Category Archives: Goals

In order to make a living at my writing, I must act like a professional writer. At first, I thought that meant that I needed to establish an identity and brand myself as a writer. Though that is true, I recently realized that that is only part of the story. I invest money into Nathan, but do not track that expenditure as well as I should. I’m an engineer by training, not an accountant. This means that I must learn a new set of skills.

Unfortunately, I can give much less concrete advice on this topic that I could on yesterday’s discussion on branding. I am still exploring my options, and seeking advice for my own use. So instead of giving advice on the end game, I’ll try to explain my process so far, what I have learned, and maybe save my readers a few steps. If, on the other hand, one of our readers were to have knowledge and expertise beyond my ken, I will be monitoring the comments very closely. 🙂

First, I need to set the direction of my business. What are my business goals, and what timeline do I wish to establish these goals upon? I am doing research online about writing formal business plans, and will sit down to do so in the next few months. I am looking at my next creative projects, and judging them based on their business value rather than my personal entertainment. Being a businessman is as much a mindset as anything else.

Second, I am looking at what sort of business I need to establish. I have learned that if you do not set up a formal business framework, you, by default, form what is called a sole proprietorship. This is at least how it works in the United States. In this sort of business structure, individuals can sue me directly for my business debts. Though the sole proprietorship gives me a framework to operate within, I am not too fond of this drawback. General partnerships seem to spread this risk between multiple individuals, but my writing business would not involve another at this time. So, that business structure does not fit either. Instead, I am looking at establishing either an LLC or Corporation.

As per my understanding, both of these structures create a separate legal and fiscal entity, sheltering me as the owner from some liabilities. The legalities behind these types of business entities are a bit more complex, ranging from their formation to how they’re taxed, to how they are viewed in a legal setting. I am taking my time with the research, seeking to understand as many details as possible before I move forward. It seems like I can transform one type of business entity to another, but it also seems simpler to adopt the best fit from the beginning.

LLC or Corporation

To learn all this, I am googling my local state’s tax laws, Corporation codes, and reading a book called LLC or Corporation? By Anthony Mancuso. The book is part of a series called “NOLO” that describes the law in simple terms and includes web support for free legal updates. It was highly recommended based on reviews, so I gave it a try, and have not been disappointed.

While I am working on forming my business entity, I am also cleaning up my books. Though I have limited financial training, I have an understanding of the basics of business accounting. Though most of my cash flow to date has been expenditure, I found that much of this can be deducted from my personal taxes at the end of the year. Eventually, I intend this to be a thriving business, so it is for the best to get into good accounting practices now.

Accounting Made Simple

To help me with this end, I have purchased a copy of QuickBooks, which I’m using to help track business expenses such as writers resources, conventions, and even my new laptop. At the end of the year, I’ll use QuickBooks exports with my tax preparation software and hopefully get a good return from the investments. I am also working to improve my knowledge of basic accounting, with online articles and books such as Accounting Made Simple by Mike Piper. Though this book will not make me an expert, it is a quick guide to help me avoid an expensive faux pas down the road.

I recognize that I have a great deal more studying to do, on both business structures and accounting. I am however just lifting my foot to take the next step in my journey as a professional. I spent a long time learning to be a writer, and now I am learning to be a business person. I can’t expect to be perfect overnight, but I believe that hard work and diligent research will translate into future benefit. After all, it’s one more step in the right direction.

Fearing to Attempt

January 31, 2014

fictorians

Goals Guest Posts The Writing Life No Comments

A guest post by Matt Peterson.

There’s a quote by Shakespeare that I really like to use. I like to use it for a few reasons. Mostly, it makes me sound smart, quoting Shakespeare and all. But it also encapsulates my life’s learning down into one sentence.

Here it is, from Measure for Measure:

“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”

I kinda have a history with “fearing to attempt.” At least I used to.

I wrote a blog post awhile back about getting cut from the junior high basketball team. At the time, I didn’t want to attempt anything else, ever. That was enough failure to last several lifetimes.

But then I did something crazy—I went out for the wrestling team. It actually turned out to be a decent success. Not the letter-jacket-and-tons-of-dates-and-a-college-scholarship type success, but something…similar. Ish.

The point is, until I attempted something new, I would have stewed in the same cauldron of mediocrity that got me cut from the basketball team in the first place. And I wouldn’t have gone anywhere. It set me up for success later in life, and I’m forever grateful.

Now, you’d expect fear to dwell with a 12-year-old. “Fearing to attempt” is as rampant in the halls of middle school as too much perfume (girls) or too little deodorant (boys). It’s universal. And that’s normal.

But eventually, we have to move past that mentality (and start taking more showers).

Are we attempting new things often, now that we’re all grown up? And I’m not talking about trying new things. Everyone can plug their nose and try some new piece of sushi, or listen to a new radio station on the drive home, or even read a new book someone recommended. But that’s not really attempting anything.

Attempting something has to include the threat of some good ol’ fashioned fear. And that might keep some of us outside the gate looking in.

But the fear doesn’t have anything to do with the outcome. The beauty of attempting is that it’s always wide-open as far as outcome. Fear won’t change the outcome, just the probability of starting. Anything can happen once the attempt is made.

In fact, all successes at one point were mere attempts, and success can’t come until after an attempt. Hmmm.

Oh yeah, and with attempts, the crazier the better.

Here are some of the things I’ve attempted in my life:

Run a marathon. Publish a book. Marry the girl of my dreams. Start my own business. Replace the alternator in a 98 Nissan Sentra.

Each of these things was scary, crazy, and against my better judgment. There was a decent amount of fear involved before the attempt. But the payoff, or as Shakespeare put it, the “good [I] might win” was worth an attempt. So worth it.

Now is the time to set some goals and make some attempts. Real, honest-to-goodness attempts at something worthwhile. Something crazy. Something big. Something small. Something important. Whatever.

But let’s make 2014 about the things we’ve never done, never thought of doing, or never imagined ourselves doing.

Think of the big attempt you’d like to tackle, then break it down into manageable chunks. If you want to finish a novel as your big attempt, great! How many pages are you going to write each week? When are you going to have an outline done? Are you going to attend any workshops or conferences? What books are you going to read? And so on.

Start big. Dream big.

But plan small. Execute small.

And your attempt will be a success.

Just think of all the good waiting for you in the world. There is so much we can do if we simply attempt something. And there is so much we will miss if we are afraid to try.

Our doubts are traitors, indeed. Sentence them to exile. Never let them back.

And unless you’re attempting to ask Jenny Anderson to the 7^th grade dance right after P.E. class, you have nothing to fear.

Guest Writer Bio:

Matt Peterson is the author of The Epic Tales of a Misfit Hero (Bonneville, 2012). His day job is running the copy and video department for Infusionsoft’s in-house creative agency. He lives in Mesa, AZ with his wife and 5 kids. He loves the outdoors, sports, movies, books, traveling, and hanging out with his family. He doesn’t like onions, nor make any apologies for disliking them. In his spare time he runs a free neighborhood sports league for kids.

Never Stop Learning

January 30, 2014

Leigh Galbreath

Classes & Seminars Conventions Craft & Skills Goals Leigh Galbreath Life Philosophies Making Progress as a Writer Motivation Teaching The Writing Life Writing Tools No Comments

I don’t think I can count the number of times I’ve heard people say that some aspect of writing couldn’t be taught. My personal favorite is that you can learn all the technique you want, but you’re either born with the ability to tell a good story, or you’re not. That you can’t learn how to tell a good story.

I personally think that the people who espouse these ideas have either spent entirely too much time dealing with writers who aren’t willing to put the work in, or we’re all a little confused on what, if any, difference there is between technique and telling a good story.

Writing is a craft, after all, and no one’s born a master of any craft.

Of course, we will probably never be utterly fantastic at every aspect of the writing craft. Some have fantastic world-building but a slow plot. Others great characters but not enough setting. Stephanie Meyer, for instance, has long been derided on her writing style, and has even admitted herself that she’s not the best writer, but she’s does a hell of a job weaving emotion into every scene and tugging the heart strings of her readers—which is exactly what her readers want.

The point being, just because you’re not the greatest at something doesn’t mean you’re not a good enough writer to be published. At the same time, ignoring your weaknesses because “it can’t be taught” is a total cop-out, in my opinion.

Like most everyone here, I dream for that day when I’m going about my usual day, doing something boring and what-not, only to happen upon someone reading a book with my name on it. I feel the despair that I’m not quite there yet and hear the clock ticking away the time that means there’s one more day I haven’t achieved my dream. And yes, I’m a realist. I know a good portion of that is fear of putting my work out there, but I also know I’ve still got some serious weaknesses that I need to address.

When I was a teenager, I had a choir instructor who explained that he taught people who were tone-deaf how to sing. It’s in understanding the real root of the problem that allows something like that to happen. With the tone-deaf people, they had to learn how the notes related to each other to be able to figure out how to go from one correct note to another correct note without wandering off, so to speak.

With writing, I think, it’s much the same. If you understand what the real problem is, you can fix it. You just might have to look a bit harder and be a little more creative to get the results you’re looking for.

My personal demon at the moment is plot structure. Something’s always escaped me about how to put one event before another and have it work to engage the reader, move the story forward, and still service the characters.

As a discovery writer, I lean toward minimal effort spent on deep planning before writing. Unfortunately, I’ve been struggling with a few stories that I have come to realize really need to be plotted before I start writing in earnest. So, recently I decided to dedicate a good portion of this year in workshops and classes specifically geared toward pre-writing. Currently, I’m doing David Farland’s online prewriting class at mystorydoctor.com, and while it has done a fantastic job in helping me learn how to plan a novel before I write it, it incidentally opened my eyes as why plot structure has always eluded me.

For me, there was one exercise in particular that helped me figure out what the real problem was. The idea was to establish circularity between characters in opposition to each other, by writing out how each character reacts to the actions of the other. This forced me to find the cause and effect of the conflict…and suddenly I know how my plot is supposed to work and how the sub-plots interact with it. Suddenly, I get it.

So, that’s my goal for this year, to focus on becoming a better writer by taking my weakness and working to learn how to get better at it.

I refuse to believe that there are things I can’t learn. The only thing I was born with was a love of stories. The writing portion is a work in progress.

The Terror of Goals

January 23, 2014

fictorians

Goals Motivation The Writing Life No Comments

A guest post by Patrick Sullivan.

One of the biggest struggles a writer can face is against oneself. It can lead you to either not write at all, or if you do write a piece, to never let it out into the world to find an audience. When it comes to resolutions, this can lead down one of two paths very easily. Not making them to avoid any chance of failure, or making a resolution so easy that no growth comes from its completion.

With the onset of a new year, there is a chance to look deeper and find where improvement can happen. Has enough time been spent optimizing writing productivity? Or perhaps more time could be devoted to the craft at a sentence level. Unless every word put down gets its turn at being polished and seeing the light of day, there is always room to grow when it comes to seeing your work go out into the world.

Until fears are faced, they can never be overcome. Once the things that are shied away from are known, it is possible to figure out how to face them, defeat them, and grow in the craft, as well as the art of writing. This is why regular introspection is always key, be it as part of a New Year’s resolution or simply a regular part of your growth as an author.

Personally, I know I need to improve my craft at the sentence level a great deal, improve my output by dedicating more time to putting words on the page, and get my work out there so it can have the impact it is meant to. Therefore, I have set a number of goals for myself. Will I fail? Possibly, but I have to have the courage to risk that failure, and to own it.

My first goal: to write three brand new novels this year. The best I’ve done previously is a novel and a half, but that tends to be accomplished over a short period of time. If I dedicate enough time to preparation and putting down words, I can do this, and if I ever intend to reach where I want to with my craft, I have to learn to accomplish this.

Secondly, I will write one screenplay this year. I believe that spending time exploring other types of writing can improve different parts of the craft. Screenplays can allow a strong focus on dialogue and focused scene setting without all the other prose being there to hide those aspects. This means focused practice while gaining another skill.

Thirdly, I will write twelve poems this year, one per month, across multiple styles. This will force me to work on imagery and focused word choice, things that can be applied to novel-writing.

Finally, I will submit my work. There are two parts to this. One is polishing and submitting at least one novel to agents and editors, and thereby facing the fear of letting my work face critique and risk it being found wanting. The other half is writing two short stories and submitting them to Writers of the Future, with its prestige and knowledgeable judges making another excellent test to see where I am in my craft.

Will I fail at some or all of these goals? Possibly, but unless I try, I won’t know what I am capable of, which would be a foolish mistake for me to make. What are your goals for the coming year, and how will they help you grow as a writer?

Guest Writer Bio:

Patrick Sullivan is an explorer of ideas across many forms, from digital data and code to stories. He grew up in southern Arkansas, but found his true home in Denver, Colorado where he now lives working in the software industry while writing tales he intends to someday share with the masses.