Writers – Protect Your Time

Wombats, Wombat, Shield, Note, Sign

Perhaps the most important thing that you have to do if you are going to freelance is learn to protect your time. This is important because even if people understand that you are writing, what they really KNOW is that you are home. And? You are essentially doing nothing.

Research? Outlining? Interviewing people? Rough draft? “You know you can do that whenever you want to. You’re just being a brat.”

I kid you not. I have one person in my life who regularly declares me a brat or a bad (fill-in-the-blank although the terms friend/sister will do).

About two weeks ago I got my first writing contract in five months. But I had already agreed to go to the cabin with my husband. He was meeting an electrician so that we could get our power turned back on. Note: I didn’t meet with anyone. I was driving company. While he was with the electrician, I was working. There is wifi at the lodge.

The problem with this is that there are friends who know I was out of town. That must mean that I have free time. In the 2 days we were gone, I got no less than 5 messages about things they want other people to do. “I need someone to X.” “What I’ve realized I really need someone to do is Y once a week.”

Yep.

Back in town, another friend took me aside and we had a little talk. I now have a list of phrases to express horror at all that needs to be done. They include, “wow, that’s awful,” “hey, that sucks,” and “I hope you find someone who will get it all done.”

Today one of my friends looked me in the eye. “When you get one of those questions, nod and then say, ‘wowLet’s be real. They are letting me know because they want me to step up. My daughter-in-law recently lectured me about why her generation doesn’t step up “You might need to ask someone who doesn’t have a job.”

When my son was younger, these kinds of requests came over the phone vs a text. Once my son had friends over gaming. I had a deadline so I told the teens that I had to write and that if anyone called to tell them I was in Australia herding wombats. They were amazingly excited about getting to tell a wide variety of people that they were sorry but I was in Australia. Just talked to me ten minutes earlier? That’s interesting. Still in Australia herding wombats.

Protecting your writing time is critical. Maybe I’ll just tell people that I don’t have time to do whatever it is for them. The wombats need me.

–SueBE

Who Has the Power?

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Recently I read an email from Janice Hardy where she challenged us to consider which character in the story has the power. One example she gave (a toddler with two exhausted parents) could be the premise of a picture book. But she did get me to think.

In my middle grade novel, I have a group of colonists heading to Mars. Who has the power? The government entity behind the trip? The company that built the space ship? The captain of said ship? The governor of the colony? Or someone else?

Each answer could alter the story. A government agency in charge would lead to a situation like those faced by NASA astronauts who feel like they are not being listened to by ground control. A company? The concerns would be about money (don’t waste it!) and there might be unexpected austerity measures in place. The captain? How would civilian colonists react to being under military style command?

But who else could have power? There are the engineers dealing with life support and also the power systems. There are botanists or engineers in charge of hydroponics and food production. And there could be someone who is threatening one of these systems who has their very own agenda.

I’m thinking about going with a NASA-like government entity and the ship’s captain who is different from the pilot. Then there is the person who is sabotaging things and leaving cryptic messages. But I also have to keep in mind that I’m writing for a middle grade audience. How would each of these answers impact the goals of my character?

I’m thinking that my character will be able to work around a NASA like entity because a 10 year-old just won’t be on their radar. Other people are expected to keep said child in line and if they re busy seeing to life support and getting the ship through space, I’m hoping that leaves my character the space they need to solve the story problem.

Fingers crossed!

–SueBE

Latest Newsletter and Movie and TV Adaptations

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Check out the latest issue of my newsletter for book and TV recommendations and more. You can find it here. My husband is the one who discovered The Night Agent, a Netflix series that we are enjoying. It wasn’t until I was preparing my newsletter that I realized it was first a book. I plan to check it out!

One reason I want to read the book is to see how it differs from the television series. I know a lot of people complain that the book is invariably better than the TV show or movie. But I like seeing how they differ, because there is no way for an unaltered story to work well in both print and a cinematic medium. Books enable the reader to get a first hand look at the point-of-view characters thoughts and inner dialogue. Some books actually spend a great deal of time in the character’s mind.

Movies and television can present some inner dialogue as voice over. But dialogue is much easier for these forms of media to present.

Where an author can spend as much time as they need on description, the scene is going to be observable on screen. But what a character feels when they step into a room? That’s a lot harder to convey.

A story that is paced well for a novel may also be paced well for a movie. But for television the story has to be broken up. Each episode needs a beginning, middle and end. And these breaks cannot come simply at the end of a chapter. Each episode has to be approximately the same length.

Another limitation for TV or movies is cost. A novelist can take the point-of-view character to as many settings as necessary. For a visual form of media, each setting is another cost as is each new characters. Special effects can enhance the video but are another expense. The next time that you watch an adaptation of a favorite book, don’t simply judge whether or not it is worse. Instead think about why the changes were made.

–SueBE

Discovering What You Don’t Know

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Life is full of pithy sayings. One directed at writers is that you need to get out and experience life. That’s the only way to gather the sensory details that will feed your writing. My corollary to this is that you don’t know what you don’t know until you have an aha moment.

Last weekend we visited a friend’s farm. I discovered that in addition to following each other around like sheep, they all sounded like bad voice actors very carefully and somewhat loudly saying, “BAAAAA.” I could just picture them giving each other side eye. “Is this right?” “No, no. A little louder.” “Speak very distinctly!”

It was much funnier than it probably should have been.

Despite the fact that sheep are much larger than chickens (duh) and relieve themselves absolutely everywhere, they don’t actually bother me. On the other hand, I confirmed that chickens worry me especially when they are being irritated by a preschooler and are all fluffed out. “Chickens are a little anxious,” said my friend’s SIL. I suspect it is because they know they are delicious.

Regardless, you have to get out there in the barn yard to get a feel for what you don’t know. I discovered that stepping over a power cord while ducking whatever that cross piece was is much trickier than you might think. Sheep may or may not be able to walk across a cattle guard. My friend doesn’t know because they just jump it. I walk around the cattle guard because I am a klutz who cannot duck one thing while stepping over another.

Am I writing anything set on a farm or that includes sheep. No. Am I planning to? Also know. Or chickens either for that matter. But I never know what might pop up in a future story. This is the part of the state where my Grandmother grew up. It is very different from the area where we normally go so it is good for me to have some variety to choose from when I write.

–SueBE

Write the Book You Want to Read

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IYKYK.

I don’t think I’ve ever rewritten something 75 times, but I probably just lost count. That said, when someone says to me “write the book you want to read” I always assume that the advice is given because you will need passion to write and finish a book. Yes, I have managed to finish a few projects that were only for the money, but writing and revising is a lot easier when you love your topic.

First, you have to make it through the planning and prewriting. That often involved doing research. That’s true even if you are writing fiction. You research, fail to find something, think of a different search term that doesn’t work either, accidentally find something when you are doing something else, discover the right search term, and finally find a little bit of what you need. And all of that is before you start outlining, assuming that you outline.

If you are writing nonfiction, you may decide to outline. Even if you don’t, you still need to come up with the parameters of your project. What specifically are you writing about? This is something I discuss with my students. You can’t simply say that you are writing about horses. Are you writing about a specific breed? Training horses? Riding horses? Caring for horses?

If you are writing fiction, you may decide to outline. Even if you don’t decide to do this, you need to know what you are writing about. This is a book about someone who moved across the country and… You have to put some thought into your character, the setting, and the plot of your story.

Writing a first draft takes serious time. Then you have to let it sit. Then you reread it and start revising. The first time you revise, you may be looking at that plot. Then you deal with characterization. Then pacing. Then the theme. And before you start revising for a certain element, you have to read the manuscript with that specific thing in mind.

It takes passion for a topic to get you from the beginning to the end. And it also means that you are going to have to read it again and again.

Either way, write the book you want to read.

–SueBE

3 Reasons I Read My Work Aloud

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Take the time to read your work aloud.
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I’m currently on a hiring committee. There are five of us including a writer, a mechanical engineer, a vet, an optometrist, and someone who is head of a school districts maintenance. The big surprise at our most recent meeting was that someone else brought up the number of typos in one of the applications. “I don’t think we even need to consider this person,” she said.

I felt for this person but I also know that they could have avoided the problem. It is the first reason that I run my writing through Word’s Read Aloud feature under the “Review” tab. It seems silly to have the computer read to me, but when I try to do it myself, I forget to read aloud! By the time I’m three or four sentences in, I’m reading in my head. Why go through all of this trouble? For three reasons.

Catch Mistakes

When I read my work aloud, I catch mistakes that I missed both on screen and in print. It might be a typo (chose vs choose). Or it might be repetition. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ve typed the same word word twice in a row. It might mean that I’ve used it too often in a single paragraph or I’ve repeated certain facts or transitions on the same page. Why are these things more obvious out loud? I have no clue whatsoever. I’m just glad that they are.

The Beauty of Language

Something can be technically correct and still be clunky or awkward, much like the word awkward. No really. I always double check that I’ve spelled it correctly. It just looks . . . awkward. I catch clunky writing when I hear my work. I’m also more aware of the beauty of language and turns of phrase when I hear things read aloud. At first, I thought that was just my imagination but it is something my critique group has confirmed. They’ve noted my tendency to play with sound even in tween nonfiction.

Voice

Voice is all about sounding like yourself. When I write about certain things, I need to be careful. Archaeology and history sometimes send me back to academia. Soon, I fall prey to what my husband lovingly calls aca-da-babble or academic babbling. It is convoluted and wordy and uses ten thousand-dollar words when much simpler text would do. But when I read my work aloud? I can fix these things and I sound like me!

So if you are having troubles developing your voice, read your work aloud. It can also help you catch mistakes or simply create text that flows. Try it and see what it does for you.

–SueBE

Writing Means Letting Go

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There are so many things that writers have to let go. Here are just a few.

  1. One and Done. You start with an idea. The first draft doesn’t quite do it justice so you revise. Sometimes it improves. Other times it doesn’t. It often takes multiple attempts to approach what you first had in mind. Sure, you will sometimes draft something perfectly the first time but it is the exception, not the rule.
  2. Ego. This is a tough one for a lot of writers. No matter how many times you revise something, your agent or editor are almost certain to ask for changes. It is especially necessary to swallow your pride when your editor re-iterates what they want and you realize how far off you are.
  3. Control. Once your work is published and out in the world, you only have so much control about how people will receive it. You may discover that someone interprets your poem in a way you did not intend. It happens. All you can do is create your work and set it free.
  4. Perfectionism. Yes, you need to produce the best possible work. But none of us is perfect. It really isn’t realistic.
  5. The Search for the Golden Ticket. The Golden Ticket is a reference to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Young chocolate lovers bought up candy bars in an attempt to win the grand prize. Writers want to be able to buy the class, book, or degree program that will guarantee success. There are no guarantees.
  6. The Number Game. This is a lot like the Golden Ticket. A lot of writers think they will succeed if they send out 2 queries/week, post on 4 forms of social media every day, have 25,000 followers, etc.

To succeed as a writer, you need to find joy in creation. I love watching a manuscript change and grow. That’s a big help. But I also love interacting with my fellow writers and readers. I may not have a lot of control but what I do have is a love of writing. I’m ruined for any other profession!

–SueBE

Brainstorming My Title

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I’m going to be honest with you. I don’t have to come up with the title for 95% of my projects. They wouldn’t listen even if I made suggestions. I know this for a fact because I tried to explain why one particular title was off the mark. Shrug. I’m not saying that my ideas are always better but I can sometimes see that something is a bad idea.

So about a week ago, I spent some time brainstorming the title for my book on research. Here are the titles that I came up with:
Researcher and Writer
How to Research to Write
How to Research Your Writing
Researching to Write

I like the first one, Researcher and Writer, best. But I suspected that I could do better so I took a look at Jody Rein and Michael Larsen’s post on titling a nonfiction book. You can find it here on Jane Friedman’s blog. They explain that a good title will do two things. It will define your topic.

Gotcha. What is my book about? Doing the research needed to write something.

The second thing that a title will do is grab the reader’s positive attention. Hmm. I’m not so sure that any of those titles accomplish that part of the task.

Looking at what Rein and Larsen have to say, a title is short and simple. It doesn’t have to be without artifice in that it can be metaphorical. But it needs to create an emotional response. It grabs the reader.

According to this article, the problem may be that I don’t have a subtitle. Subtitles, on the other hand, are straightforward. They tell the reader what this book will do for them. This might include saying what the book will do for the reader or defining what activity they will be able to perform after reading the book. It might also include the time frame required for the reader to learn this new skill.

I think I’m going to have to give this another try!

–SueBE

Why Is Literature so Inflammatory?

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Maybe inflammatory isn’t quite the right word. Confrontational? Argumentative? I hope you can see where I am going with this even as I try to find the right word.

This is something that I’ve considered since Black Lives Matter, one of my older books, was banned in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Now, I’m going to be honest. Some sources say it was not banned. It was challenged. The reality is that it and almost 3 dozen other books were removed from library shelves while they were reviewed to see if they were appropriate. The problem is that I have been unable to discover if they were returned to the shelves. What was so upsetting? The person who challenged the books wanted to stop the epidemic of juvenile gender mutilation (ie transgenderism). Note: My book had nothing to do with that but it was about a tough topic. Banners don’t want this to be called a ban but they have effectively removed it from young readers.

And that’s one reason that literature is often inflammatory. Writers and publishers present young readers with book about difficult topics that they might not be comfortable approaching adults about. Don’t want to ask your parents about police violence? Look up a book. There are books out there about drug use, eating disorders, and every other tough topic you can think of.

It isn’t just nonfiction. I just jotted down an idea that came to me about watching the conflict over a certain topic at the Presbyterian General Assembly. This is an especially good way to address something that you can’t find enough details about to write nonfiction. Fiction allows me to fill in motivations and what happened behind closed doors.

The science fiction novels of the 1970s often dealt with politics and societal trends. Books that mirror life today and explore similar topics would be sure to stir people up. Especially if you challenge the status quo. Imagine the reaction to a book that challenges which political party is most likely to belittle or bully. Because books can be the laboratory in which ideas are allowed to run to a logical conclusion, they often hit close to home.

Are these the types of books that you enjoy reading?

–SueBE

How to Prioritize What to Write Next

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Some people work on one article, book or other project at a time. They decide what to work on next, do the prewriting, draft it, and then take it to final. They may wait a while before they finalize it, to give the manuscript time to rest. But not always.

Other writers are surrounded by a swarm of ideas. They work on multiple projects at once. I have to admit that that is how I do things. Because I have a blog and a newsletter and write for the Muffin, the blog at WOW! Women on Writing, those small writing tasks are always on my schedule. But I frequently have one or three larger projects. Yes, three. If I have one, then I have two, and hey there’s another shiny idea. So how do I decide what to work on first?  

What to work on depends on a number of things for me.

  1. Do I have a deadline? These projects tend to take priority especially when a paycheck is involved. As I type this, I am waiting for a contract to arrive. I already know when the book is due and have the series specs.
  2. Deadlines can also involve contest entries or open submission periods. There may not be a paycheck immediately involved but there is a ticking clock.
  3. Is the manuscript already in progress? If so, that’s something I should work on vs starting something new and shiny. I’ll prioritize this project until I get stuck.
  4. Does it have something to do with a class I’m enrolled in? This is another type of deadline but one without a paycheck.
  5. Is it just so shiny and wonderful that I can’t leave it alone? I don’t allow myself to fall prey to this all that often unless it is a picture book idea. If the idea is for a new picture book, I almost always take the time to write a draft because they are short. It isn’t a very good excuse but it is the one I use when I can!

Maybe this will help you develop your own list of priorities.

–SueBE