August is Awesome Because of Charlie Holmberg

I'm such a fan of awesome people, and Charlie Holmberg definitely qualifies as awesome.  I'm an avid fan of her "Link Blitz" posts every Friday.  (She always manages to find something fascinating for us.)

She spotlights "Someday Stars" every other Thursday, introducing her readers to those that she believes will be a bona fide star--someday.

I've always loved Charlie's upbeat blogging personality, her positive outlook toward life (wherever it may take her) and her genuine love of family.

Congratulate her on all those works she's finished and give her a great big welcome!

 

Step 1: Finish Your Manuscript

Before I dive into this, let me make it clear that I don’t have any writing credentials outside a few small-town story contests. Because of that, I don’t expect anyone to take my writing “advice” with any merit. However, one thing I can do is finish a book, and the first step to being published is, of course, having a complete manuscript.

I’ve wanted to be a writer since junior high, started focusing on it in high school, and began taking it seriously in my first year of college. I started my first book when I was 13, but I didn’t finish a [different] book until 19. If my memory is correct, the first book I finished was the eighth I had started (not including my dabbling in fanfiction, which we won’t get into!).

So what changed?

The thing that really got me focused was utilizing a daily word count. I fluctuated between a minimum of 500 and 1,000 words a day, every day. Sometimes it was really hard to get those words in when I wasn’t excited about the scene or didn’t know what would happen next, but I had to do those words, otherwise they would accumulate, because I refused to forgive a day’s word count unless absolutely necessary.

Charlie Holmberg's awesome blog

The next step was turning off my internal editor. We all have one: the mini version of us that, in the voice of our 11th grade English teacher, says, “That sounds weird,” or “You’ve already used that word!” The sooner you murder this editor and bury him six feet under (later to be resurrected as a blood-thirsty and immortal revisionist), the more words you will write. Stop thinking about it. Say it can’t be done? So did I. But if you try hard enough—if you remind yourself that revisions will come later, and they will be glorious—it can be done. I have the curse fortune of being an editor in my consciousness as well, and if I can shut my internal editor off, so can you. As is, I hand out drafts to my alpha readers without ever giving the manuscript a second glance. Once it’s written, it’s out of mind. (Outlines help.)

Lastly, you need to make time to write. Not find time to write, make it. The reason we always arrive at our son’s soccer practice on time or catch the latest episode of America’s Got Talent, despite our busy schedules, is because we make those things priorities. There comes a point where you have to ask yourself, How much do I want this? The more you want to write, the more time you will find to write. The more excited you are about you manuscript, the more time you will find the write. The more you ache for your story to be on a shelf at Barnes & Noble, the more time you will find to write.

I’ll use my sister and I as an example. Both of us love writing; both of us are writers. My sister is currently finishing her revisions of her first completed novel, which she started three years ago. I’m currently drafting my seventh.

So many? :-)

My sister, 2 ½ years my senior, has two kids with a third planned, and a brand new poodle. She is incredibly accomplished. She’s an Irish step dancer. She plays the cello, the piano, the tin whistle, the hammered dulcimer, and more. She’s fluent in Japanese. She runs the Girls’ Achievement Days for her church, which is virtually boy scouts for young ladies. She cooks all her family meals, sews all her daughters’ Halloween costumes, and maintains a rather seismic garden. She also has plans to learn how to shoot a gun.

Now look at me. I have a full-time job, and I write. Outside of that, my hobbies are limited to my learning to play the ukulele and the occasional brushing up on my neglected piano skills. I do enjoy cooking dinners when my husband isn’t scheduled for work. I used to bake a lot, but now only do on occasion. I used to play the flute and the French horn. I used to write music. I used to win awards for my compositions and played live shows. These are hobbies I pushed aside for the sake of writing, and while I am not nearly as well-rounded as my sister, outside of my husband and family, getting published is the most important thing on my map right now, and the highest and hardest goal I have set for myself.

So when it comes to time, if you want to write, write. If writing is a priority to you, make it a priority. No need to be a Nazi about it—life happens. Problems arise. Kids need mothering. The day job needs doing. I can’t recall which author said this, but one of the greatest pieces of advice I’ve ever heard in regards to finding time to write went something like, “Nothing needs your attention at four o’clock in the morning.”

Butt in chair + hands on keyboard = productivity.

Productivity = finish books.

Finished books = queries to agents and editors.

Queries, though long and tiresome, = published works.

Much luck to everyone on this writing journey, and thank you to Jeff for letting me leak brain all over his blog. Let’s get those manuscripts finished and show the publishing industry just what we’re made of!

Charlie Holmberg is awesome!

About Charlie Holmberg:


I’m a technical writer and editor from Salt Lake City, Utah, currently living in Moscow, Idaho. I play the ukulele, pretend to speak Japanese, and really want a dog.

Links:
Blog: myselfaswritten.blogspot.com
Twitter: @cnholmberg

To Blazes With the Formula

So far this year I've critiqued four complete novels, dozens of chapters and a boatload of short stories.  I've also had my own novel critiqued by others in addition to it receiving a thorough inspection by a professional developmental (content) editor.  I think I've learned something through all this.

Forget the formula!  At least during the first draft.

(Yeah, that advice is worth exactly what you paid for it, but I'm almost sold on it.  Besides, that advice isn't aimed at seasoned, professional authors steadily pumping out a book or three a year.)

Is a formula needed to tell a good story?  I don't think so.  But a formula is needed to tell a story well.

So why forget it?  Because the purpose of the first draft is not to write a best seller.  The purpose of the first draft (for me at least) is to tell the story that I might one day be able to sell.

I wrote The Bonding with little thought to a three act structure beyond knowing I needed a beginning, a middle, and an ending.  But face it, little thought was required.  All stories have a beginning, middle and end.  My first draft would have suffered immensely had I focused on formula over story.  My first draft was never destined for Amazon's KDP, nor were its first three chapters queued up in my email's outbox.  

Once you've got your multiple book contract or you're writing to meet deadlines imposed upon you by your publisher, you've probably got the knack of storytelling down fairly well.  That means you probably already write to formula without the formula sitting in the forefront of your mind--where your muse should be sitting.

If, while penning or typing that initial draft, you're concentrating on the three steps of this or the seven points of that, you're not concentrating on what matters.  You can't just stop the creative juices and yell, "Oh crap! I forgot my faux resolution!"  Most of us who entertain a muse know a muse doesn't like to be stopped on a technicality.  Technicalities are for later, for rewrites and revisions--not first drafts.

I'm not advocating that you banish the time-honored building blocks of crafting a story, I'm saying craft the story.  I've never met an author who writes a perfect first draft.  Get the story out.  Let it flow.  Let it grow.  Let it be all it can be.  Once done, then examine its structure.  Mold it.  Massage it.  Perform surgery on it, whether it be a nip and tuck or an amputation or a transplant.

Give some thought to structure and formula while you plot and outline.  Weigh the draft once it's finished and see if it balances the equation.  Measure it against the markers of accepted storytelling practices once the muse has quieted and smiles in satisfaction.  Only then can it be fully and properly evaluated.

There is wisdom in choosing the right tool for the right job, but there is also wisdom in choosing the right time to do the job.

I Can't Believe I Birthed the Whole Thing

I expected to experience many things once I had truly completed my first draft.  But for some unknown reason I never really considered what is probably the most logical experience of them all... Exhaustion!

It's perfectly, totally logical to me now.  duh! Perhaps there were other factors at play.  It was a typing extravaganza that didn't finish until 4am.  I babysat two of my grandsons (aka Tasmanian Devil and Speedy Gonzales) the evening before and the day following.  And I awoke Sunday morning and realized that I hadn't eaten (yet again) all day Saturday.  I must remember to eat!

Of course, I experienced many other things as well: the thrill of completion, the disbelief that all those months of pounding keys (most notably "Delete" and "Backspace") had paid off, and an immense sense of accomplishment.  I fully expected to be walking on cloud nine for no less than a week!  And I am feeling like a zombie who can't even dance Michael Jackson's Thriller.

 

I am both pumped and pooped, psyched and spent, elated and exhausted.  Is this normal?  Was this to be expected?  Why did no one warn me of this?

And what frightens me most is that I have a good feeling of what's coming next: the roller coaster of doubt and insecurity.  The nagging notion that this would have been a really great story if someone who knew what they were doing had told it instead.  The fear that the writing is good but the story's a total dud.  Horror at realizing that what agents and publishers request are the three worst chapters I have.  And of seeing the word "AMATEUR" rubber stamped in red ink across the face of the front page.

I keep thinking, Is this a writer's version of postpartum blues?  Well, I'm a guy; my wife did all the hard work in that regard, but I do feel like I just gave birth to my firstborn.  (And a whopper at that!)

Maybe all that is normal too.  I know I can write, but did I write this draft well?  I know I can tell a story, but did I tell this story well?  Am I writing this post while exhausted?  You betcha.  It was necessary.  I wanted to capture the full gambit of emotions.  And it's a little therapeutic as well, I think.  The best cure for a self-doubting writer is to write, right?  So...

Hello.  My name is Jeff.  And I'm an amateur writer.

It's okay.  I'm comfortable with that for now.  All professionals began as amateurs.  Could I have written the story better?  Sure.  As much as I strive for perfection I fully realize that perfection is an unattainable goal.  Is the book too long?  Maybe not for an established author, but it is for an unknown who is seeking publication. Will I learn as a result of having written this?  Undoubtedly.  Have I already learned by writing this?  Oh yes, loads of stuff. 

So, I guess that makes me a successful amateur.  An exhausted amateur, but a successful one.  I'll strap in for the roller coaster ride, but I'm happy to finally be able to climb aboard.  I'm happy to have completed the draft.  I'm eager to begin the revisions and edits.  And I'm happily plotting my next book.


This amateur has a newly found respect for those who have accomplished the feat of completing a novel.  And a newly found confidence that you--yes you--can do it too!