A-ha!

The right tools

Many times I sit and ponder if I would be more creative with a journal, curled up in a comfortable chair, pencil clutched in my fingers writing away or if I can get more done (with less internal editing) simply by sitting with my fingers on a keyboard.

When I first started out I worked at a newspaper and the hardest thing for me to do was sit down in front of the keyboard sweating blood, trying to get my article filed before deadline. I had been so accustomed to taking my leisurely time with my jottings -- meandering along from beginning to end.

It took me a few months to be comfortable "writing on the fly" and I found that I was able to do it IF I had the lead sentence in my mind before I sat down. Once that perfect (or almost perfect) first sentence was prepared, the rest of the article flowed and because I type so quickly, I get much more done when behind a keyboard and I also find that my internal editor takes some time off. The reason the internal editor may slink away is because in my twisted reasoning, putting something on a compute document doesn't really seem "permanent" (even though I have the auto save set for every 10 seconds!). Putting pen to paper, for me lately, seems indelible -- the words are out there for all the world to see (even if it is only for my eyes) and it is like something I can't take back once I've written it down. It's more labor intensive to erase than it is to hit the backspace key.

So, what is your favorite tool? Does your writing output improve with one or the other?

Being with "my own kind"

Sometimes I find that when I come home from being with writers -- aka "my own kind" -- I am inspired to write. Just being around creative people who are talking about their own projects, struggles to get moving, or lack of time to write gets my creative juices flowing.

At times jealousy sets in such as when my friend, JT, announces, "I had a story idea, I am seven chapters into it and know which publisher I am going to send it to when it's finished." And the topper? She says she will finish it within the next two weeks. I love her, but I am so jealous of her writing output. Instead of bemoaning the fact that she is writing and I am not, I figure, "I'm going to show her!" and I do. I sit down and write. Her success (and output) spurs me toward putting my fingers to the keyboard. If she can do it, so can I is the mindset with which I share her success.

When I come home from my writers group, Ink Spots and Coffee Grounds every month, I want to write. Part of the reason is because I am inspired to have been around writers and part of the reason is because each month we have to announce our writing goals. If nothing else, I am driven to complete a task if I have to say it out loud.

Bottom line, I think is to set outside of your house (or if that isn't possible) or find an on line writers group -- there are as many groups as there are writers and connect with people who can inspire and motivate your writing.

Breaking it down

I was listening to my local NPR station the other day and they were talking to the creators of SMITH Magazine and the "six word memoir" project they had started and I was fascinated listening to peoples' stories. Some were laugh out loud funny others gave me pause because they were either sad or really gave me an a-ha! moment.

The project was born from the legend that has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

While I am too wordy to write my memoir in six words or less, the idea of it has been rolling around in my head since I read about it. It is a challenge I will pass along to writers in the groups that I lead. The six words can be used (I think) to either write your own life story or even to succinctly describe a book project you are working on. Everyone hears about the elevator speech you should have prepared in the event you run into an editor in an enclosed space (please, though, not the restroom!).

Try it. Take the idea you have for a book, memoir, novel, nonfiction project and try to break it down to its most basic parts -- six words... try ten words if you need it. Think about it, though, if you know what your book is about in such minute detail, you really have your focus narrowed down and you are ready to begin writing!

Blog to Book to Blog

And back again.

The intersection of print and online publishing is where we live (WME Books, WME Blogs). So we are very proud and excited to share this conversation from our blog-buddy Toby Bloomberg's blogtalkradio show entitled Creating and Promoting Books with Social Media/Web 2.0. Toby's guests (she calls them rock stars) are book publicist Nettie Hartsock and our own Sybil Stershic, who blogs at Quality Service Marketing and wrote Taking Care of the People Who Matter Most: A Guide to Employee-Customer Care.

Just click the play button and get ready to learn.

Note: Because there is so much great information in the show covering both book- and blog-related topics, I'm going to cross-post this on A-ha! and WME Blogs, so please forgive. I think you'll want to listen to it more than once anyway ... and take notes!

Toby also blogged about the show and provided lists of tips from both Nettie and Sybil. Here's a taste:

Nettie: "Ask not what a blogger can do for you, ask how you, your book or your product can benefit the blogger and its readership ..."

Sybil: [on applying the "3 Rs" from her book to how authors should treat reviewers] "Reinforce their helping you with appropriate reciprocity (such as linking to their blog or website on your blog)."

There's more on Toby's blog and much more in the interview, so I'll get out of the way.

Note 2: In the interest of full disclosure (and maybe a little shameless self-promotion), Sybil is one our authors and her book is one of our best sellers since it's release last October. And she REALLY "gets" the whole blog to book to blog marketing concept.

We also have a connection to blogtalkradio, John Havens (VP of Business Development). John is co-authoring a book on business transparency with another of our clients, Shel Holtz, for Jossey-Bass and it's IABC book series. WME is acting as their agents.