writers

All posts tagged writers

The Cursed Cursor

Posted by george on June 15, 2010
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , , . 9 comments

Blink.  Blink.  Blink.  Taunt. Taunt. Taunt.  We’ve all been there, right?  Sometimes a minor annoyance, sometimes a frustratingly monumental boulder in our path to success.  We all handle the void in our own way.  When I first started my blog, the wide open canvas freaked me out at times.  If I knew I needed to post but had no stellar idea brewing I would tense up and curse the cursor.  Two years into it and most of the time it bothers me not.

In terms of posts at my blog, it’s no big deal.  I don’t have a boss pushing me to meet post quotas.  As well, I refuse to put my name on anything I would be less than proud of.  If nothing comes, I’ll hang for a day and something will always arrive for me to post about.  I have some oldies in the archive that still apply and those are always worth a resurrection.  I read enough books that I can do a review.  The forum is always open for guest posters but I get few folks taking me up on the offer.  In short, it’s all good.

When I have to write articles for a client, it’s a little different.  Apparently I work best under pressure and deadline.  I know this because this is where I seem to hang out.  If I have a week to do 20 articles, you can bet the last two days I’m a machine.  I have always been able to pull from the well and deliver.  I had one freelancer that I subcontracted for and as it turns out the client she wanted me to write for was way too picky and apparently in a different league.  I did maybe two articles and then let her know that the trouble wasn’t worth it and I didn’t want her to have to revamp my articles.  I knew when to give up.  That’s sound advice by the way.  If you’re in over your head, get out early.

Fiction writing is the area where I battle the cursor the most.  The problem is that generally, any pressure or deadlines are self imposed and I’m way too flexible in giving myself additional time.  There is also the problem of the canvas being TOO wide open.  I think maybe I need to write a novel using specific long-tailed keyword phrases.  Hmmm, I might have something there.

If given a writing prompt of some kind, I can usually come up with a decent fiction piece.  I just finished a little contest over at Wayne’s Long Short Stories.  The short story was 90 percent complete and the contest involved writing an ending.  It was great fun and the cursor bothered me nary a bit.

So, how stuck do you get?  Do you need a tow truck with a winch or do you just rock back and forth until you get some traction?  What are your methods for conquering the cursor?

Writer Rejection? This Book Will Help Ease the Sting

Posted by george on June 8, 2010
Posted in: Other Stuff, Writing. Tagged: , , , . 10 comments


I don’t imagine that anyone cares for rejection too much.  As much as we don’t like it, it’s important for writers to admit that it is part of the landscape.  I have a special place in my writing space called “The Wall of Shame”.  It is in this place that I put rejection letters for all to see.  I think we need to keep rejection in perspective.

So dontcha know that when I saw Other People’s Rejection Letters: Relationship Enders, Career Killers, and 150 Other Letters You’ll Be Glad You Didn’t Receive come across my desk at the library I scooped it right up.  I loved it.

Rejection Letters is about 200 pages worth of stinging, sometimes subtle, sometimes in your face actual rejections.  Some are more famous, like the US Army discharge recommendation for one James Hendrix: “Pvt Hendrix plays a musical instrument during his off duty hours, or so he says.  This is one of his faults, because his mind apparently cannot function while performing duties and thinking about his guitar.”  Man, you gotta love that.

Other rejection letters include end of relationship correspondence that ranges from the sweet (but BS in my view) “let’s be friends” to rambling diatribe that makes damn near no sense at all.  There are letters from a child to a parent and then there are things like this one from a mother to her son: “Sometime I think you are a big jackass but I love you – Mommie”

I love the format of the book.  The pages are for the most part images or copies of actual notes, be they handwritten, printed emails or old letters written on typewriters.  Some of the rejections are screenshots of text messages on cell phones.  It was a very easy read and I was finished within two hours.  What I found particularly amusing were rejections from editors that contained typos (Pot to Kettle!)

If you have received any kind of rejection letter in the recent past, this book will help to make you feel a little better about the rejection.  Maybe it will give you hope.  At a minimum it should give you a chuckle or two.

This is well worth checking out from your library, or better yet help me make a few cents and click on the link which takes you straight to Amazon.

Enjoy.

Vintage: Finding Your Writer’s Voice

Posted by george on May 24, 2010
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , . 55 comments

This is the last in a triad of vintage Tumblemoose posts.  I chose this one because I really like what it has to say.

Some writers are lucky.  That’s what I’ve decided.  From the very first keystrokes that they ever put to paper the words just flow and make sense.  Others struggle and it seems like the words never take on a natural flow for them.  Sometimes the difficulty in making words flow is so severe, it causes a terminal case of writer’s block.

If you spend any time researching this whole business of writing, you will see a great deal of folks advising you to find a writing voice.  If you can make it unique then all the better.  I would argue that you don’t need to find your voice, you already have one! Your writer’s voice is there in your head.  It’s what you hear as a constant word track throughout your day.  Your challenge is not to find your voice, it’s to put that voice to paper.

So you’re struggling with finding your writer’s voice?  You’re considering going back to your electric dog polishing business?  Before you throw in the writing towel consider these tips:

  • Here is your first key, and it’s an important one: Relax.  If you get all jacked up when you sit at the keyboard because you’re worried about your tone or your voice then things are never going to flow.
  • Pay attention to the authors you like.  What is their style?  Can you put a finger on what it is that resonates with you?  It’s possible that these folks resonate with you because their voice is actually very similar to your natural writing voice.  This is not a call to mimic.  If you try and copy what someone else is doing in terms of style or voice then you will fail.  You will fail because it won’t be natural for you.
  • Ask for dead-honest, straightforward critiques of your work from folks that you trust.  If your voice is a concern for you then let your reviewers know that you’d like them to focus on flow and tone.  Let them know you don’t give a rip about grammar or spelling in this instance.  Try and get enough reviewers to make the sampling statistically significant.  In other words get enough people to balance out your mom’s glowing praise.  If a majority of your reviewers come back with suggestions for taking an “English as a Second Language” course, there are probably some issues that need to be addressed.
  • This tip will blow your mind because it’s really out there:  Write.  How’s that for cutting edge?  you heard me, write.  A writer writes, right?  Discipline yourself to put 2000 words to paper each and every day.  Yes, every day.  It can be work on your novel, an article you’ve been thinking of for a magazine, blog entries – whatever.  It doesn’t matter what it is.  It’s all about the writing.  Try this for six months and you’re writing voice will gradually emerge.
  • Don’t pay a lot of money and sign up for another writer’s workshop.  Really.  You don’t need that.  What you need is to relax and write.  Your voice is already there, let it come out through practice if it’s not already coming out.
  • Finally (and I think this is crucial), write like you speak.  Typically the voice in your head has the same tone and cadence that makes it past your lips.  Use a different body part, that’s all.  Flow that cadence and tone and word structure through your fingertips instead of your lips.  When you write something, read it aloud and see if it sounds like something you would say.  Does it sound like you?  Perfect!  You’re there!  When you hear the words aloud does it sound forced or unnatural?  Ok, it’s no big deal.  Back to the drawing board.

You have a wonderful and unique writing voice.  Truly you do.  It’s all in your head.  Pay attention to how your writing sounds in your head.  Move that to paper and you will have found your writing voice.

I Publish Thee, I Publish Thee Not

Posted by george on April 7, 2010
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , . 21 comments

From: http://grace-for-life.blogspot.com

The past week or so has seen some controversy regarding the topic of self publishing.  I’ve seen posts and arguments before, but the turn and tone that this recent round took was particularly disturbing.  I caught wind of what was happening because I subscribe to the blog for Joel Friedlander.  I sang his praises a few days ago and his article on the Pros and Cons of Self Publishing is a prime example of why I think he’s the best thing around for writers.

When you think about it, writers 30 years ago had it easier in some ways.  Self publish was not much of a legitimate option and writers knew the game, knew the process.  It may have been a colossal suck, but the rules of the game were very clear.  Self publishing back then and until even recently was “vanity” publishing.  In other words, a hack who could not go through the regular publishing process but had enough money to do whatever the heck they wanted.

Unfortunately, even in this enlightened age, the stigma is still around.  Oh, it’s whispered and called by different names, but the recent things I’ve seen tell me that the looking down your nose arrogance is still alive and well, and living on the web.

I dare anybody to predict the direction of publishing for the next ten years.  Heck, I dare anyone to predict the next TWO.  Ga’ head.  Yup, that’s what I thought.  It’s not possible.  Authors now build platforms and are expected to take on a certain amount of marketing for their work.  Who is to say that self publishing will not be a part of the normal publishing scheme?

I think what got my goat about this were the comments that Joel referenced that indicated folks who choose to self publish are impatient non-writers who don’t want their product put under the scrutiny of agents and editors.  What?  You people can’t be serious.  I will give you that a certain (I’m certain TINY) percentage fits this but by and large me thinks folks holding this opinion stood in line twice when arrogance was being handed out.

The most recent issue of The Writer magazine has an ad on the back cover from Author Solutions.  It’s not the first time I’ve seen this ad.  I think it rings true: First Film, Then Music, Now Publishing.

Darned tootin’ fig newton.  Indie could certainly do for publishing what it did for films and music.

So applying the flawed logic of self pub nay-sayers, The Sundance Film Festival is just a circus of Charlatans and Posers, eh?  Independent music artists have had no impact on the industry and are talentless wannabes?

Are you beginning to see how foolish the argument is?

For me, I’m not sure the direction I’ll go.  I think I’ll work towards the traditional route of publishing my work in terms of any novels or non-fictions I produce.  With that said, I have flash fiction works over at Smashwords, and in less than a year, over 2000 copies have been downloaded.

Okay, let ‘em fly.  Where do you stand on the self publish issue?  Vanity publishing or a legit authorship route?

Man, I Hate Telling People I’m a Writer

Posted by george on February 4, 2010
Posted in: Writing. Tagged: , , . 22 comments

Image from: http://www.pbase.com/kourosh/image/71701705

I remember the first few times I was asked what I “did” after I went to full time writing.  I was all nervous and the words stuck on my tongue as I strangled out, “I’m a writer”.  It generally led to pleasant conversation and I was amazed by how much I had in common with people’s relations, acquaintances and friends.  Kinda thought it was cool, I did.  I also felt proud as could be calling myself a writer.

Fast forward a while.  Now, I cringe (visibly, I’m sure) when someone pops the question.  I cringe ’cause sure as all get out, the first thing outta their mouth is gonna be something like, “Really!  My sister’s best friend’s fiance has a cousin who is writing a novel!”  Me:  “Really?  That’s great.  Hey, how about those Lakers?”  Yeah, well it rarely works and I get to hear the third hand synopsis and isn’t that wonderful and I knew he/she was destined to be a writer and blabbity-blabbity-blabbity.

Or worse yet: “I’m a writer too!  I’m getting ready to publish my work on Kindle.  Yup, that’s right.  I finally broke down and bought Adobe Pagemaker so I can upload it.”  Me:  “Hmm.  Really?  What word processing program do you use, because both Word and OpenOffice have a one button save as a .pdf function.”  “Oh, I use Works.”  Me: “Oh.”

Nathan Bransford had a post today about it being a great time to be an author.  Gee, do ya think?  You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one these days.  (Disclaimer:  No cats were harmed in the making of this blog post.)

Far be it for me to squelch the bright eyed enthusiasm that often accompanies these awkward conversations.  But sometimes it’s all too much for my soul to bear.  Someone at the library severely damaged  the 2007 edition of the Short Stories Writer’s Market.  When they came in to pay for it they asked if they could take the book because they “really need it.  I’m a writer and this is important for me to have.”  I just smiled – “Absolutely”  Inner me goes, “What the frak!  Are you daft?!!  The contacts in there are almost four bloody years old!!!!  I wear my underwear longer than most of those people stay at their jobs!”

Man, I’ve got a headache.

So, I’ve decided I’m not a writer anymore.  No-sirree-Bob-a-rooskie.  “I is the accordian player for a Polka band that plays weekends at the VFW.  You should come see us sometime.”

Heh.  That’ll learn ‘em.