Writers in the Storm

Over the years, I've read many articles and listened to many talks about the job of a writer. Or the responsibility of a writer. I never really worried too much about those ideas, because I knew the job of a writer was to write the best story possible. 

Now that my first book is out in the world—even if it's only been twenty-four hours— I've been considering my "job" with respect to people who pay money for, then read, my book.

Here are possible answers to the question:

• To deliver an engaging tale
• To deliver a message, be it social commentary, inspiration, or warning, in an engaging way
• To deserve our readers' time
• To offer value to our readers
• To offer hope
• To present possible solutions to life's problems
• To allow readers to escape from their lives for a few hours
• To open readers' eyes to other "things" in life
• To give readers a chance to laugh, or cry, or scream, or love
• To incite imagination or creativity
• To provide a safe environment for readers to feel emotions that might be unsafe in real life
• To provide tales paralleling a reader's life
• To show how to "go another way"
• To provide a reflective mirror for readers' thinking, behavior, and emotion
• To provide catharsis for the writer

This last option could begin a list of negative reasons to author a book. There are, no doubt, many. However we aren't going into things like "payback" because if you're here, reading this, you're interested in your craft, and I'm betting you're not writing for revenge or to bang some kind of drum.

There are those neophytes who are motivated purely by money and believe they can pound on their keyboards and, in the blink of an eye, produce a best seller. I'm betting this isn't you either.

If you are like me, you have a real connection to your characters and their stories. You write because you have to tell the story of the people who've taken up residence in your heart and your head. You want to share this most marvelous story with others. And your reasons for writing this story might include several of the above list and more.

Take a moment now to think about why you write. If suddenly, reading books went to zero popularity, how would that affect you—in the not so obvious ways? How would your inner fire for writing fare? If writing fiction became illegal, what would you risk to share your voice?

Such a scenario seems unlikely, except in speculative fiction stories. But stretching your thinking can help you find what fires your passion for writing. And knowing why you write, may just improve your writing. I know that dealing with my job as author was important for me during the revision process for P.R.I.S.M. I know that the final revision was better for the time I took to "figure out" my own backstory and why it was important for me to tell this particular story. 

Next week on Wednesday, I'll dig into the nitty-gritty of the how-to techniques for the above bullet points. 

 

What would you add to your writer job description? 

 

ABOUT FAE:

Fae Rowen discovered the romance genre after years as a science fiction freak. Writing futuristics and medieval paranormals, she jokes  that she can live anywhere but the present. As a mathematician, she knows life’s a lot more fun when you get to define your world and its rules.

Punished, oh-no, that’s published as a co-author of a math textbook, she yearns to hear personal stories about finding love from those who read her books, rather than the horrors of calculus lessons gone wrong.  She is grateful for good friends who remind her to do the practical things in life like grocery shop, show up at the airport for a flight and pay bills.

A “hard” scientist who avoided writing classes like the plague, she now shares her brain with characters who demand that their stories be told.  Amazing, gifted critique partners keep her on the straight and narrow. Feedback from readers keeps her fingers on the keyboard.

P.R.I.S.M., a young adult science fiction romance story of survival, betrayal, resolve, deceit, lies, and love.

When she’s not hanging out at Writers in the Storm, you can visit Fae at http://faerowen.com  or www.facebook.com/fae.rowen

Jamie Raintree

There has been one goal I've spent my entire writing life trying to accomplish and failing miserably at: waking up early to write.

Over the years, many challenges have played a role in keeping me from mastering this habit. First, it was simply not having a reason to get up that early. I've worked at home for myself for most of my life, so I didn't have anyone waiting on me and have often taken full advantage of that. Then, it was being up most of the night with my girls when they were babies and toddlers and, let's face it, even still sometimes. And then, unfortunately, a decline in health which I have since mostly recovered from.

These days, as a published author, business owner, and someone who wants to live a life of intention, my desire to set a calm and productive tone for the day outweighs any obstacles and I'm proud to say that the habit is finally starting to stick and it has transformed my approach to the day, as well as how smoothly my writing goes.

WHY WAKE UP EARLY?

The tactic of waking up early is becoming widely shared amongst professionals and those who strive for optimal health, productivity, and progress toward their goals. In fact, there's an entire book written about the importance of waking up early, how to use that time effectively, and techniques for making it happen, called The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, which I highly recommend.

There is one major reason to wake up early and it is this: you set the tone for your day with purpose and intention.

Too often, we let others set the tone for us when we wake up to the alarm clock (or maybe even after hitting snooze a few times) and immediately rush out of bed to get to work or to get the kids to school on time. Be honest...is your first thought of the day, ughhhhhhh? Is your first emotion panic or anxiety? It's hard to have an enthusiastic, joyful, and productive day when you begin the day in reactive mode. Reactive mode always leads to overwhelm and negativity.

When you start the day on your terms, not only do you have more control over your day, you're also more likely to have positive emotions at the beginning of the day and by extension, the rest of the day. Both of these benefits will have an extremely positive influence on your writing.

WHAT TIME, EXACTLY, ARE WE TALKING HERE?

Your first instinct might be to either get up half an hour early and try in vain to be productive during that time, which will very unlikely happen, or to get up two hours early and spend that entire time writing. I would caution against either approach. In the first instance, a half hour will fly by in the blink of an eye and you'll end up stressed anyway, trying to fit writing into such a short amount of time. In the second, when you spend the entire time writing, you're more concerned with checking something off your to-do list than setting the tone for the day. I've tried and learned from both.

What has been successful for me is to wake up 1 - 2 hours before you need to do anything for anyone else, and before you need to get ready to leave the house. This may sound painful or maybe impossible, but once you design this time to fulfill all your heart's needs, and you see the boost it gives your writing, you'll be hooked.

For me, even though I spend only half an hour writing in the morning and maybe accumulate a few hundred words, it has made my writing time later in the day almost doubly as productive. The first week I got up early consistently, I had my highest word count week for the entire year! I credit my morning routine for getting my head in the story right off the bat, which keeps it in the forefront of my mind all day, instead of coming to the page cold.

TIPS FOR WAKING UP EARLY

For me, the hardest part of waking up early is the getting out of bed part. It's not that I haven't gotten enough rest or that I don't want to get up, it's that my bed is cozy and sleeping in feels decadent and who doesn't need more decadence in their life? The trick then is to make getting out of bed more compelling and more decadent than staying in it. Here are a few tactics that have worked well for me:

Use HALF of your morning time for writing.

Listen, we love writing. Obviously. But let's be honest, it can also be a chore. Getting up to work, isn't really compelling. (For those of you who do already write early in the morning, you are magical creatures and we scorn you.) Therefore, use the other half of your time to do something that you enjoy, or better yet, that excites you! Read, run, do yoga, watch a TV show, take a bubble bath--doesn't matter! As long as it makes you WANT to get out of bed and makes you look forward to that time.

The Alarmy App on iPhone and Android.

This is not your ordinary alarm clock that you can hit snooze on and roll back over. In order to turn off the alarm, it forces you to wake up your brain and get your butt out of bed! There are options for shutting off the alarm, such as shaking it vigorously, completing math problems, or my favorite, taking a picture you set the night before. I use a picture of my coffee maker so in order to turn off the sound, I have to go downstairs and line it up perfectly to get the right shot. By the time I'm down there, I'm already up and might as well just get the coffee started. This is probably my #1 tip for making early mornings happen.

Drink water immediately.

This is my #2 most important tip! I have learned a lot about health in my quest for healing but I'll make this short and sweet: your body heals aggressively while you are sleeping because it is finally relaxed enough to do it. This is why sleep is so important. (And why stress and overworking are so detrimental--your body doesn't get enough rest to heal during the day, which it also needs.) Healing requires copious amounts of water, which is why you are almost always dehydrated when you wake up whether you realize it or not. If your bladder can handle it, drink water before bed so your body has a head start on proper hydration and then top it off in the morning. I keep a water bottle by the bed and am already drinking from it before I've fully opened my eyes. SO. IMPORTANT.

Prepare the night before.

It isn't so much about shaving thirty seconds off your coffee routine in the morning so much as it is about setting your mind toward the early wake up. As you go through the checklist--make sure the coffee pot has water and grounds, set out yoga mat and yoga clothes, put a favorite book by the couch with a glass of water--you visualize your morning routine and further cement the habit into your brain. Saving yourself a few minutes in the morning is an added bonus.

Is this a habit you think you'd like to try to implement? Have you tried it before--what worked and what didn't? If you are a magical creature and already have an early morning routine, share your tips!

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About Jaimie

Jamie Raintree is an author and a writing business teacher. She is also a mother of two girls, a wife, a businesswoman, a nature-lover, and a wannabe yogi. Her debut novel, PERFECTLY UNDONE, will be released on October 3, 2017 by Graydon House. Subscribe to her newsletter for more writing tips, workshops, and book news. To find out more, visit her website.

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Kathryn Craft

The city of Tokyo is in a precarious spot, balanced at the juncture of four tectonic plates. Even as Tokyo’s inhabitants conduct daily life and continue to build upward, somewhere in the back of their minds they are anticipating a sudden shift in any one of these plates that will remove the ground beneath them.

Today’s publishing world is similarly positioned. Its author inhabitants are trying to build careers on top of shifting plates outside our control—we might name them Publisher, Agent, Reader, and The Economy. You might think you have everything aligned—your perfect advocate will find your work its permanent “publishing home”—but this is modern capitalism, not family life. When a market shift occurs, everyone must scramble to protect their bottom line.

It is difficult to build something lasting on uncertain ground—but it’s not impossible. Since Japan is the world leader in anti-seismic building technologies, let’s look at what the adaptations they’ve made can teach us about building a sustainable publishing career.

A foundation concretized with writing craft and business savvy is a great start, but might not be enough to keep your career from crumbling in the case of a quake. Because here is what Tokyo’s architects have learned about concrete foundations: when poured over a shifting world, they are prone to cracks.

In response, these architects are developing new strategies. Hydraulic dampers allow the façade to absorb seismic energy. Base isolation technology lets the building separate from its concrete foundation so it can float, then settle. Looser bolting systems allow movement. New super-elastic alloys can pull a twisted building back into position.

In other words, from the outset, they are building flexibility into their design.

Build flexibility into your career design

How can you build the type of flexibility into your writing career so that it might withstand sudden market shifts? Here are five ideas that can be employed at any stage—but the earlier you can embed them into your growing career, the less damage a quake will inflict.

• Get real. Accept that you alone are the architect for your career. Editors and agents can be valuable advisors, but they have enough buildings going up that if one topples, they have others to work on.
• Say aloud: “I am not my fear.” Career quakes might not threaten life and limb, but the fear of losing respect, earning potential, and self-concept is real. Use a looser bolting system to that fear. Feel it and let it go. When you settle back onto your base, you’ll realize that you are the same career architect you were right before the quake was felt. You might have a bigger challenge before you, but since the days you first began digging your foundation, you have grown in the skills needed to tackle it.
• Ask: How can this challenge help me? Quakes shake things up. How could that inspire you to find new building materials? Could you write in different genres under different names? Try different forms, such as screenplays or essays? A setback need not diminish you. It could inspire you to grow.
• Seek the support of other writers. When your high-rise optimism cracks, writing friends can pour on the flexible perspective that allows your twisted sense of self to regain its shape. Through valuable give-and-take, friends can tether each other’s buildings to safer emotional ground.
• Love the writing. Career stagnation need not equal writing stagnation. If you love to write, do that. Stockpiling projects in itself creates the blocks that build a career. On the days when writing is all you have, the deep satisfaction it brings needs to be enough.

Today’s authors build careers on shifting soil, that is a fact. But adaptations created by Japanese visionaries suggest that sudden shifts needn’t tear down a career. We can plan for ways to absorb the shock when the inevitable happens. Then, while others turn a blind eye to the rumbling from below, you’ll be able to use your greater emotional flexibility to keep reaching for the sky.

To buoy each other up, let’s share: What moments of deep satisfaction sustain you as a writer? What methods have you used to shore yourself up when a setback rattles you?

 

 

Kathryn Craft  is the award-winning author of two novels from Sourcebooks, The Art of Falling and The Far End of Happy, and a developmental editor at Writing-Partner.com, specializing in storytelling structure and writing craft. Her chapter “A Drop of Imitation: Learn from the Masters” was included in the writing guide Author in Progress, from Writers Digest Books. Janice Gable Bashman’s interview with her, “How Structure Supports Meaning,” originally published in the 2017 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market, has been reprinted in The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing, both from Writer’s Digest Books.