Tag Archives: Writing

Was just hit with a major pang of guilt…

I had just opened the book Writing for Story, by Jon Franklin, and began reading one of his highly-acclaimed stories, entitled Mrs. Kelly’s Monster, that detailed surgical procedures to relieve a patient of almost four decades of suffering from a malformation of blood vessels in the back of her brain.

And I thought…36 years of agony, all the while partnering with her husband to raise a family.

And I thought…and here I am whimpering and simpering about Facebook’s cluelessness about member requests that vaporize.

And I thought…get off your duff and keep writing!

And I thought…you folks should too!

Dig in! Ramp it up! Kick some literary booty! Go!

5 Twitter Gems

 

  1. Joanna Penn @thecreativepenn

Developing a powerful #writing habit buff.ly/2ra5I7g w/ @Honoree

  1. Jon Winokur  @AdviceToWriters

“Be ruthless about protecting writing days…”

twitter-rubix cube

http://www.advicetowriters.com/home/2014/8/6/be-ruthless-about-protecting-writing-days.html

  1. MakeUseOf  @MakeUseOf

7 Free Windows Apps for Exploring Your Creative Side muo.co/2taPMAL

  1. Jon Winokur  @AdviceToWriters

Serious writers write, inspired or not. Over time they discover that routine is a better friend than inspiration.
–RALPH KEYES

  1. Mike Brown @Brainzooming

Has your stream of creative ideas dried up? Here’s the Answer! hubs.ly/H07C6xZ0

22 Storytelling Tips by Emma Coats

This list, which I believe originated from a set of Tweets by Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats in 2012, is a go-to resource/set of reminders for me as I work on my fiction.

Multiple iterations are spread across the Internet.

Here is one:  22 Storytelling Tips by Emma Coats

More takeaways from Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work

Opening comment: I hope readers gain even half the value as I do from writing this down freehand and rehashing/posting it.

But feel free to throw money, coffee, good pastries, or an ‘I adopted a shelter pet!’ certificate my way. [I’m a pretty simple guy, really.]

So, more takeaways from one of my daily go-to books for changing/reinforcing my thinking:  Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work:  **

Become a Documentarian of What You Do.  

“Whether you share it or not, documenting and recording
your process as you go alonreading-at-desk-1200g has its own rewards. You’ll start to see the work you’re doing more clearly and feel like you’re making progress.” [It’s what I’m trying to do at jrmays.com.]

 

Be an Amateur  

“Because they have little to lose, amateurs are willing to try anything and share the results. They take chances, experiment, and follow their whims.” [I have a poster on my wall: If not now, when?  Works for me.]

“The world is changing at such a rapid rate, it’s turning us all into amateurs. Even for professionals, the best way to flourish is to retain an amateur’s spirit and embrace uncertainty and the unknown.”

Read Obituaries.

“Reading about people who are dead now and did things with their lives makes me want to get up and do something decent with mine.” [In his case, be a good dad and husband, create, curate, and share art and experience.]

He continues, “Take inspiration from the people who muddled through life before you–they all started out as amateurs, and they got where they were going by making do with what they were given and having the guts to put themselves out there. Follow their example.”

** Not aiming for anything –no commission, no pats on the back, no genuflections–other than to share good work by others.

Curation Station, May 18th

A few favorites I’ve come across recently:

curation image magnifying glass

  1. http://www.mykitaab.in/ I’ve enjoyed these instructive podcasts on writing/publishing. Episodes have included a number of Indian authors, but also Joanna Penn and Paul Brodie, who churns out a number of well-targeted ebooks.
  2. Though the title is a little deceptive, Consistency Will Make You Feel Like a Loser should give you a quick jolt of inspiration to hang in there.
  3. Daily sub-ten minute podcasts from https://sidehustleschool.com/ are not only interesting, but they are thought-provoking and inevitably spur a fair amount of ‘Gee, I wonder if…’ kind of thinking. This is one of Chris Guillebeau’s latest ventures. He’s currently in Amsterdam, but will soon be back at work on the 2017 World Domination Summit in Portland, OR this July.

 

I should be writing. Instead…

I’m cooking. Chile verde is on the menu. Didn’t have to be, but hey, we procrastinators have to/tend to follow the latest shiny object, which, in this case, was the stainless steel pot you see below.

A few realizations, however.

First-draft writing and cooking–

1. They often result in a mess, albeit unavoidable. [A minor victory: I left the dishes for later while I posted this.]

2. I often balk at taking that first taste. What if it’s hazmat material? And that look back at the first 500 words? I’d rather not see how awkward, nonsensical, and/or high-minded it is.

3. Giving the work time to develop–whether on the stovetop or in our mind–almost always improves the final product.

4. The experimentation doesn’t end once you turn on the heat. I’ll be dividing the sauce between a meat version and a vegetarian version. And my stories? New roadblocks and characters will inevitably show up.

chile verdeAnd in an ironic twist, by writing about another departure from my appointment at the keyboard, I’m actually following through on that same appointment. [Welcome to my world…]

Please refrain from comments reminding me about the dirty dishes. Let me bask for awhile. Thanks for reading.

 

Adding to my distractedness…two signups

 

but these are worth the risk…

Writing a Genre Series: The Perils and the Pitfalls! Heard about this through reedsylive .

Teachable Summit  [Lots of expertise and food for thought here. The challenge is to rein yourself in and not try to cover and do everything that interests you. Then again, look who’s talking…

 

15-Minute Intervals of Work

Today I’m using the 15-minute work intervals approach.

I’m in the middle of my 15-minute blog posting interval. Kind of obvious, I guess…

  • Posted author comments to jrmays.com .
  • And now this post…I have a minute left. [Confession–I ran overtime on this. Still, it does get me focused to generate and finish.]

juggle-1027147_1280

Other 15-minute work intervals completed today:

  1. Job search cover letter revisions
  2. Review of editor’s comments on a piece of fiction. She and I connected through Reedsy. She’s right on the mark. Money well-spent. I have a lot of work to do on this project.
  3. Check in with authormarketingclub.com [Video on exploding your word count with dictation software]
  4. Generated list of activities for an ebook I’m writing
  5. First 200 words at-a-sitting [turned out to be 280, handwritten]
  6. Read James Altucher’s What to Do When You’re Rejected . Good food for thought.
  7. 200 words at-a-sitting [session 2] on my Chromebook. Turned out to be 550 words. Writing via keyboard never ‘feels’ as good to me as writing in a notebook, but it’s darned sure more productive.

***

My 15-minute email-check interval: Good to impose a limit here.

Listening to Steep Canyon Rangers [a group often often accompanied by banjoist/funny guy Steve Martin]

Bought The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau. Currently $1.99.

A blogger ‘liked’ my post yesterday so I followed a link to that person’s work.

http://bit.ly/2raHB6y  [Gardening4Gains]

Here was my comment to the post:

One resonating line: Do you let life control you or do you take the reins?  Your point about exercise as privilege vs. chore really hit home. I stared at the 10 cubic yards of soil to shovel, wheelbarrow into backyard from front driveway and thought, “yick.” Then I remembered two friends who have had/will have surgery for back and neck stuff and thought, “Geez, T, what a weaselly wimp you are for groaning at the thought of good honest mindless grunt work.”

***

Still with the email session…

–Memorable line from Seth Godin’s daily email:

What if we take the responsibility instead of waiting for it to be offered?

–Unsubscribed from Hilton Honors Club. [Can’t say as I remember signing up for that one. I sure as heck don’t quality as a titanium club member or whatever their special designation is.

Am up to 65 unsubscribes. It feels like there might be 10 more around the corner…

Thanks for reading!

—

Five takeaways from ‘What To Do When It’s Your Turn’ by Seth Godin

This book was overdue and I figured if I created a post from its collective wisdom, it would force me to read it before I returned it.

Tons more wisdom and knowledge in this book, and with Tools of Titans [my next post].

Page 84 “Write until you are not afraid to write….How about this: Write until you are able to write words you are proud enough to share.”

Page 84 “…trying to will away our anxiety or to wait until we’re in the mood to do our best is an invitation to frustration.”

Page 63 “In just a few generations, we’ve gone from ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself’ to ‘The fear we feel is the fear of freedom.’”

Page 43 “What what about getting in the mood? What about the motivation you’ll need to engage in this life? Our need for motivation is due to our need for reassurance. We are paralyzed by our fear that it might not work, and we let the fear demotivate us, giving us the perfect excuse to not create.”

Page 38 “The rule is simple: the person who fails the most will win. If I fail more than you do, I will win. Because in order to keep failing, you’ve got to be good enough to keep playing. So, if you fail cataclysmically and never play again, you only fail once. But if you are always there shipping, putting your work into the world, creating and starting things, you will learn endless things.”

My take: Yep…I’ve currently failed, period. Why? Because I’m not completing the multitude of products I want to put in my store. [That isn’t built yet either…shocker, right?]