Writers Unbound

fish and turtle rock?

Many writers have trouble publsihing. They many have finally completed the novel. They may had the book professionally edited. They may even have a reputable agent.

At the time they could be posed to enter a successful venture, they experience rejection, or fear of moving forward when their first choice publisher refuses their book. Ever been there?

I found an old motivational tape that a good friend had lent me several years ago. I decided to play it. It was a tape by Les Brown.
He discussed how when a basketball pro hits a slump and can’t make the hoops that he doesn’t give up, instead he goes onto the court and shoots hoops. Over and over again to regain his ability and to improve his skills and shots.

This struck home for me as I reflected on all the times I procrastinate, or temporarily give up. To use Brown’s phrase, “How wimpy can I get?” That next letter may get you a small project or contract, it may not even be the book you are working on, but it may become income. Another letter may get someone to read your book, and another letter may get you a referral or lunch with the publisher who will publish the novel.

The point is none of ever know when the next letter will be the letter that earns us the $5000 or even more, and so we need to keep writing those queries, keep contacting publishers, keep writing (start work on the next novel too) so that you do indeed succeed in your publishing.

Hope dwells within the heart

By now you know I love cookbooks. picked up Noteworthy by editor Joan Frehling, published 1986 by Notworthy Publications. I just realized I found a first edition for $1.50! As I did not know anything about the Ravinia Festival, I have included some information for you.

Picnicing
Get the details about Picnicing at Ravinia.

Tell me your story Photo by Mary MacIntyre

Ceating True Prosperity workbook by Shakti Gawain gives you nearly 200 pages with exercises and ideas to do the work: your setting up true prosperity for your self. Published in 1998 by New World Library, Gawain offers you a complete course.

Now are you warming up? Read more… hmm a technical difficulty above??? Here’s a link…

http://www.shaktigawain.com/booksandmore_title.php?ISBN=1-57731-170-1

Buy
External link to New World Library
ISBN 1-57731-170-1

Paperback

192 pages

$12.95
Creating True ProsperityNew Paperback Edition
This practical handbook presents Shakti Gawain’s definition of prosperity, one that places importance on the fulfillment of our real desires rather than the amount of money we have. Most people equate prosperity with money — if they only had more of it, they would prosper. In this new, innovative look at self-fulfillment, personal-growth pioneer Shakti Gawain shows us the pitfalls of such thinking — how people, regardless of their wealth, eventually find money fails to offer true contentment. Shakti Gawain presents a new definition of prosperity, one that places importance on fulfillment of the heart and soul rather than on monetary gain. She dismantles the cause-and-effect relationship most people construct around money and happiness, without ignoring the important role money plays in our lives. She challenges us to pay attention to our deepest longings, and yet to discard false desires. Shakti shows us how to create true prosperity, which includes satisfying relationships, happiness, and fulfillment. Her unique method of self-examination helps readers recognize the paradoxical relationships they establish with money. Instead of either denying its value or giving it too much importance, Gawain shows how money can be used to teach people to identify where they need more balance in their lives, freeing them to pursue fulfilling relationships and personal satisfaction — the main ingredients of true prosperity. She speaks with authority and warmth as she sheds new understanding on a subject that concerns us all.

“While embracing the reality that finances are an important aspect of personal prosperity, she shows how money can be used to teach people to identify where more balance is needed in their lives and ultimately, achieve the freedom to pursue fulfilling rel

Focus on Women Magazine

Learn more about her books and work. If you really want to do some personal prospertiy work, get the book which is still in print.

Tell me your story Photo by Mary MacIntyre

The dead still teach us beyond the grave. How easily we forget and neglect the power of their word, or fragmented pictures of what they endured and saw in their lives. Be us the writer today, it may behoove us to listen and reflect upon these words. Words, visions, and structure can provide each with a springboard for them to fly off into the ethers, that the jumper may experience or transcend what already has been demonstrated.

I am listening to a video about MArianne Moore whilst also listening to Annabel included here. I beg you to experiment. I included these two videos to speculate on what can be inspired from old scripts. Oh Raven come now share your secrets with me and any who will listen.

Write and capture our lives now in your song, and let the muses fill our verse with everlasting meaning. TRy this listening to two at once. Behold the metaphor dancing in our words. Write!
Edgar Allan Poe
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For the attorney general of Maryland, see Edgar Allan Poe (Maryland attorney general).
Edgar Allan Poe

1848 daguerreotype of Poe
Born January 19, 1809(1809-01-19)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Died October 7, 1849 (aged 40)
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Occupation Poet, short-story writer, editor, literary critic
Genres Horror fiction, crime fiction, detective fiction
Literary movement Romanticism
Spouse(s) Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe

Signature

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, and is considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective-fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.[1] He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.[2]

He was born as Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts; his parents died when he was young. Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan, of Richmond, Virginia, but they never formally adopted him. After spending a short period at the University of Virginia and briefly attempting a military career, Poe parted ways with the Allans. Poe’s publishing career began humbly, with an anonymous collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827), credited only to “a Bostonian”.

Poe switched his focus to prose and spent the next several years working for literary journals and periodicals, becoming known for his own style of literary criticism. His work forced him to move between several cities, including Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. In Baltimore in 1835, he married Virginia Clemm, his 13-year-old cousin. In January 1845, Poe published his poem “The Raven” to instant success. His wife died of tuberculosis two years later. He began planning to produce his own journal, The Penn (later renamed The Stylus), though he died before it could be produced. On October 7, 1849, at age 40, Poe died in Baltimore; the cause of his death is unknown and has been variously attributed to alcohol, brain congestion, cholera, drugs, heart disease, rabies, suicide, tuberculosis, and other agents.[3]

Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields, such

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe

Light always abounds within us: celebrate! photo by Mary MacIntyre

I’ve had a very busy week. So this will be a fast(?) update. Remember I am still always looking for writers who would like to publish here. As A writer there are always deadlines. Fortunately, I am in a productive moment in my life. However, sometimes people need tips to help them get work done before deadlines. The following may be self evident, however try them:
1) Grab a folder and start writing notes at the first notice of an assignment and deadline. Perhaps even use a recorder for ideas. Add stuff to folder.
2) Create a specific time reserved for writing. Use that time frequently so you are accustomed to letting words flow. Aren’t ready to work on that assignment? Write on other ideas for future material.
3) Research and make it fun. Remember that going to your local library may break a block and you could quickly find more resources in a lovely quiet environment.
4) Reset the deadline for a week earlier with a bonus if you finish by that time. This gives you time to review and rewrite.

Paul Penton was kind enough to stop by and let me know of another writing site. So I copied a bit and here comes: www.objectwriting.com

Consider this... photo by Mary MacIntyre

When one writes from his or her heart, the first results may escape technical perspectives. Yep, that sentence could use improvement. I had a talk with a teen this afternoon about her writing. She has a passion for her work and described herself as extremely particular about what and how she says it.

Come explore what is in you.

Just a quick review of the previous work principles we’ve covered in the last two weeks:

1. Imitate high quality
2. Learn from successful people
3. Ignore cheaters, scammers, and get-rich-quick promises
4. Never think you know it all
5. Help other writers
6. Don’t pick fights

Today we will add the next three principles to the list, but first a little more review: What is a principle? To my favorite source for word definitions, Webster’s 1828 dictionary, and we find the following among the list of meanings:

• Ground; foundation; that which supports an assertion, an action, or a series of actions or of reasoning.
• A general truth; a law comprehending many subordinate truths; as the principles of morality, of law, of government, &c.
• A principle of human nature, is a law of action in human beings; a constitutional propensity common to the human species.

I am presenting these work principles as the grounds for the actions you take as a writer, as general truths applied to a specific area (freelance writing), as tenets derived from principles of human nature. For example, our first principle for today is

7: Be diligent in your work to succeed

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There’s nothing new or unknown to successful people in this idea. You know that if you want to get beyond the scraping and pinching that so many of us freelance writers are stuck in, you have to work regularly, diligently, sometimes (it seems) ceaselessly. It’s easy to forget though, easy to put aside, easy to procrastinate, easy to look for another perfect job that won’t require you to be so darn diligent all the time.

That’s why this principle is out there: it’s true, and if you print out the list and tape it by your computer, or copy and paste it over to your desktop, you can remind yourself that you have to be diligent to succeed. Yes, you know it’s true: but sometimes you need a concrete reminder of the truth, something to stand on, a visible foundation for the action you already know you need to take.

8: Work ahead, even when there is no immediate “need”

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It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then I get through the first half of the day and realize that I’ve done everything on my schedule. My to-do list is just a pretty row of check marks, my drafts document is caught up with my editorial calendar, and I still have a beautiful afternoon in front of me. What’s my first instinct? What would yours be?

I want to take off, take a nap, take a drive, play Tetris, call friends, take a walk, do anything but move ahead on the work waiting for me. It’s a general truth that when we get comfortable, we start getting lazy, a little apathetic. It’s another general truth, though, that opportunity comes unexpectedly; if you’re not ready, it keeps on walking.

When you get caught up, don’t make that illogical leap into feeling that you’re automatically ahead. You’re not, yet. You’re just at the breaking-even point, and if you want to be more successful than you are right now, you have to push past that mark. So when you finish a project early, don’t go nap. Keep working on and be ahead of schedule on your next project. You’ll see three benefits from this action: first, if you run into a need for more research than you thought or trouble with some portion of an article, you have a little extra time to deal with it; second, if you complete the project and send it to the client done well and finished early, your reputation with that client is forever in the highest ranking; and third, when you finish work early and have a clear afternoon or day, you are free to find rush jobs that otherwise would not fit into your schedule.

9: Do good work, always, for every client

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When you were growing up, did you have one parent who was kind of a stickler for details and another who just wanted the job done? I did. I knew their preferences, and you can be sure I never did more than I had to in order to make either one happy. If I were cleaning up the kitchen for Mom, I washed those dishes until every part gleamed: otherwise, I would be going back and doing it again. If I were helping Dad in the yard, I did what had to be done to get the job finished: he just wanted it done, not perfect.

It’s easy to fall into the same set of varying standards with clients. We humans tend to discern pretty quickly what the minimum requirements for “survival” are, and then we set our mark there and never push ourselves further. And I’m not suggesting that you provide a 1000-word article with 3 referenced sources when all your client wants is a 500-word, opinion-based article from your perspective. Certainly, you can stay within the guidelines of each project. But certainly within those guidelines you can produce the best 500-word opinion-based article that it’s possible for you to write.

Even if you know a client will accept something less than high quality, don’t produce it. Don’t lower your standards. Don’t accept mediocrity from yourself. Mediocrity spreads like cancer, and soon you’ll be trying to get away with less than your best for clients who won’t take it. You put your writing reputation in jeopardy.

If you can’t force yourself to maintain high quality standards for “low-quality” clients, then don’t take those jobs.

Make it a good day.

1. Being Clever

   A knack for what is clever, as a sense of humor, cannot be forced. If you don’t naturally exude the ironic, skip it. Attempts to force the clever or subtly ironic will fail. I’m certain of this truth from my own experience.
   Quit worrying about it. Some subjects aren’t about being clever. Most subjects aren’t about being clever. Can you present information clearly? Can you tell a story? Can you analyze? Do you know how to construct a logical argument? Those are skills which, as a writer, you should both have and be continually improving. It’s a lovely thing to read a writer who can use those skills confidently without feeling the need to produce an accompanying witticism. Sometimes Plain Jane does the job best.
   When the irony flows and the witticisms rain, let them. In the meantime, though, just keep writing.

2. Being Original

   From a previous post:

   Originality isn’t really what we want… We want to hear ourselves, but a little bit different. We want to read someone completely different, but with just enough of ourselves that we can grab onto the similarity and expand into another kind of life.
   It doesn’t matter if you are writing a shipwreck survivor novel or an article about Christmas decorations. If you want originality, the best thing to do is forget about it and just write with honesty and vigor.
   Authors who write with originality as the foremost goal end up producing the literary equivalent of the teenager trying too hard to fit in. Somehow, the desperate expression of “Look at me! I’m an individual! I’m unique just like you!” becomes just another murmur of the mass-produced roar. The best way to be original is to quit trying so hard for it.

3. Being Academic

   During my college years, my very best professors were the ones who forgot to be professorial and just shared their passion with the people around them. We happened to be students. My very worst professors were the ones whose entire identity existed on a university motto and alma mater memories. Academia is great, but people who attempt to squish an entire life into an academic frame end up stunted. And annoying.
   Writing about academic subjects does not require anything more than knowledge about the subject and ability to write clear sentences. Leave the latinate diction in ye old ivy-covered halls. Be enthusiastic. Use simple words. Be clear, above all. Bring what is “academic” into the real world instead of the other way around.

4. Being Relevant

   Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story.
   Relevant? Yes. Irrevocably associated with a particular time and place? Yes, but they are still relevant. Stories about people are timeless. We all live in a particular time and place, and it’s best to acknowledge that. Trying to produce writing that is relevant beyond culture results in a very dry prose. We like the details. We like today. We like to know what people are wearing and what they ate for breakfast.
   What if you are writing product reviews, news briefs, a thousand home and garden articles? Let them be what they are and serve the purpose for which they exist. Don’t waste time making more or less of your subject than what it is. Much of what we write today may be relevant only for today. Much may last. Your burden is to write it best for whatever purpose it is to serve. In that way, your entire writing life is relevant. Piece by piece will be determined by forces beyond your pen.

5. Being Personal

   You are a person. If you write honestly about your subject, you will write personally. You can’t really help it, unless you are spending your energy trying to sound academic…
   I write what I know from the perspective that I have. That’s personal. If I am writing something in which I have no experience (research-based), I can talk about my lack. When writers become less self-conscious and more honest and realistic, writing becomes sincerely personal.

What do you think? Am I wrong? Do you find yourself working to be clever, original, academic, relevant, or personal? How does that affect your writing? I’d love to hear.

Make it a good day.

Image Credit: FredoAlvarez.