Everything You Always Wanted to Know...

About writing for children but were afraid to ask can be learned by joining the Children's Writer's Coaching Club (CWCC).

As a club member, you are invited to take part in FOUR 55-minute teleclasses about children’s writing every month, plus you have the opportunity to submit a manuscript for professional critique every week, and you can choose to complete a weekly assignment and have it reviewed as well.

In addition, founder of CWCC, Suzanne Lieurance, presents a weekly 55-minute teleclass with known children's authors. This week on Thursday, April 10th at 3:00 pm Pacific time. Margot Finke will present a special teleclass for CWCC members titled: "Query Letters: How to get them right." It will be recorded and all members of the CWCC will also receive a link to the recording so they can listen to the class at their own convenience if they aren’t able to attend the live session Thursday afternoon.

You're probably thinking this costs hundreds a month. Wrong. For $27 a month you get all of the above. Plus you experience camaraderie of meeting other enthusiastic authors honing their writing skills.

Write it down,

Carma

Join the Club and Become a Successful Children's Author

What does it take to become a successful children’s author?

Join the club. The Children’s Writer’s Coaching Club (that is) (CWCC).

From the comfort of your own home you will learn how to develop a career writing for children. The children’s writing market is growing by leaps and bounds and publishers are looking for good writers. Good writing doesn’t just happen.

When you join the CWCC you will have access to four 55 minute teleclasses each month and four manuscript critique sessions for the low price of $27.00 per month. In addition you will have the opportunity to listen to published professionals like Suzanne Lieurance (founder of CWCC), Margot Finke and Simon Rose who will teach you all the tricks of the trade.

Is your interest peaked? Join the club now and you will be on your way to fulfilling your dreams as a published children’s book author.

Click Here. Don’t be shy.

Write it down,

Carma

The Sound of Writing

Thanks to Terry Whalin of The Writing Life for sharing this video from You Tube.

Click and enjoy.

Pictures ARE worth a thousand words. I would like to be able to commandeer those words, wouldn't you?



Write it down,
Carma

Is There Such a Thing as Wasted Time?

Much of what went on here at my computer today was wasted time. Have you ever felt like that? I began reading, scrolling, perusing emails and opening attachments around 11 a.m. Ever since the arrival of "post-meno" happened, there are days when my mind just has a mind of its own and decides to go on an adventure.

It is now 3 p.m. I glanced at the pile of snail mail and it was still there. So I went back to reading email after email, link after link and before I knew it I had ten sites open and was about ten links deep into each one. But they were all so good and I needed this information for my writing research.

Here’s the thing. None of this was doing me any good because I wasn’t writing. I was dreaming and thinking about writing. However, not everything was wasted.

Sharing with Writers Newsletter by Carolyn Howard Johnson and Authors’ Coalition Friends is a fantastic place for writers to go to and I am going to nominate Sharing with Writers Newsletter for the Writer’s Digest 101 best newsletters. ("To subscribe to 'Sharing with Writers' send an e-mail to HoJoNews@aol.com with 'subscribe' in the subject line.")

I ran across this humorous story at Authors Coalition to share with you and I laughed. I hope you do too.

The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won.

The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in another race, and it won again.

The local paper read: PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT.

The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in any more races.

The next day, the local paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey.

The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.

The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day: NUN HAS THE BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The Bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10. The next day the paper read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.

This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the high plains where it could run wild. The next day the headlines read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

Alas;...... the Bishop was buried the next day.

MORAL OF THE STORY?? Being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery, and even shorten your life. So, be yourself and enjoy life... stop worrying about everyone else's ass, and you'll live longer and be a lot happier!*

Write it down,

Carma

Are You Stuck in a Rut? Here's a Ladder

That’s not very helpful. Giving you a ladder really will not help you get out of a rut or learn why you got in the rut in the first place. Hope Wilbanks at Hope Writes wrote an article titled “Writing Ruts – What not to do when stuck”

Her four suggestions of what NOT to do are 1) Don’t Hide, 2) Don’t stop writing 3) Don’t throw it all away and 4) Don’t bury yourself in work.

Read her article in its entirety below:

In "Writing Ruts: What To Do When You Get Stuck", I shared some things every writer can do to get "unstuck." Now I want to briefly talk about the things you should not do when you're feeling stuck. It's all too easy for a writer to self-sabotage. So if you're feeling low on inspiration, or if you feel like you just cannot write another word, stop right there.

What Not To Do:
1. Hide. Let me tell you, I understand how it is when you can't write. You don't want anyone to know about it. You want to retreat and pretend like everything is okay and you're writing everyday. Don't pull away though. Keep in touch with those who will encourage you and cheer you on through your block.

2. Stop writing. Whatever you do, don't stop writing. I know you think it's impossible, but you can write, even when you don't feel like you can. Keep a journal. Write out your frustrations by hand. Write about how you can't write. Write how it makes you feel. Sometimes all you need is to work out those inner frustrations.

3. Throw it all away. I've heard way too many writers talk about how they threw away their rejected manuscript. Rejection hurts. But don't throw away all your hard work, just because someone said, "No." Just get up and try again.

4. Bury yourself in work. Writers on the other end of the spectrum think that if they bury themselves in what I call "busy work" they'll eventually be able to write again. If you can't write, then don't punish yourself by doing other things to keep yourself busy. Do something productive, or write in your journal.

If you're feeling stuck, I hope these tips help you out. Remember to be gentle with yourself. The inspiration will return. In the meantime, stay focused and be encouraged!

Do you need an article like this for your business? Hope Writes articles, blog entries, newsletters, press releases, and more for small business owners.

Write it down,

Carma

Are you Up for the Challenge?

SIXTH ANNUAL FUNDSFORWRITERS ESSAY CONTEST - SPONSORED BY NABBW.COM

FundsforWriters and the National Association of Baby Boomer Women announce the Annual FFW Essay Contest with the theme: Make Us Want to Be You! In 750 words or less, either send us a remarkable promotional plan for your writing project or tell us what you'd do with your writing career if you had a year to devote to your passion. As always with a FFW contest, you choose whether to pay a $5 entry fee or not. The first prize for the entry fee division is $200. The first prize for the non-entry fee division is $50. Deadline October 31, 2007. Winners announced December 1, 2007. Visit our sponsor at http://www.nabbw.com/. www.fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm

Take a few minutes to look around Hope Clark's FundsforWriters. You will find a lot of good things going on.

Write it down,

Carma

One Hit Wonders

In the music industry, a one-hit wonder is an artist generally known for only one single hit. More commonly, however, one-hit wonders are serious-minded musicians who struggled to continue their success after their popularity waned. Many music industry one-hit-wonders are novelty songs recorded for humor or to cash in on a fad and to an extent are deliberately short-lived. Examples include Rick Dees’s "Disco Duck," related to the disco craze of the 1970s; and C.W. McCall's "Convoy," related to the CB radio craze of the 1970s, and Chubby Checker lost 50 pounds with his one-hit wonder “The Twist”.

The literary world is not without its one-hit wonders either. Though the term is sometimes used in a derogatory manner, both genres experience long lasting popularity for the most part such as “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, who won the Pulitzer prize in 1961. What about “Gone With the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell who also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937. Boris Pasternak wrote “Doctor Zhivago” and after his manuscript was smuggled out of Russia, he was rewarded by being exiled to the country and banned from writing. This did not prevent him from being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1958.

These authors left their mark on the world just as Beethoven and Mozart did. Is it possible that we will ever see the likes of them again?

Why do you write? Is it for fame, fortune, humanity, expose or for love?

I write because I must and it is the best way for me to escape into a world that I can control. Yes, even in non-fiction writing I can control what I write about.

Everyone has a story inside them. What’s yours?

This morning while watching the news, I saw Lynne Cheney, wife of VP Richard Cheney marketing her newest children’s book, “50 States”, which is about the history of each of the 50 United States. Another book, “Sole Survivor” by Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of a Navy Special Operations Forces team was promoting his book. “Sole Survivor” is about four Navy Seals fighting off dozens of Taliban fighters in a two and one-half hour deadly fire fight.

New authors with new books excite me because I know I can do it too. Although Lynne Cheney is not a new author, I garner motivation from her to reach out and teach others. Motivation and Inspiration can be found when least expected.

Do you have a one-hit wonder hiding in you?

Take this quiz about authors who only published one book and you may be able to answer the question.

Write it down,

Carma

Are You a Writer or a Salesman?

Rumor has it that some writers fear selling face to face. True or False? I am a writer who hates selling face to face. My first distasteful experience with sales happened when I was ten years old. I was required to go door to door selling flower seeds as a fund raiser for my 4-H club.

Fear of selling is not a good thing for writers, since we need to sell our ideas and projects to publishers. Is it the fear of rejection or just an aversion to meeting people face to face? For me it is more about insecurity of myself. I find it much easier to “sell” myself on paper.

In Doug D’ana’s monthly newsletter he states that in order for writers to develop their own unique selling style they should take a sales course and not just read a sales book. A sales course will help you get down to the basics of selling face to face. You will learn how to see and feel clients’ emotions and how to react to them and you will gain an overwhelming advantage over writers who take only writing classes.

Doug characterizes his success in one way when he says “Truth is, if there's a reason why I've had such great success in copywriting, it is because I'm not a writer--I'm a salesman who types for a living.”

Of course “selling” is just another form of marketing. Suzanne Lieurance of The Working Writer’s Coach suggests that if we want to keep our freelance writing career going we need to develop a weekly marketing plan. There are two important items in any plan. One is Promotional Activities. We must constantly promote (sell) ourselves and our writing in order to be a working writer. Keep your web site or blog updated, write press releases and so on. The next one is Networking with other writers and community organizations. Join your local chamber of commerce and go to business luncheons.

Also, think of yourself as a “big” business. Even though you are the chief cook and bottle washer, you have a global business on the world wide web. Don’t sell yourself short in this area.

Everyone has a selling style waiting to be developed. Develop your own personal unique selling style and you can be a “thank-you-for-the-money-in-my-pocket” writer.

Write it down,
Carma

Eight Minutes!

Today at exactly 2:30 p.m. PST, with clammy hands and fingers, I pushed the send button and my email query sailed into cyber space. Exactly at 2:38 p.m. I had a response. Is that a world record? Nevertheless, there is a positive side to this because the editor said I should feel free to submit more queries in the future... You betcha.

What is the shortest amount of time between submitting an article and receiving a response for you?

Jenna Glatzer of AbsoluteWrite.com addresses the benefits of E-Queries in her book “Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer”. She says you don’t have to spend money on postage, ink, paper and envelopes. Response time is faster.” (I say it is!)

Of course there is always a down side to everything. You have less time to engage your reader with an e-query. “A busy editor checks her email with one hand on the mouse, ready to hit ‘delete’” Jenna says. “You have to use every word to convince her to read on.”

When sending an email query you can be a little more creative with the subject line so you can grab the attention of the editor. In these days with the bombardment of spam, it is probably better to identify yourself as a writer immediately, rather than risk looking like an ad. For instance you can write “Query: How I broke the Glass Ceiling”, in the subject line or any catchy title that may generate a response.

Let’s hope you write a fantastic lead because in an editorial meeting, editors usually only have about ten seconds to pitch their (your) ideas. Keep this question in mind: “What can you write that will be easy to summarize in just a few seconds?”

Which ever method of delivery you choose, snail or email, to send off your query just make sure it is what the editor asks for. Keep sending them because persistence pays off. So get ready to send out a killer query.

Write it down,
Carma

The Human Condition

Samuel Beckett (1906 - 1989)

'Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again.

Fail again. Fail better.'
~Samuel Beckett

Hope Clark at Funds for Writers, prompted me to comment on Samuel Beckett this evening with the above quote.

Is this a pessimistic statement from Beckett or can we catch sight of the positive in it? Some readers might say Beckett meant that nothing in life matters because we are all destined to fail. Or does it mean that when we do fail we should learn from it and move forward?

I am not familiar with Beckett’s work so I did a little research. I found that Samuel Beckett was a talented writer, poet and screenplay writer and very unhappy. I also realized that he cared deeply about The Human Condition,

The Human Condition is a philosophical problem. Only human beings ask themselves questions relating to the purpose of life beyond the base need for survival, or the nature of existence. Why was I born? Why am I here? Where will I go when I die?

There are some things that cannot be understood. Maybe we should just learn to "Be" and learn to "Accept" and learn to (at the risk of being too simplistic) "Bloom Where You are Planted"

There are 4 things in life you cannot recover:

1. The Stone, after the throw

2. The word, after it’s said

3. The occasion, after the loss

4. The time, after it’s gone

Write it down,

Carma

Brand Me Baby!

Branding has surfaced as a topic on a few blogs I have visited recently and I could’t help but think about possession. When a company brands a product, that means the company owns the product, but what happens when the brand is a common term? For instance the term “writer”. Obviously this term/word is public property. It is not enough to say “I am a writer” because we need to clarify what kind of writer we are. As writers, we brand ourselves and our businesses individually. In other words, we create a product. What is your product?

My product is words. How do I brand words? They are free (individually) for the taking, abusing, training, creating and brilliance. Therefore, we strive to create a (logo) trademark that will enhance our brand, so when readers are surfing around, our most creative, brilliant, blog will jump out and grab them by the mouse. We only have about ten seconds to do that.

Recently I checked my rating and considering that there are millions of blogs, I think a rating of 494,392 is not bad. It’s not in the top 10 for sure, but it’s not in the millions either. I was encouraged. There is no where to go but up.

Mike Wagner did a great post on branding and came up with some thought provoking ideas. My favorite is that the customer (our readers) own the significance of our brand. In other words, what our brand means to the customer is most important.

"Wise brand owners know they might own the original ideas, vision and
meaning of their brand, but the significance is something customers
own."

We give birth to our brands from our collective life experiences. I like what Mike says about it.

A brand in this sense is much deeper than just what is manifested. It’s the sum of all the cultural and knowledge-based memory archives of a company with a dose of communications and constant awareness of the future — of work and relationships.

Write it down,

Karma

What's Your Motivation?

Today I was surfing blogs and I got sort of lost in the blogosphere where so much rich content is available to us. It is impossible, for me anyway, not to click on relevant links in a blog post. If there is any negativity associated with blogging this would be it, but there is nothing negative in helping other people as these links do.

For example Roger at Creative Think, made me think. (That’s a no brainer), but it is not that I thought-- it is that Roger accomplished his purpose which is to engage in a conversation with his readers. Roger invites us to read Tom Haskins post about Different Motivations for blogging. Tom sums up our motives in his concluding paragraph.

Different motives for blogging yield different impacts on the rest of us. Some blogs reflect a consistent motive while others change character often. There are some indications of bloggers evolving from base motivations to higher motives. These possible progressions lend to blogs making bigger and better differences in the world.

Next I go over to visit Suzanne Lieurance at The Lieurance Group where she reminds us of the wonderful world of information at our fingertips every day. For example if you are tired of using the old cliché and they are making your writing boring check out Cliché Finder or if you need a jump start when you are drawing a blank, go to 11 Rules of writing.

My next stop is at Design Your Writing Life, where Lisa Gates is inviting us to pass the SOAP and scratch each others back. Now, I thought blogging was a family affair. Well, we are a family filled with caring and helpful people and this is what I am finding on each and every blog I go to.

My perspective of blogging has undergone quite a change since I became a blogger, but I will reserve that observation for another day.

If you have watched enough Law and Order as I have, you would know that motive is usually considered a negative word. So let's use motive in a positive way this week. What is your motive for writing?

My motive is to express myself intelligently. Also, writing will give me the opportunity to think before I speak. Have you ever written in anger or even excitement and after the words simmer down a little you go back to read them but they don't have the same tone?

Write it down,
Karma