Bright Idea #65: Spring Clean Your Writing

Moving is an excellent way to sort through the stuff you’ve been unable to part with and probably don’t remember that you own.  Cleaning out your closets motivates generosity.  At the end of a yard sale I’ve been known to get very generous – like buy one get one and here take another.  I exercised that generosity last weekend at the family yard sale.

My in-laws are moving to Florida.  Tim’s parents are going from a four bedroom house to a home half as large.  Just getting ready for a yard sale requires a lot of time, energy, and discipline to separate what goes into the trash bin, the giveaway bin, and the sell-at-the-yard sale bin. 

After we got home, I began to think.  What if writers did spring cleaning?  We could revisit those essays, ideas for books, odd paragraphs, random descriptions, and character studies that we took time to scribble down and file, but never used.  A trip down virtual memory lane could possibly give rise to new concepts and ideas.

With the aid of your trusty laptop, any writer in this electronic age can sort, store, giveaway, or trash files that God only knows why you wrote.  The character that didn’t fit into your short story might just tell his story in your next poem.  The description that you worked on for days but still wasn’t what you needed for the essay may prove to be the perfect lead-in for a magazine feature.  The book outline that was impossible to follow may need to be rearranged or purged completely.

The last example was from my writing this week and last.  Five chapters into the sequel to 13 Decisions That Will Change Your Life, I realized that the outline I created for the book was restrictive.  Not only that, but the chapters were not in a logical prioritized order.  So I did what any frustrated scribe would do.  I deleted it and began again.  The second outline had more intuition, direction, and less restrictive structure.  This is only after I ditched the entire first draft of the sequel and changed the subject altogether.  That’s okay. They are only words and I will use them elsewhere.

If you haven’t learned it already, you will.  A writer should always be flexible to change direction and willing to rewrite or start again.  A writing buddy confided that the book she had worked on for years languished in a drawer while she published other things.  Then one day with renewed vigor, Joan rewrote her novel in another point of view and sold it immediately.  Stories like that keep my hope alive.

It may take the passage of time before I am willing to change my words or “kill my little darlings” as Faulkner suggests, but sometimes I must.  It all comes down to what you, as a writer, want to accomplish.  If you want to publish, there are rules and processes that are necessary.  Editors differ.  Audiences vary. What one loves another hates. The same friend said her query letter was used as a model in one class while torn to shreds in another class.  Writing and publishing is subjective.  What is timely and appropriate today may not be next week.  Before 9/11 occurred, I mentioned terrorists in a humor piece.  I would never do that today.  That’s one that can go into the trash bin.  

The plus side of spring cleaning is that rare moment when you come across a clipping that is exceptional. You will smile and think, I wrote that.  You may not remember when, but it is yours just the same.  Those feelings and rush of emotion will all come back.

I remember distinctly gazing at the red and white diary of Anne Frank housed in a glass cabinet in Amsterdam.  When I reread the essay I wrote for Athens Magazine, the memories and tears all come back.

I remember interviews with Jack Davis, the cartoonist, and the tour he gave me of his studio.  I smile at the opportunities I have been granted through writing for the newspaper or for one of several magazines.  

Of course, primarily you provide entertainment and information for the reader.  But for yourself, you get to make and keep wonderful memories. Memories that you can experience over and over again as you spring clean your writing.

~~ Sheila Hudson

Sheila's work appears in Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Patchwork Path, From the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2, plus numerous periodicals including Costumer Magazine. She established Bright Ideas to bring hope and inspiration through the written word.  Sheila has also served as president of Southeastern Writers Association.  Read more about Sheila on her website.

Bright Idea #64: Learning to Dance

Early this year I found an interesting call out in Total Funds for Writers, a valuable resource for writers made possible by C. Hope Clark.  In early January, she mentioned that Dancing with Bear Publishers (DWB) were looking for submissions that would fulfill the following description:

"Have you been married to your childhood, high school, or college sweetheart and are still in love like the day you married?  . . . Then send us those true stories of everlasting love."

Immediately I got in touch with Debbie Ropollo, the submissions editor, and explained that Tim and I had been married 45 years and still loved each other. Heck, most days we even LIKE each other.  She encouraged me to submit my family memoir/essay "My Forever Valentines" in answer to DWB’s special call out for a Valentines’ publication.  I hadn’t heard of DWB publishers but Debbie was so personable and their mission statement was impressive.

A few days after I submitted my article, I received an email from Debbie with an attached contract.  A contract seemed a little unusual for an anthology, but not one to look a gift publishing op in the mouth. I read it, electronically signed it, and returned it.  

Imagine my surprise when Maria McGaha, the owner of DWB, welcomed me into their publishing family.  At the end of her note, she enclosed the link to my Kindle book.  

BOOK! What book?  

Dancing With Bear had turned My Forever Valentines into a Kindle book.  I was surprised, delighted, delirious, thrilled, and absolutely amazed.

When I recovered from shock, I spread the news.  My writing partner Amy could probably hear me shouting from five miles away.  I emailed my family, close friends, acquaintances, and probably strangers.  I posted the link and picture on Twitter along with a blurb about the book’s contents.  I bought Google’s promotion plan for a month.  This holiday piece was time sensitive and I wanted to give it a little push.

I posted an initial announcement on my Facebook page.  My greatest encourager, Tim, reminded me that I needed to do this on several occasions since FB pages fill up quickly and items get missed.  Several friends bought the book and responded with kind comments.  Thanks to Hope Clark’s Shy Writer Reborn, I discovered Amazon Author Central where an author can post pictures, comments, or get a scoop on how things are going with your book. The whole e-book publishing experience was a rush and I learned a lot of valuable information that I plan to use.  Just for people like me, Hope wrote a whole chapter on Amazon Author Central with hints on media marketing, building a writer’s platform.  Excellent advice for budding authors and even late bloomers like me.

The little book on Kindle couldn’t have come at a better time for me.  This season of the year brings rain, dark skies, and thoughts of kicking the habit – the writing habit, that is.  I need a little encouraging kick in the pants however I can get it.   provided the nudge to get on with bigger things.

And as an added plus, I get to build relationships with the staff at Dancing with Bear Publishers, which is never a bad thing.  Their interesting name, by the way, comes from a romantic story written by the owner.  Pull up the web page, www.dancingwithbearpublishing.com  and read it.  I guarantee it will warm your heart’s cockles, whatever they are.  Who knows?  Maybe you too will learn to dance.

~~ Sheila Hudson

Sheila's work appears in Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Patchwork Path, From the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2, plus numerous periodicals including Costumer Magazine. She established Bright Ideas to bring hope and inspiration through the written word.  Sheila has also served as president of Southeastern Writers Association.  Read more about Sheila on her website.

Bright Idea #63: Find Your Voice

When I began to write I had no idea what genre I scribbled and I certainly didn’t think I had a voice.  If I did, I didn’t know what it sounded like.  My method of writing was just throwing words onto the blank page, mixing them around, and praying someone would read it.  Anything beyond that, I had to learn.  

And learn I did from excellent teachers but mostly from other writers. I was delightfully surprised to learn that my way of doing things was a commodity. I had a way of writing – a style – primitive though it was.  But I also had a voice.  Style was explained to me as the way I link my sentences, sprinkle my adjectives, and construct a manuscript.  

But Holly Lisle in How to Think Sideways reminds us that - “Style without voice is hollow.  Voice is style, plus theme, plus personal observations, plus passion, plus belief, plus desire.  Voice is bleeding onto the page, and it can be a powerful, frightening, naked experience.  But your voice is your future in writing.”

Wow that’s powerful.  If writer’s voice is that important, then we need to find it, develop it, and never neglect it.  As more than one successful author has pointed out, writers must read everything, write everything, and never think anything you write is wasted.  Recently I pulled out something I wrote a year ago.  At the time I didn’t know why I wrote it, but with a little polish the piece was perfect for a contest.

When you look for voice, study the successful writers – both classic and current.  For practice, copy some of their work to find their rhythm.  Read it aloud.  Of course, never pass off anything copied as your own.  This is just an exercise to loosen mental muscles much like stretching before you jog.

Lisle also suggests playing games with your topics of interest.  Divide a page into columns and list topics such as things you fear, great vacations, creepy things, sexy things, gifts I would give myself, etc. When you have several words in each column, randomly choose one from each category.  Write for several minutes on that subject.  

Warning:  Essays will be weird.  

Just for fun, pick a subject that you disagree with and take the opposite view.  This may cause stress but it will expand your thinking and perhaps trigger an idea for a column or essay.  Remember that all this writing and playing with words is in the realm of ‘first drafts’ which by definition are supposed to be horrible.  Don’t worry about structure, punctuation, or tense.  Just challenge yourself.  Embrace your fears.  Perseverance will stretch you like nothing else. 

Still can’t decide on your voice?  Ask yourself some questions:

• What makes me angry?
• What makes me deliriously happy?
• What am I passionate about?
• What makes me cry?
• What am I afraid of?
• What skills have I mastered?
• Where would I go if money were no object?
• How would I change the world if I could?
• What do I dream of accomplishing?
• •Where do I see myself in a few years?

“Voice is born from a lot of words and a lot of work – but not just any words or any work will do. You have to bleed a little.  You have to shiver a little.  You have to love a lot – love your writing, love your failures, love your courage . . . love every small triumph that points toward eventual success.  You already have a voice.  It’s beautiful.  It’s unique.  It’s the voice of a best-seller.  Your job is to lead it from the darkest of the dark places and the deepest of the deep waters into the light of day.”  

~~ Holly Lisle, How to Think Sideways

I don’t think I can say it any better.  Find your voice and let it be heard.  

~~ Sheila Hudson

Sheila's work appears in Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Patchwork Path, From the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2, plus numerous periodicals including Costumer Magazine. She established Bright Ideas to bring hope and inspiration through the written word.  Sheila has also served as president of Southeastern Writers Association.  Read more about Sheila on her website.

Bright Idea #62: Feed The Little Gray Cells

By this point in our New Year, I am sure many of you, like me, made resolutions.  I always make a resolution to eat less, exercise more, study the scriptures more, and spend more time with those I love. Those are standard.

But this year I made another one:

In the words of Hercule Poirot – “Feed the little gray cells.”

No matter what type of prose or poetry you write, scribblers that we are must have a constant supply of stimulants for the imagination.  Needless to say, we require a steady stream of information, a reservoir of knowledge, and storehouses of whimsy.  

Perhaps you enjoy a muse that sits on your shoulder and taunts you into getting down your goal of X amount of words per writing session.  If so, you are fortunate.

In his excellent book, On Writing, Stephen King advises: 

"There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think it’s fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist, but he’s got inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the mid-night oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. Believe me, I know."

Now that’s a muse that works for him, but not for me.  I draw a lot of my inspiration from characters like Hercule Poirot, Nero Wolfe, Miss Jane Marple, Nick and Nora Charles, and Sherlock Holmes.  Do you see a pattern here?  I am a sucker for British mysteries, detective stories, and curious escapades.  I will watch or read just about anything that promises a mystery with light comedy with a satisfying resolution. 

Perhaps your inspiration comes from music, poetry, the world of nature, or by certain types of literature. Whatever you choose, the point is to discover what makes your creative juices flow.  Investigate what inspires you.  Then regularly provide nourishment to your brain cells – whether gray or not.  Once you begin this regime you will be astonished at the results.  After a walk or nap, in the shower, or perhaps even at the keyboard, ideas will begin to take root. 

Sometimes the idea will come full blown. Sometimes the idea(s) make take a bit of encouragement even prodding.  A word search may begin a chain reaction resulting in an essay or opinion piece. A newspaper clipping, a scientific discovery, or an anniversary of an historical happening could trigger a column, short story, or become fodder for a book.

Keep a notebook of your ideas and add to them.  When prompted by your writing muse, jot down thoughts, lines of poetry, scraps of fiction or non-fiction.  I promise one day you will find a place where they fit.  Just for fun, create a character and record dialogue for him/her.   Paint a familiar setting without telling where it is.  Then do the same for a setting completely out of your imagination.  Any piece of writing is never wasted.

Take for example this column.  My muse this morning woke me at 7:30 a.m.  While he enjoyed a Milk Bone© and I my coffee, we sat on the couch and watch Poirot on Netflix©.  As Hercule solved his case, I had the idea for this column.  N’est ce pas?

~~Sheila S. Hudson

Sheila's work appears in Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Patchwork Path, From the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2, plus numerous periodicals including Costumer Magazine. She established Bright Ideas to bring hope and inspiration through the written word.  Sheila has also served as president of Southeastern Writers Association.

Bright Idea #61: The Well-Traveled Writer

Writing about travel experiences provides multiple avenues.  Newspapers use straight pieces about destinations, which include transportation, dining, and excursion information.  Be specific and as up to date as possible.  The more facts and figures you include the better.

Another option is a photographic journey chronicling an exotic locale or video happenings in your neighborhood.  Interview participants and include names and interesting tidbits in the celebrations, ballgames, or festivities.  People love to read their names in print.  If your camera techniques are iffy, enlist a camera buff to accompany you.

Another option would be to take a tongue-in-cheek approach to a trip, vacation, or happenstance.  This is my personal favorite.  I’ve written about getting lost in the U.S. Capitol, being bitten by a bear in the Smokies, and having plugs sucked into my ear canal as we landed in Honolulu.   I admit my experiences are extreme but people still identify.

No matter how you choose to write your travelogue, travel writing can be a sweet freelance opportunity if you keep a few things in mind.

• Learn the lingo.  Quaint, a wash of color, and upper floor convenience leave a lot to interpretation. What is quaint to one is dilapidated to another.  Awash with color may mean the ceiling leaks.  And upper floor convenience may indicate no elevator.  People who write promotional pieces have a special vocabulary when it comes to describing accommodations.  Just saying.
• Do your research before and after the trip.  Does your destination require visas/passports, medications/vaccinations, or special currency?  Use the library, the internet, and word of mouth.  Nothing is more reliable than a contact that has been where you intend to venture.  Culture shock rules when communication fails.  Make sure your plans and those of your editor, if you have one, shore up.  If possible get him/her to commit to the story before you leave so that you may slant the article to the age/gender/interest of your audience.  An article describing a Caribbean cruise will read differently for Bride’s Magazine than it will for Modern Maturity. 
• Find your travel voice.  People who read travel articles are generally savvy about air travel, cruises, and auto excursions.  Write your article from an exciting, fresh, and very optimistic viewpoint.  Remember you may be the only link to another person’s experience.  Be honest – always – but try to find a silver lining in any assignment.
• Recycle your research. Gather resource materials from hotels, airports, restaurants, and newsstands.  Plan on writing several articles from the same informational database.  Consider a first person account, a humor article, an informational travel column, and a piece on exotic entrees. Note times, admission fees, distance, and any other information that will aid your readers.
• Park your prejudices.  Any account of a destination, restaurant review, or personal essay should be without bias and project a balanced perspective.  Travel writers are not permitted to take “freebies” or any gratuity that would influence their report.  
• Make sure you and your traveling companion are on the same page.  “People like to possess a piece of the country they are visiting,” according to Mary Lou Weisman, author of Traveling While Married.  “Men like to eat it.  Women like to wear it.”  Be sure that you choose wisely the one to assist you with reading maps, programming the GPS, gathering brochures and research materials, taking photographs to accompany the article, and navigating airport terminals.
• Check, check and re-check.  Amounts change.  Timetables vary.  Keep up on special deals. Make sure telephone numbers are correct.  Be sure that web sites and email addresses are valid. If possible list the name of a contact.  

And last but not least, enjoy the adventure of travel writing.  It’s a service you can provide to readers who are anxious to go where you have.  Be a well-traveled writer for those who follow in your footsteps.

~~Sheila S. Hudson

Sheila's work appears in Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Patchwork Path, From the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2, plus numerous periodicals including Costumer Magazine. She established Bright Ideas to bring hope and inspiration through the written word.  Sheila has also served as president of Southeastern Writers Association.

                          

#60 Bright Idea: Going “All In”

Writing is a lot like gambling, more specifically -- poker.  Writers pile up words in neat stacks. We click them and move them around.  They are our currency into the game of publishing. When the game commences, we reluctantly place our beloved word chip “ante” onto the game board. The dealer/agent/editor keeps the game in motion.  One difference being he has a vested interest in the outcome of the game.

The first deal sets the wheels in motion.  Your cards dictate how much you are willing to risk.  If you have a good agent, he will give approval or indicate that you “check” or “fold.”  His experience in invaluable but in the end you are the only one to play the hand you’re dealt.

Your hand is a secret from the other players.  You may hold a flush, straight, full house, or nothing at all.   This would be the time to don a “poker face’ and steel yourself against the capers of the other players.  Set yourself a limit on how many chips you will risk on promotional items such as posters, bookmarks, and announcement cards.  Set a budget for marketing materials, publicists and agent fees, travel expenses, and incidentals.  Those chips go in the proverbial “pot” as the stakes rise with each hand.  Prepare for surprise moves from the other players.

Gambling requires nerves of steel accompanied by gutsy plays.  It is not for the faint-hearted but I am learning that those qualities are also useful in the game of publishing.  It takes a blend of talent and wit, charm and risk-taking, and perhaps the most important ingredient – compromise.

Watch for the “tells.”  Be patient for the river card. Study your competition.  Use your wild cards and when the chips are down, take a deep breath and say “All In.” 

*This article idea was inspired by author Daisha Korth and her blog.

~~Sheila S. Hudson

Sheila's work appears in Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Patchwork Path, From the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2, plus numerous periodicals including Costumer Magazine. She established Bright Ideas to bring hope and inspiration through the written word.  Sheila has also served as president of Southeastern Writers Association.

Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction

DID YOU KNOW?

There is a free online class starting October 15th. Here's the description and a link for more information:

Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction is a unique and exciting introduction to the genre and craft of historical fiction, for curious students, aspiring authors--anyone with a passion for the past. Read classics of the genre, encounter bestselling writers of historical fiction, and discover your own historical archive while interacting with a global community of interested readers.

Learn more at https://www.coursera.org/course/hisfiction

~~Sheila S. Hudson

Sheila's work appears in Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Patchwork Path, From the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2, plus numerous periodicals including Costumer Magazine. She established Bright Ideas to bring hope and inspiration through the written word.  Sheila has also served as president of Southeastern Writers Association.

Bright Idea #59: Deadly D’s of Dog Days

Marlene Bagnull in her column, "Write His Answer" (July 12, 2013) had some much appreciated advice. She gave a name to the doldrums many of us experience this time of year – The Deadly D’s.  I saw myself in some of her categories; perhaps you will too. 

Disappointment:  

As a writer, you are familiar with this one.  He is a constant companion.  His aura is there when you check your email or go to the mailbox. Disappointment taunts and questions our talent.  We wrangle with it when our manuscripts are rejected.  Or worse, when they are accepted and killed in the editor’s final cut. Disappointment has a cure.  It’s called: Open a new file and start on another project immediately!

Doubt:  

If disappointment lingers for very long or you torture yourself with reading rejection slips, disappointment’s brother, doubt, takes a foothold. Counter attack with a big glass of inspiration accompanied with a walk, a massage, or a healthy dose of reading your published prose.  You will be amazed at yourself and then tackle something new – like haiku.  

Discouragement:

Constant introspection (aka navel gazing) always leads to discouragement. Others get published.  We smile and say congrats and go home and pour salt into our unpublished wounds.  We ache for a taste of success. Understandable, however it is unhealthy in every realm.  For inspiration read about famous people who experienced multiple failures before succeeding: Edison, Einstein, Dr. Seuss, Marie Curie, John Grisham, and the list goes on. Believe in yourself and keep writing.

Despair:  

Do everything you can to avoid this Deadly D.  It is perhaps the most deadly of all.  This insidious pest will deposit venom in your writer brain and poison your creativity, shake your confidence, and shush you into the writer’s block from hell.  This is where your support group and/or your writing partner are invaluable. It is therapeutic to confide in another writer who understands your frustration with the publishing process.  Each of us is on a different rung in our climb to writing success.  

SWA takes seriously the motto:  Writers Helping Writers.  For twenty years, I’ve never called upon a member for help when they didn’t respond.  Fellow members have edited, given advice, shared information, and assisted me in countless ways throughout my writing journey. Faithful friends plus a will to succeed will keep the Deadly D’s at bay. 

Keep writing!  

~~Sheila S. Hudson

Sheila's work appears in Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Patchwork Path, From the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2, plus numerous periodicals including Costumer Magazine. She established Bright Ideas to bring hope and inspiration through the written word.  Sheila has also served as president of Southeastern Writers Association.

Don’t Break Your Promise

Have you ever taken a big bite out of an entrée only to find (a) it was delicious or (b) ugh!  Not what you expected?

That’s the way readers react to something you’ve written.  When you put an article out there, a writer automatically makes a promise to their reader.  If you don’t fulfill that promise, the reader will likely avoid reading you again.  Why?  Because you broke your promise.

From your own experience as a reader, you know it’s true.  Not only that but you’ve spoiled a chance for personal recommendation.  Just like anyone else, writers want to be liked and build their platforms using social media and by word of mouth.

I am struggling to build my own platform.  When you see my byline, it is my desire to pass along tips I’ve garnered from writing for 30+ years.  If I can make you nod, smile, or even disagree, so much the better as long as you remember me.

When you see the byline for Dan Brown, Janet Evanovich, Mary Higgins Clark, or Truman Capote, you expect excitement, adventure, mystery, and humor.  They fulfill the author’s promise and so must you.
Raise your right hand and repeat, "When you see my byline, I promise..."

• To persuade you
• To entertain you
• To make you stay up late to find out the ending
• To educate you
• To widen your perspective
• To broaden your attitude
• To take you on adventures
• To tie up the loose ends
• To end with a satisfying closure
• To give you believable characters with lots of conflict
• To whet your appetite for more of my publications

Anyway, writers, you get the idea.  Now put this into your writing toolbox and begin to use it.  Your byline is your promise, so be true to it like the following quote from Stephen King:

"People want to know why I do this, why I write such gross stuff. I like to tell them I have the heart of a small boy... and I keep it in a jar on my desk."

~ Sheila Hudson

Sheila Hudson's work appears in Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Patchwork Path, From the Heart, Vols. 1 & 2, plus numerous periodicals including Costumer Magazine. She established Bright Ideas to bring hope and inspiration through the written word.  Sheila has also served as president of Southeastern Writers Association.