Staying Motivated: My Buddy and Me

After recently celebrating our Second Blogiversary, I asked readers to submit questions they would like us to address. In response, Sue Ekins posted this comment:

"I have trouble motivating myself to write. How do you do that, especially when you are (or were) working a day job?"

I've struggled with this same issue even though, technically, I don't have a "day job" because I only teach part-time. As one of my students likes to say, "writing is hard." And some projects are more challenging than others. A few months ago, I shared a bit about my difficulties finishing a historical young adult novel that required a great deal of research. I'd tried to motivate myself in a variety of ways with mixed success. Then in January my co-blogger April Halprin Wayland posted about how she is inspired by her "tribes(s)," and she shared a brilliant Writing Workout. Here it is again:

April's Writing Workout: Working with Someone in your Tribe

1. Grab a buddy from your writing tribe.
2. Both of you write three commitments for the coming week. Don't set yourself up to fail. Don't commit to writing a novel in a week. Start out easy and see what you can realistically accomplish in seven days.
3. Set a deadline.
4. Select a "salary" you will pay yourself. The important thing is to pay yourself every week whether you've completed all three commitments or not. Don't business execs get paid even when they've had an unproductive week? It happens. This is not about whipping yourself. This is encouraging yourself. Put the whip away and take the paycheck.
5. Read your commitments to each other.
6. Check in with each other at the end of the week.

After reading April's post, I solicited a member of my critique group, Leanne Pankuch, to be my Writing Buddy. Unlike me, Leanne has a full-time "day job," so she has to be creative when it comes to finding writing time. Leanne and I followed April's guidelines with one minor modification to step 5: instead of reading our commitments to each other, we email them at the beginning of the week. In that email, we also set a time to connect by phone the following weekend.

I found it very motivating to put my goals in writing and to know I'd have to be accountable to someone at the end of the week. I didn't want to disappoint Leanne by not living up to my goals. That is precisely what I'd hoped would happen. But the rewards didn't end there. April's strategy also taught me how to set realistic goals that truly motivate me. For example, this was my first week's Commitment to Me:

1. Spend at least 6 hours revising my young adult novel—this includes thinking and planning time, but not research time.
2. Get to bed by 10:30 pm at least 3 nights so that I can get up early and focus on my writing before being distracted by other things.
3. Consistently log how I spend my “work” time.

While making this first commitment to myself was helpful, I wasn't as productive as I'd hoped that week. After discussing the results with my Writing Buddy during our check-in, I modified my goals for the following week to include one that read:

1. Add at least 500 words/day on at least 3 days for a total of 1500 additional words. (Current word count is: 61,022.)  

For me, a specific word count goal was much more motivating than a time-oriented goal. When Friday afternoon rolled around and I hadn't reached my word count, I resolved to get up early on Saturday to accomplish it before my check-in with Leanne. And I succeeded!

Another surprising plus: our weekly phone conversation ended up being more than simply a time to report on our progress. Leanne and I also talked about our process. We shared not only the day-to-day challenges that threatened to derail our writing goals, but also the difficulties we faced with the writing itself. Talking through my plot and character dilemmas with Leanne led me to finding solutions to those problems.

Partway through drafting this post, it occurred to me to ask Leanne how having a Writing Buddy has influenced her. Below is what she wrote. (Keep in mind, she had no idea what I'd already written about our relationship.)

My Writing Buddy and What She Does for Me

Carmela isn't judgmental.  She isn't cruel.  She also isn't a cheerleader and she doesn't give gold stars.  She is my equal--my colleague.  She encourages me to choose realistic and attainable goals and I--quite simply--don't ever want to tell her that I couldn't accomplish goals that were definitely within my reach.  For example, if I set a goal that I will add 1000 words a day to my new novel--that would be a very unrealistic goal and, consequently, I would have plenty of legitimate reasons for missing my total.  However, if I think about my week--as Carmela tells me to do--and figure out how much quality time I can realistically make for writing, I might set a goal of 1000 words for the entire week and then add a couple of supporting goals and  "voila!" there is no reason why I can't make all three goals.  So, I write on the train/bus rides during my commute from Aurora to Chicago and back, and I write during my lunch hour, . . . . And when I write, 20 words at a time, 30 words, 10 words, then I can make my goals.

And, if the week is winding down and I still haven't made my goal, then I'll sometimes even--gasp!--leave the shirts at the cleaners, tell my husband to make us some cream of wheat for dinner, leave the dishes for tomorrow and knock out those last few hundred words--Just so I can tell Carmela I made it!

Having a Writing Buddy is like the push you need from your friend to get your toboggan going down the hill. It makes the ride so much better.  It's so good you're willing to climb back up the hill--legs burning--and let her push you again.

Thanks, Leanne, for sharing your side of the story, and for being my Writing Buddy!

With the extra "push" Leanne provided as my Writing Buddy, I finally finished the draft of my historical young adult novel on May 23! Hurray! Of course, the work doesn't stop there. Leanne and I and two other writers have exchanged copies of our completed manuscripts. Later this month, the four of us will get together for a self-directed whole novel critique session.

Meanwhile, Leanne and I continue to set goals and check in with each other on a weekly basis. I am SO grateful to Leanne for agreeing to be my buddy, and to April Halprin Wayland for sharing her Writing Workout with us. I think EVERY writer could benefit from having a Writing Buddy. If you need help choosing yours, see the Writing Workout below.

Blogosphere Buzz

• Today kicks off a new feature in the Kidlitosphere: "Interview Wednesday." If you have a link to a Kidlit-related interview, or you enjoy reading or watching such interviews, visit today's post at Tina Nichols Coury's blog.
• Speaking of Kidlitosphere round-ups, the May Carnival of Children's Literature is posted at the Playing by the Book blog.
• It's not too late to sign up to participate in this year's 48-Hour Book Challenge being held this weekend, June 3-5, at the MotherReader blog. After watching from the sidelines for two years, I've actually signed up to participate. I'll be posting my reading log on my website blog.

Writing Workout:

Choosing a Writing Buddy

Here are some things to consider when choosing your Writing Buddy:

• Would the person you have in mind be willing and able to make a serious commitment to April's 6-step approach listed above (or something similar to it)?
• Would you be comfortable sharing your writing struggles with this person?
• Would you enjoy chatting with this person once a week, or every other week, about your writing progress?
• Would being accountable to this person help motivate you, either because you wouldn't want to disappoint her or him, or because you'd be embarrassed to fail in front of this person?
• On the flip side, would this person be understanding and encouraging even if you didn't achieve your goals, for whatever reason?

If, like me, you're lucky enough to be part of a critique group, I suggest you look for your Writing Buddy among your critique group members. If you're not part of a critique group, are you part of any writing organizations, such as SCBWI, where you might find a compatible buddy? Still no prospects? Consider friends who may need motivation sticking with creative goals in areas other than writing, such as illustrating, knitting, cooking, etc.

I encourage you to read April's original blog post on the topic. Then, if the idea of having a Writing Buddy appeals to you, give yourself a goal of finding one in the next week or so, and report back in the comments below.

Good luck and happy writing!
Carmela

My Typical Writer's Day

We had LOTS of great entries in our latest giveaway contest--see the end of this post to find out who our winner is. 

As Jill shared last Friday, for our current TeachingAuthors topic we're talking a bit about our daily lives/routines as writers. Before I discuss my routine, I have a confession to make: I don't want to be writing this blog post right now.

It's not that I mind the topic, or that I dislike blogging, because I enjoy these posts and the opportunity to connect with you, our blog readers. It's just that I've been working hard, keeping "butt in chair" for the past few weeks, trying to finish the revision of my young-adult historical, and I'm almost done--"almost," as in, to start this blog post, I had to stop at page 274 of a 280-page manuscript! I really wanted to keep plugging away without interruption until I reached the end AND worked through Chapter 1 again so I could send it off to my Beta readers.

Ironically (given today's topic), I would easily have made it through those last pages if regular life hadn't intervened with a minor household crisis this afternoon. But that's a topic for another day.

However, since I'm being brutally honest here, I should also note that these last few weeks have really been more "fun" than "work." That's because I FINALLY got through the revision of Chapter 12--the pivotal chapter where the two formerly antagonistic main characters realize they're falling in love! Once I had that chapter working to my satisfaction, I was on a roll: tweaking scenes, pulling threads, deepening sensory details, adding imagery, polishing language, etc. The stuff I love to do!

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you know it's taken me a LONG time to get to this point with this current work-in-progress. In fact, I've been ready to give up on this novel countless times. Back in June 2011, I blogged about how having a "writing buddy" turned out to be the key to my getting a finished draft. But that draft still needed a lot of work--work I hope to have finished by the end of this week. Hooray!

[By the way--my blog post about having a "writing buddy" led me to write a freelance article on the topic for the 2013 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market (Writer's Digest Books), edited by Chuck Sambuchino. The book was just released on September 21, and is also available in ebook form.]

So, what IS my typical day like? I blogged about my "ideal" day back in June, 2009, and that ideal hasn't changed much, though I rarely live up to it.

I find I'm most productive if I get up around 6-6:30 in the morning and get to work as soon after breakfast as possible, without checking email or Facebook. Since I have a hard time resisting email, I set a timer and don't allow myself to look at it until after I've put in 2-4 hours of work, depending on what else I have going on that day. After email and lunch, I work another 2-4 hours, though I take an exercise break in the middle of the afternoon on most days. (If you haven't read about the recent studies citing the dangers of prolonged sitting, you may want to read this Forbes article: Why Sitting at Work Can be so Deadly.]

I should clarify that "work" varies depending on my teaching schedule and my work goals for the week. I'm not currently teaching any classes, so the "work" time these days may include:

• writing/revising my current historical YA novel-in-progress (that's almost done!)
• researching/planning where to submit a novel I recently finished co-writing with another author
• writing a blog post, like this one, or planning future blogging topics
• pitching/querying new freelance writing projects
• writing/researching freelance writing projects
• updating my website with information about upcoming classes, publications, etc.

Weeks when I am teaching, my "work" time includes lesson planning, publicizing classes, and reviewing student work.

Depending on how much time I spend on email and social media, my typical work day is usually 5-8 hours long, Monday through Friday, plus 4 hours or more on Saturday. (I often teach on Saturdays.) If I'm on deadline, or on a "roll" as I have been the last few weeks, I may put in some extra time after dinner. But I can't do that for an extended period. I agree with what Jill said on Friday, that we need to have time away from our work to gather the material that will enrich our writing.

I know many of you have full-time jobs that make it pretty much impossible to spend 2-4 hours per day writing. The good news is, many writers who have much less time to devote to their writing are still able to have successful careers. Esther recently mentioned a new blog by Carol Coven Grannick called Today I Am a Writer. In one of her first posts, Carol talks about how productive she's been by following the simple tenet of devoting the First, Best Hour to her work. As Carol has discovered, knowing we have a limited amount of time can sometimes help us stay focused. I'm a believer in Parkinson's law--work often does expand to fill the time allotted for its completion.

But even if an hour is more than you can muster, you may be surprised at what you can accomplish by writing simply fifteen minutes a day. Every August, award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson hosts the "Write Fifteen Minutes a Day Challenge" on her blog. Here's an excerpt from what she posted on the last day of the challenge::

Life happens whether you are writing or not. You don’t have to wait for the right time, or that Muse-blessed idea or a fellowship to a writing colony or a winning lottery ticket or anything. You just have to give yourself permission to take seriously your writing dream.

So I hope you'll give yourself permission to take your writing dream seriously. Why not start today, by setting aside some regular writing time?. Even if you missed Anderson's Fifteeen Minutes a Day Challenge last month, there's nothing stopping you from using her posts to work through your own month of writing fifteen minutes a day. Day one begins here.  

And now, time to announce the winner of Lisa Cron's Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence (Ten Speed Pess). Our winner is:

Mary Jo Campbell

Congratulations, Mary Jo! (Please respond to my email so we can get the book in the mail right away.)

If you didn't win, never fear--we have more giveaways coming SOON!

And now, I'm going back to my novel.
Happy writing!
Carmela

My Tribe (s) ~ And Happy Poetry Friday!

Happy Poetry Friday!   Today's poem and something to get you going in the new year are both below.

To kick off today's post I wanted to share a favorite quote. Years ago, author Betsy Byars spoke at the SCBWI's national conference and said: “Betsy, there’s a woman in Kansas writing the same book you are, and she’s not sitting on the couch watching Roadrunner cartoons.”

My Doberman/German Shepherd pup, Eli on his couch.  Yes, his couch. Don't ask.
xx

How do you get off that couch?  That's basically the question TeachingAuthors is exploring this week: “What keeps you going? How do we overcome disappointment, distractions, rejection, etc.?”

So...what keeps me going?  My tribe.

I have lots of tribes, of course—my little triangle of a family, my wider family, my folk music friends, my hiking gang, my politically active friends and more.

But as a writer? My tribes are my writing friends, my critique group, the classmates in my current writing class, and my blogmates, who always, always inspire me.

I mean, who would not be inspired by this week's discussion?

I sooo relate when JoAnn Early Macken talks about how “writing becomes an obligation, even drudgery.  I have to drag myself to the page, and it's much easier to find something else to do that seems more urgent.”  

Here's one thing that draws me away from my writing--can you relate?
xx

JoAnn's post, in which she talks about writing every morning on her loveseat, reminded me of the Flannery O’Connor quote, “Every morning between 9 and 12, I go to my room and sit before a piece of paper.  Many times, I just sit for three hours with no ideas coming to me.  But, I know one thing.  If an idea does come between 9 and 12, I’m there ready for it.” 

Esther Hershenhorn talks about sending herself “encouraging greetings via snail mail and email.”

I send myself encouraging texts!  I like Dante's quote, “The Infinite Goodness has such wide arms that it takes whatever turns to it.”   So every day I send a commitment to my writer friend Adell Shay (and sometimes my writing buddy Rebecca Gold).  I text them that I am letting go of the product.  I say I am turning my book over to the “loving arms of the infinite universe.”

Letting go of the product and Mary Ann Rodman's post both remind me of this poignant poem by author Kate Messner about how some of us may be feeling after the ALA Awards were announced on Monday (the poem was brought to my attention by Greg Pincus).

In her post this week, Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford says that sharing is the key for her.  She says,“the paycheck is not really a motivating factor."

Amen to that!  When I was in the corporate world, I may have been frustrated by the petty politics, I may have spent Sundays in my office, I may have ached from those damned high heels, but at least I had that paycheck.

I have learned that I need a paycheck in this life, too.  For awhile I paid myself seven dollars worth of living flowers from the local nursery every Friday. It may not seem like much but, boy! I felt valued.

Carmela Martino's post talks about relating to other writers' struggles...which made me think of this blog post by agent Mary Kole on dealing with rejection (also brought to my attention by the most amazing Mr. Pincus).

Carmela also talked about setting DEADLINES.  Yes, yes, YES—deadlines are powerful for me, too!  
The thing is, deadlines--commitments of any kind--are fine...IF I say them aloud to someone in my tribe.  But...if I say, "no more peanut butter today" just to myself, well, here's what happened yesterday:

Never fear!  Today's Writing Workout is all about working with someone in your tribe.

Here's what to do:
1) Grab a buddy from your writing tribe.
2) Both of you write three commitments for the coming week.  Don't set yourself up to fail.  Don't commit to writing a novel in a week.  Start out easy and see what you can realistically accomplish in seven days.
3) Set a deadline.
4) Select a "salary" you will pay yourself.  The important thing is to pay yourself every week whether you've completed all three commitments or not.  Don't business execs get paid even when they've had an unproductive week? It happens.  This is not about whipping yourself.  This is encouraging yourself.  Put the whip away and take the paycheck.
5) Read your commitments to each other.
4) Check in with each other at the end of the week.

For example: I commit to meditating 20 minutes once a week, writing for three hours this week, and being in bed by 10 pm at least two days of the week.  My due date is Thursday at 8 pm.  On Friday, I will pay myself seven dollars worth of flowers for my garden.  Now it's your turn:

My Commitment to Me
I commit to:
1._____________________
2._____________________
3._____________________

My due date is:
_____________________
My salary is:
_____________________
Don't forget to call your writing buddy at the end of the week to check in! 

And finally, here's today's poem--about my tribe.

HARD HIKE
by April Halprin Wayland

My boots are wearing thin.
Their soles have little soul.
The wind has stung my skin.
My goals are all black holes.

I tilt my bottle, sip.
Why bother on this trip?
I drink the final drop.
I stop.

There's gravel in my shoe.
I want to turn around.
Those voices...are they true?
I sit and write them down.

Then—
just around the bend?
Could that be...a face?
Yes—I pick up my pace!

A member of my band!
You stretch your steadfast hand.
I made it—thanks to you.
Look back: wow—what a view!

A wonderful teacher can inspire me and move me forward--what about you?  Who in your tribe moves you forward?  Let us know!

Poem, drawings and photos (c) by April Halprin Wayland

Wednesday Writing Workout: 30-Day Boost Your Productivity Challenge

In my last post, I discussed three software tools that help me be more productive and focused. In today's Wednesday Writing Workout, I'm going to suggest you take a look at your work habits and see how you can do the same. I'll also invite you to join me in a "30-Day Boost Your Productivity Challenge." And I promise--no special software required!

First, I'd like to share a bit of background information about goal-setting and habit formation. If you're not interested, or don't have time to read that, feel free to scroll down to the Wednesday Writing Workout.

At the start of a New Year, many of us set ambitious goals and resolutions for various aspects of our lives, including our writing. Unfortunately, by the end of January, we've often let those goals fall by the wayside.

When this happens to me, it's usually because:
a. I didn't write down and track my goals,
b. my goals were too ambitious,
c. my goals weren't specific enough,
d. my goals weren't easily measurable and/or
e. I didn't reward myself for sticking to them.

Recently, I read about the importance of creating goals that are SMART, an acronym for: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-focused, and Time-bound. For more on SMART goals, see this website, which includes sample worksheets for setting SMART goals. (Note: I haven't downloaded their worksheets or have any relationship with the company.) Below, I share examples of some SMART goals for writers.

For me, though, SMART goals alone don't always provide enough motivation, especially when
I'm working on a long-term project, such as writing or revising an entire novel. I've found I also need some sort of reward.

In The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Random House), Charles Duhigg explains that habits, both good and bad, consist of a three-part loop: Cue, Routine, and Reward. Some habits are so ingrained, we aren't even conscious of the reward. However, with some thought and experimentation, we can not only break bad habits but also create new, healthy, ones. In this excerpt from his book, Duhigg talks about the habit loop and how we can change it. 

I'd discovered my own need for rewards even before reading Duhigg's book. I'd also found that for big projects, it helps to set mini-rewards along the way, and not just a big reward at the end, as explained in this Huffington Post piece. The mini-rewards may be as small as literally giving myself a gold star on a calendar that I use to track my achievements. And that brings me to today's Wednesday Writing Workout: 

Wednesday Writing Workout:
30-Day Boost Your Productivity Challenge

Today's Wednesday Writing Workout consists of three parts:

1. Identify ONE (and only one) SMART goal that will help boost your writing productivity, and appropriate reward(s) for success. 

Some goal possibilities:

• Get up 15 minutes earlier than usual, 6 days/week, and use that time only for writing.
• Write at least 500 (or 250 or 100) words per day on your work-in-progress, 5 days/week.
• Reduce time spent on social media by 30 (or 20 or 10) minutes per day, and use the saved time for writing.   

(For more examples of SMART goals for writers, see this blog post. )

2. Track your progress on a regular basis.  

Since one of the keys is that your goal be Measurable, it shouldn't be difficult to track your progress. This could be as simple as keeping a handwritten log where you note that day's results. Or maybe a calendar where you give yourself a gold star on every day you're successful. Or, if you like the idea of using software to track your performance and provide statistics and reminders, you can try one of the apps I mentioned in Friday's post. Whatever way you decide to track your results, make sure it's simple and easy, and maybe even fun. Otherwise, you're unlikely to stick with it.

3. Find someone you can be accountable to and report your progress to that person regularly. Better still, announce your commitment in public and get the support of a whole community!

Charles Duhigg says in The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Random House)

"The evidence is clear: If you want to change a habit . . . your odds of success go up dramatically when you commit to changing as part of a group."

I'm lucky to have a terrific writing buddy who I check in with on a weekly basis. However, to encourage all of you to try today's Wednesday Writing Workout, I'm going to participate in this 30-Day Boost Your Productivity Challenge, too, as follows.

1. My goal: spend at least 2 hours/week revising my current work-in-progress.
I've been so busy with teaching and freelance writing assignments that I've let my current work-in-progress (WIP) fall to the wayside. Two hours/week may not seem like much time, but I want to make sure the goal is Achievable given my other responsibilities. Since those 2 hours aren't going to appear out of nowhere, I have a related goal: to get up 15 minutes earlier per day, six days a week, and to spend those 1 1/2 hours on my WIP. I'll get the other 1/2 hour by cutting out 30 minutes of television time per week. For my reward, I'll treat myself to a latte at a coffee shop. J

2. To track my progress: I'll use the Timesheet app to log my time and note what page I'm revising at the end of each writing session.

3. Find someone to be accountable to: That's YOU, our readers! 

To keep things simple, I've set the 30-Day Boost Your Productivity Challenge to run from February 1 through March 1. (February conveniently has 29 days this year.) I'll share my first progress report with you two weeks from today, on Wednesday, Feb. 10, and then the final results on Wednesday, March 2.

I'm hoping some of you will join me in this challenge!  You can tell us your specific goal to boost your writing productivity via a comment to this blog post, or on our TeachingAuthors Facebook page, or in an email to teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com. I'd love to know how you plan to reward yourself, too. I hope you'll also return to report on your progress on Feb. 10 and March 2 as well. 

And, if any of you live in the Chicago area, maybe you'd like to join me for that latte some time in early March to celebrate our success!

Meanwhile, happy writing!
Carmela      

Building A Writing Portfolio

Most of the adults who sign up for my writing classes have the same goal: to get a book published by a traditional publisher. They're usually shocked to learn what a long, slow process book publication typically is, whether they're working on a picture book or a novel. To help cope with the wait, I recommend they work on building a portfolio of writing credits they can mention in their cover/query letters. On Monday, Esther shared links to information on how to get published in Highlights magazine. Highlights is a well-respected magazine that's been around for years, and an impressive credit to include in your writing portfolio. Unfortunately, that means they receive a huge volume of submissions, making them a tough market to break into. I like to remind my students that there are other children's magazines, many of them more open to material than Highlights or the Cricket Magazine Group, which publishes high-quality magazines for toddlers to teens.

One of my favorite lesser-known children's magazines is Pockets, published by The Upper Room, for 6 to 12-year-olds. Like Highlights, Pockets runs an annual fiction contest. They also accept a variety of material, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, puzzles, and activities. Although Pockets is a Christian magazine, not all content is explicitly religious. I recall studying a sample issue years ago that happened to include a story that had won their fiction contest. It was a wonderful story about a girl learning to accept her new stepfather. I don't believe it mentioned God at all.

As it says on the Pockets website:

"Each issue is built around a specific theme with material that can be used by children in a variety of ways. Submissions should support the purpose of the magazine to help children grow in their faith, though all submissions do not need to be overtly religious." 

The magazine's monthly themes are listed on their website, along with a submission deadline for each issue. To paraphrase something I heard Richard Peck say years ago, "A deadline is a writer's friend." When I first learned of Pockets and their theme/deadline list, I submitted some theme-related puzzles. To my delight, they were accepted! That success led me to try my hand at writing a short story specifically for an issue focusing on "prejudice." They accepted that piece, and "The Cupcake Man" became my first published children's story. Pockets also published my first children's poem. (Is it any wonder why I'm so fond of this magazine?)

Of course, the key to success when writing for Pockets or any other magazine is to study several issues so that you can draft a submission that fits with the magazine's overall feel. You should be able to check out copies of well-known magazines like Highlights and Cricket at your public library. For smaller magazines like Pockets, you can usually request a sample copy from the publisher. Instructions for doing so are often listed in the "Magazines" section of the annual Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market (Writer's Digest Books). You may be surprised by the number and range of magazines you'll find listed there. If you're a member of SCBWI, you can also download the latest SCBWI Magazine Market Guide, which also includes general tips on writing for magazines.

Besides magazines, another good market for building your writing portfolio is the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. Their upcoming titles are listed on their website along with their submission deadlines. (Remember: Deadlines are our friends!) When Chicken Soup put out a call for the book Teens Talk High School: 101 Stories of Life, Love, and Learning for Older Teens, I submitted a poem in two voices called "Questions," which they accepted. My Writing Buddy, Leanne Pankuch, recently had her second Chicken Soup story published in Hooked on Hockey. Again, to place a story in a Chicken Soup book, it's important to study past issues, and also to carefully read their guidelines. While Chicken Soup stories are nonfiction, they must read like well-crafted fiction--with a beginning, middle, and end; action; dialogue; conflict, a theme, etc.

By the way, all the markets I've discussed today pay for your writing. While it's not exactly a "pot of gold," receiving payment for our work is affirming. And it has given many of my former students the confidence to say "I am a published author," even as they wait for their first book contract.

Don't forget: there's less than a week left to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of JoAnn Early Macken's, Write a Poem Step by Step. See JoAnn's guest post for details.

Happy writing!
Carmela

My So-Called Writing Life

This past week, the Teaching Authors have been visiting the subject of best practices when it comes to our writing schedules.  Anyone looking to this post for tips on how to lead a productive and/or well-organized writing life had best look elsewhere.  If you'd like to make yourself feel better about your own work habits... read on.

I am an unabashed night owl.  My dad says that I was born in California four decades ago and never quite got my body clock on EST.  My most productive writing time (even when I lived in California, I must admit) has always happened between the hours of 10 p.m. and 3 a.m.  However, when I got married, I began waking with my husband at 5:30 a.m.  Our children are also early risers.  Bye-bye productive writing time.  Some nights I will try to take a brief nap at my kids' bedtime and then get up and work.  More often than not, given the busy-ness of our days, I wind up sleeping straight through.

My day job is a writing job, so there's always the matter of getting my paid work done first.  Typically I get up, get the kids ready, and drive the morning carpool before I get down to business.  On a good day, I will then spend half an hour on the elliptical with a book (or at least a few Days of Our Lives outlines -- there's always soap reading to get out of the way).  Then I plop my laptop in my lap, snuggle with the puppy, and start writing -- or at least make a stab at it.

My current job function is "scriptwriter," and I usually write one complete script each week.  (Every few weeks, there will be two.)  I have seven days to complete the week's assignment(s), so if I write and edit an act per day in a typical week, I'm in fine shape.  In practice, I usually spend at least a day reading and a day at the end of the process on editing and polishing.  We write from detailed outlines, and some scripts go much more quickly than others.  Also, if I could force myself to ditch my habit of Internet surfing every time I get stuck (approximately every five minutes), I would add an additional two hours of productive time to each day.

Afternoons are for kids' activities and homework.  This semester I also teach three mornings of the week, as well as one evening.  Besides the scriptwriting, I have to squeeze in time for lesson planning and, of course, grading essays (for example, 40 this weekend).  Every other Sunday night I also remember in the nick of time (at least so far) that I have a blog post to write.    

Now, scriptwriting is by far the least onerous and time-consuming paid writing job I've had in a decade.  But it has been so long since I've made my own writing a regular practice, I am having a hard time finding my groove again.  While in theory I think it would be better to work for an hour every day, I seem to do much better with larger chunks less frequently.  I had a vacation week a few weeks ago and did pound out lots of pages.  That felt good.  But it's like exercise -- the feel-good result is only so motivating in comparison to the difficulty and discomfort of the undertaking.

A fellow scriptwriter told me that she spends four hours every week working in a quiet room with a friend who's studying.  I have noticed that I am much more productive when someone in the room can see how much I'm goofing off. :)  I do think Carmela's on to something with her writing buddy idea.  Now I just need to find mine! -- Jeanne Marie
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Don't forget to enter our Guest Teaching Author Book Giveaway to win an autographed copy of FORGET ME NOT by the fabulous Carolee Dean.
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This week's reading recommendations:
Patrick (grade K): anything Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold
Kate (grade 2): The Bell Bandit by Jacqueline Davies
me: Capture the Flag by Kate Messner

Fighting Fear

Before you read today's post, be sure to check out JoAnn's interview with Donna Gephart last Friday. You'll want to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Donna's acclaimed (and funny!) novel, How to Survive Middle School. Entry deadline is Friday.

On Monday, Mary Ann kicked off a new TeachingAuthors topic: Writing Fears. This topic struck a particularly strong chord in me because my current work-in-progress has instilled more fears than any other writing project I've tackled. I hope that by sharing a few of my fears, and how I combated then, I can help some of you struggling with similar issues. 

I've blogged about my current work-in-progress (WIP) before: it's a young adult novel set in 18th-century Milan, inspired by the lives of two women of that time and place. When I decided to tackle this topic, my greatest fear was What if I'm no good at writing historical fiction? While young readers consider my novel Rosa, Sola historical (it's set in the 1970s), I don't. After all, I lived through and can recall much from that era. But the 1730s? Could I really do justice to a novel set over 200 years before I was born, and in a city I've only briefly visited? I was determined to at least try.

I fought my fear by educating myself in the genre. To do so:

• I read books on writing historical fiction, such as The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction by James Alexander Thom and Writing Historical Fiction by Rhona Martin. And even though my novel isn't a mystery, I read How to Writer Killer Historical Mysteries by Kathy Lynn Emerson.
• I also read and studied all sorts of historical fiction written for adults and teens. I tried to focus on books set in the same time and place as my novel. That turned out to be more challenging than I expected. I have yet to find any set in 18th-century Milan. (If you know of any, do let me know!) So I branched out to books set close to that time period, not only in Italy, but also France and Germany. The YA titles I read included The Vanishing Point by Louise Hawes, Hidden Voices by Pat Lowery Collins, In Mozart's Shadow by Carolyn Meyer and The Musician's Daughter by Susanne Dunlap.
• I joined the Historical Novel Society's Yahoo group for readers and writers of historical fiction. Thanks to that list, I learned that the society's North American conference was being held in Schaumburg, Illinois in 2009. (Yes, that's right, it was in June, 2009. Over two years ago! I feel as though I've been working on this novel forever.) I attended that conference. What an experience! I learned from and was inspired by several highly acclaimed historical writers.

These activities helped calm the worry "What if I'm no good at writing historical fiction?" But at the same time, a new fear cropped up: "What if I don't get the details right?" I feel a great sense of responsibility writing historical fiction: I want to paint an authentic picture of what life was like in that time and place. To quell that fear, I felt I had to Research, Research, Research! This included:

• Researching the lives of the two women who inspired the novel 
• Reading history books describing their life and times
• Reading primary documents from the time period. (Not easy to do with my rudimentary knowledge of Italian!)
• Researching specific aspects of daily life, such as food, clothing, and social customs
• Contacting subject matter experts regarding questions I couldn't find answers to elsewhere

Through this research I found an account of an intriguing event that happened in Milan in 1739 that I ended up including as a scene in my novel. That was quite exciting! However, the research was also a great form of procrastination. That created a new fear: "Would I ever finish the novel?" This past June, I blogged about how I overcame that fear with the help of my "Writing Buddy."

These tactics actually worked. Those of you who are my Facebook friends know that I've been working on the final revisions to my WIP. As of today, I consider the draft done! I plan to print it out and set it aside for a bit. After a final read-through, I'll start submitting it. Then I'll have to face two more fears that have haunted me through this entire project: "What if no one wants to publish it?" "What if I've invested all this time and energy for nothing?" The only way I know to address these fears is to send the manuscript out and then turn around and start the next project. Wish me luck!

The other TeachingAuthors will continue to address this topic in upcoming posts. What about you? What are some of your writing fears? How do you fight them?

Happy Writing!
Carmela

Inertia? Shoo!

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Howdy, Campers!  Welcome...or welcome back to TeachingAuthors' cozy winter cabin!

"All things are possible until they are proved impossible--

and even the impossible may only be so, as of now." ~ Pearl Buck

First order of business...the winner of TeachingAuthors' first book giveaway of 2013 (see Carmela's January 2nd post) is Pam Courtney, who follows our blog via email.  She's won Luke Reynold's book, Keep Calm and Query On. Congratulations, Pam!

We TeachingAuthors have been talking about how to get back to writing after a break.

Jill's found it liberating to give herself the holidays off from writing...and then to stop fretting, schedule writing time and give herself permission to write dog doo (I'm paraphrasing here). Jeanne Marie  has found it useful to take a nap before leaping into her most productive writing hours of the day.

For me, there is something sneaky-guilty and oddly energizing about avoiding writing by, say, running a political campaign, taking care of my aging uncle or preparing for a class. I can defend the barricades in the name of the French Revolution if I'm thereby avoiding working on my picture book manuscript.

After the Revolution...or, less excitingly, after driving 92-year-old Uncle Davie to the doctor, my inertia sets in.

  Eli has graciously offered to demonstrate inertia for you:

I asked two friends in two different professions, how do you get back to work after the holidays?

They both blurted out "FlyLady!"  In this post, Fly Lady suggests setting a timer for 15 minutes and doing 15 minutes of WHATEVER (clear clutter, take out the trash, or...hmmm...here's an idea: write).  

It's like breaking through the fear of writing by keeping a One-Minute Journal; I can do anything for one minute.

Another way I make writing a top priority is being accountable to a Writing Buddy.  Oh, and getting off the internet.  :-)

So, go on...get off the internet. Set a timer. Pick out a half-completed story or start a new one.  Start 2013 feeling that all things are possible.

And last but not least, thanks to Renee at No Water River for hosting Poetry Friday today!

Uh...Eli wanted to show you another position for inertia, for extra credit:

Becoming a "Finisher:" Using a Deadline to Silence the Inner Critic

Knowing I'd be one of the last TeachingAuthors to blog about first draft fears brought its own fears: would I have anything left to share that my brilliant co-bloggers hadn't already discussed? Jeanne Marie kicked off the series by sharing four specific ways she deals with her own tendency to be "a serial starter." Esther gave us a whole slew of ways to get to THE END, along with some inspiring quotes to tack up in our workspace. Joanne talked about her love of first drafts and her sneaky way of getting past her inner critic. And Mary Ann reminded us that first drafts are supposed to "stink." Having low expectations can be a great tool. :-)

I hope my co-bloogers' posts have already given you, our readers, encouragement and inspiration. However, I'm relieved to see that none of them shared one of my tricks for overcoming first draft fears:  A DEADLINE.

I've found that deadlines work best for me when there's some sort of associated accountability and/or consequences for not meeting them. One of the reasons I was so productive during my two years at Vermont College had to do with the monthly deadlines. I might never have finished Rosa, Sola without them. But out here in the real world, it's sometimes difficult to create deadlines with real sting. Fortunately for us novelists, there's a deadline-oriented opportunity just around the corner: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Every November, writers around the world take on the challenge of completing a 50,000-word first draft in 30 days. NaNoWriMo isn't for everyone; last year I heard some negative buzz about it, everything from "no one can write anything good that way" to "real writers don't need gimmicks." Despite the negative hype, there have been a number of NaNoWriMo success stories, including bestselling novels that started as NaNoWriMo projects. One of the most recent is the adult novel The Night Circus (Doubleday) by Erin Morgenstern. The book was released less than a month ago (on September 13), and according to the NaNoWriMo blog of September 28, it had already made it to the New York Times bestseller list. The Night Circus has also garnered an impressive list of starred reviews, (you can read excerpts of those reviews on the book's Indiebound page) and has sold foreign rights to over 30 countries.

Morgenstern talks a little about her NaNoWriMo experience in an interview at Writers Unboxed, saying:

"I started doing National Novel Writing Month in 2003. I failed miserably that first attempt but reached 50k in 30 days the next year, and it became a really good exercise for me — writing without stopping to be overly self-critical and having the magical pressure of a deadline."

I'm not surprised Morgenstern was helped by NaNoWriMo--it offers lots of structure, feedback, support, and accountability via a website, forums, and live events. However, since November is a bad time for me, I've never actually participated. Instead, I created my own pseudo-NaNoWriMo events, first with a group of my fellow writers, and then later on my own. I blogged about those activities here before. They were key to my finally finishing my young adult historical novel last month.

By the way, if you're a picture book writer, there are some comparable events for you, such as Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo), which, like NaNoWriMo, takes place in November, and National Picture Book Writing Week (NaPiBoWriWee).

I don't have plans for any marathon writing sessions any time soon, but I continue to be inspired by weekly deadlines I set with my writing buddy. If you missed my post about that process, I encourage you to check it out here.

And be assured, this isn't our "final word" on the subject of silencing the inner critic. Last but not least, April will close out the topic on Friday. I'm looking forward to reading what she'll add to the discussion. If you have any tips to share, please post them as comments below or email them to us at: teachingauthors at gmail dot com.

Finally, I just found out that today is World Teacher's Day. Hurray for teachers everywhere!

Happy writing!
Carmela

Wednesday Writing Workout: The Villain’s Journey

Today's Wednesday Writing Workout is courtesy of Leanne Pankuch, my "Writing Buddy" and former critique group member. Long-time TeachingAuthors readers may recall this post where I mentioned Leanne. Well, I'm happy to share that Leanne's first novel, Dragon's Truth, was published earlier this year by Vinspire Publishing. In honor of the book's six-month birthday, Leanne is offering a special giveaway of the novel, which you can read about below.
Here's Leanne's official bio:

Born in Canada, Leanne Pankuch now lives in New York’s mid-Hudson Valley. She walks in the woods, plays with her dog, amuses her husband, reads way too many books, and sometimes moonlights as a substitute teacher. She also writes stories about dragons, dogs, and strong female characters who rush headlong into following their dreams with plenty of passion and not much planning. You can follow Leanne through her website and on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Leanne's debut young-adult novel, Dragon's Truth, is a marvelous blend of mystery and fantasy.  Here's a summary:

Fourteen-year-old Rhyannon Kember dreams of dragons, wizards, and magic. She feels constrained by her ordinary life and overshadowed by her beautiful sister Elspeth. When Elspeth is kidnapped, Rhyan embarks on a journey to save her sister and face the evil threatening their world. She finds friendship, adventure, love, and the magic and power she's been craving—but she also discovers a growing darkness within herself. Will she be able to control her abilities and save Elspeth? Will she choose the path of light? Or will she slip into the dragon's darkness?

NOTE: As a special promotion for the six-month publication anniversary of Dragon’s Truth, Leanne is giving away a signed copy of the novel along with a decorative map of the world of Dragon’s Truth. See her website for complete details.

And now, here's Leanne's great WWW, a twist on The Hero's Journey:

Wednesday Writing Workout:

The Villain’s Journey

In addition to fulfilling my dream of writing an epic fantasy with a female main character, my debut YA novel Dragon’s Truth reflects my long-time fascination with the concept of the monomyth, better known as The Hero’s Journey (THJ) – the term coined by academic Joseph Campbell. THJ is a classic story structure shared by many tales from different cultures. As many of you may already know, books (The Hunger Games, the Harry Potter series, The Hobbit), movies (Finding Nemo, Star Wars, Black Panther), and even TV, cable, and online series (Dora the Explorer, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things) have main characters who follow plot-paths that can be mapped to THJ.

But great storytelling doesn’t just involve heroes—you’ve got to have villains/antagonists, too. My main character, Rhyan, would never have set out on her adventure if her sister hadn’t been kidnapped by my villain. And who would Harry Potter have been without Voldemort?

When I sat down to begin the sequel to Dragon’s Truth, I not only plotted my MC’s journey, but my villain’s journey as well—I called this process shadow plotting. I used color-coded notecards and recorded the stages of each character’s movement through THJ—then I laid the cards out in parallel rows, lining them up according to the chapters where they occurred. The process was a revelation! It truly fleshed out my villain in my mind’s eye. For the first time, I recognized him as the hero of his own story—a story that began long before Rhyan ever set out on her adventure. As I began to write, that clearer image in my creative mind translated on to the page. My villain became a fuller and richer character—not just a vague phantom that does evil or is “bad” for some unknown reason. And my fantasy world and Rhyan’s story became more vivid and meaningful as a result.

Ready to try out shadow plotting with your own WIP? Using notecards or a document with labeled columns, answer the following questions about your main character and your antagonist/villain:

1. Describe the Ordinary World/Setting for the character: What is their life like before their adventure begins? Where do they live? Do they have a family? Are they happy? Bored? 
2. What is the Catalyst/Call to Adventure that begins the character’s story? Does a secret door open? Do they receive a mysterious letter? Find/need a magical object? Lose their dog? Find out their class is putting on a play? Consider running away? Going to college? Are they kidnapped? Do they meet a stranger? Does an annoying new kid move into town?
3. When does the Catalyst/Call to Adventure occur for the character? At the beginning/In the first chapter of the book? Before the story in your book begins? Many years before?

Review the cards. Have you learned anything new about your villain/antagonist? Are they content in their life until the hero shows up? Or are they already near the end of their adventure when the hero throws a wrench in their plans? Do they even know/care about the hero and her quest/goal?

No matter your genre or format and regardless of your chosen plotting or structure device or plot/writing bible—The Writer’s Journey, Save the Cat, Wired for Story, Wonderbook, The Plot Whisperer, The Snowflake Method, etc.—I truly believe that shadow plotting can be a valuable, insightful tool for adding depth and authenticity to your characters and their story.

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Our thanks to Leanne for today's WWW. Do let us know if you try this exercise, and how it works for you. And don't forget to enter to win a signed copy of the Dragon's Truth and a cool map! See Leanne's website for details. And if you haven't yet entered our TeachingsAuthors giveaway of Deanie Yasner's debut middle-grade novel, Essie Rose’s Revelation Summer, you can do so on this page.

Carmela

We Have A Winner! And We Have A Writer's Drought Poem for Poetry Friday!

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Howdy, Campers!

Happy hot and glorious summer!  I'm loving this hotter-than-usual Southern California summer: lying on hot cement by the pool in a wet bathing suit, barefeet, no sleeves, long days, bright mornings, driving with all the windows down, sleeping with all the windows open, taking Eli to the dog park early because he's black and brown and otherwise he gets too hot to romp like a pony, cold drinks with just the right kind of crunchy ice...I can go on listing all the things I love about summer.

Speaking of lists, we have a winner of Sylvia Vardell's book, THE POETRY BOOK OF LISTS!  If you were on vacation, Sylvia was our Mystery Guest Author on August 3rd.  It was very exciting.  And so is announcing the winner, who is...dum-dah-dah-dum...Carl Scott!   Yay, Carl!

And now onto the topic we TeachingAuthors have been discussing:

GETTING THROUGH TIMES OF DROUGHT
OR HOW I FILL THE WRITING WELL. 

(Sorry...I didn't mean to shout.)

Mary Ann posted about finding at least three things to write in her journal each day that trigger her curiosity.  Carmela posted that she replenishes her writer's well by taking herself on an artist playdate. And Carmela tells us about her friend, Leanne Pankuch, who writes a page a day.  

My contribution is the following poem, inspired by our topic.

DROUGHT
by April Halprin Wayland

We writers,
we've been through Hard Times.
Dry times.
The Long Drought.

Dry?  Oh my.
We place our plates upside down,
glasses bottom side up,
so the winds won't blast dust into 'em.

Our typewriters go thirsty on parched parchment.
We've got scrawny stories—or none at all.
Ideas simply
evaporate.

We hear that on the outskirts of Amarillo,
crows built a nest from barbed wire—
the only thing they could scavenge
from burned-out fields.

Those birds made a nest
from barbed wire?
Well, Sir, then so can we.
And then: we'll crow.

poem © 2012 April Halprin Wayland.  All rights reserved.

WRITING WORKOUT: Vitamins

Raise your hand if you take vitamins.  Now look at the vitamin bottle.  Do the directions say: take one when the mood strikes you?

I challenge you to write something, anything, every day, even if it's small, even if it's crummy. The trick to doing this consistently, for me, turned out to be connecting with a writing buddy.  You may remember that I write a poem a day and send each one to my friend who sails around the world in a trimaran.  Well, Bruce is now writing a poem a day, too, and sending them to me.  It's a lovely circular thing. 

One brilliant poem a day?  Ha ha.  Some rare days the poems are wonderful.  I give those a star.  Some days they're just okay.  Poetic possibilities in waiting.  And some days, wandering in a desert, or depleted by Real Life, I can only squeeze out what Bruce and I call a PHP--a Place Holder Poem.

So every day, take your vitamins.  Write a page or a poem.  And walk out your door into the world feeling virtuous.  You are a writer.

Thanks to Andromeda at A Wrung Sponge for hosting Poetry Friday!
(Note from Carmela: Andromeda's roundup didn't come out until Saturday.
Meanwhile, Mary Lee was kind enough to post one at A Year of Reading) 

posted by April Halprin Wayland