Why you DON'T want notoriety

I often hear the word notoriety used in place of the word fame. The two are not synonymous. One has a positive connotation, the other a negative one.

I once heard a Southern Gospel singer use notoriety as he spoke of his growing fame. No, Mr. Singer, you do NOT want notoriety. Why? Because although notoriety indicates fame, it is fame for a bad reason. Notoriety has a negative connotation.

Notoriety, according to my trusty Webster's, means a being notorious (don't you hate it when a they define a word by using the word being defined?) and notorious means well known or commonly known, especially for a bad reason; widely but unfavorably known or talked about. 

So unless you aspire to be well known for the wrong reasons, don't say you desire notoriety.

Coming next month in Grammar Goofs: My issues with a common Christmas phrase.

A kick in the pants

For the second time in my writing career, I’ve taken on the NaNoWriMo challenge. Every November, fiction writers across the land hole up for the purpose of cranking out a 50,000-word novel. It took me a year to write each of my two completed novels. Well, two. One year to stop being scared of the project and another year to actually write it. NaNoWriMo is the kick in the pants I need to get past the fear and into the writing.

To produce 50K words in one month, we all but shut ourselves off from the rest of the world. A hunter getting ready for deer season is nothing compared to a fiction writer getting ready for NaNoWriMo. Some writers turn off their phones, disconnect their Internet, and cancel their cable or satellite service. Me, I’m not that extreme. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t get my NCIS fix.
    
Quality doesn’t matter. Quantity does. It’s all about numbers. So they say. Me? I can’t restrain the editor/English teacher in me long enough to write the 1,667 words per day I need to get 50K done by Dec. 1. I can’t resist going back and tweaking the last page I wrote, or revisiting a previously written chapter to work in a scene to set up something that will happen later. But I’ve learned that keeping a separate document for “things to research” helps me to keep pushing forward.
    
Fifty thousand words scares me, but not 1,667. As I write this, at 4:49 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, I’m at 12,086 words. That counts chapter titles and notations in the text about what I need to add, change, verify or research. But I have to be careful because we writers are notorious procrastinators, and are afflicted with ADD. Anything—and I mean anything—can get us derailed.
    
I could have gotten derailed from the get-go. My husband came home from a two-week hunting trip to Colorado on Nov. 2, with 290 pictures and 290 stories—and a pile of laundry as big as a Rocky Mountain. My youngest son, whom we see very little even though he lives in Johnstown, came home for a day. Nov. 1 marked the end of the first nine weeks at school, meaning grades were due. Yada, yada, yada. But I didn’t give up. I simply refigured how many words I needed to write a day to reach 50K by Dec. 1. I can do this.
    
And so it is with anything in life. Sometimes the mountains we face are daunting, the problems overwhelming, the journey too long. We get derailed or need to tend to things with a higher priority. But we don’t give up. We fix our eyes on the goal, readjust, realign, reconsider—knowing that one step forward is one step closer.

Let us throw off everything that hinders . . . and run with perseverance the race marked out for us. – Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)     
      

Finding your niche

In the movie, Marley and Me, John Grogan languishes at the obit desk of a big city newspaper, watching his buddy get the opportunities to write the kind of stuff he wants to write. When his editor needs someone to write a column, Grogan reluctantly agrees to fill in temporarily. His “temporary” column is a big hit. But it took a stint as a bigger-city reporter for him to realize his niche was really column writing.
  
What is your niche? How do you find it?
  
Webster’s online dictionary defines niche as “a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person is best fitted.”
  
How can you determine the best fit for your writing?
  
Simple: examine your passion, your talent, and your experience.
  
First, what are you passionate about? What message do you want to get out through your writing? Whether you write fiction, nonfiction, or both, the driving force of your piece is the message. But remember to show, don’t tell—and don’t preach! Remember how Jesus used parables. Go thou and do likewise.
  
Second, where do your talents lie? Identify what kind of writing you do best—and for what audience. I have a friend who writes excellent medical articles for a veterans’ newsletter. She has the ability to discern what’s important, trim the excess, and write difficult-to-understand material in a way anyone can understand. Another writes historical fiction, taking dry historical facts and giving them life and breath. Still another writes delightful children’s stories.
  
Finally, what are your experiences? What do you know and understand well? What do you love to do? Interview people? Research? Teach? Make people laugh? If you enjoy people, then you’ll find interviewing individuals and writing their stories a natural fit. If you love the hunt and dig for more information, then writing informational pieces would serve well. And don’t rule out fiction.
  
Some writers instinctively know what their niche is. Others, like Grogan, stumble upon it and grow into it. Identifying your passion, your talent, and your experience will help you find your niche.
  
NOTE: I scored a double ace this month: This article appeared in the November issues of Christian Communicator and Wordsmith, the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild newsletter. 

Getting back on track

Tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 8, 2010, will be my last day teaching full time.

Back in August--two weeks before school started--I was asked to fill in temporarily as an English teacher at the local Christian high school where I'd taught for five years (2001-2006) -- just until a permanent teacher was found. But the board and the administrator wanted me to be the permanent teacher.

"I can't," I told them. "I need time for my freelance work. I need time to write."

Producing a daily radio program, writing a weekly newspaper column, mentoring writers through Christian Writers Guild, and working on my fiction projects took more than the couple of hours after school I had, and after supper I was too tired to do much of anything, let alone something that required brain power.

But teaching has always been my passion, and truth be told, I didn't want to leave until we'd covered Macbeth in English Lit. And Silas Marner  in World Lit. And . . .

Since most of my classes are in the morning, I suggested that I work half days. They liked the idea. So starting Monday, I'll teach in the mornings and write in the afternoons.

Before I was asked to teach, I'd planned to finish editing a book manuscript for a friend by Labor Day. I'd planned to finish the revisions on my novel, The Heart Remembers, at the same time. But, as John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens while you're making other plans."

But next week, Lord willing and the creeks don't rise, I'll get back on track.

Perhaps you, too, planned to start that book you've always wanted to write, send out that query about an article idea, research markets for your devotionals. But life happened.

Don't despair. Take care of the things that crop up, then get right back on track.

My writing goals for October include finishing the editing project, record some new radio programs, keep caught up with mentoring and writing my column--and finish revising The Heart Remembers. I'm itching to get started writing novel number three. A couple of weeks ago I attended an open house at a local one-room schoolhouse owned by the historical society to research my next project. While I was scribbling notes, my protagonist, a young girl named Ubby who will teach in a one-room schoolhouse, was suddenly there with me, telling me about herself and giving me plot ideas. I couldn't write fast enough.

November is just around the corner. NaNoWri Month--National Novel Writing Month. The goal for those who participate is to write 50,000 words from November 1-30. That's 2,500 words a day, five days a week, four weeks a month. I can do that. That's one chapter a day. I've done it before. I can do it again.

I can't wait.

How to become a more productive writer

I wasn't going to take the late night workshop. Two full days into the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference, my brimming brain and tired body wanted only a comfy bed. I looked at the workshop title, "Top 10 Strategies for Becoming a More Productive Writer." I thought of all the time I wasted on Facebook and checking my email every few minutes.

"It's only and hour," I muttered, So I postponed jammies and a cup of "Sweet Dreams" tea and headed for the elevators. I was glad I went.

Presenter Joseph Bentz, author of seven books--three novels and four nonfiction--and full time professor, took away all my excuses for not doing what I sit at the computer to do: write.

Here are his tips, fresh from my notebook:

1. Make yourself sit at the computer even if nothing is happening. He called this "Winning the Battle of the First 20 Minutes." Setting rules for this time is crucial:

• No email
• No Internet
• No Facebook 
• No phone
• No getting up

2. Let yourself play with ideas before you begin the formal writing.

3.  Start writing at the point in the project where you have the best ideas and feel the most confident.

4. Set reasonable goals and stick to them.  Determine a number of pages per day or hours per day that you will write. Make it a low number at first.

5. Write to discover your ideas.  Don't wait until you already know what you want to say to start writing. In this way, you can write your way through difficult areas.

6. Write youself a note at the end of you writing to indicate what you would have done next if you had continued.

7. Read as much as you can.  It will improve your writing.

8. Write down ideas as soon as they come to you.

9. Ignore the market.

10. Pay attention to the market.  The idea behind this apparent contradiction is that we writers, especially those of us still waiting for our first book contract, can get discouraged by the current market conditions and say, "Why bother?" But the stories within us beg to be told, and we are slave to the story that's wiggling, squirming, screaming to get out. At the same time, we must be aware of what's selling and shape our proposals and projects to fit the market's needs. Respond to the market, but don't let it control creativity. That was my interpretation, anyway.

OK, he gave more than 10:

11. Cultivate an "obsession" with your work-in-progress. Be with it everyday or it will start to fade, die, lose its edge. You'll lose the story world. Like a carbonated beverage that's been left open too long, it'll lose its fizz.

12. Let God do in you what each book is supposed to do.

13. Don't follow false deadlines. What are "false deadlines"? Those other authors set for themselves that don't fit you.

14. Don't waste time on envy of other writers.

Thank you, Professor Joseph Bentz, for your timely and practical tips. I enjoyed your workshop immensely. 

Life happenings

In case you've been wondering why I haven't posted a new blog for a couple of weeks . . .

It appears I've been called out of Midian (see my blog "In Midian").

In the middle of August, the administrator of the local Christian school approached me at church. The high school English teacher had resigned. Would I fill in temporarily until a teacher could be found? The school is near and dear to my heart. I was on the board that established the school in 1997, then taught for five years before I resigned to write full time. Two of my grandchildren now attend. How could I say no?

So now I get up a 5 a.m., have a half-hour workout (I'm trying, as always, to lose weight), then get ready for work. I teach Bible (grades 9 & 10, combined), a college prep class for the three seniors, English 7/8, 9/10, and 11/12, as well as keyboarding to grades 7, 8, and 9.

My after-school hours are for my freelance work, which includes producing five radio programs a week, writing a weekly newspaper column, maintaining two blogs, planning and preparing for a local Christian women's conference (at which I'm speaking), reviewing my Christian Writers Guild students' lessons, and working on my novel.

Hubby has learned to can (see my blog post "Canning Partner"). In fact, he'll be canning tomato sauce while I'm in Indianapolis this weekend for the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference.

I've been focusing on getting ready for the conference, as I have two novels written and ideas for seven more. Editors will abound. I think I'm almost ready. Just have to  send this week's column; get the laundry off the line, out of the dryer, out of the washer into the dryer; take my shower; and pack the last minute stuff. In an hour.

So I'd better get moving. I do plan to get back to my planned blog schedule soon.

Until next time, when I'll report on the ACFW conference, hasta luego!

What's your game plan?

      From my viewpoint as a spectator who knows little about soccer, the players are all over the field, haphazardly chasing a ball, trying to kick it into a net.
      But there’s more to soccer than meets the untrained eye. Pre-designed plays, defensive and offensive maneuvers, skill, and an understanding of the opponent all factor into this grueling sport, as does endurance and training—and a strategic game plan.
      Writers need a game plan, too, else we’re like the clueless soccer player, running randomly around the field, kicking at an elusive object, hoping somehow we’ll connect and make a sale.
      Perhaps the most important part of the writer’s game plan is developing writing goals—daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.

What’s a Goal, Anyway?
    This seems elementary, but unless you understand exactly what a goal is, you’ll be like the clueless soccer player who’s better left on the sidelines.
    A goal is the specific end result for which you work. It is measurable and is something over which you have control.
      My overall goal as a writer is to be published. While that goal is measurable (publication), it’s also vague and not one over which I have control.
      How do you write goals that are specific, measurable, and controllable?
      Take, for example, this article. My goal is to write a well-written article of no more than 650 words on setting writing goals and submit it this week to The Christian Communicator.
     
It’s Specific
    Nothing fuzzy about that. It’s specific in that I’ve stated the topic, the length, the market, and a definite time I’ll submit the manuscript. Think 5 W’s:

• Who? “I”
• What? A 650-word article about setting writing goals
• When? This week
• Where? The Christian Communicator
• How? Well-written
• Why? To give writers an understanding of both the importance of goal-setting and how to do it

It’s Measurable
    The goal has standards that can be measured: Is the article within the suggested word count? Am I staying on topic? Am I following the editor’s guidelines? Am I on target as far as the deadline?
   
It’s Something I Can Control
      Although I’ll take great pains to submit my best work, I have no control over whether or not manuscript is accepted for publication. So I state the goal in terms of what I can control:

• Quality: (“Well-written”) Submit only my best work. Have someone read and critique the manuscript before I submit it. Stay on topic and deliver what I promised, following the publication’s writers’ guidelines, including word count.
• Punctuality: (“This week”) Send the manuscript by the deadline—before, if possible.
• Professionalism: All of the above. Remember the skilled soccer player? He trains to become the best he can be, so he can build up endurance and persevere. Good writers plan their work and work their plan as they formulate daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals, then follow through. They are also flexible, adapting and reformulating those goals to fit changing scenarios. They develop a good offense in terms of a submission plan and meet disappointment and rejection (defense) with persistence. They understand—and seek to understand better—the world of publishing as a whole, and the specific publication to which they want to submit their work. And always, always, they strive to learn technique and hone their skills.

Share Your Goals
      I send my weekly goals to my online writing critique group, as well as a brief recap of what I accomplished the previous week. It helps me not only to be accountable, but also to recognize my tendency to over-schedule.
     
      Like soccer, freelance writing can be grueling, with goals just as elusive as kicking that ball in the net. But having a game plan in place helps you—in training, enduring, and reaching those goals.
     

SAMPLE GOALS:
Examples of daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals

Daily goals:

1. Write first draft of goal-setting article
2. Edit article for client
3. Do bookwork; send invoices
4. Blog 

Weekly goals:

1. Produce radio program CD and mail
2. Write column on Thursday
3. Keep up with editing and mentoring
4. Write two chapters of novel-in-progress
5. Clean office; organize and file
6. Blog twice

Monthly goals:

1. Write 10 chapters of novel-in-progress
2. Submit weekly column on time; work a week ahead
3. Do bookwork on the first of the month
4. Keep up with blog
    

Yearly goals:

1. Complete first draft of novel
2. Submit weekly column on time
3. Keep up with editing and mentoring in a timely manner
4. Do bookwork once a month
5. Stay organized (KEEP WRITING ROOM UNCLUTTERED!)
6. Set up a work schedule and stick to it
7. Research markets for devotionals and submit to them
8. Submit one article/devotional a week to a paying market
9. Put money aside monthly to attend writers’ conferences     

Deborah Dunn: Smart about Life

Her heart is in helping others. So she took her counseling career to a higher level: writing, speaking, and creating a conference ministry just for women whose time and budget won't allow them to attend women's events that would feed and nourish their spirits.

A wife, mother, and grandmother, Deborah Dunn, LMFT is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice near Raleigh, N. C. She is the author of four books, the most recent being Stupid About Men: 10 Rules for Getting Romance Right (Simon and Schuster/Howard Books), and the creator of Southern Christian Women.

"My goal is to unite women of all ages, races, and denominations through regional conferences, retreats, and an online community," she says.

Her conference model ideally teams SCW speakers with local talent and testimonies to support church outreach and ministry.

"I love to speak to women everywhere about the absolutely crucial importance of making wise life decisions, especially about romance," she says.

Southern Christian Women ™ is a traveling team of seasoned authors and speakers from below the Mason/Dixon Line whose purpose is to celebrate the joys and struggles of being a woman of faith regardless of age, cultural background, geographical origin, or religious affiliation.

"The day is designed to inspire, encourage, and enlighten women from all walks of life as they come together to hear wonderful praise and worship, speaking, fellowship, and testimony," she says.

Worried about the toll of the current economic crisis on women and their families, Dunn says that about two years ago she prayed that God would give her a fresh vision for reaching out and helping women in small towns, especially those areas of the south with more challenges than others. 

A veteran speaker herself, Dunn had just released Stupid about Men, her second book, as the recession hit. Like most Christian authors these days, she struggled with getting her message in front of her intended audience. Frustrated that most women’s conferences were too expensive and required too much time for most busy women, she conceived of a way to design events that would eliminate those challenges. The idea of a team of funny and inspirational southern female speakers traveling to churches and calling themselves Southern Christian Women popped “seemingly out of nowhere” and within a few weeks she had booked her first conference.

“I knew then that it was a God thing!” Dunn says.

But as word got out, event coordinators from different parts of the country began emailing her about the feasibility of bringing the conference to their areas. Surprised, Dunn quickly reassessed her original goals. She began to realize that the stories of Southern women appealed to people everywhere.

“Women everywhere have had to face a lot of hardship, but especially those in the South. We seldom get credit for how strong, savvy, smart, and self-supporting we can really be, especially during economic downturn," she says.

"Southern or not, ordinary women are doing extraordinary things under difficult circumstances, often on a daily basis. The truth is that without women, the church would simply fall apart.

"This conference is about celebrating those strengths, while admitting our weaknesses with grace and humor. We are sisters in the Lord; it is our job to support each other, laugh at ourselves, and praise God for it all, regardless of where we were born. After all, being Southern is just a state of mind.”

Visit Deborah's website.

Find out more about Southern Christian Women.

Writing the Breakout Novel

When I first decided to try my hand at writing a novel, I was at the St. Davids Christian Writers Conference. The year was 2005.* Although writing fiction had been a lifelong dream, I'd been afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone and that I didn't have what it takes (mostly the latter). Well, you don't know unless you try, right? So I asked for recommendations for some good how-to-write-a-novel books. I was at a writers conference--the best place to be to ask and receive good, solid writing advice.

Donald Maass's Writing the Breakout Novel was highly recommended, so as soon as I got home, I ordered it online, along with the accompanying workbook. The person who recommended it to me preferred the workbook, but I read the book first--and loved it. It's one of those books you highlight, underline, scribble in, and use up a whole packet of sticky notes to make it easier to get to the pages that have material you want to remember.

Now, you don't have to purchase and read and pore over and study and memorize every how-to-write book there is. You just have to find one that inspires you and teaches you--one that you absorb like a sponge. How to Write the Breakout Novel promises to help you "take your fiction to the next level." It did for me. Considering I started at level zero--all I had was a desire and an idea. Today I have two completed (not-yet-published) novels, and ideas--solid ideas--for two historical trilogies and a contemporary stand alone. I'll be delving into Maass's book and workbook again.

Maass writes in a straightforward style that gets straight to the point. He uses lots of examples to show you what he means (show-don't-tell), and he challenges you to take these concepts and apply them to your work-in-progress.

The book contains 11 chapters, plus an introduction. He deals with story premise, stakes, time and place, characters, plot, contemporary plot techniques, multiple viewpoints, subplots, pace, voice, endings, advanced plot structures, and theme. The final chapter is appropriately titled, "Breaking Out." Everything you need to know about writing a novel in one, 264-page book.

From the back cover:
Maass details the elements that all breakout novels share--regardless of genre--then shows you writing techniques that can make your books stand out and succeed in a crowded marketplace. You'll learn to:

• establish a powerful and sweeping sense of time and place
• weave subplots into the main action for a complex, engrossing story
• create larger-than-life characters that step right off the page
• explore universal themes that will interest a broad audience of readers
• sustain a high degree of narrative tension from start to finish
• develop an inspired premise that sets your novel apart from the competition

OK, you say, this is all written to get you to buy the book. True, but consider this: my first novel went to committee at four publishing houses--before I'd gotten an agent. And you know how hard it is these days just to get an agent. Sure, I got a lot of "nos"--that's par for the writing course. But for a first novel, it has a good track record. And it opened the door for my second novel: An editor from a major Christian publishing house who liked the first novel is working with me on the second.

The workbook is divided into three sections: Character Development, Plot Development, and General Story Techniques. Appendix A helps you to outline your novel, and Appendix B is a follow-up work checklist. use the workbook after you've written your first draft. (Read the book before you write the first draft.)

Investing in books to build your professional library is as vital to your writing as watering, feeding, and cultivating your garden. Writing the Breakout Novel and the accompanying workbook are two you definitely want in your library. 


*Click here to find out what else happened at that conference by reading my friend and fellow Novel Bud Melanie's Rigney's blog on her new website. And while you're there, do explore her new site. It's soooo Melanie!

Writers Write Day

Writers, there is a tug-o-war going on for your attention. It mostly comes in the guise of the Internet. To combat this, someone declared a "Writers Write Day." The goal of this all-day event is to immerse writers in their manuscripts without the distractions of blogs, Facebook, social networking sites, news sources, etc. Let's admit it, they do pull us away, and sometimes hours go by, and we have lost valuable writing time. Officially, Writers Write Day was yesterday, but I need to make "Writers Write Day" every day. How about you?

Here is what to do:
1. Put a "do not disturb" sign on your door.
2. Write for at least three hours in the morning. If you start at 9 a.m., that will bring you up to the noon hour.
3. Take a lunch break.
4. Write for four hours in the afternoon.
5. That evening post on your blog, Facebook, etc. how it went. How much work did you get done?

Here is what you CANNOT do:
1. Do not peruse the Internet. That includes Facebook and other social networking sites.
2. Do not make phone calls unless absolutely necessary, and make them during your break.
3. No text messaging.
4. No television or radio, but by all means listen to inspirational music that helps the creative juices flow.

Let your family and friends know that you will be going into a day of seclusion to work on your manuscript. Hope you have an incredible time writing.

Why not make every Wednesday Writers Write Day?

(Adapted from an email I received.)