Part II of my long post is live at the Bane of Your Resistance blog today.
Drop by and give me a holler in the comments.
Category: Resistance
How My Writing Process Saved the Day, and How it Can Save Yours
More about planning and process: a guest post over at Bane of Your Resistance. Drop by and say hello, and watch for details about the process (new and improved over my previous version, I might add) in next week’s guest post.
Let’s Build a House! (Why Planning will Make Your Writing Life Better)
Fair warning: if you are committed to the spontaneous pantsing version of writing, please don’t read this. You won’t benefit, I won’t benefit. If you’re open to having assumptions challenged, read on. To the end. Don’t read the first 80% and quit or you won’t get the point.
What is a House?
Though wildly different around the world, all houses share certain characteristics. Let’s explore the ins and outs.
- Roof — Without a covering, it’s a yard, not a house.
- Floor — It may be dirt, but it’s not water or air. If your residents are standing in a pool up to their waist, or swinging in hammocks 30′ aboveground, you’ve built something other than a house.
- Privacy — Roof but no walls = carport or equivalent.
- Toilet — Yes, in some parts of the world this is not inside the house. If you live in one of those places, you may dispute this requirement.
- Services — Electricity. Running water. Drains. See above note for quibbles.
- Egress — Without a door suitable for us humans to enter through, it’s not a house, it’s something else.
- Lighting — Even if it’s windows and skylights, there’s a way for light to come in.
You may dispute any of these if you choose to live in the house yourself.
If you plan to sell the house, or even sell time using the house (called “renting”) I defy you to leave any of these out and still succeed.
[image: build-a-house]
… more … “Let’s Build a House! (Why Planning will Make Your Writing Life Better)”
You’re Not Getting Your Writing Done Because You’re Building the Wrong Habit
Short version: make it a habit.
Slightly longer version: make it the right habit.
Full version:
After 18 months of experimentation (following 18 years of dabbling) I’ve made writing my habit. It’s part of my daily routine.
Every morning, Best Beloved and I have our tea and a chat. Then, I go downstairs and write one scene (+/- 1,000 words is where mine seem to fall.)
… more … “You’re Not Getting Your Writing Done Because You’re Building the Wrong Habit”
How I Write
Or, more accurately, how I begin the process of moving toward my books.
Planning is a left-brain process. Creativity has to have a healthy dose of right brain. You need both. The apocryphal Hemingwayesque “write drunk, edit sober.”
Here’s a very short version of my story-generating process, which thus far has given me good results blending left and right, analytical and creative: … more … “How I Write”
Learn to Love Marketing, or Give Your Books Away (or Both)
[image: left, right, or middle?]Almost every author I talk to wishes someone else would sell their books for them. The few exceptions are those who, by nature or training, enjoy marketing their books. They’ve learned enough to have a plan and to execute it consistently, persistently.
![[image: left, right, or middle?]](http://images.freeimages.com/images/previews/855/railroad-tracks-1161856.jpg){kind=link}
Even my wife‘s clients, who pay her large sums for social media marketing for their books, engage fully in the process. Those who don’t quickly become frustrated because she isn’t selling their books well enough, not realizing that’s not how it works (despite having that clearly explained at the outset.)
Here’s the good news: if you hate marketing and you don’t want to sell your books, you don’t have to spend another second on marketing.
… more … “Learn to Love Marketing, or Give Your Books Away (or Both)”
Two Kids Walk Into An Open Mic
[image: Joel plays bass]A handful of years ago we were regulars at open mic in a suburb of Sacramento. Some of the performers were excellent musicians and singers; real artists.
Some, not so much.
One night two young boys, the older probably 15 and the younger 10 or 11, came in with their electric guitars. They used a recorded rhythm section backing track and played along and sang.
From a purely musical perspective, they were not very good.
I had seen something, though.
Marathon, Not Sprint
[image: Cliff Young] Cliffyoung1983. Via Wikipedia.Immediately after urging Best Beloved to take it slower, consider her health, self-care blah blah blah, I started stressing about the post I’m supposed to write today about my Goodreads giveaway.
Pot. Kettle. Nobody here but us kitchen utensils.
I plan to get back to the Goodreads giveaway education I promised by next week, but today, I’m going to spill a bit about what we’re doing and why I’m taking it slow today.
Years ago, Best Beloved almost died of pancreas problems. Couple years later, she almost died of complications from the previous issues.
For 7 years, her primary symptoms have been fatigue, a lack of stamina. Past 6 – 9 months, it’s been extreme fatigue, general pain, and mental blur. Doctors are looking into everything from fibromyalgia to hepatitis. No reason for excessive concern yet, just do the research, find the source, and then decide what action to take.
Who Are You Writing For? (It Isn’t Really Either/Or)
I should turn that into a song, eh?
[image: veg]Comes up sometimes in discussion boards: write for yourself and find artistic fulfillment, or write for your audience and sell books?
![[image: veg]](http://images.freeimages.com/images/previews/cde/woman-picking-fruit-at-the-uni-1513667.jpg){kind=link}
Here’s what comes up in the research of Chip and Dan Heath, experts in the brain science of decision-making: avoid either/or thinking when making decisions. Consider more than two opposing options.
Today, consider taking a page from CompSci (that’s computer science for the 99.9% of you who’ve managed to elude its evil grasp.)
But first, let’s make soup. … more … “Who Are You Writing For? (It Isn’t Really Either/Or)”
More Than One Way to Write a Cat Story
[image: carved in stone]When I talk about your time writing, what picture comes into your mind?
![[image: carved in stone]](http://images.freeimages.com/images/previews/dc9/the-stone-of-a-memorial-1217117.jpg){kind=link}
For most of you, I suspect it’s about clattering away on a computer keyboard. (Or, if you have a Mac, gently gliding over its delicate surface, nudging the keys toward their destination.)
Have you ever tried writing whatever it is you write using some other method?