NaNoWriMo: Don't Stop!

If any of you are doing NaNoWriMo, you might be able to relate a certain struggle of mine. I'm not as far along as I'd like to be. I know, I know, I'm probably the ONLY writer on the planet who has EVER gotten behind on her word count.

The thing is, this beast called NaNoWriMo? This monster of a project?

IT'S REALLY HARD.

Surprise, surprise.

If you're one of those types who's all, "yeah-I'm-already-at-60k," I'm going to make a positive life choice and say GOOD JOB. You rock.  Now go away. (Kidding...)

For those of us who aren't quite at that level of word-production, it can get rather...discouraging.

NaNoWriMo Inspiration!

NaNoWriMo is upon us! Confession: this is my first time. Every year it has come and gone while I was distracted by other projects. But not anymore! I'm making it happen! And so, in lieu of a wordy blog post, I offer up a collection of inspirational 'get started' snippets that will hopefully help fuel all my other Wrimos out in the trenches with me. Click each photo for the original link. If you really want to, you can feel free to check out my writing Pinterest board for more. Now get writing!

Stay Calm and Stop Comparing

If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’re either related to me (hi, mom!) or you’re a writer. Or maybe you just really want to be a writer. If you’re the latter, first read this. Now, if that sounds good, I’ve got a warning for you: Writing can be stressful. So can ANY creative career, or even hobby. Us weirdo artistic types (aka “all humans”) have a tendency to form some toxic habits when we’re growing in our art. Habits that will only bring us down in the long run, my friend. I’m here today to rant--er, talk with you about one particularly cantankerous habit: The Comparison.

Let me open with a simple suggestion: 

The Dreaded Opening Scene: How to Make it Awesome In One Simple Step

We’ve all done it. You know you have. Trying to figure out if you’ll buy a book, you open it and glance at the opening paragraph. For me, I try and give it at least a page. Some people only give it a sentence.

And then you decide:

Yes, I love it, I’m gonna read (re: buy) this.

Nah, lame, moving on.

Writers are readers, too, so we’re hyper-aware of this when we’re writing the opening scenes of our stories. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a book, a film, a play, or a blog post, the same laws apply, and the same desperation can sneak through. We need an opening that will entice a reader to continue, after all, and that decision is often flippant, emotional, ephemeral, and impossible to perfectly predict. We therefore end up all the more eager--grab that reader by the earlobes and don’t you dare let go! Otherwise you’ll fail! And all your work will be for nothing! And they’ll take away your writer’s club card!

Well, no, definitely not that last part. And not really the other parts either. But opening scenes are, unfortunately, often paramount to the success of your story. 

12 Emotional Struggles Only Writers Will Understand (And One Epic Win)

It's a cold, cold world out there, full of grammar corrections and rejection letters. We writers have to deal with a lot more than just actually writing, after all. We have to deal with all these emotions! Everywhere! Getting all over everything!

Emotions are hard, man. Like, for instance...

Three Essential Questions to Ask Your Supporting Characters

                      

My drama teacher used to say, “There are no small parts. Only small actors.” While this might have been used at the time to assuage the ego of a rather precocious eight-grader, the truth of it nonetheless rings true. The supporting characters of any play, film, or novel are arguably one of the best ways to make your story well-rounded, timeless, and engaging. 

Imagine Harry Potter without Neville or Luna. Imagine Pride and Prejudice without Lydia. Imagine Romeo and Juliet without Mercutio. Imagine Step Up II without Moose.

Across genre, style, and century, supporting characters are the legs that hold the story-table up. But character development of any kind is tough, and the smaller roles are usually the first to be neglected.

Don’t fall into that trap.

How To Handle Criticism (As A Writer)

Dealing with criticism can be a seriously tricky business as a writer. After all, the words we put on paper are us. They're our thoughts, our hearts, our words, our souls. Criticism of your words can feel like criticism of your very person.

This, in fact, is one of the reasons many writers get stuck. We don’t want to take risks, or--if we do--we don’t want to show anyone those risks. When we do share our work, if it’s not met with unabashed aplomb, we often react with either severe pain (retreating and licking our wounds, kicking ourselves and vowing never to write again) or anger (a harrumph and a growl, a vow that your reader is uncultured swine and just doesn’t understand your genius).

Both reactions, it might be noted, are rooted in fear. Fear that we’re not good enough. Fear that we don’t measure up.

The 'Show, Don't Tell' Monster

You’ve heard it before, a thousand times, from the instant you decided to write. Haven’t you? Show, don’t tell! The snarky little catchphrase that seems to haunt your every edit. You could have sworn you were showing in that last draft, but upon rereading...nope, you were telling. And telling. And telling. And now you feel like you’re the worst writer in the world and so why should you even bother??!

Anyone else kind of want to pull their hair out when things get like this?

I know I do. Which, I realize, does not make me the most expert of writers to preach upon such a subject. But I’ve had this three-word stalker crouching behind me for a significant chunk of years now, so I've collected a few thoughts about it. Some ways to avoid it’s breathy snarl. Because, honestly, when I first started hearing it, I had no flipping clue what these people were talking about.

Here’s some ideas on how to figure out what people mean when they throw this at you like a pitchfork in the middle of your writing group.

Are You Fed Up Yet?

Reading Poetry
by Thomas John Walters

I am fed up,

meat on bones,

sucked down,

devoured.

My sails fill up,

winds of dawning lights rustle through pages,

through windows to YES worlds,

rustle hope, rustle yes, rustle the poetic life in me; 

and every greatness is in reach of my heart. 

This poem is for you, writers. That opening line especially.

What feeds you? 

Besides food, I mean. What feeds your soul? What enriches your sense of self? What stimulates your creativity? 

There is something out there that will slice open your sense of wonder like a can-opener slices open those delicious cans of syrupy pineapples.

Mmmmm. Pineapples.

We writers like to be serious. We like to be aloof and wise and research-ey and tough. We like to sit in our stuffy studies with our whiskey, hem and haw about politics, and pretend we know waaaaay more than we do. We like to get fed up in the negative sense. We're fed up with society! With the government! With mainstream entertainment! And most of all we're fed up with those people! You know the ones.

But where's the wonder in that? Where's the joy? Where's the syrupy pineapple goodness?

Get yourself fed up in the wonderful sense. Let's call it the pineapple sense. That should keep you from getting too serious. 

Find out what feeds your soul and DO NOT mock yourself for loving it! Not allowed. 

Play. Go to the beach. Stare at the sea. Climb a tree. Read poetry. Look at art. Make macaroni and inwardly comment how smooth and delicious you find the cheese. Go to your local sock store. Sock art can be way inspiring.

This doesn't have to be refined, people. It only has to awaken that childlike piece of you that enjoys doing handstands and popping bubbles and eating pineapples (see what I did there?). This piece of you has odd questions, strange ideas, and has not yet learned to be self-conscious. It creates constantly, innately, delightedly. Doesn't that sound nice?

Keep with your hard-working writerly self, of course, but get that wonder back. Your writing will be best if you combine the two. 

Find your can opener. Get fed up. Get writing. 

Thanks to Thomas John Walters for writing/sharing the gem of a poem up top!  

10 Ways to Keep Your Focus While You Edit

Editing is one of those things that will either feel like swimming with dolphins through a rainbow sea or trudging with Artax through the Swamp of Sadness. It can be horribly demoralizing watching your baby sink to the depths of what looks like depravity. You're editing and suddenly you think, "This is awful. Why am I bothering?" or "What was I thinking?" or "This is driving me crazy, and I wrote it! What will a reader think?"

With every negative thought, your project looks like it's sinking deeper and deeper into that pile of mud. But you've got to remember (spoiler alert): At the end of the movie, Atreyu is riding happily across a meadow on the back of his beloved Artax. You know why? Because he didn't give up. To that end, I've compiled a happy little list of ways to keep you from giving up when it feels like you just can't go any further with this $%*#@ editing process.

The Beauty of the Bullet Point

Jane Yolen rocks. 

You are a writer. You have goals. For instance, you have committed to writing a:

• Blog post
• Short Story
• Long Story
• Magazine Article
• Pretty much anything with a deadline (either real or imagined)

You are aware, above all, that writers write, so you know you need to get started. But there's all kinds of things preventing you from doing so.

Editing The Bob Ross Way

Happy Trees. 

When you imagine a painter at work, does he start at one corner of the canvas and do every single detail for every single square inch, moving across the field in this manner as though putting together a puzzle? No? Then why do so many writers approach editing this way? 

Painting happens in layers. A painter will lay the bare bones of an image first--maybe some base lines with only a few colors. Then she'll add another layer that includes depth and a few more images. Then another layer for texture and even more images. You get the idea. If not, go watch this time-lapse Bob Ross video. Bob Ross is the bomb. 

Jesus Told Stories

Easter weekend got me reflecting about a few things, not the least of which are stories. Stories make a difference in our lives. If you ever need to be reminded of that, think of Jesus. Seriously. No matter what you think about the guy, whether you like him or not, you've heard of him, right? Right. He's kind of well known. In his own lifetime, crowds of thousands followed him around--literally hounded him into the wilderness--to get a chance to hear him speak.

And when he spoke, he generally just told stories. 

Rejection Happens. Keep Writing.

Writers face rejection. All the time. Multiple times. Often this rejection comes with harsh criticism, snarky comments, or worse, no explanation at all—just a silent lack of response. As a writer you must know, above all else, that whatever you’re working on will certainly be rejected by many agents and publishers alike. If it ever is published, there will probably be a whole pile of people who take significant time out of their day to announce why they think your work is a pile of poop. It's the internet. Potty humor happens.

Don’t believe me? A bestselling author, Jerzy Kosinski, decided to test this theory and show everyone exactly how difficult it is for new writers to get started. He submitted his book Steps, which was already a commercial success, under a pen name to 13 literary agents and 14 publishers. All of them rejected it, even Random House--who had already published it!

Blogging For Business: Five Writing Prompts To Get Started

You business bloggers are one of the most hard-working types of writers I know, but you rarely get that credit. You're choosing to write even when writing doesn't necessarily come naturally to you, and that takes discipline. Interested in getting started?

Content marketing is, in my humble opinion, the very best kind of marketing, because you're sharing something real. It's not a flier on your car or doorknob begging potential customers to buy something. That doesn't work anymore. Today's audiences can smell a sales pitch a mile away, and we avoid them like the plague.

Three Ways To Defeat Your First Draft.

Whether you’re a seasoned novelist or writing the first blog post for your business, you’ve probably had to face this at one time or another. I know I have. It’s a nasty habit, a grumpy cousin of writer’s block, a vampire that sucks the blood out of your writing.

The First Draft Hang-Up.

You know what I’m talking about. “I’ve got a great idea for this story/article/poem/blog! It’s gonna be awesome! Here I go!” Then you stare at a blank computer screen, or notepad, or chalk board, for waaaaay too long. You might fidget a bit. Then you stare some more. If you’re really determined you fidget even more and spin around a few times on your twirly chair. Eventually you'll find some excuse about needing to clean the bathroom sink, and that's when you close up shop. Your project is nixed before it even begins! The worst part, of course, is you’re the one that nixes it. You don’t even give the poor thing a fighting chance. The First Draft Hang Up wants to destroy your beautiful baby of an idea. Sure, it’s just a baby—maybe it can’t walk or eat or clean up after its own poop yet. But that’s why it’s up to you to fight back. How, you say? Start with this. Here's three ways to arm yourself.

10 Awesome Contests for the Television Writer

There's a lot going on in television right now. In fact, according to CBS, we're currently enjoying the second golden age of the medium, and I have to agree. Movie stars are flocking to a genre that used to be looked down upon (Zooey Deschanel in New Girl, Matthew McConaughey in True Detective, Kevin Spacey in House of Cards), and so are viewers. And you know why? There's incredible content on television right now (like those three amazing shows I just listed...). The ante has been seriously upped. It's a great place for great writers, but how do you break in?

Let's say you've got a spec* script for your favorite sitcom, or maybe you've written a pilot** for a new sci-fi drama. What's the next step? Well, there's a lot of equally difficult routes to get your script*** in front of the people who can make it a real, live show, and writing contests are one fun option. They certainly come with a lot of competition, but the potential prizes and exposure are super exciting! Recently, a fellow writer asked the twitterverse if anyone knew of the best TV-writing contests out there, and as a resident of Tinseltown myself I couldn't help but respond. Here are my 10 favorite writing contests for television****, organized by their impending deadline. 

Writers Write.

The definition of a writer is someone who writes. Period. There are no other requirements. There are no other add-ons which will somehow make you a "real" writer. A writer is not defined by whether he is paid for his writing or not. Neither is a writer based on whether she's received accolades or awards. A writer does not need a nod, smile, or any form of acknowledgement, from anyone, in order to be defined as a writer. A writer isn't even dependent on having readers, as nice as that can be.

A writer is not one who attends events to speak about writing. A writer is not someone who talks about his great idea for a novel that he'll never start. A writer is not someone who has studied the technical craft and history of writing. A writer is not one who reads (or even adores) stories.

Of course, all of these things can help a writer. It's certainly nice to be acknowledged, and it's incredibly rewarding to get a paycheck through your pen. Awards are wonderful, and excellent writers may often be asked to speak at various events about their work. But none of this makes a writer.