What I Listen To - Writing Excuses

This past September, when I started listening to podcasts on a regular basis, I searched around for fiction writing podcasts.  One of the first ones I jumped on was a weekly podcast called Writing Excuses.  The main reason for this was because of my love for fantasy novels, to see if there were any that I could listen to in order to give me a little insight into the publishing industry, and the first name to jump out at me was Brandon Sanderson, a best-selling fantasy novelist.

Writing Excuses is in their seventh season, and I can honestly say I've downloaded every single episode.  Their tagline is: "Fifteen minutes long, because you're in a hurry, and we're not that smart."  Which is a total lie, because the four podcasters--all accomplished authors--are geniuses.  And one of the biggest pluses to listening to this podcast, aside from the wealth of information they provide, is that their podcasts really are about 15 minutes long.  Which is perfect for me as I manage my time.  For the first four or five seasons, it was just three podcasters, Brandon, Dan, and Howard, and they added one more to offer a unique perspective.

The four authors on this podcast are:

Brandon Sanderson - fantasy novelist, who finished out the Wheel of Time series due to Robert Jordan's untimely passing, as well as several of his own, including The Way Of Kings.

Dan Wells - horror novelist in the "I Am Not A Serial Killer" series, and has also expanded recently into sci-fi and fantasy.

Howard Tayler - cartoonist in the long-running webcomic "Schlock Mercenary."  And I do mean, long-running, for he started in June of 2000 and has not missed one single day ever since.  That's the pure definition of persistence.

Mary Robinette Kowal - historical fiction novelist, with her first Tor book Shades of Milk and Honey, as well as a professional puppeteer and voice actor.  Mary is the newest member of the podcast, coming in around season 4 or 5, I think.

All four blend such a unique perspective on the various aspects of fiction writing.  On occasion, they record when they are away at conventions and they also have guests on to explore other writing issues.

Here is a video taken at a convention, where someone is describing the podcast in front of Howard.  The best piece of advice on this is when Howard tells the guy he is a writer instead of aspiring one.

Here are two YouTube videos from two of their podcast sessions.  These would be from season 5, and the only one missing was Brandon Sanderson, although they do have a guest speaker: David Farland.

And, as they say at the end of each podcast: "You're out of excuses, now go write."

I will.

And you should to.

More writing excuses

As a continuation of yesterday's blog, this was inspired by a podcast from Writing Excuses posted a few weeks ago.

What are your excuses?

Mine, whenever it comes up, seems to be geared around time.  Not nearly enough, even though everyone has the same amount.  Some people accomplish great things with the same amount of time of others who do little more than get up, go to work, come home, watch hours of mindless TV, and go to bed.

I've had to work extremely hard to keep myself on track with my writing.  Keeping up with this blog has helped immensely, especially when I made it a commitment to write a post every weekday (M-F).  And when I say I'm going to do something, I typically don't like to go back on my word.

Unless I really, really have to.

I thought I'd have to put the writing on hold, temporarily, when I had computer problems.  Even though they're not completely fixed (and I still have yet to get a new laptop/computer), I found a way around it, for now, and have continued to write.

I've also made a commitment to get up around 5:30 every morning (M-F) and write until 7:00.  I tried getting up at 6:00 and for some reason I found it difficult.  So why isn't 5:30 even harder?

Look at what's holding you back and brainstorm how you're going to fix it.  With my early-to-rise mentality, I've also had to go to bed earlier.  I made a commitment to my children that they have to be getting ready for bed by a certain time, and after they're tucked away I sit down and write.

What's holding you back?

What's your excuses?

Then, please share how you're overcome those obstacles.

Writing excuses

A few weeks ago, Writing Excuses had an extremely hilarious podcast concerning writers and their excuses for not writing.

Although they may have taken it to the extreme, one has to stop, look back, and look at the things that have stood in your way of not writing.

"I'll just watch one more TV show."

"I'll just read this book, because I need to read a lot if I'm going to be a writer."

"I'll just outline or world-build this story a bit more, because I don't feel it's just right."

"When the kids are out of school, then I'll start writing."

"I don't think this is just the right story for me."

And on and on . . .

Stop the excuses.  Sit down and write.  Do it today.  Not tomorrow.  Today.

No, I told you to sit down.  Don't get up and get a drink of water.  Write.  Write a page, then you can get a drink.

If at this point you keep coming up with excuses, then writing (or whatever it is you think you want to do) isn't your passion.

Turning the artist into a businessperson - Part 2

Need an example of an artist turned businessperson?

One of the writing podcasts I listen to quite regularly is Writing Excuses.

On it are four authors, one of whom is a webcartoonist named Howard Tayler who tells quite a compelling story of an artist turned businessperson.  He's been writing his Schlock Mercenary webcomic full time since June 2000, all with the dogged determination and motivation that any businessperson can muster.  Very impressive.

Another example?  Read the biography of your favorite author.

Start a to-NOT-do list

Of all the concepts laid out by Jim Collins and his book Good to Great this one had the most profound affect on me.

Practically every business/success book or course out there prescribes the notion of having a to-do list.  This is typically at the heart of every time management book.  There's nothing wrong with this, because it lays out what needs to be done.  I use a to-do list all the time.

What Jim Collins prescribed was a "stop doing" list or a to-NOT-do list.

On one's to-NOT-do list may be as follows:

I will NOT watch 8 hours of mind-numbing television a day (or 2 or 4 or whatever your number of hours may be).

I will NOT oversleep and not write for the 1 or 2 hours I had planned in the morning.

I will NOT not write something every single day.

I will NOT drive to work listening to the latest political blow-hards on the radio or my favorite 80's rock tunes I've listened to and WILL listen to something inspiring (for me it's either a podcast by Dave Ramsey, Dan Miller, Earl Nightingale, or Writing Excuses).

I will NOT spend my breaks and lunches at work checking my Facebook status and not working on my book.

I will NOT waste my time on mind-numbing tasks on the Internet when I planned on writing or working on my blog.

I will NOT plan one weekday where I don't have at least one blog posting.

I will NOT watch the news every single day.  A 30-minute local news broadcast is fine, but not the hours and hours that Fox News/CNN/MSNBC/Etc. bring to us in their 24/7 news cycle.  Bad news is everywhere.  I don't need to fill my mind with it.

I will NOT not take a break every once and a while, simply because it gives my body and mind time to rest.

I will NOT physically devestate my body or medically devestate my mind through poor nutrition, lack of exercise, and negative attitudes.

I will NOT start my day wishing it was a different day (Monday is just a day of the week, not something to be dreaded, so get over it.).

What's on your to-NOT-do list?

Okay, okay. You want to outline. Let me show you what other writers do.

As I've said before, I don't outline.

Depends on what you're definition of outlining is.  All writers do to a certain degree, even if it's all in a person's head.  I scribble a few notes on a  Post-It or in a notebook, but is that considered outlining?  To me, I envision outlining as writing down the most detailed events of your story, filling in the gaps here and there, before you ever start to write "Chapter One."  Not me.  Aside from those scribblings--and what's rolling around in my head--that's it.

Last year, when Ian Graham Leask was visiting our little library, he suggested outlining in this way: take a roll of butcher paper, spread it out across the table or the floor, and write out the various parts of your story.  Very clever.  I've even read about people taking a large piece of paper and free-writing the outline.  Thriller writer Jeffrey Deaver tells that he spends a lot of time, meticulously outlining his story, by writing down the various parts in an extremely organized fashion--reminds me of grade-school and we were asked to outline our essays with Roman numerals and such.

I recently listened to a podcast (www.writingexcuses.com) where Brandon Sanderson said he uses the document map feature for Microsoft Word.  To try this out for yourself, open your Word document and click on the "view" tab.  You'll actually have to write something but it categorizes it.  Let's say you have one heading for each character, and then various aspects of your worldbuilding, you can use the document map feature to jump down to that part of your outline.

I'm sure there are tons of other ways to outline that I haven't touched on.  Please share me your outlining methods, and if any of these above help, give it a try.  It's possible you're having problems starting your story and you need to outline a little to organize it.  Do it.

But most of all, write.  Write something.  Every single day.

Writers' groups - how often?

Something that should be hashed out at your first writers' group meeting is the question of how often you're going to meet.

This is going to vary, depending on the number of members and their schedules.  I mention this because the group I meet with has met every three weeks for the past eight years.  That works out best for us, who seem to have very busy schedules (working two jobs, raising a family, etc.).  It also gives us time to polish up our next piece and continue working on other projects we're not sharing with the group.

Some groups meet monthly and others I've known meet biweekly--on a side note, I listed to a writing excuses podcast (www.writingexcuses.com) where the members of that podcast attend weekly.  Keep in mind, those are published authors, but it's something to think about if you want to be published.  When we met, we thought monthly was too long of a break between meetings and every two weeks seemed tobe too often.

Typically, we've averaged four to six members at a time.  Here is what we do: after a quick greeting, we see who brought stuff to read.  Most times, everyone has something, although not everyone attends each meeting.  Then, whoever has something to share, passes out copies of their work and then he/she reads their piece.  Afterwards, we critique what worked and what didn't, the story's strong points, and if there are places that need revising, we address them here.  This process can be cumbersome, especially if all five current members share something--three of us are novelists so sharing entire or partial chapters can drag these meetings out.  In the past, we've tried handing in your work to the librarian a week prior to our meeting, and although this worked for a little while, it also proved troublesome because not everyone was able to get their work to the library and the library was really open after 5PM one night a week.  If it works for you though, that's great.  At least try out different ways to share your stories.

How often you meet doesn't matter as much as it does one's commitment.  You should commit to attend every single meeting, even if you don't have something to share.  You're still able to critique others' works and hopefully inspire you to bring something next time.

I Am A Writer

I am a writer.

Plain and simple.

I am proud of that title.

I am not an aspiring writer or one who dabbles in writing - I am a writer.

What are you?

Be proud of what you are, even if others snub their nose at you.  If those others are your friends, I think it's time for some new friends.  If those others are relatives, sorry you can't just up and unfriend them (okay, maybe in Facebook world you can - and I have).  But you can ignore them and feel sorry for their ignorant ways.

I recently found a very cool podcasting blog just for writers: www.writingexcuses.com  I found this website by pure accident.  I was on Wikipedia, looking up a fantasy author that I like named Brandon Sanderson.  Anyway, near the top of the page it said he participates in a weekly podcast called Writing Excuses.  Wow!  I felt like a kid in a candy store (not to overuse a very overused pun but it's the easiest way to describe it).  I've downloaded several podcasts so far and they're great.  I even saw a few Youtube videos of theirs, one of which featured a guy who called himself "an aspiring writer."  He was talking about how he loved the podcasts and all, but in the end one of the four writers who participate in this weekly show Howard Taylor advised the guy to call himself a writer, not an aspiring one, and be proud of that title.

What are you?  A writer.  A painter.  A carpenter.  A quilt-maker.  A mother.  A father.  A pastor.  A speaker.  A street sweeper.  A lawn cutter.  A landscaper.  An auto mechanic.

Most of us are more than one of these, but for your life's work, one defines it.  Sure, most of us will be mothers or fathers, husbands or wives, but the title of your work you should never be ashamed of.  Don't let anyone tell you to just get a job like everyone else.  That will inspire no one.  Be inspiring and be what you are made to do.

And, as always, do it today.  Right now.