The Art of Writing

I write every day – emails, grocery lists, notes from telephone conversations, text messages, journaling, articles I’m working on and even some parts of my book.  (The real question is which book.) That’s because I’m in the middle of at least four, maybe five.  One is completed and needs to be published but I don’t have an agent.  It’s been read and re-read by published authors and well-accepted but needs, in my opinion, a true editor’s keen eye.  So it too sits inside my computer waiting.

Someone asked me the other day what my favorite part about my job is and I said that interviewing people for the stories I write.  I love hearing their stories and being able to put it down on paper.  Then I love getting an email, phone call and even a text from the subject of my story giving me praise and thanks for the article after it’s published.  That is truly rewarding. (The check from the publisher isn’t too bad either.)  I say this because it makes me accountable to the time they gave to let me interview them.  If the end result is not good for the subject, then I consider the story a failure, no matter how well-written it was.

Recently, a lot of what I’ve written is done in kind (no money exchanged) as I also offer my writing talents to the organizations I belong to such as Girl Scouts.  I am always amazed at how one group can consistently be in the newspaper while another is ignored when I know the other is sending things to the paper for publication.  PR (public relations) is about networking and knowing the right people.  Anyone who writes knows this because in today’s writing world, publicists practically don’t exist.  The first lesson in authoring a published book is how to market that book.

We should always be looking for and be discovering opportunities to write and finding ways to fine tune the art of writing.

Local writer and award-winning author Deborah Levine has created a Facebook Page called Author! Author – a global writers page.  She recently posted this YouTube video “The Art of
Persuasive Writing.”  It is worth viewing.

Three articles were published in a local newspaper this month; two more are ready to be turned for November, in the same paper.  Another local “glossy” bi-monthly magazine has given me the go on an article for their December issue and I’ve volunteered to donate my writing and “reporting” skills to cover some special events coming up at my granddaughter’s elementary school.  They need the publicity and I have the time and talent to offer them my services.

Writing is a gift; it is a challenge; it is commitment.  But I love it!

Read Full Post »

Write What You Know…or Not

I came across an old article in Beginners Basic Magazine by Writer’s Digest.  Freelance writer, Linda DeMers Hummel writes that, “Writers should delve beyond the regular rules for writers to make your next book the best it can be.”

No. 1 on her list is to put a desk by a window.  I write at my desk in front of my window.  I posted on hearthealthyboomer.wordpress.com on that very subject.

No.2 is let the wall inspire you.  I have plaques and awards that I hold dear on one wall; my favorite being a water color of a Brownie Girl Scout, a gift for serving as the day camp director one summer in Houston, TX.  Another wall is filled with books and pictures of my grandchildren; a third wall has a piece of hand blown glass, and pen and ink prints of scenes on the Mississippi River in Louisiana, my home state.  And the last wall is where my writing desk and window sit.

No. 3 suggests making a list of negative people in your life.  These are the people that don’t read your work, don’t give you support when you think you need it.  When the list is complete, tie the list up and throw it away.  I have not tried this literally, but I do struggle to accept when I write something and then don’t seem to get any feedback or comments from some in my family.  But then No. 9 is don’t let your love ones read your work.  “They love you.  It isn’t their job to guide your career.  So I will quit stressing over that issue and move on.

No. 4 is my favorite suggestion and that is to make a list of twelve people you, “Like, love, admire, and don’t hear enough from.”  Then write them a letter (emails and cards don’t count); a relative who would  love to hear from you; an unknown author who appreciate your praise; an old college roommate.  “Good writing is about relationships, so resurrect, enhance, create or feel some of your own relationships.”

No. 5 is eavesdrop on the public.  I do that all the time and written about it.  She adds, “The best dialogue you’ll ever write has already been said.”  With No. 6 suggesting you give blood and not just because it is a good thing to do, but “It’s and eavesdropping paradise.”

No. 7 is to learn a new word every day.  She signed up for a free email with a new word.  So I did too at A.Word.A.Day by Anu Garg.  Today I learned the word picaresque.

No. 8 is don’t throw anything away and keep a notebook.  I carry my notebook everywhere I go, but what I didn’t know and do now is that I should not throw away my notebooks.

No. 10 is to start over every morning. Basically she is telling us to keep on writing. 

Today, I will write about something I have never written about before; I will write a letter to someone who has not heard from me in a long time; I will take the time to soak up my surroundings inside and outside and expand my mind; I’ll listen to the rhythm of words that I hear; and I will write about the things I know and then some that I don’t know.

Read Full Post »

It’s Not About the Money

I consider myself a freelance writer however I do not have a collection of magazines or newspapers that I write for.  This does not mean I don’t try.  But I’m finding it more common these days to not get paid for an article than to get paid.  And then the money is minimal if that.

A friend who is an excellent writer also considers herself a freelance writer.  She is fortunate enough to have a regular column in a bi-monthly magazine.  When she questioned a cutback in her check for the column, her editor said, “Be glad you got paid at all, in this economy.”

I have another friend that will not write without being paid, and she refuses to participate in a writers group.  This is because she feels it takes away from her time writing.  That’s another story.  But refusing to write for nothing seems a bit self-destructive, in my opinion.  Does she think her work is only good if she gets paid for it?  Does she value her self-worth by writing only for money?  How sad, if so.

I write because I love to write.  I need the money, but I’m not going to stop writing or sharing my stories with a writers group just because I’m not being paid for every article I write.  And I’m not going to stop interviewing people who have a story to tell.  I am a seeker and love the thrill of interviewing a person of interest, another writer, an artist, a teacher, a politician, a veteran, an actress, an administrator, and entrepreneur (all of which I have written about) and so on……and every once in a while you get the cover story as I did in a recent Catoosa Life Magazine.

It’s not about the money; it’s about the love of writing.

Read Full Post »