Where’d It Go? Keeping Up with the Blog-Swap

25
Feb

Writing (Photo credit: Pascal Maramis)

This is getting confusing! Here’s a summary of what’s going on:

1. I created this blog dedicated solely to all things writing.

2. It was great to connect with other people interested in writing and creativity.

3. It occurred to me that a blog about writing written by someone who is walking through the process as a novice might be pretentious.

4. Since I already had another blog as well, I decided to make one multi-purpose blog, hoping to connect with others who might be women or parents with children who might also have an interest in writing/creative activities.

5. New posts have been concentrated on the new blog.

There, I think that covers everything. So let’s make a deal. If there’s any spectacular news on the writing front, any fantastic breakthroughs that would be beneficial for all aspiring writers, I’ll post them here. But in the meantime, you will find a lot of fun activity going on at http://loveandlaundryblog.wordpress.com

P.S. The only news on my creative endeavors is rejection. Which makes me an official member of the society of aspiring writers, doesn’t it? Yes. Yes it does.

Voice, Privacy and Blogging

28
Jan

Portrait of Harry Belafonte, singing, 1954 Feb. 18. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Blogs are amazing things. They have a life of their own, with online friends and followers. They can even translate into real life income (or so I read). What makes certain blogs successful?

The research I’ve done all talks about focus, being an expert or doing reviews on products you really like.

What if you don’t want to build your blog around products? What if you’re not an expert in a specific field?

Even within the product review realm, a person needs to have an authentic voice and communicate their personality in their writing. That can vary with an expert blog, but even those tend to let the writer express his or her personality in the midst of dispensing tutorials or advice. Almost all the blogs which have become successful have a specific voice.

I have two blogs. The first I started as a creative outlet. I thought it would be mostly a bunch of book reviews. But it didn’t pan out that way. It morphed into a blog that was primarily about gardening, family and motherhood. (If you’re curious you can check it out here: http://fromthebooknerd.wordpress.com/). I didn’t work at connecting with other bloggers or blogs, and didn’t think much about growing a following. That’s okay; I was just starting out and it took me a while to figure out that it is a great venue.

This fall I started a new blog, one with a different focus. The blog you’re reading now is all about the journey of becoming a published writer. But it is bigger than that. Because by extension, this blog is about my life.

Usually I tend to be a little private. I’m not crazy about the idea of having my identity out there for anyone to scrutinize. In my previous blog I was careful not to use my real name or the names of my family. I don’t need the world to be able to identify my children on sight. But I realize now that being too guarded makes it difficult for people to distinguish me from anybody else.

Yes, people have short attention spans. But that doesn’t mean that all blog posts must be limited to less than 400 words.
Yes, people like to hear about products that work. But not every successful blog is based on product reviews.
Yes, sometimes people have voyeuristic tendencies but that doesn’t mean we need to keep all details of our lives to close to the vest.

We should always be mindful of what we share online, but it is when we share that people feel connected to us, and can even have validated their own shortcomings and struggles.

I’m an aspiring writer; I’m working to publish two novels and various essays. I am a wife and mom. I am a follower of Christ. These are things that define me and set me apart from my next door neighbor. These are things that inform everything I do. Beyond that, I am a klutz, a cornball, and a bit of a goof (maybe more than just a bit). These things set me apart from other people (somewhat unfortunately). By allowing my unique voice to come through in my writing, I can distinguish myself from the other blogs out there, and people might (cross everything) come back to see what new things are happening on the blog.

What techniques do you use when blogging? How do you decide what specifics of your life to share or keep private? What sets your blog apart from others? I’d love to hear what goes into your decisions concerning your blog. Feel free to comment below. Happy writing!

Sing

Writers Gotta Move

14
Jan

Do you get all your ideas while you look at the screen? Do you generate all your new material while you are sitting at a desk? If you’re anything like me, the answer to these questions is “No.” And as I’ve worked at finding out more about the habits of “successful writers”, a recurring theme is that it’s good to step away from the notepad.

Whether you’re blogging, working on an article or crafting a new chapter, writing is sedentary. There’s almost no way around it. Even if you sit on one of those gigantic bouncy balls instead of a regular chair, you’re still, you know, sitting. Lots of writers talk about how getting fresh air and exercise helps them. Stephen King and Anne Lamott both make hikes and walks a regular part of their days. J.K. Rowling is quoted as saying, “Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas.” Charles Dickens, Henry Thoreau, William Wordsworth all walked.

The trick for me is that I live in Minnesota.

And I’m a wuss.

I’ve tried being that hearty person who can venture out in -20 degrees and feel invigorated. But mostly I just feel cranky and uncomfortable. But because it is frequently so cold here in the winter, I had to find something I could do to get my heart rate going.

It had to be cheap.

It had to be convenient.

Some people do better if they leave the house and work their exercise into their daily routine, either before work or on the way home. It just so happens that I stay home with the kids, so if I was to leave, the facility would need to provide childcare. It’s a lot of work getting kids out of the house, and when we had a membership at the YMCA, I found that it sucked up a two hour chunk of time by the time we got checked in, I worked out and showered and we got home. And the kids weren’t crazy about the childcare at that specific Y.

I decided it is more efficient for me to exercise at home. I take walks when I can, but when it is icy or freezing, I had to find an alternative.

I’ve gotten a lot of use out of Jillian Michels 30 Day Shred. It has three levels and each session is only 20 minutes but by the end I feel like I’ve actually gotten a decent work out. I picked it up at Target and it is still a great routine even after having it for more than two years. 30 Day Shred Workout – JillianMichaels.com

If you can get some fresh air, that’s probably better. But if it is bitterly cold where you are, at least some physical movement might just get your creative juices flowing.

Do you make time for exercise? What do you do to get moving? I’d love to hear from you.

Happy writing!

Neon helps me exercise faster.

Blindfold Your Inner Editor

10
Dec

English: A backspace key in its natural habitat, having been removed from a keyboard. Backspace is the computer key used to delete prior text. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When you are writing, how often do you use the backspace key? How often do you hit delete? Do you use spell-check frequently as you go along (maybe you’re word processing program does it for you, which can be less than helpful at times)? Do you find that these activities break your writing rhythm or are you possibly using them to fill the time when you can’t think of what should come next? Do the words seem to pour out or come out in dribbles?

In the last week of November, someone gave me a seriously helpful tip. I was skeptical until I actually tried it. She suggested that I try typing in white.

Huh?

She said that if you type the words in white, you can’t see them against the background of white, and therefore can’t stop and correct every little typo or misplaced word.

This trick almost doubled my productivity. You’ve probably heard about these things called sprints or wordsprints, but before November I hadn’t; the idea is to write as much as you can in a certain amount of time. The time varies but I found that I could stay focused better when the sprint was shorter, about 15 or 20 minutes. It starts feeling more like a long distance jog when you increase the time to, say, 45 minutes.

When I typed in white, I found that I didn’t worry about getting all the spellings right or fixing it if I mixed up the name of the diner. I just told the story. When I couldn’t see the words, I thought more about the story I already had in my head, and then that story came out in complete sentences rather than word by word.

You know you’re going to go back over your work, you know some of the characters names will always show up with red spelling squiggles under them, you know there will be things to flesh out. Until you get to that point, and while you’re working to get the full first draft complete, your inner editor will be much more tame if she’s blindfolded. See what kind of results you get when you try typing a section in white. Give it 15 minutes, and I bet you’ll be surprised.

We Have a Winner: I Finished My First NaNoWriMo

30
Nov

Winner badge 180x180

Boom. Booya. Kachow. Kazaam. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

50,000 words in 30 days (or just under 30 days). Right now the novel stands at roughly 180 pages. The story is not quite done, but I passed the 50K mark late last night.

It. Was. Fabulous.

I’ve tried to explain to people about what I’ve been working on this month, and I admit that before this year, I would not have understood the appeal. When you inflict an arbitrary deadline on yourself, it is hard to help people understand how compelling this deadline pressure feels. I tried to explain that if you make it to 50K words you “win” but when they ask what you win and I say, somewhat sheepishly that you don’t actually win anything, their expression of confusion is understandable. Until a person feels that irrespresible urge to write, how could they empathize?

I’d love to hear from any fellow Nano-ers out there. You get what I mean about it. How did it end up for you? Are you going to finish? Scratch that — of course you’re going to finish! You can do it! Don’t give up, crank it out, let your fingers fly with no pause for correct spelling or fixing ANY mistakes. Let me know how you feel when you finish. (It is still sinking in for me, and because I have a couple more chapters I want to write, the novel doesn’t feel done yet, but it is close.) I commend anyone who sets a goal for themselves and achieves it. It is no small feat. Go go Na-No!

Chicken Dinner! A NaNo Update (butterfliesanddragons.wordpress.com)
YES YES YES we have a winner 🙂 (susanneahlenius.com)

Writing Tip #4: Build Your Portfolio

10
Nov

Writing can be a bit of a mobius twist. With good reason, people want to see your credentials and work before they take you on. In order to get those examples, someone has to take a chance and let you do a job without any of those examples. So if you don’t have them, how do you get them?

Reading (and common sense) in this area tells us that often we start too high up the food chain, and then we experience frustration when Time Magazine doesn’t want to use the brilliant article we put together.

This is Writing Tip #4: Don’t be afraid to start small.

I recently had something included in a neighborhood newsletter. It was just a small article, but it went out to the whole area where I live. It was a solid article with a good voice and positive spirit. Who knows what might happen because of it?

Two days ago, a piece I worked on earlier in the fall finally came out in the town newspaper. I’m not ultimately interested in journalism, but now I can use that as an example of my ability to write an informative, tight article. The paper has a circulation of 15,000 homes, plus online consumers. However, because the article was an interview, people from the interviewee’s (that seems like it should be a word?!) organization are also sure to read it, which extends the circle. That’s a good reach for me.

This summer, a blog asked for guest submissions and I volunteered. The blog isn’t about writing, nor is it a field of personal expertise, but by writing an entertaining blog post, I can point to it as an example of versatility and initiative.

None of the above have been paid opportunities.

That’s okay.

As I build my portfolio, I view these as something current to add to the materials I have from a few years ago (before I started having kids and temporarily lost track of everything outside of who needs a snack and when did we last change the baby’s diaper?). The fact that they are unpaid is unimportant at this point. Would I like to eventually be paid for my work? Sure. But these pieces are mutually beneficial: the organization gets new content, and I get to fill my writing resume and make some contacts.

What I’m working on now is a system for keeping track of deadlines, what went where and when, deadlines for contests, and a sort of “closing date” for each individual piece. If you have a way of keeping your writing organized, I’d love to hear about it.

Keep working your writing and don’t worry about if it is for a national audience. Do your best work each time and you never know where it will eventually lead!

Happy writing!

The keyboard of the Malling-Hansen writing ball, invented in 1865 by Danish churchman Rev. Rasmus Malling-Hansen and first produced in 1870. It was the first commercially produced typewriter. Although as in many early typewriters, the page is not visible as it is being typed, as late as 1909 the writing ball was still being used in European business offices. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Juggling Life and NaNoWriMo

8
Nov

Housewife (Photo credit: garryknight)

Last night I made dinner for my family and it didn’t involve cereal. Oh believe me, it WILL involve cereal at least once during the month of November while I try to churn out enough words each day as a part of NaNoWriMo. But so far, everyone has been fed, dishes have been done, laundry has been folded (or at least it in the basket in order to be folded) and the pets/domestic animals have been fed and are still living. These are all good indicators I think, but check back with me at the end of the month and we’ll see how the animals (and the family) fared.

There is a strategy here. The way I figure it, if I keep them clothed and fed, they can’t begrudge me a little neglect in other areas, right? After all, as a stay at home mom, there is a base-line of familial duties that fall to me. I couldn’t, in good conscience, hear my husband come in the door after being at work all day, peer at him over the top of my computer and ask him to rustle up dinner for our family. I mean, I could. And my husband would probably be a good enough sport to do it. But making meals is one of my responsibilities.

There’s a funny thing about being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM). Until you’ve done it, you imagine that it must be so boring (like what do you DO all day??) or that you get to do whatever you want all day long. Neither of these are accurate. SAHMs are first and foremost Moms and that probably means there is a kid around. And when there are kids around time operates in a different way, more fluid or stretchable. Minutes can seem like they go on forever and other times you look at the clock and panic because how did it get to be that time? We’re going to be so late – hustle, kids, hustle!

If you are a person who manages a household, here are a couple things you probably do, but let’s let the others know about our little routines or the things we do to make life easier for ourselves, shall we? These things can keep your life in order while you complete that ground-breaking novel of yours.

Put the dirty dishes directly into the dishwasher, rather than leaving them in the sink.
Keep a few easy meals on hand (think soup, sandwich, salad, etc.). You’ll save money, time and stress.
Just break down and do a load of laundry every day. You’ll stay ahead of it, and you can keep the stink off your favorite writing pants with the elastic waistband.
Put your family to work. Even little kids can do small chores, and contributing to the family/responsibility is a great lesson.

I could do a lot more with #4 but even with a small amount, we’ve found that our kids respond well to having a manageable amount of “jobs” each day or week.

A few years ago I wasn’t actively doing any of these little routines and life felt a whole lot more hectic (true, my kids were a few years younger at the time as well, but I could have been helping myself more than I was). I owe a lot to FlyLady for bringing these routines to my attention and helping me take hold of my house. She’s kind of amazing. (http://www.flylady.net/)

If you chip away at the everyday things around you — you can apply that to making forward progress in your writing as well — , you will be able to work in a less chaotic environment. Notice I didn’t say UN-chaotic, but sometimes just lowering the level of mess or last-minute-ness can really make a difference. You’ll have more room for your gigantic writing ideas to walk around if they’re not tripping over piles of stuff.

Happy writing! Hope you have a miraculous breakthrough in your story today!

Jump Start Your NaNoWriMo

6
Nov

Vermont Valley [This may be Vermont but it looks just like Western Wisconsin!]

Vermont Valley (Photo credit: pchgorman)

Somehow I hit the jackpot this weekend. My dear friend, who is really as close to another sister as you can get, had me and four other women up to her family’s cabin in Western Wisconsin (a beautiful and under-appreciated part of the Northland) for the weekend. And just for the record, the stock photo to the right may be Vermont but it could have been taken in Western Wisconsin!

It was a highly caffeinated, chocolate-y event.

People worked on scrapbooks, knitting and other craft projects, and I typed. I will admit I was less social than I would be normally, since when I tried to work out in the communal area my friends were far too distracting with their witty banter and mind-bending political and theological analyses. I thought of using headphones to tune them out, but I didn’t want to be that person. Instead I took my computer and retreated within my retreat to a bedroom.

There was a writing desk, a window with a view of the lake, a red afghan and more pillows on one bed than my house has in all the rooms put together.

It was lovely.

For the next day and a half I wrote, listened to music, drank coffee and ingested the equivalent of two pounds of sugar. My friend claimed one night that she was pregnant with cheese. I laughed until I cried (it may have been the late hour but I still giggle when I think of her comment).

I made great progress over the weekend and tried to work ahead so that if I don’t make my budgeted number of words on a future day (Gasp! Fie fie! Get thee behind me!) I should still be on target for the 50,000 word goal.

The thing I’m trying to be mindful of is that if I’m in a good flow, I should type until my fingers can type no more. And if it isn’t flowing, I jump to a part that sparks my interest. Later, I return to the trouble spot. Who knows? Maybe I will need to tweak it to fit with something that comes later.

The other thing I like to do is leave myself a note or a memory jogger/prompt so I’ll know where I intended to take a scene. In addition, it often helps me to stop writing when I do have a clear idea of where I’m going (rather than giving up in the midst of a trouble spot), so that I am able to pick right up when I begin again the next time.

I really believe that if you try to do these things, you will have an easier time making it to your 50,000 word goal. Also, I think that if I ever do NanoWriMo again in the future (and this is a rookie speaking here, so take it with a grain of salt) a great way to jump start the endeavor is to spend a couple intense days to lay a solid foundation. Get away if you can, get a babysitter for a nice chunk of time, take a vacation day or anything that will allow you to get the thing going, I highly recommend it!

How do you work towards your writing goal? Do you do your best writing in the morning or evening? What rituals do you use to indicate to yourself that it is now time to write? I’d love to incorporate anything that works for you and utilize it in my own routine and approach, so don’t be bashful – let’s hear it!

Could You Define the Word? (a.k.a. Successful Writing)

1
Nov

Writing sometimes feels like torture, very much like Sisyphus and his boulder. Plus it is often a self-motivated activity. Even if you are in the business of writing, if you are self-employed you are the one who has to get out there and wrangle the next job. If you are writing a novel or book of any kind, there are many moments when you’ve got to ask the question, “Why am I doing this to myself?”

There are lots of valid answers to the question of “Why write?”

There are many definitions to the word “success” and what success looks like to one person is not the same for another.

Last year I interviewed (I use the term loosely) a friend for the novel I was working on. See? Even a phone call to an old friend can count as research for a novel — all business! When I told him I was trying to get my novel published, this wise friend asked a good question. He asked what success would look like to me. He said that if success was only defined as being published, would I feel I had failed if that didn’t happen?

It took me a minute to wrap my brain around the thought that someone wouldn’t immediately snatch up my fantastic story.

Once the thought landed and I considered it over the next months, I realized that just finishing the novel was a success in my life.

Taking up deliberate, consistent writing again after a looooong hiatus had been a success.

The discipline of engaging creative side of my brain felt like a success.

Had my sole motivation been a contract with a Big Six publisher, I would probably never achieve success, since the chances of that happening with my first novel were/are astronomically low. But when you redefine the term and what constitutes “success” then you’ve got yourself a ballgame.

Writing Tip #3: Success does not have to mean “getting published.” Define success for yourself.

What does successful writing look like to you? If you release yourself from the use of “I saw my book in a store” as the only measure, what other benchmarks constitute success for you?

success may just be telling someone that you’re actually working on a writing project, and inviting that person to know about something that may be intensely personal for you. It may be taking that risk and sending a query letter. Let your little light shine and don’t let frustration at being published (or not) foof it out. 🙂

Motivation for Writers

27
Oct

St. Augustine writing, revising, and re-writing: Sandro Botticelli’s St. Augustine in His Cell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What motivates a person to write? Is it the desire to be known? Is it a wish to educate or share information? Is it a creative impulse that must be heeded lest it lead to frustration in all its forms?Take this hypothetical situation: what if you were challenged to stop writing. What if you had to store all your ideas, reflections and feelings in your brain. What would have to happen externally to make you sneak off to a dark corner and scratch something onto a piece of bark? Would it be a great joy or deep sorrow? Would it be a new thought that had never previously entered your brain and you had to get it down? What would be the push to get you to pick up the pen (or keyboard)?

In the past, my motivator was strong emotion. It could be joy or happiness, or it could be hard disappointment or sadness. Either would do. Then I would find myself forced to write, almost as if I couldn’t NOT write.

There are times when something in your life elicits such a strong reaction in you that you are moved to action. For writers, I believe that action, even though it is solitary, is the formation of words on the page.

Ultimately then, our motivation doesn’t need to be some grand thing — in fact, I think it is better if it is deceptively small.

Tip #2: Make your motivation an appreciation of language and all it can do.

Why do we write? If we love language and the process of writing, then simply setting coherent words down one after the other is motive enough. Bending those words to our will is a strenuous activity! Other stuff is a sidedish that comes along later, but at its most elemental, there is a relationship with words for people who are prompted to write.

For more on other kinds of motivations, such as fame or success, keep yer ears on because I’ll be posting another Writing Tip very soon.