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Interview with W. Dale Cramer Continues, Part 2

(see Part 1 HERE)

CE: Has writing this series affected your relationship with your Amish relatives? How have they reacted to these stories?

DC:  They were reticent at first. The Amish are a very private people, and there were things in Levi’s Will that they’d rather I hadn’t said. But in the end the reaction was overwhelmingly positive, and now the whole clan turns out for the booksignings in Berlin. My Aunt Mary, a staunch Old Order Amish woman to this day, has been heard to say several times over the last year that she couldn’t wait for The Captive Heart  to come out so she could find out what happens to Miriam and Domingo.

CE: What do you value most about the Amish people and their way of life?

DC:  Oddly enough, I think it’s that their churches meet in homes and barns; they don’t own property or support a paid staff. This means nearly all their tithes go toward taking care of people’s needs. The elderly don’t have to fret over a retirement plan, and the Amish take seriously the biblical mandate to care for widows and orphans. A budget meeting in an Amish church usually goes something like, “We have a big surplus of money just sitting there. Does anyone know of a family in our community who really needs help?” Don’t get me wrong—they have their problems—but the deeper I look at the Amish the more I find myself marveling at the things they get right.

CE: How did you create the characters in this series, particularly the daughters? Writers and readers would like to know: Did you get female input in writing your female protagonists?

DC:  Absolutely. Because I spent most of my life doing construction work, I know everything there is to know about men, and virtually nothing about women. The CBA is a woman’s world, so when I started the series I thought it was important for the Bender family to have lots of girls and lots of female viewpoints. I knew I was in trouble right away, so I solicited my wife’s help. For the first time in my writing career I printed out each chapter as soon as the last word was typed, and handed it to Pam. She’d sit there with that little smirk, her eyes at half mast (whenever they weren’t rolling), shaking her head, muttering, “no… no… no…”. Then we’d talk, and I’d rewrite it. When the entire draft was done I showed it to my cousin Katie, whereupon I learned that an Amish girl has yet another perspective on it. It was sort of a committee effort, but in the end I think we got it right. Trust your instincts, but don’t be afraid to take good advice wherever you can find it. The magic is in the rewriting.

On Writing & Publishing:

CE: Many of your novels include elements taken from personal experience. Tell us a little about how an experience goes from a spark or seed to a full length novel.

DC:  Every writer is different, but I guess my second novel is the best example of how that happens, at least with me. First of all, the idea for Bad Ground  tumbled around in my head for years before I wrote a word. I once worked on a mining project where I learned about the whole subculture of miners first-hand. We were a mile and a half underground one night when I was burned nearly to death in an electrical explosion, and the aftermath turned out to be the best and most enlightening period of my life. It changed absolutely everything, opening up a world of spirituality that made perfect sense. I learned from experience that it’s a good idea to pay close attention during the worst times of your life because that’s where God puts the good stuff. I knew before I started that this would be the theme of Bad Ground, so I knew what I wanted the story to say, and I knew the backdrop would be the mining project. The characters and their stories sort of coalesced out of fragments of miners and construction workers I’ve known, and the lies we’ve swapped all these years. Once I had a handle on Snake and Germy all I had to do was follow them around and write down what they did. The characters, if you’ll trust them, will help you get where you want to go.

CE: Excellent advice. You’ve said in past interviews that you’re a SOTP (Seat Of The Pants) writer. Has your aversion to plotting and outlines changed at all since you’ve worked on a three-book series?

(for the answer to this and more of the interview, come back tomorrow for Part 3)

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Interview with W. Dale Cramer, Author (Part 1)

by Camille Eide

This week, (Jan 4 – 7), the Water Cooler will feature a special discussion with critically acclaimed author Dale Cramer in four parts, so be sure to come back each day for the rest of this interview.

W. Dale Cramer is one of my favorite authors, in both Christian and general markets. His books include Sutter’s Cross, Bad Ground (2005 Christy winner), Levi’s Will (2006 Christy winner), Summer of Light, Paradise Valley (1st in the Daughters of Caleb Bender series) and the newly released The Captive Heart (2nd in the series).

I’ve read each of these books and loved them all. If this tells you anything, my copy of Summer of Light is soft and crumbling along the binding. I recommend the book to others but often buy people their own copy because I refuse to loan out mine. I’ve dissected this story from cover to cover hunting for clues on how to write with such authentic, lyrical, resonant yet humorous style. I sometimes fear these qualities can’t be learned, but I am not giving up and will continue my feverish studies. In the meantime, Dale has graciously agreed to let me pester him with questions.

On Amish Fiction:

CE: Amish fiction is clearly here to stay. To what do you attribute its long-standing popularity?

DC:  They’re hobbits. The Amish clip-clop along in their unhurried pace, more or less oblivious to the rush and crush of the world around them, and they seem to be at peace in their own insular world. The contrast is striking, and I think it gives us an inescapable nagging sense that maybe they know something we don’t, that maybe we’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere in our heedless dash toward high-tech opulence. The Amish have managed to preserve some endangered values, when you think about it. They put family and community above material gain and creature comforts; they teach cooperation instead of competition; they work hard, save their money, spend with thrift, rely on common sense, never depend on the government, and their minds are not shaped by television. 

CE: What do you hope readers will take away from this series?

DC:  I’ve tried to paint a picture of a people who refused to put a price on their principles. I think that’s the most important question The Daughters of Caleb Bender asks— How far would you go? What would you be willing to give up to preserve a way of life based on your beliefs? The story also brings up some very pertinent questions about the roles of church and state in our lives.

CE: You have a family connection with the Amish community and have based this series on actual historical events in your family, which makes the stories that much more intriguing to read. How much assistance with research did your Amish relatives provide?

DC:  Not as much as you’d think. My father was born in Paradise Valley, and he just turned 86. It was the generation before him who remembered much of what happened in Mexico, and they’re all gone now. A few stories have been handed down, but not that many. I wish I had known when my grandfather was alive that I would someday write the story because he could have given me a wealth of information. I’m told he dug bullets out of the wall of his barn after a bandit raid and kept them in a jar in the cupboard for the rest of his life. I never even saw them. 

CE: Outside of research, do you enjoy regular interaction with your Amish relatives?

 DC:  I do, yes. It’s an incredible story, really. I’ve lived in Georgia most of my life, and there was a twenty year period when I didn’t get up to Ohio very often—my father was banned, and there was a pretty deep rift in the family because of it. But about ten years ago, thanks to my cousin Henry, things started to change. Henry decided to have a Miller family reunion (my father’s real name) at his place that year. It was the only reunion I ever recall them having, and when we drove up we saw that Henry had put a sign out at the end of the lane saying, “Miller/Cramer Reunion.” I think it was that one simple gesture, the inclusion of my father’s name on the sign, that started to turn things around. That was the reunion where my father publicly acknowledged his daughter. A few years later I told the story in Levi’s Will, and the restoration of the family since the writing of that book has been the most remarkable turn of events in my life. Now I do book tours in Ohio and spend a lot of time with family while I’m there. I’m even starting to learn the language.

CE: Has writing this series affected your relationship with them? How have they reacted to these stories?

(For the answer to this and more, come back tomorrow for Part 2)

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Emotional Development of Characters

Image: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last year I drew The Emotional Development of Characters as the topic for my speaking engagement at the Tucson Festival of Books. Part of me was delighted; developing characters is one of my favorite parts of writing. The other part was terrified. Character development, like many aspects of writing, is very individual to the writer, and while I knew how I did it, it wasn’t exactly easy to explain, nor was I entirely convinced the majority of what I did wasn’t done subconsciously. Still, I took the challenge and came up with  a few pointers any writer might use as a starting point. Since Tuesday is a day for sharing about writing on the WordServe Water Cooler, I share those tips here with hopes someone might find them useful.

What do you remember most when you finish a really good novel? Are you left in awe at the amazing plot? Or do you have lingering thoughts about the characters? For most readers, it’s the characters they identify with more than anything. That’s because to care about what happens in a story the reader must care about its characters. So, how do you create characters your audience will care about?

One time literary agent, now children’s book author, Nathan Bransford once tweeted: In great novels, every character has their own set of goals, vices, and motivations and no one is purely good or evil.

In other words, they are human. One way to make it easier to connect to your characters emotionally is to give them some flaw. After all, to err is human. You don’t want to give them just any old flaw, though. It should be an important inner flaw, ideally one that plays off their strength. For instance, someone who is self-disciplined and organized (strength) may also be a control freak or inflexible (weakness). A strong and brave character (strength) may be overprotective and overbearing (weakness). Whatever the flaw, it should prevent the character from being the best they can be. It should get in the way of what they want, resulting in some internal struggle they will eventually face to overcome—or not if your story is a tragedy or the character in question a villain.

I like to think about my characters strength and flaws by getting a glimpse into their personality. There are lots of personality profiles available for a writer to tap into, but I use the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment to sketch my characters’ profiles. It suggests people have different ways of gaining energy (Introversion or Extraversion), being aware of information (Sensing or Intuition), coming to conclusions or decisions about that information (Thinking or Feeling), and ultimately dealing with the world around them (Judging or Perceiving).

If my heroine was Intuitive—trusting interrelationships, theories and future possibilities, her strength might be that she’s aware of others, and she is able to weave together possibilities from bits of information. Her flaw may be that those possibilities are not always based in fact, and therefore she makes decisions using circumstantial evidence. Maybe my hero is Perceiving—adaptable and keeps options open as long as possible. While this allows him to be flexible and go with the flow (strength), it backfires when he adopts a ‘wait and see’ approach when he should be taking affirmative action (flaw).

Once I have my characters’ personalities down, if I’m writing a romance I like to make the hero and heroine as opposite as possible. Those differences are ripe for emotional conflict. Or, maybe the conflict stems from the fact they are too much alike, such as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind. Either way, the process of overcoming and resolving those conflicts requires emotional maturity if the couple ever hopes to be together—and that is one part of their emotional development.

Another tool the personality assessment provides me with is the framework for how my characters would realistically act in any given circumstance. You know that adage about sticks and stones breaking bones but words never hurting? It’s a lie. Words hurt because they are aimed at emotions. How a character reacts (or doesn’t) to internal and external conflict throughout your story should reflect who they are and where they are emotionally at that particular point in time.  More importantly, it should develop as the story progresses, eventually cultivating in some notable change to the character’s emotional self. Understanding your character’s personality, their strength and flaws is a start to making their responses more believable.

What about you? What tips or tools do you use to help readers care about your characters, and by default, their story?

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Your Name is Your Brand

I’ve been delving a lot into marketing books and I’ve garnered a few nuggets that I thought would be helpful to those who are beginning to develop their on-line presence—and maybe change the minds of a few who are already there.

Your name is your brand.

In writing, there’s a lot of talk about what your brand is. Put simply, your brand is a promise to your readers. If you write historical novels then write an edgy supernatural thriller—your historical followers are busy scratching their heads and your new readers are doing the same when they look at your previously published books. Writers who have deviated a lot from their promise usually suffer in sales.

But more important than that is how will your readers find you. When they search Twitter and Facebook for your profile, how easy are you making it for them? If your author name is Joe Smith but your Twitter handle is @hottexasdude3000—how simple are you making it for your potential buyers to discover you and your product. And yes, I did search for that moniker and it seems to be wide open for those who would like to claim it.

Let’s focus on Twitter. Your handle should not be:

1. Something funny and quirky. Though this may garner a lot of followers, it’s probably doing little to build your brand. Especially if you don’t write quirky or funny—not that you can’t be that way personally. Name first. Image second. Your presence should have a consistent feel among your blog, web site, etc…

2. A character in your novel or book title. What happens when your publishing house hates that name? They require you to change it. Now, it’s time spent explaining to all your happy followers that Derek Storm (just love Castle!) is dead. Oh, that’s another reason. You as the author decide to kill the main character. Unless you are in a position to have complete control over your books, this is risky.

3. Your blog. Again, your blog should support your brand. Not be the brand. When people Google search, they’re going to look for your name first. They may discover your fine blog through your name search but the opposite may not be true. My name gets far more Google hits than my blog name. This is what you want to shoot for.

What if you’ve done one of these fatal errors? Relax. It can be changed. Why postpone the inevitable? Work to make these changes now. Make your name your brand. Work to have a consistent feel among your social media sites. There’s always room for improvement. Even though my Twitter and Facebook profiles are my name, I need to improve the feel so it speaks suspense.

How about you? Is your name your brand? If not, why not? Do you think you should change it?

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WordServe News Update and New Releases

Exciting things have been happening at WordServe Literary!

On the final post of each month you’ll find a list of Water Cooler contributors’ books releasing in the upcoming month along with a recap of WordServe client news from the current month.

January New Releases

Shaped by the Cross:

Meditations on the Suffering of Jesus

by Ken Gire

IVP Books

Non Fiction/Christian Living/Easter

•

That’s My Girl

How a Father’s Love Protects and Empowers His Daughter

by Rick Johnson*

Non-fiction: Parenting

Revell Publishing

•

Shadow of the Mountain

(Cheney Duvall, M.D. #2)

by Lynn Morris

Hendrickson Publishers

Historical Fiction

•

A City Not Forsaken

(Cheney Duvall, M.D. #3)

by Lynn Morris

Hendrickson Publishers

Historical Fiction

•

Small Things with Great Love:

Adventures in Loving Your Neighbor

by Margot Starbuck

IVP Books

Non-Fiction/Christian Living

•

The Redemption (reprint)

(The Legacy of the Kings Pirates)

by Marylu Tyndall

Mission Books (a division of eChristian.com)

Historical Fiction

•

The Reliance (reprint)

(The Legacy of the Kings Pirates)

by Marylu Tyndall

Mission Books (a division of eChristian.com)

Historical Fiction

•

The Restitution (reprint)

(The Legacy of the Kings Pirates)

by Marylu Tyndall

Mission Books (a division of eChristian.com)

Historical Fiction

• • •

Agent News

Sorry to see Rachelle Gardner go, but wish her very well in all of her new endeavors. God’s best to Rachelle and all of the clients she’s taking with her. Serve God well…and keep putting out great books! ~ Greg

• • •

Bestseller News

New York Times Bestseller List for December 25, 2011

Rebecca Alonzo – The Devil in Pew 7 took the #6 spot on the New York Times E-book Nonfiction Bestseller List for December 25, 2011.

“After being on Dr. Phil to meet with the man who killed her mother 33 years ago, and having Dr. Phil hold the book up and say glowing things about it, this stirring story of forgiveness started to move a few copies.” ~ Greg

•

ECPA January 2012 List

Erica Vetsch* – A Log Cabin Christmas, a nine-author novella collection that includes Erica’s story, “Christmas Service,” hit #4 on the ECPA (Evangelical Christian Publishers Association) Fiction Bestsellers list, #13 on the Multi-channel Bestsellers List, and #23 on the Top 50 Bestsellers List.

•

CBA Fiction Bestseller List for January 2012

Erica Vetsch* – A Log Cabin Christmas, a nine-author novella collection that includes Erica’s story, “Christmas Service,” hit #7 on the CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) Fiction Best Sellers list.

• • •

Contest News

Passport Through Darkness by Kimberly Smith, David C. Cook, 2011, won the INSPY Award for Creative Nonfiction.

•

Yesterday’s Tomorrow by Catherine West*, Oak Tara, March, 2011, won the INSPY Award for romance.

• • •

Barbara’s New Clients

Anita Agers-Brooks* (nonfiction)

Rebecca DeMarino* (fiction)

John Daly (nonfiction)

Pamela Binnings Ewen (award-winning author, multiple novels – fiction)

Mindy Ferguson* (multiple-book, nonfiction author)

Rita Gerlach (multiple novels – fiction)

Michelle Griep (multiple novels – fiction)

Frederick Hurr* (published author – U.K. fiction)

Karen Jordan* (nonfiction)

Henry McLaughlin (award-winning author – fiction)

Tracie Miles (nonfiction)

Melissa K. Norris* (fiction)

Cheryl Ricker (published author – nonfiction)

John Robinson (multiple novels – fiction)

Paul L. Williams (bestselling, multiple-book, nonfiction author – general market)

• • •

Greg’s New Clients

Leigh Ann Bryant, a domestic abuse survivor writing her story of killing her abusive husband during a terrible beating, her trial and short jail sentence, her conversion in prison and release, and how God put her life back together these last 18 years.

Glenn Frazier, Bataan Death March survivor from WWII.

Heather James, attorney by day, contemporary novelist by night (and mornings, and weekends)

• • •

Contract News from Greg

Steve Farrar signed a two-book contract with Thomas Nelson for a book for younger men on how to lead their families called Point Man 2.0, and then a book on providing well, tentatively titled Manna.

Mandy Steward, pastor’s wife, and Messy Canvas blogger, signed her memoir, I’m Tired of Being (that type) of a Christian, with David C. Cook.

• • •

Other News from Greg

Julie Cantrell’s* debut novel, Into the Free, received a starred review in Publishers Weekly.

(* = WordServe Water Cooler Contributor)

• • •

That’s our good news for the month.

Please share yours in the comments so we can celebrate with you.

• • •

Post Author: Keli Gwyn

I write inspirational historical romance. My debut novel, A Bride Opens Shop in El Dorado, California, will be released July 1, 2012. I live in the heart of California’s Gold Country. My favorite places to visit are my fictional worlds, the Coach factory outlet store, and Taco Bell.

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Resolved to Clarify

Over the past week, we’ve been inundated with articles, blog posts, tweets, and Facebook updates about New Year’s resolutions. To make or not to make them – that seems to be the question.

Just what is it about a brand new year and vowing resolutions?

Many writers tend to possess the maddening, albeit necessary, drive to be word smiths. To grasp precise definitions that give life to our stories. Sound familiar? Welcome to the club.

After reading and hearing people opine about resolutions and maintaining resolve, I headed straight to the bookshelf. I found my old dog-eared, yellowed copy of The American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition, and flipped back to the Rs. Not able to recall the last time I looked up the word resolution, I was completely unprepared to find this definition:

Resolution: the fineness of detail that can be distinguished in an image.

I re-read that definition several times before the full meaning sunk in: A resolution needs to contain such precise detail that it evokes a vivid mental picture.

In our techno-age, we relate resolution to pixels in an image. High-definition on a movie screen. Something so clear that details pop. Brilliant color that ignites our senses.

So why do we craft our New Year’s resolutions with vague language and colorless imagination?

Resolving to “get published” isn’t really a resolution – it’s a dream (and a pretty good one, I might add). But those two words lack fineness of detail and contain faceless people and blurred images. But resolving to attend the next local writer’s conference in order to network, learn the craft of writing, and pitch an agent or publisher stirs a focused mental picture. You can see the steps to take.

I’ve resolved to read through the Bible in 2012. I’ve already got my Bible reading checklist tucked in my Bible ready to go and an alarm set on my cell phone to alert me when it’s time to wrap up and get ready for work. I can clearly picture my quiet time each still morning as God whispers life into my soul. Just writing that brought to mind the comfy, overstuffed chair in my study where that wondrous, transforming time will unfold.

The bottom line? If you’re going to make New Year’s resolutions, add as much detail as you can. The more vivid the picture, the more focused your striving becomes. 

If you’re having difficulty seeing it, you’ll have difficulty attaining it.

Blessings to you and yours in 2012.

Let’s chat: If you’ve made resolutions, do you see fineness of detail that can be distinguished in an image? 

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The Answer to All Your Worries

My backyard. A nice place to let worries go.

As we look forward to 2012, it may not be so filled with resolutions but questions:
Will I get an agent?
When will the agent get back to me?
Why did I only get a form letter?
Will I get a contract?
When will I hear from the publisher?
What’s going on with my publisher?
What are the trends?
What marketing technique is going to make my book a best seller?

This blog post is meant to answer all those questions.

I know, it’s not April Fools, and it may not strike you as funny when some of those questions feel so serious. But the thing is, the thing this blog post is really about, is those questions can’t be answered. Those questions- or similar ones- only serve to distract you from what you can answer:
How is my writing?
What can I do to improve my craft?
What can I do to improve my professional development?
What can I do to increase my industry savvy?
Am I doing best? Why do I not value my best as enough?

As we focus on questions we can not answer, as we worry about people that we do not control and as we try to know the unknowable– we are burning time and energy better suited elsewhere.

When we allow delays, distractions and even doubt to crowd in- that is time we are not writing. That is energy we could have used to edit. Or read a book on craft. Or attend a workshop. With all the time I have used worrying and wondering about stuff beyond my control, I could have attended whole conferences for weeks on end!

As the end of the year approaches and 2012 stretches before us, it is filled with opportunity. Opportunity for you to be the writer you are intended to be. No agent, publisher, contract or sale makes you a writer. Writing makes you a writer.

Yea, easy for you to say.

Uh, no. NOT easy. At all. It is a constant practice to remind myself to focus on my own stuff. It is not something you hear once and just magically stop worrying. Part of my ongoing practice is to work on reframing anxiety producing questions into thoughts that can actually be productive.

More than a year ago, I received an exciting response from an agent (ie “I love your novel. I want to discuss representation.”) This was pretty much my dream agent. I spent way too much time wondering when the agent would call, why she hadn’t called, maybe she’d changed her mind about me. Maybe she didn’t like my facebook picture and social media wouldn’t build my career after all. Maybe she didn’t think my blog title was funny…on it went.

Common thought about worry is to push it out of your mind: “Don’t think about it. Stop worrying. Let it go.” Sure. That’s going to happen. It’s like telling you not to think about elephants. Quick! What are you thinking about? Usually, elephants.

Here’s what I do.

Take one sentence of your worrying thoughts. The one that seems to sum it all up. Why hasn’t she called? Instead of trying to push that thought away. Invite it in. Mull it over with a cup a coffee. I take my cup and stare out at my backyard. Take a few breaths and really think that through.

Are you ready for that call?

The answer for me was: NO. I wanted her to call. Because I wanted an agent. But I was not ready. I wanted to be further along on my WIP. And, I was nine months pregnant. I was not in a life position to discuss building a new career. As I focused on my stuff, I was able to let go of that worry about when the phone call would come.

Instead of spending time and energy on what someone else was doing, I was able to focus on my own tasks. Like getting my word count higher on my new novel. Like researching what to do when an agent calls and oh, yea, HAVING A BABY (a 9 pound baby at that!).

I did get that call. And when I did, I was ready. And so was she. My worry had accomplished nothing. My peace did.

Now, when I am going to get that publishing contract?

Post Author: Charise Olson

Charise Olson writes contemporary women’s fiction. She likes to say she writes California Fiction. It’s like Southern Fiction, but without all that humidity. Her characters face serious life situations and cope with humor. Someone always has a smart mouth and Charise claims IM-plausibile deniability as to their origin. Charise is a mom to anyone needing mothering (whether they think they need it or not!) and owns two alpacas. Why alpacas? Because they were cheaper than a lawn mower. The menagerie also includes two dogs and two cats. In addition to her fiction writing and family, Charise has a paycheck career in social services and education.

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Deadlines: Slaying Medusa

I’ve been through a rough initiation to the reality of deadlines. In May, I learned that I needed to do a 60 to 70 percent rewrite of my second novel…in one month. My agent negotiated for an extra month, but that was all the wiggle room available. So I had eight weeks to write about 300 pages. In addition, I knew that the enormity of the second novel’s rewrite would affect the time I needed to write the third novel in my series. Altogether, I was looking at writing and editing about 600 to 700 pages in six to seven months, starting in June 2011 and ending January 1st, 2012.

For some authors, this wouldn’t be too stressful. Many professional novelists turn out three or even four books a year.

For me, it felt like a death sentence. Given the pace at which I usually write and the research requirements for my novels, I knew that the unexpected impact of these deadlines would change my life drastically.

I wanted to run away, screaming and frothing at the mouth. It took every ounce of my willpower to accept the situation and begin the long, arduous, fearsome task ahead of me.

So here I am, three days from my deadline for my third novel. I have one chapter left to write.

I have officially survived the deadlines. And I feel like a warrior returning exhausted but victorious from a battle with some horrifying mythical creature .

For what it’s worth, here’s what I’ve learned.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

I’ve never felt such pure dread from a writing project as I did during the rewrite of my second novel. In grad school, I finished my papers two weeks early without breaking a sweat, and liked it! Even though my doctoral dissertation took a lot of thought and hard work, I never feared it or thought I couldn’t do it.

You know the pinprick of reluctance and fear that we writers sometimes feel when we face a blank page? Magnify that by one hundred, until it’s like a lance through the guts, and that’s how I felt for seven of the eight weeks of that novel rewrite.

At the same time, I knew that this crippling fear was my true enemy.  If I could just live through it one hour at a time without hyperventilating, I could probably make it through the whole ordeal.

Deadlines are like Medusa: the mere sight of them can turn you to stone.

So don’t look directly at them, if you want to survive. Polish up your shield of faith and look only in its bright surface—let the deadline become a dim, hissing shadow while you hack off its head.

Does this metaphor seem too violent for the artistic, expressive act of novel writing? For me, that’s how it felt–like a raw struggle, nothing pretty or poetic to it, just sheer determination not to give in to the fear.

Tell me—have you ever faced this kind of overwhelming fear as a writer? What did you do to get through it?

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After the Glitter, Get Inspired

When the glitter settles, I often discover that my creativity has gravitated from the work place to family, friends, and holiday festivities. In other words, it goes into play mode. Christmas can leave me feeling unmotivated to return to the hard task of writing. When this happens, a pep talk is in order to remind the creative side of my brain that it loves writing.  I find it helpful to think about a time when I was able to produce and convince myself that I’m capable of doing so again. I try to focus on the positive and not entertain negative thoughts or lingering distractions so that I can prepare the way for my inner writer to quicken.

I know that I must allow the left side of my brain (the logical or analytical side) to provide a safe uncluttered place for my creative right side to emerge.

In other words, I clean up the glitter. For me, it’s getting my hair done, putting away the Christmas decorations, and cleaning off my desk and workspace. I organize my desk and schedule and make necessary adjustments to reincorporate my writing time. I order a calendar for the upcoming year. I often need to re-prioritize my writing goals and ask, “What is my next step? What day and time will I begin?” I allow my left side to formulate a plan for my inner writer, rather like one friend spurring another to do something great.

With the glitter removed, I coax my right side to get back to my fiction writing.

 I stoke the dim flickering desire by intentionally doing things that heat up the inspiration. I may read a book on writing, go to a writing blog, or connect with another writer. I dig out the inspirational quotes. If I’m lazy, I may read a novel or two. I think about my readers.

When my motivation intensifies, I know it’s time to get started.

Even if it doesn’t, when the designated appointment time arrives, I sit at my desk. It feels familiar like I’m coming home again. I begin by reading what I last wrote or looking over my plot outline.  When my creative mind knows I mean business, it will emerge–sometimes slow and sulky and other times eager and crashing through the gates. My lips quirk into a smile and my fingers glide over the keyboard. It may feel rusty, but I know this isn’t the time for me to worry about perfection, but just be thankful that I’m writing again.

How do you go from glitter to inspired?

 

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Write, Market, Sell

Write, Market, Sell is not to be confused with Eat, Pray, Love, although I like to mix it up a little bit. For instance, I love what I do, I’ve been known to eat when I write (love those M&M’s and Skittles), and I pray it all works out. 🙂

Remember when you made the decision to WRITE? Have you learned a lot since then? I know I have. And as long as we keep writing we will continue to learn as long as we make a conscious decision to do so. When we learn to write we have different obstacles to overcome: plot, dialogue, setting, pacing, and so much more.

I think marketing is much the same. When we MARKET we have a learning curve to conquer that is much the same. Some of the marketing obstacles I’ve had to learn about and continue to learn about have to do with: networking, websites, Facebook, twitter, and so much more.

I SELL a product. Again there is a learning curve. There are many ways to do this selling thing: book signings, hand selling, giving away product to hopefully sell more product later, interviews, and so much more.

So just like all of you on this journey with me there are many blank pages to be filled in the realm of Write, Market, Sell. We face a blank page every time we start a new story, but with experience we gain new skills, perspective and technique. It’s the same with marketing and selling our novels. We can’t do everything well all the time, but we can do many things well a lot of the time. So don’t be afraid of facing the blank page in any of these areas, gain wisdom and put it on the page.

What’s the latest skill you’ve honed in any of these areas? What’s one thing you plan to do differently in the New Year related to your writing? And do you nibble when you write?

Post Author: Jillian Kent

Jillian Kent is more than enthusiastic about the release of her first novel, Secrets of the Heart, The Ravensmoore Chronicles, Book One. She’s a full-time counselor for nursing students and holds a masters degree in social work. She’s fascinated with human behavior and thought it would be interesting to explore what might have happened in a lunatic asylum during England’s Regency era, her favorite time period. Jillian hopes you will escape into the past with her and find faith for the future.