Writing Mind Games

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Is there a best time for your writing? Are you a morning person or a night owl and how does that affect your writing? Do you need some perfect environment to be able to write? Do you play music in the background or have to be out at a coffee shop or in complete silence? 

Many writers are playing mind games when it comes to the answers to such questions. In this article, I want to dispel some of these misconceptions of the mind and encourage you to take a different mindset and action strategy.

Some people feel like they can’t write on their current project until they get in the perfect place and environment. Their pencils have to be sharp and the surrounding atmosphere has to be right. Maybe you like writing on your home computer in silence or you prefer being at a busy coffee shop tucked into a back corner with your laptop and a cup of your favorite drink. 

Many writers set a specific word count goal for their work in progress to make sure they hit their deadlines and produce what their editor is asking from them. I like the word count strategy and have used it a number of times when I’m in production on a book project. The issue is what happens when something is off from your expectations. Do you still manage to write or does it throw you off track? 

For my writing life, my mindset in these situations is critical.  I began writing for publication in high school, then trained as a journalist in college. For the college newspaper, we wrote our stories in a busy room with about 30 manual typewriters and shoulder to shoulder with someone else writing their story. I spent one summer working as an intern in the city room of a local newspaper. Reporters were talking on the phone and sometimes shouting at each other. In the middle of it, we were charged to write our stories and meet deadlines. From this experience, I learned a valuable lesson: I can write anywhere. It’s a trick of the mind to tell you that you can’t write in a less than perfect situation. 

Because I learned to type on a manual typewriter, I’ve always been hard on my keyboards where I spend a lot of time every day. In fact, the several frequently used letters on the keyboard wear off because of my extensive use of them. About once a year, I’ve been replacing the keyboard on my desktop computer. 

I often write in my office on my desktop computer and without any background music. I admit it is a simple environment. I’ve written in coffee shops, in airports, in airplanes, in hotel rooms and many other locations inside and outside. Whether I crank out a number of pages or just a few paragraphs or phrases of things which I will write, there is one consistent fact: I put my fingers on the keyboard and move them cranking out words. In this process, I set aside any mind questions about whether I can do it or not or whether it will be productive or the right words. Instead of answering these questions of the mind, I simply tell my stories and write.  This process has served me well through the years because I’ve written for numerous publications and many books. 

In past entries, I’ve mentioned using my Alpha Smart 2000 which I bought on Ebay for about $20. When Jerry B. Jenkins interviewed me, I mentioned using this tool and he had not heard of it. Follow this link to hear my 35-minute interview. The Alpha Smart is a full-size keyboard and holds about 150 pages of words. Some of my novelist friends will use it on their back porch or in their local library or any number of other places. It’s old technology and works on three AA batteries. You never lose anything and can simply write. When you get to your laptop or desktop, you hook up the Alpha Smart to your computer, open a Word file and push the send button. Yes, it is that simple. 

How do you stop your mind games about where and when you should write? Let me know in the comments. 

Tweetable:

As a writer, does your environment have certain restrictions before you can write? How do you escape these writing mind games? This article gives some insights from this prolific writer and editor.  (ClickToTweet)

Much of the publishing process is outside of the writer’s control. 10 Publishing Myths helps writers have a realistic perspective and take action. Get 10 Publishing Myths for only $10 +FREE shipping + over $200 of free bonuses.

A Favorite Place to Read

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Consistent reading is one of the important skills for every writer to maintain and develop. To write for a particular mnagazine, you want to read this publication either in print or online to know what they are publishing. Publications have guidelines and you want to read those guidelines and follow them before sending in your query or article. This information is critical to give your submission the best chance of getting published. Also in the book area, you want to be reading books like you want to write. If you want to write children's books, you need to be aware of what is getting published and if you are writing fiction, you need to be reading what others are doing in your area. While reading is an important skill, do you have a favorite place to read?

 

Many years ago when I worked at Christianity.com and lived in northern California, my wife surprised me with a brown leather chair for my office. We've moved a number of times but this chair has been a consistent part of my office and it's where I've been reading for years. In my current office, the movers struggled to get this chair into the room. They had to manuever a narrow hallway and turn it to get it into this room—not an easy process but they got it done.

 

My leather chair is an important part of my office equipment. I read some things on my computer screen but for concentated reading or reading for pleasure, I physically move from my desk to my leather reading chair. For me, the physical movement from my desk to my reading chair is also a mental mind shift from writing to reading or consuming information.

 

There are several things which are important about in my writing life about this physical shift:

1. It is a consistent habit

2. when I get books to read and possibly review, I know how to handle it

3. when I read magazines I know where I will read them and put them beside my reading chair. I have a plan and don't clutter my desk or mix it into other paperwork.

4. It helps me keep organized and orderly in my office. In general an organized writer is a productive writer.

 

A reading chair is a consistent part of my writing life. Do you have a favorite place to read? Let me know in the comments below.

 

 Tweetable:

Reading is an important skill for every writer. This prolific editor and author tells about his favorite place to read and asks if you have such a place. Get the details here. (ClickToTweet)

Does your fiction or nonfiction book have a business plan? Every type of book needs a proposal—even if you self-publish. Get this resource.

Other recent articles I've written:

Five Reasons to Review Books In a related topic to this one about my reading chair, I encourage every writer to review books with five different reasons for such action.

Every Writer Must Build An Audience In this article, I give details about the mysterious word “platform” and why every writer needs to find their audience and what it takes to build one.

Facing the Mundane

 

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

Within the process of the Writing Life, there is a great deal of routine and mundane tasks. How do you face these tasks? Do you ignore them or move ahead and do them?

 

If I'm honest I love to tell stories and write words into my computer. Then I send those stolries to editors who see it is a fit for their publication, so they publish the material published in magazines or books or online or another format. It sounds simple but is much more complex.

 

While you may be writing the stories for yourself, each writer has to understand they are writing for the reader and have to have them clearly in their focus to capture the editor's attention. Many magazines require you write a one page pitch letter called a query letter. You have to learn how to use words which catch attention. There are thousands of these publications and you have to learn which ones will be a fit for whatever you are pitching and reach that editor with your pitch. Often you have to pitch numerous times before you find the right fit and this process can be repetitive and boring—yet it is a necessary part of the business. If you don't pitch, then you don't get the hearing and opportunity to be published.

 

The other specialized document which every writer needs to learn to craft—whether they write fiction or nonfiction is a book proposal, which is your business plan for your book. The proposal contains information which never appears in your manuscript but the various gatekeepers like agents and editors use to make decisions. Even if you self-publish your book, you still need a proposal.

 

There is often a lot of change within editorial offices. You have to reach these new editors, develop your relationships with them and pitch your ideas. Then when they agree to look at it, your pitch has to be on track and something they will want. It sounds simple but there are many places where the process can be stopped.

 

Also as an author, I have to use a gentle follow-up when I don't get a response. Every editor or agent get a lot of email and if you don't follow-up, it's easy for that pitch to slip through the cracks and not happen. Your approach has to be gentle and not pushy—because the easiest answer to get (and one you don't want) is “no thank you” or silence. These follow-up skills are something everyone can develop but are often a part of the mundance aspects or repetitive aspects of publishing.

 

Part of being an author is to market my work in various ways such as email, social media, magazines, media interviews or numerous other ways. As an author, I report my activities to my publisher, who passes these activities on to our sales team who passes it on to the bookstores. This communication process is important and what keeps my books out in the bookstores (selling rather than getting returned). But filling out these forms is routine and mundane—yet a necessary part of this business. At the core, we are in the communication business and you have to communicate in the expected manner.  

 

These are just a few of the routine tasks that I do in my writing life. I have a number of other routine tasks that I do as an acquisitions editor. Even if I don't like them, I can't ignore them because they are a part of the business. Much of what I do is outside of my direct control.

 

Here's what I can do:

 

--be responsible for my own actions.

--keep pitching and knocking on new doors as well as places where I have established a relationship.

--keep doing the routine —even when something crashes or gets cancelled (which has happened recently)

--use the gentle follow-up when you aren't getting response. It's what I have been doing over and over (yes mundane) for years.

 

It's not easy but possible—if you continue down the path. As I've written about some of the obstacles are my own internal struggles. My advice is to just do it.  Otherwise it often does not happen.

 

How do you face the mundane aspects of the writing life? Ignoring it will not make it go away. My encouragement is to keep doing it. Let me know in the comments below.

 

Tweetable:

Many aspects of the writing life are routine and mundane. How do you handle them? Get some ideas from this prolific editor and author. (ClickToTweet)

Are You Missing A Key Element to Publish Your Book? Get the details here. 

Writing in the Cracks of Life

By Terry Whalin @terrywhalin

When do you write? Early in the morning? Late at night or in the cracks of life? For me, it often depends on what I have that needs to be written. If I'm writing on a book, then I will often figure out how many words I need to write in order to meet the deadline. Often I will add a few days of cushion into this process because interruptions and unexpected things always happen. If I'm on a book deadline, then I will write for an extended period of time (several hours). It doesn't matter if it is in the morning, afternoon or late at night. For some of my deadlines when I had a full-time job at an office, I've written all night long to meet a writing deadline.

 

While it is nice to have a big block of time to write, I also have written in small portions of time or in the cracks of life. Maybe I will have a few minutes in the morning to write a few paragraphs. Or I will have some time in the late afternoon to write a few more paragraphs on a piece. In general, I scratch out a few phrases as an outline first, then I write from that outline and in my mind I have an idea where I'm going with the piece and how it will come together.

 

After years of tackling these questions as a writer, I believe some of the issue is mindset. If you tell yourself that you are a morning person and can only write in the morning, then you will be challenged to write late at night. If you are a night owl and tell yourself that you don't think well in the mornings, then you will find it hard to write in the mornings. My counsel is not to play these sort of mind games with yourself. If you can write, then you can write whenever you have the opportunity to write.  I have no preconceived notions and that is a key part of my writing mindset.

 

Another element is to learn when you do your best creative work. For some people it is early in the morning. For other people they need to be at a coffee shop with people around them (sort of like writing in a newsroom of a newspaper). Sometimes I write on my Alpha Smart (especially when I travel). Admittedly for a year I have not been in hotel rooms or airplanes with a world-wide pandemic. But this situation is beginning to change as I'm starting to traveling again.

 

For my small deadlines (like these weekly articles about The Writing Life), then I write in cracks of time. Do you have a system or method or manner about your writing? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Tweetable:

How do you write in the cracks of life? Get the details here from this prolific editor and author. (ClickToTweet)

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How Writers Can Attract Editors and Agents

As writers, we want literary agents and editors to love our words and be attracted to our book proposals and manuscript pitches. The process is subjective and each editor and agent is looking for what will be right for their agency or their publishing house.  Yet after years in this business, we are attracted to great writing (and you don't have to read much of a manuscript to recognize excellence). Also writers who understand their target audience—and more importantly know how to reach them are attractive.

Today I want to give you four ways you can become more attractive to an agent or editor. This attraction factor can show up in any type of communication such as a phone call, an email or in person. I want to begin with something that does not attract or attracts negative attention. Recently I was corresponding with a novelist who was pitching her novella. She said, “I am no marketer.” As an editor, I don't want to work with an author who has this attitude. It started me thinking about how writers can attract literary agents and editors.

1. Have the Right Mindset. You may long to be a “writer” or “storyteller” and not a marketer. I understand and you are exactly like every other writer with this longing.  Yet saying such words to an editor or agent does not attract them.  In fact, it can drive them away from you. These publishing professionals are looking for authors who “get it.” If you have the right mindset, you understand you have to build your audience and work every day at being connected to readers. Everything begins with the right attitude or mindset.

2. Commit to consistent time to learning about the craft of writing and how to build your audience. It will take time to build your email list or your following. Get ideas from my free ebook, Platform-Building Ideas for Every Author. Your consistent effort in this area will pay off.

3. Don't let rejection get to you. When Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were rejected repeatedly as they pitched Chicken Soup for the Soul (before they were published and when they were looking for a publisher), with each rejection they looked each other and said, “Next.” See the upbeat and looking ahead way they handled rejection. When you get rejected (and yes it will happen because it still happens to me after all these years), say the word, “Next” and move forward to the next opportunity.

4. It takes persistence to find the right publisher and editor for you. Editors and agents are looking for great material that will sell (subjective I know). You can be attractive to these professionals as you hone your pitch and test it with other writers. Get it down to a sentence or two that pulls the agent or editor to want to know more details.

Your persistence will pay off and if I can help in this process, don't hesitate to reach out to me. I'm always looking and as an acquisitions editor, I send contracts to authors every week.

Tweetable:

Discover 4 Keys for Writers to Attract Editors and Agents. (ClickToTweet)