When it feels out of reach, stretch.

Personal Dashboard for Writing Too ...

On the consulting business side of the house I recently wrote about the importance of a dashboard to help guide your personal life. Click here to read the specifics.

This dashboard can also help your writing life. Use it for a specific story or writing project you're working on, or to help organize multiple works in progress.

In brief;

• Use the vision section to paint your picture of success. 
• Use things like word count, or hours writing, of number os submissions or downloads for your Key Performance Measures. 
• Track holidays, contests, confrences or other relevant items on the calendar on the Forecast of Significant Events section. 
• Finally, list your improvement goals in the Personal Development Box.

How are you tracking success in your writing life?

A Look Inside My Writing Life

Here's what a work in progress looked like last night.

Building Short Stories with Cubes

I continue to merge and mingle my left and right brain together to be a smarter writer and a more creative business person. My business head is looking at production, how many titles can I produce and publish in x amount of time or stated differently, given x amount of time, what could I produce. Some “artistic” writers may be repulsed by my notion of wanting creative writing to fit in some sort of production schedule. Creativity isn’t supposed to work that way. I would argue that writer’s are at their most creative when faced with a deadline. 

There’s a common metric that a writer can generally produce 1,000 words an hour. I’m not saying they are in perfect order, grammatically correct or even spelled right but they are in a workable form for later revision. I’ve never tested this until last week and for me, that number holds true. I can spew out about 250 words in a fifteen minute span. Knowing that helps with production numbers. 

How long would it take to write a 3,000 word short story? Three hours. A 50,000 word NaNoWriMo type challenge? 50 Hours or a little under two hours a day for a month. So a 90,000 word novel, if I were so inclined, would take a 90 hour investment spread out over some period of time. I’m not talking about quality, I’m just talking about speed and the “I don’t have time” myth. I know if I can find one fifteen minute block somewhere in the 96 that are offered each day, I can get 250 words down.

In February I created the goal of writing 29,000 words beyond what I’m already committed. If you’re following along that’s 29 hours for me, or one hour a day of extra writing. Pretty good, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to use those words and that time on. There’s no shortage of choices. I have several works in progress in various stages that all could use an extra hour of daily attention but most of them, are thankfully already scheduled. So, why not ramp up production? 29,000 words are 10 or so short stories. 

I’m fairly new to the short story form, but that’s where all my bigger stories start. If I want to continue writing, and earning income, then I’ll always need some more stories. In the past, I used to write fiction when I wanted to. When the mood struck or I wanted a diversion to recharge my batteries. When I had deadlines like contest submissions or events like NaNoWriMo, then writing would become an event and I felt I had to outline my story and create some type of structure. 

I’m not a pantser (one who writes by the seat of their pants) unless you count my journals. I’m an outliner, barely, because they don’t have too much detail. See, left and right brains coalescing again. Are you paying attention Congress? I believe in a loose structure so I created a grid that had these general elements;

• Current State
• Wants / Goals
• Fears
• Sacrifices
• Rewards
• Inner Motivation
• Inner Conflict
• Outer Motivation
• Outer Conflict
• Resolution

If I was going to write ten new short stories in a month I would need a plan. I had no story burning to get out. I just needed to meet my commitment to writing something new every day. I pulled out a set of Story Cubes from the family game collection. 

Story Cubes are nine dice with different images on each side which act as story prompts. There are countless ways to play and my family has had great fun using them to tell stories; some terrific, some stinkers. That’s life. I used those Story cubes to randomly populate my short story grid. I closed my eyes, rolled a cube and assigned it to each element, except Resolution. It was a little bit like placing bets on a football pool, but soon the grid was filled with five story ideas. I read each one from Current State through to outer conflict and if a natural resolution to the story didn’t present itself I would pull a random cube and force one. 

Now I have the outline to five short stories and have already written three. Some are very short but by the time I’m done with ten or more a couple may turn into a story worth telling over the course of a novel. I don’t know and I don’t care. I don’t have any expectations beyond getting 29,000 new words out but as I look over the grid I created, some stories do excite me.

It’s been said that for every twenty-four pictures you take one is worth sharing. I don’t know what the ratio is for writers. I suspect it depends on the writer. To one extreme there are those with hubris, who think all then pen is magical and to the other is the disheartened who regularly second guess themselves with every comma and period. Most fall between the two and need to chart their own way. All I know for certain is that the best writers are the ones who write.

Trouble with Women

Having some fun. I've been publishing about one short story per week. That schedule keeps me writing, keeps me practicing, and keeps me adding new titles into the marketplace for people to read. Trouble with Women is my first anthology of five of my short stories. You can find most on my work on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or iTunes.

I’m Participating in NaNoWriMo and What it Means for You

NaNoWriMo, also known as National Novel Writing Month, is a creative writing project which challenges you to write 50,000 words of a new novel in November. 

Purists will note that 50,000 words is a relatively low number for a complete novel. True, but it’s longer than a novella and before you get all hoity-toity, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s, The Great Gatsby has 50,061 words and that’s good enough for me.

For others who recall with dread the agony it took to write a two page essay in school, 50,000 may seem like a lot of words. It is. Nearly 1,700 words per day. That’s one of the main reasons I’m embarking on it again this year. It creates a discipline for writing every day.

People who have read my blogs, newsletters and books over the last seven years tend to think of me as a motivational writer, since much of my work deals with leadership, goals and upbeat ways of tackling challenges. I’ve never considered myself a fiction writer. For some reason I fail to count the half dozen spec screenplays, the flash fiction, short stories, poetry and prose I’ve written over the years as part of my bona fides. For one month a year, NaNoWriMo changes that. 

Anecdotally I’d guess 75% of the people I know either consider themselves writers or regularly talk about wanting to write. Of that number maybe half write with any regularity. Call me old fashion, but I think a prerequisite for writers is that they write. By commiserating and celebrating with other active writers who struggle over managing goals, deadlines, and their inner critic I’m able to summon my strengths from both worlds.

The goal is not to have a completed novel in a month. The goal is to place 50,000 words on a page in 30 days. It’s not about judging if there’s a good enough story worth being told. Having something to edit and refine, ideas to massage and themes to evolve comes later, after it’s done. The point now, is to begin.

In November my social media streams may act as a mood ring. I’ll share the status of the goal and any troubles, tribulations and insights. If you’re involved with NaNoWriMo, consider me a helpful friend who shares in your endeavor. If you’re not a writer, or couldn’t give a crap, that’s fine, simply tune out. I do hope you’ll stick around and see what happens in this word driven laboratory, because as I pursue my goal, you may pick up some hints to accomplishing your own.

Some days I write. Some days I edit.

Some days I write. Some days I edit.

Creepy Writers

I recall many years ago, when I was in my late teens, watching some Friday night movie on television with my mother. The name and plot escape me, but I remember it involved a young woman finding the man of her dreams, only to learn he was a manipulative writer who used her as a character in his book.

I don’t remember my feelings at the time, though judging by the horror and disgust on the actresses' face I knew I was supposed to empathize with her. At that time I was barely beginning my discovery as a writer, let alone an adult, and I recall being a little torn. Obviously it was a horrific act to use another person solely for the purposes of researching a character, but don’t writer’s do a tame and more socially acceptable version of that all the time?

Every writer has a specialty they are particularly proud of. For some it is plot or character development, for others it’s believable dialogue or concise narration. To perfect this they observe and learn, constantly. Most writer’s are admitted people watchers, turning boring wait time in line into research for potential protagonists or antagonists. There have been more than a few parties I’ve endured in the name of research. I listened to the boasts of guests, watched the body language of couples, and surmised what interaction or conflict was going to occur next.

To the non-writer it’s creepy to learn that someone is probably watching your every move from across the coffee shop and making note of how you twirl your hair or tap your foot. They are brainstorming how to describe the ubiquitous white earbuds dangling from your head like leftover steamers from a birthday celebration in a fresh way.

That’s why some people don’t trust writers, because they are always plotting. Before Facebook and Twitter it used to be more threatening, but now people put themselves out there for examination much more freely.

Sometimes, when deep into a project the writer will immerse themselves into the world they’ve created. This can be great for the reader down the line, but maddening for roommates or spouses, particularly if the writer is working on a murder mystery or suspense thriller and wanting to capture the look of surprise or pain.

It’s equally dangerous when they are writing of love, or lust, or both. I recently wrote about the dangers of a writer falling in love with their character, this can be particularly problematic if the character is based on someone real. That someone could be a paramour from your past, or an innocent bystander trying to enjoy a latte. That’s the chance you take. The danger for the writer is that the character they have created is a perfected version of someone else and will never love them back.

As a writer myself, I don’t advocate making friends with someone with the intent of writing about them. I also know it’s nearly impossible to not put a little of everyone you meet into a little of everything you write. I’m convinced this is what makes some writers irresistible to the social set who are hoping to be written about. I’ve learned that truth is not only stranger than fiction, it’s frequently not as exciting.

If you have writer friends you should assume some trait of yours, however obscure, has the potential to be repurposed in a far different manner. My advice would be to relax, don’t go looking for it, or worse, asking for it, and if you see it in print, feel proud that you were able to contribute something of yourself to an author.

For fellow writers, you’re expected to make magic out of the mundane, to make illiterate dialogue read like poetry and to give voice to things that speak too softly. I believe it’s okay to use what you come across in life in your writing, but it's never okay to use people for the sole purpose of your writing.

Falling In Love With Your Character

Falling in love with one of your characters is treacherous but not unfamiliar territory for a writer. Forget the ego complex of how great you are to have created the perfect character, because if your character is perfect you failed. Forget the fact that falling in love is probably inevitable because of the concentrated time you spent with her/him/it, likely during the cherished late evening hours. You know them better than anyone else. You know what they will say, think or feel, because as the writer you shared intimate thoughts with them first.

You powered through a difficult chapter where your character was not cooperating with you. Perhaps the words didn’t fall effortlessly from your pen and off their lips. Perhaps, it was your first fight together. You compromised, or someone won, but it doesn’t matter now because all is forgiven and they can do no wrong. They speak just the way you want. They dress appropriate to every occasion. They have been transformed into your muse and suddenly you write for them, willingly and madly.

This is natural but difficult. Because, despite all your backstory and character interviews and sketches or magazine collages, this persona you conceived, the love of this part of your life, is not real.

You can argue that they are based on real people, or are the manifestation of imagined experiences. You may go philosophical and ask, “Well, is any of this real?” To which I will probably try to change the subject. 

Your creation is real to you, and if you do a good job, will be real to the majority of people who read your work. And that is where the sweet agony lives. You can not have dinner with your character. You can not wipe away their tears, or dance with them and hear them sing a sultry song softly in your ear. 

What you created exists in your mind and on the page and depending on how well you did that, they will also rest in your reader’s mind. Once in there, your reader may fall smitten with them too. It’s what you want, but it breaks your heart, because you do not want to share your love, but you must.

Your manuscript pages spread out before you like a scrapbook. You reminisce over older drafts and favorite passages. You can probably find the line they spoke that wooed you, standing out like a first kiss. You may weep when you read their final scene. 

No matter how effective you are, no one else will share in that relationship because it’s deeply personal. The relationship between the writer and the character they love is mesmerizing. There is no greater example of unrequited love.

Organized to Write

I haven't been writing for a couple of days because I've been organizing. instead I know, classic avoidance stuff. I've got a lot of stuff I want to put out into the world and it's been difficult prioritizing. I've been sorting files and projects on my MacBook trying to find some order because for some reason once I dig down into a few layers of files I get a mini anxiety attack. I can't explain it. I don't want to explore it. I just want the feeling to go away.

So I've been minimizing all the files, or at least grouping them into sections that will make it easier to find what I'm looking for. I'm naming things, not in some coy way that I'll forget three months from now, but by just calling it what it is. Simple enough, except three months ago I didn't think that way. I created a document, called it something I thought would be useful and saved it to my desktop. There's only so many times you can do this before the desktop becomes full, so I stuffed them into a file called "writing" because that's what they are. I kept doing this week after week and eventually, as I tucked things away it began to feel similar to stuffing things under the bed. This is always a bad sign.

So I've been unpacking all the damage I've done. Sorting with a touch more logic with files named WIP, Creative Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Tips and Ideas among others. Not perfect. Not bad. The beauty of a Mac is the Spotlight search field which has gotten me out of jams far more that I'd like to admit. Why be orderly? Because I feel better. There's a place for everything and everything has a place mentality.

It's the difference between a cluttered desk and a clean desk. There's not a right way or a wrong way. There's just written or unwritten.

I like the desk and desktop to be clean when I approach it, just like a blank sheet of paper. Then, as the creativity or brute force sets in, I give myself permission to muddy it up. That's the "in progress" part for me. When I'm done with the project...or company is coming over, I can put most things away and look presentable.

It must work, because now I'm organized and I just wrote. Tada!

When a Character is Complimentary to the Writer

“The women are not undressing you. It’s not seduction they feel. It’s the afterglow. They are imagining themselves laying in bed with you, their arms draped over you, deeply satisfied after a session of lovemaking. You are their cigarette and they want to take one more long drag of you before falling into a blissful sleep. That’s what your words do to them.”

Those are the words Donna McKnight shares with Ken Shea, a successful poet in my story, "Three Blinks and a Sigh". I read it again recently and I gotta say, this Ken Shea fellow is a lucky guy. Doesn't every writer want to know their words have some type of effect on the audience? And doesn't every male writer, either secretly or overtly hope to elicit a similar reaction from female readers? Or is that just me?

Every author wants to move their reader, and most began their passion for writing with some fantasy about how the power of their finely crafted words would rock some one's world - if not the entire world. 

Interesting to contemplate:

What got you into writing in the first place? (probably a guy or a girl)

What kept you writing? (probably accolades or the promise of some)

What keeps you from writing? (yourself, but you can blame anyone you want. No one cares if you write or not)

And what drives you to write again? (probably that last statement because it may have pissed you off and you'll be motivated to write just to prove me wrong but by doing so you will have proved me right)

I think the writer who doesn't care what others think of their writing is either, only writing in their journal, or have reached a level of financial or emotional success that gives them the liberty to let it hang out there.

Now, of course I care what people think of my writing, I haven't reached that level of emotional success yet. Caring about the readers opinion is wise, but that doesn't mean you have to change, you may just need to find different readers.

This blog is a different outpost for me. It's tone is different from what my friends and family call my "business writing". Here I give myself the freedom to ramble my thoughts across the screen when I should be in bed catching up on sleep.

As a business writer it's nice to get feedback on your perspective of a particular belief or product. As a creative writer, it's also nice, and scary, because in poetry and prose, the writer is likely to leave a little more of themselves on the page. 

It's akin to when the fourth wall comes down in television. The writer sometimes encourages a character to gently compliment the writer because of their deep rooted and irrational fear that it may be the only one who does.