Articles archived for August 2009

In my past articles here at WRA, I’ve shared ways you can give back to your blogging community, how you can find your writing zone, tips for getting those writing gigs without an English degree, and have hopefully inspired you to find the courage to sell yourself—even if you come from a background overflowing with very low self-esteem.

But today I want to talk about how to sell yourself—outside of your comfort zone; meaning that you’re not hidden behind the safety net of your computer screen with all the time in the world to think up a smart response or sales pitch, meaning that you’re not cozied up in your favorite comfy chair with a giant mug of coffee, tea, or hot chocolate; meaning that you don’t have the familiarity of your home, your refuge, to calm and reassure you.

No, what I’m talking about is actually opening your front door and leaving the premises of your beloved home; getting out there in person and having face-to-face conversations with potential clients, editors, and even those entrepreneurs who have their own business but maybe aren’t Web savvy enough to even realize they should have a website and blog to help promote themselves to the world. I’m talking about real people, real experiences.

How can you sell yourself outside of your comfort zone?

1. Think about your dreams, visions, goals. Are you stuck in a rut? Do you–and your freelance business–seem to be at a standstill? Use your desire to succeed (or succeed even further) to push you outside your comfort zone!
   
2. Carry business cards wherever you go. When you do this, you’re guaranteed to look professional when you bump into someone while waiting in line (or whatever). Perhaps you start some chit-chat and realize they’re a business owner or someone needing the services you just happen to offer. Whip out those sharp cards and leave an impression they won’t forget!
3. Just be yourself. A lot of times we forget that it’s exactly who we are as a person that makes our editors and clients love our writing. It’s our passion, our talent, our love of what we do that draws people in and makes them want more of our work. So, just act like yourself out in public. And be who you are on those social media circuits when you’re so chatty, funny, and caring.
4. Go to writing, blogging, or business conventions. You’ll meet all sorts of people at these things and not only will you end up with new, like-minded friends, you may just end up meeting editors, publishers, or land an awesome blogging or writing gig! (Remember to pack lots of business cards!)
5. Help someone out with their booth, or business. Yes, that’s right. I personally go to outdoor markets with my mom to help her with her herb business. That’s what I was doing here. I can’t count how many business cards I passed out or how many people I promoted myself to while I was promoting my mom’s business–and I got to wear an old-fashioned bonnet and pioneer dress, too. That was FUN!
6. Believe in yourself. Even if editors and clients don’t believe in you. Even if your family and friends don’t believe in you. Believe in yourself. After all, you were given a priceless gift: the ability to create, have visions, dream, share your talents. You are blessed, believe it!
7. Just do it. Sometimes you have to buckle down, dig your heels in, and just go for it. Stick your neck out on a limb, take a chance, venture out into deeper waters, go places you’ve never gone. How will you expand your business if you don’t expand yourself? Face your fears and go for it!

Whatever you do, get out of the house. Get out there and show off your sparkling personality that shines through in your writing. Share your passion for words by actually speaking them instead of just writing them. Allow yourself to have some fun, feel human, and detach from the virtual world that beckons to you, that comforts you, that keeps you home and inside those familiar walls you can’t seem to leave.

What motivates you to get outside of your comfort zone? How often do you pry yourself away from the keyboard and meander out your front door and into the real world? Spill the beans; let’s talk!

Photo Credit:
saavem

A quick thanks to Rebecca for inviting me to take part in her collaborative blogging project here at Writer’s Round-About. A good beginning, as we all know, should throw readers right into the middle of the action. But there’s also nothing wrong with a tightly-written prologue.

It was a dark and stormy night… no, I’m kidding! This story begins with a writer and editor who found her passion in guiding young wordsmiths (“newbies,” we call them in the trenches) through the often-rough terrain of the freelance landscape. I want to write fiction badly (and I do.) But I make my living from magazine articles, blogs, marketing material and the like. If you’re just starting out, you can glean good tidbits from the tips I share.

To begin, here are three basic rules for freelance success.

• Learn the basics.

  This seems so obvious, but many writers want to pursue their goal of getting published before they’ve learned the mechanics of good grammar, tight writing, how and when to incorporate quotes, what makes a good lead, etc.

  Unlike talent, tenacity and persistence, the basics *can* be taught. Writing is a competitive field and writers have enough factors working against their success. Do yourself a favor and learn the basics first. You wouldn’t call yourself a mechanic if you didn’t know how to use a wrench, would you?

  Grammar, flow, pacing, word usage, interview skills, etc. are a writer’s *tools*. With these tools, we can create great, publishable work. You may have a captivating story to tell, but without the basic storytelling tools in place, no editor will take you seriously.

  Some writers say, “Fixing my grammar is the editor’s job.”

  No, it’s not.

  There are too many writers out there who know how to use the basic tools of the trade. An editor will hire them, instead, because those writers make the editor’s job easier.

  It is also not an editor’s job to teach you these skills. There are plenty of resources available. Start with Strunk & White’s Elements of Style. Read William Zissner’s On Writing Well. If those aren’t sinking in, start with a basic grammar book or take a course.

  Good writing begins with the basics.

• Observe and absorb.

  Ideas are all around us. A good writer swallows these ideas, savoring every taste like a ravenous lion. Pay attention to the way people talk, how they respond to certain stimulus, how they act in one situation or another. People-watch. Eavesdrop. Listen.

  As a writer who writes a lot of interview-based features, I am often tempted to “space out” during interviews, especially when I know my recorder is catching it all. Don’t.

  Focus on what your subject is saying, so you don’t miss the perfect follow-up question. Besides, people are that much more forthcoming when they know you’re paying attention and are truly interested in what they have to say.

• This one has nothing to do with typing letters into a Word document: Be easy to work with.

  This encompasses many aspects of freelance writing. Knowing how to follow writer’s guidelines makes you easy to work with. Happily re-writing when an editor requests it makes you easy to work with. Not squawking when an editor alters your precious prose, but, instead, studying what he did so you can improve your work next time makes you an editor’s dream. Delivering the story you pitched in your query makes it more likely the editor will hire you again.

Oh, and, finally… just being a friendly, nice person, with a kind word for your editor every now and then will set you apart. All other factors being equal, an editor is more likely to hire the writer she enjoys working with than the arrogant know-it-all or even the stick-in-the-mud who has skill but less personality than a wet rag. That’s life.

This isn’t all you need to know about freelancing, but these three tips alone can get you far.

Have you got a fantastic new book or product that’s all to do with writing? We’d love to help you promote you to the right people.

Each Month, WRA hosts a new author as they showcase their latest success and share insight into writing and the writer’s life. Want an honest, thoughtful review? Willing to participate in an interview or Q and A session? Want to offer your own post or article? Should we run a contest together? Writer’s Round-About offers many choices for promoting authors.

I would love to be able to share more from blog touring authors and we have a few empty places in our schedule. If you have a blog tour planned for the coming months, drop me an email, it might be just the thing WRA would love to help you with!

As writers, we bring readers inside our stories by crafting artful and sensory sentences. If I simply stated, for example, that my father molested me, of course you’d think that’s sad, but you might not feel the sadness.

Or, if I simply told you that I once struggled with a sexual addiction, you’d probably think “that’s unfortunate.” But you wouldn’t feel my words, emotionally.

Here, for example, by using sensory language (from Love Sick) to describe a seedy motel room where I met a dangerous man, I try to fully reveal the darkness of the addiction: “I feel a damp chill between my shoulder blades. How can love be two bodies wrapped in a sheet that’s singed by careless cigarettes, here, in a room with plastic curtains, tin ashtrays, stained carpet, and artificial air.”

The words we seek are those that artistically re-create and illuminate our worlds, internal and external, on the page, by evoking how those worlds feel, taste, sound, smell, look. As much as possible, avoid abstract words and rely, instead, on the five senses.

Rather than write, for example, “I was in love with a cute guy,” you could write, “John’s hands, the color of cinnamon, stroked my bare shoulders.”

Do you see how the first sentence sounds flat and informational? In the second, however, you can smell cinnamon, and feel that cute guy stroking your shoulders.

Let’s try a brief writing exercise. In one sentence, describe your favorite item of clothing from elementary school. In the description, try to slant the external details in such a way that they evoke an interior feeling.

Here is what I mean: Let’s say, for example, my favorite item of clothing was a yellow dress. If I felt happy on the day I wore it, I would write: “When I wore my yellow dress, I felt as if buttercup petals sprinkled from the hem as I skipped to school.”

If, on the other hand, I felt sad on the day I wore it, I would write: “The dress cast a pall on my skin, sickly and yellow.”

We write memoir to better understand ourselves, as well as to bring a reader with us on our journeys. To ensure the reader feels the fullness of your story, focus each scene around sensory imagery.

Everyone has a story to tell. “Fearless Confessions” is a guidebook for people who want to take possession of their lives by putting their experiences down on paper—or in a website or e-book. Enhanced with illustrative examples from many different writers as well as writing exercises, this guide helps writers navigate a range of issues from craft to ethics to marketing and will be useful to both beginners and more accomplished writers.

Author Sue William Silverman says: “It’s crucial to cultivate the courage to tell one’s truth in the face of forces—from family members to the media—who would prefer that people with inconvenient pasts remain silent.”

Sue William Silverman’s memoir, Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey through Sexual Addiction (W. W. Norton), is also a Lifetime Television original movie. Her first memoir, Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You, won the AWP award in creative nonfiction. She teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and her most recent book is Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir, published with the University of Georgia Press (View the video book trailer.) As a professional speaker, Sue has appeared on The View, Anderson Cooper 360, and CNN Headline News. For more about Sue, please visit www.suewilliamsilverman.com.

“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” — e.e. cummings

As a survivor of domestic violence–and someone who has battled low self-esteem issues for years–I’m always amazed when I receive emails or comments (from readers, clients, and editors) on how confident I am. So, how have I built up my self-confidence? How have I found the courage to sell my writing services?

I haven’t really followed a specific recipe or any certain ritual for gaining confidence—it’s just kind of developed and flourished as I’ve moved forward on the freelance path. I put my thinking cap on, though, and have reflected on what has brought me to where I am today….

7 Keys to Building Confidence

1. Faith. Above all, my faith is what has brought me this far. It’s because of my beliefs, my prayer life, and my joy-filled heart that I’ve found the strength, the inspiration, the dedication, and the passion to keep going—even when I’ve felt like giving up or things didn’t look good.
2. Practice. Remember the old phrase “practice makes perfect”? It is so true. Write, write, write. The more you write, the more you’ll write. It’s a vicious cycle. Seriously. And as you continue writing and writing, you’ll end up building your confidence in the process.
3. Persistence. Maybe I should have said “dedication”. If you’re dedicated and persistent in what you do, you’ll eventually achieve your goals. I most certainly am persistent.I’ve often laughed while saying “I may be a turtle, but the tortoise won the race!” It may take a while, but if you’re consistent with your writing, your queries, your book proposals (whatever), you’ll get where you’re going. Just keep at it!
4. Blogging. If you’ve never started a blog, it can be terrifying but I’m convinced blogging has improved my confidence. Why? Because of the positive feedback, of course! The emails and comments I receive bring me to tears they’re so beautiful, heartfelt, and encouraging! On days I feel like caving and calling it quits, I dig through some of those positive notes and it doesn’t take long to feel the motivation kick in!
5. Social Media. Like blogging, social media has its place, in my opinion. Why? Because you have the amazing opportunity to carry on conversations with people from all over the world in real-time. It’s crazy and fascinating all at once! As you begin to open up to the world and show them who you are, and find that they are very accepting of your mishaps and very praising of your accomplishments, you’ll almost feel like you’re in Kindergarten again with a big ole smile on your face, so proud of yourself for making new friends. It works. Trust me.
6. Exercise. This really works too, folks. From walking to rebounding to my latest love affair with yoga, I find when I make the time to get in some exercise (especially when fresh air’s involved!) I think more clearly and feel more refreshed and confident.
7. Listen. This is where a lot of people fail—and not just freelancers. It’s hard to listen but taking instruction can carry you a lot farther down the path to success than if you ignore the wisdom of others and traipse along blindly. Case in point: Close your mouth, open your ears, and listen. The wisdom you’ll gain will not only help you build your confidence, it will help you build character.

Two Bonus Tips:

A retired school teacher/author once told me: “Michele, you’ll face a lot of rejection. Just accept it and move on.“ I have followed her advice and no matter how sad it made me and how bad my heart ached when my work has been turned down, I’ve accepted it as part of the freelance writing journey, and I have absolutely moved on.

Of course, I can’t leave out the fact that I have a strong support system. Not everyone has that. I realize I am truly blessed. But I still believe (with all my heart!) if you’ll apply the above steps to your freelance life, you’ll find confidence you never knew you had!

Photo Credit:
svilen001

When Angela and Jodi first approached me to host Sue Silverman on her book tour I saw the word, “Memoir” and thought, “I don’t write Memoir and I don’t ever plan to.” But, Sue is a writer and “Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir” is not a book about memoir, it’s a book about writing.

Sue is incredible. After our initial contact she got a copy of her book into the post for me and it arrived within days. That was over two months ago, and while at the time I promised to move “Fearless Confessions” to the top of my reading list, I put it off, and off. Some deep, secret reserve held me back from opening the covers. Fear and perhaps an inner knowing kept the book at arms length. I would glance at the cover, feeling guilty because I knew that I would be reviewing the book this month and I really needed to have read it to do that.

Fear comes at us in all areas of writing, be it memoir or fiction, because, ultimately, with each word we write we tell the story of ourselves. I’ve struggled with my current novel because I know that there are elements of myself in each of my characters and I don’t know them. I don’t know myself enough to know these characters. Knowing that in finishing this novel I will have to truly learn who I am creates gargantuan writer’s blocks built of fear.

Perhaps, that is why “Fearless Confessions” found its way to me. I opened the pages and began to read and I could see myself in Sue’s words. I knew, from the first page, that this book would force me to look at my own situation, and, if I could muster Sue’s courage, it would force me to explore who I am. In turn, perhaps it would allow me to finish my novel.

Toward the end of each chapter, Sue William Silverman asks us to participate. It is not enough to be actively engaged in her voice and the heart she shares on her pages. Sue pushes her readers to take action, to begin now, to grasp courage and move forward. In book form it is tempting to skip over these writing exercises. It takes courage to commit to the exercises just as it takes courage to begin reading. But in claiming that courage with each exercise, it becomes easier to do the next.

Although there is a definite slant toward memoir writing through the book, “Fearless Confessions” is about all writing, particularly fiction writing. The techniques Sue shares are cornerstones in all excellent writing. Learning these skills and developing the craft of storytelling will improve your writing in every aspect of your life.

When we are first learning to read and write we are taught to distinguish facts, “An apple is red.”. As we grow older we’re told to expand on this, “An apple is red and round.”. As we discover writing as an art we learn that there is far more to every aspect of our lives then the simple facts. “Red” and “round” are no longer descriptive enough to truly convey what an apple is.

Sue Silverman’s “Fearless Confessions” asks us to look deeper. To see with adult eyes the complexity of life and express that complexity, in full, rich, evocative color, on the page. She asks us to discover ourselves in our writing and in turn, discover our writing within ourselves.

If you’ve ever wondered how to develop your writer’s voice, how to put emotion on the page, how to tell a story that readers live and won’t want to put aside, then you need to discover your own “Fearless Confessions“.

Now, it’s time to return to my own story.

Please, don’t forget that Sue will be visiting Writer’s Round-About on the 21st of August and you still have a few days to ask your questions and enter the draw to receive your very own copy of “Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir“.

Did you know that CSS is a language developed by web programmers who needed a way to have more control and flexibility when customizing the design and layout of sites on the net?

In recent years, font types, colors, and images were directly fed into a webpage with static HTML. Individual pages often mirrored others on the site with minimal changes made where content differed. The site design elements, that carried over from page to page, were copied to every single page of the site. This made .html pages very chunky increasing load time and required storage space.

So what changed?

With the introduction of CSS we became able to introduce page-wide style commands in the header of each page. The header was a centralized place to make changes across a full page but it still wasn’t enough to give us the freedom to make site-wide changes in a time effective way.

With the introduction of PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) and ASP (Active Server Pages) however, webpages became fluid. Each page could be made ‘on-the-fly’ drawing on information that came from other webpages, other websites, and from databases around the world. With this freedom to weave information into a page we were able to step away from styling each page individually and create site-wide changes that influenced multiple pages with a single edit.

These days, .css is often the extension of a page in your site. It’s known as a ‘Style Sheet‘ and it influences your sites design and layout. The page itself is never seen by the average users of your site but the information affects the way they see everything.

Calling on Style!

In order for a style sheet to have an effect on a webpages design it needs to be ‘called’ as the site is loading. A simple command in the header of the site (between the <head> & the </head> tags), known as an ‘include’ or ‘link’ calls the style sheet. As the page loads it looks for the ‘include’ and adds that information as if it were a part of the original page, then translates the information in the style sheet, making changes to the way your page is viewed in your visitors browser.

If you have a chance, look at any of your websites rendered page and compare them with the raw code you can see when you ‘View Source’. The pages will differ based on the information ‘called’ during the loading of the page.

On PHP* pages an ‘include’ will often look like this:

<?php
include(“stylesheet.css”);
?>

You can use standard URL addresses to call pages and these can be used for all kinds of included content, not just style sheets.

However, Cascading Style Sheets have become so commonly used that new standards for calling them were created within the infrastructure the Internet.

Such as this <link> tag:

<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”http://www.craftingfiction.com/wp-content/themes/RLS-Rebecca/style.css” type=”text/css” media=”screen” />

Either method will effectively add the style sheet information to your Web page. Giving you an opportunity to dynamically affect changes across your site by updating the instance in a single, centralized location.

Want to learn more about Cascading Style Sheets? Let me know if you have any specific questions and I’ll add a new CSS primer soon! Or, if you’d rather I stick to writing about writing let me know.

* I’m doing examples only in PHP at this stage. If you prefer to work with ASP or need ASP examples please let me know in the comments.

Later this month, Sue William Silverman, author of “Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir” is visiting Writer’s Round-About as she travels the Web on her August Blog Tour hosted by Wow! Women On Writing. But before she gets here, I need YOUR help!

When Angela and Jodi of Wow! asked if I would take part in Sue’s blog tour this August I knew I wanted to be involved but I wanted to do more than just review “Fearless Confessions”. I wanted to give Sue as much launch as WRA could offer and not just for her book but the whole idea of writing fearlessly! As many regular WRA readers know, I’m a writer frequently plagued by fear and the idea of taking fear out of the writing experience appeals to me. What is the real secret to writing Fearless Confessions and can Sue’s guidance regarding memoir be taken into other writing genres?

Questions! The questions that sprung to mind compelled me to ask Sue to meet with me for an interview. But, to be honest, I’ve not had much experience with interviewing. That is where you come in. Sue is making herself available to our questions, I have a few of my own but would love to include your questions in my interview. What would you like to ask Sue? Do you have any questions about writing with fear?

As if having this opportunity to ask you questions might not be enough I want to give a copy of “Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir” to one special WRA Reader. I don’t know how many of your questions we will be able to include in the interview (hopefully Sue will have time to answer any that are not covered when she visits) but one of the questions submitted and selected for the interview will earn a copy of Sue’s book.

It really is that easy. Ask your questions in the comments between now and August 17th and you could win!

Wow, July just flew by didn’t it? I hope you had a fantastic month. I’m excited because, after a couple of lean months, the beginning of August has brought me a few new gigs. Others around me have found business picking up too! Is this a sign that the economy is improving, or that our marketing skills are blossoming? How is business for you?

This month we have some exciting features. The most notable being a fantastic Blog Tour with Sue William Silverman, author of “Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir“. I will share my review of her book on the 10th of August but in a few days you will have an opportunity to suggest questions for inclusion in my interview of Sue (tentatively scheduled for the 17th) and enter this months contest for a chance to win a copy of “Fearless Confessions“. Sue joins us again on the 21st with a fantastic post about using Sensory Description.

I have a few other posts lined up from me and I hope some other writer’s will consider adding contributions of their own this month. If you’re not involved in our collaborative blogging project find out how you can become a WRA writer!

With this fantastic line-up be sure to subscribe via RSS so you don’t miss a thing. Is there something you want to read about or a topic of particular interest to you at the moment? Leave your suggestions in the comments or send me an email. What would you like to see on Writer’s Round-About this month?