Troubles coming up with a book title? Try this.

I recently chatted with an author who was having troubles coming up with a title for the fantasy novel she was working on.  We threw out a few ideas, several of them good.

Then, I told her to try this: take a blank piece of paper and write down 20 titles.

Some of the ones she already possibly chose, of course, would make the list.  But having them down on paper, in a way, clears the mind to brainstorm more.

If you're having troubles coming up with a book title or a direction on where the story should go or how to end the story or coming up with a book cover design (or countless other decisions), try the brainstorming method.

Take a blank piece of paper or blank document.

Then write down 20 ideas.

After the end of 20 ideas, put it away, and the next morning brainstorm 20 more.

Are You Happy Where You're At?

Today, right now, are you happy where you're at?

This is not a political statement--I try steer clear of most political discussions nowadays, because all they seem to do is make my blood boil at how narrow-minded some people are--but a statement on your life.

Most would say no.  Life could be better.

Look back five years, ten years.  Is your life better now than back then?

If not, take in these two words: CHANGE IT!

What's stopping you?  Nothing . . . except you.

Money shouldn't stop you.  If it's a business you want to start, most need very little capital.  How much does my writing cost?  Virtually nothing.

In today's age, information is available is such quantity--in varying degrees of quality--that one just doesn't have an excuse anymore about changing their life.

Take a blank piece of paper and brainstorm ideas.  Don't throw up roadblocks and tell yourself why something can't be done.  Just get the ideas out there.  If you're more of a talker, use a recording app on your smartphone and throw out ideas.

Do that every single day for a week, and at the end of the week compile all of the ideas.  You're bound to have something in there you want to do.  If not, brainstorm some more.

Do it today.  Not tomorrow.  You can do it.

Your life, and the world, depends on it.

Freedom To Let Your Creative Mind Flow / Happenings In The Outhouse 23-Feb-2024

I had an interesting conversation with my youngest daughter last week.  She's in speech competition and was in the process of writing her creative speech.  But she kept hitting a roadblock and didn't know how to finish it.  She reached out to a few others for help, but in fact got more roadblocks.  An English teacher told her to use some formulaic path to writing the story, and this only frustrated her more.

Once I heard her out, I told her to throw away all of the advice she had given.  Her eyes grew wide, then I told her to brainstorm as many ideas as she could.

"The first few ideas will be easy but you won't want to use them," I said.  "By the time you get eight, ten, twelve ideas down, that's where the great ideas will be.  The ones that will spark the direction your story will go."

When seeking advice from others, please be aware that not all advice is good.  In fact, no offense to the others, but they aren't a creative like my daughter and myself.  I knew how to speak the language of a creative.

When you feel stuck on a project, sit alone and just brainstorm.  Let your mind go.  Let it be free.  You will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Now, on a side note, there is nothing wrong with the advice regarding formulas to writing.  There are a variety of methods, but I knew for her it would just confuse her.  So I kept it simple.  And guess what?  She finished it!

I am a hypocrite!

Yes, it's true, I am a hypocrite.

I've been preaching for a while now about the power of spending even a half-hour each day for a week and brainstorming ideas . . . and it's something that I sorely needed to do myself.

Most mornings, I get up around six and work on further editing Beholder's Eye.  Then, just last week, I've been tossing around the idea of a new blog, a slant on this one, with even the possibility of putting together an ebook within the next month or so.

The concept for the ebook has been tumbling around in my mind for quite a number of years--the reason I haven't written it yet is because it's nonfiction and I'm usually writing or editing (or both) a fiction novel.

I won't share quite yet the details of the concept, but look for it in the next few weeks to come.

Now, back to my hypocrisy.

I woke up at six, as usual, but I had just finished a section in my thriller, when I decided to take a break for that morning, take a pad and pen to the dining room table, and brainstorm ideas for an hour or so.

WOW!  I can't believe all of the ideas I came up with.  The concept for the nonfiction ebook really begun to take shape and the possibilities for future ebooks in the same realm as this new blog came flooding at me.  I was amazed.  At my full-time job, I even brainstormed on my breaks and lunch, finetuning details and expanding the ideas I came up with before.

Please do not forget the power of sitting alone, with a notepad and pen, and just drumming up with ideas.  Were all of my ideas good?  Gosh, no!  But the ones that I did consider good definitely outweighed the ones that didn't.

Try it this week.

Spend 30-60 minutes of uninterrupted time and brainstorm.  You'll be amazed at what you find.

If you have any brainstorming tips, please share and comment below.  I'd love to include them on future blogs.

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.

Happenings In The Outhouse 02-Aug-2013 / Loving the silence

A few weeks ago, I said I was going on a podcast hiatus.  Here's the status of that: I'm loving the silence.

I usually spent a lot of my podcast listening time in the car, going to and from my day job.  Roughly 45 minutes each weekday.  Now, I brainstorm stories and the direction I need to take with my writing.  I'm accomplishing much.

First, I'm into the first draft of the sequel to Beholder's Eye.  I only have about 2800 words written so far, but this is the one I started back in December 2004.  Aside from the prologue, the rest of it has been changed--and I mean entirely.  Now, I only had 4-5 chapters written, but those have been stripped away.

I'm also in the process of editing my next short story for the Writers of the Future contest, due October 1st.  Also, I'm working on editing my soon-to-be inspirational novella I wrote in June.  I have 15.5K words written and need to bulk it up to at least 17.5K in order to make the novella word count mark.

Also, I'm in the process of revamping my previous submission to Writers of the Future from ealier this year.  I wasn't picked--not surprising, given the tough competition--but after examining it a bit more closely, I'm finding areas where it can be improved.  I won't resubmit it to WOTF, but I will try my hand at the professional markets instead of self-publishing this one.

Also, as we speak, I'm in the process of nailing down a cover for Beholder's Eye.  By next week--or even this weekend--I will definitely have it prepared to upload to the Amazon Kindle.

Power of brainstorming / Happenings In The Outhouse 02-Nov-2018

I've covered the topic of brainstorming before on this blog.

But I came to a realization this week, about something I've been struggling with for much of this summer.  As you know, I've started writing the second romance book (under a pen name) and then put it aside to write a completely new story.  Even though the new story is going well with over 8,000 words, I've been hitting roadblocks on where the story is going.  I sat back one day to reflect on my writing career up to this point, not once experiencing what I have been now.

Oh, sure, I've hit a rough patch or two in my writing life, but the stories I want to write just don't seem to want to be written.  Reflecting on my past, I knew what I had done before that I somehow quit doing.

Brainstorming.

Not quite outlining, but some may see it as such.  I went to work one day, armed with a notebook, and wrote out a few pages of thoughts.

If you ever find yourself in a rut, reflect on what may be the issue.  Brainstorm your thoughts.  You may be surprised what may happen.

Happenings In The Outhouse 19-Jul-2013 / Podcast hiatus

It wasn't until recently that I realized just how many podcasts I listen to--that number near the 20 mark.  Some I just started listening to in the past month or so while others I've been listening to for the past few years.  Some I download from the computer and put on my MP3 player (no, I do not own an iPod and I'm okay with that), and others I listen to on the Stitcher app on my android phone.

And now I'm about to say goodbye to several of them.  It may be a short period of time, but right now I have so much on my plate that I find I cannot fit the time for all of them.  Instead of listening to podcasts in the car, I spend my daily drive to work and brainstorm stories.  The same with chores, like washing dishes or mowing the lawn.

I need a break.

Because I also realized many of the podcasts weren't helping me on my writing.  A few I will still listen to on a regular basis, and that number is around a half-dozen.

I'm working on the finalized edits for Beholder's Eye.  I also am still working on the hard edits for a horror novel I wrote years ago.

I'm also participating in the Write About Dragons.com 2013 summer lecture series by Brandon Sanderson--this is the main reason I'm holding back on the podcasts, for I want to learn a lot from this master of the storytelling craft.

My ebook Guest of Honor is available on the Amazon Kindle store.  For the price of a cheap cup of coffee, you can buy and enjoy my book.  It also has a short story and a chapter excerpt too for Beholder's Eye.

Don't think "Why I can't" - think "How can I?"

Ever come up with an idea for something and thought, "Oh, it can't be done.  I can't do it."

You think of a hundred ideas on why you can't do it.

But what would happen if you reversed your thinking and instead thought, "Oh, how can I do it?"

With this change in thinking, your mind quits thinking of excuses and comes up with a plan.  For years, I've met countless people who've been amazed that I could even stick it out enough to write a book.  They'd always say to me, "I had a book idea once."

"Great," I'd say back to them.  "Have you started it?"

They would then shake their heads and say, "Well, I wrote five . . . maybe six pages.  That's it."

When pressed on why they quit, they'd come up with a myriad of excuses: ranging from having no time to they just forgot about it.

Do you have an idea for a book (or an idea for anything else)?

Tomorrow morning, take a blank piece of paper and write down your idea at the top of the page.  Then, sit and brainstorm on how it can be accomplished.  This reversal of thinking that you can't do something to how you can accomplish it will work wonders.

Please let me know how it works out.  What are your success stories?

Ideas are great.  But without a plan to put them into action, they'll sit in the darkest recessess of your mind forever . . .

Still Overthinking / Happenings In The Outhouse 02-Feb-2024

Overthinking.

Yup, I'm still doing it.

Some authors call it the critical brain getting in the way of your thinking.  I agree, that's what is happening to me.

I've been working on a short story for a number of weeks now, tweaking here and there, and I've hit a point where I don't know where to go.  When I looked at it from a larger picture, I realized that I was overthinking.

In the past, I've had no troubles working through a story (for the most part).  If I hit a troublesome spot, I'd brainstorm about it.

So, that's what I did.  I should have it done shortly.

Changing things up / Happenings In The Outhouse 22-Feb-2019

A few weeks ago, I was irritated at the slow pace I've been writing my new fantasy epic.  At the rate it's going, and the actual scope of this immense project, I don't feel I'll have it completed before the end of 2019.

Don't get me wrong.  I've been writing quite a bit.  500 words here, 750 there.  And at a fairly steady pace.  But I knew something had to change.

You see, I've been using the previous written pages as an outline.  Well, I had two tabs open on the screen.  One with the new pages, the other with the old.  Going back and forth was getting a bit daunting.

I knew where the story was heading.  So, I sat down with a tablet and read ahead a half-dozen scenes.  I scribbled notes on what I read.
Then, I closed the other tab, set the tablet off to the side, and wrote.  I referred to the notes from time to time, but after a while even the story took on a slightly different direction.  It was better.

It's okay to change things up.  If what you're doing isn't working as efficiently as you'd like, brainstorm on what could be done differently.  Experiment if you have to.

And if one thing doesn't work, try something else.  Find the most efficient way to create.  You'll thank yourself in the end.

Taking the Mystery out of Creativity / Happenings In The Outhouse 18-Dec-2020

If you would have asked me a month ago if I had ever heard of Jeff Tweedy, I would've furrowed my brows and asked, "Jeff Foxworthy?  Of course.  He's hilarious."

No, not Foxworthy.  Jeff Tweedy.

"Oh.  Conway Twitty?  Is Jeff his real first name?"

No, that's still not right, but in reality we're closer to who Jeff Tweedy is.  Jeff Tweedy is a prolific songwriter and has recently released a book called How To Write One Song.  I'm only halfway through reading it and I can already tell that I'm going to read it again.  And possibly even a third time.

"But, Mark, you don't write songs.  You write stories."

Of course!  But in a nutshell Jeff is talking about creativity.  For him, he focuses on writing one song and the habits that go along with writing it.  For writers, focus on writing one story, no matter the length.  Create a deadline.  Once it's done, you're done.  Write another one.  There's nothing mysterious about creativity.  All of us have wanted to create something.  Whether it's something physical, like a painting or a wooden figurine, or something not physical like a song or a story.

All of us have the tools to create something.  Although he talks about writing songs, one at a time, there are parallels to writing stories or other pieces of art.  Make writing a habit.

Make your art a habit.

Don't have time?  Why did you just spend thirty to forty-five minutes playing a game on your phone?  Use that time, even part of it, to create something.

Don't know what to write?  Try freewriting.  Brainstorm and throw ideas down on the page.  It doesn't matter what it looks like.  You're the only one who's going to see it.

Creativity isn't this mysterious power that only a few possess.  All of us have it in one form or another.  Mine happens to be in the form of a story.

One final note: in full disclosure, when I was sixteen, I dreamed of being a rock star.  Even back then, I knew I had to write my own songs in order to make it big.  So I did--write songs, not make it big.  I have at least a dozen or so songs that I wrote back then.  So it's funny that I now discover this book.  Believe me, it's well worth its weight in gold and then some.

What are you doing today to better your tomorrow? / Happenings In The Outhouse 12-Apr-2019

What are you doing today to better your tomorrow?

This is a question I asked my team at work, and it also applies to one's own life at home.  One should always be improving, even if it's to do one thing that wasn't done before.

First, I suggest looking at what you do everyday and eliminate what you can.  Years ago, I was on the church council for my church, which was a three year commitment.  I foresaw the construction of an addition from the brainstorm planning on the first year to the actual construction by the third.  But the time I spent was time away from my family.  So I made a commitment not to be on the church council again until our last child was graduated from high school.  Every January, I am asked if I would consider it and I kindly decline.  I appreciate them asking, but not at this time.

Last year, the writers group I was a member of for many, many years, decided to disband.  I thoroughly enjoyed meeting every three weeks, discussing not only our writing but our lives as well.  But the time commitment was troublesome when not all members would show up.

It's okay to say no to something.  Even at my day job, I say no to many things because I want to be a better leader for my team.

What is important to you?  Make the time for the important pieces of your life instead of letting others dictate your life and your time.

Then, as you free up your time, ask yourself: what can you do today to better yourself tomorrow?

Something fresh, something new / Happenings In The Outhouse 28-Sept-2018

As I have mentioned previously, I was working on the 2nd romance book under a pseudonym.

Did you notice I said was?

I have been hitting a wall with that book.  Oddly enough, it was one of the first ideas I ever had to do in the romance realm, but for some reason I can't seem to advance the story.  I feel like wading through a field of thick mud up to my waist.  I'm about 7500 words in too.  But last week, I decided to step away from it, brainstorm where I want the story to go, and started something new.

The something new isn't in any of my established series.  I, at first, thought of it as a short story.  Within two days, I had 1500 words written and I'm thoroughly enjoying it--to date, I have close to 3,000 words.  I will keep you updated on where this story leads.  I've written stories where I didn't have a clue where it was going.  It's fun, to be honest.

This is why I love the freedom of being able to write what I want, when I want.

Hit a rough patch in your writing? Here are 2 simple solutions.

You've been slaving over your giant epic novel for months or years, and then you get to a point where you don't know what's next.

The diehard outliners out there will probably shout from the hilltops: "That's why you need to outline!"  However, my friend, even outliners can have this problem, because they can get to a point in their story where they simply don't know what's going to happen next.

To remedy this, you can do one of two things:

First, start something new.  It could be you're just thinking about a new idea, a short story or a new novel.  I believe it was Chuck Wendig who said (paraphrasing!) to keep working on your current project until it's done.  Great advice, for sure.  But if it's gnawing at your mind, take an hour or so and write the darn thing.

Also, it could be that your story needs a little spice.  I'm not talking a sex scene or blatant erotica.  I'm talking a change of pace.  On my first novel--a deer hunting horror story I wrote back in college--I hit a rough patch near the beginning, when the four characters were going out into the woods, because I didn't want the story to be a "Guide to Deer Hunting Techniques."  I then had a vision of a boy, out for a bike ride one final time before winter, getting into a fatal accident and all of the events leading up to that one moment.  Bingo!  I wrote the scene as I envisioned, which jarred the story in a slightly different direction.  Looking back on it now, I don't know if I'll ever keep it in but it did change the pace.

I have written stories where I change point-of-view for a chapter here and there, just to change things up.

Second, if you can't think of something, walk away from your computer or typewriter and think.  Brainstorm.  Force yourself to come up with twenty different ideas.  Don't go with your first or even your second, no matter how well you think it is.  Come up with twenty ideas.

What have you done when you've hit a rough patch in your writing?  Please comment on it.

Summertime Blues

The weather warms up.

The kids are out of school.

Vacationing or camping seems to be the order of the day for many of our summers.

Don't put your dreams on hold during these summer months.  Use them wisely as before.  For myself, with the kids not in school, I find I actually have a little more time in the morning to write.  The flip-side are the nights.  With no school, and the point of darkness growing later and later, the bedtime hours for my children seems to keep stretching farther down the path.  Hours-wise, I seem to have the same amount because I work more in the mornings.

How about the weekends?  If you want, bring your laptop.  Or, do what I do, and print out pages of the chapters I'm working on and bring them with on your trip.  It may be a great conversation piece when you're sitting on a lawn chair, with 20-30 pages on your lap, and someone walks up to you and asks what you're doing.

"Working on my novel."

"Really?  Almost done?"

"I've got 200 done so far.  I think another 200 will finish it."

Be mindful of all your time, regardless of where you're at.  Don't come up with excuses not to do something.  Brainstorm ways in which you can still accomplish something.

Where in the world did the time go?

We have all wondered this, present company included.

For an entire week, everyone has 168 hours to accomplish what they need.

Even if you sleep a total of 8 hours each night (if you're like me, this number is more like 5 or 6) and work another 40, that leaves you with 72 hours to do what you want.

Granted, if you have a wife and kids like I do, that will eat a large portion of the 72, but certainly not all of it.

What I challenge each of you to do is start a time diary.  For the previous week (you can either start on Sunday or just go with the first weekday on Monday, that's completely up to you), write down a simple schedule of what you did.  And don't cheat.  You're only cheating yourself.

If you can't remember, start right now by keeping track of what you do with your time and track it for an entire 7 days.

Once that is accomplished, look at it and ask yourself what could be removed to excel at what you're passionate about.  Could you wake up an hour or so before everyone else and either read or brainstorm new ideas (or write, like I do)?  Do you really need to watch so much TV?  I'm not saying cutting out TV completely, but you've never heard a multi-millionaire or billionaire say, "I attribute my success to all the hours of Survivor or Jersey Shore."  It's absurd.

Carve out notches of time to accomplish these tasks.

Commit to doing it (because, like I said, all you're cheating is you if you don't).

Then, do it.

Cleaning House / Happenings In The Outhouse 17-May-2024

For the past month and a half, my wife and I have been cleaning out the basement.  Getting rid of old stuff that should've been thrown out long ago and organizing the rest for a more comfortable living space.

One of these areas is an office room.  I used to do the majority of my writing in that room, until circumstances with my late wife made it so I had to do it upstairs.

I have still been writing.  Right now, I'm in the beginning of a new tale, one that I have had the bones of in the back of my mind.  I'm at a point where I don't know where to go, but that's okay.  I'll brainstorm my way of out it, like I do all my other stories that I have gotten stuck in.

It's Okay To Change / Happenings In The Outhouse 17-Nov-2017

There's the old adage that says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."  Well, something needed fixing.  And fast.

The last handful of novels I had written, I had maintained a daily spreadsheet to analyze my word count.  I was curious.  Nothing wrong with that.  Other writers would comment how many words they wrote on a daily basis and even a bestselling author has publically stated he writes 2000 words a day, even on his birthday and Christmas.

For my projects, I would notice that there were a number of days where I had a word count of zero.  My goal with my new current project was to have absolutely no zero writing days.  Even if I wrote one word, it still counted.

Seems good in theory.  And, under normal circumstances, it would work great.  Turns out, it was either horrible timing or not good at all when applied to real life.  At least, my life at this very moment.  My stress level had increased dramatically these past few weeks.  Now, some of this could be due to health reasons.  I get that.  And, on top of it, I chopped my current novel into three parts.  I'm at the very end, where there is an epic battle, and with a variety of superheroes with a wide range of powers, I was getting confused on what was going to happen.  I had to stop and go back, to see who I had written and brainstorm powers.

Enter: zero writing days.  Not just one.  But several.

This past weekend, again while sitting in my deer stand, I came to the conclusion that I had to scrap the spreadsheet.  Immediately, I felt relief wash over me.  I am taking time for myself.

In December 2016, I went on a podcast fast.  I needed that change.  It freed up my time.  Now, within the last month, I am listening to more podcasts than ever before.  But what podcasts I am listening to may surprise you.  While I do still listen to a handful of writing-related podcasts, the majority are of the true crime nature.

True crime?  Really?

Well, to put it simply: I am looking for stories.  I love stories.  Some true life stories are fascinating--I know, listening to the horrible things serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Dennis Rader, Edmund Kemper, Aileen Wournos, and Gary Ridgeway did to their innocent victims are in no way glamorizing or fascinating.  But knowing what makes them tick, and injecting those into the characters into my own stories, is fascinating.

Silence is golden

Ever since we got hooked up with high-speed Wifi at our house, I've listeneed to podcasts.  There was quite a number of them I listened to.

Then, this past summer, I decided to take a break.  Silence is golden, they say.  Yes it is.

I have a roughly twenty-minute commute to and from work each workday.  I used to spend that time filling my head with various podcasts.  What I did was educate myself not only on the publishing industry and genre writing, but also in financial and career matters.

I chopped the number of podcasts I listen to by quite a number--sometimes, in any given week, I don't listen to any on my daily commutes.  Instead of turning on the radio and listening to Stairway to Heaven for the nine-hundredth time, I brainstorm.

The time I've brainstormed has been valuable.

Recently, I was listening to Mur Lafferty's I should be writing podcast (yes, that one made the cut) and she also said the same thing, that she took a little break from podcast listening--and she's a successful award-winning author as well.  I'm in good company.

I do still listen to podcasts from time to time, but the majority of the time it's just me and my dreams.

Have you tried taking a podcast/radio break on your daily commutes?  Try it and let me know what you think.  Please comment below.