muse

Writer’s Wisdom 84

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The Magic of Best-selling Authors

What is the key to enchanting writing?  What is the secret of best-selling authors?  I am sure that most of us, at one point, have been captivated  with a book from a favorite author – being that person a best-selling author or not.  How do best-selling authors get to captivate so many readers?  It seems natural to think that they plan their writing and target a certain section of the population to obtain readership.  Right?

This could not be further from the truth.  While being interviewed many best-selling authors have said that they write for themselves – as in the case of Stephenie Meyer or Lee Child.  They say that they are honest to the story when writing, and they keep honest to the reader.  They seem to be of the opinion that if you evoke feelings in yourself when writing the story, you will evoke feelings on the reader as well.  Another trend is that they also mention how blessed they feel to be doing what they love – to write.

So there is no big secret of best-selling authors.  It seems that they write with passion for themselves – and they love it.

Writer’s Wisdom 82

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Every writer is a writer.

At first glance this may seem as a sentence without much meaning or even much sense.  However, what prompted me to write it was that it occurred to me that sometimes we are quick to criticize other’s work without going deeper.  Some might stop reading at the first grammatical error they encounter, others at the first cliché.  I have read about a best-selling author giving an opinion on another writer (now a best-selling author) and saying that the author did not know how to write.  The author became a sensation overnight.  I guess my point is that we should not judge or ill criticize the writing of others just because it does not follow our style and common rules.  There are no Gods in the world of writing just writers.

One thing is to present a piece to the world that is poorly written and obviously, without much care – that shows in writing.  Another, is to write different from the masses.  We should work on improving our writing everyday.

Writer’s Wisdom 81

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What happens when writing does not meet your expectations?

There are many ways we can approach the answer to that question.  It is a matter of individual experience, and whatever your expectations are as a writer.  At one point or another we will ask that question to ourselves, to the writer inside, and we may or may not like the answer.  Or maybe, we might not have an answer at all – at least yet. 

Sometimes, you will work hard, and harder, but the results and rewards just don’t show up in a pretty package.  What then?  Do you beat yourself up?  Do you get discouraged and stop writing?  Do you take a break to clear your mind and find a new path?  Do you just ignore your feelings and keep writing anyway?  Maybe, you will think of another approach to your writing.

Whatever your answer, it is one that you must deal with to be able to find your way as a writer – I am still figuring that one.  If writing is your passion, keep at it.  If you have to try different approaches, then try them.  If you need to take a break and clear your mind, then do so.   Do what you have to do, and what you need to do to find your writing path.  For some it will take longer than others.  Look at the different life stories of best-selling authors.  For some it happened fast, while others took years figuring out that they belonged writing.

I guess my point is, a true writer finds a path.

Writer’s Wisdom 80

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Live and Write

If you are busy freelance writing, you may find that it takes most of your day, and sometimes, a few hours at night.  It may also take some of your weekends.  Assignments come and go, and the competition is fierce – you are lucky if you can grab it.  However, how much is too much?  You know you have to eat, right?  But at what cost?  Be thankful for the assignments you get, but also live your life.  Make time for your spirit, yourself, your family, your pets, and your friends.   If you don’t, you will find yourself in a less than perfect mood for writing.

Create a balance, and write.  Live and write.

Writer’s Wisdom 79

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Change your daily routine – fool your Muse.

Most of us have a daily routine for writing.  You might wake up early in the morning, turn your PC on, while waiting for a cup of coffee, or maybe you check your email right away.  Well, one thing leads to another, task after task, and soon you are following your usual routine.  Sometimes, you feel inspiration may have left you for a while, and you fall into a writing rut.

Sound familiar?  It may take, a simple change, such as sitting outside to write (weather permitting) or just move to your living room with pen and paper instead of your PC, to break the rut and feel inspired once more.  Maybe your Muse was asleep and you surprised her by changing your routine.

Give it a try, and see if it changes the atmosphere for you.  Surprise your Muse!

Writer’s Wisdom 78

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Writing for Pleasure

You have deadlines to meet, and many writing projects awaiting you, but there are times when you just need to write for pure pleasure – just for you.  It is important to nurture this part of writing and give it a place in your hectic schedule.  If you only write because you want to get paid, you will be missing on this important aspect.

When you write for pleasure, you enter a realm of enjoyment, and you are opening the gates of inspiration.  When this happens, ideas can come from anywhere, and you will experience the power of the written word.  Many of us are so worried about making the deadlines and earning a living (out of necessity,of course) that we forget to take a bit of time to just relax and write for ourselves – just for the pure enjoyment of it.

From time to time, relive the early days of your writing career, and take a few minutes to write for the simple pleasure of it; recapture the magic.

Writer’s Wisdom 77

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Planning Your Writing Day

Your computer’s calendar is your best friend – the best tool to plan a day’s full of writing and other projects.  Time goes fast when you write, and the hours do not seem enough to cover everything that you have to do in a day.  Learning to log your tasks in your calendar and timing them, is a big help to focus and handle your most important assignments.

When logging your tasks, prioritize them from the ones that are due first and assign a time to work on them, set an automatic reminder to let you know when your next task is about to commence, so you know how much time you have left with the present task.  Also, spend and hour in small tasks that can take 10 or 15 mins – you will eliminate the small tasks and will warm up for your bigger tasks.  Don’t forget to allocate a few minutes here and there for breaks and lunch, and of course personal time and errands.

This is not to say that you have to function like a robot tied to a computer.  It just helps you to keep track of time and also to organize your writing throughout the day.  It also prevents the wasted minutes surfing the net.  At the end of the day, when you look back at your schedule, the satisfaction you feel for a good work’s day will become fuel to make you more productive.  It will all pay off in the end.

Writer’s Wisdom 76

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Juggling Act

When you write for a living, you will probably cram your schedule with as much writing as you can, and many projects at once – some short-term, others, long-term assignments.  A lot of time can be spent in projects that do not generate enough income.  Learning to decide which projects to put aside and which ones to pick up is not as easy as it seems.

While a project may give you instant rewards, another will reward you much more in the long run.  Also, you may have to put aside your favorite project to handle a more profitable one.  Or you might have to cut a project to a few days a month, if that project is not generating what you want – and sometimes, cut it altogether.

This is why writing for a living is like a juggling or balancing act – you have to be balancing projects and deciding which ones to give a priority, which ones fit your needs at the moment, and which one to drop or revisit later.  Timing is also important, as a project that may have seem profitable initially, may not be, if you are spending more time in it than you originally planned.

Poetry

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To start the kick-off of Inkspeare Poetry Month I will post my latest poems.  I’m far from being a poet, and my poetry does not follow any rules.  So, think of it a freestyle poetry – if there is such a thing.  To view some of my poetry, please visit the tab Totally Inspired on this blog.

Writer’s Wisdom 74

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Selling Content

As a freelance writer, especially if you are doing it full-time, you have to get creative to bring the bacon home.  Article writing can be a good way of supplementing your income.  You can also take on blogging to add a few dollars to the pot of gold.  Whatever you decide to take on, there is one thing that is essential – selling your content.

Assuming that you have material that is original, interesting,  informative, and free of errors, the next step will be to see how you can get money out of it.  I already mentioned PLR packages on my earlier post, a way you can use to market several articles on one topic.  You can search online for writing sites that will pay you for views and clicks on your articles, or you can take on blogging assignments, or sign up with sites that will hire you to complete writing tasks.  Some of these gigs may become long-term gigs, if you are good at it.

Another option is to sell your content on your website or sign up with a site where you can post your content for sale.  You will have to share a percentage of your earnings with the site, but that is part of using their services. 

Promoting yourself in social networking sites, your blog, your web, and placing ads in the newspaper or around the community or colleges, is another way to sell your content.  Send proposals out to prospect clients.  Sell your content to magazines or newspapers.  Local publications is a good way to start,  although these last two venues are full of competition.  This is a characteristic of freelance writing in present times.  The internet has opened a whole new side to freelance writing, and many writers – good and bad – are taking advantage.

If you are going to sell your content, make sure that you approach clients in a professional way and that you take pride in your work, by fulfilling your part of the deal as promised.