Writers who avoid writing have the lamest excuses:

“Not enough time.” This one is so pathetic. People have time to watch brain sucking TV shows or putter away hours at the mall or on the golf course but they don’t have time to write. This is a case of choosing different priorities, not about not having enough time.

“Nowhere to write.” Again, lame. People who really want to write don’t wait for the perfect environment, they write wherever they are.

“The kids are always underfoot.” Swap children with a neighbour or enlist help to get a few minutes here or there. Others make it work, so can you.

“I get bored with my ideas before I get to the end.” If that’s the case, skip novel writing for now and write poems or short stories. Until you develop the ability to see projects through to the end, write something that you don’t whine you won’t be able to finish.

“I have writer’s block.” Writer’s block, schmiter’s block. Nike said it best - just do it!

“Someone will steal my ideas.” Trust me - whatever idea you are pondering has already been written about. But you have the ability to cover the idea in your own unique way.

“My muse has vanished.” Don’t wait for the muse to find you. Hunt her down, tie her up, throw her over your shoulder, and take her home with you.

“I’m too tired to write after a long day at work and family obligations.” We’re all tired. We’re all overloaded. Suck it up. If you really want to be a writer, you’ll break through the fatigue and write.

“The research never ends.” Sure it does, you just choose to continue researching so you don’t have to move onto the harder part - actually writing.

“I don’t have proper writing tools.” So you don’t have the latest laptop or netbook? Write on a pad with a pencil or pen like the past literary greats did and then type it up on the library computer.

Don’t let lame excuses hold you back!

 

I watch people on both sides of the debate argue over whether e-books are going to bulldoze over hard copy books and I shake my head. The world becomes more digital as each day passes, ensuring e-books will continue to be in demand. And as long as e-books continue to be one-dimensional with no physically gratifying sense for those who love the tactility of flipping through pages, physical books will not vanish. Both products have a strong and viable market although proponents on each side seem itchy to condemn the other. I refuse to pick sides, preferring to love both.

Looking into literature’s crystal ball, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to foresee digital copies of books being included with hard copy sales, similar to what the film industry does with DVDs and Blu-Rays.

One of North America’s leading digital visionaries, Mitch Joel, President of Twist Image and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, makes a great point, “What’s interesting (to me) is that as more and more people are saddened by the disappearance of the book in its physical form, it could well be that the digitization of the book is what will save reading and potentially give it a whole new life.”

No matter what book type you prefer, happy reading!

“To complete a book is a cherished milestone few achieve. To hold the printed copy in your hand rarefies your standing. OK, so well done! (Hope you never know how hard it is to market the damned thing!) Know that the urge that started this will never go away. You will always be an addict and frequent mind prods will urge you back to the keyboard when you are fallow. You may never be the addict that Nora Roberts is…but you may try.

The Internet is wonderful for quick and accurate research. Better than newspaper archives and libraries where I started out, pre-computers. Enjoy your technical advantage!

Should editors equate you alongside or above popular authors, be proud, but not prideful. Remember, they have agents, publishers, reputations, fans, sales and experience.

Read more. Suck in knowledge. Keep a notebook at your bedside for those three a.m. revelations.

Stick with your method. Just because you have no idea where a story is going does not mean it is not in motion and actually has an ending.

When friends stay up all hours enthralled and forget you are the author, you have achieved…something. When even critics have to read to the end, there is a victory.

Make contacts with other writers, associations and like-minded groups who will encourage you and suggest means. Writing is an insular endeavour but marketing is not.

Edit, edit, edit. Then edit again and get others to help. Subsequent editing will then be desirable.

Keep faith. Nothing will get done if you do not get started.”

Happy writing!

I met a fellow writer while walking my dog. She admitted that she does her best writing in cemeteries. There is a graveyard within walking distance of her home and she finds them anywhere she goes. As she pointed out, while most people don’t give much thought to cemeteries, you can find them almost anywhere. Her favorite one is five minutes from where she works and she feels like she is in a place of solitude when she is there. What is so ideal about writing in a cemetery? Unlike her workplace, which is a constant stream of people, and unlike her home, which is filled with kids and surrounded by loud neighbors, a cemetery is peaceful. Day or night, you are guaranteed a quiet and serene writing time unless there is a service going on. She made another point - people leave you alone in cemeteries and assume you are there to visit someone who died. Why tell them that their assumption is wrong?

Being able to say “No” is vital when it comes to finding more time to write. Is there something in your life that you are doing (a volunteer position, a committee spot, babysitting for a relative, for example) but you would rather spend that time writing? Do you belong to a group that feels more like a chore than a fun activity? Resign from the group and dedicate the new-found free time to your words. Tactfully bow out and use the time you previously committed to that venture for your writing. Caveat: don’t fill the time slot with anything but writing. In the future, be selective in what you commit to do to ensure your valued writing time isn’t affected. The same goes for social obligations. While we all need to have fun from time to time, be selective about what you do with friends and family. “No” isn’t a swear word. Simplifying your life can equal more time for writing.

Saying no is a major factor of success for bestselling author Merline Lovelace. “Yesterday I was asked to do something I really wanted to but I said, ‘Sorry, I can’t do it.’” Saying “No” works for Lovelace and it can for you, too.

Repeat after me: “I can’t commit to that as I have something going on.” Didn’t that feel good! No one needs to know that your plans involve writing. You don’t owe anyone an explanation for how you choose to spend your time and energy.

Make writing a priority!

“If you’re reading this, the odds that you have at least one social media account are pretty decent. And if you’re a questionable human being like me, you’ve probably had at least one friend tied to your social media networks whose carefully curated daily musings, or perfectly lit photos, or outrageously comfortable life, have provoked some uncomfortable comparisons in your mind. Do you do this as a writer, too? Here are some good reasons to stop.

Confession: I do this comparing thing constantly. I have a few friends who travel frequently for work, and they (lovely human beings all) always seem to be landing in fantastical locations with the Spanish Steps in the background, debating the quality of ski season in Colorado versus the one on New Zealand’s South Island, or reminiscing about that one time they went to Antarctica.

Then, there are the folks who seem to be gliding around, scooping up great breaks, beautiful houses or loft apartments in Brooklyn. They’re constantly adopting adorable puppies or kittens, they’re posting about their great new jobs or the beautiful nursery they’ve just decorated, and on and on.

Comparing my life to theirs always ends the same way: I sit back, fully aware of my empty passport and my house with the leaky roof and drafty windows and cracked, frost-heaved garage floor. I see the litter box that needs to be emptied and what my hair looks like after a long day at work and the globs of green toothpaste left in the white bathroom sink and I think, I wish that was me.

Basically, comparing my life to other lives makes me the shallowest, most self-centered, annoying human being on the planet. So I strive to do it less. And since I’ve been striving, I’ve noticed that I do it when I write, too. Do you?

Perhaps an author your age just got a three-book deal with a pretty big house, and you’re not there yet. Perhaps a blogger you thought was greener than poison ivy in springtime just won an award and you didn’t. Perhaps you simply admire the style of another writer’s prose, they way they casually string their ideas together like power lines through the desert. It’s all just effortless, and your work isn’t effortless. Then what?

If you’ve caught yourself doing this, here are four thoughts to help you stop.

4. Constant comparisons impede your ability to be awesome.

When you’re so focused on another’s accomplishments, whether in writing, traveling or life in general, it’s easy to quit moving forward in your own life. Because you’re preoccupied with the progress of others, you won’t even notice your life has ground to a halt.

3. You can’t learn from other writers when you compare yourself to them.

Bitterness shuts down the parts of your mind that are otherwise open, observing and adapting. If you envy the way another writer in your group disciplines himself to write first thing in the morning and last thing at night, you’re less likely to ask him how he does what he does, and less likely to do it, yourself.

2. You’re comparing the best things they’ve ever written to your raw materials.

This is perhaps the most insidious working of social media: You’re comparing your everyday to someone else’s highlight reel. What you see on your Newsfeed is a carefully curated barrage of items that are usually intended to show off the poster in the best possible light. They’re not going to post the play-by-play of the agonizing ride on I-95 that gets them to their sparkly new job (hopefully), or take a picture of the steaming turd their cute new puppy left in their favorite pair of L.L. Bean shearling slippers (you know, the ones on their feet every time they take a “just relaxing by the cozy fire!” selfie).

So it is with writing. You’ll never see the egregious misspelling of the word “public” in the first draft of their article at the regional glossy mag, their stuttering, stammering first pitches to the agents who rejected them before they landed their agent, or that one time they got into an online pissing match with their first negative reviewer on Goodreads. But that happens, because it’s life, and life happens to everyone.

As the old saying goes, everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time.

1. Comparing yourself to other writers makes you incredibly boring.

When you don’t keep your eyes on the road, you often miss where you’re going. When you keep your eyes on what other writers are doing, your creative drive loses its steam and direction.

You get kinda boring. You’re not making new observations, creating new stories, or even playing with words. You’re just trying to get ahead of the next person. And even if you fall victim to the comparison monster every now and again, you have to admit—that’s mind-numbingly dull.”

- Sex
- Money
- Food
- Relationships 
- Weight loss
- Family
- Holidays
- Careers/Jobs
- Home improvement
- Pets and pet care

Happy writing!

"1. Never underestimate the usefulness of an editor.  Even if you are a subject matter expert, by the time that you have written, re-written and reviewed your own material over and over, there is a great value in having an unrelated pair of eyes look over your stuff. Even if your work is solid from a technical sense, these folks can help to steer greater development of certain areas of your work. Related to an editor though, this service can get very pricy very fast ... and in the end you may have a significant cash outlay and still need to edit for grammar/spelling etc. So make sure you know what you’re getting and the end cost.

2. If your work relies on input or interviews with anybody, even if they are really into your project, expect that without some gentle nudging, you may never get what you need in time. Some people you may never hear back from at all. Inevitably, it is the folks that you extended invitations for an interview on multiple occasions that will be the first to criticize the finished product anyway.

3. If you’re writing your first book, recognize that the book industry is different from probably most out there. Unless you’re starting from some point which readily gives you a platform to promote, there is a lot of self-promotion involved to get your title moving. Just putting it out there on boom shelves isn’t a guarantee that anyone will be interested enough to buy. Explore every opportunity possible to promote yourself and your title, any potential forum where your target audience may already be planning to attend."

Heather Nickel, the publisher of Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing, shares her thoughts, “I consider books in a series in the same manner I do individual titles; each book must stand on its own, though if it’s part of a series, there must be an overall story arc driving the plot forward and giving depth to the characters beyond that which is told in each book. This means that a series must be considered as a whole and the author needs to have a solid idea of how the overall story might unfold, though there is always room for change as the books are written.”

Bidulka continues, “All that being said, I believe it is of utmost importance to balance thoughts of future books with ensuring that I am giving all I’ve got to the book I’m writing right now. I don’t want to feel as if I’m withholding plot or character development or clever ideas with the plan that I’ll put it in the next one. I always try to write as if the book I’m currently working on might be the last one, so it should be the best one; if I’m fortunate enough to have the opportunity to write another, I’ll do the same next time.”

“Once my initial planning for a new book is done, and I feel I’ve created a great story to work with, I then may consider planting seeds for development in future books. Especially with the early Russell Quant books, I did this quite often. A careful reader could look back at the first books in the series and find hints and clues, foreshadowing for themes or character development that only come to fruition later in the series. None of these seeds took anything away from the book in which they were planted.”

Bidulka leaves us with a final thought, “I can’t stress enough the idea of getting to know your characters extremely well while you are creating them for a potential series. You may end up spending years of your life with them. This doesn’t mean you need to like the character - sometimes quite the opposite - only that you find them interesting or challenging or entertaining, that they fulfill a longtime purpose in your storyline. There is nothing worse than a dull character - for both the reader and the writer. Or a character who does not fulfill a long-term purpose in the universe you’ve created.”

Brian Brennan, an award-winning and best-selling author, keeps his writing stress to a minimum, “I manage to avoid stress in my writing life. I try not to take on too much work at any given time, only accept deadlines that I can manage comfortably, and only deal with editors and publishers that I respect and trust. I used to work full-time as a journalist, and there was considerably more stress involved with that job. These days, it’s “serenity now” all the way.”

Barb Howard, multi-published author and the winner of the Writer’s Guild of Alberta’s 2009 Howard O’Hagan Award for short story, shares her writer stress, “For me, writing isn’t stressful - it’s not writing that gives me chest pain. The obvious solution is to write every day, but other aspects of my life are always getting in the way. I try to de-stress by grabbing moments (at work, in traffic, at the grocery store) to mentally develop characters or scenes so that when the time to write finally arrives, I use it efficiently. The other thing I do is get a lot of outdoor exercise which, I know, uses up valuable writing time but has a huge pay off in that it helps me focus and makes me feel less like a mole when I work in my basement office. I used to stress about whether everyone would “like” my published work. Now I remind myself that I’m not writing to please everyone. I just do the best job I can and leave it at that.”

It’s no surprise that computers are one of the main favored tools that writers use; they make writing, rewriting and editing a tad easier than a pen and paper. John Warner is no exception, “Most of all, I appreciate the computer and its ability to:

 a.) allow for word processing and the attendant spelling, grammar correcting and general shuffling of text. (My first novel was 240-odd pages conveyed to paper on a portable manual typewriter back in 1967 and I had to start each page anew if I made a typo.)

b.) access to the Internet. (The second novel required intense research in books [i.e. libraries] and newspaper archives [i.e. Edmonton Journal]. This was pre-computers. Now, in a matter of seconds, I can research a scene and actually describe the building opposite as two lovers meet at a cafe on the Champs Elysees.”

Laptops are much more flexible than a desktop computer. Gillian Zylka relies on her trusty laptop, “One thing that is essential for my writing is my ASUS UL20A notebook. It is tiny, highly portable, smaller than a file folder, and very light. I have no idea what kind of memory it has, but it was researched to be perfect for my writing needs, and it is. I slip it into my computer/writing bag and haul it everywhere I need to go. It has an eight hour battery, and was a gift from my husband.”

Mini-laptops (also called netbooks) are a big hit with many writers. Most are around 20 by 25 cm in size, making them portable. And weighing around one kilogram, they won’t add too much weight to your purse or backpack. They can do everything a regular laptop can do but come in a much smaller package.

The original ‘laptop’ geared for writers, the AlphaSmart, continues to be a hit with many writers. The AlphaSmart Neo, is priced around $130, making it more financially feasible than a standard laptop. The Neo is a writing tool with most of the capabilities of word processing programs and runs for 700 hours on three AA batteries.

To protect your laptop from theft when you leave home, consider buying a laptop security kit or a cable lock. These handy cables and locks allow you to leave your laptop on the table at the coffee shop or the library while you run to the bathroom and it’ll still be there when you return. No one can argue the value of a gadget that keeps your laptop from getting stolen.

Happy writing!!

Instead of scrambling to find more time to write, manage the time you have more effectively. I have a hunch that you can adjust your schedule to find a way to squeeze in more writing.

Bestselling author Nora Roberts may have said it best, “You don’t find time to write. You make time.”

P.S. Happy birthday to my leap son!

There’s nothing wrong with being a writing newbie; all writers were unpublished and inexperienced at one point. But you can avoid having flashing neon signs in your writing that point out that fact by steering clear of doing the following:

- You address your query letters, “To whom it may concern.”

- You are willing to give your work away. (Exception - when it’s a barter situation or to support a cause you believe in.)

- You brag to editors about how much your mother and your friends love, love, love your work.

- You think doing two drafts is one draft too many. Or, even worse, you think your work is perfect and never needs editing.

- You claim that your work will appeal to everyone in the entire world.

- You have been doing research for a decade but have not written more than three pages of your novel.

- You refuse to share the full idea of what you are working on with editors, just allude to it, as you are scared the editor will steal your idea.

- Dream scenarios are a mainstay in your fiction writing.

- Believing that you don’t have to have a social media presence or even an online presence to be a successful writer.

- Your writing is full of clichés. After all, you don’t want to be a flash in the pan.

Happy writing!

“I’ve reviewed for well-known literary journals, and they want honesty and informative critique: essentially those elements that will entice the journal’s readers to pick up the book. In a recent review, I took a writer to task for a lengthy notes section I didn’t feel was necessary, but was careful to balance that criticism with my clear and honest respect for the poetry. In another case, I’ve singled out the cover art as too literal, given the subject matter. Again, not a huge problem regarding a book I loved otherwise.”

“It may seem hopelessly naive, but I truly do think that CanLit has the potential to be inclusive, supportive, generous, and friendly. Of course, I know that will never happen as long as creative humans harbour jealousy and unchecked competitiveness, leading us to beat our fellow writers over the heads with frying pans because their books—say— had a typo (I defy anyone to find a book without one), rather than supporting and boosting them up. I am bored silly by the recent "fights" about what’s the matter with this poet or that critic. Who cares? Why aren’t we just writing, reading one another’s stuff, and saying nice things about it when we can? I firmly believe that while there is plenty of room in this country for honest, engaged critique of literature (which, of course, may contain some negative elements), that purely negative reviewing for its own sake has no place in our book lives. To my mind, it borders on bullying, particularly as we’re told that we’re not to answer our critics. I completely ignore that bad advice. To remain silent in the face of a scathing review is to allow that review(er) to have the last word. Unacceptable.”

“I’ve had a few negative reviews in my career. I thank the reviewer for the thought put into the piece and move on. My work isn’t for everyone, and everyone doesn’t have to love it. There are plenty of writers in this country whose books I could never review because I simply do not like their work or find it substandard. But I’m not so haughty as to imagine that anyone cares about my bad feelings about a particular book. I keep those to myself.”

Thank you, Kimmy, for sharing your thoughts!

- Read and attend plays.

- Join playwriting organizations.

- Make connections in your local theatre company or playwright organization.

- Attend workshops.

- Enter playwriting competitions.

- Send your play(s) to producing theatres.

- Self-produce your play.

- Participate in fringe festivals. Invite Artistic Directors from every theatre to attend your play.

Never stop marketing yourself and your work!

“There’s a charge you get from playwriting that you just can’t get from anything else.” Trina Davies, playwright