Patience is a Virtue

So you’ve sent off your short story to a contest, or your query letter to an agent, or your manuscript to a publisher. And you wait. And you wait. And you wait.

It can be agonizing.

What’s a writer to do?

This is the age of instant gratification. If you need an answer immediately, go to a conference. There you can sit down with an agent or editor and have a face to face chat and find out immediately if you have what their agency is looking for. You may not like the answer you get, but at least you’ll get an answer. Immediately. If you don’t like the answer, don’t give up. Pitch to a different agent or editor. If you keep hearing “no” well, then maybe you should write something else.

If you’re willing to wait the two months for the competition, or the answer to the query or the manuscript submission, then there’s nothing you can do but wait the time out. And while you do, don’t twiddle your thumbs. Keep writing.

Someone may want to read a sequel.

Words for the Writer to Live By

One of my favorite quotes is:

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.

Prolific, huh? Must have been said by one of the greats, like Fitzgerald, or Dickens, or Faulkner. Bronte, or Shakespeare, or Poe.

Nope.

Dr. Seuss.

In my mind, still one of the greats. He wrote for a different audience, but he still touched a lot of minds. And hearts. And that’s all writers really want to do – reach the minds and hearts of their readers. That’s all I really want to do.

And, like Dr. Seuss said, I should do it in as few words as possible so as not to make it difficult for my audience.

Research

I want to discuss research a little bit today. In two different manners.

First, there is research for your writing. The Internet is a wealth of information, if you know how to use it correctly. Sure, sites like wikipedia pop up first and are easy to navigate, but tread carefully. Anyone can post to those sites and you can’t trust their accuracy. Rely instead on academic sites or sites whose expertise is solely about the topic you’re researching.

But, let’s not forget the importance of hands on research. There’s nothing that can substitute for actually being in the city you’re writing about, holding the object you mention in your hands, smelling the gardens, tasting the food… Your writing will be so much richer after having experienced the things you want to write about. People always say write what you know. If you don’t know it, go learn it, then write it.

Obviously this doesn’t apply to all genres (I’m not talking to you, George Lucas), but you get my point.

Challenge Accepted

Originally posted May 31, 2012

If anyone watches How I Met Your Mother, you’ll recognize one of Barney’s catch phrases in my title.

I’ve always considered myself a novelist when it comes to writing. If you know me personally, you know I can ramble on and on. Short and to the point isn’t really my thing. So, naturally, novels are right for me. I can weave long complicated plots and take my sweet time to get to the point. (That isn’t to say I take longer than I need to; I just don’t have everything wrapped up in 3000 words.)

Since I took that short story class I’ve decided to try to find stories in me that can be told in small segments. I’ve even written 250 word stories. I’m challenging myself to encapsulate events into small sections of time. Not only has it helped my novel writing, it’s just been fun.

Let me encourage all of you to challenge yourselves once in a while. Do something you don’t normally do and see if it doesn’t help you in your usual genre. I bet you’ll be glad you did. I know I am.

Memorial Day

Originally posted May 29, 2012

This is probably more of a journal entry, but I wanted it here because it’s so important to me.

I have a niece currently in the Navy and several family members (living and deceased) who served in the military in the past. Not to mention several friends I met when I lived near Wright Patt AFB who used to serve or still serve.

Happy Memorial Day. Let’s not now, nor ever, forget those who have served and those who have died to give us the freedoms we currently enjoy

La Fine

Originally posted May 25, 2012

I finished the first draft of my mystery the other day. It’s with the publisher being edited. What a great feeling. I started this blog oh so long ago to inspire others to see things through to the end and follow me on my journey as I wrote my book. As it turns out, I wrote a different book before I edited the book I was talking about, but I still finished a project, and that’s something. So now, let’s start the project I meant in the first place.

It’s time for me to revise Battle Scars (WIP, tentative title).

It’s time for you to work on your unfinished/unstarted project, too.

Collaboration… Sort of

Originally posted May 21, 2012

I’m having a friend over today to help her with outlining some of her projects. She’s never done that before; she just sits at the computer and writes. And hey, let’s face it, that works for lots of us. But she feels she’s having organization problems, so I suggested outlining, which is something she’s never done and is struggling with. I never used to outline either, but now I find it an indispensible tool. I highly recommend it, whatever form your outline takes. Mine is pretty general, and involves using styles in Word and bullet points. Like I said, general.

She’s looking forward to today because she wants to figure her problems out. I’m looking forward to today because I haven’t taught in two years, and, while I by no means consider this a teaching session, it kind of feels good to help someone with something again. I miss teaching, because I always learned something as I taught, and I’m sure I’ll learn something again today.

And who doesn’t enjoy a morning having coffee with a friend?

Short Story Class Completed

Originally posted May 10, 2012

So last night was the final night of the short story seminar. It was so different from what I expected. I thought we were going to learn how to develop characters and plot and dialogue, etc. But it was really more of an analysis class. Which, in and of itself, isn’t bad. You can learn a lot from analysis. But I did more than my fair share of analysis when I was in college. I didn’t really want to do more of it now, especially when we didn’t get in depth with it in the class. We only scratched the surface, and analysis is only fun when you dig in. Still, I made some contacts and practiced my craft, which is really all you can ask of a seminar. So, all in all, I’d consider it a success. Now I have to get back to my novel. I’m about 60 pages away from the end, and I’m getting excited!

The Other Novel

Originally posted April 23, 2012

I’ve put my novel on hold to begin work on a mystery. I’m calling it Daddy Issues, but we all know that’s subject to change. I answered a call for writers to write mysteries for a publisher starting a sleuthing series. It’s been an interesting project so far. It’s difficult to write under someone else’s constraints, but I’m rising to the challenge. It’s helping me flex my writing muscles. I highly recommend breaking out of the norms and trying something new once in a while. Not only is it liberating, it helps us reach parts of our minds and hearts that we haven’t tapped in a while. It makes us better writers, and maybe better people. And it’s fun!

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