Writing Minute by Minute

In the theory assignment for their qualification, my students have to answer set questions on the practice and principles of assessment.

The questions are clearly stated for each unit section and subsection. The evidence they need to produce in their answers is itemized in the course handbook.

All they have to do is put the questions and answers together. Can they do it? No.

The excuses seem valid--not enough time, too many interruptions, inability to cope with work, home and family as well as compiling a portfolio for a qualification. The deadline looms and deadlock hits the brain.

To solve the problem, I copied each question into a Word file leaving a suitable boxed space for them to type in an answer. In that space I printed the keywords they need to incorporate.

Each week I shall send one unit. In eight weeks, the course will be completed--just in time for the exam board to  accredit their qualification.

Confine  Your Writing                      

A foolproof way for writers struggling with time and/or family constraints to complete a full-length work is obviously to divide it into sections.

But these need not be chapters. Try confining yourself to paragraphs or even sentences. Give your ideas time to percolate. 

Whether you're struggling with a short story, a newspaper article, a novella or even a novel--divide it into sections.

Novels up until the mid-twentieth century often had little summaries to preface each chapter.

image from classroom clipart.com

Chapter One

In which Mistress Craddock finds the flower garden besieged by cows and her sympathies sorely tried...

For a writer starting out or one stuck for ideas, this is a fun way to let the ideas talk for themselves.

Start as always with the inciting incident. What starts the action rolling? Then let the journalist's mantra take hold.

Who, what, when, where, why and how. The order in which you choose to answer these questions is what gives your unique twist to the tale.

Back to Mistress Craddock. Who was responsible for letting the cows escape? Why was it so trying for her at this particular time? How will her problems be resolved?

Pop in your keywords. Each question can be answered with another until bit by bit you've constructed a completed work. Ten minutes a day can still produce great stories, great writing.

 Anne Duguid is a senior content editor with MuseItUp Publishing and she shares hopefully helpful, writing, editing and publishing tips at Slow and Steady Writers relatively regularly. 

Childhood Memories and Writing Books

Earlier this year, I wrote a post about a book club that I started with a few other people.  We read books on the craft of writing. The club has been beneficial so far.

The first book that the members of my book club decided to read was Creating Characters Kids Will Love by Elaine Marie Alphin.  It was published by Writer’s Digest Books in 2000. CCKWL is more for those who are writing books for middle grade, but I think that one will find some useful information on writing books for other age groups. Since CCKWL contains a lot of information, we divided the book into sections to read and discuss. I read Part 1. (In the future, I think all of us should read the entire book, regardless of the length or content.) This is not a full review of Elaine’s book, but I will share something that made an impact on me.

Elaine suggested recalling your own childhood and drawing from those experiences to create your characters and stories.  Diaries, journals, scrapbooks, and photos from your youth may help you remember your life and provide ideas. Talking to friends and family can also offer some insight into your early years.

Throughout the book, Elaine included exercises to help inspire the writer. One exercise in particular, really hit home for me. This exercise concerned emotions that a character might feel. The reader was asked to make a list of possible emotions, situations and sensations. An example that Elaine gave was the emotion of fear. A very common emotion of course, but it was her example of a situation that jumped right out at me. She mentioned an unleashed barking dog. Whoa!

When I was a child, I had a fear of dogs. Elaine’s exercise brought up some old memories. I don’t remember the initial incident, but I was told that a large, friendly neighborhood dog wanted to play. I was little and frightened by this animal. As a result, I grew up with a fear of dogs. Whenever I saw one, I tried my best to avoid it. I can remember screaming, I was so scared. I was never bitten or attacked, but the emotion that I felt was very real. I felt this way around most dogs. As for dogs I knew (ones owned by friends for example), usually I was fine and could even make friends with them. However, in most cases, the fear would overtake me and ultimately, I would have nothing to do with the dog.

Eventually I out grew most of my fear. However, I continue to avoid dogs. I make friends with very few of them. I do not like dogs jumping up on me or trying to sit in my lap. When encountering a dog I do not know, I freeze, and those old feelings come rushing back.

I wasn’t expecting all of this from reading a book on how to write a children’s book!

Writing can help one resolve old issues. My fellow club members suggested I use my childhood fear as a basis for a story. Perhaps then, I can better come to terms with these long ago experiences.

I recommend Elaine’s book. I borrowed a copy but will probably purchase one eventually. Even if the book you are writing is not for children, you may still find “CCKWL” helpful.

I wonder what the next book on the craft of writing will bring forth!

Debbie A. Byrne has a B.S. in Mass Communication with a minor in History. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and is working on her first children’s book.

Why Do You Write?

Why are you writing?  You need to be clear on your purpose. Although we all would like to be well compensated, if you are writing just for the money or to be famous, you will never sustain a writing life.  Writing is a passion and a process.  Understanding why your write will help you direct the process.   When you are in the middle of writing you need to be writing because you want to write.  If you are writing to market yourself but do not value the process of writing, then maybe what you want to do is hire a ghostwriter. 

So the question is…As a writer, are you committed to the process?  Writing is a commitment. Many people want to write, but never seem to make it happen.  How we spend the time in our life reflects what we value.  If you don’t make time to write, then at this juncture in your life writing is not what you value, at least not right now.

I know writers who have full lives with children, families, full time jobs, community commitments and still find time to write an hour or two a day, by getting up at 4 or 5 in the morning.  They value writing so have found a way to squeeze it into their lives.  I am not suggesting that you need to write 2 hours a day.  There are no judgments about how much your write or when your write. What is important is to notice where you put your time and focus.

If you really want a clear picture of what you are putting value on in your life, track all your activities for one week.  You may be surprised where your time goes and you may just find some additional writing time.

Mary Jo Guglielmo is writer and intuitive life strategist. For more information check out  www.donorth.biz   or folllow her at:

http://theadvantagepoint.wordpress.com

http://twitter.com/do_north

http://facebook.com/DoNorth.biz  

When Bloopers Go International

"Molly put on her Dolly Varden and went to the fair," writes the British author. The readers in England picture Molly dressed up in her elaborate, flower-decked hat. The American reader who lives near to the Northern Pacific, is bewildered, as he knows the Dolly Varden is a type of brightly spotted trout. Australian readers have just as big a problem, as the Dolly Varden for him is a doll-shaped cake. And in South Africa, it is a draped dressing-table.

In today's cyber world, any writing we post on the Internet or publish electronically, such as for Kindle, Nook, or any other form of e-Readers, immediately goes international. Even books that are only available in print are soon available through online stores such as Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobel.com, and many others. So even if the book is published in the States, it's highly unlikely that it will remain in that country.

My own book, Strength Renewed, Meditations for Your Journey through Breast Cancer, was written in South Africa, but published in the States. Yet by the time of its official launch date it was available across the word.

As authors, it's important we bear in mind our international readers with our choice of words. We need to be careful not to presume that our key words mean the same in all lands. Yet we may not be able to avoid the use of the word.

Let's look again at the example above referring to the Dolly Varden. Rather than just avoid the word, the English writer could say something like, “Look at that amazing hat,” she whispered. “I’m sure it’s a Dolly Varden.” The international readers understand no matter where they live.

Another example is the word, "wattle". To the English reader this is a type of fence; to the American it is the loose skin at the throat of a turkey. The South African frequently sees mud-and-wattle huts along the roadside; but for the Australian, wattle is the golden-yellow flower that is his country’s national emblem.

So the Australian could write, "She picked a few golden-yellow flowers from the wattle tree and added them to the arrangement." Readers will know what he means. The South African need only say "The old women sat in the doorway of their mud-and-wattle hut and discussed the events of the day." That's clear to everyone.

I read recently on a website of a student in Northern India who was asked, "What do you do?"

"Main chata hoon," he replied in Hindi, meaning to say, "I'm a student." He later discovered he had actually said, "I'm an umbrella." Chatra is a student; chata is an umbrella.

When my daughter was new to Venezuela, she was making her way through a crowd of people. She kept saying, in her newly acquired Spanish, "Excuse me," as she tried to pass people. In South Africa this would mean, "Please make way--I need to get through." She later learned she had been moving through the throng saying, "What's the matter? What's the matter?" to the surprised people.

If I, as a South African writer, send my heroine for a leisurely stroll along the pavement, this is good for her health. The pavement in South Africa and England is the paved area alongside the road, reserved for pedestrians. However sending her for a stroll along the pavement in America could have dire consequences as that's where the cars drive in the States.

I asked a group of writers to share with me some of the international bloomers they had heard of.

Ruth Ann Dell of South Africa shared this: When we visited friends in England, they were astonished when we talked about turning right at the robot. They couldn't see any robots on the road. We had a good laugh as we explained that back home in South Africa we called traffic lights robots.

Donald C. Bowman of Georgia, USA said: In Spanish, 'El ruedas facilmente.' means He tires easily. The problem is 'ruedas' are actually automobile tires.

Barbara Strohmenger in Germany shared this: A funny thing is the wrong use of "become" by Germans; the German "bekommen" means "to receive", but some think it means "to become" because it sounds similar; so they say "I become a gift" instead of "I receive a gift".

Karen Shaw Fanner, formally of Zimbabwe, now living in England says: In Africa  'just now' means 'in a while, at some point', 'when I get around to it.' In the UK 'just now' means 'immediately, right this minute.' How to really annoy people is to tell them you'll do it 'just now' and leave it an hour!

I nursed for many years in a paediatric ward in Krugersdorp, South Africa. Although as a Christian I don't believe in "luck", and I often prayed with parents when their little ones headed for surgery, I nevertheless fell into the practice of saying, "Good luck! I'll be praying."

If the patients were Afrikaans, I would translate this and say, "Geluk! Ek sal bid," which I thought was "Good luck! I'll be praying." One day a colleague overheard me, and with a wide grin asked me why I was congratulating the parents. Turns out that although "Geluk" sounds like "Good luck" it actually means, "Congratulations!" So I was sending the patients off with the words, "Congratulations! I'll be praying."

So, writers, be careful of the words you use, especially if you're trying to use a snippet of foreign language to add flavour to your work. You might just be adding the wrong flavour.

OTHER READING: 
What in the World Do You Mean? expands some of the ideas above as well as giving a list of some of the words that have different meanings.

Different Cultures, Different Ethics shares a few major differences between some of the major cultures.

International Critique Partners. Some of the advantages and challenges of having International critique partners.

OVER TO YOU: How about you? Do you have an amusing story to share of the wrong word being used as a result of a different language or culture? If so, please comment below or email me your story. Perhaps I can include them in another post for us all to enjoy.

SHIRLEY CORDER lives a short walk from the seaside in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, with her husband Rob. She is author of Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer. Shirley is also contributing author to ten other books and has published hundreds of devotions and articles internationally. Thanks to her international critique group, she has avoided publishing most of her cultural bloopers.

Visit Shirley on her website to inspire and encourage writers, or on Rise and Soar, her website for encouraging those on the cancer journey. Follow her on Twitter or "like" her Author's page on Facebook.

Cartoon dog: Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Combining Writing with Other Passions

Writing is part of my life but I am finding although I want to make money at it, sometimes the monetary part of the equation takes the fun out of the pure act of writing what comes to my heart. I also am finding that if I combine the writing with other passions ( for me the love of fabric, quilting, and kids) I am able to create with words and the money will come.

Does it make sense? Maybe not to six figure authors which of course I am not, yet. But in reality words are part of every hobby, craft, conversation, or story I create. Why can't the money follow?

Do I still need to market? Of course marketing takes a major role in any product I am producing. I am creating stories to go along with the fabric packs from our little Nashville fabric shop. The story is a part of the product and becomes a marketing tool. for the fabric, the shop, and the town. And the story can become part of a bigger product outside of the shop which is also on my planning board for the future.

The lesson here is that life brings with it changes, changes in your interests, changes in what you are passionate about, and changes in life style. Use those changes to create more with your writing rather than less, to increase products for your niche market and to step outside the box and create products in a new niche or genre.

I keep these tips in mind when following my passions.

1. I continue to keep to three major writing goals because it will help  to focus my new passions. My writing and creating now will be focused on  new major goals.
2. I won't be afraid to let go of past projects that are not performing. Take what I have learned from those ideas and put them to use in my new projects is difficult but worth it. It may be that at some point those projects may have a place again or maybe not, but it is okay to move on.
3.Never give up. Just because I have relocated, changed my line of products, or found a new and wonderful genre, I can be even more successful with all my knowledge. ( and so can you )
4. Follow my heart. My writing will show it when I am writing and creating what I love. ( Do you see yourself here)

As a newbie so to speak in the writing and publishing world I can say that it is fun and exciting to write and create. By following what I love and researching  new markets I avoid the discouragement new writers often encounter with the publishing aspect of writing because I am always finding new ideas to work on while those I have submitted find their way to editors.

What is your passion and how do you channel that into both writing and the monetary reward that comes with those words?


Terri Forehand is the author of The Cancer Prayer Book and the soon to be released children's book, The ABC's of Cancer According to Lilly Isabella Lane by Inkspotter Publishing. She writes from her rural home in Nashville Indiana where she and her husband have also opened a small quilt shop. Follow her at http://www.terriforehand.webnode.com , http://www.primitive-spirit.com  or at her blog at http://terri-forehand.blogspot.com . 

Targeting Specific Readers Part One: The marketing conundrum…

Targeting Specific Readers Part One of Three: The marketing conundrum…

Guest post by Steve Moore

In these DIY times, some writers choose to self-publish.  Others still prefer the traditional paradigm. One other (so far), Hugh Howey, author of the Wool SF series, has managed to do both, and keep digital rights separate from paper rights. No matter the choice, PR and marketing for your book these days is in the writer’s hands unless he happens to be an established bestselling author.

I have become a self-publishing or indie author by default, following the yellow brick road from agents to POD to eBooks. I’m content now about where I am except for my number of readers.  In this Land of Oz called digital publishing, you’d think the internet would allow me so many opportunities to acquire readership that I’d have thousands of readers.

Note that I focus on readers. Publishing companies focus on sales; I focus on readers. If reader A reads one of my books and then passes it on to reader B, I’m happy with my two new readers, even though it’s just one sale. (I’m not particularly concerned about piracy for that reason—but that’s another topic.) I’ve priced my ebooks so the temptation to do that is minimal (ebook pricing is yet another topic).  Nonetheless, even if I count readers in that way (in practice, by some multiplicative factor of sales), it’s hard to realize name recognition.  The internet is so big and digital publishing so liberating that bobbing up above the average sea level of competition to become known to a good number of readers is more difficult with each passing day.

About six months ago, I started thinking about targeting specific readers, using my small budget for PR and marketing. If you’re a non-fiction writer of niche books (self-help, construction projects, hobbies, etc.), you have a well defined audience and are probably already doing this. That’s what “niche books” means, after all. For authors of fiction (me), you have a genre (mine is sci-fi thriller), but the demographic distribution (sexes, ages, and locations) associated with your genre is not well defined. For example, I targeted my young adult (YA) sci-fi thriller to young adults, obviously. I’ve been surprised at how many adults liked it too, so much so that I now describe that eBook as “for young adults and adults young-at-heart.”

If a reader happens on my website (this process is not completely random, because of Google and other search engines), she will see at the beginning: “Welcome! Bienvenidos! Readers wanted…. Do you like science fiction? Androids, aliens, clones, mutants, and artificial intelligence? Thrillers and suspense? Mysteries? Detectives fighting crime, counter terrorism, and conspiracies? Fast-paced action and strange plot twists?  Steve’s fiction offers a special treat for readers since it often cuts across all these genres. Take a tour of this website and make yourself comfortable with his storytelling. Take stock of the other information that is available. Readers are most welcome.  It’s all yours to enjoy.”

Besides all those wonderful “key words” the Google bots love, let me point out a few things that just didn’t come to me in an epiphany—I had to put some sweat of my brow into developing them.  First, “Bienvenidos!”  I’m bilingual and my website has a Spanish influence—I’ve even written a few reviews in Spanish because I read fiction written in Spanish.  More importantly, I’m trying to convey the international nature of the settings used in my fiction, from my old haunts in the Boston area, to my new haunts in the tri-state area (Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey), to countries around the world, and to the solar system and beyond.

“Readers wanted…” and “…make yourself comfortable with his storytelling” emphasize what I’m about: I want to entertain you with my storytelling.  There’s a “Buy Now” button on that first page and some prices listed, but, as readers know, those Amazon book pages allow you to peek inside the book without buying.  I’m not twisting arms, and, because I don’t know exactly what might interest you in the book, the peeks serve as personalized excerpts for the potential reader.

The rest of that first paragraph defines my genres.  Having a website like this is part of building an author’s platform.  It targets a specific audience, but it depends on that audience finding the website.  I’ve been worried since the release of my first book about how to (1) drive potential readers to that website, and (2) not annoy people who won’t be interested.  One reader’s spam is another reader’s interesting book release, after all.  While discussing this with other authors, it’s become clear that I’m not unique in having this double-barreled shotgun of a problem.

My first experience with book promotion and advertising as an author was to purchase a marketing package to promote my first book.  While this was POD, any author working with a traditional publisher has the same desires and could suffer the same learning experience: that first marketing package blanketed the whole information and media universe.  In other words, it was indiscriminate spam.  I probably made many more enemies than friends (or readers) with that marketing effort, something I regret, because I’m not really in this to make tons of money.  My goal is just to entertain, remember.

So, for many years, I’ve been thinking about how to go about PR and marketing in a better way.  After my first experience, I’m reluctant to hire someone.  My budget is limited.  I can’t and won’t pay for PR and marketing that is nothing more than spamming the world.  I’ve been trying many different DIY projects.  They vary from the simple (putting a business card in every bill I return by snail mail—they’re paying for the postage) to the elaborate (creating a website and Facebook fan page).  In the next installment, I will focus on a new tactic: Targeting specific audiences on my own, using my knowledge of the readers.

Steve Moore
http://stevenmmoore.com

For Part 2 of this 3 Part series go to:
http://www.writersonthemove.com/2013/05/targeting-specific-audiences-part-two.html

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MORE ON BOOK MARKETING

Being Social can Bring Extra Promotion
Kindle Select – What Works and What Doesn’t

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The Race

Years ago I would run. More than twenty miles a week on average. But that was years ago. My daughters, who are now about the age I was back then, decided we should create a team and run some fun 5K's for good causes. Great idea, except did I mention I used to run and it was a long time ago?

We ran our first race in March. As an older runner, I made the decision I didn't care about time at all, only finishing the race running. It wasn't the kind of race I had envisioned. For one, the race was at night. The only lights came from glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces. The route went from pavement to gravel to rutted dirt track and then back again. We ran around a body of water. The path tilted. All the while, colored water was sprayed at us at intervals.

Early on I saw an older woman fall. I slowed my pace. I saw there were obstacles that had fallen onto the path. I became afraid and slowed even more. A rock jammed into the heel of my shoe and I had to stop to remove it. 

I had lost sight of my goal - running the race. I lost my ability to keep pace - my daughters were well in front of me. I felt alone. I felt like a failure. I gave up. I walked.

Why would anyone endure such a thing and call it fun?

Probably for the same reason writers write.

Writers face challenges too. They write alone. They face obstacles - family members who don't understand they are working and not just entertaining themselves with a hobby. They fend off callers and the internet. They set goals and then, all too often, give up when they can't attain them immediately. Writing is hard, but it is also incredibly rewarding as long as you don't give up the "race." 

That evening in March it took me a while. I had to do a lot of self talk. Finally I got my head back into the game, as they say. Okay, I wouldn't run the entire race, but I could still run part of it. I found a pace that was comfortable, where I didn't worry about tripping and falling. I kept my head down and ran. It wasn't easy, but each step took me one closer to the finish line.

Writing isn't easy. Keep your head down. Work to remove your obstacles. Don't beat yourself up when you don't achieve the goals you set for yourself right away, instead celebrate your successes. After all, a novel or story is written one word at a time. Find your own pace and finish your race.

_______________________________________

D. Jean Quarles is a writer of Women's Fiction and a co-author of a Young Adult Science Fiction Series. Her latest book, Flight from the Water Planet, Book 1 of The Exodus Series was written with coauthor, Austine Etcheverry.

D. Jean loves to tell stories of personal growth – where success has nothing to do with money or fame, but of living life to the fullest. She is also the author of the novels: Rocky's Mountains, Fire in the Hole and, Perception. The Mermaid, an award winning short story was published in the anthology, Tales from a Sweltering City.  

She is a wife, mother, grandmother and business coach. In her free time . . . ha! ha! ha! Anyway, you can find more about D. Jean Quarles, her writing and her books at her website at www.djeanquarles.com

You can also follower her at www.djeanquarles.blogspot.com or on Facebook