Archive | May, 2017

Guest Blog by a Dear Friend

30 May

I call her my Lil Sis, and she receives that name because I love her to pieces and wish I had a little sister like her.  Her name is Cynthia Calhoun and she has offered to do my post this week, giving me a needed break while I heal some emotional wounds.

With that out of the way, I turn it all over to my Little Sister!

 

Writing is a craft, a calling. We pour our souls into the project at hand and hope that the rest of the world appreciates what we have borne through life experience and sheer hard work.

And Bill – or Big Bro, as I call him – truly exemplifies experience and hard work! I’m so glad to be here writing a post on his blog!

I wanted to create a post that would speak to his readers, while giving ideas to be creative!

So here goes….

Even the most adept writer needs help with making their writing more engaging, more powerful and more colorful.

Just how do you, as a writer, make your work more colorful, descriptive and engaging?

It’s not as difficult as you’d think, and there are a number of ways you can spruce up your writing.

Practice and Practice…and Eliminate Distractions

Every writer worth their salt knows this. But actually doing that is another thing.

How many folks out there sit down to the computer and find other distractions? You sit down at 9am to write, and before you know it, the clock almost mocks you as it says, “12:54 pm.” You glare at it, silencing the little sneering voice that beams out from the numbers.

There are ways to help with distractions. You can install a “distraction free” app on you computer so that you can’t check the internet.

Similarly, you can use the “focus” setting in Microsoft Word (or similar program), or there’s a program called, “Focus Writer,” which is a bare-bones writing program that uses a full-screen mode. If you use Scrivener, there’s a similar function.

Other things you can do: Set a timer. Some folks get motivated by seeing a countdown. This is something I use almost daily. Set it for an hour and FOCUS.

At the end of that hour, step away and give yourself a break. Then come back to it and use the timer again.

Have a policy of checking email once, or at the most, twice per day. If you constantly answer emails as they come in, you have to refocus and bring yourself to concentrate all over gain. Getting into a “flow” state takes at least 20 minutes of uninterrupted activity. It’s also extremely easy to slip out of it.

Experiment with what works for you, though: set a word limit. How much do you want to do in a day?

Try different things to see what works for you. Ideally, you do this every day and establish a routine with it: same time, same place.

Journaling

If you know me at all, then you’ll know that I’m a life-long journaler (yeah, I made that word up). I can’t live without getting words on the screen (or paper).

This tip will work for people who naturally like to do this, but we’re all different. My friend Bill here says he’s not a journaler, but obviously that has not held him back. Have you SEEN all the books he’s published!?

However, when you sit down to journal, it’s good to do this first thing in the morning (or after a mindfulness exercise) before other activities in the day crowd out this special time.

If you don’t have ideas, think about a quote that resonates with you, explore ideas for your next book, or you can talk about a problem you want to work out. Still, you can talk about dreams and things you want to do with your life.

The point of this exercise is three-fold: you get out all those stray thoughts that might otherwise occur to you while you’re working, you boost your productivity by actually getting a block of writing done early in the day, and it allows you to work on your craft in a pressure-free environment. It’s also a good idea to make this a daily activity.

Free-Writing

This is related to journaling, but with a different goal: to stimulate the generation of ideas. Sometimes you are staring at a blank screen, feeling the pressure you’re putting on yourself to produce something. Anything.

A free-write can be about putting a word down on paper and see what your mind does with it.

For example, right now, get out a piece of paper and find a place where you can write down a note for a quick free-write.

Now, write down the first word that comes to mind. Don’t judge your word.

For me, in this instant, I thought of “giraffe.”

Next, I’ll let my mind wander for a moment about all the words related to giraffe and what it makes me think of: African safari, animals in zoos, beautiful patterns, gentle creatures, feeding giraffes, the tale of the extra tall giraffe, and more.

As you write all those words down, you can put them into a list, or just write them across the page – whatever you’d like to do.

But then, think about the other ideas that come from those words and phrases and start writing – don’t worry about punctuation or a story line, just write whatever comes to mind in stream-of-consciousness style.

Here’s mine: “giraffe went to the department store he wasn’t supposed to be there but why is it his fault, the kid brought him there and made him wait outside, well it was hot and he got tired of waiting, so he walked through the revolving door much to the surprise of the greeter in a pantsuit who was going to call security but then decided to just let him walk through the store it was like she understood the giraffe was trying to find someone” – that’s what I came up with in 60 seconds.

You can keep going for as little or as much time as you want. But the key is to give yourself permission to just write like crazy, no editing or backspacing, and just see what happens. Do this whenever you need ideas.

Mind Maps

Similar to free-writing, mind maps are fun. You start with a single idea. Perhaps you have the subject or a theme for a book you’d like to write. In the center of a large paper, you write it down. Then, attach a line to that circle and add another idea. Try to keep them to fewer than four or five words; shorter is better.

Let your mind go wild and try not to censor any ideas. Sometimes the most outlandish idea will actually lead to that one perfect one for your next book or project.

Again, this activity can be as short or as long as you want, but aim for a minimum of 5 minutes. It’s especially useful to do before starting a big project.

10 Ideas a Day

The thing about writing is that we’ll come across someone else’s work and say, “that’s a good idea! Why didn’t I think of that?”

The truth is, that person just didn’t come up with a good idea without having to work at it. Coming up with good ideas is an art, and you have to start with a lot of bad ideas, first.

This exercise is actually more about quantity rather than quality. While that may seem counter-intuitive, think of it like creating Michelangelo’s “David” sculpture: “you just chip away everything that doesn’t look like David.”

Incredibly, this is how idea-generation works: you have to chip away at the bad ideas to be left with the good ones.

In the mornings, as often as possible, make yourself write down 10 ideas about a theme or subject. About anything.

Why? Because often, unrelated bad ideas help to uncover the one good idea – that you can use immediately or for another project.

Date your list of ideas so you can refer to it later.

Then write down a topic for which you want to generate more ideas.

Don’t let yourself get up from the chair until you’ve come up with ten.

If you can’t think of anything, try the free-write activity, first.

Since we were talking about giraffes in the free-write activity above, let’s go with that.

The guidelines: no judgement about how good or bad those ideas are, don’t let yourself get up until you have 10 ideas, bad ideas allowed – the more the better – because that gets you closer to uncovering a good idea!

10 Ideas: Writing a story about Giraffes:

  1. Giraffe meets a unicorn.
  2. Giraffe meets a family on safari in Africa.
  3. A giraffe born with three legs.
  4. The giraffe who was set free.
  5. Giraffes and civil wars in Africa.
  6. The giraffe and the baby monkey.
  7. Giraffe gets a yellow hat.
  8. Giraffe becomes Aware.
  9. The mindful giraffe.
  10. Giraffe helps banish Barnum & Bailey’s circus from existence.

It might seem like all I think about are giraffes, and while they are awesome creatures, I can assure you I don’t think about them with reckless abandon.

I may or may not ever use anything on this list. That doesn’t mean that this list is useless.

There are other ideas I can possibly take away from this: civil wars, baby monkeys, awareness, mindfulness – these subjects make my brain go, “hmm.”

When I come back to do another 10 ideas, I can take the words that piqued my interest and go with those.

When you first start doing this, it might be hard to come up with 10 ideas. But, it gets easier over time and you start to get really good at coming up with ideas.

Index Cards

In this digital age, the ubiquitousness of the smart phone has allowed us to easily take notes. But what if our phone is charging or we’re standing in the rain outside, or we’re not near our phones, or we don’t feel like typing a whole narrative onto a tiny screen?

Cue the index cards!

Some of the best ideas come when we’re away from work and away from writing.

I personally carry index cards (and a pen) in my car, in my bag, in my office, and they’re in several areas around the house.

Any idea I have gets a place on these cards.

I’ve come up with some brilliant ideas and having a card around to immediately write it down prevents me from completely losing that idea.

They’re easy to refer back to and don’t take up much space. When you’ve had a chance to properly work with the idea you had on the card, then you can recycle it.

One of the best places to keep an index card is in the book you’re currently reading. When you have an idea, it’s so easy to quickly jot it down.

Read Others’ Work

This is a huge one. If you’re a mystery writer, it’s good practice to read other mystery writers’ novels – you’ve probably heard that before. There have been countless times I’ve been reading a book and that triggers an idea for an upcoming story.

Even so, get out of your genre from time to time. It’s a great way to get a new perspective. Often times you’ll learn something new and you never know how you’ll be able to apply that back to your own writing.

But as you read, always be thinking, “What if?” 

What if the giraffe was purple? What if the giraffe was a prince in disguise? What if the giraffe was supposed to be on an ark somewhere?

Those “what-if” questions can really make your mind wander.

Do Unrelated Activities

You’re in the shower and a brilliant idea comes to you. Or, you’re on a hike and you think of the perfect solution to the problem you’ve been working on.

Sound familiar?

When you’re working on something, and you’re consciously thinking about it, ideas can be harder to come by. But, when you really want to find a solution to a problem or get ideas, doing a completely unrelated activity can generate ideas because your subconscious continues to work on it.

So, sometimes it pays to take a well-needed break, refill your cup and let your subconscious work on its own. You might be surprised!

Be Mindful

Okay, now for my favorite. This one activity can really change the way you look at things and your level of creativity.

Each morning, before I do anything else, I set a timer and spend time in mindful silence.

I try to focus just on breathing, and try to limit any thinking about work or ideas about things.

Of course, if my mind insists on thinking about something, I’ll grab an index card, write it down, and continue with my mindful silence. These days I spend 60 minutes in silence, but over a decade ago when I first started, I only did 5-10 minutes.

But now, spending this time in silence, focused on my breathing, clears out my mind completely. It is then that I feel primed to generate ideas.

Indeed, all these activities are on my list for whenever I need original ideas for better, more creative writing. I’m also grateful Big Bro let me share some of the techniques I use to generate ideas for my own writing, whether it’s a blog post, a drawing, a poem, or fiction.

 

About Cynthia

Cynthia has been a life-long writer. Most of her writing centers on non-fiction, although she makes occasional forays into the world of fiction. She writes over at Intuitive and Spiritual and enjoys a mindful existence, filled with journals, artwork, and walking all over the place. Her coloring book, The Tree of Life: A Coloring Journey is her newest work, due out on June 2, 2017.

ONE FINAL NOTE FROM BILL

I’ve seen her coloring book and it is fantastic…I’ve even colored in it…so, if you want a great gift for someone, or a great gift for yourself, this coloring book is my suggestion.

Thanks so much, Lil Sis!  You’re the best!

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

 

 

 

Connecting Emotionally with our Readers

23 May

I’m currently writing a reflective piece about a fifty-year friendship which is about to come to an end.

My best friend, Frank, is dying of spinal cancer.  I suspect he will be gone by this fall, and when he leaves me, a giant hole will appear in my heart.  That is in no way hyperbole.  It is very hard for me to even think about this without crying.  Frank has meant that much to me over the years, the brother I never had, a man who has been with me through most of the great, and horrible, events of my life.

And he is dying, and it hurts greatly to write about our relationship, but I want to finish it before he dies, so he can read it, so he will know how much I love him.

So I’m writing this piece, and I cry, and my throat constricts as the words arrive.  I can only do a couple paragraphs in each sitting because it is too emotionally draining for me.  I have only allowed myself to become “close” to a handful of people during my entire life.  I have closed off a part of my heart to protect myself from the pain of loss, but Frank is one of those who always held an important piece, and even writing that last sentence has me in tears.

What’s the point?

OUR JOB AS WRITERS

Well, we have many jobs, depending on the type of writer we are.  Writers of novels are, first and foremost, storytellers, and they must never forget that fact.  Non-fiction writers are fact-gatherers and fact-sharers.

Underlining all of the types of writing is this important fact:  we all share the same five senses, and a good writer, one who really wants to connect with his/her readers, will always remember those five senses.  It is my job, as a writer, to make a scene come alive.  I am the ears, the nose, the throat, the eyes, and the fingers of my readers, and if I’ve done my job properly they will feel as though they are in my scenes.

With regards to my reflective piece about Frank, if I’ve done my job, you, too, will mourn the loss of a quality human being, or you will be transported back to a time of great loss you experienced.

In this particular case, with this particular piece, it will be a painful experience, but one which must be written . . . sweet melancholy . . . a painful celebration . . .

Thank you!

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

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Developing Characters in Fiction

16 May

Mister Streitz's home

Let’s spend a little time discussing the creation of characters in fiction.  As is my norm, I think I’ll drive home this lesson with a story from my past.

I really lived in an idyllic setting as a child.  The neighborhood where I grew up was overflowing with kids and good people in general.  The adults would watch out for all of us, like one big extended family.  Neighbors would help neighbors with big chores, without being helped, just stop what they were doing to man a wheelbarrow or help with painting, that sort of thing.  Everyone knew everyone’s name, a little Mayberry RFD in the middle of Tacoma, Washington.

It was all a very cool setting except for one person:  Henry Streitz, the neighbor who lived across the street from us.

The meanest man I’ve ever met.

Mister Streitz came back from the war a changed man, or so I’m told. All I know is he seemed to be put on this earth to terrorize and cuss at kids.  We knew, when we went out to play ball, that Mister Streitz would eventually appear, shouting at us to stay off his lawn, retrieving loose balls and tossing them in his garbage, cussing us out for disturbing his nap, the list of offenses was endless.

For fourteen years that is how I knew Mister Strietz, as a bitter, angry human being.  I literally, and I’m serious when I say this, I literally never heard a nice word from him during those fourteen years.

And then my dad died.

The day after my dad’s funeral I was outside sitting on the lawn, petting my dog, completely lost in my grief, when Mister Streitz walked out his front door and came across the street.  He stopped in front of me, seemed to be at a loss for words.  The moments ticked by and then he reached out his hand, shook mine, and told me he was very sorry for my loss, that my father was a good man and he would be sorely missed by everyone in the neighborhood.  Then he turned around and left me to my grief.

He never said another word to me in the next five years, and then Mister Streitz died.

MY WRITING LESSON

I try to remember Mister Streitz when I create characters for my books.  Human beings are incredibly complex.  There is a story in each of us, a story born from years of hardships and successes.  No one person is shallow and without personality.  No one person is one-dimensional.  And I believe it is our job, as writers, to bring each main character to life and give each of them the complexity they deserve.

This lesson is now over.  Have a great week of writing!

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

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The Pig on a Leash

9 May

Let me share you two stories about pigs, both involving my dad.

The first one took place when I was maybe twelve or thirteen.  Dad and I went to a Tacoma Giants baseball game on sunny Sunday afternoon.  The Giants were the Triple A farm club for the San Francisco Giants at that time, and they played at Cheney Stadium.  There was some great baseball played in that stadium back in the early 60’s, and my dad and I always enjoyed a trip to the ballpark.

So we arrived at the park, bought a couple hotdogs, and went up the stairs to find our seats.  We were walking down the aisle, I looked up, and I saw a guy walking a pig on a leash down the aisle coming towards us.  This wasn’t a potbellied pig but rather a full-sized monster, probably at least 500 pounds, and he was trailing poop behind him.  My dad and I looked at each other, but we simply couldn’t find any words that seemed appropriate.  We laughed for days about that.

To this day that’s still one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen….the context was just all wrong, you know?  It also serves as a strange reminder for me to always leave my readers with a sense of awe after they read one of my books or stories.  My job, as a fictional writer, is to capture my readers and to touch their senses through my words.  So I thank that guy, and that pig, for the early lesson.

NOT SO MUCH A STORY AS A LESSON

The other “pig-related” item I wanted to mention was an old saying my dad was fond of.  He used to say “you can put a dress on a pig, but you still won’t have a date for the prom.”  It’s been sixty years since I first heard him say that and I still laugh when I think of it.

What’s the point?  What in the world does that have to do with writing?

Now this is just my opinion, and considering the fact that in 1975, a guy by the name of Gary Dahl, sold a whole bunch of pet rocks, maybe my opinion is worthless, but it seems to me that you can dress up a product in a pretty marketing dress, but if that product is crap, you won’t be selling too many of them.

As writers, we are constantly barraged by articles about guerilla marketing, and social media marketing, and how to best market our product . .. but not enough is said about making our product high-quality.  If our writing is poor, we simply will not sell many of our articles or books.

Let’s put a ribbon on this and be done with it:  you should concentrate, first and foremost, on the quality of your writing. In the final analysis, producing a great article, or book, will be the best advertising you will ever do.  Don’t waste too much money, or effort, in sewing a dress for a pig.

WRAP UP

Two lessons from pigs, both timely and relevant for writers; I hope you got something out of them.

Have a great week of writing!

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

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A Few Thoughts About Fear

2 May

OMG!  We are about to have a prolonged stretch of spring weather.  It appears the Winter of Wet is about to end.  Praise the gods!

I have another blog I write in from time to time, a blog about urban farming, but I haven’t written in it for over three weeks now because I got tired of writing about the rain.  Maybe that will change this week.

OUR PUPPY

Well, it really isn’t OUR puppy, but rather my son’s…but my son lives in a room out in the back yard, so Bev and I spend a lot of time with this puppy.  Her name is Penny and she’s a Chiweenie (sp?), and she is adorable and fun and exhausting, all at the same time.

Penny has just taken over the house. She is convinced that the world is her oyster and the rest of us are just here to answer to her every need. I had forgotten just how exhausting puppies are but, at the same time, who can be angry with a puppy? Certainly not me!

So I spend a fair amount of time watching Penny, and the most entertaining of those times is when she is in the backyard interacting with the chickens and rabbits, all of whom are bigger than Penny and much-more established in the “pecking order” than Penny.

But Penny simply doesn’t care.  She sprints off into the backyard and acts like she’s the new boss in town.  She is totally fearless in the face of Butter Bitch, our meanest chicken, and Alice, our killer rabbit.  Penny does this kamikaze thing, running full-speed at the animals, and then changing course just before eminent disaster, and she’s quick enough to pull it off without suffering the consequences.  It’s pretty entertaining to watch.

And, of course, I draw lessons from watching Penny’s antics.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Nelson Mandela
THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Taking talent out of the equation for just one moment, why do you think most writers fail miserably at marketing their books?

Think about that question for a moment.

Penny is too young to know fear.  She simply doesn’t understand the dangers she faces in the backyard, the possibility that any one of the animals, at any moment, will grow tired of Penny and just peck the hell out of her.  Penny doesn’t understand apprehension based on pain or negative consequences in the past, so she just goes off, full-speed ahead, and does her thing.

How about you?  Is marketing holding you back and, if so, why?  Is it that you simply don’t like to market yourself, or is it because you are afraid of the pain of rejection?

Just curious!

NEW CUSTOMER

When it rains it pours.  I recently picked up a new freelance customer.   He’s a multi-millionaire in Texas, he is starting a new business, and he needs over 200 articles (SEO stuff) for his new website.  He heard from a friend about this freelance writer in Olympia, Washington, who does a good job , so he called me, offered me the job at a good rate, and so now I’m busier than a one-armed paperhanger with crabs.

The point is this . . . I’m often asked how to find freelance jobs.  Finding them is not difficult; finding good jobs is much harder, and it often, if not always, depends on your track record and your talent.

Work your craft!

Have a terrific week!

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”

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