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Rejection: It Happens to the Best

August 6, 2009 1 Comment

I recently covered the topic of rejection, Are You Passionate and Excited Enough to Handle Rejection?

rejection

Today I want to list a few rejections received by some of the most famous and well-established authors in the industry–past and present.

  • The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter was rejected 7 times before Beatrix self-published. One of the previous publishers, who had rejected the book, had a change of mind and is still selling the book today.
  • Peyton Place by Grace Metalious received 14 rejections.
  • Lust for Life by Irving Stone had 17 rejections, then went on to sell over 25 million copies.
  • The cult classic, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert W. Pirsig was rejected 121 times.
  • Pulitzer Prize winner Ironweed, by William Kennedy, was rejected 13 times.

For more famous rejections: http://susiesmith13.tripod.com/id12.html

The moral of the story is: Don’t give up. The one thing that sets a published author aside from a non-published author is persistence. This is the reason you have to be passionate enough and excited enough about your craft to keep trying.

Develop a thick skin and keep sending those submissions out!

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/myloonyland/349811110/

Filed Under Feature Tagged With famous rejections, rejections, writers

Three Great Writing Finds

July 30, 2009 4 Comments

imagesHaving trouble finding your muse?  I’ve recently discovered three great writing sites that I’d like to share.

Story Fix is written by Larry Brooks, a fellow writer at Blogging Tips.  Larry will help you keep your dream real by offering concrete advice dealing with writing and the world of getting published.

Next in the lineup is Mary DeMuth: Relevant Blog.  Mary is a published author with many great insights.

And third is an article The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Authors.  A lot of great tips there about getting your butt planted in the writers chair and making it happen.

Filed Under Feature Tagged With Featured, great writing sites, sites for writers, writers sites

Wednesday Writing Sprint

July 23, 2009 5 Comments

quillpenEach Wednesday a small group of writers devote the day to writing. It’s not a massive spree like the 10K Day, this is just about setting time aside each week to devote to your craft.

The time can be spent outlining characters, plots, scenes, etc. or it can be spent using it for a writing marathon. The focus is to simply devote more time to your writing.

It’s often difficult to schedule a chunk of time each day for personal writing. We keep making plans to do it, keep telling ourselves to do it, but something always comes up. Setting aside a whole day just for personal writing projects works better because you can plan for it and make preparations. You can schedule other work for another time so you aren’t leaving any clients in limbo.

Make it a part of your weekly work schedule and I’m sure you’ll not only have a good time and feel good about finally spending time with your personal writing, you’ll also make progress.

If you would like to participate, we have opened a public access board in our writer’s group so you can share your progress while joining in on the Wednesday Writing Sprint.

Hope to see you there!

Filed Under Feature Tagged With Featured, writers, writers forum, writers group, writing sprints

Writers Are Created, Not Born

July 23, 2009 5 Comments

ChasingTheBardI recently did a post at Blogging Tips titled, “You Were Not Born a Writer.” One reader disagreed with me.  I’d like to use my own blog here at Writing 101 to discuss it further and explain why writers are not born but created.

We are not born writers.  Before we can become writers we must take a few steps to reach that destination.  It takes years to get there.  This process requires us to learn the alphabet, learn how to make our little fingers form these new frustrating shapes, then in a few years we begin to learn English (or language as it may be).

When my husband, Kevin, was 3 years old he picked up his first guitar and that’s when people decided he needed a guitar, because even though he didn’t “know” the mechanics of using this instrument he made nice audible sounds come from it.  The music was born in him. In fact he played music for years before he ever learned what the notes were or how to read music.  He plays by ear, but he’s also had the teaching to read from sheet music–although he rarely does this.

I’ve never seen a 3 year old pick up a pencil and write a story, or even have a story in them.

Let’s look at people in third world countries–or even the deep wood Aborigines.  These people are not subjected to school, television or anything that we are.  Yes, many of these people grow up to “tell” great stories verbally but that doesn’t make them a writer–especially since they don’t use a written language to the extent the rest of us do.

But even peoples of those cultures who know nothing of the modern world, can pick up sticks and stones (at a very young age) and make music with them.  So I feel music is something many people are just born with.  Writers have to master a whole skill set.  Musicians can make beautiful sounds just playing by ear and may not be able to tell you the first note they’ve played–they don’t have a clue if it’s G or C or E—they just hear it and can reproduce it.

I do believe that some people are born natural storytellers, while some of us have to really use our noggin’ to tell about a mishap in the kitchen.

Storytelling and writing do not always come together and not all great storytellers can write it down.  Not all storytellers are even literate.  I’ve known many old men who could tell you a story and hold you in the palm of their hand–their writing ability didn’t go any further than learning to sign their name.

Writers are not born, they have to be created. Unless you learn the skills to put stories into the written word, you are only a storyteller.

Any thoughts? We’d love to hear your opinion.

Filed Under Discussion, Feature Tagged With born writers, good writers, writers

Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition

July 18, 2009 7 Comments
WDC_54530_PF_header

Writer's Digest Short Story Competition

Writer’s Digest annual “Short Story Competion” is now underway.  The deadline for entries is  Monday, November 2, 2009.

As usual there are 5 categories of entries:

  • Romance
  • Mystery/Crime Fiction
  • Science Fiction/Fantasy
  • Thriller/Suspense
  • Horror

The Grand Prize consists of:

  • $2,500 cash
  • $100 worth of Writer’s Digest Books
  • 2010 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market

Check the website for more information about submissions and prizes.  Writer’s Digest Short Story Competition

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Filed Under Feature Tagged With short story competition, writers digest competition, writers digest short story entry, writing competition

Another 10K Day for Writers Success

July 17, 2009 3 Comments

writing10kYesterday marked another 10K Day for Writers and was a huge success.  We had several writers finish up books or screenplays they had been working on.

We had several writers who simply got back in touch with their passion for writing and the written word.

We all came together, shared our ups, downs, accomplishments and distractions and cheered each other on.

You can view our progress and support at 10K Day: Live While It’s Happening – July 16.

The next 10K Day for Writers is August 13.  Making a commitment can help you clear your schedule and set aside this day simply for being a writer and following your passion.

We will keep you posted as the next 10K approaches.

Happy Writing!

Filed Under Feature Tagged With 10K Day for Writers, writing passion

A Little More Passion For Bloggers

July 14, 2009 2 Comments

writing101In my last post, I showcased a passionate writer.  I’d like to cover a writer’s passion just a bit more. I’ve also written on this topic at BloggingTips.com, Write With Passion.

The lady I showcased is a passionate fiction writer. She is always busy writing about one of her characters, coming up with new characters and ideas or outlining scenes for one of her many works in progress. As I was thinking about how a writer’s passion needs to shine through in their material, I realized the same goes for bloggers, freelancers and other non-fiction writers as well.

I read many blogs, most of them are good blogs, but it’s hard to see the passion behind the material. Yes, posts should be informative and interesting, but part of the blogger’s passion should shine through. Don’t get upset with me, I’m as guilty as the next person. I mean how passionate can one be about sentence structure? Actually, you can be passionate about such mundane topics, but I let logic take over all to often and write from a stuffy old news editor’s view.

Writing should be fun, no matter what topic you’re covering. Grammar and punctuation doesn’t have to be boring if you simply inject some of your passion into it or add a little humor. The same is true if you’re writing each week about social networks, twittering, Facebook, the latest time saving gadget, it doesn’t have to be quite as technical as you might think.

One post that comes to mind where the writer let a bit of his personality come through and was genuinely interested in sharing the material is Kevin Muldoon’s post, 3 Things I Purchased This Week To Help Me Blog.

To many readers it may have been a simple review of some items he wanted to share, but in sharing those items the way he did, he had a bit of himself in the post. I personally enjoyed that post more than other’s that simply discuss facts.

Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, your passion has to shine through if you want to keep the readers attention.

Filed Under Feature Tagged With passionate writer, writers passion, writing with passion

A Passionate Writer

July 14, 2009 4 Comments

Lois - 04112009Passion.  It can go a long way in your writing.  All too often writers fail to put words on paper and call it writers’ block.  But sometimes it goes deeper than that; sometimes its a loss of passion about your writing.  Afterall, if you aren’t writing with passion, the words often won’t come and if they do they’ll be forced.  Forced words never match up to words written with passion and they will read with a forced sense–the reader will know.

I’ve recently had the honor to become friends with a writer who writes with vivid passion.  There’s never a day goes by that she hasn’t written an enourmous word count–whether it’s in story, outlining, or writing down ideas.

She’s given several of her characters their own blogs.  I think this is an excellent idea to help a writer really get into the mind of their character.  I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard of this method before now either.  Many tips suggest a writer should journal or create character outlines, but to journal from your characters POV?  It seems that would be an excellent way to allow them to grow and become who they are.

I wanted to share this with you and introduce you to fellow writer, and friend, Lois Eighmy.  You can read her main blog, Musings of a Creative Writer, as well as her livejournal, LMEighmy.

Lois is indeed an inspiration to all of her writing friends.  She has spunk, loves to write and most importantly–she has passion!

Happy Writing!

Filed Under Feature, Featured Writer

Are You Afraid? Let us Know.

July 3, 2009 5 Comments
Do you run from your fear?

Do you run from your fear?

Do we limit ourselves as to what we can achieve?  Is it fear, inhibition or something else?  Is it self-doubt, self-worth.  Are you afraid of success or afraid of what people will think of you once you become successful? Are we limited by the company we keep? Are we afraid of change?  After all, success is change.

What if your favorite author was afraid of success?  How many books would you have missed reading?  Where would your inspiration be?  Would you have the same inspiration to be a writer?

Would your friends stop speaking to you if you could afford to move to a nicer neighborhood?  Sadly, that’s often true.  Success is sometimes a mentality and some people just can’t grasp it.  Sometimes people would rather you stay at their level too and any climb up the proverbial ladder of success would suddenly mean you thought you were better than them, or they less than you.  People can be funny creatures.  It’s often said that if you want success you need to associate with successful people.  Where would that leave your friends?  Well, a friend that wants to hold you back and keep you on a certain level isn’t really a friend, or maybe it’s a needy friend, one who needs you to have the same low esteem and aspirations as he does.  Where do you find those successful people to hang with anyway?

Are you happy where you’re at or do you want more in life?  Do you want to be a success?  If so, what do you feel is holding you back from achieving your dreams?  Are you stuck with the same low paying jobs you had when you first decided to dub yourself as “writer”?  If so, have you thought why that is?  Are you afraid to go higher or try to achieve more?

Are you afraid to finish a story of novel, or afraid you won’t finish it?  Are you writing every day?  Do you set aside (even a few minutes) each day to write something completely spontaneous or creative?

Maybe you’re afraid you can’t write the perfect story.  Don’t worry; I think Stephen King and John Grisham still fear the same thing.  Maybe you think the rough draft has to be perfect.  I’ve recently discovered this about myself.  It’s not my root fear, but I’ve forgotten to just enjoy the process of writing.  I’ve forgotten that the rough draft is just that, a rough draft.  It doesn’t have to be perfect, that’s where edits and rewrites come in.  But it’s kept me from writing for a long time, so I’ve decided to set more time aside to just write.  I can write garbage if I want, the point is to write and break out of a shell.  I’m speaking of fiction.  It seems I’ve been writing non-fiction so long that the process of writing fiction has become alien to me.

We want to hear from you.  Have you decided if you’re afraid, what it is you fear and how you’re overcoming the situation?

Filed Under Feature Tagged With fear of failure, fear of success, writing, writing fear

Simplify

May 26, 2009 3 Comments

There’s come a time in life, actually several times in life if you’re having fun, that things need to be simplified.  So this blog will take on a simplified look.  I’m not getting to devote as much attention as I intended too, but that’s okay, life is grand none-the-less.  I just have a very busy life and writing assignments that I prefer to devote more time too.  I will update here, and I’m still taking guest bloggers if anyone is interested, but for now, I want it to be simple and easy.

If you need writing tips you can find me at BloggingTips.com.

Filed Under Feature

Writing Round-Up: May 11, 2009

May 11, 2009 Leave a Comment

It’s Monday and I’ve decided to try something called Writing Round-Up where I share the best blogs/posts I find on writing during the week.  I hope you enjoy.  Leave comments if you find this useful or not.

Setting Writing Targets

How to Write…Anything

SEO Basics

Moral of the Story: NeoCitran Edition

Happy reading and writing!

Filed Under Feature Tagged With linkshare, writing blogs

Write About Writer’s Block to Get Over Writer’s Block

April 10, 2009 7 Comments

Well there you are stuck again without any thing to write about.  Maybe you missed my other post, Use Mind-Mapping and Analyzing to Help Overcome Writer’s Block, and yes I realize I’ve hit this subject twice in the last two days, but when I began writing about writer’s block I realized it had turned into at least two posts.

If you’ve tried mind mapping and had no luck with it to get yourself writing, I have another writing tip for you; Write about it!  About what you ask?  Write about writer’s block.

Here’s an example:

“Today is Friday, April 10, 2009.  It’s Good Friday and I have writer’s block.  I can’t think of anything to write.  I’ve mulled ideas over in my mind and I’ve tried to convey my message to paper but nothing happens.  So here I sit, once again, knowing I need to be writing but nothing happens.  Maybe I’m trying to hard.  Maybe it’s stress because I know I should write and when I can’t I feel guilty about it.  I should go read a good book because it usually sparks my creative side and makes me want to write.  Or maybe I should keep writing about writer’s block and try to figure out what’s holding me back.”

[Read more...]

Filed Under Feature, writing tips Tagged With mind mapping, writers block, writing tips
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