Beware of the Elephant in the Room

Today, you often hear the phrase “the elephant in the room.” No, it has nothing to do with elephants. But it usually means there’s a subject present that no one wants to talk about. For writers, that subject is whether you’re a writer or an author.

What is it about our society that reveres authors more than writers. Aren’t writers and authors the same? Don’t they both communicate with words? Actually, not all writers are authors and some would say that some authors certainly aren’t good writers.

Beginning writers seem to think if they write a book that they’ll be recognized as a writer. What drives so many beginning writers to write a book when they haven’t written much else? Perhaps the idea goes back to when they were in school.

Everyone learns to read by reading books. Yes they’re short—most have one sentence to a page—but they’re still books. How many first graders are out there reading articles and short stories? None. As they progress through the grades, they read more and more books until, before they know it, they’re sitting in English classes studying literature.

Do you see yourself as a writer? To succeed at writing, you better. If you only see yourself as an author, that lofty ambition may get you into trouble, and you may never ever get your writing career off the ground.

Most writers have to work in a variety of formats to be successful. Books take a long time to prepare, write, and market, compared to articles and short stories. Unfortunately, the reading public doesn’t associate writers with articles or short stories. When was the last time you recalled the name of the writer of an article you’ve read? And perhaps that’s the problem, for when you market a book, you market yourself as well.

A lot goes into writing a book. It’s not just the writing, it’s the research, the organization, the energy. Writing a book is like having a baby elephant—it takes 22 months for the little guy to grow inside it’s mother. That’s just about how long it takes to create a book—getting the idea, marketing the idea, researching the idea, organize the idea, writing the idea, and rewriting the idea. Oh, and let’s not forget promoting the idea.

Articles and short stories take much less effort. And they can be sold over and over again, either reprinted as is or reworked. Once you publish a book, you cannot publish it again. And many books end up in on discount tables and sites or go out of print—that is, die—altogether. This, of course, has to do with copyright laws. And while shorter pieces of writing are also copyrighted, they’re done so for individual periodicals. Once a book is copyrighted, that’s it.

So while you may bask in the glow of book publication, that light may only shine briefly. Writing in a variety of formats not only gives your writing career a good foundation but will also pay off in the long run.

 Learn more about me on my Web site, Writing at Its Best, and on my Facebook Page. And be sure to visit my Writer's Corner for articles about freelance writing and writing in general.

It's Time to Start Over

Happy New Year! It’s once again time to start again. Funny how this one day can make such a difference. Personally, I try to use this day to get myself reorganized for the coming year. And you should, too.  As the year rolls on, things may seem to unravel. Does your recordkeeping fall short? Do your about writing seem to get more vague? Does your mind begin to wander as emergencies and small crises pop up?

As another year dawns, it’s time to reflect on your writing career. If you just started out in 2016, then you’ve got your whole career ahead of you. If you’ve been writing a while, then maybe it’s time to take stock of what you’ve accomplished and make some plans for the future. Make 2017 the year you go somewhere with your work.

Let’s say you’ve just begun to work as a freelance writer. Did you find it hard to place your work in the marketplace? Did the process seem frustrating? Do you think you’ve exhausted every avenue?

If you answered “yes” to the above questions, then you have most likely haven’t followed the path of least resistance. Most beginners start out by sending their work to top publications. That’s your first mistake. Remember, you’re a beginner. You haven’t been in the marketplace long enough to establish credentials. So maybe you ought to plan ahead for 2017 so that you can get at least one piece—and hopefully many more—published.

Here are a few tips to getting on track in the coming year:

Write about what you know. The first mistake many beginning writers make is writing about subjects they know nothing about. Stick close to home. Write about subjects having to do with work or with a special interest of yours. Doing so will help build your confidence and give what’s called a “voice of authority” to your work. (More on voice of authority will appear in a later blog).

Keep your pieces relatively short. Another mistake beginners make is writing everything there is to know on a subject. It’s not really their fault, however, since the only type of writing they learned to do in school that had anything to do with research was term papers and reports.

Write to communicate. You’re not writing for a grade as you did in school. You’re writing to communicate information to your readers. Unlike your teachers, your readers want to learn about your subject and be somewhat entertained at the same time.

Start with small publications. Search for publications that work with beginning writers. The editors of top publications are too busy to fuss with the musings of beginners. They need writing that’s concise, accurate, and professional, leaving little for them to do but lay it out and print it.

Set reasonable goals. Create reasonable goals for yourself for the coming year and see to it that you achieve them. Check on them occasionally to make sure you’re on track. And if you get off track, get back on as soon as possible. Lots of things can knock you off your game—illness, even a cold, family emergencies, a death in the family, etc. Remind yourself to review your goals in six months to see if they’re still possible or if you have to adjust them to your present situation.

Good luck and make this weekly blog part of your regular reading for 2017.

Keeping an Idea Book

Ideas are the fuel that keep me going as a writer. These might be for future articles, short stories, plays, non-fiction books, and, yes, even my blogs. They can be little bits of information, observations, profiles, or full-blown concepts. Unfortunately, the human brain–my brain–can’t possibly remember them all. In fact, I can’t remember most of them since they seem to disappear into thin air as fast as they appear.

My solution to this problem is to keep an Idea Book–well, actually, a series of Idea Books. As a writer this notebook is my most valuable possession–it’s what keeps me writing.

Starting an Idea Book is easy. I use a standard 6x9½-inch, spiral-bound notebook that’s about
¾-inch thick. I’ve also found the ones with tabbed divider pages handy, especially when I want to divide my ideas into major subject specialties. And while this is my main depository of ideas, I also keep a small, 3x5-inch, spiral-bound notebook that I carry around with me. Periodically, I skim over the ideas in it and transfer them to my larger Idea Book.

So exactly what do I put into my Idea Book? First and foremost are lists of ideas on a particular topic. I write a monthly genealogy column for Genealogy Today. I can’t write these columns off the top of my head without some research, so I keep an ongoing list of ideas for them in my Idea Book. As soon as I finish writing a current month’s column, I take a look at the list and decide which topic I’m going to tackle next. I also keep a list of all the columns I’ve written in the order I’ve written them, so I don’t repeat myself–or in case I need to refer back to one in a current one.

I also focus ideas in my Idea Book. Sometimes an idea is way too broad, so I have to focus it down to its essence. It’s in this process that I play around with variations on the topic–different slants, possible fiction adaptations, even Web page ideas for any of my four Web sites. I never write about a topic just once. My record is 18 articles on a single topic–The Oregon Trail.

Another part of my Idea Book is the resource section. Here, I jot down information about library books I’ve borrowed in case I need to borrow them again and the addresses of Web sites that contain pertinent information about subjects I write about.

Lastly, I use my Idea Book to brainstorm possible markets for my work.  This might be just a list of places I can send my articles and such or it may be diagrams that help me figure out who will be reading my pieces and then which markets cater to them.

Now for all you junior geeks out there, I haven’t forgotten about you. If you wish, you can adapt all of the above to an Idea Folder on your computer, using your PDA (personal data assistant) or cell phone to record observations, etc. on the run. This concept is fully adaptable to your situation. Whatever you do, get your ideas organized. And you’ll keep writing forever.

Writing on Speculation or Assignment--That is the $100 Question?

If you've been trying to write and publish non-fiction, namely articles, should you write on speculation or assignment? You'll notice I said that's the $100 question since there's no way the everyday freelance writer can make a million bucks answering it.

As a non-fictioin writer, I have a choice of working in two modes--on speculation or on assignment. Naturally, I prefer to work on assignment, but sometimes, for instance when entering a new market or at least a new one for me, I need to work on speculation.

What's the difference between these two modes, besides the obvious? When working on speculation, I decide what to write and how to write it, and then market what I produce. While this may seem an easy method and one that many writers follow, there one element missing--the reader. Unless I write for a particular group of readers all the time, there's no way for me to know what their needs are. Consequently, I can't assume to know the needs of editors, either. So writing on speculation is risky at best.

On the other hand, when I write on assignment for a magazine, the editor already has an idea in mind and does know his or her readers very well. Sometimes, an editor will give me specific instructions on what to write, how to write it, and how long to make the article. Some even give me suggestions of where to go for information or contact information for sources of quotes. At other times, working on assignment is a cooperative effort. Perhaps I approach an editor with an idea. He or she then offers their input, and I offer mine--it's an even exchange. The result is knowing exactly what the editor wants and needs. This method works best with an editor with whom I have a good working relationship.

The other problem with writing on speculation is not knowing exactly when my article will be published. The first article I had published, for example, took a full year to the day from the date I sent it in until it appeared in print. It took another month or so to get paid. At that rate, I'd have died of starvation if working full time! Luckily, at the time I had a full-time salaried job, so it didn't matter when I got paid. Today, as a full-time writer, it does. Even if an editor agrees to publish my article, that's all he or she agrees to. In fact, at other times, my articles never made it into print because the magazine went under before they did.