10 reads worth your time:

Agent Kristin explains the difference between action and activeness in Writing Craft: Action vs Active Openings to Grab Attention.

Dean Wesley Smith dispells the perception that being picked up by a traditional publisher means the book will actually make it onto bookstore shelves in The Secret Myth of Traditional Publishing.

Anne R Allen has tips on guest blogging in How to Blog VI.

Amber West also has tips for bloggers in Do Writers Need To Blog?

Rachel Kent shares Twitter and Facebook tips in Why Do Readers Connect With You Online?

The Savvy Book Marketer looks at how writers can utilise Goodreads in Promote Your Book on the Goodreads Network.

The Bluestocking Blog examines how not to annoy your followers in Balancing Promotion.

Porter Anderson demystifies the @ symbol in Get A Grip On Twitter Handles.

For inspiration: Writer’s Digest has 72 of the Best Quotes About Writing.

For writing contests: check out the list at Bucks County Writers’ Group.

Missed any Fictorians articles this week?

Guest poster Mignon Fogarty – “OK”, “Okay”, and How to Deal with Other Troublesome Style Choices

Clancy Metzger – Writing Guerilla Warfare Style

KD Alex – Writing Between Naps

Writing Between Naps

July 14, 2012

KDAlex

The Writing Life No Comments

I’m probably a little bit late to the party, but I heard about a little thing called burst writing that I thought I’d share.

Burst writing is this wonderful technique: You set an alarm clock for everything from 15 minutes to like an hour. As soon as the countdown begins, you just start writing. Whatever, wherever, however. You can’t take your fingers off the keyboard until the clock says stop.

I’ve got a rambunctious 16 month old and two equally feisty cats that take up every waking moment of my personal time. So whatever time I have to spend writing is spent scooping poop, picking up cat hair, potty training, and following the kids around with a dust pan and broom as I clean up the wreckage from the tornado they inflict on my house in their daily life.

But I don’t need an alarm clock. You see, I have one that’s much louder and much more urgent. It’s called nap time is over.

Previously, I used to take that wonderful hour and bask in the solace of silence. It was daddy’s time to eat lunch and sit on the couch reflecting on everything we think about over the course of the day. It was a time I learned to finally shut up and appreciate.

If you can turn the white noise of your brain off and focus the waves to instead awake your inner creative, well, then that’s time well spent.

And it’s not time you didn’t have before. It’s always been there. I just wish I didn’t wait 10 months to figure it out.

It finally clicked in my head maybe two weeks ago. I’ve been spending the past few months living out the whole “woe is me” thing. There’s no room, there’s no time, there’s no yadayadayada…

The only recurring theme in there was the word “NO.”

And that’s not a nice word. Just ask my kid. She doesn’t like hearing it, but she lo-oves saying it.

And apparently so do I. It’s what I’ve been telling myself probably since November. So, I started giving in and working around my schedule. On the first night I gave it a shot, I popped out 1200 words in one sitting. That was 1200 more than I’ve had in so long. And you know what? It felt great.

So, today I one-upp’d myself. I finished a chapter.

Sure, I only had two scenes to write. But, still. I -finished- a chapter!

This is huge news for me. Because it woke something up inside that I thought I lost somewhere over the rainbow. It led me onto other writing related tasks that I’ve pretty much been putting off forever. Things like finishing my writing, working on my 3d modeling, redesigning covers, burning excerpts, so forth and so on..

And I’m doing it all in burst time.

Who’d have thought that this whole thing only required me to put her to bed.

On a good day, I get two bursts per day while the baby’s napping. On a really good day, I get two naps, early bed time, and then my bed time.

All I really needed to do was figure out how to manage my time better. Maybe that’s all it takes you.

Give yourself a time management exercise…

Take an hour out of your day. Not when you’re at work. You know, the time when you’re home waiting for dinner, or when the laundry is cycling.

Figure out what you do with that time.

It just might be that time could be applied to something else.

I’ll rest when I’m dead.

For now, I’ve got books to write and webpages to finish. =)

Writing Guerilla Warfare Style

July 11, 2012

clancy

Clancy Metzger First Drafts The Writing Life Writing Tools 4 Comments

This last weekend I spent four days in a large house in the middle of the woods with seven other women. It was understood from the get-go that this was a writing retreat, so excessive visiting would not be tolerated. While there, we had a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack and dinner (we ate really good), and each of us was responsible for preparing one snack and one meal. We had to clean up after as well, but that was the only time we really had to take out of our writing time. We would stand around chatting for a few minutes during snacks and we would all eat together and check on our progress during meals. This was fun and bonding for all of us. But mostly, we were writing from when we woke up till we went to sleep.

Our commander-in-chief (and retreat organizer) aka the “Write or Die Nazi” said she would keep us on task. And she did. We used Dr. Wicked’s Write or Die program ($10) and competed against each (I even did this virtually with a friend who didn’t come). If you’re not familiar with this program, you set a word goal and a time limit – I use 1000 words in 60 minutes most of the time – and then hit the WRITE button. It opens a new screen and this is where you start typing. It shows you how many words you’ve typed and how much time you have left to go. If you pause for too long, the screen starts turning pink and will go to red while simultaneously a heinous sound of your choosing starts blaring at you, but as soon as you start typing again, it will go away. Trust me when I say this keeps you motivated. When done, you can then copy/cut and paste your text into your main document.

Not all of us would participate all the time, but several times a day, our Nazi would call out, “Write or Die” and whoever wanted to join in would get ready and when called, we would all start at the same time. An hour later, we’d check in and see how we each did. After the brief cheers, we’d go back to writing. Some would turn the sound off so as not to bother others (the red screen still keeps you hopping) and do it by themselves in between the group competitions. We were writing almost all day of every day there.

The energy was supercharged and we all kept each other going longer and more productively than we would have if home alone. This was exceptionally good for me because I’ve had a hard time writing lately. I sit there thinking, fingers hovering over the keyboard, waiting for ideas to come. At the retreat, I did this the afternoon of Day 1 and the first half of Day 2 and I had 800 words to show for it. I was frustrated. I had the Write or Die program on my computer but hadn’t used it in a really long time. So, the next challenge that was called, I participated. I did more words in that hour than I had in the eighteen hours prior combined. I used the program and the challenges the rest of the retreat and ended up getting almost 18,000 words done by the time I went home. Our highest gal did 24,000 total. We are romance writers who write in our free time when jobs, husbands, kids and everything else in our lives allows. Some are better at making that time and being productive, others less so, but no one left from this retreat left with less 15,000 new words.

There are many of you out there that can produce like this or better without breaking a sweat, but for me it was huge. Having the pressure of the red screen/screeching violins looming kept my brain from sabotaging me. My inner editor couldn’t keep rereading and fixing the same material or searching for the perfect word. My doubt couldn’t sneak in and plague me with whether I was going the right direction. I couldn’t stall by doing research ad nauseam. I had to just write. And I did. Sure, I have to go back and edit it and add a lot of details that do take some thought, but it’s easier to do that when you have something to work with. Surprisingly, it was even good material. It’d been in my mind, I’d been thinking on it for a long time, but I’d been sabotaging my efforts to get it on the page. Write or Die was like guerilla warfare blitzing my inner adversary.

If you are one of those who can produce consistently, I applaud you and hope to join your ranks sooner than later. For those who may need some assistance, Write or Die may help. I know that even since I’ve been home, if I use the program, I get more done. I turn to it as a tool when I find my fingers hovering instead of typing.

Have you used it? Do you use other types of warfare? The more tools I have, the better. Let’s hear it, troops.

Mignon Fogarty: “OK,” “Okay,” and How to Deal with Other Troublesome Style Choices

July 9, 2012

fictorians

Craft & Skills Guest Posts Rewriting The Writing Life 2 Comments

A guest post by Mignon Fogarty

Since becoming Grammar Girl six years ago, I’ve gradually come to the realization that English is a troublesome language. We do have some hard-and-fast rules: “A lot” is always two words, and we use semicolons a certain way. But a surprising number of words and punctuation marks swirl around us like rowdy schoolchildren shouting “Except when…!” and “Style choice!” When even language mavens disagree, what’s a writer to do?

We’ll figure it out by looking at an example.

Recently, Robert M. posted this question on the Facebook page for alumni of the Superstars Writing Seminar:

“Attention all you grammar aficionados: Do you have any objections to using “OK’ instead of “Okay’? Opinions please.”

“OK” or “Okay” Are Both All Right

“OK” is one of the words I wrote about in 101 Troublesome Words You’ll Master in No Time, and Robert was on the mark when he asked for opinions because English has two acceptable spellings for “OK.” Which one you prefer is a matter of opinion, and of course, in response to his request for opinions he got some strong ones, including a comment about slang and losing battles. Oh, the demise of our language!

Fiction Writers: Use “Okay”

However, if you’re a professional fiction writer, you should be relying on the Chicago Manual of Style, not your friends’ opinions. Chicago requires “okay.” End of story.

News Writers: Use “OK”

On the other hand, the conclusion is entirely different if you write press releases or articles for you local newspaper. The Associated Press Stylebook requires “OK.” End of story.

Know Your Style Guide

I’m routinely shocked by the number of e-mail questions I get from people who claim to be writers but obviously don’t own a style guide (or can’t be bothered to open it). “I remember that my fourth grade teacher said…” and “I prefer…” don’t cut it in the professional world. Traditional publishers have designated a style guide, and you should use it. Chicago is the standard for fiction. “Okay” is the only spelling that is acceptable. The Associated Press Stylebook is the standard for news writing. “OK” is the only spelling that is acceptable. The solution for a struggling writer? Know which style guide your industry uses and buy it.

When You Get to Decide

The time for opinions is when you’re writing for yourself or someone who hasn’t designated a style-when you’re writing blog posts, e-mail messages, and so on. When choosing for myself, I like to look at a word’s history, its etymology. That’s why I prefer “OK.”

The best evidence available points to a newspaper reporter coining the term in 1839. It was an abbreviation for a jokey spelling of “all correct”: “oll korrect.” Apparently, for a few years, it was trendy to coin these kinds of misspelled abbreviations, but “OK” was the only one that survived because it was used in slogans for Martin Van Buren’s presidential campaign.

I confess that I’m so enamoured with the “OK” etymology that I insist on “OK” instead of “okay” in my books, even though my publisher follows Chicago style. I’m probably being foolish picking a fight over this one little word, but we all have our foibles. Since my books are about language, I feel like my publisher should give me some leeway on the language, and they seem to agree-or at least they don’t think it’s worth the energy to resist. But the advice I give to any other writer, especially writers who are just starting out, is to follow your industry’s style. It’s the safest, wisest choice.

Guest Bio: Mignon Fogarty is better known as Grammar Girl and is the author of eight books on language, including her new book, 101 TROUBLESOME WORDS YOU’LL MASTER IN NO TIME.