Tag Archives: Writing Career Tip

Get Your Writing Out There – Right Now

Get Your Writing Out There – Right Now. A colleague was in touch with me recently about a novel she has been working on for some time. The story is finished. It has been edited and polished. It is ready to go. Still, she hesitates to send it into the world.

I Understand this Writer’s Hesitation. There is always more that can be done to any manuscript, more tinkering and tweeking. But the time comes when you must decide – whether you will let your book go or most likely hang onto it forever.

A Substantial Fear Factor Resides in this Decision. I understand that also. Especially after you have worked on a story for a long time. The act of actually submitting it somewhere feels like a finality, as if it could be make or break for your career. But none of this is true.

You are merely taking a first step, seeking a professional response to your work. After that step has been accomplished, you may ask yourself, “Where do I go from here?” Meanwhile, however, your work is off your desk and into the publishing universe, where it needs to be.

We Have All Heard that Rejection is More Likely than Acceptance. This is entirely true, but you must move forward anyway. What is the alternative? You can of course collect story files, one after the other, never allowing yourself  to discover what might or might not happen to them.

This is the safe alternative, but it is also a dead end. Dead means the same thing in the writing world that dead means in any circumstance. Life is over, at least on this side of eternity. Your hours, months, years of work have been consigned to a drawer somewhere, digital or otherwise.

Instead, Let’s Address the Question “Where Do I Go from Here?” Have you researched where it is appropriate to submit this story? Have you identified other successfully published books in your genre, where exactly they were published, and who their editors might be? Get Your Writing Out There – Right Now.

You Need a List of 6 Appropriate publishers for Your Work. You need the name of a specific editor at each house who already works in your genre and has made a success of other authors there. You will go on to identify 6 more houses eventually, and 6 more after that, but this is where you begin.

Prepare Your Most Impressive Submission Package. Include first chapter and synopsis even if the submission guidelines say not to do so. A writing sample and synopsis proof of a full, compelling plot give you a fair chance to showcase your abilities. Blame the rule break on me.

Top Your Package with a Carefully Written Cover Letter. Then, let that baby go. Six submissions at a time. Be sure to mention in your cover letter, with deliberately diplomatic subtlety, that this manuscript package has been submitted to “a very select group of publishers.”

Move on, Immediately, to Your Next Book. Forget about the submissions you just made. Do not sit around waiting for responses. But when the responses do come, keep track of them in a file for that book. Meanwhile, submit to a new editor on your next six-publisher list.

Do What each Responding Editor Requests. If she asks to see something more, send it. If she suggests revisions, incorporate them and resubmit. If she turns you down but adds what she did like about the work, enhance that element further and resubmit. Thank her profusely, and sincerely,  for the inspiration her comments were for you – so inspiring in fact that you felt you must show her the result.

At Last, You may Turn to the Other Stuff. Like marketing to gain name visibility online, via the platforms that work best for you. That part of your career is important, but submitting your work must be your first  priority always. Get Your Writing Out There – Right Now.

Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com

ASK ALICE Your Crucial Questions. What are you most eager to know – in your writing work and in your writer’s life? Email aliceorrbooks@gmail.com. Or add a comment question to this post. Alice will be honored to respond.

Alice has published 16 novels, 3 novellas and a memoir so far. She wrote her nonfiction book No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells as a gift to the writers’ community. Her latest novel – A Time of Fear & Loving Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5 – is available HERE.A Time of Fear & Loving

Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving: “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end.” “The best one yet!”

Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.

https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/

 

How to Notch Up Your Writer Discipline

How to Notch Up Your Writer Discipline. For starters, write regularly. Let the rich experience of creativity sink deep into your psyche until you feel out of balance without it. I used to say, “One page or one hour a day minimum.” Now I say, “Often enough to feel the need to return the next day.”

Discipline Your Work Environment. Carve out a corner of your own. Virginia Woolf talked about “a room of your own.” Crowded circumstances can preclude that. A space that encourages a writing mood will suffice. Make that space as private and comfortable as you need it to be. Keep your writing paraphernalia nearby. Notebooks, files, pens, computer, a lamp shade covered in story ideas.

Acquire Quality Writing Equipment. Do so by disciplining your spending on other things if that is necessary. Most important, do so by believing this absolutely crucial truth. You deserve what you need to succeed.

Discipline Your Commitments. Cut out every non-writing activity that you can. Ask yourself, “Is there somebody else who can do this? Does it have to be me?” Say no to new requests for your time and energy. Ease the inevitable disappointed reaction with a smile and this gentle suggestion. “Ask me again next year.”

The Exception is When You are Paying It Forward. Invest in your career by investing yourself in your writing community as often as you can manage. Find a balance that benefits both you and others. Do not hide your generosity. Serve in the spotlight, but do not brag. Graciously accept thanks and acknowledgement of your efforts.

Discipline Your Family and Friends. Post your work hours. The refrigerator door is a good place to do that. Insist on no interruptions at those times. Tell your people how important your writing is to you. Make them hear you. Eventually, they will get it. Do not back down.

Discipline Your Telephone. List your daily work hours on your voicemail message. Say that you do not take calls during your work hours and mean it. Keep a smile in your voice, but do not apologize. Mention the hours when you do receive calls. Eventually, they will get it. Do not back down.

Discipline Your Online Activity. Identify your personal online time-burners. Activities that are minimally productive to your career. If you cannot resist, do not indulge during your best brain time. Never indulge during your writing work hours. Use your online activity to build your career, your public platform, your visibility. Limit online playtime to your dim brain hours.

Escape-Write through Stress. Life is full of stressful situations. They can stop your writing progress in its tracks. Use that stress to enhance your writing instead. Powerful storytelling is intense, so is stress. Incorporate how you are feeling into a dramatic scene from your current work. Your body, breath, immediate environment. Feel it all. Adapt it all.

The Purpose of Discipline is to Carry You Deep into Your Story and Keep You There. John Gardner called this place “the dream of the book.” Discipline helps you inhabit that dream and write from deep inside your imagination. Because deep inside is where your best stories live. Discipline helps you get there. How to Notch Up Your Writer Discipline.

**********

Alice Orr. Teacher. Storyteller. Blogs for writers at www.aliceorrbooks.com. Former literary agent. Author of 16 novels, 3 novellas, a memoir, and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Novel That SellsAmazon says, “This book has it all.” Updated version coming soon. Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.

Alice’s latest novel – A Time of Fear & Loving Riverton Road Suspense Series Book 5 – is available HERE.A Time of Fear & Loving

Praise for A Time of Fear & Loving: “Alice Orr is the queen of ramped-up stakes and page-turning suspense.” “Warning. Don’t read before bed. You won’t want to sleep.” “The tension in this novel is through the roof.” “I never want an Alice Orr book to end. The best one yet!”

https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/

 

Attitude. How to Earn an A for Author Attitude

Attitude. How to Earn an A for Author Attitude. Make yourself your most valuable writing career asset. I began teaching workshops to writers over three decades ago. From the beginning, my mission was to share what I know about the publishing world.

My knowledge comes from many years as a book editor and literary agent. My mission comes from many years as an unpublished, then published author. Back then, I could have benefited from what I have learned since as a publishing professional. I pass those lessons on to you, so that you may navigate the publishing marketplace more effectively in your own writing careers.

The specifics of my message have changed as your author needs have changed. My current  message is about how to combat the self-sabotage I find so rampant among writers who hope to be published, or better published, in this time of diminished opportunities.

Getting published has always been a challenge. Finding success in any competitive arena is difficult. Many try, but relatively few are chosen. That situation has not changed. You may not be able to alter these circumstances, but you can alter the way you respond to them.

Attitude. How to Earn an A for Author Attitude. You must empower yourself in your writing career. You empower yourself when you commit to two priorities. #1. To use your time and talents to grow your career potential, however tough the challenges may be. #2. To control your reactions to the limitations you encounter along the way.

You can make it through these difficult times. You can make it through because you already possess at least some of the skills and resources that will take you there. You only need to reassesswhat those resources are, and be guided toward a strategy for employing them. That strategy begins with examining your Attitude.

Triumph through adversity has everything to do with Attitude. And your first Attitude Adjustment must be to accept the following. To succeed you will have to do battle. You have no other choice, if your passion is to write and bring your writing to the world.

Attitude. How to Earn an A for Author Attitude. Your second Attitude Adjustment must be to fight back fear. Struggle against fear as fiercely as your story heroine struggles against the obstacles in her path in order to survive and thrive. I have waged similar fear-filled fights in my writing career. As an author, you are destined to do the same.

Will yourself through the scary places. Here is a practical exercise to prepare you for that adventure. First thing every morning  say these words, out loud and with passion, to your mirror. “I will not be afraid today. I refuse to let anxiety infest my spirit today.”

How else do you fight back fear?  Change your thinking about now and the future. Change your attitude toward today, and also toward tomorrow. Particularly in terms of your goals for yourself and your writing career.

Attitude. How to Earn an A for Author Attitude. Stop discouraging yourself. Stop thinking of your goal as far away. Stop thinking of your progress toward your goal as painfully slow. That kind of thinking ends in discouragement. That kind of thinking drains your hope. That kind of thinking will not help you triumph in your struggle to succeed as a writer.

Do not squander what Ralph Waldo Emerson called the Power of Enthusiasm. Never relinquish your Powerful Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the energy you need to fuel yourself and your writing career through testing times. Enthusiasm will carry you to your goal.

Don’t miss my other Attitude Adjustment posts. I guide your Powerful, Enthusiastic Journey. I show you how to put your psyche on your side. How to escape the frenzy the writing life can become. How to notch up your discipline. How to recognize and utilize the abundance that surrounds you.

Join me here. Learn what we all need to know, and never forget Attitude. How to Earn an A for Author Attitude.

Meanwhile, ask your crucial questions. How does your attitude need to be adjusted? What fears do you face about your writing career? What do you most eagerly desire to know? Add a question comment to this post, or email me at aliceorrbooks@gmail.com. I will be honored to respond.

Alice Orr – www.aliceorrbooks.com

Alice Orr’s Christmas story A Vacancy at the Inn Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 3 – is available on Amazon HERE. Enjoy!

Alice Orr A Vacancy at the Inn

Praise for A Vacancy at the Inn. “Grabbed me right away and swept me up in the lives of Bethany and Luke.” “Undercurrents of suspense move the story along at an irresistible pace.” “The Miller family is rife with personality quirks, an authentic touch that demonstrates Alice Orr’s skill as a writer.”

Look for all of Alice’s books HERE.

https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter
http://twitter.com/AliceOrrBooks/
http://goodreads.com/aliceorr/
http://pinterest.com/aliceorrwriter/