editing

Making Writing A Priority

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If you are someone who is lucky enough to call themselves a full-time writer, its very likely that you have already discovered that it’s not as glorious as it sounds. Is it awesome? Yes! But, every job comes with it downsides. Many people envision writers with amble amount of time on their hands, spending their days “writing” in cute coffee shops, connecting with nature on a picnic blanket in the park, or doing “research” on fun vacations or in fascinating museums. Many people assume that writers have a plethora of time available to them to do other things like errands, house cleaning, babysitting, or fun days/nights out with friends because your schedule is so flexible, right?

These writing fantasies couldn’t be further from the truth. When writing is your full-time job that’s exactly what it is- a full-time job. One of the biggest challenges of having such a free-form job is scheduling.  It’s very easy to let other things get in the way of your writing because we all have other commitments: children, spouses, hobbies, chores, errands, and friends. When you don’t punch the clock for a 9-5 job, it’s incredibly easy to keep pushing off the one thing you really should be doing because you have the whole day ahead of you and there’s always tomorrow. But, if you want to keep writing full-time you need to find a way to make writing your priority. It’s way easier said than done, I know that. But then again, there’s nothing glamorous about not getting your work done.

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A few days ago, on Huffington Post’s I NEED COFFEE blog they talked about three really helpful tips for scheduling your writing life:

  1. Find your scheduling method.

You need to find a way of scheduling that works for you. Do you want your schedule to be electronic so you can easily access it from whenever you are? If so, you need to think about what type of tools you want in your scheduling software. There are so many choices out there that if you don’t pick the right one for you, it isn’t going to help. Maybe you prefer to hand write your schedule? Then you need to get an agenda pad that’s easy to use and easy to carry around. You need to find a way to keep it neat and organized or else you will end up missing the very things you started that agenda pad for.

2. Schedule everything, but schedule small. 

If you are getting a scheduling software or agenda to just put down to “Write novel” in it, you are wasting your time. You need to go deeper than that. Maybe give yourself a particular word count to reach, a certain scene to write, or a chapter to complete. Maybe a character or a past event needs more developing, schedule that too. You need to think small when scheduling your day, week, or even month. Anything you do pertaining to your writing needs to be scheduled. It forces you to stay on track and focus on the task at hand. You can worry about everything else you need to do when it comes up on your schedule.

3. Learn to buffer. 

The problem with scheduling is that we can easily get carried away with it. We can become so obsessed with it that we find ourselves scheduling every minute of our lives. That’s why we need to buffer. Leave 15-30 minutes between tasks to breathe. Take a break, get some fresh air, check on your kids, do a few quick house chores, stretch- anything. Going from one task, to the other, to the other will make anyone crazy. You will be much more successful if you buffer your time and take those well deserved breaks.

Write on.

A Case of The ‘Friday Giggles’

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It’s Friday, the sun is shining, and it’s finally 70 degrees outside! Spring has officially arrived and did I mention, it’s FRIDAY?! Friday always calls for a little fun. We work hard all week and we deserve to let loose a little. Well, Bustle came to the rescue again and gave me just the right amount of silliness I was looking for. Today they talked about some strange habits from famous writers and although it’s mostly entertaining and perfect for my “let loose” Friday attitude, we might actually learn something from it as well.

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  1. Get your cardio on. Many famous authors (like J.A. Jacobs, Kurt Vonnegut, and Haruki Murakami) swear by their workout routine and I couldn’t agree more. I know that when I don’t get at least a little exercise in each day, I feel sluggish and tired. It even effects how I feel the next day, until I get around to working out again. Keeping some sort of physical activity built into your day will only help you to keep on top of that ‘to-do’ list.
  2. Keep busy. Franz Kafka swore by exhaustion. I do like my beauty sleep, but I can definitely see the benefit of keeping a busy and regimented schedule. If you give yourself too much freedom, you will become lazy. There will always be the, “I’ll do it later or tomorrow” excuse. Keep yourself busy with work, hobbies, friends/family so that when you do have time to finally sit down and write- you actually sit down to write.
  3.  Pick up a dictionary.  Anthony Burgess turned to the dictionary to help him write some of his scenes. All writers have at least that one scene that they are really dreading to write. Most of the time because they know it’s going to be a daunting task to get it right. Burgess suggests picking up a dictionary and using the words on a random page to write your scene. Not only is it a fun challenge, but you will end up with a unique scene that you never would have written otherwise.
  4. Stand. Thomas Wolfe, along with many other famous writers, liked to write standing up. Sitting down all day is detrimental to our health, so we should all be trying to stand a little bit more anyways. Plus, standing prevents us from getting too comfortable and forces us to focus on the task at hand.
  5. I’m just going to skip #5 and leave you to our own devices on this one. It’s certainly entertaining nonetheless.
  6.  Find your own space. Maya Angelou rented a hotel room in her hometown on a monthly basis and used it for writing. Sometimes we need to separate ourselves from everything else going on in our lives in order to be completely present and focused on our task at hand.
  7. Get off your feet. Authors such as Edith Wharton and Mark Twain preferred to write while lying down. I can’t think of a better excuse to curl in bed with your writing supplies in tow.
  8. Keep your own traditions. Capote held many superstitions when it came to writing and I don’t think he’s completely crazy for it. Sometimes doing something over and over again a particular way (for whatever the reason may be, or perhaps there’s no reason at all) brings comfort and consistency. If you feel good about your actions (or lack thereof) you will most likely feel more confident about the writing you just produced.
  9. Loose the layers. John Cheever and Victor Hugo did their writing in different stages of undress. Not sure if I would practice this method myself, but there surely is a freeing sensation  about being close to your natural state that could very well carry over into your writing as well.
  10. Travel more. Gertrude Stein and Joseph Heller did their best writing on the move. Seeing new places, people, and things will help ignite new inspiration.  I know that I could definitely do better writing on a beach in the Caribbean…

Write on.

How To Query

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One my favorite things about launching my own literary agency has been the flow of query letters I have received from authors. I love hearing from authors about their creative and bold stories (literature nerd, much?) and I love listening to people describe work that they are passionate about. Their energy is inspiring and their optimism contagious. Unfortunately, I haven’t had as much time as I would like in the past several months to tend to the rapidly growing submission pile in my office (insert immense apologies to those still waiting here). One of my main goals going into this spring/summer is to tackle that entire pile head on- let’s not hold our breath here but rather pray some mighty prayers to whatever higher power exists out there.

I started to dig through the pile again after a rather lengthy hiatus from it and it really hit me just how important a query letter is. This might come off as a stupid realization because well, duh query letters are super important. But, it’s not until you put yourself in the shoes of those people reading these letters that the importance really strikes you. Think about it for a second, you are faced with a pile of 100 book submissions- what’s going to make you stop and ask for more rather than tossing it directly into the ‘reject pile’? What sets one letter apart from another? What key information are you looking for?

See the dilemma of the query letter now? Yes, yes you do.

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Catching an agent’s or publisher’s eye can be at times pure luck. Maybe the agent/editor has a special affinity towards your genre or writing style. Maybe they had good luck with a similar book recently. Or maybe it just sounds so different enough that it’s worth a shot. Whatever the case may be, you are one step closer to getting published and you couldn’t be happier about the opportunity.

Unfortunately, we all can’t depend on luck. Authors and writers need to take their querying seriously if they want to have even the slightest chance of getting noticed. You might feel like you are spending the same amount of time drafting a one page letter as it took you to write your entire novel. It might not feel like it at the time, but that’s a good thing. If your query doesn’t catch, your novel or book isn’t going to either. This morning I came across some helpful tips on GalleyCat that all writers should keep in mind as they are drafting their next query letter:

  1. Nail the “hook.” What’s the main point of your story? What makes your story so interesting? What makes it so different from other novels already out there? Why should the reader care about what you have to say? What does every word you put down on paper lead up to? Once you figure that out, nail it home in the query letter. Agents and editors don’t have time to read every manuscript in full, so you need to tell us what makes your story so special so maybe, just maybe we will take the time to read it. Don’t try to hide things in an effort to build suspense.
  2. Offer comparative titles. Since the agent/editor has never read your book before and is just reading a short summary of it, it’s helpful to include some comparative titles in your letter that maybe that agent/editor has already read or has at least heard about. It gives us some sort of base line to compare to and conveys the overall feeling of your story perhaps better than you ever could in your own words. Pick the right titles that actually compare to your book- you aren’t tricking anyone if you just rattle off a few bestsellers.
  3. Share your own story. The biographical section of your query letter is just as important as the summary of your book. We want to get to know the person behind the writing because that’s what helps to sells a book as well. Make sure to highlight the most interesting facts about yourself and what makes you, well… you.
  4. Acknowledge what you are looking for. Let the agent/editor know what type of relationship you are looking for with them. Are you solely just looking for a channel in which your work will get noticed? Do you want to work with them in order to improve your writing? Are you an experienced writer or are you looking for someone who will really be able to explain every step of the process to you? Neither of these options are ‘bad,’ you just need to be upfront about what you are looking for so that we can better access if we will be able to fulfill your desires.
  5. Talk about future plans. If you have other projects in the works or have ideas for future projects, include that information as well. It’s helpful to know where you want to go as an author and if we can see ourselves taking that ride with you. It’s always refreshing to hear from a writer with a vision for themselves, so don’t be afraid to share.

Write (or query) on!

The Most Dangerous Writing App- literally.

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I am always looking for new writing exercises to pass onto you fabulous writers. Writing can become very tedious, which in turn can force us to become stagnant. How many times can we sit down at the same computer, at the same coffee shop, and work on the same few pages? It will make anyone go a little crazy and will eventually bring on a nasty case of writer’s block. To make sure we keep our creative juices flowing, we need to switch up our routine a bit every once in a while. Maybe we take up a bench in the park for a few hours instead of writing under the dim light of our favorite coffee spot. Or maybe we try writing at night, versus during the wee hours of the morning. Or just maybe, we take a break from our current project and focus on some freestyle writing- even if just for an hour.

This morning I came across a new (well, for me) writing app called ‘The Most Dangerous Writing App’– and it takes its name quite literally. To put it simply, you set the amount of time you want to write for and if you stop typing before time is up… everything gets deleted. It’s a web based app that you can use with any type of browser, making it very accessible from wherever you are.

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At first I was horrified. How about if you pen the start to the next Pulitzer Prize novel and then you stop for just a second to take a sip of coffee and it’s GONE?! After my initial freak out of far fetched dreams, I shifted back to reality. The purpose of this app isn’t to write an amazing piece of literature, it’s to exercise and train your writing brain. Many writers struggle with finding chunks of time in their day to sit down and write. This app trains you to sit down and follow through on your commitment. If you struggle to write for more than than a half hour, set the timer for 45 minutes. Write about absolutely anything. Your day, your weekend plans, or that crazy dream you had last night. Anything- just don’t stop. Soon enough, writing for a half hour will feel easy and you can slowly work your way up writing for hours without much thought to it.

Another great benefit of the app is that it doesn’t allow for perfectionism. You have absolutely no time to go back and read what you just wrote or fix your grammar errors. If you do… well, you know- your work will be deleted. It trains our brain to be alright with getting all our thoughts out on paper without thinking about how it’s  actually sounding or what golden writing rule we just broke. Writers need to get more comfortable with the idea of a crappy first draft because to be honest, most are. It’s really hard to fully edit or tweak unfinished work. You need to have the structure of your story, the bare details, and the arc of where you are hoping to take your book laid out before you can really get down to writing. That’s hard to do if you are continually obsessing over the same paragraph. Do yourself a favor and forget about it. Continue writing and come back to it after. You will have a much clearer idea of what your purpose is and making corrections won’t seem as daunting.

Trying out this app will definitely be scary the first couple times, but I truly think only good things will come from it. As long as you don’t use it to write that book or essay you are on a strict deadline for.

Write on.

Dr. Seuss Turns 112!

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It only seemed fitting on this day, Dr. Seuss’ birthday, to talk about writing a successful children’s book. After all, he was one of the greatest (or possibly THE greatest) children’s book authors of all time. His left an unforgettable mark on society that goes far beyond his writing talents. He is and always will remain a household name. Children (and adults too) still lose themselves in his books each night before bed, they still watch movie adaptions of his work each year, and they ride Dr. Seuss themed rides throughout entertainment parks across the country. Dr. Seuss continually makes the impossible possible, even long after he is no longer with us.

Today I found myself thinking about what makes Dr. Seuss’ work so great. Why are we so captivated by his stories? Why do children of all decades continue to relate to his work? What did he figure out about writing children’s books that many authors are still trying to understand? The truth is, we will never really know. What makes a genius, a genius usually dies with them. For us regular folks, we are left sitting here asking why.

I took what I know about writing children’s books and applied it to Dr. Seuss and his work. And guess what? Each and every one of his books consisted of each and every successful characteristic of children’s writing that I could think of. So, I guess that’s a pretty good place to start.

  1. Make your book timeless.

One of the main reasons Dr. Seuss was, and continues to be, so successful is that he found topics to write about that are completely timeless. Be nice to one another, believe in yourself, don’t be afraid to have a little fun, take chances, and honor each other’s differences are all things that children will always be able to relate to. His characters and illustrations are also timeless. They don’t scream a certain time period or ever look outdated. If one didn’t know any better, they could easily believe that The Cat In The Hat was written just last year.

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2. Your  book needs to be visually appealing. 

Half of the children indulging in these books, don’t know how to read yet. They are listening to their parents, grandparents, or siblings read these books to them. The catchy phrases provide a good source of entertainment, but in order to captivate there needs to be a visual element as well. Dr. Seuss’ pages are filled with all the colors of the rainbow and humorous illustrations. They are tastefully crazy and perfectly match the wild imagination of children everywhere.

3. Keep it simple and straight to the point. 

When children are bogged down with detail, they are likely to stop paying attention or just might simply walk away. Less is better when it comes to writing for children. Each page of Dr. Seuss is only filled with a couple sentences. The words are simple, short, and to the point. There are no unnecessary details and each word helps him to reach his end goal-to entertain and teach.

4. Teach a lesson.

When writing for children it’s important to have a purpose. Children’s brains are absorbent sponges and we should take every opportunity we have to teach them something new or reiterate something they should already know. It can be something simple, like to remember to brush your teeth. Or it can be more complex, like recognizing everyone is different. No matter what Dr. Seuss set out to write, he set out to teach. Each book taught a different lesson that every child could relate to.

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5. At the end of the book, your audience should feel good. 

It’s important that children walk away from books with a good feeling. If the book is too sad or scary, they aren’t going to want to pick up another book anytime soon. We want to encourage reading, not discourage it. This doesn’t mean you can’t deal with some heavy topics, you just need to find a way to make it ‘alright’ in the end. Dr. Seuss knew just how to do this. No matter what you are dealing with, you are guarantee to feel even just a tad bit better after reading one of his books. The rhymes, illustrations, and story lines encourage smiles to form on every reader’s face.

Do yourself a favor and pick up your Dr. Seuss favorite today and give it another read. You deserve to be a kid again every once in a while.

Write on.

Educational Waves in Writing

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Writing is one of the oldest forms of expression. It allows us to communicate with people who might be hundreds of miles away or even a complete stranger. But, over the past ten to fifteen years writing has dramatically evolved.  Simply put, the act of writing in everyday life has drastically increased. Before the explosion of Facebook, Twitter, and blogging the available writing venues were very limited. If you didn’t need to write for your job, you might write an opinion piece or letter to your local newspaper or a birthday card to a friend or loved one. You might even write in your own journal or diary, but that was likely only seen by your own eyes.

With the onset of social media, people started making daily posting about what they were feeling and thinking about at that moment, what they were doing that weekend, what vacation they were going on next, or how they felt about current events and local happenings. Twitter thrives off thousands of people writing thousands of words each day. The accessibility of blogging websites enables anyone to write about whatever they want whenever they want to. Social media gives us an instant audience that we never before had. At the end of day, if you are actively using any form of social media, a large portion of your  free time is taken up by writing. Whether you are writing heart felt realizations or complaining that your coffee is too cold, you are writing and communicating in a way that our ancestors never have.

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With the increase of the importance of writing in our daily lives, I have been interested in seeing how the education of writing will change. I recently came across an article in the Columbia Spectator about Barnard’s new first year writing program.  Changing a first year college course syllabi is a difficult thing to do because it has been so ingrained in the fabric of the school’s educational experience for years. You don’t want your students to miss out on essential lessons they will need to have a successful schooling experience, but each year the students are different, their experiences are different, and the world they are coming from is different than the last. As students adapt to the world in which they live, therefore our educational system must adapt as well. The course change made at Barnard is a big step, but a necessary one. Many people can’t go a few hours without at least writing a few sentences and Barnard is recognizing a need for a change in writing education in order to prepare their students for success out in the real world.

The first-year writing program will focus more on writing technique than the previous program. There will be fewer books and more of a focus on writing instruction. It always somewhat baffled me that in a first-year English course, there wasn’t much writing at all. You maybe had two to three essays throughout the semester with no real discussion revolving around the assignments. The professor would put a few marks on the paper and you would move on. Most of the time was spent reading and discussing what we had read. Why do we neglect such a large part of our everyday lives? Writing is hard to avoid, so why do we avoid it in the classroom? Is it our pure ignorance to the changing times or are we purposely trying to set our youth up to fail? A large part of an education is learning how to be a functioning part of society and having the appropriate skills to get us from one life stage to the next. Writing is one of those skill sets we all need to succeed in today’s world. If we aren’t learning how to write in the classroom, where do we turn to next? Kim Kardashian’s next tweet? I certainly hope not.

I am very happy to see advancement in the Academic world in response to what is happening in the real world.One cannot succeed without fully accepting the other. We can talk all day on this blog about how to write, when to write, and why we should write. But, if we aren’t practicing those skills in our day to day life then when we will ever truly succeed?

Write on.

Writing To Finish

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I’m not sure what the whether is like where you are today, but here it is dark and rainy. If I didn’t have anything I needed to do today, I would welcome the gloom with open arms. There’s no better excuse to snuggle in bed all day with a good book. But in reality, on most rainy days, we all have stuff we need to do. We all have jobs we need to attend and goals we need to meet. Bad weather is just another thing to add to the ‘excuse list.’

Writers… you know what I’m talking about.

Some days we look for everything and anything to avoid picking up the pencil or sitting down at the keyboard. The ‘scaries’ become ever more prominent the closer you get to finishing your current project, book, or novel. It’s like there is some extraterrestrial force pulling you away from the very one thing you should be doing or working on. Procrastination is one of the biggest obstacles for writers. Writing is a long process that takes a lot of stamina and determination. It’s very easy to get distracted or discouraged after months of writing, especially if you feel like you aren’t getting any closer to the end product. You aren’t alone in this feeling and it’s something that everyone of us struggles with at one point in our lives (or maybe a few points). The good news? It’s a fixable problem.

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The Huffington Post published an article this morning about some helpful ways to combat our unlucky procrastination. Of course, it’s easier said than done. Nothing worth having comes easy. That’s why it’s called an accomplishment. If we want to reach those accomplishments, we need to find ways to work through those hurdles. We need to find a reason to pick up that pencil on those rainy days. Here are some of the suggestions from The Huffington Post, maybe one will work for you:

  1. Plan a reward. 

Give yourself something to look forward to. You would think the gratification of writing an awesome novel would be enough, but in most cases it’s not. It’s not something tangible and it’s in our human nature to thrive on physical gratification. Plan a treat for yourself once your book is completely ready for publication- take a mini vacation, get that yummy dessert you have been eyeing for months at your favorite restaurant, or buy yourself a new outfit or pair of shoes. You deserve it.

2. Make a list of benefits. 

Take a break and make a list of all the benefits to finishing your book. You’ll get to finally publish it, which brings in book sales. You get to move on to your next big idea. You can focus on other leads for the project- such as a possible audiobook or movie deal. So many more doors open when you have a finished product. In fact, no doors are open until that finished project is in your hands.

3. Completion avoids failure.

Every new sentence puts you that much closer to actually finishing. It might sound like common sense, but think about it. Every day you don’t sit down to write another sentence, paragraph, or chapter increases your chances that you are never going to finish. And we don’t want that now, do we?

4. Ditch the perfectionism. 

Having polished work is important, but you don’t want to overthink it. Once it prevents you from progressing then it has become a problem. Editing, rewriting, and revisions are good but we need to do them tastefully. As soon as you find yourself questioning how other people are going to react to a certain sentence or the tiniest of details, you have gone too far. Write the story you want to write and people will either love it or hate it.

5. Imagine the worst. 

Imagine the worst thing happening to you upon completion of your book. Is it a bad review? No sales? Nasty comments? Whatever it is, picture yourself surviving it. Because guess what? You will. If that’s the thing that is holding you back from finishing, just know you will survive (and yes, the Destiny’s Child song is now permanently stuck in my head for the night).

6. Aim for your best effort. 

Rather than focusing on perfection, focus on creating the best version of your book that you can. Aim to make each book of yours better than the last. Focus on growing as an author, learning from your own mistakes and triumphs. Don’t strive for someone else’s perfection because you will never get there. Become the best writer you can be and then next time, become even better.

7. Please yourself.

Make sure that once you put that last word on the page, your story is exactly how you set out for it to be. Sometimes people’s opinions and criticisms along the way change the course of our writing. Most of the time we don’t even notice it, or we think it’s the best choice at the time. At the end of the day, you need to be happy with your finished product. There’s no guarantee it’s going to sell. The only guarantee you can have is that your proud of it. And plus, if you are writing something you want to write it’s much more likely you will finish it.

Write on.

The Magical 7

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A lot of the writing advice that I give on this blog can become monotonous at times. There’s only so many different ways I can tell you to edit your work, read more books, and just keep writing no matter what. I love when I come across different ways to present the same information to you. Because the truth of the matter is, this ‘stuff’ is really important. You can never be told enough times to edit your book one time or read one more book to understand your genre better. If something I told you didn’t stick the first time, maybe it will stick this time.

Business 2 Community published a creative article this morning about ‘7 Ways You Can Become A Better Writer.’ I really liked the way in which they choose to present the information. It’s fun, and let’s be honest, we can all use a little fun on this Friday- it’s been a long week.  🙂

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Take ONE course/class per year.

It’s true, writing is a personal journey. It allows for a lot of self-reflection that you can’t get anywhere else. But every once in a while, you need to work with other writers. Sharing your work in progress, reading it out loud, and receiving real life criticism (the good and the bad) is very important to your writing journey. You can learn a lot from a complete stranger. Many writing courses/classes can be expensive, but there are also plenty of free ones too- you just need to search them out.

Make TWO good beginnings.

The title of your book is one of the most important decisions you are going to make. It’s the first thing that readers see and most likely the reason they picked up your book in the first place. Make it count. If the title doesn’t feel right, then it’s probably not. The first few paragraphs and pages also need to make an impression. You want your reader to become immediately invested in your story. Give them a reason to stick around.

Read THREE books a month.

You barely have time to write, how are you going to find time to read three books? Trust me, it’s worth it. Just as you should always be writing, you should always be reading. I also really like what they suggest to read. Read one recently published book in your genre to keep up with the current trends. Read another book that has seen a lot of success and figure out why. The third book should be for pleasure- whatever interests you.

Do FOUR revisions.

Editing, editing, editing- it’s very important. As you write your first draft, you should keep an eye out for as many errors as possible. It will make your life easier in the long run. After you finish your first draft, do another edit. After the second edit, take a break and come back with fresh eyes for your third edit. For the fourth edit, ask a friend/editor/family member to read it through. I would highly recommend to do a couple more edits as well after this, you can never do enough.

Use all FIVE senses.

While writing, remember to use all five senses. You want your readers to feel what you are writing. You want your readers to be able to put themselves inside the pages of your book, right there with the characters. You want them to feel, hear, see, smell, and taste everything that the characters are.

Focus on SIX weaknesses.

When you go back and analyze previous works of yours, you should be able to pick out at least six areas that you struggle with or could use improvement on. Do some research and find some ways that you can improvement upon your weaknesses. Use what you learn in your next piece and focus on turning those weaknesses into some of your best qualities.

Learn SEVEN new words.

Make a point to learn one new word each day of the week. Chances are you are never going to use or say that word again, but you never know. One of those words might just naturally find it’s way into one of your books one day.

Write on.