Get Inspiration

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Where do you find inspiration for your writing? For me, this inspiration comes from many different sources but as a writer we have to be aware and watching for it. I love a good story and find myself returning to these stories mentally and thinking about them over and over.

I've mentioned in the past about listening to audiobooks through Overdrive. It is a free resource through the public library. You can easily check out audiobooks, download them on your phone then listen to them as you walk (through earphones) or drive (through bluetooth) or many other means.

I love listening to memoirs and self-help books. Recently I listened to actor Michael Caine's memoir, Blowing the Bloody Doors Off. At 85 years old, actor Michael Caine has lived an amazing life. Like you would expect, his life is filled with ups and downs—and both aspects are captured in the pages of this fascinating book. I listened to Caine’s narration of the audiobook version cover to cover and enjoyed the book.  It is filled with stories and life lessons. To give you a taste of some of these insights, I tracked down the introduction to this book and wanted to include a few paragraphs:

“THE FIRST TIME I was in the United States, when I had just made Alfie, I was sitting on my own in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel and heard the sound of a helicopter landing in the gardens opposite. This, the porter told me, was strictly illegal. He and I stood at the door to see who was so flagrantly flouting the law—presumably the President, of the United States or at least of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Across Sunset Boulevard, out of a swirling sun-flecked cloud of dust, six foot four and in full cowboy get-up, strode the unmistakable figure of John Wayne. As I stood there with my mouth open he caught my eye and altered his course to come over to me. “What's your name, kid?” he asked.

“Michael Caine,” I managed to croak.

“That's right,” he agreed, with a tilt of his head. “You were in that movie Alfie.”

“Yes,” I said. I wasn't really keeping up my end of the conversation.

“You're gonna be a star, kid,” he drawled, draping his arm around my shoulders. "But if you want to stay one, remember this: talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much."

“Thank you, Mr. Wayne,” I said.

"“Call me Duke.” He gave me a chuck on the arm, turned around and swaggered off.
 
It was a mind-blowing Hollywood moment for an ambitious young actor on his first visit to the city of dreams. And it was great advice for anyone who was going to be acting in Westerns and delivering all his dialogue from a horse. Talk low and slow so you don't scare the horses, and say as little as possible before the horse runs away. But it was not such great advice for someone like me, an actor who was going to play all kinds of characters with tons of dialogue, and mostly, thankfully, with my feet planted firmly on the ground.
I am often asked what advice I have for actors starting out in this business. And for many years my answer was “Never listen to old actors like me." That was because, until John Wayne offered me his words of wisdom, I always used to ask older actors what I should do, and the only thing they ever told me was to give up.

But as I've got older, I've been reflecting on my life, as older people often do. And I've realised that, over my sixty years in the movie business and my eighty-five years of life, I have been given a lot of useful advice—by Marlene Dietrich, Tony Curtis and Laurence Olivier among many others—and I have learnt a lot of useful lessons, from my many glittering successes and my many disastrous failures. I started to think I could do a bit better than “never listen to advice.” In fact, my advice would be, don't listen to that advice.

This book is the result of that reflection. I wanted to look back on my life from the Elephant and Castle to Hollywood, and from man-about-town Alfie to Batman's butler Alfred, with all its successes and all its failures, all its fun and all its misery and struggle, its comedy, its drama, its romance and its tragedy, and find, among it all, the lessons I've learnt and want to share, not just for aspiring movie actors but for everyone.
 
A few of my “lessons” are quite specific to movie acting. But I hope that most of them will speak, somehow, to most of you. You won't all have to audition for parts but in some ways life is always an audition: everyone has moments when they have to put themselves out there for what they want. You won't all have to learn lines but everyone sometimes has to make sure they're properly prepared. We all have to deal with difficult people and we all have to learn how to balance our professional and personal lives.” (From the introduction of Blowing the Bloody Doors Off.

I just gave a taste of the profound material in this well-crafted book. I highly recommend Blowing the Bloody Doors Off (which was the last line in the entire book). I hope this example has given you some ideas about where I find inspiration—and you can too.

Where do you find inspiration? What are some of your sources? Let me know in the comments below.

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5 Reasons to Read Biographies, Autobiographies and Memoir

I have always loved reading biographies, autobiographies and memoirs. I've written more than 60 books and many of the books fall into one of these categories. Also when I read a book, I often write a short review on Goodreads. If you check this page and look through the covers with books and my reviews, you will see many of these books are biographies, autobiographies or memoirs.

1. The Experiences Are Real

While I enjoy reading a good novel, the stories in biographies or memoirs are not created but based on reality. Recently I’ve been listening to Anjelica Huston read her book, Watch Me. She told about being in a car accident in the 70's where she wasn’t wearing a seat belt (not required then). As a part of this accident, she broke her nose in eight places. That little details stuck because I found it fascinating.


2. Personal Encouragement

Last year my biography of Billy Graham was released. Mr. Graham has preached the Good News about Jesus face to face in front of more peple than anyone on the planet. He is currently 97 years old. Some people may wonder if Billy Graham ever doubted his faith. He had doubts and here's a brief excerpt from my book (pages 59-60):

"Several other series of meetings were held that year, and for the summer of 1949, the team prepared for a crusade in Los Angeles, the largest citywide meetings of its kind to date. At the end of August, before the campaign began, Billy attended the annual College Briefing Conference at Forest Home, becoming the youngest college president to speak at the conference."

"One night after the conference’s evening session, Billy pondered a simple question: Can I really trust the Bible? He decided that if the answer was no, he could not with a clear conscience conduct the campaign in Los Angeles. At thirty years of age, it wasn’t too late to quit the ministry and return to his wife in North Carolina. He wrestled with the answer."

"Unable to sleep, he took a walk in the San Bernardino Mountains. Dropping to his knees in the moonlight, he placed his Bible on a tree stump. The moon didn’t cast enough light for him to read its pages, but there at his makeshift altar, he prayed to God: “There are many things in this book that I don’t understand,” he began. “There are many problems with it for which I have no solution. There are many seeming contradictions, and many areas that do not correlate with modern science.”

"Billy was trying to be honest with God about his deepest thoughts and questions. Finally, he felt the assurance of the Holy Spirit, and he said, “Father, I am going to accept this as your Word—by faith. I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be your inspired Word.” Billy got to his feet and immediately sensed the presence of God and a new source of power within himself. While not every question was answered, he sensed that God was leading him, and he knew that he could depend on the Word.”

I hope you find this story encouraging. It certainly helped me to know Mr. Graham's experience.

3. Discover Memorable Stories

From reading Tom Jones autiobiography, Over the Top and Back, I learned at one point early in his career, he sold vacuum cleaners door to door. Or also in his book, he told an unforgettable story about Elvis Presley and how he carried a six shooter. I would never know these true stories if I did not read these types of books.

4. Gain Insight into the Success of Others

I enjoyed reading Troublemaker by actress Leah Remini about her involvement and escape from Scientolgy. Many people believe a well-known actress like Remini just skyrocketed to her success with shows like King of Queens. But this line in Chapter Seven was revealing and dispels this misconception. "All told, I've been on more than twenty-five eventually cancelled television shows in my career, and have appeared on even more pilots that never made it to air. While I would never complain, I certainly did feel anxiety. This is not an easy business to be in." (page 68 to 69) This quote affirmed to me again that there are no overnight successes.

5. Changes Revered People into Real People

Years ago I wrote a youth biography about Chuck Colson, a much revered person in the Christian market because of his teaching and work in Prisons through Prison Fellowship.
When I interviewed people around Chuck every person wanted to tell me about his practical jokes—something you would not expect on the surface. I built some of those stories into my book. To my knowledge, it is about the only record of this aspect of Chuck’s life and makes him real as well as a hero.

I love reading these types of books. Do you read them or listen to them? What are you learning from these types of books? I look forward to your lessons and comments.

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Laugh Out Loud Funny

I love reading about unusual experiences and occupations. You learn the inside of the hotel industry in HEADS IN BEDS. Tomsky started in the New Orleans hotel business and during this lively book moves into New York City.

The book is peppered with advice and yet the writing is exceptional. Yes, at times a bit profane but still fascinating writing.

On my way to New York, I was reading HEADS IN BEDS. Many people try to use a story to get an upgraded room when they check into a New York hotel. According to the author, these stories do not work. He worked for years as a front desk manager and heard all of the stories about birthdays, special events and first time experiences. What works? Cash.

I used the advice in my recent trip to try it. When I checked into my hotel, I didn’t ask for any upgrade. When I gave the clerk my driver’s license and credit card, I also gave him a $20 bill (called a baby brick in the book). 

The man at the desk said, “Mr. Whalin, thank you very much. You need a better room. I’m going to upgrade you to a junior suite.”

I don’t know where they planned to put me in this 16 story hotel but I was moved to the corner room on the 15th floor. 

My view of the city was outstanding and I had a little larger room—all without asking and for a $20 tip. Remarkable. The advice in HEADS IN BEDS works. I recommend the book and the practice

An Insider's Look at Book Publishing

At 92 years young, Sterling Lord is a living legend among the publishing community for his work as a New York literary agent. LORD OF PUBLISHING provides an intimate look at his work with some bestselling authors like children’s writers Stan and Jan Berenstain or novelist Dick Francis.

Early in the book, he details his decision to become a literary agent saying, “The agent has to know good writing and what is a good, interesting-to-the-publisher idea not only in order to judge what he can sell and what he can’t, but also because often writers tried and untried will seek his advice. And he must know what to tell them. An agent is successful if he can attract and hold effective writers; these are two different talents. You have to know and understand the lives and problems of writer and devise how to help them with their lives.” (Page 40-41)

I appreciated Lord’s honesty and transparency when he writes in some of the final pages, “Although I’m immersed in literature and the art of the book, and enjoyed the personal and professional rewards that came with being an agent, I recognized that the literary agency, like other businesses, has to its peaks and its valleys. Perseverance helps. While I am better known by the bestsellers I helped launch, I did not always have an easy time convincing publishers of the value of the manuscripts I was selling.” (Page 288)

There are many valuable insights and lessons for writers, editors and other literary agents in the book business. I enjoyed reading LORD OF PUBLISHING.

Devour the Wisdom in this Book for YOUR Book

Life provides us with amazing experiences--some tragic and some joyful. As you go through these experiences, people will say to you, "YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK." Because almost everyone has a computer and keyboard, writers put their fingers on the keyboard and produce manuscripts. In fact, millions of these "books" are circulating inside publishers and agents. I wish each one of them could carefully read and apply the information inside this book.

I've got many shelves of how-to-write books which I have carefully read and written about for years. In a matter of a few pages, I knew YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK was a winner and rang with solid information mixed with what every writer needs--the truth about this complicated business of publishing.

The key reason for getting this book is highlighted in the subtitle--"How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir." This benefit for you the reader is substantiated on the second page: "People may have told you that the events in your life have been so dramatic that you should really write a book. The challenge, though, is not only how to write the story and make it readable, but how to sell and market it, too. While this book does not aim to give you line-by-line writing, editing, or structural advice, it is designed to show you how to turn your dream of writing a published memoir into a reality, from conceiving the story to selling and marketing it. "Writing," "selling," and ""marketing" are the operative words here. Most people assume that it's best to write a memoir first and then consider how to sell and market it. But these days, that's a counterproductive idea. Working through YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK can make the difference between producing a manuscript written to appeal to friends and relatives versus one that can convince an agent to invest energy and time on your behalf in trying to sell it to an acquisitions editor for publication."

This book is full of relevant insight for every writer (and especially writers of memoirs). The contents are divided into three major sections: an overview of the genre, details about the major categories of memoir and finally the publishing business aspects of working with a collaborator and contacting an agent.

Through reading this book, I learned the term RU or what the authors call "Relative Unknowns." As the authors explained, "It was designed for RUs, people generally not widely known or recognized outside their own circles. It is especially for those who do not have household names. Our aim is to level the planning field for those who are not super rich, or famous, or powerful. Written to give you a competitive advantage, this book will teach you to think like publishing professionals, so you will know what they will expect of you." (Page 13)

This book achieves this purpose. If fit their target audience (Relative Unknown), then I hope you will read this book cover to cover--as I did. Keep your yellow highlighter handy because it will call to your attention memoirs that you haven't read but need to and much more. YOU SHOULD REALLY WRITE A BOOK is a title I enjoyed and highly recommend because of the how-to information mixed with personal storytelling and current publishing insights.

Write A Memoir That Sells

Without fail, it happens at almost every writers conference.

Some writer will come to me with a memoir or personal experience book. I can see it in their eyes and expressions. They've already met with the literary agents and editors who have told them that they can't publish this type of writing. Discouraged with such pointed news, they want my advice about what they can do with their work.

Each of these writers has invested countless hours on their writing. Some of them have blogged their experiences while others have simply cranked the words into their computer. Their stories are driven with their desire to help others who can learn from their experiences.

Because I've been in the publishing industry for many years, I can see both sides of the situation. The editors have good reasons behind their reluctance. Many of these writers are inexperienced, unpublished with no visibility in the marketplace (readers or fans) yet they want to tell their story. Others are trying to write a book too soon in the normal cycle of events for an author.

I have a number of concrete action steps these writers can take to change their situation and produce a memoir that sells.

1. They need to practice their storytelling and writing craft through producing personal experience magazine articles. Many publications take personal experience stories. Look at the magazines which you see frequently. Study the publication and note the articles which are written in the first person and include personal experiences. Notice the big pattern of the story. These types of article are each driven to a single point or take away lesson for the reader. When you are published in magazines, it will give you publishing experience and more visibility in the marketplace. Also you will reach many more people with your shorter magazine articles than you will probably reach with your books.

2. These writers need to set up a blog to capture their raw writing and get it into the marketplace. The search engines like blogs and it's a place to build an audience and group of readers for your work—provided you do more than write the blog. You have to have a goal for your blog and write with a purpose. I suggest you get a copy of my risk-free guide, The 31 Day Guide to Blogging for Bucks because it will help you make money from your blog and also focus it.

3. A key to reaching the literary agents or editors is to have an excellent book proposal or pitch. Take my Write A Book Proposal online course or read my Book Proposals That Sell to help you learn more in this area.

4. Get more ideas and tips from this excellent article by Mary DeMuth in the June 2011 issue of The Writer called A Smart Approach to Memoir. For example, this article points out a National Association for Memoir Writers. While I was unfamiliar with this group, I know the power of organizations and from looking at their website, believe they have many solid resources to help your memoir writing.

5. Read memoirs on a regular basis. One of the questions that I regularly ask these memoir writers is, “Do you read memoirs?” To my surprise, they often answer that they do not. Just look at the memoir/ autobiography section in any bookstore or your local library and you will be surprised at the variety of books and topics in this category. These books do continue to sell on a regular basis.

Recently I read David and Nancy French's excellent book, Home and Away: A Story of a Family in a Time of War. The book is well-written and full of practical take away messages for every reader. It's the same type of material that I recommend you build into your own memoir. If you do, then you will write a memoir that sells.

Don't let the naysayers get to you. Memoir continues to sell and be published. You have to persist to find the right place for your writing.

Imitate Good Ideas

I am constantly looking for good ideas that I can imitate and apply to my own writing life and publishing work. This entry on The Writing Life is going to cover a number of ideas. My hope is that you will apply these insights to your own writing situation.

First, I want tell you about something that I had heard about but never actually seen until yesterday. You've probably heard about the book Mistaken Identity because of the intense media on television about it. It was the theme of yesterday's Oprah Show. Howard Books was the publisher for this book and a former colleague sent me a short email that Mistaken Identity will be at the top of the New York Times bestseller list on April 13, 2008. OK, today is April 3rd so how did he know that information? I've heard these lists are compiled about 12 days out from the actual publication date. The email announcing the news about this book included a PDF attachment. At first, I opened the PDF, saw the placement and celebrated. Later in the day, I looked closer at this attachment and printed it. This document was the full extended New York Times list for April 13. It was a new experience for me.

If You've Written A Memoir...

A couple of days ago, Alex Mandossian interviewed Julie Andrews. You can listen to the interview now in replay or look at this page for the replay. The book is a memoir yet notice what they are giving away to people who come to this book tour website. It's not a portion of the new book but instead it is a series of tips about how to get the most out of reading with your child. Yes the site pushes people toward the memoir but Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, also have a series of children's books. Notice this sort of cross-marketing effort that I found fascinating. My question if you are pitching or writing a memoir. Can you imitate this good idea for your project?

If You Have A Book To Promote...

I've pointed out Book Tour in some past entries but not for some time. The creators are from Wired magazine so savvy about using the Internet tools. It's free and I did a bit of experimentation. With some simple HTML, you can make your profile as well as the events "clickable" or so they open a new window and lead someone to another website. Here's my author profile on Book Tour. It didn't take much of my time (always something writers seem to be concerned about in this marketing area) yet I believe it is well worth doing. I updated my profile with my forthcoming travel schedule for this year and included the various conferences and speaking dates. Take a few minutes and imitate this idea for your own writing work. You never know how it will pay off for you.

If You Need A Platform...

Whether it is in the queries or book proposals that come across my agency work or the questions I am asked at a writers conference or in any other setting, most writers seem to understand publishers are looking for authors with platforms. I want to be clear because publishers are not building platforms but looking for authors who already have built the platform. This situation has been true in nonfiction for some time but it is also secondary but important for fiction authors. Many writers groan when they hear this news, feel rejected and slink off somewhere to moan to each other. In my view, they need to stop such actions and begin to build their platform. Yes, it will take time. It takes time to learn your writing craft and marketing skills and many other things. Start a newsletter and then regularly build your audience. Again I'm going to point to this PDF resource which is a 150-page FREE Ebook. You have to take action, get this book, print it out and study it. Then start your own newsletter and audience building for your own platform.

I've mentioned this example in the past but please bear with me because I've got some updated information--so read carefully. In this platform area, I've mentioned New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber. Several years ago I was at a conference with Debbie and she orchestrated a mob scene for her book signing at the local Barnes and Nobles in Amarillo, Texas. If you haven't done it, check out her guestbook and the data that she is collecting. About a year ago, a Seattle newspaper interview mentioned that Debbie had over 70,000 names on her list. An article in the March 31 issue of Publishers Weekly shows that Debbie continues to grow this list of readers and now it is over 100,000 strong. Notice the amazement of her fellow novelist in the article but also how Debbie is using this list. First, she has grown this list over 25 years in the business and second, she uses the data to tell people about her book signings in a particular area of the country and build new readers. I believe it's another good idea that any author can imitate. It will not happen overnight but begin to take some steps in this direction for your writing life.

Some of these practices are easy but will take time and investment. Are you willing to chisel away at it and make it happen? I'm encouraging you to take action and imitate the good ideas that come across your path.

More Than A Memoir

The writing community has been stirred and drawn to "memoirs." It's given writers great hope they can find a traditional publisher for their personal story. Such hope is filled with danger because many of those personal stories don't have the national pull to become a bestseller. The majority of them are rejected almost immediately and if they appear in print, they are magazine articles. To all of these "regular practices" and "unwritten rules" within the publishing community, there are exceptions. I wanted to tell you about one of these exceptions and why you should rush out to read: If I Am Missing Or Dead, A Sister's Story of Love, Murder, and Liberation.

Behind the scenes, I've been gently cheering for this book and I’m glad to be able to tell you about it here--and other places such as my Amazon review. Janine Latus is a long-time friend and fellow member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. From a distance, I've watched her hone her writing craft in many mainstream magazines and excellent journalistic writing. In October 2005, O magazine ran an intense personal story called "All The Wrong Men." Janine's article was selected as an award winner at the ASJA 2006 conference. This article was the springboard for Janine's book proposal for her first book. The proposal set off an intense bidding war which Simon and Schuster eventually won.

Janine wrote the book at a nearby coffee shop. In my view, the writing process of telling such a personal story must have been difficult and draining. The process of reliving the experiences captured in this book must have been tough. For a first-time author, I was interested to learn S & S printed over 120,000 copies, which indicates their expectations for this book. Publisher's Weekly gave the book a starred review (scroll down to see it from this link). Other reviews have appeared in People and Entertainment Weekly. If you go to Starbucks (I'll admit not to being a frequent customer), then I understand If I Am Missing is selling a flash drive with the first chapter of the book and part of the money goes to Amy's Courage Fund. The book is a tool to spur the movement against domestic violence. It is much more than a moving memoir. If you get the book, you should know besides being riveting, it does include some graphic language. Because I don't typically read or write these types of books, I just wanted you to be aware of what's inside the pages and not be shocked at my recommendation. It's true to life so the material is included. After reading the book, my admiration for Janine has grown. Her desire is for the book to be an integral part of a movement against domestic violence. I celebrate the creation of things like Amy's Courage Fund as a means to help women who are trapped escape these abusive relationships.

I will probably write more about If I Am Missing Or Dead in the future. For now, celebrate this new book and go to your favorite bookseller and pick up a copy.

A Dose of Encouragement

No matter where you are in the writing world, each of us need it--a solid dose of encouragement. While some people think I make it look easy, it's not. I continually struggle with writing the right things at the right time on the right day. Like every writer, I have screaming thoughts as to whether I've put the right thing down at the right time.

I've returned home from a whirlwind trip of five days at a family wedding in Southern California. We drove back from California to Arizona a little over a week ago. That evening I reorganized my suitcases and took off early the next morning for five nights in New York City. I'm delighted to be home for a few days (very few since I travel again in less than a week). My trip to New York was predominately a part of the annual conference for the American Society of Journalists and Authors, which is the leading nonfiction writers group in the nation. I was a bit amused when a fiction writer stopped me in the hall way and said we should have more on our program for novelists. This writer noticed my "board member" ribbon on my name badge. I patiently explained the nonfiction emphasis of the society and how we had intentionally limited our fiction offerings. It didn't help this writer figure out which panel she would attend for her next session (which was her immediate need). I had countless interaction on many different levels during these sessions. It's part of the reason that I attend this conference because I never know what terrific thing can happen from a single conversation. I've seen it happen many times in the past and know it will come from these meetings as well.

While the link to the tapes of these sessions is not yet on the ASJA website, please keep track of this link. If you could only choose one offering (and there were many outstanding sessions), I'd suggest you get Jeannette Walls keynote address on Saturday. Jeannette is the author of the bestselling memoir, The Glass Castle. If you haven’t read her book, I recommend it. If you don’t know the story, Walls is a journalist who writes about celebrities for MSNBC. The Glass Castle is her personal memoir about her growing up years. The book remains on the paperback bestseller list and many reading groups and others are using this book. Her talk was a great encouragement to any writer. I will give you several of her points. First, she underestimated people's reaction to her story. Walls was certain that she would lose her job at MSNBC if people knew her true story. Then she spoke about how each writer needs to determine what is the story and what is their own perspective on the truth? "The truth is whatever you choose to make it. With any story that you tell, you choose how you will tell it and how you will shape it."

"Painful memories are difficult to include but you have to put it in. You need to get the whole story down on paper then choose which parts you will ultimately keep," Walls told us. "Substantial nonfiction writing is sharing the experience. It’s about honesty and being honest with yourself. We all have our fears. Our biggest demon is to face our fears. It can't hurt you. Harness it and use it for good. Don't be afraid to look them in the eye and face them down." Later she told us, "I believe the truth shall set you free and I'm living proof of that." Walls encouraged each of us to chase our dreams as she has done.

There were over 700 writers in the room at this luncheon. I don't know how Jeannette Walls impacted the others but for me, she certainly gained a fan of her work and her writing.