Copyblogger’s interview with Steven Pressfield is a must-listen for new writers

January 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I don’t care who you are, or how many books you’ve written – if you are a writer you occasionally need a muse.   At some point you need inspiration to fall out of the sky and land in your lap.  Or your keyboard.

Since I drive a lot for my day job (pharma rep), I listen to more podcasts than I care to admit.  I’ve found that the best ones find a way to combine practical application with the inspiration and motivation to get it done.

Why are these podcasts the best?

I don’t think we realize how much we need someone to keep telling us that we can do it.

That our ideas are not stupid, that we are not chasing a pie-in-the-sky dream.

I especially feel that way because most writers who eventually turn pro and become published authors have a crazy story to tell.  Their journey to becoming authors is not straightforward or easy by any stretch.

I love those stories.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Inspiration, New Writers Tagged With: , , ,

Deciding what you’ll be when you grow up…or not

December 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: Creative Commons (Flickr), grahamc99

When your fifth grade teacher asked you “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I’m sure you were not thinking it would be when you were 35. Or 40. Heck 50.

Did you play dress-up?  I did.  I told my mom once that I wanted to be a sex symbol!  I dressed up in her crazy outfits from the early 70′s and sauntered around.  I didn’t even know what a sex symbol was.  Not sure I do now.  It was something I’d seen on TV.

Not even Dr. Who knows exactly how things will turn out, and he can travel through time.  If you watch the show you’ll see that he figures it out as he goes. It’s hard to keep up sometimes, but his logic does seem to make sense.  For a Time Lord, anyway.

Back in the real world, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that people hold an average of 14 jobs by the time they are 40. For many years the average person had 3 careers in a lifetime, and now it’s seven.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Inspiration, New Writers Tagged With: , , ,

Yes – I love Having a Bad Day at Work and So Should You

December 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: Foxtongue (Flickr)

If I loved my job everyday, I wouldn’t be here writing this post.  I wouldn’t have this website, and I would not have rediscovered my long forgotten love of writing.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t HATE my job.  It’s just that having a bad day seems to get my writing mojo going (case in point).

But, as someone who has a full-time job, as many of you do – it’s not always easy to think about chasing a dream.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: How To, Inspiration Tagged With: ,

Why New Writers need to Understand Internet Marketing

November 13, 2011 By 4 Comments

You know what? My title is wrong. It should read:

Why ALL Writers need to Understand Internet Marketing


I’ll get right to it.

If you are a writer trying to build a platform, you are essentially marketing yourself.

Gone are the days when you get to just focus on writing a great novel, and letting an agent or publishing house do the rest for you.

Now – it’s all you.  Well, mostly anyways.

Most agents want to know about your platform before they even read your manuscript.

Why Build a Platform?

That’s all you hear about now on writers’ sites.  Perhaps you are wondering what a platform even is?  It means building a group of loyal followers who like to read what you write.

Since you are not necessarily giving away your books (or maybe you have not finished one yet), it’s more about getting people to become aware of you and what you are writing – including agents, editors, and publishers.

Unfortunately, most writers don’t think about the self-promotion side of things.  Thank goodness there are other bloggers out there who make it their business to help us!

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging, How To, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

How To Remember Anything and Become a Storyteller too!

November 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: DJ Bass (Flickr)

We’ve all seen these people in movies.

They can recall page 268 of a book and read it to you as though the book is right in front of them.

Well, I’m here to tell you that, unfortunately, just like Santa Clause –  it’s a nice story but no practical evidence of it exists.

Bummer.

Don’t get me wrong – there are plenty of people with the ability to stare at a picture for a few seconds and then give exact details, but not only is it purposeful memorization, it also doesn’t last that long.   After an average of four hours most people can’t recall the information.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: NaNoWriMo Tagged With: ,

How Writers’ Retreats are like Potty Training

November 6, 2011 By 3 Comments

You can learn a lot from potty training a 2 yr-old.

Or, I should say learning about potty training.  I haven’t actually done it yet.

I recently got advice on this subject, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how similar it was to the Sisters in Crime Writers’ Retreat I recently attended.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Funny, Inspiration Tagged With: , , ,

The #1 Reason to do NaNoWriMo

August 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

Are you wondering what the heck NaNoWriMo is?

It’s okay.  I know not everyone who knows me is an aspiring novelist, too.    But maybe – just maybe – you’re thinking about it.  And that’s why I’m writing this exact post.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: NaNoWriMo