May Goal Wrap-up and Review

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Here it is, the end of May already.  I feel like every month just goes by faster and faster.  It can be overwhelming, but in a lot of ways I’m grateful for that.  It means I have a lot going on, and I’m not stagnating.

So let’s get to it.  Here are my May goals, and how they panned out:

1. Finish 1st revision of book – I finished this, as many of you may have seen in an earlier post or on Twitter.  I’m currently reading it through completely, in as few sittings as possible, to help catch any continuity errors.  I also have a whole new section I want to add, which is good because the wordcount is still too low for a novel.

2. Increase my use of social media to expand my network. Meaning: Tweet more, update more, and have something to say! Spamming is so uncool. – I’m still working on this.  I need to figure out how to balance my use of social media.  I’m either on it, and feel like I’m wasting my day (and I frequently am) or I’m not on it at all, which doesn’t broaden my network at all.  I consider this a work in progress.

3. Publish 3 new articles/reviews on pay-per-click or other sites. – I published a Memorial Day poem on Associated Content, which I linked to on my “Published” page, and I have one article each processing in AC and Helium.  So I guess if both get published I’ve reached my goal, and if one or both don’t, then I really haven’t.  I’ll let you know.

4. Find 2 new freelance jobs. – I have not found two new ones, but one of my ongoing clients, who generally asks me for two reviews a month, asked for the usual two reviews, plus three articles.

5. Submit 2 new stories/poems to three magazines/markets each. – Not even a little.  Not one.  Maybe next month, if I’m not too wrapped up in everything else to do more writing.

So there you have it.  Mostly successful, some not very, but I’m satisfied overall.  How did you do on your goals?

Related articles

• May Goals (or Oh My God, another month is gone!) (famelessramblings.wordpress.com)

 

Monday Morning Challenge

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I do realize I’m using the term “Morning” fairly loosely here if you’re anywhere east of the Pacific time zone, but here it is.

Have a restful Memorial Day, and don’t forget what the day is about.  It’s not just barbeques and picnics.

Prompt:

In honor of Memorial Day, write a story or poem about a soldier.  This doesn’t mean it has to be about war.  It could be during peacetime, it could be before he/she “ships out” or after he/she comes back.  There are many possibilities.

Feel free to share your work by posting in the comments section if you’d like.

 

Let the celebratory wine commence

Image by Vincent Ma via Flickr

Ok, not really this early in the day, but I did have a glass last night.

I finished the first revision of my novel last night, and printed out the whole thing.  I still have TONS of work to do on it, including adding a couple of sections that I thought of while revising but didn’t write yet.  But the first run-through is done, much to my own amazement.

 

Friday Find

Probably my all-time favorite blog, and the one I have read the longest, is Wil Wheaton’s blog WWdN:In Exile.  While some of you may only remember Wil as the kid from “Stand By Me” or as Wesley Crusher in “Star Trek:The Next Generation” or even as (my personal favorite) Sheldon’s nemesis on “The Big Bang Theory,” he has actually grown into a very talented writer and blogger as well as still being an actor.

I started reading his blog back when it was still at WilWheaton.net.  When he had problems with the site, he moved his blog “temporarily” to the new address where it was “in exile” until the original site was fixed.  For various reasons, it never moved back.

While I can’t say that I’ve read every post he’s ever written, I have kept up over the years.  He has written about his life, his family, poker, his struggles as an actor, and his new career as a blogger and then writer.  His posts have ranged from hysterically funny to poignant, and from mainstream to complete geek-out.

I have seen him read from one of his books in person, and have bought a number of others (the rest are on my “to buy” list).  I recommend his blog for lots of reasons.  One is that he is a good writer with a successful blog, and is a great example of what to do and what not to do.  Another is that he’s got interesting and intelligent things to say.  Mostly though, I just enjoy reading his posts.

If you haven’t already checked him out, you should.  That’s all.

Related articles

• Wil of the people (ken-jennings.com)

 

As the end of May draws nigh…

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…is anyone else panicking about the goals they set and whether or not they are actually accomplishing any of them?  I’ve had so much going on I’ve barely had time to blog, much less do any writing.

This weekend, Memorial Day weekend, I have only one child from now (this morning actually) until Monday evening.  The other two are with their father.  I plan to pack and clean as much as possible, and write/edit.  I have the additional challenge of having five articles/reviews (fairly short in length) all due on June 10th for the same person for whom I’ve been writing book reviews.

Speaking of book reviews, I am so backlogged on the books I’ve read or am supposed to be reading that if I ever have the chance to write some of them, you may start getting a review a week here, at least for a while.  I also have a great series of guest blogs lined up which will be appearing on Wednesdays.

I plan to bring M. to a farmer’s market or two over the weekend and spend some time playing in the yard with her too.  I hope everyone has a relaxing and restful Memorial Day weekend.  Do you have any plans?

 

Guest Post: Writer’s Block: Curing the Affliction – Technique #1

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I hear a lot of people talk about having writers block. It’s funny, but I never have it – never! I have just the opposite problem, I have way too many things to write about, and not nearly enough time to get it all done. For a writer, that’s an odd and wonderful problem to have.

With this article, I’m kicking off a series of 24 posts to help all of you acquire this same odd and wonderful problem – too many ideas and not enough time to write about them all. I won’t say my 24 ideas will cure your ills, but they certainly will give you something to think about. And, for me, thinking about something leads to writing about it (see item # 9 on the list).

There are probably many more ways to address writers block, but if it can’t be addressed to some meaningful degree with 24 solid suggestions and examples, then you have something that most likely can’t be cured on your own. Let me overview these “self help” approaches before you run out to seek professional assistance. You might find that this series has just what you need.

1. Use a list about a subject to drill down to find more ideas and catalysts.
2. Turn your gab into written words.
3. Start with a “hit list” of articles and then re-hit the list and multiply it.
4. Identify your passion and go for it.
5. Understand your audience and please them.
6. Get outside the box you’ve built for yourself.
7. Think conversationally and find the market for your thoughts.
8. Allow degrees of freedom – be different to be a writer.
9. If you think about it, then write about it.
10. Take notes constantly – make time for that kind of writing.
11. Use different techniques for writing – pen/pencil, keyboard, recorder and microphone.
12. Never shut off your brain.
13. Use real examples – they’re really more interesting.
14. Shift words and that will shift your thoughts.
15. Make each paragraph compel the reader to the next – organization, coherence and glue.
16. Talk about yourself, your friends and your family – that’s an endless wellspring of material.
17. Solve a problem or form an opinion while you write.
18. Wait until the timing is right.
19. Comb through as you write – obtain better focus and harvest additional articles.
20. Listen to others – maybe they can’t write, but you can.
21. Role play as casual reader, careful listener, and seeker of solutions.
22. Imitate others who you enjoy reading.
23. Create your own style and let it fly.
24. Train your brain – become a human writer’s template.

Any one of these ideas can be effective, but I use them in combination because they tend to be related, and each one helps enhance the effectiveness of others. Besides, some of these ideas are meant to generate topics and headlines, and other are meant to help you craft the headline into an article.

Let’s dive in with an example of Technique #1 – Use a List About a Subject to Drill Down. The technique involves making a list of what you want to write about, but creating the list with greater detail and breadth than what you might normally. Think elements, sub-elements, varying perspectives and related matters.

For example, if I wanted to write an article about washing a car, that seems to be a relatively simple and straightforward piece, perhaps a bit boring as well, right? Perhaps. It also seems to be quite limiting; wet it down, soap it up, rinse it off, and drag a towel across it. Yawn!

Okay, big deal, let’s move on and think about something else to write about.

Not so fast. There are many articles waiting to be written inside what appears to be a simple article about washing a car. If we only sit down for a moment and make a list, and then drill down a bit, we’ll likely discover more material, more interesting material, and many more articles than what appears when we first consider the subject.

Here is my list with notes on the sub-elements associative with each.

• Exterior (power washing, hand washing, using the car wash)
• Interior (vacuuming, blowing it out, dash and instrument cluster, clearing and cleaning the console and glove compartment, spills and stains, chewing gum on the carpet, cleaning between and under the seats)
• Detailing (door jams, mirrors, headliner and steering wheel)
• Windows and Mirrors
• Engine compartment (degreasing, steam cleaning and power washing)
• Tires, wheels and sidewalls (cleaning and dressing)
• Seating (leather and cloth)

Okay, so you can see that a simple article about washing a vehicle can propagate many more articles if we allow ourselves time to drill down and make a list of some of the elements that come to mind. In this car wash example, what started out to be a single article has blossomed into nearly 20 distinctly different, yet related articles. All of this happened because we drilled down below the surface to see what else might be waiting for us to discover beyond that bucket of soapy water and a garden hose.

As you can see in this example, simply making a list of some of the things we’d like to talk about can lead us to a wellspring of ideas. To be sure, some of these ideas are too detailed or mundane to write about, but they can serve as a catalyst for other ideas. Does the list above scream out to you? It does to me. It’s screaming, “Write a series of articles about vehicle detailing. If people can make a living doing just that, you can certainly write a few articles about it.”

Are there other ideas that this “drill down” has presented to us? There is in my mind. What about the things that aren’t mentioned in our list, but are related to maintenance and upkeep of appearance? Have you considered touch up, buffing, waxing, rust removal, and applying a dressing to leather seats? You see? If you let the wellspring flow, you’ll need pen and pencil to keep track of it all (that’s technique #10).

One of the keys to understanding when an element is an article unto itself is to understand at what level your reader might want to explore the topic (that’s technique #5), but to start with, you must have ideas to consider, so don’t be shy, start drilling down to tap into ideas that are below the surface. Only after you have a nice pile of ideas on the table in front of you can you start sorting, organizing and blending them to create multiple articles that might please your audience.

So there you have an example of our first technique – drilling down to discover more content – and using this technique, we clearly showed ourselves that washing a car can be much more than a bucket of soapy water and a garden hose. It can be quite a pocket full of ideas to write about. As we move through this series, let’s keep filling our pockets with more ideas and learn how to turn them into useful articles.

Clair Schwan is the managing editor at www.Self-Reliance-Works.com where he and his team of writers help others understand how to live life focused on greater self-sufficiency and self-direction. He also hosts www.Sensible-Small-Business-Ideas.com where he encourages others to start an enterprise of their own, including online businesses where writing is a key to success.

 

2012 Nutmeg Book Award Nominees, part two

Tuesday Top Ten

As I said in last week’s Tuesday Top Ten, I’m a big fan of Connecticut’s own Nutmeg Book Award. It is co-sponsored by the Connecticut Library Association and the Connecticut Association of School Librarians, and is aimed at 4th – 8th graders in an attempt to get them to read more, and better, books.

Children in those grades choose the winner from a list of nominees, so it really is kids telling other kids what their favorite books are, not just an adult saying, “Here’s a great book.  Read it.”

As I promised last week, here is this year’s list of Teen Nominees (Grades 7 and 8).  For the Intermediate Nominees (Grades 4th – 6th), see last week’s post.

1.  The Compound by S.A. Bodeen – Nine-year-old Eli, his sisters, and parents move into the Compound, an expansive underground bunker built by Eli’s billionaire father as a refuge from nuclear attack. Waiting for the outside environment to be safe to reenter, fifteen -year -old Eli is starting to have doubts about his father’s motives, explanations, and sanity. Can Eli trust his father?

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – In the ruins of North America lies the nation of Panem, a capitol surrounded by twelve districts. Each year, the districts send one boy and one girl to participate in Hunger Games, a brutal fight to the death televised for Panem’s entertainment. Sixteen-year-old Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, hoping to survive the competition.

3. I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President by Josh Lieb – Running for seventh-grade class president looks easy to Oliver Watson. With his good looks, intelligence, and wealth, he can control his classmates, teachers, and parents. But can he control the outcome of an election?

4. The Maze Runner by James Dashner – Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up in an elevator with no memory except for his first name.  He’s arrived in “the glade,’ an area surrounded by stone walls that open to a maze every morning.  With him in the glade are about 60 boys, all searching for an escape route. And then a girl appears with a message, and things begin to change.

5. Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray – After their best friend Ross dies, English teenagers Blake, Kenny, and Sim plan a proper memorial by taking his ashes to Ross, Scotland, an adventure-filled journey that tests their loyalty to each other and forces them to question what friendship means.

6. Pop by Gordon Korman – Quarterback Marcus Jordan has a big problem: his new school isn’t interested in adding Marcus to their winning football team. Practicing in the park, Marcus meets a childlike 50-year-old by the name of Charlie with startling football abilities. Charlie’s pranks and spotty memory have Marcus wondering what Charlie’s story is.

7. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George – Galen, a soldier recently returned from the war, now works in the royal palace, where he meets 12 beautiful princesses.  As innocent as the king’s twelve daughters seem, they harbor a secret. Will Galen be the one to uncover what activity leaves their slippers in tatters, as if worn for years? Or will he, like the others, fail… and die for his trouble?

8. The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon – The year is 1968 and the Civil Rights Movement is in full swing in Chicago, Illinois.  Teenager Sam Childs is caught between his father, who follows the non-violent path of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,  and his older brother who has joined the Black Panther Party and its sometimes violent methods.   Will Sam choose the rock or the river?

9. Scat by Carl Hiaasen – After mean Mrs. Starch goes missing during a class field trip to the Black Vine Swamp, two of her students, Nick and Marta, believe her disappearance is mysterious and that there is something strange about the note that she left behind.  Can Nick and Marta solve the mystery of the missing teacher?

10. Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani – Aspiring filmmaker 14-year-old Viola is the child of devoted documentary filmmakers, but her parents’ overseas assignment brings her to Prefect Academy, a boarding school for girls. Viola is sure that she’ll hate Prefect, but she befriends her roommates, learning that she can flourish in a new environment.

All book descriptions come from the Nutmeg Book Award site.

 

Guest Post: Brainstorming Seasonal Articles

by Erin O’Riordan

Editors are always in the market for seasonal material. Blogs, newsletters and magazines that rely on a steady stream of fresh content constantly need original approaches to holidays and other ways we mark the passing of time. Book publishers also need seasonal material, whether it’s themed short stories for anthologies or a group of full-length seasonal books that can be launched as a set.

How can you help meet this demand? Keep a calendar of what seasonal materials will be in demand six months ahead. What should you put on this calendar? There are many ways to brainstorm seasonal ideas.

Most commercial calendars come pre-printed with the major bank holidays of one or more countries. Some include religious holidays or other specialized information. By looking at several calendars, you can assemble a list of holidays. As a general rule, in January, be prepared to pitch your articles about July topics; in July, you’ll be pitching your January topics. Of course, some publications (particularly in print media) require more than six months of lead time on seasonal articles, so check ahead.

I like to keep my list in a notebook, with one pair of months written at the top, a list of holidays for the target month under that, and plenty of room to jot down ideas underneath. I may have a great Groundhog Day article idea in October; I never know.

Check your library for books with monthly lists of holidays and observances. Books aimed at teachers and preschool instructors often list holidays as well as suggest activities for all ages related to each one. To the writer, these suggested activities may suggest unique story angles. If you write enough seasonal articles, you might even visit a teaching supply store and invest in a set of monthly activity planners.

Although not always reliable (to say the least), Wikipedia can be a starting point for finding some of the more obscure holidays. Search by month (“May observances”) or by country of origin (“public holidays in Sweden”). You can also watch Twitter trends for “new” holidays. Every first week of May, for example, you’ll see lots of “Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4^th be with you.” There’s a story in that.

Commonly celebrated holidays, like Christmas, and more obscure holidays, like Japan’s Greenery Day, both require some creativity in coming up with original approaches to them. Repetition isn’t always a bad thing: every May, editors begin looking for beloved Thanksgiving side dish recipes, and yours needs to be just interesting enough to stand out above the rest.

Yet a new twist can be irresistibly eye-catching to an editor. Got a great idea for New Year’s resolutions? Instead of aiming for January, when everyone will have a New Year’s post, stand out by gearing yours toward Rosh Hoshanah, Chinese New Year or the Persian Naw-Ruz celebration. Call it “Naw-Ruz Resolutions You Don’t Have to Be Persian to Make.” Think about how observances relate to one another, how they’re similar and different.

Need to talk to someone who observes another culture’s seasonal practices? Use your social networking connections. If you have friends in Mexico, ask them if they’d like to share with you about el Dia de los Muertos. Are you an American who’s never participated in Boxing Day? Talk to your Canadian, UK or Australian friends.

Keep in mind that some holidays, including Thanksgiving and Mother’s Day, are observed at different times in different parts of the English-speaking world. The dates of Christmas and Easter differ on the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic/Protestant calendars. Make sure you and your sources are talking about the same holiday–though these differences can also make for a new approach to your story.

A visit to your library can turn up encyclopedia-like volumes on individual holidays: Lisa Morton’s The Halloween Encyclopedia is a good example. I’ve used it as one of my references in a blog post about off-the-beaten-path Halloween vacations and another about Celtic languages. Flipping through one of these may bring you story ideas you’d never before considered.

By making a list and leaving yourself room to jot down ideas, you set yourself up for a year’s worth of seasonal article creativity. If you do your list well enough, it will be evergreen, serving you year after year.

Erin O’Riordan is a freelance writer of a romance novel series, two crime thrillers (co-authored with husband Tit Elingtin), a column in Poetic Monthly magazine and numerous articles. She also writes the Pagan Spirits book blog at http://www.erinoriordan.blogspot.com

 

2012 Nutmeg Book Award Nominees

Tuesday Top Ten

The Nutmeg Book Award is something I’ve always been a huge fan of.  It is a Connecticut-based award, and is co-sponsored by the Connecticut Library Association and the Connecticut Association of School Librarians.

The aim of the contest is to get 4th – 8th graders to read more and better books.  The winner is chosen by children in those grades here in Connecticut, which is my favorite part of it.  It’s not just a group of adults telling kids what the best book for their age group is, it’s kids saying which one they liked best, although adults do pick the nominees.

Past winners have included books like City of Ember, Hoot, The Lightening Thief and many more easily recognized titles.

Here is this year’s list of Intermediate Nominees (Grades 4th – 6th).  For the Teen list (Grades 7 and 8), check back next Tuesday.

1.  Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn
Ali is excited to spend the summer with her aunt and cousin at the lake.  Life is great until her cousin meets a young girl.  Why does she act so nasty? Will Ali’s summer warm up or will the cold and icy lake claim another victim?

2.  Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise
I.B. Grumply, a children’s book author, moves into a Victorian mansion in Ghastly, IL to write a new book and meets with some unusual obstacles.  He finds an 11 year old boy and a ghost already there.  Of course Grumply doesn’t believe in real ghosts, so he blames the boy and his cat for all the ghostly deeds.  Will Grumply become a believer, or will the ghost have the last laugh?

3.  Extra Credit by Andrew Clements
Abby needs to do well on the extra credit pen pal assignment.  But to Sadeed, her assigned pen pal in the hills of Kabul, Afghanistan, the project is just extra work.  Although their cultures and lifestyles are vastly different, Abby and Sadeed develop a friendship that is based on their similarities.  Not everyone is happy with the relationship, and they are forbidden to continue writing letters; can their friendship possibly survive?

4.  The Gollywhopper Games by Jody Feldman
The Golly Toy and Game Company is having a competition and Gil Goodson is determined to be the grand prize winner.  He finds that the puzzles and stunts are only half the challenge: his teammates and his father’s history as a Golly employee drive the stakes even higher.

5.  Herbert’s Wormhole by Peter Nelson
Alex is forced to spend the day at his super geeky next door neighbor Herbert’s house. The day takes a surprising twist when Alex and Herbert fall through a wormhole to 100 years in the future.  Returning home will be an adventure they won’t forget.

6.  The Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda
Leo and his cousin Mimi use their aunt’s ancient music box to travel to the magical world of Rondo, where fairy tale characters behave in unexpected ways. The children must stick together if they hope to rescue Mimi’s dog from the frighteningly powerful Blue Queen.

7.  Masterpiece by Elise Broach
Did you know that beetles can draw? Well, Marvin can!  James’ ‘roommate’ Marvin draws an intricate, museum-quality sketch for a birthday present.  It is shown to a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and before long James and Marvin find themselves caught up in a world of mystery and art theft.  Can the two friends find ways to communicate and save priceless works of art?

8.  Savvy by Ingrid Law
Special supernatural powers are part of the lives of the Beaumont family.  As Mibs approaches her 13th birthday, she eagerly anticipates her uniquely personal savvy.  Her brother controls electricity, her grandpa moves mountains, and her mother is perfect.  What will Mibs be able to do, and how will it change her life?

9.  Signal by Cynthia DeFelice
Owen has lost his mother and his father doesn’t seem to care.  So, when he meets a girl named Campion claiming to be an alien in need of help getting back to her own planet he believes the story she tells.  This book follows Owen as he decides whether he should keep her secret and help her get “home”.

10.  Stolen Children by Peg Kehret
14 year-old Amy is babysitting for a rich family when she and 3 year-old Kendra are kidnapped.  Amy uses her cleverness to try and save the day.  Will the ransom be paid, will they escape, and will they ever get home?

All book descriptions come from the Nutmeg Book Award site.

 

Memorial Day Poem

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I recently published a Memorial Day poem on Associated Content.  There was a call for poetry on that subject, so I thought I’d play around with it a bit.

If you’re interested, you can view it here.