writing

Getting Vested – The Long Answer

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about Getting Vested in writing. Well, saavy reader Emily asked a question that I think deserves an answer:

Do you think being ‘vested in writing’ actually requires an output of ‘hard, cold cash’? Or do you think thinking and reading (and writing and writing) can be ever enough?

The short answer is “Yes.” Yes, I think being vested in writing requires an output of ‘hard, cold cash.’

The long answer is a little more convoluted, but it will bring us back to the short answer, so stay with me here. IMHO, there are two ways to invest yourself in writing:

1. Spending Money
2. Spending Time

I’ll start with #2. Any time you spend writing is investing yourself. This includes any form of writing. Blogs, journals, short stories, vignettes, longer works, whatever. Hopefully this is consistent writing, still, it all counts.

Time you spend educating yourself on the craft of writing is investing yourself. This includes attending conferences and workshops. It includes formal education. It includes reading blogs on writing, reading books on writing, and it includes reading books in the genre you write. Education is always an investment.

So here’s where we get to the meat of the thing. Look at that second list about educating yourself. Many of those things cost money. Conferences? Workshops? College-level classes? Money, money, and more $$$. Books on writing? Not so cheap. Books in your genre? Not SO expensive, but money, neverthe less.

Now I can hear you protesting.

“But I use the library.”

“I get books for free through blog contests.”

“I attend the FREE WriteOnCon Conference.”

I say, wonderful! Great resources. I love the library. I love WriteOnCon. I love blog contests!

But here’s the catch: Time = Money

I know, cliche-city, but it’s true. I work for myself and I know exactly how much my time is worth. I know exactly how much I am not earning when I choose to spend my time elsewhere. Spending time is a monetary investment.

Finally, I think there is a place where you must simply suck it up and pay the hard cold cash, because there is no substitution of time. As a serious writer, you should join a writing association. Whether that’s SCBWI, RWA, NWA, a local group or whatever, do it. Joining a group is a declaration to yourself that you’re serious. And bonus, it’s a declaration to others (i.e. agents and editors).

So yes, to be vested, I do think you need to shell out some cash.

What’s your opinion?

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Getting Vested

Just before the new year, my friend talked me into signing up for a half-marathon with her. Up to then, we’d casually exchanged running time (taking turns watching our kids), but she was ready to get more serious.

Honestly, I have never had the desire to run a marathon or even a half marathon. I ran for soccer or basketball . . . running with a purpose I called it . . . but never just to run. Only crazies do that.

But then some stuff happened and I needed a distraction. Something I could do to completely get away from all the whirrings of my mind (so you can see why writing wouldn’t really fit the bill this time). I paid my money and suddenly, I’m vested in the craziness of running to run.

I quickly learned that if I wanted to be successful, I needed to make some additional purchases. Appropriate running clothes (because believe me, you run for an hour or more and it’s essential!), the right shoes, plus a little gadget (I use Nike+) to track my progress. If I want to succeed, I need to know where I stand and how fast I’m improving.

Because time is of the essence here. March 17th, I have to be able to run for 13 miles.

I’m guessing you know where this is going. The writing thing.

Are you vested?

Are you so anxious to succeed in your writing that you’re willing to put up some hard cold cash to get there?

Do you make sure you have the right equipment, the right training (think critique partners, conferences, seminars, writing books)? Are you tracking your progress so you know that you’re improving (think multiple drafts, multiple books)?

Just something to think about. 😉

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Top Writing Blogs

Right now, ecollegefinder is holding a vote for the top writing blogs. You can go vote for your favorite by clicking on the little badge below.

Online Colleges

You have until Feb. 3, and you can actually vote for multiple blogs and on a daily basis.

Some of my favorite writing blogs are listed (Miss Snark’s First Victim and Shallee McArthur), while others I love (Literary Rambles and Janice Hardy’s blog) are missing. Someone kindly nominated my blog as well, but no pressure to vote for me.

So my questions to you are:

1) What makes a top writing blog? and

2) If you were nominating your favorite/most helpful writing blog, who would you nominate?

Speak up:

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Who Do You Tell?

Yesterday, I saw a license plate I could identify with:

Of course, for the full effect, you needed to read the custom license plate frame. Above the plate it read: “I love creating,” and then below was a web address. I was driving at the time, so I unfortunately don’t remember the address.

In short: I love creating kids books.

Aha! I thought. A kindred spirit right in front of me. But then it made me wonder. Is she/he published? Not published? What kinds of kids stories do they write? And with all these questions, I wondered if I would have the moxy to make that MY license plate?

I remember reading a post by Hilary Wagner, author of Nightshade City, shortly after she got a book deal. She confessed that she didn’t tell anyone she wrote until after she had an agent. That post really made me think, because I, like her, didn’t want to tell anyone about it until I’d had some tangible success.

At that point, I kept a family blog, but not one to chronicle my writing. Only direct family (and critique partners) knew my secret. I felt comfortable with that. It’s better this way, I told myself. Less to explain. But what I found was that I was withholding a significant part of myself from people I really cared about. Standoffish is probably the best word to describe how I felt.

For me, that wasn’t okay, so I changed some things.

I remember the first time I told a friend that I was writing a book. I steeled myself for the reaction. You know, that credulous look that says, “you really think you can write a book good enough to be published?”

It never came. Instead, she said, “Actually, that doesn’t surprise me.” She asked all kinds of questions about what I was writing, my writing process, and what my plans were. And I realized that people who care will always be interested. Always believe you can succeed.

Because that’s what friends do.

I still don’t tell just anyone, but I don’t withhold it from my friends either. So back to the original question: would I choose a license plate like this?

The answer is probably not. At least not yet.

What about you? Who do you tell that you write?

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Switching Things Up



Photo Credit





Anyway, So while I’m sure you’re all wildly interested in our bowling night, I really wanted to compare this to writing (surprise, surprise).

• Change where you write.
• Change your ink color.
• Switch to writing by hand (or vice versa if needed) 
• If you outline, write without one.
• If you don’t outline, try making one.
• Change the setting of your story. 
• Write with a partner.
• Tell the story from a different POV (1st vs. 3rd, or from a minor character’s POV).
• Work on a different story altogether.
• Work on that story you’re dying to write . . . but are afraid of.
• Try a different form of writing (Picture book, poetry, short story, novel in verse, vignette, flash fiction, SO MANY OPTIONS!)

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At the Beginning

I spent this weekend in Gettysburg at the Tri-regional SCBWI conference. I had a great time, refueled my writing bucket, and met so many wonderful people. Okay, that sounds trite, but it’s true.

Though we are limited in what we can share because of copyrights, I wanted to share one little nugget with you all:

In a session with Sarah Davies, Agent Extraordinaire of The Greenhouse Literary Agency, she said that about 50% of the submissions she receives start with one of the following opening scenes:

• The MC [main character] just waking up
• The MC eating breakfast
• The MC in the process of moving
• The MC at the airport
• The MC involved in a major accident

What do they all have in common? They are all literal beginnings. Interesting, no?

She commented that when she sees this, though it sounds harsh, her expectations drop. It’s an immediate strike against the manuscript which takes amazing writing to overcome.

Instead, start in an unexpected place, and you’ll already be one up from about half the submissions. . . . The middle of a heist. Feeding the pigs. At the top of the school’s flag pole. Standing on cloud 9 (literally). In a graveyard digging up a grave. At the scene of a murder.

So many options!

Perhaps we just need to give ourselves permission to go a little crazy. I mean, we are writers, write? (I mean, . . . right?)

Where does your book start?

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Water Is Dangerous

When news of Hurricane Irena came, I happened to be vacationing in Virginia Beach with my husband’s family. The morning before we were scheduled to evacuate, the Port Authority came by and posted this flag next to our waterfront beach house:

Now, I won’t go into all the implications for the real-life scenario of this posted warning (rip-tides, being pulled under, etc.).

Rather, I am sending out a warning to all those contemplating entering the waters of writing.

WARNING: Water Is Dangerous

1. Book Brain. All spare brain power (and brain power that isn’t so spare) is sucked into the void that is called plotting. Side effects include burned dinners, failure to pick up loved ones at scheduled times, taking wrong exits on the interstate, etc.
2. Carpal Tunnel. Numbness of hands and mind. All that typing and writing can only lead to one thing. I mean besides a book.
3. Schizophrenia. Voices whisper in your mind. Worse, they don’t listen to you.
4. E-mail Addiction. Neurotic need to constantly refresh your inbox. Because surely that agent whose had your ms for a day will finally respond NOW (as opposed to twenty seconds ago).
5. Shattered Ego Syndrome. Certainty that your written work is crap. This includes Works-in-Progress, comments on blogs, and even grocery lists (because seriously, did you misspell Brocolli Broccoli again?)

Now let the records show. You have been warned!

So, what warnings would you add?

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Hardness is Good

Sorry I missed Monday, but I underestimated the fatigue factor of jet lag. Definitely still recovering here.

So with a promise for something exciting come Monday, here’s a quote from A League of Their Own:

“If it weren’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes baseball great.” – Jimmy Dougan (Tom Hanks)

Of course, you can swap out baseball for whatever hard thing you’re working at and the idea still holds true. If you can’t guess, I replace it with “writing.” If it all came too easily, I don’t think I’d appreciate the craft of writing as much as I do. And I certainly wouldn’t appreciate any success I may have.

So I’m glad that writing is hard! (Though I can’t believe I just put that in writing.)

How about you? What would you swap in for “baseball”?

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Confessions of a Soccer Mom

I love soccer. LOVE it.

1. The players don’t work together. Any given player will take out his own player to get the ball.

• In my first draft, my chapters don’t work together. The beginning lacks the build-up to the end, and the end just plain ignores what happened in the beginning to go its own direction. I won’t even mention the plodding middle.

2. The poor players trip oven their own feet. Often. (It might have something to do with their shoe-tying abilities, but I can’t be sure.)

• Do I really need to mention the bad (stink-worthy, putrid, horrible, awkward to add a few adjectives) writing? Ack. Painful to read. And I’m supposed to make this seem effortless? Yikes!

3. The players forget which direction they’re going. And that’s usually the fortuituous moment that their aim is accurate.

• Have you ever accidentally changed a character’s name midway through a draft? Or suddenly your mc has black hair instead of blond? No? Me neither.

•  In that first draft, it’s like I’ve forgotten all the rules of writing. Setting comes in chunks that feel like Aunt Bertha’s famous stone pudding in your gut. Backstory takes the real story hostage, and adverbs go on a rampage. Dialogue feels like talking heads who portrary stiff characters who all sound like the same person. You get the idea.

• And back to the ending. It might be a tad rushed because I was T-I-R-E-D of writing the dang book. But why can’t Prince Charming just kill the bad guy with one quick plunge of his sword instead of orchestrating a whole fight scene? Economy of words, right?

Speak up:

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What I’m Glad I Didn’t Know

We often talk about what we wish we knew way back when. Back before we started writing.

But here are some things I’m glad I didn‘t know:

• That I would rewrite that first chapter seventy or so times.
• That after rewriting that first chapter seventy or so times, I still wouldn’t like it.
• That ~~ years later, I still wouldn’t be published.
• That rejection letters never stop hurting.
• That I’d look back at that first book and blush at how horrible it was.
• That when your own mother doesn’t like your book, it’s a bad sign.
• That my writing habit would attempt a coup on my life. 😉
• That my siblings wouldn’t appreciate being featured in my books.

And finally, at the top of my list . . . I’m glad I didn’t know writing was so hard. Because as ignorant as I was, I sure enjoyed writing that first book.

So what are you glad you didn’t know when you started?

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