Writers Unbound

Don’t we all have an excuse for that unfinished novel on our hard drive and in our heads?

I do, anyway, and I like company. 

Over the summer I stumbled onto an August issue of O Magazine where Walter Mosley, author of 47 and multiple other books in several genres, tells you that This Year You Write Your Novel. That article was singlehandedly responsible for getting my novel out of my head and at least halfway on through my fingers (I’m still working on it). 

Mosley addresses a couple of my novel writing fears:

1) Similarity of my characters to real life
2) Lack of an ending. I didn’t know the ending.

Mosley helped me both via this highly recommended article in the August 07  issue of O Magazine.

Another way to go about getting your novel out would be to join National Novel Writing Month. For all the would-be NaNa novelists out t here, I wish you the best of luck! Keep us updated!

Happy writing!

Please don’t discount this post by the title of it if you are a hobbyist writer, or a novelist who is simply looking to let the novel out, and not looking at this here writing thing as a career, job or etc. Don’t worry, you’ll find a bit of inspiration here, too.

As child, I had two dreams. One that I articulated, and one that I held in. The one that I articulated, and the one that people liked to hear around me, was to be a veterinarian. This always made people happy, as I’m sure they envisioned higher education and job security.

But you know what I really wanted to be all my life, don’t you? I wanted to be a writer. I just wanted to write. Anything, really: books, reports, poetry, journal entries.

In fact, I kept a journal from the time I was in 6th grade until…well.. the present day, really. That’s 20 long years of journaling. In high school I would fantasize that someday my journal, the story of my life, would be published, like Anne Franks. Of course, what kind of story did I have, other than the normal angst of teenagehood? But still, writing was my dream.

Where am I going with this? How cliche is it for me to write that “you need to follow your dream.” I can barely bring myself to tell you. I hate cliches!

What I can tell you, though, is that I ran into this post at Women on Writing’s blog. And in it, they’d embedded the short, 8 minute lecture below from Randy Pausch.

How many times a day do you run into “watch this”, “read this” or “click on this”? I know it’s a lot. I do it myself, and I apologize.

However, watching this short clip was the most productive 10 minutes of my life in the past month. I am urging you, here, practically begging. Click on that triangle. Just do it. You won’t regret it!

So, it’s not news, per se, but freelance blogging is really becoming a moneymaker for many internet prone writers. Companies recognize it as the newest marketing tool, internet sites know the constant content grabs the readers.

Not one to reinvent the wheel, I’d rather cite Deb Ng’s blogging How To at About Weblogs for the why and hows.

I will say, however, that this is a medium that can have appeal to all types of writers. Fiction-oriented scribes still get to use their creative voice, while some freelancers can form relationships with companies, products and sites. Others can concentrate on the expose or profile type blogging that reminds them of magazine writing and journalistic outlets.

Want to start your own blog? Try Blogspot or Wordpress. Are you thinking about blogging solely to make money? If so, you’d better read this first. 

There’s a whole dynamic of writers out there, obviously. Because of my work with some other sites, I have had the pleasure of working with some newbie freelance writers.

In the last couple days, I’ve ran into so many ezines that interest me that my bookmarks are running into two columns. It occurred to me that ezines may be particularly good for some of my newbie friends to target for first publication. Here’s why:

• The multitude of e-magazines out there makes it easy to find one dealing with a subject about which you are passionate. Passion brings you that much closer to solid writing.
• Many neophytes use the net to break into writing. They then get to know the writing style that works best for the web, translating easily into ezine styled columns/articles etc.
• The sheer number of ezines available make me feel comfortable enough to say “webzines are much easier to break into than print.” Now, I’m not saying anything about quality, just pure amounts.

Caveats:

• Many ezines are thinly veiled advertisements. Therefore, you’ll need to do your homework, take note of quality and so on. Aim high!
• I’ve seen ezines come and go within the span of a month. Some of them with my hard work in them! Again, research!

The Ezine Directory has 3600+ ezines in 42 categories- a great place to start!

I’ve been following a couple of internet discussions regarding writer’s spaces in preparation for today: I’m getting my office remodeled today!:)

Ok, sorry, I am excited but I am not gloating, because I know that many talented writers work at their kitchen table and turn out darn decent stuff. More power to them!

I, on the other hand, am a distractable basket case at times. (please note I said at times) So, I’m manipulating my environment in order to  increase productivity.

While I’m doing that, check out over 100 comments at Problogger.net on writing space for pro-bloggers, many of which include youtubes and pictures.

So, is it unprofessional to write anywhere other than in a set office? That discussion happened over at Deb Ng’s site, and got maybe a little itty bit contentious at times.

But what if you don’t have a good space to write? Or you need to get out of the house/office? Well, if you live in an urban area, there may actually be writer’s studios available to you. Over at About.com, the fiction channel covers some urban area’s studios spaces.

I adored looking at pictures of other’s writing spaces, offices and couches alike. Feel free to post a link to yours!  

They’re both making news, ok?

Over the weekend, The Daily Telegraph, out of the U.K., revealed that J.K. Rowling affirmed that her Harry Potter series, or at least the last installment, is inspired by her own Christian faith. In the article, Rowling admitted to struggling with her faith, and said simply ”My faith is sometimes that my faith will return.” Beautiful- but we didn’t expect anything any less eloquent out this accomplished writer, did we? Seems she eluded the questions and comparisons until now as she didn’t want her fans to know where the series was going.

Meanwhile, in different news, in a different genre, it seems literati have two  new translations of Tolstoy’s War and Peace to contend with on the market.

Let me attempt to translate NPR’s coverage:

One new translation is published by Knopf and translated by R. Pevear. It is a translation of Tolstoy’s final version of the book.

The other new translation, published by A. Bromfield and released by the publisher Ecco Press, is 400 pages shorter, and is a translation of an early version- one may even say an early draft- of the tome.

Ecco and Bromfield argue that this shorter version is an ”original version,” not a draft, whereas Pevear and Knopf are quoted as saying it’s really not the same book at all. 

From a writers POV, I’m vaguely uncomfortable with the words “draft” and ”version” being interchangeable in the Ecco argument. Is it a first draft? Is it an original version? The publishers at Knopf argue that the 400 “missing” pages are what makes War and Peace the notable novel that it is.

Um, yeah, rewriting, editing and working on your text is supposed to have that effect on your final work! Can you imagine if all the first drafts generated from NaNaWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) were considered versions instead of drafts? Yikes!

From a readers standpoint, I can tell you that the 400 pages would probably make a huge difference to a lay reader. Have you read War and Peace? I attempted it multiple times in high school. I couldn’t keep the characters straight and gave up.

I’ve read an abridged and unabridged version of Les Miserable, and can honestly say that I would not have moved on to the unabridged if I hadn’t first read the shorter work. But, we’re not talking about abridgement here- the 400 pages missing are said to substantially change the work.

Thoughts?

tolstoy, war and peace, harry potter, nanawrimo, national novel writing month, christianity, christin fiction

It’s a new day here at Writers Unbound and I  am quite happy to be sharing it with you. Let’s get this community started!

 To  begin with, I’d like to add to the list —-> of blogs. Do you have a suggestion? Please add it via COMMENTS below. Where do you go for your dose of writing chat?

I’ve also been thinking extensively about the concept of inspiration. For example, I’ve had a novel sitting dead for years on my hard drive, because I couldn’t figure out where it wanted to go. This past summer I was fortunate enough to get a jolt of inspiration while visiting family in the mountains of Mexico.

Yesterday, I ran across Rachel M.’s new site aimed at getting writers and graphic artists together. She invites phtographers or designers to submit visual media, hoping it provides some creative inspiration for poets. Great idea!

I liked Rachel’s idea so much that I dug up a couple of photos from Mexico that have always inspired me. It’s hard to find this “untouched beauty” in everyday life, but I know us writers need it. We may not be visual people, per se, but our verbal descriptions often reside in a viual place. Don’t you think?

Where do you get your inspiration?