Dec 27

Writing Commitments for 2015: What’s yours?

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With a new year days away, it’s that time where people make resolutions for the changes they’re making. How next year will be different because…

The problem is that most resolutions are broken, perhaps because they seem more like wishes, hopes, or dreams.

At the last meeting of 2014 for the Deadwood Writers, I invited the members to come up with commitments to grow themselves as writers. As they share their plans below, the invitation is extended to you:

What are 1 to 3 concrete steps that you will take to improve yourself as a writer. Be specific and concrete–something you can track or measure.

Non-example A: I will be a published author this year.

Example A:

  1. I will complete a short story or article.
  2. I will compose a query letter for the story or article.
  3. I will use Writers Market to identify 5-10 publishers who accept simultaneous submissions and send the query letter with the short story or article.

Non-Example B: I will write more this year.

Example B:

  1. I will read 25 books within the genres that I want to write.
  2. I will write a draft of 2 stories that fits within the genres.
  3. I will share these drafts with 3 people for their feedback regarding fitting the genre, plot development, and character development.

Share your writing commitments in the comments section below.

Now here are Writing Commitments by members of the Deadwood Writers…

John McCarthy

  1. I will read at least 10 books across genres that I like to write about: Education, Fantasy, Horror, Young Adult. I’ll write a review on Good Reads or Amazon or on this blog.
  2. I will learn writing techniques from the writing styles of at least 3 authors from reading their work, which I’ll share during the Deadwood Writers’ study sessions.
  3. I will create a detailed outline and chapters for an Education book on Differentiated Instruction for the 2*+ Century — to be shared with 3 writer colleagues for feedback.

Claire Murray

  1. I will start writing my blog post earlier each month this year.
  2. I will focus my attention more on the humor in the situations that are happening around me so I have more things to write about.
  3. I will read a book on writing.

Book Lover

  1. I will enter the Writer’s Digest Short Story Contest
  2. I will send two short humor pieces to Reader’s Digest
  3. I will write 25,000 words of my novel

Karen Kittrell

  1. Continue study on flash fiction by reading at least one writing book and attending at least one appropriate workshop.
  2. Submit to at least one contest, magazine, editor or agent.
  3. Write for Deadwood Writers’ Voices and/or create my own blog.

David Buehrle

  1. Set aside 8 hours per week for writing,
  2. Read 2-3 books that can guide me to better writing techniques.
  3. Let 7 days pass after writing a section before beginning my own edits.

Wendi Knape

  1. Complete final edit for A New Life in January.
  2. Prepare and send A New Life manuscript query letters to 10 or more agents in February.
  3. Complete the first draft of The Girl and the EMT (working title) I started writing while doing NaNoWriMo. I will be as diligent as I was while doing NaNoWriMo. I was about half way through the manuscript when I reached 50,000 words.

Victoria Wright

  1. I will rejoin the deadwood writers voices blog.
  2. I will attend a writing retreat.
  3. I will read 2 or more books about writing.

Diana Hirsch

  1. (A) Find an editor and (B) publish my memoir before June 2015.
  2. Explore at least one new book/genre and revisit an old favorite.
  3. Set aside time to journal at least once a month.

Katie

  1. I will build an author’s website.
  2. I will query at least 15 more agents by mid February.
  3. I will blog for the Deadwood Writers’ Voices (and possibly more websites).

Kelly Bixby

  1. Write a children’s book.
  2. Interview two key people for the biography I’m working on.
  3. Submit at least one article to a magazine.

Sue Remisiewicz

  1. I will start work on one of the novels I have floating in my head.
  2. I will enter one writing contest.
  3. I will put the final edits on the two stories sitting unfinished on my desk.

Jeanette

  1. I will finish my story, Tangled Web.
  2. I will begin work on an original (non-fanfiction) story I’ve been
    brainstorming on for some time.
  3. I will read a book on writing.

Emily Walker

  1. Finish rough draft of current piece and edit.
  2. Submit a (magazine) publication of some kind.
  3. Attend deadwood’s meetings after the baby is born (at least once/month).

Kook-Wha Koh

  1. I will write monthly blogs.
  2.  I will write travel stories and essays.
  3. I will prepare for self publishing the third book in early part of 2016.

Dec 24

A Writer’s End of Year Reflection

What I like most about this time of year is the unique, collective opportunity it offers for spending time on people and things that we might not do otherwise: gift giving, sharing meals, travel, being with friends and family.  Sure there may be irritations along the way, but in the end the goodwill intended ought to bring some light into our lives.  No matter how things go, it’s a rich breeding ground for great story ideas.

However you plan to spend this time, my wish is that it nurtures your spirit and health, and brings you closer to the people you love and the things you like to do.

Take care and may you receive all the best the New Year has to offer!

Dec 23

Imagining Fiction in the Electronic Age

I received a good response to last month’s apocalyptic post on pulp, mostly notes of reminiscences. I had no idea people time-stamped their best reads like they were best dates. Two folks thought enough to put fingers to keyboard and tell me just how wrong I was, and one good friend about chewed my ear off with the same message. But one woman wrote about following a person off a subway, up a flight of stairs and all the way to the crosswalk without that person ever looking up from their Kindle. She didn’t say if they were male or female, old or young, but earlier she had seen the same thing play out from subway to crosswalk, only this person was reading a paperback. What she noticed was how engrossed both readers were in their stories, not the format they were reading them on. To her, and to me, it proves that Content will always be King.

Thanks to all who commented.

 

Tomorrow’s bestselling fiction authors need to wade through new and exciting waters if they want readers to enjoy their digital content. The future fiction story has to be engaging on every page. Good news! Authors can now use more than just words to engage their readers!

Meaningful graphics strategically placed in the body of the works is soon to be the new norm. Children’s fiction has always been picture book format, so it will just be business as usual for that age group. Adult fiction authors, however, strive to paint just enough of a character or a scene, yet still leave something for the reader’s own imagination. We want to draw characters that remind readers of someone they’ve known: the bitchy boss, the nearsighted neighbor, the real estate lady who knows no quit.

Authors run great risks in the future if they use the wrong graphics. This becomes a fault, graphically speaking, when authors use a well-known person as a metaphor. For example, one of my references to Elizabeth, a main character in my upcoming novel, Knock Softly (working title), says she looks like Little Orphan Annie in one childhood photograph. The reader already knows that Elizabeth is a redhead so that is all I say. I leave all her other attributes to the reader’s imagination; young Elizabeth’s height, voice, dimples or not. Adult fiction readers can color in all the “known” minutiae much faster, and clearer, than the author can. In this case, any companion image of a young Elizabeth would spoil the reader’s own imagination.

Other trip-ups include using well known locations, like Disneyland or the Grand Canyon for example. You don’t want to alter whatever image your reader already has; you want them to recall it. Authors can only do that with words that metaphorically develop their characters against such landmarks. The great e-novel of the future will illuminate the text with images that only the author can bring to life.

Color, not black and white, will adorn future e-pages. Without ink, there is no cost consideration for digitally printing in color, so descriptive hues, shades and shadows will matter as never before. For that reason, future authors need to be just as considerate for what they choose to leave out as what they choose to spell out. Even the very colors that illustrators use have to complement the scene’s mood and drama, otherwise the visuals will wind up competing with the words. It’s a subliminal thing, but ad agencies have been refining the use of color for decades to convey stature, sensuality and attitude. This is nothing new, it’s just found a new home. Black and white will only be used to depict dark and dreary scenes, or to shadow horror too repulsive for vivid interpretation.

Here’s the rub: e-novel readers cannot see how “heavy” a tome is before they buy it. There is no page count. Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken weighs as much as James Joyce’s Ulysses in e-book format. Instead, there is an indicator at the bottom of each page showing what percentage you’ve completed. It feels like a journey, not a read. Authors need to be aware of this from their first draft onwards. That indicator is like the kids in the backseat of your mind asking, Are we there yet? There is less time for a story to “breathe” in the future e-novel, where pictures purpose the pauses. Each page has to be reason enough for the reader to carry on. Authors are going to have to make the journey just as entertaining as the destination if they want to shut up the brats in the backseat of their reader’s mind. The percentage indicator is neither good nor bad; it’s just a new way of telling time in a novel. We’ll all get used to it. By next Thursday.

E-novels will probably be 75,000 to 100,000 words with a dozen-odd illustrations to richen up the read. Last chapters will be written like soap opera; effectively, lead-ins for tomorrow’s adventure in a continuing series. Authors who create quirky characters that readers want to follow from adventure to adventure will do well.

Dec 21

Swimming

I love to swim. It lifts my mood and relaxes me like nothing else. I feel good all over. Nothing hurts. It’s the best form of exercise!

The best time for me to swim is when it’s cold outside, the colder the better. I throw on some clothes over my swimsuit, put on my parka and sandals and drive to the health club down the street. Eight minutes door to door, if I get all green lights. If not, then it’s ten.

I swipe my card, put my clothes in a locker, grab a towel and head to the pool. Well, not any pool, but the warm water pool. I can’t believe how good it feels when it’s 32 or 22 or maybe only 2 degrees outside and I walk down the stairs into the warm water pool. It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven! Not that I’m ready to die yet, but I like the metaphor.

There are two lap lanes in the warm water pool. They’re on the far side by the windows. While the warm water makes the pool so wonderful, it’s the windows that make the experience. They’re floor to ceiling, at least 20 feet high and go across the length of the room. They let in so much light, I can’t help feeling like I’m outdoors in the summer sun even though I’m really indoors protected from the winter freeze.

When it’s really cold like this, the sun always shines, bright and sparkly and sometimes even feels warm when it comes through the glass. If it’s only 35 or 40 degrees outside, the sky is overcast, foggy or just plain yucky. But when the world is frigid outside, the sun ensures that it’s bright and cheerful inside.

Once I get to the lap lanes, I start swimming: up and down, up and down, on my back for forty minutes. I keep looking out the windows. I can’t help smiling.

 

I am so lucky! Lucky to be here swimming laps in this warm bath tub at the exact time I used to be pulling into the garage at work, parking my car and getting ready for my first conference of the day. I am lucky to have a health club that’s so close and convenient and has such an uplifting setting. This whole experience makes me feel grateful for all that I have: family, friends and good times!

Everything is good. Life can’t be better than this!

Dec 18

I Published a Book in 10 Hours

Jimmy the burgler

I did it!

Families inspire us and intimidate us.  Jimmy’s mother, father and brother are all members of the Burglars Union Guild (BUG), and he is expected to follow in their footsteps.  Jimmy has slippery fingers and not in the slick, pickpocket ways; he drops things.  That lack of dexterity is just the start of his struggles to gain entrance into the most elite thief organization.  The story of his life is now immortalized in electronic bytes.  I published a book.

I didn’t do all that writing in one day, as I proposed in my original challenge.  I also spent more than 10 hours writing Jimmy the Burglar.  Regardless, I completed the challenge.

I feel really good about that because this is my first fiction piece in a long, long time.  Fiction is easier to write than memoir because I could make up whatever stuff I wanted.  Fiction is also harder to write than a memoir because I had to make up whatever stuff I wanted.

This is my third self-published book, and I learn new elements with each effort.  This time, I experimented by writing the first draft in longhand.  At 2 hours and 56 minutes of writing, I hit a wall: great story elements, but no tension.  Typing that first part in gave me time to think about the story I wanted to tell here and now and in 10-ish hours.  I initially focused on the entire family history as related to the evolution of the Guild, but in that writing, I developed incredible backstory fodder for future Jimmy short stories.  The tale worth telling today is the evolution of Jimmy’s final exam for BUG membership: his MOTH (Modus Operandi Thesis Heist).  After the humiliation he experienced working with Big M, it is vital that Jimmy’s MOTH get all the details right.

At 7 hours and 42 minutes, I was having Too Much Fun writing. So much fun that, I forgot to reset the timer at one point.

After 16 hours (approximately) and 5100 words (23 pgs.), you can read Jimmy the Burglar’s first adventure on Amazon.com.

How did your story turn out?  If you completed the challenge, post your link below.  If you didn’t, share your thoughts now about the experience for all of us so we can learn from it.  And for me, I’d love to know your thoughts about my book. Whaddya think?

If you’re looking for some inspiration and encouragement to complete a book like this, there is a day-long workshop planned for early 2015 in the metro Detroit area.  Stay tuned for the details.

Even if publication isn’t your goal, doing a challenge like this is immensely satisfying. I have typed “The End” on a piece of my writing and am now moving on to “The Next.”