Soul Sucking Things that Get Writers

Covid 19 is a soul sucker. It's an on-edge feeling of fear, want & confusion. We fear the virus (or we should.) We want to be normal. To go back to our day to day life and to our old goals and ambitions. Right now all that is on hold. We face confusion every minute of the day. Information overload from all directions.

I was a that real job thing the other day when a man told me about those Americas Frontline Doctors who said that hydroxy-whatever can cure Covid. Wow, wouldn't that be great? So as soon as I could get to a computer I looked it up. A bunch of doctors said it's so. So I looked them up. Each. Individually. I wanted to know if they were people I should believe. 

First I saw that Facebook and Twitter had deleted the postings. hmmmm, why would they do it? 

Well it call came out that 2 of them were ophthalmologists and not regular medical doctors. One of them doesn't even have a license. The main speaker has publicly stated that she believes dreaming about demons can get a woman pregnant. 

Did I really have to read further? 

Ok so the ball of confusion is everywhere and by the time you research -- we are writers after all, that's what we do; research -- maybe an hour or two has passed. Then where are we? Certainly not writing or editing.  We all know social media is a soul sucker so now on top of all that we have Covid-land. So, how do we get our drive back? 

Back to basics; 

1. Schedule your writing time and go to it like a job. Every great writer does this so it's #1 on the how to get your writing mojo back. 

2. Close the door. Not just on the people in your house but on all that static from social media. DON'T OPEN IT! Consider it a demon ready to snatch your writer's soul. 

3. Set a goal. It could be 20 minutes it could be an hour. I like pages. Setting a goal by pages makes you get it done. I could daydream for an hour and then wrap it up. Done. But if I say I have to write 10 pages before I get up... well, then I'll have something to show for the time. 

Stay strong my writer friends. You are creative and the world needs your words. 

Why aren't I more Prolific?

Prolific: causing abundant growth, generation, or reproduction

I have great plans. Write in the morning, write after work, go into my home office, aim for a page count, and on and on...

I heard a quote in a meeting; It's still a goal until you quit.
Good words.  My goal is to become a prolific writer.

Sometimes we have to reset the goal. Life changes, work changes, we change. Enough that maybe the old ideas of how we hope to get things done, don't really fit anymore.  In the past three years I've held four different positions at work. Each one another rung on the ladder so that's a good thing, but each change brought on more studying, more challenges to conquer. A learning journey. It's been fun and educational. I knew when I took the first job, it was below my skill level, but I liked the place and the people and knew I could figure the rest out as I learned about the business.

Then there's my writing. The stories that need editing and stories to tell. Sometimes I'd pull that word doc up and put a few paragraphs in, but then spend time rereading what I wrote last since it's been a while since I wrote it.  Going nowhere fast...

I have Stephen King's book, On Writing, on my nightstand. I sometimes reread parts of it for inspiration. One of the things that stands out about his whole writing journey is that he always wrote. Even when working in other places, he found a way and wrote. He set goals.

So, how to set goals when working a full time job, coming home with your brain fried, and head spinning? What do you?  Sadly, I turn to Facebook or Pinterest. Evil little time suckers.

After a while my mind screams; ENOUGH! LET'S GET IT DONE!

It's time to set new goals. Here's the plan;

Weekends; 20 pages. That's only 10 pages a day. How hard can that be? When I'm into a story, 10 pages are easy.  Aside from the occasional family thing or adoption days for my foster dog, weekends are pretty much open.

Weekdays; 10 pages for the whole week. (This goal is frightening) That would be 2 pages a day or about there.  Depending on what's going on at work, sometimes I wake up thinking about what I have to get done that day. My mind starts scheduling things, lining up the day as I sip coffee. After work? Facebook calls. When there's nothing exciting there, it's on to Pinterest!  Bad habits that need to go. Writing during the week is hardest.

Question? How do you clear your mind to write?

Foster Dog, Lexie. On the day she saved from a North Carolina kill shelter. 

3 Simple Tips to Save Your Creativity

Have you ever lost a story idea? 

Lets face it, creative people have ideas all day long. A word, a scene, and sometimes just that wandering imagination can spark the start of something brilliant. Here's where the problem starts. If we don't write it down every day life can sweep it away. That day job, friends, family, every person we interact with distracts us from that great idea and, like an illusive dream, it slips away.

How do we harness those creative sparks? Here's a few tricks I've learned along the way from other writers. 

1. Write it down. Always carry a note book and get it down on paper A.S.A.P.! Put a note on your cell phone. Make it a priority. For the longest time I never wanted anyone to see those first scraps of a story. I feared they would think I was weird for that opening sentence or blurb that popped into my head. What if someone found my notes and read them?

2. Schedule time. After you get the idea down on paper/cell phone, cut a slice from  your day to expand on it. This could be as little as a half hour at the end of the day or hiding out in your car during your lunch hour. (No my coworkers don't understand why I spend my lunch hour in my car.) Expanding that idea as soon as possible can turn that spark into a flame. You don't have to start the story, but you can write the blurb, outline, or just scratch more notes that will build your idea.

3. Give up the ego. Ego is that thing inside our heads that is the face we want to show to the world.  We may let down our ego-guard with those closest to us, but they're not the ones we worry about. Giving up the ego is as simple as telling the world, "I am what I am, take me as I am." Don't be afraid of someone accidentally peeking at your notes or thinking you're weird for hiding out to get some writing done. If they do, so what? Just give them a mysterious little smile, take your notes from their hands, and get back to your idea. You owe no one an explanation.

So, how do you protect your brilliant ideas?

Scary Research When You're a Writer

Do all writers research? Does it ever scare you? 

Normal days research;

• How long will a walk in freezer stay cold if the electricity goes out. 
• How do you ventilate a bomb shelter
• How long does it take to dance-walk five miles
• List of Federal prisons in Virginia
• Amount of a prison sentence for armed robbery
• Types of guns police use
• How many tanks of air do you need to stay underwater for two days
• Effects of staying underwater for two days
• Look up stencil for putting peacock feathers on my car

Those were just a few from last week. Except the last one. I think I want to put vinyl peacock feathers in bright colors on the hood of my car cause the paint has some pits in it. :)

In my current WIP I needed a toxic substance. Not just any toxic substance but one that I can fictionally mutate. Weird, I know. So I start to research and let me tell you...there's some really scary stuff out there! Makes me wish I wrote erotica. I'll bet those authors have fun with research. 

So what's the strangest stuff you've ever researched? 

Book Baby? KindleDirect? Promotion?

Now that our congress has cut off the unemployment benefits I fear I might have to return to the cube farm.

Panic sets in.

I remember the cube cage and how grey and ugly it could be. Day after day dragging my ass to work, that sinking feeling in my heart as the car drew closer and closer. Bracing myself mentally to enter that moldy old building and then sinking into a cube and feeling the creativity cells in my brain shrink back in horror. I fear the cube. New Jersey has one of the highest unemployment rates in the county. Even getting back in  a cube might be hard to do. Retail? Yuk! Truthfully, I've never had a job I loved. Only ones i could stand more than others.

So I've got some stuff ready for Constant Content, will be sending again to the Trues (although their payments are slow, its like an account for the future), and I've signed up for Demand Studios again. Also looking at random freelance jobs. It's a little scary but now I have to see if I'm more afraid of the cube, or putting myself out there to freelance.

I'm also ready to open up an Etsy account. I never really felt my art was anything more than therapy, but in searching Etsy for abstract paintings....I figured what the hell. I'm better than some but no where near others. Maybe I can land in the middle.  I'll have that shop opened in January. Its doubtful it will return any great amount but between that and the Cafe Press T-shirt shop, I might get gas money.

Now that classes are over I have to decide where to go and what to do. Another class? Finish the half finished degree in English? Maybe switch it to Creative Writing... its almost the same thing, right?  If I sign up for day classes am I going to have to drop them if I get a job?

An email from Book Baby popped into my email box and after looking over the site I wonder if I'd sell more books by using them? I still have to research the facts there, but it might be a possibility if it will sell more books. Anyone use Book Baby???  Use any other book promotion businesses?

The times they are a changin'......

Writing Degrees and Careers

The writing seminar was fairly informative. It covered what to do with a career in creative writing, poets, and fiction writers. It really didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

First they covered poets. If you want to do this the best thing is to go into teaching at a college level. Get your masters at least. They discussed how to work as a TA so you don't have to pay for the masters program and it will give you experience teaching. However it was suggested you get a doctorate because most colleges are now insisting you have that to teach. (Stockton College in New Jersey will only hire Phd's and had that rule for at least the past 10 years)

To go into the industry as editors, publishers, etc it's best to get the Masters to make you more competitive in the job market but you can do it with a Bachelors.

On line content mills usually just want a degree or some creds behind your name but that varies. The presenter didn't seem to really know much about this or the effect of Google's Panda on the mill life. I'm not even sure if she knew what I meant when I questioned her about online writing and content mills. My own experience with the Panda got me booted from Demand Studios (ehow, Livestrong).  I think because the Panda hit them so hard, they got rid of anyone without a degree. Reading ehow articles now I think they did a disservice to their writers. In my own opinion, the quality is not what it was before Panda. I'm sure someone with a degree who is making a measly $15 an article isn't spending much time to research what they're writing about, they have ways to make better monies. It shows. Most ehows don't have the details they once did. I'm sure this could have been editors too. If an editor is unfamiliar with the information given, they could remove necessary content from an article. (I don't want to just blame the writers here--we can blame everyone!) Instead of just axing good writers, they should have concentrated on reminding writers  how to use keywords and redesign the sites for the new way Panda evaluates.

Fiction writers?  A bachelors was suggested but the talk here mostly was information about networking with other writers at conferences. The presenter LOVED conferences. She listed all the big ones on the board and spoke of ways to get in for free. Several conferences will give a sort of scholarship for writers without the funds to attend or for various other reasons. She suggested trying for these. She didn't mention Romance Writer's of America which has a local conference here in NJ once a year. Although you don't have to write romance to belong, this is also a cheaper conference and you can still network with agents and publishers. She didn't mention Liberty State Fiction writers, a multi-genre organization, also has a conference this month and much cheaper than the big conferences. They too have all the NYC agents and publisher in to give seminars on writing and publishing.

Then she talked about agents and how necessary it was to get one and that led us back to networking at conferences. She also said agents take 10%. I thought it was 15% and never heard of an agent taking less. Am I out of the loop here?

Most of what she talked about I already knew. I could also have added to to it from my own research and experience. I suggested literaryagents.com in a search for an agent. She also didn't mention the option to publish on Amazon. (I didn't bring it up.) She said if you send that book out to an agent a dozen times with no bites maybe it sucks! I didn't like that remark because John Grisham is on record for saying he sent A Time to Kill out over 100 times before an agent bit. What if he had stopped at 12? I didn't say anything there either, but felt it did the group a disservice.

One thing I've found now that I'm back in school and taking classes related to writing is how hard it is to keep my mouth shut! :-x

I've been studying about the publishing, agents, content mills, and writing in general for years so I already knew a lot of this stuff. Some of my teachers have a more limited scope of things and seem to approach writing only from one side when there are so many options out there for writers nowadays.

As we continue our tour of Hemingway's estate in Key West, this is a picture of the outside of his upstairs office. Its a building behind the main house.