Artistry With Words

Happy Tuesday to you all.  I hope you had a wonderful weekend and you are already to eat until you drop on Thanksgiving.  It’s a short week for most of us, so let’s get down to business.

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately on the Writer’s Mailbag about which publishing option is the best, so that’s going to be our topic for today.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

George Bernard Shaw
THOUGHT OF THE DAY

So here’s my answer to the question which publishing method is the best…..whichever one you decide upon.

That may sound like a cop out, but hear me out.

Traditional publishing…print on demand….ebooks….all have the possibility for success, and all have downsides.  You can drive yourself nutso trying to figure out which one to do, and I know some writers who suffer from the paralysis of analysis.  Get over it and move on.

Do your diligent research, ask for opinions from others in the business, and then make a decision, because ultimately, your success, or lack thereof, will depend on the amount of marketing you do.  You can write the best damn book ever written, but if you don’t market it like your life depends on it, it won’t matter how you publish it.

TIP OF THE DAY

Sharpen your marketing skills, and I’m not talking about Facebook posts.  Instead of reading articles and books on how to write, you would be much better off reading articles and books about how to successfully market your books.  Most, if not all of you reading this, already have the writing skills to be successful in writing.  Writing is not what is holding you back…marketing, or the lack thereof, is.

SITE OF THE DAY

Writer’s Marketing is a site dedicated to, well, marketing for writers. J  Check them out here.

BOOK OF THE DAY

303 Marketing Tips, available on Amazon here.

WRITER OF THE DAY

Let me introduce you to Smilealot, formerly ValleyPoet on HubPages.  I greatly enjoy this man’s poetry and I think you will as well.  You can find him here.

CONTEST OF THE DAY

The Meadow Novella Contest is taking submissions until February 1, 2015.  Check them out (Brian, I’m talking to you) and maybe you’ll find something that interests you.

PROMPT OF THE DAY

A verbal prompt today, and that prompt is EVERGREEN.

MORE NEXT WEEK

I just don’t see myself doing another of these posts on this short week, so this will have to do for now. Have a marvelous Thanksgiving. I know I am very grateful for all of you.  Your friendships are very important to me.

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

I have no idea when I’ll post this, so I’ll just say Happy Whatever Day to you all.

I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I volunteer to do blog posts for our friends at Eastside Urban Farm & Garden Center.  We believe in what they are trying to do, namely promote urban farming, and I figure helping them in this way is just a very simple way for me to give them a helping hand. In turn they give us items to “borrow” when we need them, like rabbit hutches or grow lights.  It’s a nice bartering system utilizing our individual strengths.

I mention that because from that volunteer writing I received a referral for a paying blog job, so out of the blue some extra money came in…all because I did a little marketing while volunteering.

And that leads us to the point today.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Never forget that you only have one opportunity to make a first impression – with investors, with customers, with PR, and with marketing.”

Natalie Massenet
THOUGHT OF THE DAY

If you write for money, then this lesson has to be ingrained in your psyche.  You are a business and your writing is your product.  How you present your product will determine how your sales are in the future.

TIP OF THE DAY

Every piece of writing reflects on you, the writer, so make it your best product every time you sit down and write.  This includes social networking, by the way.  Sure, we all relax a bit on Facebook, but you also have possible future customers reading what you are writing on that site, so try not to be too lazy when there.

PROMPT OF THE DAY

A recent article of mine was about metaphors, so let’s make that the prompt today.  Write a metaphor about Thanksgiving.

I’M BEHIND SO THAT WILL BE ENOUGH TODAY

I seem to always be behind. Sigh!  Well, that’s good for you because that means less you have to read, right?

Have a great day of writing, my friends.

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

Happy end of the week!  It’s been pretty cold here, or cold by our normal standards. Certainly nothing like the upper-midwest experienced, but cold enough to have our chickens wondering what the heck is going on.

I’ve been knee-deep in work, as I know many of you have been as well.  I’m at the 75,000 word mark of my new novel, Shadows Kill.  I should be done with the first draft by the end of next week, and then the hard work really begins.

Customers want things now rather than later, so I’m dealing with that as well, and in my spare time I’m taking care of quail, chickens, rabbits, dogs, and a kitten with more energy than all the rest combined.

So that’s my week.

I’m going to do something a little different today. I hope you don’t mind.  I’ll let the quote start things off.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Make it a habit to tell people thank you. To express your appreciation, sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return. Truly appreciate those around you, and you’ll soon find many others around you. Truly appreciate life, and you’ll find that you have more of it.”

Ralph Marston
THOUGHT OF THE DAY

I say this in all honesty….I would not be where I am today if it were not for all of you.  You know who you are.  You are the ones who have stuck by me, loyally, for years.  You  are the ones who have read my articles, purchased my books, and just given words of encouragement when they were needed the most.

I had very little confidence in my writing abilities when I started as a writer three years ago.  Oh, I knew I could write an intelligent sentence, but that’s a far cry from being a writer.  I didn’t know if my voice would be accepted. I didn’t know if others would care about what I had to say.  I knew next to nothing when I joined a writer’s community called HubPages, and honestly, I almost quit after the first week, and if I had quit HP I would have quit writing….because….like all of you, I need acceptance and encouragement.

So all I’m doing today is saying thank you!  My thanks comes from the bottom of this old heart and the depths of this writer’s soul.

Thank you!

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

Happy Whatever Day It Is!

Reminds me of the old song by Chicago…”Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?”

Did you know that group started out as the Chicago Transit Authority?  Does anybody care? J

So here we are with another installment of a blog that may or may not be doing any good.  How’s that for a sales job?

Truth is, that’s the truth.  I don’t know the value of this blog.  I can track views of course, but translating those views into income????  Into a quantifiable measurement of my growth as a writer???? Good luck with that.

And that just happens to be the topic for today.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”

George S. Patton

Yes, I love that quote, even though I’m not a huge fan of Patton.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

What is important to your business plan as a writer?  Is this blog important? Are the articles I write on HubPages important?  Is the time I spend writing for customers important?  Are the articles I read about writing important?

I am the only one who can answer those questions, and if I come across something I am doing and I don’t feel it has value, then I need to discard it.

Let me put it another way: if things I am doing do not keep me on a path towards my goal as a writer, then they are not worth doing.

TIP OF THE DAY

Do you have a plan for your writing business?  If not, get with it.  If you are writing for income, then you are a business, and a business needs a plan…and a mission statement…and those two things are your guiding star in all decisions you make regarding your business.  I can’t emphasize this enough.

PROMPT OF THE DAY

A visual prompt….for those of you who are, well, visual learners.

SECOND PROMPT OF THE DAY

One word…..Jack!

I’m going to do an article next week using this one-word prompt.  Call it a writing exercise. I hope you enjoy it.

SECOND TIP OF THE DAY

The holidays are coming.  Don’t use them as a convenient excuse for not writing.

MORE LATER

I’m tired so that’s it.   I started at seven this morning and it is now four…time to call it a day.

Have a great week. I’ll try to return Thursday.

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

Welcome back, whatever day it is.  I swear, my internal clock or calendar must be off, because with the time change and the early darkness, and with just every blasted day looking the same (gray and wet) I’m having a hard time telling what day it is.  I sure hope I’m not the only one who feels that way.

Yesterday was a particularly good day of writing my latest novel.  I kicked out 3,500 quality words, and that’s about double the amount I normally do in a day.  It was just one of those days when creativity flowed smoothly.

And that just happens to be the topic for today:  creativity.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.”

Edward de Bono
There were so many great quotes to choose from about creativity.  I like this one the most.

But what happens when creativity takes a vacation?  What happens when, no matter how hard you squeeze, no creative thought will pop out?

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

I can only share my experience with you. I can’t speak for every writer out there, nor do I want to.  The thing about creativity that I want to mention is that you can’t force it.  No matter how loudly you order it to appear, it will come in its own sweet time.  In fact, it has been my experience that when I strain and struggle to be creative, it is a no-show, but when I just shut my mind down and relax, it reappears.

I’ve seen a lot of great articles lately about writing prompts, and other exercises you can do to jumpstart your creativity, but the bottom line is this: if it ain’t there, it ain’t there, and you can quote me on that.  Don’t try to force it.  If it fails to show in a reasonable time then walk away and literally go for a walk, listen to some music, take a bath, whatever.

TIP OF THE DAY

If you were paying attention, I already gave you the tip of the day. J

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What have you done today to market your writing?  Give that one some thought and see how you like the answer.  Marketing has to be a part of your daily and weekly efforts unless, of course, you just love obscurity.

SECOND QUESTION OF THE DAY

Have you had a “holy cow” moment yet?  Have you had one of those moments when the clouds parted, and sunshine rained down on you, and you realized that you are, indeed, a real, honest to God writer?  If not, then what is holding you back from having that moment?

WRITER OF THE DAY

I am going to ask a favor of you.  An old friend of mine is returning to writing after taking a year off.  I think a great deal of this lady, and I think she has some serious talent regarding writing…and I’m going to ask you to stop by her site, say hello, and give her some encouragement.  I’ve said for a long time that I have the greatest followers in the world, and now I’m asking those followers to take five minutes and show some love and support to another writer.  Can you do that for me?  Thank you!

Say hello to Suzie HQ on HubPages, please, and tell her it’s about time she gets back on the horse.  She’ll understand.

OFFER OF THE DAY

My offer is always open to any of you who would like to guest blog here. I only ask that you center the blog on the subject of writing. I think we all benefit by hearing from other writers, and I would love to have you all take me up on this offer.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND

I take weekends off. If it’s possible for you, I highly recommend it.  Give your mind a break, and your creative muse will thank you for it.

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

Happy Tuesday, my friends.  I’ve been busy. How about you?  Now the holidays are bearing down on us like a heat-seeking missile, and I’m afraid we will all be busier still.

Oh well!

Let’s talk about your strengths as a writer.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.”

Napoleon Hill

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What are your greatest strengths as a writer?

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

There are two schools of thought regarding our strengths.  One school of thought holds that we should continually take our weaknesses and develop them into strengths.  The other says we should recognize our strengths, develop them, hone them, and make them work for us, disregarding weaknesses that only serve to muddy our personal waters.

With regards to writing, I think it is important to determine which weaknesses can hold us back as writers, and which weaknesses are really unimportant.  For instance, if one has a problem with grammatical rules, I think that’s a weakness a writer should develop into a strength.  On the other hand, I cannot write poetry. It is definitely a weakness of mine, but it is one I do not consider terribly important for my development.

Instead, I like to concentrate on my strengths and further develop them.

So, let’s return to the question:  what are your greatest strengths as a writer.  I think if you can answer that, and I suspect many of you cannot, then you will have taken an important step forward in your writing career.  Recognize those strengths and build upon them.

TIP OF THE DAY

List what you believe to be your strengths as a writer. Then list your weaknesses.  Go over both lists and decide which can help you in the future and which are unimportant.

CONTEST OF THE DAY

The Stacy Doris Memorial Poetry Contest is taking submissions until January 15^th.  No entry fee, and from 3-10 pages of poetry can be submitted. There is a $500 first prize awarded.  Read about it here.

PROMPT OF THE DAY

My friend Sha likes picture prompts, so here’s one to get your juices flowing.

CHALLENGE OF THE DAY

I published another in my series about a fictional character called Hope today.  In case you haven’t read any of that series, it is an ongoing metaphor, and that is my challenge to you today.  In the near future, practice writing a metaphor. I think it is one of the most powerful tools a writer can have, and it would be a shame to not use that tool.

EXCERPT OF THE DAY

From my current novel, Shadows Kill:

“I hugged him and stepped out into a night where creatures rose from storm drains, craving misery and fear to feed upon.  The church was only a mile away, and I made the trip in fifteen minutes as the skies opened up with the tears of my loved ones.

Sometimes I’ll wake up in the early morning, the sky losing its battle with light and the peaceful citizens still snug under the covers of false security, and I’ll imagine I can hear helicopters coming in from the north, the sound increasing as the displaced air reverberates, and the dust from the desert swirls and chokes, blinds and embraces.  I’ll see the Edgars and the Patricks, limping quickly to the safety of the Huey, and the machine gunners standing guard, and I’ll hear their cries as they fall three feet from their ride, their bodies riddled, quivering, and then still.  On those mornings I’ll sweat heavily and find that catching my breath is a Herculean task not worth the effort.”

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY

Thank you, as always, for taking the time to visit with me today.  I wish you a productive and satisfying week of writing.

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”