I love history. I love all the unexpected bits of information. I love discovering the patterns of centuries—how end of and beginning of centuries brings lots of new ideas and change. How the middle of a century people seem more likely to resist change. How even clothing silhouettes (Western world anyway) have a pattern—one based on century cycles (usually narrower around the turn of the century, wider near the middle).
I love coming across tidbits of information. Discovering that Cincinnati in the early 19th century had a law that one had to throw garbage in the middle of the street (not to the sides) so the pigs could come and carry it off—otherwise one could be fined. Or that tea on a riverboat might include hung beef chipped up raw. I love reading about historical figures who defied the conventions of their day and I love reading about those who found a place within those conventions.
I love discovering that ideas we think are new were often written and spoken about centuries ago.
As someone who heard people say, far too often, when I was growing up that women couldn’t do math (I didn’t listen of course!), I love discovering that a woman’s magazine in England in the early 19th century contained math puzzles.
Whenever I read about the past, I can’t help spinning in my mind stories of what it must have been like to live in that time period. Which is, of course, one reason why I’m a writer.
Anyone care to share some of their favorite historical tidbits?
April
Monday, April 16, 2007
Monday, April 09, 2007
Strange Weather and Perspective
It was a strange weekend almost everywhere in the US in terms of weather. There was sleet and even snow in places that normally are in the 70s and 80s at this time of year. The weather wiped out lots of outdoor activities and required adjustments in others.
It would be easy to see only the drawbacks of this weather here on Easter Sunday. Instead, I found myself thinking what a difference perspective makes. Had I still been living in New Jersey, I would have been moaning over the gray skies and rain and sleet and wondering if spring would ever come. Because I was here instead, where we’ve had a drought the past couple of years and because I remember so vividly last August when it was over 100 every day except the two when the high only hit 99, I found myself grateful for the rain, knowing how much it is needed. I found myself trusting that the sun would soon be back out and the warmth back in the air.
I mention all of this because writing is a crazy business and it’s easy to focus on all the things could or are going wrong. What if we, as writers, instead focused on what was right about being writers? What if we focused on the joy of creating our stories, the opportunity to reach hearts and minds, the chance to try new things when one line closes—the one that perhaps we had pinned our hopes upon?
What if we extended that to our every day lives? What if each day we looked for what was good and could make us smile and feel grateful? What if we allowed ourselves to find moments of joy even on days that seem bleak? What if we looked for the possibilities in each new challenge?
Spring is a time of rebirth. For ourselves, what if each spring we looked at this as a time to recreate our lives anew? What if we looked at it as a time to let go of old assumptions—about ourselves, the world, what is and isn’t possible, and the stories we can tell and how we can tell them?
It is useful, I believe, for each of us to have a list of our strengths and a list of all the past successes in our lives. These lists are reminders of the tools we have to draw upon to make changes, to reach for our goals, and reasons to believe we can succeed. And study after study proves that our expectations have the power to determine our future.
The rain and sleet and cold here this past weekend were a reminder to me that even when the weather seems fine, there can suddenly be a burst of uncomfortable days—but even that discomfort may serve a useful purpose. It also reminded me that when the weather is horrible it is an opportunity to creatively find new ways to do what I want to do or to find something else to do that I might enjoy just as much.
Writing and life—as Barbara Samuels said in a speech a few years ago—these are inextricably entwined for those of us who are writers. Wishing all of you faith in yourselves and moments of joy every day—both in life and (if you are writers) in your writing.
April
It would be easy to see only the drawbacks of this weather here on Easter Sunday. Instead, I found myself thinking what a difference perspective makes. Had I still been living in New Jersey, I would have been moaning over the gray skies and rain and sleet and wondering if spring would ever come. Because I was here instead, where we’ve had a drought the past couple of years and because I remember so vividly last August when it was over 100 every day except the two when the high only hit 99, I found myself grateful for the rain, knowing how much it is needed. I found myself trusting that the sun would soon be back out and the warmth back in the air.
I mention all of this because writing is a crazy business and it’s easy to focus on all the things could or are going wrong. What if we, as writers, instead focused on what was right about being writers? What if we focused on the joy of creating our stories, the opportunity to reach hearts and minds, the chance to try new things when one line closes—the one that perhaps we had pinned our hopes upon?
What if we extended that to our every day lives? What if each day we looked for what was good and could make us smile and feel grateful? What if we allowed ourselves to find moments of joy even on days that seem bleak? What if we looked for the possibilities in each new challenge?
Spring is a time of rebirth. For ourselves, what if each spring we looked at this as a time to recreate our lives anew? What if we looked at it as a time to let go of old assumptions—about ourselves, the world, what is and isn’t possible, and the stories we can tell and how we can tell them?
It is useful, I believe, for each of us to have a list of our strengths and a list of all the past successes in our lives. These lists are reminders of the tools we have to draw upon to make changes, to reach for our goals, and reasons to believe we can succeed. And study after study proves that our expectations have the power to determine our future.
The rain and sleet and cold here this past weekend were a reminder to me that even when the weather seems fine, there can suddenly be a burst of uncomfortable days—but even that discomfort may serve a useful purpose. It also reminded me that when the weather is horrible it is an opportunity to creatively find new ways to do what I want to do or to find something else to do that I might enjoy just as much.
Writing and life—as Barbara Samuels said in a speech a few years ago—these are inextricably entwined for those of us who are writers. Wishing all of you faith in yourselves and moments of joy every day—both in life and (if you are writers) in your writing.
April
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Writing/Not Writing Every Day
I’ve heard the saying: You’re not a real writer unless you write every day.
I laugh whenever I hear it. I’m not sure there has ever been a time in my life when I could count on writing every week much less every day. The thing is, I always met my deadlines. I always got the writing done on time—just not by writing every day.
I mention this because as you’ll notice there’s been a gap between my last post and this one. Life happened. A family crisis came up and that took precedence over posting here.
So what can we do when life happens? For me, a key is always to have a notebook handy. Even when I can’t get to the computer to write, I can brainstorm ideas, flesh out characters or plot, make notes about a project. Sometimes I can write bits and pieces in longhand. If I can’t concentrate to write, I may be able to read—and analyze what I’m reading for what works and what doesn’t.
I don’t stop being a writer when I can’t write—the process just changes for a bit. Often when I go back to the actual writing the time away means that I sit down and write with renewed energy and ideas. Key to the success of this is that I’ve learned to make notes for myself each day that I do write as to what I need to write next. That means that if a crisis of any kind arises unexpectedly, when I do get the chance to sit down and write, I can look at my notes and dive in—rather than needing to reread everything to figure out what comes next.
So...the ideal if one is a writer is to write every day. The reality is that we find ways to write if it matters to us but not necessarily every day and the process will be different for each of us. The key is to know what works for YOU.
April
PS I wanted to thank Gaelen Foley for mentioning me in the dedication to her latest book HER ONLY DESIRE. It's a fabulous book, of course, and she's a real sweetheart.
I laugh whenever I hear it. I’m not sure there has ever been a time in my life when I could count on writing every week much less every day. The thing is, I always met my deadlines. I always got the writing done on time—just not by writing every day.
I mention this because as you’ll notice there’s been a gap between my last post and this one. Life happened. A family crisis came up and that took precedence over posting here.
So what can we do when life happens? For me, a key is always to have a notebook handy. Even when I can’t get to the computer to write, I can brainstorm ideas, flesh out characters or plot, make notes about a project. Sometimes I can write bits and pieces in longhand. If I can’t concentrate to write, I may be able to read—and analyze what I’m reading for what works and what doesn’t.
I don’t stop being a writer when I can’t write—the process just changes for a bit. Often when I go back to the actual writing the time away means that I sit down and write with renewed energy and ideas. Key to the success of this is that I’ve learned to make notes for myself each day that I do write as to what I need to write next. That means that if a crisis of any kind arises unexpectedly, when I do get the chance to sit down and write, I can look at my notes and dive in—rather than needing to reread everything to figure out what comes next.
So...the ideal if one is a writer is to write every day. The reality is that we find ways to write if it matters to us but not necessarily every day and the process will be different for each of us. The key is to know what works for YOU.
April
PS I wanted to thank Gaelen Foley for mentioning me in the dedication to her latest book HER ONLY DESIRE. It's a fabulous book, of course, and she's a real sweetheart.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Dental Work ::SHUDDER::
I hate dental work. Well, who doesn’t? Can’t avoid it though. If you need a filling you need a filling. And I did. Was told I did a month ago--and that it would cost $258! Talk about adding insult to injury.
At the time, I blanched and then arranged an appointment for yesterday. That would give me time, I said, to check out dental discount cards. I knew, you see, that dental insurance wouldn’t work. The best rate I could get, even as a member of a writers group was around $80 a month, it would pay only half “accepted rates” and there was a waiting period for any major work.
I’d looked into dental discount cards before but wondered if they could really be worth it. My dentist’s office mentioned Ameriplan. I looked into it and it didn’t look bad at $12 or $13 a month but I looked a little more and settled on Aetna’s dental discount card at $6 a month plus a $15 sign up fee.
What did it save me? Well, the charge yesterday was $120 so I save $138 and there was no waiting period to use it! I’m thrilled—especially since it will also save me money when I get my teeth cleaned in six months.
As for the dental work itself, I was really nervous. I have sensitive teeth. I can’t tell you the number of times dentists couldn’t get a tooth numb no matter how many shots of Novocain they gave me! And since I hadn’t had work done by this dentist before I didn’t know what to expect. I have to say I was thrilled with Dr. Pham at Castle Dental. He was quick, he was nice, and I had very little discomfort.
All in all, it could have been sooooo much worse!
Anyway, if you don’t have dental insurance and want something that helps, you might want to look into dental discount cards. I like the Aetna card and I was lucky that my dentist participates. That's one thing to watch out for--make sure your dentist takes whichever card you want to get. There is a website, dentalplans.com that offers lots of different cards. There the Aetna card would have been $100 for 15 months. Also be aware that it can take a week to two weeks to actually get the cards once you sign up online though dentalplans.com seems to say you can use them sooner. (I signed up at Aetna's own site and it took about a week to get the card.)
April
At the time, I blanched and then arranged an appointment for yesterday. That would give me time, I said, to check out dental discount cards. I knew, you see, that dental insurance wouldn’t work. The best rate I could get, even as a member of a writers group was around $80 a month, it would pay only half “accepted rates” and there was a waiting period for any major work.
I’d looked into dental discount cards before but wondered if they could really be worth it. My dentist’s office mentioned Ameriplan. I looked into it and it didn’t look bad at $12 or $13 a month but I looked a little more and settled on Aetna’s dental discount card at $6 a month plus a $15 sign up fee.
What did it save me? Well, the charge yesterday was $120 so I save $138 and there was no waiting period to use it! I’m thrilled—especially since it will also save me money when I get my teeth cleaned in six months.
As for the dental work itself, I was really nervous. I have sensitive teeth. I can’t tell you the number of times dentists couldn’t get a tooth numb no matter how many shots of Novocain they gave me! And since I hadn’t had work done by this dentist before I didn’t know what to expect. I have to say I was thrilled with Dr. Pham at Castle Dental. He was quick, he was nice, and I had very little discomfort.
All in all, it could have been sooooo much worse!
Anyway, if you don’t have dental insurance and want something that helps, you might want to look into dental discount cards. I like the Aetna card and I was lucky that my dentist participates. That's one thing to watch out for--make sure your dentist takes whichever card you want to get. There is a website, dentalplans.com that offers lots of different cards. There the Aetna card would have been $100 for 15 months. Also be aware that it can take a week to two weeks to actually get the cards once you sign up online though dentalplans.com seems to say you can use them sooner. (I signed up at Aetna's own site and it took about a week to get the card.)
April
Monday, March 12, 2007
Florida
What a great group at the Florida First Coast Writers are! I had a wonderful time presenting my Book in a Week all day workshop there on Saturday. Met wonderful women and felt as if I’d made wonderful new friends. I love giving workshops!
Mind you, the time change on Sunday did make traveling back to Texas....interesting. People who had missed earlier flights had to be rebooked onto flights later in the day so flights were pretty full. I did meet interesting people and had some lovely conversations, especially with a woman named Fran from Florida who was heading to Dallas and then Lake Tahoe.
The more I travel, the more I realize how we are all part of one human family. We all have hopes and dreams, we all have that which scares us. Details may differ, but we are all more alike than we are different and everywhere we go we will find potential friends.
April
Mind you, the time change on Sunday did make traveling back to Texas....interesting. People who had missed earlier flights had to be rebooked onto flights later in the day so flights were pretty full. I did meet interesting people and had some lovely conversations, especially with a woman named Fran from Florida who was heading to Dallas and then Lake Tahoe.
The more I travel, the more I realize how we are all part of one human family. We all have hopes and dreams, we all have that which scares us. Details may differ, but we are all more alike than we are different and everywhere we go we will find potential friends.
April
Thursday, March 08, 2007
The Most Important Part of Writing
When I give workshops, I’m sometimes asked: What matters most in writing? What will help a writer sell?
It’s the emotional and/or intellectual pay-off that we offer writers. By that, I mean do we give readers a reason to care? Will they laugh or cry and feel a strong connection to the story? Do we give our readers something to think about? Do we offer some new idea or insight or way to approach a situation or challenge?
If we do none of these things, then it doesn’t matter how technically perfect our writing may be, the odds are we won’t sell or if we do that readers won’t keep looking for our books.
Think about the last book you read that you love. What is it you remember? What makes you want to read it all over again? Do you see what I mean about emotional and/or intellectual pay-off?
Don’t get me wrong. I love research. I love coming up with interesting plots. It’s how we put it all together that matters. And making our characters so real that readers feel an emotional resonance with them. Or maybe our book will focus on an idea so fascinating that it’s the star rather than the characters. We hit the jackpot if both are true.
If you have a manuscript and it's not selling, maybe ask yourself what the emotional and/or intellectual pay-off is for the reader. If there isn't one, that may be your problem. If there is a solid pay-off, then odds are you're targeting the wrong market or you may need to wait a bit for the market to want what you've written.
Isn’t writing a great career?
Until next time,
April
It’s the emotional and/or intellectual pay-off that we offer writers. By that, I mean do we give readers a reason to care? Will they laugh or cry and feel a strong connection to the story? Do we give our readers something to think about? Do we offer some new idea or insight or way to approach a situation or challenge?
If we do none of these things, then it doesn’t matter how technically perfect our writing may be, the odds are we won’t sell or if we do that readers won’t keep looking for our books.
Think about the last book you read that you love. What is it you remember? What makes you want to read it all over again? Do you see what I mean about emotional and/or intellectual pay-off?
Don’t get me wrong. I love research. I love coming up with interesting plots. It’s how we put it all together that matters. And making our characters so real that readers feel an emotional resonance with them. Or maybe our book will focus on an idea so fascinating that it’s the star rather than the characters. We hit the jackpot if both are true.
If you have a manuscript and it's not selling, maybe ask yourself what the emotional and/or intellectual pay-off is for the reader. If there isn't one, that may be your problem. If there is a solid pay-off, then odds are you're targeting the wrong market or you may need to wait a bit for the market to want what you've written.
Isn’t writing a great career?
Until next time,
April
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Joe Vitale and the Secret
So there I was at a presentation being given by Joe Vitale on the missing part of the Secret. Now, most of the people there knew him because of his connection with the Secret. After all, this was a World Wellness event. But I had heard of him long before that in connection with marketing. I found myself trying to reconcile the two images—altruistic believer in infinite possibilities and wanting to help others manifest abundance in their own lives versus ultimate marketer.
The thing is maybe there isn’t a contradiction. The basis of his marketing advice, after all, is to offer a product people WANT. And then he talks about ways to get the message out that you have it. With the Secret, he talks about what we focus on coming into our lives. So...if all we care about is being greedy for money, we’ll bring selfish, greedy people into our lives who want to take from us. But if we focus on how we can provide something that will make others happier or wealthier or in some other way offer a true benefit, then we will draw into our lives wealth, happiness, etc.
How does this apply to us as writers? Well, if when we write we don’t think about what readers want from our books, we aren’t likely to be able to sell our manuscripts. If we only think about how we can make money from our writing, that’s likely to backfire, too. On the other hand, if we think about what would bring real pleasure, real value to our readers, then it’s a win/win situation.
Here's another point. If we focus on what we don’t like about the publishing world, well, that’s what we’ll see. If we focus instead on how we can bring value to the process and how we can use it to bring value to readers, well, again, it’s far more likely to bring us success. Where do we want to put our energy? On railing against what we don’t like or in getting to where we want to be?
The other thing about Joe Vitale’s talk is that he spoke about how our unconscious assumptions can get in the way of having what we want. What comes to mind when you think of great writers? Are there parts of that image that you don't like? Change/rewrite it! (Julia Cameron did a great workshop on this at RWA national one year.) If we clean out the crap we can get out of our own way and be far more likely to succeed.
It was a thought provoking talk. What if we do have the power to achieve the success we want and it’s in our hands? What if we can best achieve that success by focusing on bring value to our readers and letting go of expectations and assumptions that don’t serve us very well?
It wouldn’t hurt, either, I think to adopt one of the keys to Joe Vitale’s marketing strategies—working with others to achieve mutual success rather than seeing everyone as a competitor or an obstacle. What if instead of complaining when someone doesn’t do what we want, we were to ask ourselves what we could do that would make helping us something the other person WANTS to do? Brow beating people never works and neither does lecturing them. So...can we alter our attitude or our product or offer something the other person would genuinely value?
In other words, it always comes back to us—whether with the Law of Attraction in the Secret or in marketing. How can we change rather than (pointlessly!) trying to change other people?
April
The thing is maybe there isn’t a contradiction. The basis of his marketing advice, after all, is to offer a product people WANT. And then he talks about ways to get the message out that you have it. With the Secret, he talks about what we focus on coming into our lives. So...if all we care about is being greedy for money, we’ll bring selfish, greedy people into our lives who want to take from us. But if we focus on how we can provide something that will make others happier or wealthier or in some other way offer a true benefit, then we will draw into our lives wealth, happiness, etc.
How does this apply to us as writers? Well, if when we write we don’t think about what readers want from our books, we aren’t likely to be able to sell our manuscripts. If we only think about how we can make money from our writing, that’s likely to backfire, too. On the other hand, if we think about what would bring real pleasure, real value to our readers, then it’s a win/win situation.
Here's another point. If we focus on what we don’t like about the publishing world, well, that’s what we’ll see. If we focus instead on how we can bring value to the process and how we can use it to bring value to readers, well, again, it’s far more likely to bring us success. Where do we want to put our energy? On railing against what we don’t like or in getting to where we want to be?
The other thing about Joe Vitale’s talk is that he spoke about how our unconscious assumptions can get in the way of having what we want. What comes to mind when you think of great writers? Are there parts of that image that you don't like? Change/rewrite it! (Julia Cameron did a great workshop on this at RWA national one year.) If we clean out the crap we can get out of our own way and be far more likely to succeed.
It was a thought provoking talk. What if we do have the power to achieve the success we want and it’s in our hands? What if we can best achieve that success by focusing on bring value to our readers and letting go of expectations and assumptions that don’t serve us very well?
It wouldn’t hurt, either, I think to adopt one of the keys to Joe Vitale’s marketing strategies—working with others to achieve mutual success rather than seeing everyone as a competitor or an obstacle. What if instead of complaining when someone doesn’t do what we want, we were to ask ourselves what we could do that would make helping us something the other person WANTS to do? Brow beating people never works and neither does lecturing them. So...can we alter our attitude or our product or offer something the other person would genuinely value?
In other words, it always comes back to us—whether with the Law of Attraction in the Secret or in marketing. How can we change rather than (pointlessly!) trying to change other people?
April
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