well.

           

The best tip I have for writing a good book is to have a purpose and an audience who would gain from that purpose. My Mind Over Matter Books were written to help teach children resiliency skills. Believe, the first of the five books, teaches children to believe in themselves and their potential. The message on each page is simple and the illustrations are quite whimsical. The purpose of the book, to teach children to Believe, is not only captured in the messages on each page, but also on the cover. The size and shape of the book allow it to free stand so to serve as a decoration on any child’s shelf, nightstand or anywhere in a child’s room. Again, the purpose of the book is being exposed even with the cover.

             

If you have a mission to write a book, put your whole self into it and don’t cut any corners. One of the most important aspects of my book was its unique size and shape, which allowed it to free stand as a decoration. A few publishers wouldn’t touch the book just because of this! Once I found my wonderful publisher, Lisa Umina with Halo Publishing International, I had to impress upon her that I would not compromise the size and shape of the book. This took a lot of extra time and work on her end to find a printer willing and able to accommodate our needs. Thankfully, she found a printer and one of the best attributes of my book is its uniqueness! I wasn’t willing to compromise what was important to me regarding my purpose for my books and I encourage you to do the same!

Kasey Crawford Kellem, a School Counselor and former Special Education Teacher, has devoted her life to helping children facing adversity be resilient. Kasey created Mind Over Matter (M.O.M.) books to teach children skills to overcome life’s challenges. She has earned a Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree in Special Education and an Educational Specialist Degree in Counseling. She is a devoted wife, stepmother, sister, daughter, friend and counselor.

You can find out more about Kasey Crawford Kellem’s World of Ink Author/Book Tour schedule at http://storiesforchildrenpublishing.com/KaseyKellem.aspx. There will be giveaways, reviews, interviews, guest posts and more. Make sure to stop by and interact with Kellem and the hosts at the different stops by leaving comments and/or questions. You will be entered into the main the Book Giveaway each time.

In addition, come listen to Blog Talk Radio’s World of Ink Network show: Stories for Children at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/worldofinknetwork. The hosts VS Grenier and Irene Roth chatted with Kasey Crawford Kellem about her M.O.M Books, writing, helping children to be resilient and her experiences. The show aired live February 20, 2012 at 2pm EST. You can listen/call in at (714) 242-5259. (Note: if you can’t make the show, you can listen on demand at the same link.)

To learn more about the World of Ink Tours visit: http://worldofinknetwork.blogspot.com 

Doubled Preposition Trouble

Are you one of those writers who have a doubled preposition personality? I have to admit that I am, and that is why I ty to be self-conscious about them and why I self-edit.

You may not be aware that you use doubled prepositions. It took me a while to pick up on it. Just what is a doubled preposition? The best way to answer this question is to give a few examples: 1) Your character sits down on the sofa; 2) A character walks over to the house; 3) Another character looks over at the girl walking  by. Sound familiar?

Of course there is the occasional tripled preposition such as: 1) looking down below at; or 2) coming on over to.


I am sure you can see what I mean after reading these few examples, but what does it mean to you as a writer? Well, it could mean having a good story rejected by an agent or publisher. It also labels you as an amateur writer or, at best, an average writer.

There is, however, one instance where doubled or tripled prepositions are accepted and even beneficial. Dialogue! In this setting it can actually be beneficial in giving your readers an impression of the character. An impression that could, if handled properly, label your character as a simple person or an uneducated person. Through this type of dialogue, you can give personal information about your character without actually saying it.

So the next time you self-edit be sure to watch for those doubled or tripled prepositions. It could mean acceptance or rejection.

Faye M. Tollison
Author of: To Tell the Truth
Upcoming books: The Bible Murders and Sarah's Secret
www.fayemtollison.com
www.fmtoll.wordpress.com
www.fayetollison.blogspot.com
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Business Models That Make Writers Rich

My profession, graphic design, is a service based profession so I trade dollars for hours. That means if I don’t have billable hours, I don’t get a paycheck. However, some of my lowest income months are usually my busiest? I work all the time and get paid nothing for it.

How is that possible?

It is. And it still happens to many other talented designers and writers.

Is there an alternative? Of course. I know plenty of professionals who earn more than me and work the same hours if not less. The difference between us isn’t the marketing effort. The difference is in the business model.

Their business model allows for less time waste as it maximizes profit or at least keeps it steady.

In my e-book called “Writing for Profit” I am exploring some of the most profitable business models for people like us – designers, writers, authors and information marketers.

You can download a free version of it on our website www.bfsp.net

I am releasing it to my community of Writers on the Move
as a pilot project.

Any feedback on the content and graphics would be extremely valuable.

Very truly yours,

Fani

Fani Nicheva is a graphic designer and a writer who works on books, corporate & product identities, writer's brands and personal projects. Visit her work at Bigfish Smallpond Design or read her on www.aproposdezign.com

Writing -- The Daily Dozen

As promised, these final six tips complete the  Daily Dozen exercises for healthy writing.
The first six tips appeared on Writers on the Move last month.

Participles-- the -ing words

This month's warm-up starts yet again with verbs and the dreaded dangling modifiers. And I'm pretty sure every writer, no matter how experienced, has at least one somewhere in a closet or in a closeted manuscript.

Running along the road , the hotel was easy to spot.

Yes, the problem here is easy to spot as well--as easy as a hotel running down the road. The -ing word, now an adjectival form of the verb, attaches itself to the nearest subject in the sentence and hey presto! Fun all round.


But when you're in throes of involvement with your lead character working through his problems, it can be more difficult to isolate.


He thought through his options one by one. Mulling them over, the book seemed to provide the safest answer.


Still a dangling modifier--the book is not mulling over his options, but it's easy to miss this one as the subject of the previous sentence is the man doing the mulling.

Practice writing a few deliberately and you'll soon pick them out in your self-editing.


Dialogue

 Getting Into Your Character's Skins is an excellent article by Shirley Corder. Make sure each character has his or her own vocabulary and speech mannerisms. They should not all use "spiffing fun" as a favorite exclamation unless you show one character being so affected by another that he adopts the words.


This seems obvious but to make characters distinct, they should each have their own favorite, well-differentiated phrases.

Identify these from the start in your character planning.

The Missing Tip

This space is left quite deliberately. I would love you to post your vital daily writing tip in the comments box below and the best one, or ones, will be inserted here next week. 

The Warm Down--vital exercises.

Poetry--one a day

Write it but most of all read it. The compression needed to encapsulate sense and emotion is a wonderful lesson to learn and keep in mind when writing longer pieces.

Be it ten, or a hundred and ten thousand words, each one must be a necessary part of the whole. 

For short poems of the day, visit Magdalena Ball on her Poetry Mondays.

Read

All writers read, but take a chance to read out of your comfort zone to cross-fertilize ideas. Avoid the genre you write in yourself.

Try new avenues to explore new ideas. Go for the books you always told yourself you hated. If they're well written, they may well surprise you by stimulating your imagination in new ways.

 Relax 

A cop out? Not at all. Only with rest and relaxation can your mind work at optimum level. Set aside one day, or a half day if you really feel you can't afford the time, to pamper your writer's soul.

It's not a new idea. I loved it when I found it in The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. As the computer nerds say--garbage in, garbage out.

Take time to do what you love. Walk in the wild woods, visit art galleries and museums, socialize. And your writing will benefit accordingly.

 Anne Duguid is a senior content editor with MuseItUp Publishing and   her New Year's Resolution is to blog with helpful writing,editing and publishing tips at Slow and Steady Writers far more regularly than she managed in 2011.

Facebook vs AdWords

I've come to realize that promoting my book is going to require some form of paid advertisement; that's the hard reality of it. I have a FB ad that's been working particularly well for me and I'm on my way to doubling my sales this month and that's just by increasing my CPC (Cost Per Click) by an extra $0.10.

But still, I was dissatisfied and wanted to sell 10-20 books per day instead of 4-5 books per day. I kept running into these $75 Adwords coupons all over the place; so I clicked on the "coupon" which was really a sorta credit application that had to be approved. I went ahead and filled out the application (they don't ask for your s.s.) which asked some basic questions about my project. A few hours later I received a rejection letter, they didn't tell me why I was rejected but there you have it. After that I decided to set up my own account just to test the waters of Google advertising.

The process was complicated and tedious. I felt like I needed to hire a savvy ad-executive just to get me through it. It took me a couple of days to figure it out, but I was then successful with setting up the ad and all the components that came with it. The downside was I wasn't allowed to market to anyone under the age of 18; well that's my entire audience (13-17), but I proceeded anyway.

The most important part of the set-up was picking the keywords. I chose 34 relevant keywords. I was ready to go. I put in my cc information and set the date for the weekend only, between the hours of 6pm and 3am, because those are the hours teens are wasting away in front of the computer.

Now, for the grand finale, after I put in my cc information my keywords lit up with the minimum prices of CPC. My average CPC was $1.25. Kiss my butt Adwords. Some keywords were $0.40 per click but with my 34 keywords my daily budget would exceed $25 per day. I set my daily budget to only $12 per day. My FB ad runs at $1.50 per day. Needless to say I deleted my account and increased my daily budget on FB. I figured that's where teenagers go to live anyway.

Share your paid advertising stories by leaving a comment. http://vicihowardblogspot.com