Time to Write

My favorite creativity & productivity tools

I thought I'd share some of my favorite creativity and productivity tools with you. 

 www.fiverr.com - this is the site where people tell you what they will do for $5 (you can also list a task and see whether someone will do it for you for that amount. I've used it for transcriptions, graphics, etc.

 Apimac Timer - this is a free timer for your computer desktop with a stopwatch, countdown, alarm clock function-it's for Mac Users but there are many PC timers available as well. For this one, go to www.apimac.com/timer.

 Google Alerts - you type in a word or phrase and Google will send you daily or weekly listings of various internet sites where that appeared. You can use it to find references to your name, your website, a product, or any topic. Sign up at www.google.com/alerts. Free.

 Ommwriter - a free program that takes over your screen so all you see is what you are typing. You can adjust the light level, select from several fonts, and have it be silent or play soothing sounds. The paid version adds more sound and picture options. You can save as txt., pdf.,or rtf (and you can easily copy and paste the txt version into Word if you need it in that format). It's at Ommwriter.com. If you use a pc, a similar program that I've heard recommended is Q10, at www.baara.com/q10/.

 comf5.com - a subscription program that allows you to send video emails. The lowest price level, which has lots of functionality, is $10/month. You can get more info at www.comf5.com.

 Shrink-0-Matic - a free program that easily resizes images, for instance for use in a blog. You type in the size you want it to be and then drag and drop the image into the Shrink-o-Matic window and it does it automatically. This has been a big time-saver for me with my blogs. You'll find it at www.softpedia.com.

Blurts - this is one I'm just experimenting with. It allows you to record up to 30 seconds and creates a link to your recording that you can add to a blog post or email or photo. Like this one (which will also take you to the sign-up site): 

http://blurts.com/5k82e5

(I also recommend my book, "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done," published by Pearson and available from Amazon and your other favorite online and offline booksellers. More information and free resources at www.FocusQuick.com)

 

Is the joy of writing missing in action?

Melanie Benjamin wrote about "for the love of writing' in the Huffington Post. Here's part of what she wrote:

 "Why are we all in such a rush to be published? With NaNoWriMo [Nantional Novel Writing Month--in which people try to write a full novel of at least 50,000 words in one month] currently going on, it's a question I ask myself a lot.

Just when did writing for the pure pleasure of it fade away? Does every artist sit down to paint a beautiful sunset thinking, "Oh, boy, I just can't wait until this thing sells and is hanging on some cafeteria wall"?

Somehow, I don't think so -- although perhaps I'm being naïve. Yet so many writers these days, it seems to me, write joylessly; they join writers groups, participate in NaNoWriMo, all with the goal of writing quickly. Finishing that book ASAP so it can be published. Publication is the goal, the one and only point when a writer can sit back and allow himself a sense of accomplishment.

But is that necessary? Is that even right?"

It's a question I have pondered as well, from time to time. I make most of my living from selling what I write, so I can't claim to write for the pure joy of it. But there are a couple of things, including a full-length screenplay, that I've written just because I knew I'd enjoy it. I haven't even shown that script to anybody, nor am I particularly keen to do so. I know film is a collaborative medium and if somebody wants to buy it, the first thing they'll want is changes. I didn't write that one to change it or to try to make a lot of money for it, it was just fun to do. I'm not saying I'll never put it out there into the marketplace, just that writing it without worrying about whether or not it would sell was really enjoyable. 

Which is what writing is supposed to be.

 

Three lessons from a not-so-wimpy author

Jeff Kenney's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth" sold more than 825,000 hardcover copies in the US in its first week!

 This is 100,000 more than the first week sales of the previous Wimpy Kid book in October 2009.

 Pretty good for a kids' book with stick-figure drawings! I'm not knocking the drawings, by the way, they're charming, it's just that they're very simple (of course, sometimes simple is hard).

 Mind you, it was not an overnight process. On his website, Kinney says, "From the time I started until the time the book came out in print, it was nine years. I spent about four years just generating ideas, and another four years writing and illustrating the story. Then it took about a year to get it into print."

 He's planning to write at least five books in all and Twentieth Century Fox have made a Wimpy Kid movie. Despite all this, Kinney still has a full time job designing virtual worlds. 

 To me the lessons are: don't worry if it's taking you some time to get your book or other idea together. Probably it'll take you less than nine years. Secondly, don't think a simple concept or a simple style can't succeed. Finally, nobody knows what's going to be a hit. This could work in your favor (or not!).

(For some help getting your book together, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," and check out my Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program--see www.jurgenwolff.com for details of the latter.)

 

 

Three ways a writer can become a brand

A couple of years ago, the theme of "brand you" was all the rage. The basic concept was that you have to become a brand--that is, someone with attributes that stand out and that your customer or client would recognize immediately. However, at the same time research has suggested a kind of brand fatigue among consumers--there are too many brands competing, they make unsustainable claims, and sometimes they are indistinguishable from each other. 

 A study by John Gerzeme and Ed Lebar, published in Strategy + Business, suggests that brands that stand out in today's crowded marketplace have three strong attributes:

VISION: They have a clear idea of what they want to achieve. 

INVENTION: They innovate and keep refreshing the experience of their customers or clients.

DYNAMISM: They create excitement by the way they present themselves.

 How can a writer embody these attributes?

VISION means defining how you want to affect your readers (or audience, if you're writing films). Do you want to make them laugh, scare the pants of them, educate at the same time you entertain? It may go against your desire to do all kinds of writing for all kinds of audiences, but for branding purposes it makes sense to choose a genre and stick to it. The more narrowly you define your niche, the more easily you will be able to dominate it. However, there is a risk. For instance, when I was starting out, sitcoms were a dominant genre, but in recent years they have been in decline (although now there are strong signs they're coming back to the fore). 

INVENTION means offering something your competitors don't, and keeping up that flow of innovation as you go along. Not only that, you have to make sure that these changes don't confuse your audience. For an author, giving your readers timely material on the internet could be a good example of invention.

DYNAMISM means creating an experience for your readers. This might take the form of giving them new ways to interact with you online, or forming alliances and associations with other brands. For example, an author of fantasy novels might work with a fantasy convention to present an event beyond just a signing session. 

Naturally, all of this is in addition to, not in place of, creating an excellent book or script. 

(Need help setting and achieving your writing goals? Consider joining my Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program. You can get full details and my free report, "Seven Things that Stop You From Writing and How to Overcome Them" HERE.)

Three things writers can learn from Industrial Light + Magic

Some years ago, Strategy + Business analyzed the business practices that enabled the special effects company Industrial Light + Magic to thrive. Here are three factors they identified and how a free-lance writer or other creative person could apply them:

 * With their proposals they bid to deliver rather than bid to win. In other words, rather than proposals that say, "Look how good we are," theirs say "Look how we will solve your problems." 

An author could follow this path in creating a book proposal. Yes, the proposal has to demonstrate that the book will be good, but the publisher's problem is how to make sure the book sells. This means including in your proposal an innovative approach to marketing the book, which increasingly is the responsibility of the author rather than the publisher.

 * For each project, they put together a dedicated team. 

Following on from the last point, a book proposal could include indications of who else will be involved. For example, for a book I am pitching at the moment, I am proposing to include a link to a piece of downloadable software that will be made available for readers. I will be commissioning but not creating the software program--that will be done by someone I will hire just for this project.

 * It selects suppliers and collaborators based on the needs of each job

The days when an author was with one publisher for a lifetime have gone, so writers need to stay alert to who is doing what in the publishing (or filmmaking) world and to be flexible. Similarly, the same agent may not be right for you throughout your career. This is not to say there should be no loyalty, just that the marketplace is shifting so quickly that win-win situations may require moving around (agents and publishers feel the same way, so don't expect them to hold to the old paradigm, either). 

(One thing you need to be able to do is set and achieve goals with focus. You can get support for that in my Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program. You can get my free report, "Seven Things that Stop You From Writing and How to Overcome Them" and full information about the Program HERE.)

 

 

Kaizen writing

You may have heard the Japanese term, "Kaizen," which means small steps. It's also the practice of making small, continual improvements. Big revolutionary changes are more exciting and dramatic, but in most cases a "small steps" approach is more practical and likely to succeed.

Here are six writing-related Kaizen strategies. See whether any of these might help you:

1. Each day  spend 15 minutes reading an author you admire.

2. Each morning take 5 minutes to record any dreams you remember. (Often these reveal images or even sequences you can use in your writing.)

3. Once a day pick out one stranger you can see (out the window or in the coffee shop, for instance) and make up a 60-second story about them.

4. Choose a project you are working on or want to work on and once a day brainstorm for five minutes regarding characters, plot, description, dialogue, or any other aspect. Jot down your ideas and drop them into a folder.

5. When you read something--an article or essay, a book, even an ad--that affects you, take a couple of minutes to consider WHY it is effective. Is it the imagery, the choice of words, the fact that it makes you laugh?

6. Whenever your Inner Critic unreasonably undermines your confidence, replay what it says, but using the voice of Donald Duck.

Adding one of these every week can transform your writing. Give it a try and let me know how you get on.

(Another way to improve your writing habits is to enroll in my Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program. You start with an intensive 60-day series of lessons and then continue for as long as you like for a small monthly fee. Get full information plus my report, "Seven Things that Stop You From Writing and How to Overcome Them" by going HERE.)

Was Mark Twain the first blogger?

The first volume of the complete autobiography of Mark Twain has just been released, in the form in which he wrote it. Much of the material has been published previously, but editors tidied it up by reorganizing it in chronological order. Twain wrote it much as a blogger writes now. Here's what he said about his method:

“I intend that this autobiography shall become a 
model  for all future autobiographies when it is 
published, after my death, and I also intend 
that it shall be read and admired a good many 
centuries  because of its form and method--a 
form and method whereby the past and the 
present are constantly brought face to face, 
resulting in contrasts which newly fire up the
interest all along, like contact of flint with steel. 
Moreover, this autobiography of mine does not 
select from my life its showy episodes, but deals 
mainly in the common experiences which go to 
make up the life of the average human being, 
because these episodes are of a sort which he 
is familiar with in his own life, and in which he 
sees his own life reflected and set down in print. 
The usual, conventional autobiographer seems to 
particularly hunt out those occasions in his career 
when he came into contact with celebrated persons, 
whereas his contacts with the uncelebrated were 
just as interesting to him, and would be to his 
reader, and were vastly more numerous than 
his collisions with the famous.”

He was never the most modest of men but who knew he was a century or so ahead of his time?  Generally I'm still into actual books, but this one, at more than 700 pages, seems a good candidate for purchase of the ebook version. I can't think of a more pleasant travel companion than Mr Twain.

Why your fellow writers (even direct competitors) are not the enemy

If you're an author (or actually in any kind of business) here's a counter-intuitive fact to consider:

People who buy something generally will buy many somethings of the same kind.

OK, that's a little vague, so let me give you a personal example. Recently I bought a book on creativity. I guarantee that within the next 12 months I will buy several more books on creativity. In fact, I buy just about every new book that comes out on that topic.

One friend buys every chess books, another buys every book about screenplay writing. Is there a topic on which you buy a lot of books or other products?

The importance of this is that while we traditionally have treated people who create the same products as competitors, we would be smarter to treat them as collaborators. The questions is, how can we work together to get the attention of our potential customers?

Examples I've mentioned before are The Crime Squad and Sisters in Crime, two groups of crime writers who work together to stage events to promote their books. Recently a colleague organized a day-long business writers' conference at which a group of business writers offered mini-workshops to the public. 

Do you have any bright ideas on other ways to do this? They're welcome, either as a comment on this post or directly to [email protected].

(Another way of benefitting from each other's efforts is to join a group mentoring program like my Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program. You can get a free report, "Seven Things Stopping Your From Writing and How to Overcome Them" and information about the program HERE.)

 

Here's what's wrong with writing 'simple' stories

In the current issue of The Writer Magazine, Sam McCarver warns against ten fiction pitfalls. The one that stood out for me (as a reader and movie-goer, as well as somebody who teaches writing) is "Don't write a 'simple' plot."

The current emphasis, especially in screenwriting, on using the formula of "your protagonist wants something desperately and there's somebody trying to stop him or her from getting it" is leading to two-dimensional stories. 

Yes, that quest can be the spine of your story, but for me a story gets interesting when it blossoms into moral dimensions. For instance, the typical movie hero has no second thoughts about killing someone in self-defense. But if you or I killed someone, even if we thought our life was in danger, would we just get on with our day to day business as though nothing much had happened? What if something comes to light that makes us wonder whether our life really was in danger? How might the incident affect our relationship to our spouse or partner? 

I know these issues are not on the minds of the teen-age boys who are the target audience for most movies these days, but that level of simplistic plotting seems to be spreading even to stories ostensibly aimed at a more mature viewer or reader.

The two levels are not mutually exclusive--in many cases, it's a matter of adding another level of meaning and drama. 

One way to explore these while planning your story is to consider how each major action in the story affects the characters intellectually, emotionally, and physically. Not all actions will have effects on all three levels, but seeing which ones do can help you fully exploit the drama of any story.

(If you'd like support and help with time management and the other things you need to do in order to finally write that book or screenplay you've been thinking about, get my free report, "Seven Things That Stop Your From Writing and How to Overcome Them," and information about the Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program, go HERE.)

 

Overcome the Catch-22 of getting known as a writer

Gideon Sarantinos reports in his blog on a seminar presented by Phillipa Burgess of Creative Convergence. She emphasized you need to have impact in order to be considered by the big studios for writing assignments (the same can be said regarding getting the attention of publishers, by the way). It sounds like a Catch-22: they won't consider you until you've had exposure, but you can't get exposure with them considering you. 

Even ten years ago, that would indeed have been a Catch-22. The rise of the internet gives us more alternatives for getting into the spotlight. The ones Burgess mentions include a web series, viral videos, graphic novels, or articles. Some of these you can produce for no cost, some for relatively low cost. 

Consider collaboration. If your idea would work well as a graphic novel but you don't draw, see whether you can find an artist who isn't a writer and wants a chance to show what he or she can do.

If you have an idea for a web series, find a director who isn't a writer, and maybe a producer as well.

See whether a local dramatic society has actors and others interested in collaborating on a web series.

The ways to get attention without spending a lot of money have increased--and so has the need to be creative in doing so and in drawing people's attention to what you offer.

(My book, Your Writing Coach, includes two chapters on marketing yourself--one covers traditional methods, the other guerrilla methods. You can get the book from Amazon or your other favorite online or offline bookseller.)

Is your writing short fuse or long fuse?

Some stories start with a bang, some take quite a while to get going but gain impact from the run-up to the point of ignition.

 These days in both films and novels, the trend is toward starting with a big dramatic incident. Sometimes a book uses a prologue to expose you to that kind of scene and then the first chapter goes back in time. The idea is that the prologue is the promise of action and intensity to come and that it buys your patience.

 It's not that one is right and one is wrong, but both have pitfalls to watch out for. 

 The risk with a long fuse story is that you will lose the interest of the reader before you ignite the central conflict. This means your characters have to be really interesting and you have to foreshadow some of the more active elements to come. At the moment I'm reading the novel, "The Way Home," by crime writer George Pelecanos. Although the first part of the book tells how young protagonist Chris comes to be sent to a juvenile authority prison, I've reached page 97 without being able to identify the central dramatic premise. One of the reasons I continue to read is that Pelecanos skillfully keeps shifting the reader's perception of Chris: is he on the way to becoming a psychopath or is he a kid who is going to find his way out of his funk? (Now that I think of it, maybe that is the central dramatic premise...) That and Pelecanos' skill with dialogue and character descriptions mean there's no danger that I'll put the book aside.

The risk with a short fuse is that a big opening will make your reader eager for more of the same. If you give in to that, you may find  yourself losing your grip on the more personal aspects of the story or you may even write yourself into a corner, as happened with the TV series "Lost." There was so much high-profile mysterious action that ultimately there was no way they could pay it off in a satisfying manner. One approach is to reveal, as you go along, more facets of the dramatic incident that starts the story. That way it continues to have impact long after the first few pages.

Some writers like to consider this before they start writing, others just write and think about these things when they get into the rewriting phase. But sooner or later, we have to consider what kind of fuse will serve our story best and how to make sure we hold the reader's attention.

(For more tips on how to construct your plot and create great characters, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other online and offline booksellers.)

 

How to avoid the research distraction trap

Here's a great tip about research and writing, from Cory Doctorow (I found it on Lifehacker but it appeared first in Locus Magazine, in an article called "Writing in the Age of Distraction," which is worth reading in its entirety):

"Researching isn't writing and vice-versa. When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't. Don't give in and look up the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, the population of Rhode Island, or the distance to the Sun. That way lies distraction - an endless click-trance that will turn your 20 minutes of composing into a half-day's idyll through the web.

Instead, do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go, as in "The Brooklyn bridge, all TK feet of it, sailed into the air like a kite." "TK" appears in very few English words (the one I get tripped up on is "Atkins") so a quick search through your document for "TK" will tell you whether you have any fact-checking to do afterwards. And your editor and copyeditor will recognize it if you miss it and bring it to your attention."

(There are also lots of tips on managing your writing time both of my books:  "Your Writing Coach" and "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done," available from Amazon or your other favorite online and offline bookseller.)

 

Resisting everything except temptation (the $500,000 tip)

Darren Hardy, editor of Success Magazine, tells the story of how a client offered Sir Richard Branson $250,000 and then $500,000 to give a one-hour talk but was turned down because at that point he had only 3 priorities, and speaking for a fee was not one of them.

When Hardy told a friend about this, the friend pointed out that it is relatively easy for Sir Richard to turn down the money because he already has plenty, but that the rest of us would find it difficult to resist that temptation even if we had decided to focus on other things. Hardy's response:

“That’s why you are not achieving like Richard Branson. Hey, he started out with nothing like the rest of us. He’s gotten to where he is BECAUSE of this dedication to focus. It doesn’t have to be the temptation of a half million dollars; it could be saying “no” to a new TV program that will suck several dozen hours out of your life and creative potential; saying “no” to a meaningless and unproductive meeting, saying “no” to invitations, projects, emails, phone calls and visitors that aren’t ON PURPOSE to the accomplishment of your high priority goals."

Good point.

Where's your focus right now? What temptations are nibbling away at it? Is it time to say 'no' to a few things?

 (There are lots of useful tips for staying on course, in my book "Focus: Use the power of targeted thinking to get more done. You can order it from Amazon or your other favorite online or offline bookseller. There's more information at www.focusquick.com.)

 

 

Three Ways to Beat Writer's Block

Here are three ways to get unstuck when you find your writing is blocked:

1.TAKE AWAY ITS TITLE. 

 Calling it "Writer's Block" gives it an authority it doesn't deserve. Instead, say that you are temporarily stuck with your writing. We get stuck in all kinds of situations--in business, in relationships, in getting fit--and then we get unstuck and move forward. The same is true of writing. It's natural to have times when you are very productive and times when you are not so productive. 

2. DON'T "TRY AND TRY AGAIN"

At least don't try and try again the same method that's not working. 

If sitting at your desk isn't working, try a change of location--a coffee shop, the library, even the park. 

If a particular scene isn't coming, skip ahead in the story and write one of those scenes. 

If dialogue isn't flowing, first write the gist of the conversation in summary form (George tells Marie that he has lost his job. Marie is furious and blames him before even hearing the whole story).

Also summarize how each character is feeling--maybe George is ashamed, and Marie feels triumphant that her prediction that George wouldn't be able to hold on to this job has come true.

Also decide what the subtext is of the scene--what is each character really trying to say? Maybe George's real message is, please be on my side. Maybe Marie's real message is, at last I have a big enough reason to leave you. 

 3. LOOK FOR THE PROBLEM SOMEWHERE ELSE

When we get stuck in the middle of the story, often it's because we didn't lay the groundwork for it at the beginning. Go back to the first section and make sure you've complicated your characters' lives enough there to give you material to work with in the middle. 

 Sometimes this means planting an issue that is dormant but is triggered by something that happens in the middle of the story. For instance, in the beginning you might mention that Bill goes to AA meetings once a month, even though he feels fully in control of his drinking. When things get tough in the middle of the story, his battle with alcohol might come back to life and give you a strong story strand to work with.

The crucial thing to remember is that getting unstuck is just a matter of finding the right approach to handle the the specific issue that's causing you a problem. It's a temporary problem, not a state of being!

(If you would like to get support for your writing, consider joining my Writing Breakthrough Strategy Program. It's open now--for more details and to get my free Report, "Seven Things that Stop You From Writing and How to Overcome Them" go Here.)

 

What's it worth to be an Amazon best-seller? (not as much as you may think)

I had an email recently from someone who got an offer to buy a program that would help make him an Amazon best-selling author. 

I know how those work: you get a number of online marketers to promote your book to their lists, asking everybody to buy the book on a certain day (sometimes even at a certain hour on that day). The book buyer's reward is a whole bunch of bonuses provided by the marketers, usually in downloadable form. In return, the author either agrees to do the same with his or her list (if they have one) next time, or they pay a commission on the sales of the book, or they pay a flat fee.

This was a hot topic about a year ago. It has cooled down since but these offers are still flying around. My correspondent wanted to know whether it was something worth spending money on.

My opinion: No.

First, you have to look at what is being guaranteed. Usually it's that you will be number one in your category on that day, or even just part of that day. Not number one in "books" of course, but maybe number one in "bird watching" or "classic car restoration" or whatever category your book fits into. It applies to non-fiction only, by the way. 

Let's assume you achieve that. So what? 

Yes, it gives you the right to say, "My book was an Amazon best-seller!" But people in the book trade know that doesn't mean anything unless it is sustained. They can go to your book's listing and they'll see that currently it's 134,656 (or whatever) and they'll know that the best-seller status was, shall we say, limited.

Furthermore, how would you feel about saying your book was a best-seller when you know it was only a technicality? Some people would feel just fine, but a lot of us would feel that even thought it's true technically, it's a claim that lacks integrity.

There are better ways of spending your money, including sending review copies to influential bloggers in your field and taking out small classified ads in relevant trade publications and small ads on websites.

(For more on marketing your book, including guerrilla marketing techniques, see my book, "Your Writing Coach," available from Amazon--by the way, it's genuinely number one in "authorship" most of the time--and other online and offline booksellers.)