Recycling Isn't Just for the Trashman

Recycling isn’t limited to plastics and tin cans. It can play a big part in your writing, too.  Over the years, you’ll gather a lot of information. Too many writers use that information once because many of their teachers drummed the concept of not repeating into their heads. So they use an idea once and forget about it. In the writing biz, that’s not the way to make money.

Information should be a valuable commodity to you as a writer. Whether you write non-fiction or fiction, you can use ideas and the information you gathered to flush them out over and over again. Your files are a gold mine. So if you’re one of those people who can’t stand clutter and throws everything out as soon as you’re done with it, you better think again.

So what are some of the ways you can mine all those ideas and valuable information you have on hand? First, let’s look at the facts—just the facts. If you write non-fiction, you gather a truckload of facts for every article and if you write books, a boatload. That’s a lot of facts to let go to waste. So how do you know where they are when you need them? The answer is a good filing system.

Every article or story you write should have its own folder, both paper and digital. You should put all the notes and clippings and such into the paper folder. Reserve the digital folder for information you find online and for drafts of your piece. The idea of going all digital may be nice, but it isn’t practical. If you don’t have a way of retrieving the information you’ve stored, then you might as well have thrown it out.

For some topics, you may want to create several folders of information, subdividing a more complex topic into categories for easier retrieval. Information you gather for one subject or project may often be used for another on a similar one or a different one altogether. For example, let’s say you’re writing an article about pioneers traveling on the Oregon Trail. First, you’ll gather information about the Trail, itself, then you’ll begin to find information on the people who traveled it.

The information on the former can be used to not only tell the tale of the Oregon Trail when it was at its peak, but also about the remnants of the Trail in the present day. Information gathered about the latter can be used for stories about courage along the trail or articles about particular people or the lifestyle of the early settlers of the West. Right there, you have the material to write any number of stories and articles all based on the same research.

So much for the information you have on hand. But what about all those pieces you’ve already wrote and published? Taking pieces from different articles, for instance, can give you a whole new piece. With some rewriting and revising, you can craft another interesting piece without doing any more research.

And don’t forget about sidebars. Sidebars to one article can become short articles in themselves, especially if you do some quick rewriting to help them stand on their own.

Storing all that information can become a problem. Over your writing career, you’ll gather reference books, clippings, brochures, maps—you name it—and that’s not even considering all the notes you’ve taken on various subjects. But if you organize the material for easy access, you’ll be able to produce a variety of pieces for many different markets during your career.

The Power of Cause and Effect

Cause and effect is the most powerful tool you can use as both a writer of creative non-fiction or fiction. While in the former fact dictates what happens next because it actually happened, in the latter it’s up to you, the writer, to figure out what happens next.

One of the best places to see the bad side of cause and effect is on T.V. Here, writers face a number of challenges—time restrictions, actor availability, and budget. One of the classic snafues of cause and effect was in the primetime drama “Dallas.” Patrick Duffy gets killed off when a problem arises with his contract and then miraculously comes back to life after it’s settled by saying he dreamed it all. T.V. writers are notorious for killing off characters who have contract disputes.

You can see one of the worst uses of cause and effect in the sci-fi drama “Stargate Universe.” Unlike it’s parent series, “Stargate SG-1,” which told its story in a smooth flowing way, this series jumps around so much that it becomes hard to follow as the episodes unfold. Add to that the lack of plausibility of some of the events, and you end up with a mishmash of comings and goings that even a diehard novel reader would find hard to endure.

Everything in a story must be caused by the action or event that precedes it. That’s a fact. If you start playing with flashbacks and flash forwards, you better make damn sure that what you write is clear to the reader. And while that seems like an obvious statement, you’d be surprised how paying closer attention to cause and effect can improve your writing.

Whether you pursue creative non-fiction or fiction, your main goal should be to ensure that your reader is always emotionally present in the story—that is, you want them to empathize with your main character throughout. But when you force readers to guess why something happened or didn’t happen, even for just a split second, it causes them to intellectually disengage and distances them from the story. Rather than remaining present alongside the characters, they’ll begin to analyze or question the progression of the plot. In the process, they lose their place in the progression of things. This is exactly what happens in all episodes of Stargate Universe. .

When a reader tells you that he or she couldn’t put a book down, usually it’s because everything in the story followed logically. Stories that move forward naturally, cause to effect, keep the reader engrossed and flipping pages. If you fail to do this, it can confuse readers, kill the pace and show your weaknesses as a writer.

Let’s say you’re writing a short story in which the bad guy is chasing your lead character.

    Fumbling with the latch, he managed to lock the door because he knew the killer  would soon be on the other side.

Writing is that way, you’d break the reader’s emotional engagement with the story.

Instead, you should reverse the sentence so it reads like this:

    He knew the killer would soon be on the other side of the door, so he fumbled with the latch and finally locked it.

If you find that one sentence is serving to explain what happened in the sentence that preceded it, you can usually improve the writing by reversing the order so that you render rather than explain the action.

If you’ve written a scene in which you could connect the events with the word “because,” then you can typically improve the scene by structuring it so that you could instead connect the events with the word “so.” The stimulus leads naturally to the response.

In more complex scenes, realizations and discoveries usually happen after actions, not before them. Always build on what has been said or done, rather than laying the foundation after you’ve built the idea. Continually move the story forward, rather than forcing yourself to flip backward to give the reason something occurred.

One way of making sure things don’t go awry in complex scenes is to list each event in the order that it’s supposed to happen. By creating this visual guide, you’re more likely to stay on track. This is especially useful in flashbacks and flash forwards.

Your writing will be more effective if you show the reader what’s happening as it happens rather than explain to the reader what just happened.

However, there are three exceptions to this rule—three times when you can move from effect to cause without shattering the spell of your story.

The first occurs in scene or chapter breaks. Here, you can begin with a vague reference in dialogue that you can follow up as the scene unfolds. The reader will immediately be curious as to what’s happening and will want to continue reading to find out what happens.

The second exception occurs when one action causes two or more simultaneous reactions. Your character might sigh and look out the window, the order of which could go either way.

The final exception happens when your character deduces something the reader hasn’t yet concluded. Imagine Sherlock Holmes staring at the back of an envelope, cleaning out a drainpipe, and brushing off a nearby stick of wood, after which he announces that he’s solved the case. The reader asks, “How did he do that?” This peaks the reader’s  curiosity, and later when the character explains his deductive reasoning, the reader sees that everything followed logically from the preceding events.

If the writers took the time to make any of the above happen in the episodes of "Stargate Universe," the story wouldn’t have been so confusing. This is especially important when writing science fiction, which, in itself, can be confusing enough, particularly when the writer creates whole new worlds.

How to Get Started in Children’s Writing

If you like kids and have a genuine love of children’s books, you’re on your way to writing for them. But you’ve probably heard stories about how competitive publishing is—especially children’s book publishing—and how manuscripts can sit on an editor’s desk for a long time before the editor takes action, one way or the other. But don’t let that stop you.

The first step to getting published is to find an idea that will fit within the category of children’s books you’ve chosen. The idea must fit the category, and thus the age and reading level of the child who will be reading it.

To begin, make friends with the children’s librarian at your local public library. Find out what the new trends are in children’s literature.  Find out what kids are reading these days. The answers will surprise you. And if there are any kids there, watch how they choose books from the shelves, especially in your book category, and listen to their conversation. Then check out a dozen or so books in your chosen category that are similar to the concept you have for yours.

If you don’t have a definite idea, read other media directed at children. You can often get a sense of what the next trend in children's book publishing is going to be by studying kid's magazines. You’ll find a selection them at your library or bookstore. Most come out monthly, so they respond to trends faster than book publishers. Studying Web sites geared for children can also provide cutting-edge information. Many of these Web sites are educational ones. Others tie in directly to product lines or books directed to children. And many children’s magazines have their own interactive sites for kids.

When you come up with some ideas, test them out on some children of the age range you’re targeting—your own or those of friends and neighbors. Tell them about your ideas and ask them what they think. Children, especially younger ones, are extremely honest, and they’ll tell you whether they like the idea. In fact, they’ll ask you how soon they can read your book. This is early test marketing.

If you’re considering writing a non-fiction book for your children’s age group, read the news, either in print or online. Start a file of clippings or printouts of articles that apply to children and your specific subject.

Besides talking to kids about the books they’re reading, spend time with your target readership.
Volunteer at a school library, get involved with a church youth group, or figure out another way to get firsthand experience with kids. Investing your time and creativity into getting to know kids is the best way to learn to write for them.

Attend writers conferences. The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, a large international organization for those who write and illustrate children's books, sponsors regional conferences and two large national conferences a year. But don’t limit yourself to just children’s book writing conferences. Networking with other writers at general writing conferences can be helpful, too. Besides interacting with other writers in person, you should also search for children’s writing forums and communities online.

You should do all of the above on an ongoing basis. Once you get a good idea and test it on some children, you’re ready to begin planning your book. The information you gather from the above sources will help you throughout your children’s writing career.

Next Week: The Changing Face of Children’s Book Publishing

What It Takes to Write a Non-fiction Book

Beginning writers look up at that ivory pedestal and wish that some day they could be standing on it. But most of the time the writer that’s currently standing on it high above the masses is the one who writes fiction. Why is that?

Perhaps it’s because the majority of what a novelist writes comes from his or her imagination. Readers respect that. But those who write non-fiction books work just as hard—perhaps harder—since they deal in facts and can’t embellish those facts to enhance their story.

So what does it take to write a non-fiction book? It takes commitment and lots and lots of research. The subject you chose for your book has to be one that will appeal to a wide variety of readers. While other writers may have written about it before, you have to choose the right angle that will make your chosen subject seem new and exciting. In non-fiction, that’s known as a slant.

No matter how much you want to write a book, don’t start out doing that. First, your writing skills may not be up to it, and second, your organizational skills won’t certainly be up to it. And if you haven’t written and published articles, on the subject of your book or not, you don’t have the credibility publishers look for.

So you say, forget the publishers, I’m going to publish my book myself electronically. That’s all well and good, but unless you have a reputation as a writer, why should readers buy it. And after all the work you’ll be putting into it, you certainly want them to do that.

Writing a book direct from the starting gate is like going from grammar school to graduate school in one leap. Chances are highly likely that you won’t finish it, and even if you do, it won’t sell. You need to be comfortable with the writing process before you tackle a book. You should be sure you can actually write well enough to be able to focus your attention on other things, such as organization, process, and deadlines and not have to worry about your writing. .

Before you begin to write your book, you’ll need to plan it out. Writers call this blocking. While you may want to start with an informal list of what you want to include, eventually you’ll need to create a table of contents. The table of contents becomes your guide while writing your book.

But before you can even begin putting together your table of contents, you’ll need to do quite a lot of research. You’ll need to do two types of research—marketing research and content research. The first looks into what other books have bene published on your subject and when. The second digs for the facts you’ll need to produce the content of your book. Both are equally important.

If there are lots of books published on your subject, it may not do well because of a flooded market. If there aren’t any or few books published on your subject, it may also not do well because readers may not be interested in it. So you have to look for a happy medium.

Researching the content of your book is a big job that takes a great deal of organization. You may choose to do all the research and then write your book, or you may research one chapter at a time. Whatever you do, use your table of contents to help keep things organized.

If you’ve chosen to self-publish your book and before you start to write it, set a drop-dead deadline—one that you can work with—and work backwards to the present time. Include editing, copy editing, revisions, and extra time for the unknown and unknowable. If there isn’t enough time between then and now, change the final deadline or publication date

If you choose the publisher route, you’ll begin by composing a query letter and sending it out to publishers, that through your marketing research, you believe may show an interest in it. In this case, you won’t begin to write your book until you get a firm commitment from a publisher who will also set the deadline for completion of the manuscript.

There are two ways to write your book. The first is in chronological order, beginning with Chapter One. The second is to write it out of order, beginning with the easiest chapter first and working ahead to the more complex ones.

Edit each chapter as you finish it. This is much easier than waiting to edit your whole book. As you write, be honest with yourself. If you get that little pang of doubt, listen to it. Don’t con yourself and don’t fall in love with your own pearls on paper. On the other hand, don’t polish until you take all the luster off the page. Know when to stop editing.

However, the editing you do is to get the manuscript in the best condition possible. Even though you’ve edited your work, you’ll need to find a professional editor to edit it if you’re self-publishing. Otherwise, you’ll send it to the publisher who will assign an in-house editor to work with you on the final copy edit. Writing your book is only half of the process.

Unless your publisher gives you a short deadline, figure out how much time you’ll need to complete your book and plan accordingly. Writing can’t be rushed. You’re not trying to make the early edition. You’re writing a book, perhaps your first. Between writing times, do something other than think about the book. Leave space between work sessions. Take a day to review research, and then sleep on it. Write, reread, leave it alone, and sleep on it. Remember, your mind will be working on your book while you’re sleeping.

It’s important not to overdo it when writing your book. Don’t work for hours on end. Take frequent breaks and spread the work out over days and weeks. Also, eat well, sleep as much as you need to, stretch frequently, and exercise. This is work. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Take Writing Seriously

Get in the habit—the writing habit, that is. The more you do, the better you’ll become. Unfortunately, life’s little annoyances—work, kids, grocery shopping, T.V. binge watching—all interfere with just plain getting down to work.  Such can be the life of a freelance writer unless you buckle down and take writing seriously.

There’s lots of advice for the taking—write every day, don't edit while you write, have goals. And while all of these are good, none are very helpful if you're trying to figure out just how they apply to you.

Before you can develop a new writing routine, you have to discover where you are. For how long do you normally write at one sitting? How often do you write? How many words do you produce in one session? When do you write—morning, afternoon, or evening?

To begin, figure out what type of writing ’s easiest for you to write—description, narrative, dialogue. You should be able to find out easily enough by paying attention to how much you write in any one session and what type of writing it is. You’ll soon see a pattern emerging.

Keep track of what you’re writing. Put a small notebook or pad of paper by your computer and note the following: type of writing, time you started, time you finished, and approximate word count.

When and how much you eat can also affect your writing. You’ll find that you’ll write more on an empty stomach. Your brain processes slow down on a full stomach, so your writing will also suffer.  And don’t think constantly sipping on a cup of coffee will help you to stay focused. In fact, it’s just the opposite. You’ll write better by reducing the amount of caffeine you have daily.

The same goes for exercise. A brisk walk before writing will get your endorphins going and thus make it easier to think and write. This doesn’t mean you’ll have to get up at sunrise and run five or six miles. Even walking briskly around the block will help get things going. Strength exercises, however, will have no effect on your writing.

If you’re addicted to your smartphone, as many people are today, turn it off when you’re working. Anyone who tries to call you will try to call you back later, or they’ll leave a message on voice mail. Answering just one call can distract you from your current train of thought. And if you don’t have a cell phone, make sure you have an answering machine and let it screen your calls.

The old adage is to write 500 words a day. That really refers to fiction writers. But if you can manage to write more, do it. Try to write a little more per day each week. It’s just like walking or jogging. Trying to do a little more each week will give you more stamina and, in the case of your writing, a way to increase your daily word count.

If you write non-fiction, the daily word count doesn’t necessarily apply. Most of the time you may be writing articles which are better dealt with in drafts rather than pieces. Non-fiction books, on the other hand, demand the same sort of daily word count objective as fiction.

In either case, if you can write more, you may want to switch projects. Perhaps work on an article in the morning and then on a chapter of your latest book in the afternoon. Switching subject matter or type of writing will stimulate you.

Do you just sit down to write, or do you know what you’re planning to write when you sit down? If you do the former, it will take you a bit of time to get started which cuts into your total writing time. But if you informally plan out what you’re going to work on, you’ll find you get a lot more done. And better yet, make a To Do List of the day’s or week’s work and check things off as you complete them.

Some writers, like athletes, are superstitious. They think they need to put on the right clothes, arrange their work materials in the right way, and turn on equipment in the right order. None of this will make you write more. These little rituals only get in the way of just sitting down and putting your fingers to the keyboard.

Above all, develop some good writing habits. Try to write for at least two hours a day. Don’t start writing and just go on and on. You’ll find you’ll have to redo most of what you wrote in the last half of the time. 

Strike when an idea is hot. If a good idea comes to you, even at odd times of the day, take advantage of it and get to your computer—or at least jot it down on a piece of paper. This could be an idea for a story or perhaps a way of solving a problem you’re already having with a passage. If you travel a lot, you may want to start carrying a small notebook with you to write down ideas as they come to you.

Work in your head. If you’re going to be writing full-time, you’ll find yourself writing even when you’re not at the keyboard. A good time is just before getting up in the morning. For many, that’s an ideal time to think out scenes or chapters.

Lastly, find the time to write that’s best for you. It’s different for everyone. Some writers get up super early and then knock off at Noon. Others start around 8 or 9 A.M. and write until perhaps 2 P.M.. And still others write in the evenings. Find your best time to write—not do research or read, but write—and stick with it.

Tips for Effective Research

Research is an important part of most writing. The majority of writers don’t just pull ideas and facts out of their heads. While their writing may appear smooth, logical, even flawless, behind it lies good research.

What and how much you research you do depends a lot of on the finished format of your writing. A short article or blog, for instance, requires far less research than say an investigative piece or a book. Even short stories may require some research to help you become familiar with the subject.

Today, you have at your disposal a multitude of sources of information. Researching for your writing isn’t like anything you did in school. Too many beginning writers remember back to researching term papers and fail to get the right kind and amount of information they need to complete their current work.

The best research begins with good general sources. To fully understand your subject you’ll need background information. Details come later. A quick search for an article on Wikipedia, for example, should give you an overview of your subject. But be careful, some of those articles often have misinformation. You may also find the background material you need in brochures and press releases. This is especially true when writing about businesses, travel, or products. Before compiling a list of questions for an interview, it helps to know something about the subject and the person you’ll be interviewing.

Take profile writing. To write a good profile, you need to learn all you can about the person so that you’ll be able to ask intelligent questions that get to the nitty gritty about their life or business. The more you learn ahead of time, the better results you’ll obtain from your interview.

Sometimes you have to look beyond the obvious. If writing about a product that’s no longer made, you may want to look into learning about the company that produced it. The development of the product or the progression of ownership of the company will often provide interesting details to add color to your story.

All of the above pertain to writing non-fiction. If you’re planning a novel, especially an historical one, you’ll need to learn about the lifestyle of the times so that you can truly convey the atmosphere of life back then. This includes not only major events in history, but the clothing that people wore, the cultural habits and mores of the time, and even the vocabulary and speech patterns to provide authentic dialog.

Finding appropriate background information for a novel can be more complicated and widespread than for non-fiction. It may require you to make research trips to locations you plan to include in your book. While there, you may want to visit museums to find information to fill out the details like costuming and local history. Some novelists begin writing in a broad way and then fill in the details later after completing their research. Others research first and then begin writing.

Whatever type of writing you do, you’ll want to make sure not to do too much research. Overdoing it can be just as bad as finding too little information. Know when to stop. A good rule for an article is to compile twice as many pages of notes, single spaced, as the number of pages of your finished article. Doing too much more than that will result in your using far more material and, in the end, having to cut half of it out to get back to the length your intended publication requires.

If you’re writing non-fiction, you’ll use most of the research you’ve done. But if you’re writing fiction, you may use less than half since the majority of what you write will have to deal with characters and dialog. 

Experience the Real World

Writing is a reflection of life. If you write non-fiction, it’s a documentation and interpretation of life. And if you choose to write fiction, you convert what happens in real life into fictional drama. The important thing is not to just sit in front of your computer and forget about life.  Get out and live it.

You learned to write in school. However, the academic environment of school isn’t real life. And though you studied past writers in the form of literature, you never learned about their techniques, only their ideas. In fact, too many academicians infer too much from the works of famous writers. They inject symbolism and innuendo into everyone’s work, because they can’t see into the mind of these writers at the moment of creation.

Ernest Hemingway is most noted for his adventures in the real world. He was to some extent an eccentric, but he knew that if he didn’t try all sorts of things, he wouldn’t be able to write honestly about any of them. The old saying, “Write what you know,” is key to this way of thinking.

But in school, you didn’t write what you know. When you had to write a research paper, you searched out the facts and spit them out on paper in perhaps a slightly different form. You never took the time to digest them. After all, the only reader who mattered in this process was your teacher. Only his or her opinion counted. But in real life that’s not how it works.

A good writer writes from experience. And while you may not be able to afford the time or money to experience everything in life, you do experience a lot each day. Much of it you take for granted.

You don’t have to go to some exotic locale to gain insight. If you’re like most people, you struggle with relationships day in and day out. You know how you relate to people and how they relate to you. With some acute observation, you can study the relationship of others. Everyone knows about relationships. They just take them for granted and seldom look at them as material to write about.

You probably also take a vacation once in a while. Some people go to the beach and just lie in the sun. But you can see the beach and all who are on it as one giant resource to draw on. While lying there, try playing the “What If” game. Look at the group of people nearest you and see what you can gain from observing them throughout the day. Tune in to their conversation. Do they give you any ideas that you can work into a story?

Or perhaps you prefer to go on an historic vacation, visiting historic sites nearby or far away. What are you learning about these places and the people who inhabited them? One writer visited Fort Delaware, a former POW camp for Confederate soldiers. The fort has been lovingly restored by a group of dedicated volunteers and the State of Delaware. Recently, they reconstructed one of the prisoners’ barracks which reveals the lives of the 12,000 prisoners who were incarcerated there for the duration of the war. He learned a lot about their experiences. So much so, that he was able to create an article that truly captures the POW experience at the time. Being able to sit on one of the bunks in the barracks and seeing re-enactors portraying the roles of various prisoners put him right back in the war. And the knowledge he gained on that visit help put his readers there, too.

But writing isn’t limited to pleasurable things. How about documenting a tragedy. With all the news available to you, you should be able to glean a wealth of information to use later in a short story or novel. Because the media goes into overkill on most tragedies or disasters, you won’t be able to use any of the information right away. But you can put aside what you’ve learned for a writing project in the near future. 

To experience life, you don’t have to go zipping through the cloud forest on a zip line or get in the ring with a ferocious bull. Instead, look to experience those things in life that interest you. Then you’ll really be able to write what you know.

The All-Important First Draft

First drafts are the all-important backbone of any article, short-story, or book. But many writers produce them as if they’re the final draft. There’s a great difference between the two.  And there’s a difference between a first draft in non-fiction and one in fiction.

In non-fiction, you begin with a mass of facts and have to compile them into a cohesive article or book that documents reality. But in fiction, you start out with nothing and have to create an illusion of reality. In both cases, a first draft gives you something to work with.

But even before you get to the first draft stage in your writing, you need to think about what you’re going to write. You’d be surprised just how many beginning writers don’t do this. This comes from bad practices they learned in school. Much of the writing they did was spontaneous writing in class. The teacher would give them an exercise, and they had to start it or even complete it in class. Too many carried this method over to their own writing.

In fact, you should begin by thoroughly thinking out your idea and how you plan to craft it. Then you need to block out what you plan to write. This isn’t an outline but a plan—and a loose one at that. You shouldn’t include too many details in your blocking but, instead, focus on the main and some of the subpoints. The main thing is to keep it flexible. Your blocked plan will help you to stay on course. In non-fiction, it will help you line up the facts in a logical order. In fiction, it will keep you from going down too many side paths and thus drifting away from your plot.

Think of your first draft as the clay, not the sculpture. A potter starts with a hunk of wet clay and kneads it into a pliable mass. At that point, he or she only has a vague idea of what the final piece will look like. And just like this mass of clay, your first draft will be messy and unrefined. But refining comes later. Your job now is just to get started.

So the first thing to do is to empty your head of everything on the subject at hand. In non-fiction, you most likely will have notes to refer to but in fiction, you may just create as you go. In both cases, you have your blocked plan to follow. Don worry about how your writing looks or sounds at this point. This is just between you and your  keyboard.

You shouldn’t show your first draft to anyone. You know it needs lots of work. In fact, you probably know exactly what that work should be. So showing your first draft to someone at this stage is pointless. It’s not called a “rough” draft for nothing.  And while you shouldn’t show your first draft to anyone, that doesn’t mean that you can’t discuss your idea with a close friend or family member. Doing so might help to free up the cobwebs in your brain. Talking about an idea  often helps a person think it out.

Today, both non-fiction and fiction writers do lots of research. But that can bog you down.  You may get so involved in your research that you never get to your first draft. Also, know when you’ve done enough general research on your idea. If you start writing and then continue your research, you’ll constantly be changing what you’ve written. It’s okay to look up details.

If you’re writing fiction, you can always flub the details and make them up to keep the story going. To make sure you know which details to look up later,  put them in bold type. This will make them stand out. If you’re writing an historical article or fictional story, put the year dates in bold type. Then you’ll be able to see at a glance if they’re out of chronological order. The only time they may not be is if you’re using a flashback.

Finally, set a deadline for your first draft. Be reasonable. Give yourself plenty of time to write it, but know when it should be finished so that you can get on with revising in future drafts. If you stop for any reason for a bit of time, insert “START HERE” in your notes or if you’re in a revision draft, wherever you stop within it.

The key to writing a successful first draft is not to revise as you go. Keep revising until after you have the whole story laid out, and you’ve gained some perspective on it. When you’ve finished your first draft, let it rest. Work or another project or do something else for a bit. That way, when you do get back to it, you’ll be able to see just what needs to be done.

Setting the Tone

Most writers get so involved with their writing that they aren’t aware of the tone they impart to it. In fact, it isn’t until a third party, someone like an editor, reads what you’ve written that you’re made aware of the tone or lack of it in your writing. Tone can create interest or just the opposite.

So what is tone anyway? Some say it’s the style of the piece. Others say it’s mood. And still others say it’s the author’s voice. Of the three, those who say voice are the closest. But it’s not the author’s voice but his or her attitude toward his subject—something that’s often hidden deep within the piece. Words used to describe tone might be authoritative, intimate, amusing, or aggravated.

Perhaps it might be easier for you to visualize tone. Photographers give mood to their work using light, either natural or artificial. It’s the way they choose to light their subject. The mood they create using light translates into tone. For heightened drama, they light their subject from the side. To increase horror, they light from below. For romance, they use soft candlelight. In films, directors convey the tone of a scene through its background music. Showing a person being pursued by a vicious dog wouldn’t be half as frightening without the ominous music that accompanies it.

But writers don’t have light or music. Theirs is a world of words. So creating the right tone, for the most part, involves using the right words, arranged in a particular way, for the effect you want. When a person speaks, it’s the volume of his or her speech that conveys the tone. But writing is silent. And that’s the challenge.

So if you use the wrong tone in a piece, it can ruin it for your readers. You’ll turn them off before they get half way through.

Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to hear the tone in a piece of writing while you’re working on it. It’s only after you’ve been away from it for a while that you’ll notice the tone. And it may surprise you. One way to make yourself more aware of the tone of a piece of writing is to read it aloud. Or even better, read it into a digital audio recorder, then listen to it as if you’re listening to a book on tape. You’ll hear the tone of the piece, whether good or bad.

The primary rule when working with tone is to keep it consistent from beginning to end. Establish your tone in the first sentence. Stay on track and don’t change tones within a piece. Look for places in your piece where the tone fades or shifts and focus your revision there.

Be wary of off-topic tangents. Don’t let your writing ramble. That will destroy the tone more than anything. Stick to your subject.

Depending on what you’re writing, you need to be aware of your voice, but don’t let it set the wrong tone. If the type of writing you do involves your opinion, don’t pussy-foot around. Express them. Take a stand. The worse thing is for you to try to avoid conflict with your readers. Don’t be polite just because you don’t want to offend your readers.

You can improve the tone of a piece by adding specific details. These draw the reader in and make them feel as if they’re part of the story or article. In fiction, this can help establish a character’s mood. In non-fiction, it adds depth and credibility.

However, working with tone can present problems. When bad things happen to people, some react by writing a book about the experience. Usually, it’s a bad book about all the horrible things that happened to the author. It presents little hope to the reader. This is common with people who have had a bad medical experience, feel strongly about controversial issues, or are angry about other people’s behavior.

To fix the tone, you have to fix the way you think about a given subject. You have to back off, calm down, see other points of view, maybe even take some responsibility for whatever happened. When writing about delicate subjects, you mustn’t let a negative tone take over the piece.

Developing a Voice of Authority

Why is some writing believable and other writing isn’t? What makes the reader believe in some pieces and know that the material is made up in others? The answer to both questions is voice of authority, that sense the reader gets when reading that the writer really knows what he or she is talking about.

Most writers don’t even think of this when writing. A voice of authority enables the writer to create a depth to a piece of writing in non-fiction and to characters in fiction. This comes from research. To write with depth takes lots of research. The more research you do, the better you’ll be able to draw your reader into your article or story.

The effect of a good voice of authority makes the writer seem like an expert in the subject. What captures readers is a sense that the voice of the writer has authority.

So how do you become an authority on a subject without years of study? There are several ways you can become an authority on the subject. Obviously, you can prove you’re an authority if you’ve already amassed this knowledge through earning an undergraduate or graduate degree, or if you’re a professional writing about a subject in your field. But you can also rely on experts through interviews and research. Lastly, your own personal experiences might give you all the authority you need about a particular subject. After all, the cardinal rule in writing is to write what you know.

But knowing your subject well isn’t the only secret. To truly draw your reader in, you need to write using active voice. That means you’ll have to forget what you learned in school because there you learned to write in the academic style where writers hide in the shadows and have to credit their sources.

Writing in the active voice is in-your-face writing. In it the subject of your sentences controls the action through active verbs that offer precise images to the reader. Combine that with knowledge and you’ve got a winner. Using adjectives that describe scenes and people precisely also helps to improve the authority of your voice. Authority not only involves what you know but your values and your vision. In some cases, this may involve your personal beliefs.

What person you choose to use to write your story also affects your voice of authority. If you write in the third person, the reader views it as a report on what’s happening. If you write in the second person, the reader becomes personally involved—like in this blog. And if you write in the first person, whether your story is true or not, the reader believes every word because it’s coming straight from the horse’s (your) mouth.

But even if you choose to write in the third person, you can still demonstrate your authority on the subject by the details you choose to include. Using lots of details make it seem to the reader that you really know your subject, even if it’s the one and only piece you’ve written on it.

In creating convincing fictional characters, many writers research the lives of real people to gain insight into how they think and communicate about their chosen lifestyle and locality. This isn’t any different than method film actors who take the time to follow along with a real person who’s in the same occupation and lives in the same region as the character they’ll be playing on the screen. That’s what makes their performance so believable. That’s what draws viewers into a film and makes them empathize with the character.

Narrative authority signifies believability. It’s a series of deliberate yet subtle cues that you’ll use to convince the reader that what he or she sees on the page amounts to a genuine human experience. In order for this to work, the reader must accept that the you, as the article writer or storyteller, are the best person to deliver the information. Ultimately, authority convinces readers to take a leap of faith. It instills trust and makes the reader believe that the illusion of the story in fiction is as real as anything else. In non-fiction, especially historical writing, it propels the reader back to another time and place.

However, you must not use tricks and gimmicks to work authority into your writing. You’ve got to be honest with your reader and show that you truly know your subject. That’s the only way it will work.

Finding Your Ideal Reader

Whether you always knew you wanted to be a writer or you’ve just recently discovered that you had some hidden talent, one of the hardest things to learn is to whom you should focus your writing.

Everyone learns to write in school, but the type of writing you learned during those years was the kind used by academics. In this type of writing, the main focus is on the writer. But to academics that seems egotistical. So many find ways to avoid drawing attention to their interests and opinions and use such devices as passive voice to direct the reader to their subject, sucking the energy out of it. 

But since you’ve gotten interested in writing for publication, you’ve probably discovered that focusing on yourself doesn’t really get you anywhere. That’s because writing outside of academia focuses on the reader. As soon as you realize this, you’ll be on your way—almost.

Focusing on the reader is only the beginning. To be successful at writing for publication, you have to focus on a specific reader. If you try to write to a whole room full of people, for example, you won’t hit your mark because each reader is different.

While this isn’t as important in writing short pieces like articles or short stories, it plays a major role when you write books. Some people say you should write a book that you would buy, but not every reader has your same likes or interests.
                                               
Perhaps you think you should write for your editor. Surely, that will impress him or her. Unfortunately not. Your editor won’t be buying your book.

To find the best reader to write for, think of someone you know that would enjoy reading about the subject of your book. This applies to both fiction and non-fiction. For instance, if you decided to write a travel book about a particular country, think of who best from the people you know would enjoy traveling there.

Another avenue of approach is to visualize one person. Let’s say it’s a man. How old is he? What does his do for a living? What’s his level of education? Is he married? Does he have a family? What are his interests? What is his name? Imagine him reading your book. What sort of questions might he have? Once you answer these questions, you’ll be able to begin writing your book.

As you work on each chapter, imagine him reading it. Is he able to understand what you wrote? If it’s a non-fiction book, is it too technical for him? If it’s a novel, is the plot too complicated?

Once you learn the tastes of your ideal reader, you’ll learn to write to those tastes.  Doing so will force you to be consistent in both style and voice in your writing.

By focusing on your ideal reader, everyone with similar interests reading your book will be drawn into it. The reaction you want to get from your reader is that he can’t put it down.  You want to enlighten and entertain your ideal reader. What results from this method is a focused effort that targets your reader. By fulfilling your ideal reader’s expectations, you’ll have a reader for life—and a successful book.

Develop Your Own Vision

“Develop your own vision, trust in it, and it will eventually reward you beyond your imagination.” Jeremy Horner

That quote is from a professional travel photographer. But it can also apply to you as a writer. Although with writing, depending on what type of writing you do, developing a vision all your own can be a challenge.

In the beginning, it’s hard to imagine where you want to go with your writing.  Perhaps you may get in a quandary over whether to write non-fiction or fiction. Most writers decide this early in their careers. It’s a natural passion that comes from deep inside you. Some writers start out writing non-fiction, for example—maybe working in the newsroom of their local paper—but soon tire of constantly having to dig up facts. For them, creating life on paper is more of a challenge.

It’s also possible that you may go in both directions. If you’re a good writer, you should be able to write just about anything, once you know the format of what you want to write. But in the beginning, it’s best to not to waffle back and forth. Pick one direction—fiction or non-fiction—and stick with it.

Beyond that general direction, developing a personal vision is tough. As it turns out, fiction writers have a better chance of doing that. Successful ones usually have a vision of what they want to produce and stick to that path.

But if you’re a non-fiction writer, your work is tied more to the style of each publication for which you’re writing. Each publication has its own reader demographics. To be a successful non-fiction writer, you have to target the readers of each publication, so your writing will constantly have to change to adapt to each group of readers.  While fiction writers also have to write for  their readers, they do so to a much broader group that’s enjoys reading a particular genre of writing—science fiction, mysteries, westerns, romance, etc.

Don’t confuse vision with style. Style is how you express yourself on a particular subject. It takes in not only vocabulary, but sentence structure, punctuation, and general form. As a writer, you will eventually develop your own style. It takes years of practice before that begins to appear. And besides practice, you’ll study other writers that you admire for technique.

Vision, on the other hand, is about how you want others to perceive you as a writer. It encompasses not only the type of writing you do, but how that writing affects your readers. For instance, let’s say you’re a natural teacher. Then your writing may seek to inform readers, in which case, you’ll probably become a successful non-fiction writer or journalist. But if you imagine that your writing will spark the imaginations of your readers, then fiction will probably be for you.

In the case of Jeremy Horner, the photographer quoted above who specializes in travel photography, vision is all about how he interprets the world he sees on his travels—it’s landscapes, its landmarks, its people. How you interpret the world through your writing is your vision. If you enjoy making the past come alive, then recreating history is your vision.

And just like style, vision takes a while to develop. It won’t come to you in an instant but will smolder in your work. But then the light bulb will flash on, and you’ll have an “ah ha” moment. That’s when you’ll begin to see how you want to make your mark on the writing world.

Developing Your Creativity

Now that you’ve unlocked your creativity, it’s time to develop it. Everyone is creative—even if you don’t think you are. You use creative thought every day. Some people use it a lot, others not so much. However, many writers become slaves to inspiration. They sit around waiting for the light bulb to go on. But you can do more than wait around. You can make sure the light bulb goes on by practicing some basic mind-developing techniques.

Sci-Fi author Ray Bradbury once said, “The more you put into your head, the more you get out.” Author David Ritz, a virtual writing machine with seven books out this year alone, is a voracious reader. He puts a lot of information into his head on many different subjects.  It’s only natural that a lot will eventually spill out in his writing.

But before you can develop your creativity, you must find time to be creative and let your creativity flow. In today’s busy world, this isn’t always easy. Look at your weekly schedule and see if you can find an hour that you can devote to creative pursuits. Once you start, you’ll look forward to that time. Eventually, your mind will think more creatively the rest of the week.

The creative mind knows no age limit or I.Q. The way you direct your thoughts is more important than knowledge, itself.  Your imagination is directly related to the kind of person you are.

To successfully develop a creative mind, you’ll need a few things. The first is solitude, especially in the beginning. You can’t afford to be distracted. The second is patience—it won’t come all at once but will take time to develop. And the third is intuition. Most people think only women have this ability, but men do, too.
               
You may be a creative person already but just don’t know it. Do you possess a sense of curiosity?
Do you perceive the world differently? Do you persevere when things get tough? Do you have a heightened awareness? Do you have ambition? And above all, are you enthusiastic? If you answered yes to even a few of these questions, then you’re a latent creative person. All you have to do is wake up that latent creativity. But how?

There are some things you can do to stimulate your creative mind. One is to develop a special interest. People used to call this a hobby. This is something that you enjoy doing, but it also fosters creative thinking. You’ll be developing your creative mind while doing something you enjoy.    This includes all types of subject areas, from learning to play an instrument to gardening, collecting various items, painting—you name it.

Another way to light a spark to your creativity is to spend some time with another creative person. This may be someone you already know or perhaps someone that you haven’t met yet. You’ll know that the person is creative by how they talk about the world around them. And it’s not just artistic people that are creative. What makes a person creative is how they solve problems. Scientists and inventors are very creative people.

And from now on, whenever you meet someone for the first time, ask them about themselves before you tell them about yourself.

Reading is a part of writing. It’s how you take in information. But just reading anything won’t do. To develop your creative mind, you need to read stimulating material, such as non-fiction or biographies. While fiction may be good for entertainment, they do little to stimulate your mind, no matter how well they’re written. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read a novel or short story once in a while.

To get yourself on the road to developing a creative mind, start a pet project. This could be designing a new garden or redecorating a room in your home. Or perhaps you need more storage and you need to design units that meet your specific needs. Or maybe you’d rather do something artistic like create a photo essay or learn new photo techniques. Whatever it is, it’s bound to stimulate—as Agatha Christie’s famous character Hercule Poirot says—your “little gray cells.”

   

Share Your Gift

Christmas is a time for sharing and gift giving.  As a writer, you have a gift—a gift to share. And this is the time of year to do it.

Some people write letters to along with their holiday greeting cards. While these may be interesting to family and friends, they’re usually of little interest to acquaintances or business associates. As a freelance writer, you can use this opportunity to do something special.

If you write non-fiction, you can write a short article on a subject that interests you or that you specialize in. Remember it needs to be short—no more than one page single spaced. You’re probably used to writing much more, so writing something this short will be a challenge. But as a professional, you should be able to make this short piece as interesting and focused as a regular article for a magazine. The secret to be extremely focused. Take one small topic and elaborate on it. For instance, why not something on gingerbread. This could be as a piece focusing on a Christmas tradition, or a food decoration piece about making gingerbread houses, or something on the origins of gingerbread.

If you write fiction, you could write a very short story. Perhaps you’re used to writing short stories that are 10-20 pages long. You won’t have that luxury, so you’ll need to write a story that’s extremely short, but still has conflict and a climax. This will force you to have perhaps just one or two characters and action that takes place in a short span of time and at a single location. Let’s take the topic of gingerbread and see what sort of story you can write—perhaps a story about a gingerbread house that comes to life or a special gingerbread cookies or the story of a little girl who made special gingerbread cookies for a homeless person.

Whatever you write, your friends, family, and colleagues will appreciate it. But writing the story is only the beginning. Today, you have a number of ways of sharing your work with others.

With fewer people sending Christmas cards by regular, you may choose to send your story out by Email. Or perhaps you’ll choose to post it to your Web site. And with so many social media outlets available, you may want to post it as a note on your Facebook Page or perhaps post it on other social networking sites.

Whatever you decide to do, you’ll find it’s a great way to send greetings to those you love and also a great way to promote your work to those you’ve worked with throughout the year or those you hope to work with in the coming year.

Happy Holidays.

It All Begins With a Title

Do you have trouble coming up with good titles for your articles, short stories, and books? Don’t worry, it’s a common problem. For many writers, professional and otherwise, creating a good title is often a challenge. Perhaps it’s the thought that the title is the first thing a reader sees and in many cases determines if he or she decides to read on.

Some writers feel that a title has to be gimmicky to catch the reader’s attention. In fact, it’s just the opposite. A simple straight-forward title is your best bet.

To begin, it helps to remember the functions of a title.  A good title accomplishes several things.
First, it predicts content. The title of your piece should give the reader a clue to what it’s about—look at some of the titles of previous posts of this blog. Second, it catches the reader's interest. If a title is interesting in its own right, it will catch the reader’s eye. Third, it reflects the tone or slant of the piece of writing. While this may not be as important in fiction, it definitely applies to non-fiction. Fourth, it contains keywords that will make it easy to access by a computer search. You probably haven’t given much thought to this last item, but it’s increasingly important to make it easier to find your work online.

Creating a good title is process all its own. Don’t wait until you’ve finished your piece to title it. Start by thinking up a good working title. This could be taken from a simple sentence, often called a topic statement, describing what your article or story is about. You may also phrase it as a question beginning with what, who, when, where, how or why—“How Often Should You Get Your Oil Changed?” And keep it as short as possible.

Pick out of your article or story a concrete image, something the reader can hear, see, taste, smell, or feel. Or try to come up with a one-word title.

Another way to come up with a good title is to think of a familiar saying, or the title of a book, song, or movie and adjust it to fit your needs—“Gone With the Weight.”

Newspapers like the New York Post constantly use puns as titles----“Astrology—Hit or Myth?” You can even use an alliteration, such as “Beautiful Bermuda.”

Use arresting superlatives to establish that your subject is unique. Both editors and readers find them hard to resist—“Meet the Person With the Highest IQ” or “The World’s Most Successful Business.” Another possibility is to use numbers—“Ten Best Foods to Eat.” Supermarket tabloids depend on titles like these to sell their magazines.

Try using captions and the active voice, such as “Listen! Mark Twain Speaking.”

All of the above suggestions work. Brainstorm some titles just for practice. Once you get in the habit of creating good titles—and the more you write—the faster you’ll be able to come up with them.

Is Writing a Pastime or a Business?

For many writers, perhaps yourself, writing starts off as a pastime. People dabble in it as much as in photography, cooking, painting, and sculpture. It’s funny, but they don’t seem to dabble in medicine or law or engineering. Do you ever wonder why that is?

For the latter subject fields, you need extensive education. But for the former ones, albeit those centered in the arts, you need little or none. In many cases, writing, photography, painting, and sculpture, and even music come naturally. This is where talent enters the picture. But it takes a lot more than talent to earn a living in any of the arts.

Because the arts come easily to so many people, society considers them pastimes. Doctors, who study for years to practice medicine, think nothing of dabbling in writing or photography, for instance, when they retire. They see it as fun. And they’ll be the first to laud over you the many years and tons of money it cost for them to go into practice.

And there’s the other rub. Except for extreme cases, it doesn’t take much money to get started in the arts. Look at writing. All you need is a pen and paper—or in today’s world, a laptop computer or tablet. The rest comes out of your head. If you have any talent for writing at all, you’re on our way.

So then what’s the difference between a writer who dabbles in it on nights and weekends and one who puts his or her heart and soul into it every day? Nothing really—at least on the surface. But underneath, the writer who works at writing every day has a different mindset.

Too many writers view writing as a divine pastime that shouldn’t be tainted by money. Not so long ago, society considered non-fiction writers as hacks because they got paid for their work. It accepted the idea of them working as journalists, but doing it on their own was folly. Fiction writers, on the other hand, rested high on a pedestal, put there by generations of students whose English and literature teachers instilled in them the lofty attainments of the greatest writers of all time—all, by the way, writers of fiction.

Times have changed thanks to writers like Truman Capote and John Updike, to name just two. Both experimented in crossing the border between fiction and non-fiction, thus graying the line.

Writing is hard work, even if you’re just dabbling in it. But if you’re serious, then it’s time to move up to a higher plane. It’s time to make all that hard work pay off.

Because it’s so easy to get started writing, many beginning writers think they can catapult to the top overnight. Some lucky ones have done just that. But of the thousands of writers out there, only a handful have done this. The rest have had to work long hours to get their pieces recognized and published.

If you want to work towards writing full-time, then you have to start slow, in your spare time. But keep that goal of getting paid for what you write in the forefront of your mind. In fact, make a sign and pin it up over your computer reminding yourself that your intent is to get paid. You might even want to do what many small business owners do—they frame their first dollar.

It's All About Technique

As you proceed through your writing career, you’ll change as a writer.  While some of this change may occur naturally, you’ll have to work at improving your writing skills and developing your technique. The best way to do that is to write as much as you can and study the works of other writers.

Unfortunately, you’ve been taught just the opposite. While you studied literature in school, the aim of that exercise was to get you to understand the thoughts of famous writers and not necessarily their techniques. In their quest to make sure you didn’t copy parts of the works of other writers, your teachers pounded the idea that all your thoughts needed to be original. The last original thought not based on work that had been done previously most likely was that of the first person who learned to write. So why should you be any different.

While it’s okay for artists to sit in front of the works of old masters and copy them, the same doesn’t apply to writers—at least that’s what you were taught. In fact, it’s just the same. In order to improve your writing skills and develop good technique, you have to look to other writers, but not those who wrote long ago—in other words, not those found in traditional literature. Instead, you need to read and analyze the works of contemporary writers—at least ones not further back than the 1940s and 50s.

To begin, you first need to learn to read like a writer. Read over a piece of writing to enjoy it for what it is, but then go back over it and study the writer’s technique. If you liked it, ask yourself why. If you didn’t, also ask yourself why. See if you can figure out what made you read this in the first place. If you have a favorite writer, read as many works of his or hers as possible, then pick part of a particular one to study.

In order to study a piece of someone else’s writing, you need to put it in the same format as your own. Copy a few paragraphs of particularly good writing into your word processor. Make sure it’s double spaced, then print it out. Look at it as if its your own writing. What do you notice about it? Are the sentences consistently long or short? What about the types of words used? Does the writer employ any special techniques?

After you’ve studied this sample of another writer’s work, compare it directly to one of yours that’s similar in topic and tone. Why is the other writer’s work better? Now try to write a few paragraphs of your own on the same topic and in that writer’s style. The more you read and study of that writer’s work, the more of his or her technique you’ll subconsciously pick up. Over time, by reading and studying a number of other writers, you’ll soon develop a technique all your own that has bits and pieces of the technique of others woven into it.

A good way to get yourself moving forward is to put together a reading program. Pick writers who you like and who write about similar topics. Also pick a few that write about other subjects that you don’t. If you’re a non-fiction writer, start with non-fiction works, but pepper your program with a few really good short stories or novels and pieces of creative non-fiction. If you’re a fiction writer, start with works from the same genre as your own—historical fiction, romance, mysteries, etc.—then pepper your program with a few select biographies and works of creation non0-fiction. Follow this program for three to six months. Afterwards, you’ll begin to notice a distinct improvement in your writing as your writing skills and technique improve.

Expanding Your Horizons

So you’ve managed to garner a bit of work in a few select markets. And the work you’ve received from them has been more or less steady. But you somehow feel that you could do more. Now may be the time to consider expanding your horizons.

Some freelance writers are generalists—writing about anything and everything that comes their way. Others write about a select groups of subjects, and still other specialize in one subject area. What one are you?

Have you exhausted the possibilities of your current markets? Might competitors of your present markets be interested in your work? You need to give this some careful thought. When pursuing new markets in the same subject area, you need to be cautious. Many editors of specialty magazines want you to write almost exclusively for them. If they get even the slightest indication that you’re writing for even one of their competitors, they’ll drop you like a hot potato. However, if that same editor has been holding off publishing your pieces and perhaps favoring other writers over you, then you should give his or her competitors a try.

What outlets have you ignored because you were too busy, disorganized, or too timid to try? If you have sufficient publishing credits behind you, it might be time to become more adventurous in your marketing? There may be markets that you tried long ago, and they rejected you? Remember, editors play musical chairs all the time. The editor that rejected your work has probably moved elsewhere by now. Even if he or she hasn't, try again.  Editors’ needs and preferences change. They're under constant pressure from their publishers to upgrade their operations.  Plus, your research and writing skills have most likely improved by now. And you may have a better idea of what they’re looking for. Your idea might be the very thing they've been searching for.

Have you been writing articles when you should have been putting together book proposals? Are you ready to write one? Beginning writers look at books as some sort of holy grail of writing. It’s probably because the authors get so much attention. And then there’s that author moniker. Isn’t it better to be an author than just a writer? Aren’t all authors writers anyway? Get off the impression bandwagon and decide if your skills are up to writing a book.  If so, think through some book ideas and pick the best, but not the most difficult, one.

Are you querying as many new markets with enough ideas to meet your financial goal by the end of the year? Don't worry about getting more acceptances than you think you can handle— remember the attrition rate on assignments. Remember, with rosier finances you can employ help or purchase better equipment.

Have you been promoting yourself as much as possible? Could you make yourself better known among editors and readers? All freelancers get caught up in the writing trap from time to time. As you receive more acceptances and assignments, your work load increases. And there’s only so much writing time in a day. What usually suffers is promotion since you aren’t literally bringing in cash with it in the present. Sometimes you just have to pay the bills and current cash wins out.

Should you write that novel that's been fermenting in your mind for so long? While this may be a great idea, it won’t bring in enough money to sustain you. A better compromise might be to write a series of short stories that you could self-publish as an ebook. Or perhaps work on a short non-fiction book that you can self-publish electronically or pitch to print publishers. Both will bring in some money while you work on your regular assignments.

By honestly answering the above questions, you’ll be able to plot a course for the months and years ahead while steering clear of unproductive paths as you broaden your horizons.

Avoiding Creative Burnout

Creative burnout can bring your productivity to a halt. You’re most prone to it when you isolate yourself from others, get poor or no feedback, and work long hours with little to show for it.

Creative burnout isn’t writer’s block. In the former, you can’t get ideas. Your brain is stymied. In the latter, you simply can’t write. The words just won’t come. When you’re burned out, you lose your energy and spontaneity and become depressed and detached. Let’s face it, when you run out of ideas, you’ve run out of what drives you as a writer.

You’re not a machine that can be fixed by replacing some worn-out parts—although with transplants these days, that’s even possible. In order to restore your brain, you have to restore your body and your psyche. In this case it pays to adhere to that old proverb, “Know thyself.” Try to remember when this problem hit you last and how you solved it. If it’s any consolation, just about every writer experiences a dry spell every once in a while.

Creative burnout can have multiple causes. The Number One cause is not letting yourself go—forcing yourself to work to fit a preconceived notion of a writer’s life. No two writers work the same way, even though all end up at the same place. Some seem like they’re not working at all while others seem to be always working.

Second only to that is tuning out everyone around you. Listening to others will inspire you to come up with your own ideas—bounce them off of family and friends.

Yes, writing is a skill, but that doesn’t mean to you have be a slave to technique. That has its place in writing, but not at the idea stage. Focusing on technique too early often leads to burnout.

Do you set your expectations too high? Lofty goals are fine but are usually hard to accomplish. Setting unattainable goals leads to failure, and constant failure leads to depression which leads to creative burnout.

Don’t evaluate your work until you’re finished. Too many writers start out with a negative attitude and never give their work a chance. Don’t judge yourself too harshly.

The old saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” certainly applies here. Taking too little time for other diversions will create blocks to creativity, as will a prolonged illness or that of a loved one.

Lastly, you may have a hard time coming up with ideas if the ones you’ve already developed are constantly rejected by editors. That can wear any writer down.

Remember, creativity means taking a fresh look and seeing things that aren't obvious. Go back and take a look at some of your old ideas. Reread pieces you did that were successful. Try to remember how you came up with those ideas. As you grow as a writer, your ideas grow. Old ideas which didn’t seem worth developing may just turn out to be your next bestseller.

One of the first things that may get you out of the doldrums is to change your routine. Do things you don’t normally do—take walks, read new books—especially types you’re not used to reading—go to the movies. Expose yourself to other creative endeavors. Plan a new garden. Create some new recipes. Above all, relax your mind. Have fun and don’t worry about deadlines. Put life and work on hold for a short while.

Another way out of the creative abyss is to write. Yes, that’s right—write. But not what you normally do. Some recommend writing about yourself, but you’re already depressed and who needs to get further depressed? Try another type of writing. If you write non-fiction, try writing fiction. Short stories are a good place to start. Take a stab at science fiction or mystery or romance writing. Write a play—start out with a one-act. If you write fiction, why no write an article about writing, for example, how you started out.

By preparing for creative burnout, you've won half the battle. Like everyone else, you’re sure to go through some periods of drought when ideas just aren’t coming. Don’t despair. It happens to the best of us.

Dressing Up Old Ideas

Ideas are like fine wine. The longer they sit and age, the better they get. Someone once said there’s nothing new under the sun. Perhaps not, judging by the way most writers work. Because there are only 36 basic plots, there’s a whole lot of adaptation going on.

In non-fiction, topics for articles go in and out of fashion. What’s ignored yesterday might be trendy today. Hot topics today most likely appeared years, if not decades before. Most readers probably think articles about drugs have only been in the media for a relatively short time. But in fact, the Victorians had similar drug problems, one of which was the addition of many women to opium and laudanum, both prescribed originally to deal with cramps and depression. And although society tried to hush the subject, it appeared in many articles and short stories.

Specialty magazines run the same type of articles again and again, albeit in slightly different forms. Statistics show that readers tend to read magazines dealing with photography, bicycling, writing, and other specialty subjects for two to three years, so the editors run the same sort of stories over and over so all the readers can get the basics.

Good concepts never die, but live on and on in new adaptations. Take comedy, for example. One of the most popular plot situations is "mistaken identity." In this, the right information is given to the wrong people, or vice-versa, and actions and complications increase by the minute.

In the movie The Boys from Syracuse—that's ancient Syracuse in the Mediterranean—the "Boys" are a master and his slave. The audience becomes quickly aware that there's another master and slave who are twins to the first set, and they live in the city the "boys" are visiting. Naturally, no one in the cast realizes there's an extra set of twins, so a great deal of misunderstanding builds.

The Boys from Syracuse was originally a Rodgers and Hart Broadway musical—and well before that Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Actually, this same plot dates to a Roman playwright named Plautus who created the original. English lit teachers praise Shakespeare for being such a great writer. Actually, he was a really creative writer who borrowed from everyone, but gave each of their ideas his own spin.

Disguises are often used in the mistaken identity plot. We've all seen how comic this can get, when, to get a job, Dustin Hoffman becomes "Tootsie," and Julie Andrews becomes "Victor" of Victor/Victoria. And Shakespeare also liked the idea of dressing one of his heroines in male clothing in As You Like It.

Adaptations aren’t just remakes as is often the case in Hollywood. Using a variation on a standard plot, a writer can change characters, settings, time periods, etc. Film critics often call George Lucas’ Star Wars a Space Age western. It’s got everything the old melodramas had—hero, heroine, and villain.

So why do beginning writers tie themselves in knots over using what has come before? The answer lies in the what they learned in school. Many teachers, especially those teaching literature, lead their students to believe that all the great writers created their own ideas. When in many cases what they really did was adapt ideas that came before to their own situations.

Alex Haley started the whole genealogy hobby phenomenon with his novel Roots. Another writer tried to sue him, claiming he stole her idea. If he were alive today and wrote that same book, he’d be one of hundreds with the same idea. He didn’t originate the idea of family genealogy at all, he merely adapted it to the characters and setting of his novel.

Good ideas come from good concepts. One place to find ideas to adapt is by perusing Roget’s Thesaurus. By looking up the word “time”, for example, a writer will find clocks, watches, missed time, schedule, speed, regulation, time periods, age, experience, the fourth dimension, rhythm, and so many more. How many articles, stories, and books can be created from just those concepts? It's amazing how a little effort with Roget can pay off when a writer tries to develop a gripping idea.