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Unlocking Your Potential

Published on by Kristi Holl

Winston Churchill once said, “Continuous effort–not strength or intelligence–is the key to unlocking our potential.”

I believe he’s right. Over the years, the writers I’ve seen succeed weren’t the most talented. They were the ones who refused to give up.

Plugging Away

I pondered that principle last month during NaNoWriMo when I was sick or gone or being interrupted. I also watched the 38 people in my NaNo Challenge Group plugging away through much tougher challenges than I had.

Samuel Johnson said, “Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.” In a like vein, Helen Keller (one of the most determined people you’ll ever read about) said, “We can do anything we want to as long as we stick to it long enough.”

That’s good news to me! Is it to you?

It’s Your Choice

We may not be the most talented writers. We may not be the most clever or well read. We may not have an MFA in writing or be able to afford expensive writing conferences. BUT we can each choose to persevere, to stick to it till we finish.

Know where you want to go, and map out a clear strategy on how you plan to get there. Team up with writing friends and encourage each other. There are many ways to study and grow, ranging from free online courses and books to expensive MFA programs at prestigious colleges.

But in any case, the only person with an advantage is the one who refuses to quit. Is that YOU?

Holiday Challenge: Writing Through December

Published on by Kristi Holl

What do many writers wish for in December?

Time to write. Support for their writing. Someone to cheer them on so they don’t give up during the wonderful holiday hub-bub.

I have two solutions for you this December. One is another challenge group. [See sign-up instructions at the bottom.] The other is a pair of fantastic articles on the subject.

Writers’ Holiday Survival

I want to point you to a couple of posts with suggestions for holiday survival in case you need and/or want to keep up your writing practice during December:

A Writer’s Holiday Survival Guide: Part One by Bess Weatherby  (Part 1)

And it’s seven in the morning on January 1st. You got a haircut. You’ve just been for a run. You still have an hour before work. You feel incredible. You sit down at your desk to write, because this is the year, and it starts now. And you realize you haven’t written in six weeks and barely remember how. We all know the feeling, the feeling of not having written in a while. The feeling of not knowing where to start. 

There are some great suggestions in this article for scaling back your writing, yet continuing a daily habit through the holidays. (NOTE: The challenge at the end of this post is designed to help you avoid this slump with our buddy system.)

A Writer’s Holiday Survival Guide: Part Two

I’d advise looking at the entire month of December this week. By now, you’ll already know your travel plans, most party dates and family events. You also know your goals. So you can see the blank spots in your calendar, and make a game plan. Just remember–go for achievable, not ambitious goals–you’re much more likely to stick to your schedule if it’s a feasible one!

December’s Holiday Writer Challenge

As readers of this blog, you know that we’ve had writing challenges in April, October and November. It’s no coincidence to me that those are the three months this year in which I accomplished the most writing. I even went over the 50,000-word goal at NaNoWriMo this morning.

And because I want to keep writing in December–and a couple of deadlines in 2014 demand it–I am going to run another challenge for the holidays. It will be scaled back, and it will be individual. In other words, YOU choose the goal you want to set for December. For myself, it will be two goals: (1) writing daily, even if it’s only for ten minutes, and (2) a weekly word count goal (undecided at the moment).

If you are interested in signing up for the challenge, email me at kristi.holl@gmail.com with “Holiday Challenge” as your subject line. In the body of the email, tell me the goal(s) you hope to attain by being part of the challenge. NOTE: I’d recommend reading the articles above before deciding on your goal for December. NOTE #2: The cut-off date for being added to the list is December 5.

A Life Changing Journal: Defeat Your Writing Fears

Published on by Kristi Holl

“The key point to note is not the therapeutic effects of writing in a journal but rather the fact that regular journal keeping will influence the way you think or feel about a specific topic.”
That startling statement is from Angela Booth’s article called “Change Your Life with Your Journal.”
Now, I’ve journaled off and on for years. I journaled through many down periods in my life, and it was very therapeutic. (Any Julia Cameron “Morning Pages” fans out there?) But Angela’s statement above caught my eye–and it hooked me in.

What a Mental Shift!

What big change did Angela accomplish in her writing career by using journaling? It’s a change I would give almost anything to also achieve! This is the leap of growth that journaling allowed her to make:
“I could see that unless I changed my reluctance to market my writing, I would be stuck at a level of income I knew I could surpass… Journaling helped me change my mind about marketing my writing. I went from someone who became physically ill at the thought of sending out query letters and making cold calls to market my copywriting, to someone who LOVES marketing.”
What a change!

Let Me See…

I tried her idea this morning. In my journal I wrote about a writing task I had put off for weeks–and it had grown in my mind to mammoth proportions. I wrote about why I didn’t want to do it, what I feared would happen if I failed, all that angst stuff.
And then later I sat down to do that task, wondering if the journaling had helped. I got the job done–it took 25 minutes according to my kitchen timer–and minus the angst. I was amazed.

Fears Be Gone!

Give this idea a try with something in your writing life that has you stumped or scared or blocked. It can be anything: writing a query letter, taking a story to your critique group, talking to someone at a conference…

Tell us your experience with journaling toward an attitude change. [And I apologize for the weird spacing and fonts today. I simply canNOT get it fixed!!!]

Thinking: First Backward and Then Forward

Published on by Kristi Holl

Soon my writing friend and I will Skype for a few hours about our 2013 goals.

We’ll discuss what we’ve accomplished, what we’ve given up on, and what is still challenging (and defeating) us.

Current State of Affairs

In past years at these goal check-ups, I’ve been both pleasantly surprised and chagrined at my progress. This year I’m happy finally with the amount of writing I’m getting accomplished (thanks to running four challenge accountability groups this year) and how I’m taking stronger steps in the marketing arena.

Another “plus” is how my writing life is flowing. For years my friend and I brainstormed more effective ways to draw boundaries at work, at home, with friends, and (most importantly) with ourselves. This whole boundary thing seems to be an ongoing challenge with us, but we’ve grown this year! We’re better at setting boundaries around our time and not backing down. (Several years of work on this issue resulted in my 2013 e-book Boundaries for Writers.)

Don’t wait until New Year’s Day to think about your progress in 2013. Begin to review it now. Think about it. Celebrate your successes. Be honest about how much work you’ve put into your writing career this year. If you got derailed, take time to think deeply and figure out why.

Thinking Ahead

Then begin to visualize and dream. Where would you like to be a year from now? What changes will you need to make?

For me, I intend to read what’s currently being published in my field a lot more. I’ve read a lot of middle grade books, but I need to do more. My granddaughter and I have hit several excellent book sales recently, and I’m stocked up! I’m also wondering if this is the year I try to find an agent.

Everywhere I turned this year, I got the same message (from writing friends, books, and conference speakers): If you want a rich writing life, cut out time wasters and replace them with reading—and reading a lot. Otherwise our creative wells run dry. Also socialize with a purpose more often (SCBWI conferences, critique groups, book discussion groups, book store readings, lunch with writers.)

I also want to market a bit better, but mostly I’d like to consistently do the marketing things I’ve started. If I could ask Santa for one thing this year, it would be consistency.

So think now about your goals for 2014. Journal about them. Think about how you’re going to hit them. Give yourself these six weeks before the New Year starts to ponder these questions–and then decide on a direction.

Memorize This

If you want a writing life that you’ve never had, you’ll have to do things that you’ve never done—and do them consistently. (Copy the preceding sentence and tape it to your computer.)

Weekend Gems

Published on by Kristi Holl

For your weekend reading pleasure, here are four articles I think you’ll find inspiring and practical. (We need both!)

Bookmark them all, or save them to Evernote, and each time you need a break from your writing, read one of these articles. 

You’ll be glad you did!

  • Here’s one of the best quick reference guides for plotting your conflict that I’ve seen in a long time: 9 Ways To Undermine Your Characters’ Best Laid Plans. It’s a list worth printing off and keeping next to your keyboard.
  • Renowned editor Patti Lee Gauch’s thoughts from a Highlights workshop: Have Your Own Standard of Excellence
  • 5 Things Super Successful People Do Before 8 AM describes what successful people (not just writers) do each morning to make sure they use their day in a powerful way. Simple, but profound–and we could all take a lesson here!
  • Books change lives. We say it all the time. Here’s an inspirational article about a new YA author and this very thing: Sometimes The ‘Tough Teen’ Is Quietly Writing Stories

 

Getting the Writing Done: Crunch Times

Published on by Kristi Holl

I have several deadlines to meet by the end of this month, including finishing an outlined NaNoWriMo novel. Crunch time!

I reviewed my past “crunch time” behaviors, many of which set me back instead of moving me forward. (e.g. I often gave up eating healthy meals and grabbed caffeine-laden soft drinks and chocolate to get me by.)

But since the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over (while expecting different results), I decided to make a list of behaviors I wanted to implement from now till the end of November. These are the habits I’ve found to work during previous crunch times:

**Never sit and stare at a blank screen. When you hit a mental block, get up and move. Do a household chore you hate until you think of something to write next. There is nothing in this world that jogs my writing block loose like scrubbing a toilet. It is one of the writer’s best kept secrets.

**Close down email during the day. Check for emergency email first thing in the morning, answer any from editors, and leave the rest till the end of the writing day. Same goes for turning on the answering machine and returning calls late in the day.

**Keep up with health routines. Although my brain says, “Skip your run and get to work” or “grab that candy bar and keep working,” it never helps in the long run. I am much more productive during crunch times if I continue with my 6 a.m. run, eat my oatmeal (ugh), drink my eight glasses of water, and take breaks for healthy meals.

**Remember to stretch your neck and back. I set a timer for ten minutes throughout my work hours. Every ten minutes, I stop and do neck rolls, side bends, and back stretches. It only takes a minute, but it both lengthens the amount of time I can stay at the computer and lets me finish a work day without headaches and backaches. Every single time that I skip the exercises to save writing time, I pay later by having to quit early and having headaches interrupt my sleep.

**Give yourself a reward. Create little rewards throughout the writing day (like ten minutes of reading your favorite mystery for every hour you write) and rewards at the end of the day (a favorite DVD or dinner with a friend). I used to think rewards were silly and childish–and maybe they are–but they work!

What habits work for you during crunch times? Leave a comment with your best tip!

Writer Imaging (Part 3)

Published on by Kristi Holl

(First read “Writer Imaging” Part 1 and Part 2.) Here are the final attributes of a happy writing life…

4. Staying focused on the positive. View your writing life as a series of opportunities and growth experiences, even though some experiences (like rejection slips) may involve pain.

Daily there are good things to focus on though. Focus on the excitement of finding a good idea, or researching a fascinating subject, or working in a quiet library where you can still smell the stacks of books.

In the same vein, avoid worry, anger and depression wherever possible, and if it’s a part of your life, stop and deal with it. In The Right to Write, Julia Cameron says: “the truth is that too much torment and too much depression can make it as difficult to write as to make the bed, wash the dishes, do the laundry. To the depressed person, writing may present itself as one more chore. For this reason, we are actually working on our writing when we directly address the larger issue of our happiness.”

5. Spending time socializing with other writers. Form writing and critique groups. One word of caution, though: choose WORKING writers, not just people who like to talk about writing someday or go to workshops. Choose writing friends who actually are committed to writing consistently and trying to improve.

Iron sharpens iron. You need writers who will hold you accountable, not for sales, but for trying, for studying the markets, for revising, for doing thorough research, for your daily journaling, or whatever writing activities you’ve chosen for your growth. And if the writers you meet with stop writing, don’t feel compelled to remain in the group. Drop out and find other working writers to socialize with. You will help each other along.

The Whole Truth and Nothing But 
Believe it or not, winning an award or being on the bestseller list would NOT change your writing life, either for better or for worse. That’s because fame and fortune (both which are fleeting, I’m told) are not the elements of a good writing life any more than being thin guarantees happiness for women.

Incorporating the above five elements in your life will do a lot more for creating a happy writer. The best part about this news is, of course, that these five attributes are totally under your control. They don’t depend on the shifting markets, changing times, or fickle public taste.

Each attribute of a happy writer’s life is attainable by every writer. So start today. Right now. Change your perceptions of what a successful writer’s life entails. (It’s probably better than you’ve imagined.) Then go out and make it happen for yourself.

Writer Imaging (Part 2)

Published on by Kristi Holl

First read Writer Imaging: Your Vision of Success.
According to our most reliable sources—happy writers—the “good writing life” is actually dependent on the following conditions:

1. Staying active, writing every day, even if it’s only a journal entry or your Morning Pages, as promoted by Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.

2. Staying organized. Many writers claim that they’re better parents, spouses and friends when they’re writing. I can attest to that myself. This is where being organized comes in. When our offices overflow with stacks of unanswered mail, unread newsletters, and scraps of paper everywhere, the messiness often makes us depressed and antsy, unable to sit down and work.

On the other hand, being organized calms us and makes us want to write. This becomes a daily “happiness” habit after a while. Elaine Fantle Shimberg, in her book Write Where You Live, says organization builds routines. And “routines created to fit your personal schedule and time commitments can quickly become work habits. These habits help you to assume the professional persona as soon as you enter your office space… Routines help you prevent sliding into procrastination,” a nasty habit that can make us unproductive and miserable.

If you need more help with this, get my free e-book at the top of this blog: Rx for Writers: Managing Your Writing Space and Your Writing Time.

3. Staying productive with meaningful work. When we’re working on a project that feels important, that we know will benefit our readers in some way, we’re happier writers. These tend to be stories and books we need to write, such as the book that “in some way speaks profoundly to the core of his [the writer’s] beliefs, the emotional and spiritual and intellectual center of his life” (from Philip Gerard’s Writing a Book that makes a Difference). When your work is meaningful to you and touches others’ lives, you’re a happy writer, whether it ever makes you rich and famous or not.

(We’ll talk about the last two requirements for a satisfying writing life next time.)

Writer Imaging: Your Vision of Success

Published on by Kristi Holl

Picture this: you’re feeling strong and confident. Your writing is going well, you’re in the flow.

That is, until you see her, that Famous Writer, on the cover of Writer’s Digest or being interviewed on the “Morning Show.” Rejection slips and cash flow crunches are just distant memories to her.

Or maybe it happens closer to home. Someone in your writing group sells a series and is suddenly catapulted into living your dream: The Perfect Life of a Successful Writer.

Why Not Me?

Why couldn’t this perfect writer’s life be yours? Eyes squinted and stomach churning, you’d gladly trade your computer for a slot on the NY Times Bestseller list. Or any list, for that matter. No chance, you think glumly.

Your self-esteem plummets, you scorn your own wishful thinking, and you reach for the nearest (writer’s) block enhancer: food, drink, TV, etc. The writing is forgotten for a day or a week … or a month.

Success and False Imaging

The above writer is a victim of “writer imaging.” Just as young girls and women are subjected daily to air-brushed and computer enhanced images of perfect women which create a distorted body image, writers are exposed via magazines, newspaper interviews, websites, podcasts and bookstore signings to distorted images of writers. Unless you boycott all media, you can’t avoid these images.

However, you CAN avoid the other part of the problem: your own perception and resulting lowered self-esteem.

The Illusion

The writing world focuses on fame, like society focuses on thinness, often to the point of obsession. And “fame” is a relative term. To one writer it means selling a story to Highlights so all her friends will read it in the dentist office.

To another writer, fame is an award, a contract with a big name publisher, or being asked to speak at a conference.

Media messages associate writing success and fame with the perfect writing life: a better, happier, more successful life. But this false image of perfection falls far short of reality. The promise is an empty one.

The Truth

Biographies and profiles have shown that the attitudes and behaviors shared by happy writers have nothing to do with fame or fortune, just like being a happy woman has nothing to do with being thin and beautiful. Thanks to popular mainstream media and entertainment perpetuating the myth, many girls and women have been conditioned to believe that happiness relied on being thin.

And thanks to years of writer profiles in the media, new writers have been conditioned to believe that their contentment depends on publication and sales. Not so!

According to our most reliable sources—happy writers—the “good writing life” is actually dependent on five conditions.

(We’ll discuss those five conditions next week. In the meantime, what’s your own image of a successful writing life? Has reality measured up to your original image? Has your definition changed? Do leave a comment.)

Press On to Finish Strong

Published on by Kristi Holl

Typically, writing students are excited two times: at the very beginning of the writing course and again at the end (because they are graduating and/or being published.)

Book writers are also excited at the beginning of a project (when their idea and characters are new) and at the end (when the final draft is complete or it’s sold.)

But the middle? Middles can be miserable.

Part of the Package

Last year I had two writers in the same week, both talented and one already published, write to say that they were no longer excited about writing because it had become difficult. “This is harder than I thought it would be” is something I frequently hear. The new writer usually wants me to explain how to make it easy again, how to take the work out of the writing (because, presumably, it’s not hard work for me.)

I think this comes from a real misconception about writing. Writing is like having a good relationship with someone. It’s exciting when you first meet, it’s satisfying after years of sharing experiences and working through the conflicts, but the middle is a mixture of joy and tests (or obstacles.) Frequently it’s not fun! It’s just part of the package–and it’s the same with writing.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

A quote from Never Give Up! says it well:

“Between the beginning and the end, every situation or pursuit has a ‘middle’–and the middle is where we often face our greatest challenges, hurdles, roadblocks, obstacles, detours, and tests. People who are easily led by their emotions rarely finish what they start. They give up when the project is no longer exciting and all they see in front of them is hard work.”

Just a While Longer

If you’re on the verge of quitting writing, I would encourage you to give it a bit longer. Face the challenges and be determined to overcome them. Find ways to make the middles fun! They can be every bit as rewarding as beginnings and endings–it just takes more work. Don’t be satisfied with “just trying” something, but see it through to the end. At least 90% of the time, you’ll be so glad you did.

I know there are rare instances where the only wise thing to do is to give up (on a career choice, a relationship, or a story). That choice is the exception to the rule though. Don’t be quick to quit writing just because it stops being fun for a while.

Best Predictor of Success

Many new writers will ask me, “Do you think I have what it takes to succeed as a writer?” I used to believe that I could tell within a couple of lessons with students. I have found over the years that I was wrong. Too often the students I had earmarked for long and happy writing careers quit because it grew difficult, and they were used to instant and easy success.

On the other hand, students who were mediocre at the beginning have gone on to publish well! I have a shelf of student books to prove it. They studied, they learned, they took courses and got critiqued if necessary. They submitted and endured rejection slips–but they persevered. And I’m proud to say that their books are impacting the world of children in very positive ways.

Crossing the Finish Line

ALL writers have trouble sticking it out during those “miserable middles.” Do you have any mental tricks or words of wisdom that work for you at such times? If so, please share!