Bad news for author Jeanette Winterson whose new book due out in the fall got left at Balham station in south London.
Winterson novel found in London station
Winterson is an award-winning author and although this is not like Harry Potter 7 got left out for someone to find, it's still not cool.
So, it's time to show you my office. It's a wonderful picture of my brain. 
My office shows what kind of week I've had and what kind of weekend I will continue to have. Too much to do to wind down today. I'll be working over the weekend!
The piles are because I'm behind working on my 2007 filing system. I am using David Allen's Getting Things Done, so am still looking at a lot of paper. And I've emptied filing cabinets in order to review the contents.
You'll see my busy week sustenance here--in the form of M&Ms (Costco bag).
I'm actually piling projects on the floor right now until I get some filing done. No worries, I can find my way around this office blindfolded . . . and find exactly what I need!
This is my reading corner, surrounded by bookshelves and down behind the chair is my YA, middle readers, and kid's books, well some of them.
I'm continually sorting and decluttering my work areas and shifting priorities, but I do get quite a bit of work done in this office. If it were all clean and tidy, I'd be too intimidated to work in here. The clutter calms me down and reminds me that I can dream whatever I want to accomplish.
Does my office look like anyone else's? Cluttered, or am I the only one who thrives in this?
Ever notice that most writing books are geared to new writers? And the really good classic reference books are geared to advanced writers? I've been looking for intermediate books for years, until suddenly, I realized something last night while reading William J. Blundell's The Art and Craft of Feature Writing.
What a book! If you have ever been curious how the Wall Street Journal writes such intriguing (at least I think so) business stories and how they come up with that imitable nut graf, Blundell's the one to tell you.
But, his range and scope of feature writing is so beyond mine, well, let's just say he's got a trick or two up his sleeve. Nowhere before have I seen insights like these. And I'm so intrigued, I stay up and read until past my bedtime. There are other books on writing that are advanced, as well, but I'd like to point out one thing about how an intermediate writer such as myself can utilize these advanced tomes to our advantage.
1. I don't have to use all of the advice right now. Later, as I write the five stories that have been assigned, I'll reread and pick up more.
2. I can just use one good thing (I call it the one true thing) that I've learned to good effect. That WSJ nut graph rocks MY world.
3. The thing with advanced writing books is that they make you feel inadequate. That's the wrong mindset, people. You must reach higher and farther than you've reached before if you're going to improve. You can't have things handed to you on a platter.
Thus, intermediate books should not exist, in my opinion, because what pulls a writer from new to intermediate is the realization that one must think for themselves. And that's writing.
Working on a ton of writing projects today. Hope you're writing too!
Keep at it!
Yeah, so yesterday, I totally slacked off on this blog thing. Why?
Well, I nabbed a couple more writing assignments and then had a brainstorm for today. Of course, a client calamity is preventing me from writing right this minute, but if I can work enough ahead (client is in India) today, I can write later. Whee!
Work on American Masquerade is moving along great. I should finish on time on March 21. I finally finished reading Jane Smiley's Thirteen Ways of Looking At the Novel, what a great book. I haven't plugged it on this blog much, but wow, if you want a rich journey through 100 novels, read this. I am reading her list of 100 novels, and the first book is The Tale of Genji, which was written 1000 years ago. Incredible book, especially the translation I highlighted here.
And if that doesn't provide me enough inspiration for my own writing, I've got the new Jodi Picoult on its way! I can't wait.
Have a great writing day. It's raining in Seattle; what a perfect day to stay home!
A very busy weekend working on my WIP, American Masquerade. My hope is to finish the first draft by March 21st. I should make it.
I'm also chock full with copyediting work and working to get booked up with writing assignments (five so far!).
Also, I am writing one essay draft per day. I have this insane list of over 100 essay topics that I've brainstormed over time and writing on one idea each day keeps me from getting jaded. Plus, I then have tons of material to send out or to use in my book writing projects.
I've been thinking a lot about Resistance (if you yet haven't read the War of Art by Steven Pressfield, you should!) and how it affects my writing. I've been writing my entire life. Each time I get back into it, there are things that I enjoy and things that I don't enjoy. I now see that the things I don't enjoy are acting as an active Resistance to my writing. I'm using them as a crutch to not write more. How sad.
Why would I let myself be held down by stupid, silly little things?
It makes no sense to me either, but it was not until I read "The War of Art" that I realized, and my husband realized, how we were letting our stupid fears ruin our life goals.
Yet there is hope.
Steven Pressfield insists that if you fear it, you're to DO it. Hate is not the opposite of love; indifference is. If I did not care so much about these things, they would not cause me pain and I would not fear them.
Now there's something to get the writing engines going today.
Busy day, but so good.
Spent some time with a writer friend at one of our town's 17 Starbucks. We talked writing and marketing and mindset. She gave me great ideas; I gave her great ideas. It was really encouraging. I should do more of that! Hey!
Not much this weekend (dying to drive down the freeway to see my new niece, but I should stay home for three weeks in a row):
revisions on my kid's book due Monday
finish latest marketing article
work on pitches for regional lifestyle and women's mags (just got a great list of these)
write an essay each day
work on my catalog copy assignment (so much fun!)
And that is all. Happy Friday, everyone!
Spring is around the corner!
I'm so ready! Yesterday finished up a kid's book draft to send to the publisher, shipped a short monograph back to the publisher, and started writing another essay. This essay thing is really fun. I've done it for years without really knowing it. I've always written in journals and have notebooks full of jottings and thoughts. That's essay writing! Yippee!
New client opp emailed to me today and I'm psyched. Must keep at the to-do list for this week/weekend, so I'm getting ahead, not farther behind.
Working on AM and Everywhen and the non-fiction book. If you have not picked up Eric Maisel's book proposal book, well, you're just missing out, folks.
Reading Michael Port's Book Yourself Solid. Excellent book, his first chapter is exactly what I covered in this blog yesterday. I'll have some more thoughts on clients and branding tomorrow.
Keep writing!
If you're about to take on a writing or editing assignment today, and something about that person just gives you a bad vibe, skip it. You must pick your clients just as they pick you.
So a client gives me a bad review and says "no, we're not a good fit." I am relieved, but ticked, because I was giving that client three strikes. She definitely struck out the first time and looking back I knew she would from the first time we spoke on the phone. How?
She's negative about freelancers in general. Usually, that's the first clue. Second, she thinks she's a good client (and makes up all these requirements for her projects that make me laugh to myself "I think we've got a loser"), and third, she's completely unstable emotionally. I end up being her therapist on the phone when we're supposed to be talking about work. I end up bailing her out of her own messes and I bear the brunt of her blame game when she screws up royally and wants to save face.
So good riddance, weirdo client woman. This post to you is the equivalent of a "you're fired" letter.
I feel great. Free at last! Now to get paid from this client's client. Thank goodness, she doesn't have accounting privileges. Gah!
It must be Wednesday. Happy hump day! I can tell I worked too hard and long yesterday, but I'll get cooking here.
I'd like to talk about rejection. It's the name of the game in this business. You'll get it 70% of the time (most people would say more). From tire kickers if you offer creative services, to no thanks from publishers, to your own brain refusing to do what is obviously a good move in the right direction (but that's for another post).
Rejection is not about you. The situation just doesn't fit is all. For instance, I hand sold my first book proposal to a large publisher back in the 1990s at age 23. I wrote up a proposal, walked it to the editor, sat down in her office (at her invitation), and told her why she should publish it. And she said, "yeah, I think this is good. I'd like to present this to the editorial board."
Fast forward a few months and the editorial board (after haggling and more discussion) turned it down. The editor was crushed. I was crushed. Rejection. Suddenly, the feeling that "I'm not good enough" reared its ugly head.
Fast forward to a few months later and one of their star authors writes a book on my same subject, the house publishes it, and the book flops, I mean, flops. At the time, I was just mad, then became disinterested, and finally moved on.
Now that I think back on it, I really don't want that publisher near any of my future books or near me for that matter. I had the original idea (and true, ideas aren't copyrightable, but still! A bit too close for coincidence, if you ask me) and it was a good idea! But this publisher couldn't make it fly, and neither could their star author. I think that if I'd done the book, with my enthusiasm and passion for the project, it would have done better and yes, I tried to sell it elsewhere and I still may sell it elsewhere in the future, but the point is that rejection was part of the learning process and the growing process.
That long story aside, it seems narcissistic to continue to send out our work just to be rejected, but that's how we learn what we want and what we are capable of. If I had taken that one rejection too much to heart, I never would have written nine other books, and whipped up a new book proposal, which did get agent attention and still has agent attention. And I wouldn't even be trying to write more book proposals or asking people to co-author even other book ideas in order to self-pub. Sometimes the yucky stuff pushes you into something better.
Think about it. How are you handling rejection? Are you letting it stop you or push you forward?
I sometimes can't get past just having good intentions. Most times, best of intentions are my best fricking attribute! The lists, the goals, the breakdown of next actions (thanks, David Allen of Getting Things Done), the Kinkless lists and due dates and project spans. Yup, my brain implodes.
But yesterday, although being Monday should have sunk it right there, was a great day. I started the week off right, but dealing with the most important issues FIRST. What a lightbulb moment. I do that often, but yesterday it seemed to manifest into good vibes all day long. Plus, I was praying, praying, praying for my husband and some big things he has coming down at work right now. (Yes, I believe in God.) There's nothing like best intentions actually creating best results. It really fires you up.
Writing on American Masquerade continues; going very well. Everywhen is formulating nicely as well, but the new idea, Newsgirl, is just really gripping me. I dreamed about my heroine last night and well, she may be taking over Everywhen's spot in the line-up, so we may do some switcharoo.
Am hard at work on nf proposals. Chunking takes a lot of energy, but I have changed up my project and will post a opening chunk of the new version. It's good. Lest anyone think that Al Gore is the only one who cares about the environment; my book comes at it from a spiritual approach. Stay tuned.
Book of the week (I read it in an hour yesterday): The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (the guy who wrote Legend of Bagger Vance). Now that book will change your life. What a great gem. If it doesn't get your fire started on doing something with your life, I don't know what will.
Keep writing!
Okay, folks, I worked on my nf book proposal(s) all weekend long. The reason proposal is plural is that there is definitely more than one book in all this information I've amassed on my subject. Coolio!
I used Eric Maisel's book and Susan Rabiner's book and between the two of them, I came up with 25 titles, 25 subtitles, five alternate versions of this book, four more alternate versions (from most secular to existential) for this book (thus the realization that I have more books in this than just the initial idea), plus am preparing to pitch articles on the topics to magazines to build my platform before I even pitch the book to agents.
It was a great weekend. I'm still really pumped.
This week is looking good for my schedule.
I have to finish a princess book manuscript (very short for a Canadian publisher)
I have a few editorial tests to finish
I have an association article to finish (waiting to here if there's room in the March/April issue)
I have more work on the book proposals
I also have to start pitching the topic around
I also have a to-do list on my current novel WIP (American Masquerade)
Another series idea hit me square in the forehead last night; I'm super excited.
Here we go! Happy Monday!
Okay, so I gave up watching this show over a year ago, but was sucked in last night, because my brain was shot and well, everyone was talking about it.
Saw the first part of the Meredith "death" and knew someone had been watching too much Heroes on NBC, or mooching off your fellow ABC hit, LOST. What's with the spooky child staring with death eyes and pointing at Elliott Bay? Yikes. But really, ABC, you've officially killed the show. The whole "hovering in between" with Denny and company? Come on. She and her mother hugging goodbye? Please. Meredith opening her eyes and talking coherently to Cristina within minutes?
Oh, go jump a shark.
GA, for me, is finally dead. Oh that Meredith would have died too. Because really people, this is all about Shonda Rimes. The woman's ego is fully inflated. Perhaps we should have thrown her into the water as a life raft and skipped the whole frantic "save Meredith" frenzy.
In other news, the writing is moving forward. I swear, bit by bit, the story takes shape and has now taken on a life of its own. The protagonist is downright scary, his smooth charm and how he sweeps my heroine off her feet. This is not just a "romance" people, but a romance biography travel tale (that's four different points from Jane Smiley's thirteen ways of a novel). The more of those thirteen ways I can utilize, the better the novel.
Keep on writing!
Whew, February was a blur. My new niece was born, my marketing efforts have totally taken over my office, and my writing on novels and articles and essays has picked up nicely. Excitement!
Seriously, though, what a great feeling to have things balancd. I will start changing up my writing o'meters to show off my latest progress. I'm in the middle of my new first draft of American Masquerade, which is kinda spooky, but it's so good. I really, really, really like it. Let Them Eat Cake is done, done, done, well first draft at least and I'm actually super excited to get back to it after the AM first draft is down. I also have multiple ideas spouting from my research and reading for these two projects. Yikes. I need to write more and more! What a great job!
I have had multiple offers to blog for others and although the idea is really cool, I'm only looking for paying gigs (and that pay a reasonable rate!). What is a reasonable rate? Well, a freelance professional rate. I charge going rates that may seem exorbitant to you, but are so cheap compared to trying to write yourself (not everyone is a writer, contrary to popular opinion), so please don't ask me to work for nothing or for pennies.
The blogging I do is quality. It's not just blah-blah text loaded with keywords, and it's not run of the mouth chatter that means nothing. I write for a specific audience and if you hire me to write for your audience, well, you'll be happy with the end result. Very happy.
Off to finish an article for an association newsletter, work on some pitches, and I get to have lunch with a teacher friend who's off for winter break.
Keep writing!
Where did January go? I blinked and it was gone. So now we're on to February and I'm just stopping by to mention that J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter #7 will be out July 21. That is all.
It's Grammar Rant Friday! (By the way, how's your chunking going?) I'm chunking as fast as I can!
The Difference Between Since and Because
Since has two meanings: it can refer to some point of time in the past, or it can mean “because.”
Since [from the time that] we last talked, I've found a much better job at another company.
Since [because] I will be traveling for the next two months, please hold my mail until I return.
Ordinarily, the context makes it clear which meaning is intended, but reword in cases where the use of since could cause confusion.
Confusing
I've not talked with Rob since he got the job that I had hoped to snare for myself. (It is not clear why the writer has not talked to Rob. Is it because the writer is suffering from a bad case of envy, or is it simply because Rob is no longer easy to stay in touch with?)
Clear
I've not talked with Rob since he left the company for another job. As it happens, he got the job that I had hoped to snare for myself.
Clear
I've not talked with Rob since he left the company, because he got the job that I had hoped to snare for myself.
Got it? Good. Talk to ya Monday!
Yesterday we started the New Year off on the right foot with a few truths about the writing process.
And since we've already chosen working titles and themes, we're going to pick an obvious path and . . . we're going to start writing!
We'll be writing portions of your book that Maisel calls "chunking."
"A chunk is a piece of writing about the length of a newspaper column that, like a newspaper column, treats a single subject in an anecdote, a vignette, an exercise, a complete thought, a description of a place or an event."
Maisel also adds, "As you get practiced at writing nonfiction you will acquire an increasingly fine sense of what chunks feels like and what they can accomplish. Chunks are the building blocks of nonfiction books."
We'll start by writing five chunks of your book this week. These are not complete pieces of thought, these are doodling vignettes that you've either been collecting or thinking about, and these don't have to be perfect. Just start "chunking."
A sample mini-chunk from me:
A writer's bootcamp is a simple title for an organized approach to writing for magazines. This approach came to me in a brainstorm after I spent too many hours writing a query to one magazine, including meticulous research, and after I sold the piece, I knew that all that research (I am an over-researcher) would go to waste.
Now, I work to maximize the research I put in to try and sell at least five pieces instead of just one.
See?
That's not too hard. And remember, Maisel says that "the first step in deciding which chunks to write is an emotional one: to make a commitment to one version of your book. It is actually a tentative commitment, which sounds like an oxymoron because it is shorthand for the following idea. You are to make a full commitment to one version of your book, while reserving the right to change your mind after you've done some writing."
So, our goal for this week is to write five chunks!
Tomorrow is Grammar Rant Friday! (I know, you cannot wait.)
Happy 2007! I hope you had a wonderful holiday break and are ready to go on your book project.
By now, you've either figured out that I'm a big proponent of Eric Maisel's The Art of the Book Proposal: From Finished Idea to Finished Proposal. If you've read any of Maisel's book, you know that the biggest step toward writing a book proposal that sells is your thought process.
Many writers believe that they should just write and not really think about what they're writing and that's the best way to begin. Maisel begs to differ. He believes that thinking carefully about what you’re attempting to write is the best approach.
Today, we're going dispel some false notions we writers have about the fear of thinking (which most people call the fear of writing or writer’s block) that will hopefully start the new year off right.
Maisel writes in his book that "the first days and weeks of the process may make you feel very uncomfortable as, instead of writing your nonfiction book, you force yourself to think about your book." Writing is hard enough; thinking about what you're writing is even harder.
And often, if you read interviews of other published writers, you hear of so many writers who simply say that they sit down and start writing, with no mention of their intricate thought processes at all.
Maisel replies that "writers who are in the habit of thinking about their books do not notice that they are thinking about their books, in part because much of that thinking goes on when they are sleeping or resting or doing other things. They attack the problems their book presents them with, they think hard and long about those problems (sometimes for years), and then when they finally solve those problems they arrive at the experience that is often presented as 'taking dictation.' But they don't report the thinking part, maybe because it sounds unseemly to have sweated, maybe because they have forgotten or never consciously realized that they were doing it, or maybe because they just feel liking pulling your leg about the writing process."
Nice, eh?
Maisel goes on, "There is another reason why some writers fail to report the thinking part. It is that they don't want to examine their own process that closely. If they did, they would recognize some hard truths about the books they attempted that didn't work. They would have to confront the fact that some of the books that they began, often the ones closest to their hearts, did not receive enough of their best thinking attention and consequently sputtered and failed. I have enough of these books in my own life to know exactly what I am talking about. I can think of two recent books that went all the way to a completed draft stage, and several more that peeked into the world as book proposals, that I refused to think hard enough about and that consequently weren't good enough.”
So, what's stopping you? Start those thought engines! Tomorrow we'll work forward from our work on titles.
Well, after five days with no power, we're back. (Actually, we got power back late Tuesday, but last night another transformer blew and so I shut everything down, except my laptop and prepared to pack for our Christmas trip in the dark.)
We are lucky. The power stayed on, the work is done, clients are happy, and I can finally read the Elizabeth George novel that has been mocking me for a month. Plus, I'm reading 13 Ways of Looking At the Novel by Jane Smiley and loving it. And I bought the entire series of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Mysteries to read in 2007. They are a great light, easy read, but JE is pure genius.
On the list for January 2007 is revising two web sites for a grand re-opening, working on the new novel (the current novel is still stuck at 98%, but it will be done over Christmas), and writing more and more for clients and for myself. A great New Year's resolution!
Speaking of New Year's, I know I'm early, but anyone care to share their New Year's resolves with this blog?
Share away. I'll be checking in from our vacation periodically.
Merry Christmas!
The Pacific Northwest really got hit last week with a fierce storm.
But the question remains: are we too soft?
It's being debated on the radio as many of us still are without power 96 hours later. I'm disturbed at how much of my life has been disrupted without power and how hard it has been to maintain some semblance of normalcy. I think I now can maybe begin to begin to fathom a small bit of what Hurricane Katrina survivors went through. Or, maybe I'm just a wuss.
We lost power Thursday night and the temps sank to the low 20s over the weekend. We kept warm by going out to eat and visiting friends, and now we've checked into a hotel, because I have deadlines and clients who are relying on me. But what if I had small children? What if we were farther outside of suburbia?
I think these two things have become apparent:
1. We're buying a generator, not a large one, but one big enough to turn our heat on and keep our food from spoiling.
2. We're going to plan for a week's worst case scenario instead of just three days. This will require some more planning, but I am determined.
Our trees stayed up through the wind gusts and we're healthy and okay. We have outstanding neighbors who banded together to help each other out. That's a LOT to be thankful for.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
