Do You Call Yourself a Writer?

You Don’t Need Anyone’s Permission 

By Kathleen Kaska (Your Fifth Saturday Blogger)

            When people ask you what you do for a living and you answer, “I’m a writer,” how do those words make you feel: proud, shy, boastful, tentative?

            I feel all of the above in a split second after I give my answer. Even twenty years after publishing my first article and three years after retiring from teaching to write full time, I still experience a moment’s hesitation and my answer sounds something like, “Er . . .  I’m a . . . writer.” I can’t help anticipate that look on the curious person’s face, that look that says, “Yeah, right. You’re a writer; I’m a writer; everyone and his dog is a writer. So?” The anticipation of that look, that answer, often has me stammering.

            Then a few days ago, I read Roy Peter Clark’s article in the Seattle Times, “Change Your Idea of Who’s a Writer.” Clark is a writing teacher at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida. He has written several books about writing including Help! For Writers. I have so many How-To writing books on my shelf, one really has to grab me before I purchase it. After Clark summarized his book, I added it to my must-read list. Here’s Clark’s take on being a writer. I hope he forgives me adding my own twist in a three-part nutshell.

1.  It’s Not All About Me

            Clark reminded me of an important lesson I learned all those years ago when I decided to become a writer. Writing is not always a solitary endeavor and in order to grow and learn, it is important to utilize the “spirit of a writing community.” I had to learn to think and act like a writer so I joined the local writer’s league, signed up for classes, and joined critique groups. Writers have to be willing to accept help when they need it, but assist others who ask. And when we respect others written expression, that respect comes back to us.

2.  It’s All About Me:

            Clark writes that writers do not need permission or approval to be writers. The act of writing makes us a writer. Writing does not necessarily mean pounding out words on our laptops. Pondering and contemplating the ideas and emotions we eventually weave into our stories makes us writers. I get my best ideas when I’m jogging or hiking the forest trails near my house. It’s easier for my characters to get my attention when I’m letting my mind wonder. This solitary time also allows me to work through plotting issues, create new characters, and polish dialogue. So, when I’m by myself on the trail in the woods and having a conversation with the invisible, I’m writing.

3.  It’s All About a Better Me

            And here’s a point I never really considered. Clark writes that the act of writing makes us better individuals; it makes us more attuned to the world around us and empathetic to others.

            So, if we write, contemplate writing, ask for help when we need it and give help in return, and cultivate our craft, we are writers.

            I was always taught not to toot my own horn. I now realize if my tooting results in a pleasant melody and not a loud bugle call, it's perfectly fine. I don't usually make New Year's resolutions. I tend to obsess with daily goal-making, so I pass on that annual proclamation to improve myself. But this year, I think I'll make an exception. When asked what I do for a living, I'll look that person in the eye and say, "I'm a writer," and feel proud of my answer.

I write the Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series and the Classic Mystery Triviography Mystery Series.

http://www.kathleenkaska.com/

http://www.kathleenkaskawrites.blogspot.com/

Recharge....and Write!

Recharging can be really hard, but it’s essential for a writer, or any creative type for that matter. This time of year can be a particular challenge with all the social and family obligations and fun. Add in the extra time (depending on where you live, of course – longing stares directed at those in warm climes LOL) for vehicle cleaning and warming every time you want to go out, all the winter woollies and boots that have to be put on and taken off for each outing. And that’s not even considering regular snow removal from sidewalks, driveways and walkways.

For those writers who use retail therapy as a relaxation technique, even that can be a risky experiment in December. All those frantic men in malls! Some are kind of like the contestants on Survivor in the first couple of weeks – finding themselves in unfamiliar territory, sure they must accomplish something, but not sure how to get it accomplished in time, or who to trust! It does, however, provide some great people watching opportunities, assuming you can find an empty bench.

A quiet evening at home can also help revitalize those storytelling batteries, presuming you can relax with that To-Do list flashing neon headings at you as you try to sink into your favorite chair with a cup of hot chocolate.

All this is also supposing you don’t have any deadlines looming, no galleys to review, no edits to look at…

Please share what you do to get those stories flowing when it’s so busy you barely have time to catch your breath, let alone set aside a few hours of writing time! What are your favorite, tried-and-true creativity exercises?

Libby McKinmer
Romance with an edge
www.libbymckinmer.com
libby@libbymckinmer.com
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Recession Tactics by Christine Duncan

This recession has been dragging on a l-o-n-g time. But then I'm not one of those folks that put the beginning of it at Dec 2008. If you ask me, and many of the folks that I know, the recession had its roots in the ground a whole lot longer ago than that.

I don't know about you, but I've given up a lot of things during this recession. My family no longer goes out to eat very often, although it used to be a Friday night tradition. We have given up some luxury items that used to be considered fairly standard. My husband and I no longer take wine with dinner for granted, for instance. We use Redbox instead of Blockbuster and we search Craigslist and garage sales for used items before we think of buying new.

And yet, there are some luxuries we have figured out how to keep in the budget. Chocolate is a necessity. And books and reading for instance are not negotiable. Like many, we get more books from the library and although we have a harder time finding a nearby used bookstore than we used to, we also are part of a trend of folks buying used books when we can.

I know, I know. Authors should support their own industry. We of all folks should be out there buying new books, encouraging new writers. None of us get any money off of Amazon's used books or when someone checks our stuff out of the library. I know the arguments.

But you know--if you want to request that the library buys a book--the author would get some money from that. And for me, right now, that's gotta do.

Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series. Book two, Safe House is available now.

Mistakes Aspiring Writers Make

by Jean Henry Mead

It’s often difficult for novices to break the writing habits they've learned in school. Perfect grammar, especially when writing dialogue, is one of the worst mistakes a writer can make. I was once a member of an online critique group comprised mainly of unpublished writers. I’ll never forget a critique that said, “You need to clean up your characters’ grammar.” The characters were uneducated farmers.

Author William Noble said, “The grammar rules we learned in eighth grade should never be followed absolutely. At best they are one choice among several, and at worst, they will dampen our creative instincts.”

The use of clichés is another fledgling blunder. The rule of thumb is: if it sounds familiar, don’t use it. If you can’t come up with something original and your muse is tugging you on, type in a row of Xs and write it later during the second draft. But if you must use a cliché, add the word proverbial as in "as profitable as the proverbial golden goose."

Of course there are rules that must be followed, such as adding commas for clarity and periods at the end of sentences. Some writers have felt that innovative sentence structure signals creativity, but the practice is only acceptable now in poetry. In Ulysses, for example, James Joyce’s last chapter begins with:

Yes, because he never did a thing like that before as ask to get his breakfast in bed with a couple of eggs since the City Arms hotel when he used to be pretending to be laid up with a sick voice doing his highness to make himself interesting to that old faggot Mrs. Riordan that he thought he had a great leg of and she never left us a farthing all for the masses for herself and her soul greatest miser ever. . .

Joyce’s stream of conscience continues for forty pages without a single period. I wonder how many people actually read it to the end. Creative and innovative? In my opinion, anything that slows the reader for even a few words may cause him to abandon the book.

On the opposite end of the sentence spectrum, Hemingway taught novices to write declarative sentences: “The day had been hot.” “The rifle was long and cold and strange.” “She wore black shoes, a red cape and a white tunic. . .” However, short, choppy sentences must be interspersed with longer ones to make them read well. A good practice for beginning writers is to read one’s work aloud to avoid clumsy phrasing. If words don’t flow well together and your reader stumbles over them, you’ve lost her.

Reading the classics doesn't prepare anyone to write for today’s market. I’ve judged writing contest entries that contain the most formal language I’ve seen since reading War and Peace. Some fledglings avoid contractions entirely, even when writing dialogue. The result is stilted language.

Studying the bestsellers for style, content, description and characterization helps the beginner gain a handhold in the current market. Some writing teachers advise copying your favorite author’s work, as artists have done with the masters—as long as it’s only practice and doesn't result in plagiarism.

I learned to write fiction by studying the work of Dean Koontz. Whose writing have you studied and did it teach you the language of fiction?