Are You Doing Too Much?

As I was skimming a few blogs today I ran across Yvonne Perry of the Lieurance Group, where she talked about Too Much of A Good Thing. She pondered as to whether she was doing too much within her writing business and if she should step back some. Go on over and read what she has to say. You will be able to relate as I did.

Write it down,

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Safeguard the Web for Chidren

Harmony at Writer in the Making, has tagged me for a worthy cause and I am happy to step up and join the fight for protecting our youth. I have entered a comment on the Blogger Power website.

You Can Write, But Can You Speak?

You can write a great book but if you can’t talk about it in public, it will fail. There will come a time when communicating over email just ain’t gonna cut it.

Your book just made the New York Times Best Seller list. The Today Show has scheduled you for an interview. So far so good, huh? Just as the interviewer asks you that first question your tongue twists into knots and all that comes out of your mouth is something akin to the voice of Peanuts Cartoon Character Charlie Brown’s mother. 0ow—wau---ooo--uuhh—uhhhh—hmmm, shazzaam.

Just recently Neil Chethik, author of VoiceMale: What Men Really Think About Their Marriages, attributed his membership in Toastmasters to his success on the talk show circuit. “Unless I learned to speak in public, I would have never had a successful career as an author” he says.

I belong to a local chapter of Toastmasters and March 5, I am scheduled to give my “icebreaker” speech. This is a speech that will tell my fellow toastmasters a little bit about me. I say, what they don’t know won’t hurt them, but the idea is to learn to speak with confidence. Speaking is like writing, to get good at it you need to practice, practice, practice.

I am not a spokesperson for Toasmasters, but I think it would behoove anyone who has a tendency to clam up or get sweaty palms when talking to a group, to check out a local Toastmaster group. All meetings last only one hour and anytime you are around a group of people, this is a perfect time to get ideas for your writing projects and make contacts.

Write it down,

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Ready, Set, 1 - 2 - 3 Write......

Screech!!!! Halt!!! Wait, wait. I just saw the latest software for writers who are just starting out on xyz website and it is a must. A manuscript cannot be written without it. I can't start writing until I have that in my writer's tool kit. I mean it is very important to keep track of my word count.

Oh, and while I was at the bookstore I just had to buy this book on how to sell books and articles. Never mind that I already have 10 books with all the advice that any novice writer needs even though I don't have anything written yet, but I know I will, so I need to be prepared.

I can't forget to subscribe to 15 magazines, websites and news papers and read 30 books before I put my first word on paper.

Now....What else do I need? Oh, what about that seminar?....oh, oh, dictionary, thesaurus, uh, ......just put it in the basket. I'll read later.

Okay, okay, you get my drift. As a new writer, blogger, etc, I have found myself doing everything BUT writing lately. Instead, I have gathered as many self-help books and articles on a freelance writing career, looking for THE secret. I have discovered that I have THE secret. It is in my fingertips right here, right now.

I realize I am not saying anything new to you veterans out there, but if there are any new writers listening in...run...don't walk to the nearest keyboard or note book and start putting your words down. Until that happens, you will never be a "writer" and any advice you receive won't do you any good until you put it to Action.

All of those things I mentioned above are very important but my point is that they do not stand alone and a writer can not learn by osmosis. I appreciate all the help that is out there for people like me and I shouldn't waste it by doing nothing.

To name a few of the important people who are here to help fledgling writers like me are Lisa Gates of Intrinsic life design, FundsforWriters, Writer in the making, The Golden Pencil and on and on. Please visit them.

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Plot driven or Character driven?

Which type are you? Suzanne Lieurance, the working writer's coach at The Lieurance Group, added some helpful comments during her teleclass about "plot-driven" writers versus "character-driven" writers. She reported that she learned she is a plot driver, which means her writing tends to focus on what comes next, how it happens, and how to move the story along without involving much of the character's personal lives or emotions. Dan Brown and John Grisham are "plot" men. Romance writers are most likely to be character driven.

Do you have a hard time "letting it flow" when writing? If so, it could be why non-fiction may be your expertise. Most people tend to over edit and criticize their own work. If you edit, format, and document sources in each paragraph before going to the next one, this can make it difficult to flow with the plot and characters as a fiction writer.

These are just a couple of ideas to come from the teleclass.

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If Only I'd Written.....

It seems today that the theme is about accepting criticism. Suzanne Lieurance touched on this at her site today. Yes the wider the audience you write too the more criticism you will receive and as Suzanne says, that is good.

What is not good is too much self-criticism. Now, mind you we all do it but let's be careful how much of it we listen too. Self - criticism can go on and on and it is highly unlikely that you are going to share every negative thought you have about yourself with others. Therefore when you do talk all this negative junk to yourself, no one is around to refute it because we fool ourselves into believing that we are more objective of ourselves than "outsiders" because, after all they are only "being nice".

Next time y0u feel you "bombed" ask yourself what you can learn from this experience. Are you a 100 percent a 100 percent of the time?

Above all, let's try to remember that the most important thing about any critique of yourself or others-- is that it inspires the wirter to go back and try again. If your self-ciritcism doesn't accomplish this then you have deprived the world of your continuing growth and achievement.

Write it down,
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Good Writing

Good writing doesn't just happen. It takes extra effort and a commitment to find the special angle that will lift your project above the ordinary.

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