Get Organized For Less Stress!

 One of my writing friends likes to say, "The dirty dishes never seem so important as when I am struggling to write." I know what she means -- when facing the blank page or empty Word document, or when I'm 200 words into my writing for the day and already feeling as empty as my car's gasoline tank, it seems like anything else would be more appealing than staying there in front of my computer screen typing or pressing my pen again and again to the notebook page. When that time comes, and the dirty dishes call, it is best to ignore them. Stay put. Butt-in-chair. Keep writing. In the writing manual Ron Carlson Writes a Story, he urges that this is when the magic happens -- when you push through the distractions and stay there in the story.

But, after my writing time is over for the day, I'm going to attack those dirty dishes. When I get home, instead of collapsing immediately on the couch, I'm going to take ten seconds to hang up my jacket, put away all the groceries, place my keys in that little dish by the door so I can find them the next day. This year, I am going to get -- and stay -- organized. That is the gift I am giving myself to cut back on stress, to make an already busy semester less hectic than it needs to be.

When my surroundings are neat and free of clutter, my mind feels less cluttered, too. I feel calmer. And the funny thing is, once you get organized, it is easier to stay organized -- it just takes a few minutes every day to keep that way. And really, how much harder is it for me to file that important paper away in my file cabinet than to set it on the kitchen table, where it will continue to take up my mental space before getting lost or buried underneath other stuff, alluding me when I am frantically looking for it weeks later? Answer: actually a heck of a lot easier to just file it away from the get-go.

Today, in between working on my novel, going to the gym, and preparing my lesson plans for the week, I am going to take half an hour to clean out my backpack and purse. I am going to sort through the papers scattered on my desk and kitchen table. I am going to make a list for the grocery store instead of winging it and forgetting something I need.

I am going to get organized, and stay that way! Will you join me?

Dallas Woodburn is the author of two award-winning collections of short stories and editor of Dancing With The Pen: a collection of today's best youth writing. Her short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize three years in a row and her nonfiction has appeared in a variety of national publications including Family Circle, Writer's Digest, The Writer, and The Los Angeles Times. She is the founder of Write On! For Literacy and Write On! Books Youth Publishing Company and is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Fiction Writing at Purdue University, where she teaches undergraduate writing courses and serves as Assistant Fiction Editor of Sycamore Review.

Avoiding Extraneous Words

I recently learned a new term: Pleonasm. Is it a murder suspect? A graffiti artist? A practical joker?

Turns out, it’s nothing quite so mysterious. A pleonasm is a word or phrase, which can be removed from a sentence without changing its meaning. For example, John walked to the chair and sat down. “Down” is a pleonasm and can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence.

Although I was not familiar with the term, I did know them when I saw them. In fact, part of my editing advice revolves around deleting extraneous words. Words such as “that,” “very,” “both,” and “there was.” Others might include “began,” “started,” or “continued.”

Here’s another phrase that nearly everyone is guilty of: “The sky held a myriad of stars.” Myriad means “countless.” So the correct use is “The sky held myriad stars.” (Simply substitute the word countless for myriad.) That eliminates two extraneous words.

And then there is the word “unique.” We are inundated with varying degrees of “uniqueness” every day: “That was a rather unique movie.” “Your story is very unique.” What’s next—uniquely unique? Unique means “the only one of its kind.” Unique is unique. It doesn’t need any modifiers

I also caution to watch use of “ly” words. These words are often used to prop up weak verbs. For example: “She walked quickly” can be stronger if written “She strode” (or bounded or rushed). Likewise with the “to be” verbs (was, were, had been, etc.) especially when used with an “ing” verb. “She was walking” is better as “She walked.”

Some authors like to use taglines (he said, she said) plus an action: “…she said, taking a sip of coffee.” The simple action is sufficient: “She took a sip of coffee.”
You also don’t need to describe two actions at once: She nodded and smiled. He puffed himself up and took a swig...

A writer friend of mine is looking at every sentence in her manuscript and challenging herself to remove at least one word from each. She has cut 14,000 words from a 400-page manuscript.

I challenge you to go one step farther: see if you can delete an entire phrase from a sentence, an entire sentence from a paragraph, a paragraph from a scene.
Hunt down and exterminate those “Pesky Pleonasms.”

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A native Montanan, Heidi M. Thomas now lives in Northwest Washington. Her first novel, Cowgirl Dreams, is based on her grandmother, and the sequel, Follow the Dream, has recently won the national WILLA Award. Heidi has a degree in journalism, a certificate in fiction writing, and is a member of Northwest Independent Editors Guild. She teaches writing and edits, blogs, and is working on the next books in her “Dare to Dream” series.

Write From the Heart: LINE UP THE TIMELINE

Check out my friend's posting on setting up a timeline in your story -

Faye's book To Tell The Truth will be free for downloading on Kindle only February 8 through February 10. If you like some romance and a lot of suspense, check it out

Write From the Heart: LINE UP THE TIMELINE: When writing my book, To Tell the Truth, there was one of many elements I forgot to include. It was the hardest for me to correct, my effort...

 $4.00 fix

 

It’s hard to believe that we are facing yet another gift giving season.  We just finished paying for Santa’s run and now Cupid is hot on our heels.  As a woman, I am here to tell you that a gift really doesn’t have to cost much money but it does have to meet a couple of specific criteria: it has to be personal (I have to know that you know me) and the gift has to show me you took time in planning and getting it.  These two things hold true whether the gift is from a female friend or a romantic interest.

 Here is an example of a gift that didn’t work and how it could have been a success with a little extra effort.  A boy, we will call him Sam, bought a gift for his girl friend, Jane.  To Sam’s credit, he purchased it, wrapped it and gave it to her following a nice dinner.  Sam was terribly confused and surprised when Jane unwrapped the gift and burst into tears.  Sam just didn’t understand why Jane was not happy with the jumper cables he had bought her.  She had been having trouble with her car battery for Pete’s sake.

Now for the $4 solution that would have made the same gift work.  The jumper cables were a good idea, but they failed to meet the two specified criteria.  When asked if Sam knew Jane’s favorite candy bar he said “Sure, she loves Snickers” and when asked if she liked flowers he answered “yes”.  Sam could have purchased the jumper cables, in an effort to protect Jane, and then stopped by a local convenience store.  There he could have purchased two Snickers and clamped the wrapper of each into one of the cable clamps.  Usually, convenience stores sell carnations or some other flower in a water vile so Sam could have purchased a flower and laid it across the other set of clamps.  When she unwrapped the present Jane would truly know that the present was meant for her; it contained her favorite candy and a flower.  $4 extra dollars would have made the difference.  Most men don’t believe me, but ask any woman and she will agree.  So, if you are buying a gift for a woman, whether you are a man or a woman, follow those two simple rules and you will be sure to get a gift that will be sincerely appreciated.

 PS. Unless she specifically asks, don’t buy her a vacuum, a blender or any other practical gift that will make her life easier.  On special occasions she wants to feel special not useful.

PSS. Books are always a hit so make sure to check out some of our great authors. Just take a look to your right under contributors and you can click on their links.

Martha Swirzinski

www.wholechildpublishing.com
www.movementplus.com 

What Is Your Favorite Book?

I was recently asked to list my all-time favorite book. After a lot of thinking I realized I couldn’t do that. I have so many that have touched my life and my writing it would be impossible to choose one. The Lord of the Ring series has influenced me through my love of dragons and mythical creatures, world and language creation as well as how people treat one another. My current WIP series is heavily influenced by JRR Tolkien’s vision.

Then there’s The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck which I read as a teen. Scenes from that book have haunted me since. I learned so much about Chinese culture and history from that book. I’ve even adopted a Vietnamese child.

1984 by George Orwell is one I’ve read several times over the decades. It is timeless and meaningful in any society at any given moment. I love its dark nature and the struggle for freedoms that we take for granted; the right to love whomever we choose, the right to READ.

Along those same lines I love The Giver by Lois Lowry. Again it is dark with spears of light and warmth. The reader grows along with the main character and you find yourself crying, rejoicing or mourning whenever he does. Few stories have moved me the way that one did.

And of course I adore ALL of the Harry Potter books. The characters are lovable, quirky, fun to read about and the darkness of the story is heavily punctuated with light-hearted moments. I only wish my own writing could be as universally read and my characters as universally loved.

Thirty years ago I picked up a new novel by an author new to me at the time. The novel was the first of The Sword of Shannara trilogy. Those books blew my socks off. It was while reading Terry Brooks’ stuff as well as David Eddings’s Belgariad series I conceived my own series. And then there was the Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander—awesome MG Fantasy. These lead me to Susan Coopers’s series of The Dark is Rising series and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. While writing I kept all of these wonderful books in my head to draw from.

So, do you think you could choose ONE book that has inspired you? If so, what would it be? It not, what are the top few books you would list and why?

Rebecca Ryals Russell writes MG and YA Dark Fantasy while living with her family in a Victorian house on five acres of North Florida countryside. She also runs a Vacation Rental Log House on the property: Florida Black Bear Cabin.

Be sure to check out the special interactive Middle Grade Reader website Tween Word Quest for tons of information about Stardust Warriors as well as the other projects Rebecca has in the works and Under the Hat for all of her other works.

Write Another Book, For Pete's Sake!!!

(Image Credit)

Some of the best advice I’ve heard in a while came from one of my Yahoo! Writers Groups. The discussion was promoting your book:

Member Post: You can definitely promote too much and people get sick of hearing about the author and the book. Especially if it's always the same title. I just roll my eyes and say, "Write another book, for Pete's sake"!

Simple, yet powerful. Fortunately, I recently released the follow up to Breakthrough titled Opening! Here is one of my blurbs I'm sending out:

“A scientific breakthrough of such magnitude it could radically alter the future of humanity—for better or worse—is in the wrong hands”

Stephen Tremp, author of the BREAKTHROUGH series, has a B.A. in information systems and an MBA degree in global management. Stephen has a background in information systems, management, and finance and draws from this varied and complex experiential knowledge to write one-of-a-kind thrillers.

His novels are enhanced by current events at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and other scientific research facilities around the world. These potential advances have the ability to change the way we perceive our universe and our place in it!

Stephen Tremp is author of the recently released suspense thriller OPENING, the second book in the BREAKTHROUGH series. You can visit Stephen at Breakthrough Blogs. Opening is available for download at:

Amazon for $1.99

Smashwords for $1.99

Question: What’s the latest and greatest you’re working on? Do you have anything for release on the horizon?

Your Reader Is Your Most Important Promotion Tool

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books
including The Frugal Book Promoter, now in its 2^nd edition (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo )

Writers generally are not trained publicists. Once their books are published, they often wish they were.

It has been said that directing promotion at people who know us is 85% more effective than any other kind of advertising. Our publicists aren’t in a position to build a list this personal. Our bookseller doesn’t have access to that information. In most cases our publisher doesn’t, either. Like writing the original manuscript, this is a job that only the author can do.

Here are some guidelines for building a knock-‘em-dead mailing list that will be more effective than any you could buy and will make any promotion you choose to do more successful:

GET INFORMATION: Ask for it—all of it. Use custom designed forms at your book signing or when you speak. Use a guest book at your launch. Use the names on checks when you sell directly (at book fairs, as an example), but only as a last resort. It is nicer to have a reader’s tacit approval before using their personal information.

In addition to the basics, ask your readers for their preferences. Do they want to receive your newsletter? I ask those who purchase my novel This is the Place  (www.budurl.com/ThisIsthePlace) if they would be interested in my new collection of short stories. This alerts them to the change they might expect—novel to short story—but also lets them know another book is on its way.

Ask contacts for their ideas. Do they know of an organization that would welcome you as a speaker? How can you improve your signing event?

BE CREATIVE: That’s what writers are. Apply it to your list-building craft. You already have a list for holiday cards. You have a Rolodex of handy helpers. Fellow co-workers at your day job should be added to this list. Ditto for those in your kids’ school directory. Your country club (Ha!) has a list. Members of professional organizations you belong to will be interested. The members of the e-groups to which you contribute know you (but only if you contribute—which is the whole idea!). People who write you fan letters love you. Your reviewers are candidates for your list as are your media contacts. Now add five more possibilities. I know you can do it!

CAPTURE THE INFORMATION CORRECTLY: Your largest expense in promotion is likely to be postage. Set up a system that allows you to focus your marketing to please your reader and to save mailing costs.

Your will want a data base that allows you to filter, to sort and to capture marketing information. If yours doesn’t do that, consider customizing it or setting up another system. You won’t want to waste your most valuable commodity—the name of your customer and the information that belongs to her alone.

A database is only as good as the accuracy of what is put into it. A properly designed form asks that customers print. A separate space is provided for each individual part of her address. When asking for preferences, a checklist is more effective than expecting her to recall detail (this is a tip borrowed from psychologists). Include an entry field for suggestions and one for the contact to recommend acquaintances who might be interested in your work. Ask for their e-mail. E-mail is a way to communicate with your customer instantly and FREE.

The automated system that is used to store the information you have gleaned should be set up in a form readily used by mail services. Call one to ask for parameters. Do this even if you plan to do your own mailing. When your list reaches 2,000 or more, it will be more cost-effective to out-source this task.

KNOW HOW TO ASK. My ears curled when I was at a book signing where the author asked, “Do you want to be on my mailing list?’” Address customers in such a way that they know they are being offered a perk, not more junk in their mailboxes: “I would love to have you sign up to receive my annual Christmas memento.”

Or tailor what you say to the person’s interests. If you’re speaking to a genealogy society you might say, “May I have your name so I can invite you to my next seminar on turning a personal history into a novel?" Know how to politely accept the occasional refusal, too. Peruse the form to be sure it is complete and legible. I sometimes make a note like “Purchased TITP” or code it so that I know where I met that person so I can better personalize future contacts.

To promote list-building skills, give yourself a goal. Reward yourself (maybe dessert after your signing) if you have ten new names for your file. The famous psychologist B.F. Skinner knew that learning occurs more quickly with immediate feedback.

           

PROMOTE THE MAILING LIST ITSELF: Millie Szerman, President of New Directions Public Relations and Marketing and author of A View from the Tub likes drawings to help overcome a customer’s natural reluctance to sign forms. Your Web site should garner names. A greeter at your book launch or other events can also glean names; you’ll find the information in a guest book more useful when it is supervised. Offer a memento to those who bring and sign up a friend.

KEEP REVISING YOUR LISTS: Send out occasional postcards. The post office returns those that are not deliverable at no charge. Use them to purge or correct outdated entries.

~Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a former publicist, journalist, and retailer who brings that experience
to her HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writer. That she is also the author of an award-winning novel and poetry  helps her inform authors of the so-called hard-to-promote genres of ways they can promote, too. She blogs at www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com. Learn more about her at www.howtodoitfrugally.com. Learn more about what to do with these lists along with the all the basics of publicity from The Frugal Book Promoter, www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo.

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