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I talked to a writer yesterday who is stuck. She has been stuck for years—having never put more than a few hundred words down on paper during that time. Yet, she studies, she plans and she dreams of one day seeing her story in book form. But she doesn’t write. She says she just can’t break through the tendency to procrastinate. And she asked me if others have this problem.

I started thinking about this strange (to me) phenomenon of wanting to write—even having the skills—but just not doing it. While it is foreign to me, I actually get similar questions from others, occasionally. Authors will say, “I just can’t make myself sit down and finish my novel.”

Here are my suggestions for those who are suffering from any form of writer’s block. This might include those who are temporarily blocked as well as those who haven’t written a word in years.

I believe that there has to be a strong enough motivation for a writer to write. For me, initially, I had to justify the time I spent doing what I love—writing. And I did so by pursuing publication. I guess that, while I’m driven (it’s 4:45 a.m. as I write this, for example), I felt that writing for writing’s sake was a bit frivolous, so I was motivated to get my writing published in order to prove (to myself) that I was spending my time doing something worthwhile.

Other writers might have different motivations:
• a strong desire to help others through their stories.

• a need to be heard/read.

• a longing for greater understanding of self and others through the process of writing.

• a need to earn money through writing.

I tell people who feel stuck—who can’t seem to focus on their projects at hand—to write something else. And this is what I told the writer yesterday. Maybe you’re trying to write your memoirs or some other emotionally-charged story. If you find yourself procrastinating, perhaps it is because you are not ready to relive an event of your past. Instead of quitting, take a break from your primary project and write something else—a humorous piece, poetry, a how-to based on something that interests you or a companion booklet to your primary project. For example, you could come out with a booklet of family recipes and tell a story about how they each came about. Compile a booklet of resources for something related to your initial story—resources for parents with an autistic child, for people who own handicapped pets, for caretakers of the elderly, etc.

If you are stuck on a book project, write a few articles or stories in your genre. This is highly recommended as a way to build your platform, anyway—for when you finally do produce your book.

Start a blog and post to it regularly. Imagine that there are visitors who depend on the wisdom or frivolity in your blog every day. Write for them—so as not to disappoint them.

Likewise, maybe if you think about your audience instead of your own emotions, weariness, disinterest or whatever, you will spend more time writing. Don’t you owe it to your audience to provide them with the information in your book? Wasn’t your primary reason for writing this book to help people or to entertain them? By not writing it, you are letting them down. Perhaps this mindset will help you to break through the tendency to procrastinate.

Everyone procrastinates sometimes. We all avoid projects, at least for brief time periods. We all experience minor blocks. But if you haven’t written anything in months or years and you truly have a book you want to write, consider my message this morning.

If you need more strict guidance, I would suggest the following:
• Join a writers group and participate fully.

• Set aside one hour per day to write and follow through.

• Engage a writing buddy or mentor.

• If you can’t work on your project, write something else—a children’s story, a poem, an account of a recent outing or trip.

• Purchase a book of writing prompts and use it every day.

• Locate writing prompts online—use keyword, “writing prompts.”

Visit my websites:
http://www.patriciafry.com (sign up for a free book.)
http://www.matilijapress.com

“Are you still writing?” “What are you working on?”

These are two questions I invariably get from people I haven’t seen in a while. My response to the first question typically generates a polite smile. When I answer the second one, the weak smile turns into a blank stare. It seems that the only people who “get” the concept of writing for a living are others who write for a living or dream of doing so.

When I excitedly tell folks that a publisher just picked up my book on book marketing, they totally lose interest—unless I’m talking to another author.

Sometimes I wish I wrote fiction because everyone understands fiction-writing. Everyone I meet would be interested in hearing about my upcoming novel. Fiction is more universally accepted than niche nonfiction. Actually, I thought that I would get a different response from people when I told them about my cat stories book. And there were some who seemed to care.

When I was writing that book and someone would ask, “What are you working on?” I’d gleefully say, “I’m writing a book of true cat stories. They are fun, quirky and delightful.” Sometimes folks would say, “Oh, I know someone who would just love that book.” Others gave me the familiar blank stare.

As authors, we know that the audience for our books—no matter the topic/genre—is not everyone. And we also know that the writers’ life is a mystery to most. Non-writers see us as highly emotional people who write only when inspired. The rest of the time we are waiting for inspiration. Not so! At least not so for those who consider writing as a business, like I do.

When people ask what magazines my articles have appeared in lately, they hope to hear a familiar title. But, alas, even if I were to start reciting names, there would be no sign of recognition from my non-writer friends and acquaintances. Who, among them have heard of, “Publishing Basics,” “Book Promotion Newsletter,” “Writer’s Journal?” Sigh!

What they do understand is when I tell them how many books I have produced over the years. Most are aware of maybe one of my books and figure that is my one and only. When I allude to “31 and counting,” they are often blown away.

How do you represent your writing career to others? How do others respond when you tell them you are writing a book or that your article was accepted by “Dishpan Hands Journal,” or “Wayward Youth Magazine?” Do you get the blank stares?

I’ve come to realize that if that person tried to explain to me what they do in their job as property manager or technical advisor or food products supervisor, they would be getting a blank stare from me. It seems that, in order to “get it” you really have to live it—experience it.

So what’s the point of my post today? Simply that the writing career you have carved out for yourself or the book project you are involved in is probably a valid undertaking and that it doesn’t matter how other people respond when you tell them about it. Most likely, you will get the blank stare because they just don’t understand the concept of your lifestyle or your dream—just as you would have trouble comprehending theirs. So keep on keeping on and enjoy the journey.

http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

I’ve returned from a lovely vacation cruise to Alaska. What an interesting and beautiful place. There were surprises all along the way, such as the flowers. Who would have thought you’d see a variety of flowers in such abundance in Alaska?

I also became aware of many stories and story enhancements while traveling. As a writer, you probably know what I mean when I say that I saw the makings of articles, short stories, essays, even books during the week.

Practically everyone on earth engages in people-watching, and the opportunities while traveling are enormous. A vacation is no time to turn OFF your story/article-writing radar. There are, in fact, so many more opportunities to study people and discover good story/article ideas.

Astute freelance writers will return home from a vacation with article ideas. Never leave home without your notepad and a pen or, if you are more technologically inclined, a computerized notepad. Jot down article ideas that occur to you, questions that could lead to an authentic article, concepts you are eager to research and so forth.

This week, I came up with numerous questions I want to pursue through research. I was a people-watcher. I noticed people exhibiting a variety of interesting gestures, attitudes and values that could be used to develop fictional characters or even enhance descriptions of real people. And I learned a lot about a state I’d never visited nor studied.

Will my experiences show up in any of my writings? It’s always possible. You can already see how I used this trip to develop this blog post.

We’ve talked about this subject before. When you write a list of items, your amateur status as a writer glares through when you neglect to make each item conform. In other words, when you introduce a list, each item following should conform to the introduction. Here’s an example of a list that does not conform. “When you go to the beach, you’re likely to encounter, riptides, stingrays, go sailing, rent a surfboard and jellyfish,” part of your list does not conform. Each item should work off of the original introduction. You should be able to use each item correctly in a complete sentence with the introduction: “When you go to the beach, you’re likely to encounter riptides.” “When you go to the beach, you’re likely to encounter stingrays.” “When you go to the beach, you’re likely to encounter go sailing…” This does not work.

Sure, it seems elementary—it IS elementary. But many writers still goof up their “lists,” by inserting words, terms and partial sentences that just don’t fit. In order to correct this list, you might change it to, “riptides, stingrays, opportunities to go sailing, surfboard rentals and jellyfish.”

Here’s another example of a nonconforming list. “This book will benefit individuals:
• struggling with drug addiction
• looking to discover help with their addiction
• what their purpose in life will be
• interested to work through personal issues
• who want to change their behavior
• searching for a new identity”

Rather, I would suggest this: “This book will benefit individuals who are:

• struggling with drug addiction
• looking for help with their addiction
• seeking their purpose in life
• interested in working through personal issues
• ready to change their behavior
• searching for a new identity”

Do you see how you could take each of the items on this list and create complete sentences using the introduction? If you cannot create sentences that work using each of the items on the lists you’re constructing, you need to reframe those items—and maybe the introduction, as well.

If you found this helpful, you may want to enroll in my online self-editing course. http://www.matilijapress.com/course_selfediting.htm

Pay $200 for this course, clean up your manuscript and save hundreds more when you turn your project over to a professional editor.

I realize I haven’t addressed freelance writers in a while. There are so many people in some stage of writing, publishing or promoting a book that I write mostly for this group. Even some of my freelance writer friends are working on books. So who is holding down the periodicals fort? Are any of you still submitting articles?

Lately, when I send out a query or offer a completed piece, the editor says, “I’ll use it in our next issue.” They seem eager to receive stories to fill space. It makes me wonder, “Where have all of the writers gone?”

And, with all of the talk of books going digital—electronic books—what is the future of magazines? How do you feel about holding a metallic object in your hands in order to read your favorite magazine copy? Would you miss the feel and smell of the slick paper, the brilliance of the colors, the sound of the pages as you turn them? Speaking of smell—if you are viewing a magazine through a reading device, you won’t be able to sample the scented perfume samples.

Every era—every generation—has experienced what is known as “progress.” With each invention and step into the future, there were people mourning the loss of the old and resisting the advent of the new. But change happens anyway, doesn’t it? And new generations are born into a world of inventions and change which they soon take for granted.

Okay, I’m getting carried away. All I wanted to do this morning was to check in with my freelance writer friends and colleagues. So are you getting work? Is it easier or more difficult to get an editor’s attention today? Are you working for the same magazines and the same editors or have you been forced to (or desire to) branch out and approach new and different publications? Is the pay staying steady? I hear that some magazines are slow paying. Is this your experience?

If your work has slowed to a dwindle. I can tell you that there definitely are new magazines cropping up. There are editors seeking good works to publish. There is work for those of us who want it badly enough to meet all of the requirements of a good freelance writer. Members of SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) get some GREAT resources and leads each and every month in the SPAWN Market Update posted in the member area of the SPAWN Website each first of the month. http://www.spawn.org

If you have a book to promote and you have never tried promoting it through article (or story) writing, maybe this is a good time to start. You’ll find some articles at my website that might help you get a feel for what’s involved with article-writing. I also have a great little book on the subject. A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles.

For articles on writing: http://www.matilijapress.com/articles.htm#writing

Check out the book at: http://www.matilijapress.com/writingpage.html

Editing, judging, article-writing, oh my! I’ve been a busy writer, lately.

I wrote to a friend of mine yesterday telling her how busy I am—that I have a couple of large client jobs, just received a book contract and need to do more revisions on the book, have an article due, judged a writing contest this week, have four presentations to prepare for and I need to start preparing for a trip. She emailed me back and said, “You must learn to say, ‘No.’”

What? I asked, puzzled by her suggestion. Then I realized that she thought I was complaining.

“No, I’m not complaining,” I told her. “I’m bragging. I’m elated. I’m enjoying myself.”

It has been a slow year and I am happy to have more work coming in. I love my clients and appreciate the opportunities to work with them and with a brand new (to me) publisher. After all, a writer who is not keeping busy doing writerly things, is not being fulfilled.

Don’t you feel that way? Don’t you prefer being involved in writing work—having a project—a deadline? I do—always have. Sure, I may complain. But I wouldn’t change the career I chose 35 years ago and my funky cat-infested office for any corporate job in any pristine, air-conditioned building in any city.

What about you? Have you chosen a career or a second career as a writer/author? Would love to hear your story. Now, I must get back to work. I’m on a couple of deadlines.

Learn more about me, my books, my upcoming speaking events and more at my websites:
http://www.patriciafry.com
http://www.matilijapress.com

Also check out the informative articles for authors and writers and the multitude of resources.

I wrote a poem this week. Do you ever stretch yourself and write outside of your genre?

Actually, I started out writing poetry way back in the 1960s. But my audience was very small—just family and friends. You see, as a young married woman with small children, I didn’t have the money to buy gifts for family members at Christmastime or birthdays. So I wrote personalized poems inside homemade cards to give.

After a few years, I began sewing, knitting and embroidering gifts for everyone on my list. But I continued writing poetry and also children’s stories, which I read to my three young daughters. But my dream was to someday write article for magazines. I was intrigued by the way articles were designed—how they were structured—how they worked depending on the way the words were strung together.

In the early 1970s, I signed up for a creative writing class at the college. Our teacher had us writing poetry—but not the rhyming kind that I was used to writing. She taught us out to create word pictures. I wrote a poem depicting the history of cats and called it, “Cat Eternal.”

The class experience gave me the confidence I needed to strike out as a career writer and the first thing I did was to study the local hometown newspaper with a critical eye. What was missing from the line-up of columns? What was going on in this small town that was under-reported? In my view, it was local businesses. Being a small town and relying a lot on tourists, we’ve always had a smattering of interesting businesses opening and closing. I thought that readers would enjoy knowing more about some of the businesses and their proprietors and, certainly, local business owners would love to be featured in the newspaper.

I went out and interviewed a few business owners, wrote their stories and approached the newspaper publisher with my samples and my idea for a business column. Profiles in Business was launched and I was the columnist for the next three years. At the same time, I started submitting articles to magazines.

Some of the stories I did for the newspaper—with a little tweaking—were also suitable for magazines. So my 5 cents per column inch from the newspaper was sometimes expanded to $100 or $200.

Over the years, people have asked how I managed to earn a living through magazine article-writing. I mean, it is pretty much unheard of in most writing circles. Here are my thoughts:

• I believe that my timing was good—not so much from the standpoint of the industry or the era, but in that I didn’t need to support myself when I started writing for publication. That came later. I eased into my career on a part-time basis.

• I was highly motivated to write. I loved the process and felt a need to justify the time I spent writing. Publication, acknowledgement and monetary compensation were the justification I required.

• I was so motivated that I was also willing to do the enormous amount of work that didn’t involve writing—coming up with story ideas, interviewing people, selling myself and my ideas to editors and so forth.

• I maintained a good rapport with the editors I worked with. I always did as I said I would do.

• When there came a time in my life when I had to earn a living, I wasn’t afraid to make some sacrifices in order to build on my article-writing career. That’s when I had to get a regular job, so I began getting up every morning at 4 in order to write for a few hours before going to work. This is how I built my article-writing career to the point that I could finally quit the job and work full-time as a writer.

• I’ve been willing to shift with the times and circumstances in order to remain in the writing field.
Becoming a writer or an author is a matter of choosing—choosing your area of interest and skill, choosing to do what it takes in order to follow your dream, choosing to conform and choosing to make sacrifices along the way. Does this describe you and your writing/publishing path?

If you need a nudge and some instruction toward building your freelance article-writing career, self-publishing your book, learning to self-edit your work, writing a book proposal, writing your memoir or promoting your book, sign up for one of my on-demand, online courses today. http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm

Visit my new website: http://www.patriciafry.com

I love lists. Do you subscribe to a list where like-minded people comment, bring up issues related to an area of your interest, share exciting and sorrowful news, note resources, help solve problems and so forth? I am part of two—SPAWNDiscuss, where authors and publishers congregate and a list connected to the Cat Writers Association, where we talk about cats and writing as well as writing about cats.

This morning someone shared a site where you can have your writing analyzed to find out if you write like a famous or well-known author. If you’d like to check it out it’s at: http://www.iwl.me

I have to tell you, it is a commercial site and they do hope to sell you something. But it’s a kick to visit and what a great way to get people to your site. If you have a book or a service to sell, you might use a similar concept in some creative way at your own website. Penny Sansevieri, of A Marketing Expert, always says not to let visitors leave your site without signing up for something. In fact, that’s something I’m working on for my own site as we speak. I just haven’t figured out, yet, what I want to give away.

By the way, I posted two different pieces of my writing at the “I Write Like,” site and got two different famous writer matches. I had to look up the names. One of them actually wrote nonfiction articles as well as novels and was a professor for a while. However, both were weirded out most of their lives, both became involved in cult lifestyles and one committed suicide at a young age. If I was still a young writer, I would not be encouraged by this. But then, I guess there are some successful writers with personal problems.

I suspect that the site is designed on a rotary system where the famous writers’ names come up in a pre-determined order no matter what the writing example. Play with it yourself and see what you think.

Today, I’m preparing for the Ventura Book Festival. I am looking forward to spending the day along the ocean tomorrow where it is much cooler than the triple digits we’ve been experiencing inland this week. I need to pack books, prepare my presentation, finish writing and printout my handouts, gather my promo material, get change, create new credit card slips and so forth.

But first a walk in the cool early morning before it gets too hot to move.

If you are chilling in air conditioning, in front of your computer this weekend, be sure to visit my websites. You’ll find books you can use, a tremendous resource list, tons of interesting articles, information about me and my services and more. http://www.patriciafry.com and http://www.matilijapress.com

Are you a working writer? Do you have strong time management and marketing skills? Can you find enough work to support your writing habit? Would you like to make even more money? Of course you would. And you can! All you need is an awareness of the vast opportunities out there for writers and the willingness to stretch and grow.

Let’s say that you write articles for magazines. You send out forty queries and write three to eight articles each month. Additionally, you recycle your articles as reprints. You get paid to write a church bulletin and an occasional book review. What more could you do? Plenty. Here are some ideas:

1: Write political campaign material. Elections can be lucrative for writers. Whether the campaign is citywide or at the national level, candidates rely on accomplished writers to sway voters. I’ve earned some good money writing campaign material for school board candidates and local union election contenders. It’s easy to get involved. Simply choose your candidate or cause and apply for a writing job. Be prepared with a resume and a sample press release or campaign blurb. I charge $50/hour for this work, but the bigger the election, the higher the pay rate.

2: Start a newsletter business. I know someone who writes newsletters for half dozen or so businesses and organizations. Potential earnings per newsletter are in the $2000 to $6000 range per year. What does this work entail? You write articles, conduct interviews and provide data related to the business or organization and arrange to have the newsletter typeset and printed or copied.

3: Become a teacher. It took me years to figure out that my writing/publishing experience was a valuable commodity. Perhaps yours is, too. Give seminars for fledgling writers. Teach classes through a local art center, a community college or online. Present memoir classes at a senior center. Not only will you get paid anywhere from $100 to $1000 per course or seminar, some of your students might hire you to help them prepare their works for publication.

4: Produce fundraising material for businesses and organizations. Fundraising takes a special knack which is why business leaders and organization directors usually hire someone to write their fundraising materials. If you can write convincing, straightforward copy designed to touch people’s hearts and their pocketbooks, you can probably get work in this field. Fees vary according to the scope of the project.

5: Expand your writing services. Article writing or client work might be your forte. But don’t limit yourself. There are a wide variety of companies and organizations out there looking for good writers. Have you ever visited a Web site that was disorganized and littered with misspelled words? Contact the Web master and offer to rewrite the text. Do you sometimes find mistakes on brochures you receive in the mail? Go to the heads of these companies/organizations, point out the mistakes and offer your services.

Perhaps a local business, your county seat or a historical church is nearing a hallmark anniversary. Propose a commemorative piece to celebrate the event. I once wrote the copy for a booklet featuring the history of our largest local water district and earned $3,000 for my efforts.

6: Ask for writing work. When you experience a slow time (and we all have them), contact some of your favorite editors and ask for an assignment. Maybe one of their writers can’t make deadline and they need a fast turnaround on an article. Perhaps they have an idea, but haven’t yet settled on a writer to initiate it. It often pays to make yourself available.

In order to find and land unique writing jobs such as these, you must be proactive. Here’s what I suggest:

Subscribe to online writing-oriented newsletters and join online writing organizations that offer job listings for writers. Many of them also keep you current on publishing trends.

Join SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network) and read the monthly SPAWN Market Update. I write this newsletter and I always include resources and listings for freelance writers as well as for authors who are seeking a publisher and those who are promoting books. http://www.spawn.org

Network constantly. Networking has served me extremely well. A few years ago, for example, a writer friend suggested I contact an editor she knows about writing for their technical magazine. I ended up writing a dozen articles for this magazine during a twelve-month period.

If writing is your passion and your livelihood, it’s imperative that you write where the money is. Let this list be a starting place that launches your lucrative writing career.

Contact me for your editorial needs PLFry620@yahoo.com. Visit my websites: http://www.patriciafry.com and http://www.matilijapress.com