Built Over night?

There are three difficulties in authorship: to write anything worth publishing, to find honest men to publish it - and to get sensible men to read it.
~Charles Caleb Cotton

I see so many folk jump on the bandwagon of writing only to want to get it done, right here and right now. This career choice isn’t one where you go to college, come out with a degree and then become a rich and famous published author. It’s all about a snails pace mentality. You write every day, you blog possibly, you move forward step by step in hopes to achieve something of a positive result.

Many want a lesson to know about show and tell, they look for answers and feedback, get swayed by being the most popular in a class and are quick to help, and aid in any way they can. But I’m telling you once more, writing is not a popularity contest. Writing is long hard work. Dedication to knowledge in the field.

Don’t walk into a class, with an arrogance of , “My work is so great, I’m saving it for ‘proper’ publication.” You’re in a private classroom, locked out from the public, you’re creatively learning by doing writing lessons, and when someone wants to honor you on a good job, it gets published in a private ezine. And you, as a writer say, “No, I don’t want my work published, I’m saving it for the big leagues.”

We writers are an arrogant bunch. To think for one moment, that a lesson, in a class, where you are learning the ropes, is publishable in the ‘big leagues’?  Let me tell you now, arrogant writers, your writing is protected in a classroom. Even if published by your classroom ezine, does not make it, already published when it comes submitting time to the big leagues of the industry. The Big Guys are looking for polished work. They strive to find perfection in an imperfect world, they want knowledgeable and profitable work that is going to not only make them money, but bring you a few dollars too.

It’s a long hard road to publication, and no, you as a beginning writer are not going to become this great publishable writer over night. The road is bumpy and sometimes unpleasant. There are hurdles to leap over and hoops to jump through. There are hours upon hours of learning techniques and knowledge to form and shape a story into a money-making sold story.

Some steps to take to get where you’re going:

1) To learn about show vs. tell, Point of View, Character building, etc. , don’t wait for an online course to teach you what THEY know, go out and grab information for yourself!!! You can google simple words, ie. Show and Tell in Writing, to give you tons of knowledge.

2) Put all the information into a file and use it as you write and shape your story. If you feel that a sentence isn’t working, it probably isn’t. Dig into the knowledge pool and find out why!

3) Learn what publishers are looking for. You may think your story is the best on earth, but will any publishers want the same old, same old, tried and true crud that is already out there, or are they seeking something new and different in your work?

4) Set aside the popularity contest. Being popular is not what writing is about and will not get you one iota closer to being a published writer. If you need your ego stroked, you’re in the wrong line of business here.

5) Write! Write! Write! -- Being a writer means that you are going to spend hours upon hours writing and learning. A writing career is not built over night. It takes years of patience, blood, sweat, and tears.

The Confident Writer

You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.
Les Brown

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I have noticed that a lot of newcomers come into the writing world lacking confidence. I don’t know if its their age, immaturity, low self esteem, or lack of confidence in their writing ability, but these folks need to learn from the ground up. Their first step is to join a writing community. This is where they take that first baby-step.

I’ve watched many join a writing community that are well versed, well spoken and darn good writers, still they lack the confidence needed to get them to the next level, and that is, publication! So they meander around the writing site, setting their writing free to the writing community, and get accolades on their writing and in essence get their confidence built up!

Now with the ‘newbies’ they call them, they are testing the water, dipping a toe in, seeing if it is warm enough to go swimming with the, I’ll call them ‘oldies’. The oldies are going to show the newbies the ropes and hopefully lead them in the right direction with their writing. Now some oldies are just as unprofessional and unconfident, so I think that is giving the newbs false leadership because then when the newbs decide the water IS nice warm and safe, they find they’ve jumped into shark infested waters that the oldies never warned them of at all!

Confidence is opening a vein. Have you ever walked into a crowded room, all eyes were on you, and your stomach started churning and gurgling? You stood there with beads of sweat starting to form on your brow and the palms of your hands were sweaty? That is your lack of confidence rearing it’s ugly head trying to get you to bolt right out the door. But in your confidence, you stand and walk through the throngs of people with a gentle smile, and you look at the people, straight in the eyes, and make your way to the buffet table!

A confident writer is one who has written a tale, has read the story and maybe even revised it, walks into his classroom and delivers one of the most outstanding short stories the people have ever read. They attack the grammar, fix a few sentences, tear apart your spellbinding work and you, you walk away from the buffet table feeling full as if you have eaten the entire table. Your peers liked your work so much, they felt it worthy to straighten a few things out with you. The confident writer goes back to the table, takes all of their advice, reshapes, re-forms the tale and brings it back to the classroom shiny and new.

They love it! Now the confident writer seeks a market for the story. Searches and searches until they have found a home for it, and when (not if) it gets published, you go back to your peers and they all let out a roaring clap and congratulate you.

Now the not-so-confident writer fears even pulling her/his work out for everyone to see. They’re the ones who either bolt out the door as soon as the eyes are upon them. Or they walk slowly to the buffet table, head lowered, never seeking eye contact with one individual. They eat (read others work), they nibble (give a little feedback) they mingle (befriend and enjoy the camaraderie), and soon, after seeing that the people are all just like him/her/them, the confidence starts to build and slowly but surely, they are sharing their work.

Whether good or bad, you will never ever get an ounce of confidence if you don’t walk in the door, and take a big old chomp out of what scares you the most! With fear you will always remain a newbie in a world of popular confident people.

My entire point here is this: Share your writing with confidence! Or you will remain a fearful newbie writer for a good long time!

Write Right~ Ten things to help

Many people ask, "What will kick start my writing?" Well here are TEN THINGS to get you started and help you on your way.

1. WRITE - this is an essential part of writing. If we don’t write then we bleed, terrible pain ensues and, well, you know what comes next.

2. NOTEBOOK - this is a part that many writers forget to have. I’m not meaning the computer notebook, I mean the old fashioned pen and paper. We all remember what that is right? WRITE! Have one in the rooms you occupy most, jot down story ideas, words that will trigger story ideas, poems, or write a story!  (no doodling please)

3. TIME - Set yourself a place and time for writing. We all say, “I don’t have time.” But really think about that. You don’t have even thirty minutes to spare for a dream, when you have eight hours for dreaming while you sleep?  ;)

4. WORDS - Words can trigger a whole line of thoughts. The thoughts can be strung into sentences and before we know it, we have a story. Know your words.

5. THESAURUS - You’d be surprised what a thesaurus can do for you. Instead of using the same word over and over to describe say, rain, use your thesaurus to conjure more creative ways to write about rain.

6. DICTIONARY - This is also a useful tool to find ideas AND get the right word. Use it so you sound like you know what you’re talking about.

7. WRITING GROUP - This one is the best tool ever. After you’ve written, you can show your group and they can tell you whether it is good, redundant, boring, or done too many times before. Your group is your lifeline into the reality of your writing. Treasure them!

8. Music - Sometimes when I sit down to write, I need silence but often times I need the strumming of a guitar or the sound of the sax. Whatever it is that puts YOU in the zone, use it to your benefit and begin writing!

9. GOALS - Everyday you need to write. Whether it is five hundred words or a thousand. You need to set a goal. “I will write five hundred words today!” Stick to your goal and your goals will get higher and higher each week!

10. CONFIDENCE - This one is a toughie. You need to have confidence in what you’re writing. Don’t keep going back to edit your work. You need to write and not stop. Save the editing for a completed work. Know in your heart you can do this and do it! Gain confidence through the prior suggestions.

After you get into the habit of utilizing these ten things, you will then see your writing get better, more frequent, nice and tight writing, growth, then with some luck, publishable work!!!

Now copy and print this out! Hang it above your computer so you are reminded EVERY DAY what you have to do, and STICK TO IT!!! Just give the author credit where credit is due. ;)

Quotation Saturday

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.

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~DETERMINATION~

“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.”
 ~Albert Camus

“I think I’d like to be remembered as someone who beat the odds through just plain determination… that I persevered. Because I think that being somewhat of a pest to life, constantly plaguing and pursuing, will bring results.”
~Sylvester Stallone

“Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.”
~Ella Fitzgerald

“Have the dogged determination to follow through to achieve your goal; regardless of circumstances or whatever other people say, think or do.”
~Paul Meyer

A realistic assessment of my strengths usually turns up several weaknesses also. Becoming more self-accepting involves not only awareness of strengths but also the acceptance of my weakness not in the sense of not wanting to do something about them, but in the sense of not letting them block the use of my strengths.
~David G. Jones


I grew up in very difficult times. I observed and learned. Nobody was preparing me, I was preparing myself. I was trying to get the most out of life.
~Will Robinson

~Perseverence ~

I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.
~Christopher Reeve
 
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
~Calvin Coolidge (1872 - 1933)

~Journalism ~

To read a newspaper is to refrain from reading something worthwhile. The first discipline of education must therefore be to refuse resolutely to feed the mind with canned chatter. ~Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947)

But what is the difference between literature and journalism?...Journalism is unreadable and literature is not read. That is all.
~Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Critic as Artist, 1891

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
~Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

Check Mate

Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. It’s the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors.
Rhys Alexander
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Since blogger won't upload my pics, I'll resort to what I know and love the most, writing quotes! They keep us all motivated.
***

So you were anticipating the blog about the correlation between writing and chess? Well let me tell you, I can give a really good analogy of a chess/ life scenario but I’ve really got to work on the writing/chess.

Okay where do I begin? I’ll start with the white side. This is the team I always go for in playing chess. It reminds me of purity and all that that entails. Strength,wisdom, knowledge,etc.

In writing, the white team can be visualized as the protagonist, or the good guy. The dudley-do-right, the main character of the story. Then we have the black team and they are the antagonist, the bad guys, the dark force, the one or ones that will be causing all kinds of trouble in the story.

We have pawns on both sides, correct? The same powerful pieces standing behind the pawns on both sides too. The pawns can be seen as the disposable characters, if you will. Now you have all of these characters standing behind you vying for a place so lets give them a place.

The rook will be the homestead or foundation of your story, the dark side has an ominous looking castle which probably houses Count Dracula or some other dark figure.

The knight will be the character in your story that does all the fighting for you. The dark fights for the light, the light normally wins IN THE END, hopefully, with fingers crossed the Light will win. (emphasis on WILL win)

Then we have the bishops. They can be your moral compass. The good seed buried in all of us that sometimes we call a conscious. Now the dark bishop is who in your story? Well it’s the dark force or the bad seed that will not and can not take root because you’ve given him/it no fertile soil in which to grow.

Ah, now we have the king and queen. This will be the strong lead characters in your story who eventually are left standing with the dark side (king and queen) all alone on that big checkered board, or white page.

What do we do in this position? We do what any good writer would do and that is knock the pants off of the Dark Force and we have our main characters all full of light left standing in a triumphant glow of completion. Check Mate!

Hey I think this sounds better than the football analogy. Have either of these two posts made any sense?

Good...now lets see if I can see what gardening and writing have in common. Okay, I’m kidding!

Now we know what makes a story so what are you waiting for? Why are you sitting here reading, shouldn’t you be writing?