Breaking Through the Cycle of Writing but Never Submitting

It’s hard to admit it when you don’t know what to do next.  I knew all the possible scenarios:

• Self Publishing
• Magazine Submissions
• Finding an Agent
• Freelance Publishing (without an agent)
• and there are several more.

But the truth is, I was having trouble deciding which one was right for me and for my work.  I write children’s stories and when I write, I have this picture in my head of what the characters look like.  They have real faces, hair color, expressions, and feelings.  The stories are like my children and the thought of letting go of control of them had me completely stymied.

You may be familiar with the writer who has been writing for years, but who has never submitted or sold a single article.  I am, but I didn’t think of myself in that light since I have sold over 100 articles…but not childrens stories.  I’ve learned that Nancy Moore was right when she said, “I am more and more convinced that when a writer reaches the stage when he can ruthlessly eliminate whole phrases and paragraphs without feeling he’s cutting off chunks of his heart, he’s passed one of the most important milestones in the business. Falling in love with your own words is an untenable luxury, fatal as well as foolish.”

I’m sad to say that I don’t know who Nancy Moore is, but she’s a pretty smart cookie.  I was sitting on that throne, flushing away time that could have been spent writing, submitting, and yes, selling.  Instead I had fallen in love with the little creations as if they were my children and I would not – could not – let go of them.

Stay with me, because here comes the good part.  My husband put a couple of newpaper articles in front of me one day.  Each was for a book signing event.  One was for Mike Huckabee on his “Do The Right Thing” tour (I hope everyone gets the similarity between his title and my blog site……)  The other was an event for four authors that are not as well known, but that would be followed by a seminar.  I planned my day well since both events were overlapping, but I made it to both, with books piled high in the front seat of my Honda on my way home.

Meeting these writers, talking to them, and bringing home their work, reading it, and attending that seminar, sparked a new fire under me.  I met about 20 writers that day, most with different areas of expertise, and all with a real life back at home that they have to contend with on a daily basis.  Each one approached writing, marketing, and selling from a different standpoint.  They even approached the career of writing from different points of view.  One of the most prolific of the writers, with more than 30 published works, admitted that she never thought of herself as having a “gift” for writing.  “It’s just something I thought I could do…and maybe do it well enought o make some money.”

So I drove home in silence, thinking about all that they had said, and all that I had learned.  And this is the advice that I want to pass on to anyone out there who has been writing, but doesn’t know what to do next.

1.  Find a writers group to join that fits your style of writing.  If you’re a children’s book writer, joining a gothic fantasy themed group will not be as much help to you as one that is peopled with other children’s book writers.

2.  Join a critique group, grit your teeth, and let them give you their honest opinions.  Take those opinions, mull them over, and make the changes necessary to make your writing better.

3.  Let your writer’s group motivate you to keep writing while beginning to either seek an agent, self-publish, or submit your work on your own.  Ask advice from more experienced writers, and stay involved with the group.  In this instance, positive peer pressure will help you get on the road to submitting and selling your work.

Publishing can be a daunting idea, with the marketing, selling, and ultimately exposing your heart to the world.  But if what you write moves you and stirs something inside you, it’s really possible that it will create those same feelings in those of your readers.

So this is my encouragement to you.  Take the scary step of letting your critique group help you become the best writer you can be then give your work a chance to stand on its own.  I think you can do it.

As always, if you try these steps, I hope that you’ll write in and let everyone know how you’re doing as a writer.  As we grow and encourage each other, we all develop our talents and have more to share with the world.  I’m excited about reading something that you’ve written….perhaps I’ll even see it soon on a bookstore shelf.  I hope so!

Writing Your Book – Step 7 – Read Each Chapter Again

You haven’t had much time to work on your rough draft, but I’m going to go ahead with Step 7 – Read Each Chapter Again.  If you’re not finished with your rough draft, please don’t stop working and jump to this step….keep writing and don’t skip to this step until you’ve got a complete rough draft.

Get out your copies (or open the files) and read each chapter as if you were reading it for the first time.  At this point it may help to read them in order since not every writer will write chapters in the order they will appear in the book….and sometimes you find as you read that what you thought would be chapter 7 should really be chapter 5 for the story to flow.

As you read, jot down ideas and make notes of any glaring inconsistencies in story line.  Fill in information that may have been missing from the first draft, such as your back story, character building paragraphs, and setting descriptions.  Again, don’t spend a lot of time worrying about grammar, punctuation, or even spelling….right now we’re just perfecting the story.

Many writers find that it helps them to print out each chapter, leaving a wide margin on one side of the page so that they can make notes in the margin.  You may prefer to read from your computer screen and make changes as you go.  When you make changes on the computer, whether you’ve made paper copies of your notes or not, save your changes to a new file name.  I simply add the numeral “2” to the end of the file name for the second draft, “3” to the third draft, etc. so that I can tell which version came first and if I decide a paragraph I wrote early in the process is better than one written later, I still have a copy of it.

And finally, don’t worry about catching every mistake.  You will read it again (and again) before you are ready for final proofreading.  One word of caution, though….now that you have a complete draft, you may be tempted to set it aside and let it marinate for a while before pulling it back out.  That’s not really a writing technique, that’s procrastination.  If you are unhappy with any part (or all) of the story, keep working on it.

For this job as in any other, if it was easy, everyone would do it….and I know that in this age of blogging and social networking web pages, it may appear that everyone is writing, but how many are writing well AND publishing?  Do your homework and write your pages.  Proof and edit your pages until you have written the best possible piece you can write BEFORE you start shopping for an agent or a publisher.

As always, I will close with a note that I love to hear from you so leave comments….If you have a page, please include a site address so we can visit your blog, too.

Writing Your Book – Step 6 – Creating a Rough Draft

The next step in writing your book is one of the most fun. You have your first 350 words written, you have a working outline, and you have begun to fill in the details of that outline. The next step will encompass the largest chunk of time because it is the actual writing!

You may be holding back, thinking, “I’m not ready.” But the truth is YOU ARE READY TO WRITE THIS BOOK! You’ve done your homework, and all you have to do is keep writing, one chunk of text at a time.

Writing is easy if you take it in steps…just as you have been since we began.

Think back to the day that you wrote those first 10 sentences….Now that you can see the outline of the entire book, aren’t you proud of how far you’ve come? Your next step will be multiple steps, taken in any order you wish.

Choose one element from your outline….it can be the ending, the middle, any one scene, or description. Write a rough draft of that section or element. Remember, don’t obsess about making it perfect, just get the ideas down on paper or in a computer file. Once you have that section written, label it, save it, file it, and select another section. Continue in this fashion until you’ve filled in the text for every section in your outline. Some sections will be one or two paragraphs long….others may be several pages…but work in the order that seems logical to you.

Some writers will begin at the beginning and write toward the end of the story. Others will select major components of the story line and then fill in details around them, creating connection lines and paragraphs from one section to another. Whatever works for you is great…there’s no wrong way to write a book!

Once this is done we’ll begin to talk about rewrites, editing, and looking for the right publisher for your book!

I will be around, but busy celebrating family at a reunion this week. Continue to write and we will compare progress reports in just a few days. I will still be able to read your comments, so please continue to write to me and to others through this site. God’s blessings on you all.

Janet Sikes Anderson

Writing Your Book – Step 4 – Creating an Outline

Congratulations! You’re finally taking the steps necessary to get your story in draft form and on its way to being published! If you’ve been following for a few days and have completed the first few steps in this process then you’re ready for Step 4. Let’s get started….

Today you will reread your first 350 words. Every word represents a step toward completion, so take a brief moment, smile, and know that you are on your way to your goal. Don’t do rewrites yet unless you need to make a change in the direction of the story. For now we’re just focusing on getting a draft down with which to work. Don’t forget that the goal is to actually write the book….editing comes later.

You may or may not have a clear picture in your head about the conflicts, and eventual resolution that will happen later in your story. But we’re going to begin mapping it out now.

Just as we did on the first day, we are going to write ten sentences. However, today, those sentences will all represent a chapter, conflict, or resolution that will occur in the story. All ten sentences will follow the path you’ve begun in those first 350 words and carry the story through to the end.

Remember that you don’t necessarily have to write all ten in the order they will happen. Just get your thoughts down on paper. Think of it as brainstorming if that helps.  You may want to include:

• Important scenes
• Chapter titles or main ideas
• An idea for the perfect ending
• Ideas for alternate endings
• Back story elements (things that happened in the past but that are important information for your readers to know)

Write at least ten, but you can do twelve if that’s what you need to tell the story. Think of it like a quick explanation of the entire story in 10 to 12 sentences. Once you feel satisfied that you’ve got a good outline going, put them in some sort of logical order. These sentences will become the chapters and important scenes for the rest of your book but they don’t have to be complete yet.  This may not be your final outline, but it will help you keep your thoughts organized for the rest of the writing process. Don’t worry that you don’t have specific details filled in for everything. It will come.

Now stop and ask yourself….did you ever think you could get to the point that you have a working outline in just 4 days? I’m really proud of those of you who are taking these steps and you should be proud, too. For today I want to give you one more assignment….think of it as homework. Sometime in the next 24 hours I want you to tell someone you care about that you’ve finally started your book. Many of you, including my own cousin, Belinda, have confessed that people have been telling you for years that you should write your story. And now you are. You have a right to be proud of the steps you are taking, so tell someone and then enjoy the pat on the back that you get from them. You deserve it.  See you tomorrow!

Writing Your Book – Step 3

By now you’ve had time to finish your first 100 words on your book. According to statistics, you’re ahead of the curve by now. Some of the greatest books never written are just that because the would-be author never started. But you are no longer one of those frustrated would-be writers. You’ve taken that all important first step…..First you wrote ten starting lines….then you chose your favorite and wrote the first 100 words of that story. Take a moment and pat yourself on the back….Good Job!

NOW….get back to work.

Your assignment for today is another simple step toward getting the masterpiece in your head down on paper – or your hard drive… It’s very simple. Today you will write 250 words and add them to the 100 you wrote during your last session. This is probably the largest assignment you’ll face for a while, so turn off all the distractions, including your phone, and concentrate…you can probably do this in just a little while.

If you’re one of the lucky picture book writers, you may be very close to the end of this story…you may, in fact, be finished with the original draft. If your story will become a novel or non-fiction book you are probably just beginning, but like I said before, getting started is 90 percent of the battle for the beginning writer.

On a personal note, you may want to create a folder on your computer or in a file drawer in which to keep this and other first drafts. I like to keep a copy of that first run through and later compare it to the final draft to see how the two compare. I love to see how a story develops over time, but it also creates a check point against which I can measure the final draft to make sure every part of the story remains true to the idea that was born on that first day.

Be sure to date this draft… By dating it you give yourself a time line that begins today…when you date it you will create a gentle pressure that will keep you going toward the eventual publication of this fantastic story. If you date it, file it, and never do anything else with it, the date at the bottom of the draft will remind you to GET BUSY!

At the end of today’s assignment you will have 350 words written. Don’t try to do a lot of rewrites…revise as you write to tell the story, but don’t get bogged down trying to achieve perfection. Today is still about getting your draft roughed out.

Leave a brief comment (don’t let it keep you from working on your story) and let everyone know how you’re doing, what struggles you’re having, or how inspired you are to see your story finally beginning to take shape….

I can’t wait to hear from all of you about how great getting started feels!

Exercising Our Creative Writing Muscles – The Next Step

For all you writers out there….stop saying, “I’m a ‘wannabe’ writer.”  If you ever write anything….you’re a writer. Are we all published?  No.  Are we all making a living with our writing?  No.  Is money the point?  Well…..sometimes.  But in this case, write what is true to your heart and to your experience and let it find its own market.

Today’s writing exercise is to take just one of the beginning lines from yesterday’s assignment and write 100 words beginning with that sentence.  Just 100 words.  It’s easy…try it and you’ll see.  If you write more than that today, then GREAT!

By the way….the words before THIS sentence add up to 101 words.

For many writers the hard part is beginning…there is so much to learn and so much that can be done, that we let the possibilities overwhelm us.  So for today, take your favorite beginning line from those you wrote yesterday and begin to write that story.  Ask yourself, “If I were reading this story, where would I want it to go?” …..and take it there.  Allow your characters to be who they are….let them have full personalities…and remember that they may have some flaws.  Fill in the blanks with descriptions so that your readers can “see” what you see in your head.  And don’t worry about perfection.  Remember, editing will come later.  For today just get started.

I am on this journey with you and as I share what I am learning about writing, I would love to hear from you about your personal journey as a writer.  I write children’s books, and your writing may be much more intellectual or sophisticated than mine, but the steps are the same.

So get in position.  Extend your fingers over the keyboard.  Turn off the television…..now WRITE!

Encouragement for Beginning Writers and Writers Who Need to Begin

Today’s exercise for writers is to write down the first line of at least 10 story ideas….just one line. You have all day to do it. They can be for a children’s picture book, a novel, a non-fiction book, or even a biography…the type of book doesn’t matter. You can even write the first line of a variety of different books. That’s it…ten first lines and you’re done. Keep going if you get inspired, but that is your minimum requirement for today. If you need to step away from the computer at any point, take a note card or pad of paper with you so that you can write while you’re doing other things. Just write down ideas and you can perfect them later.

My first one is …….

“She turned the knob with tiny fingers that were smudged with dirt from the garden….”