writer Archives - Page 2 of 4 - View from the Front Porch

16 10, 2013

Tips for Living With a Writer – One Word Wednesday

By judythemorgan|2013-10-16T06:24:30-05:00October 16th, 2013|one word Wednesday|1 Comment

Okay so that’s more than one word, but I saw this neat graphic on writerswriter.com and had to share.

Living with a writer is not easy. Or maybe I should say, living with writer me is not easy.

I spend most of my time sequestered away in an imaginary world. My mind is always plotting the next story. I talk about people I’ve created as though they existed.

It’s a different world. A solitary world. I think these tips are useful. That’s why I’m sharing.

My husband says, from his perspective, #5 is the most critical. In fact, his tip advice would be NEVER interrupt a writer at work…the results are not pleasant. (He’s learned from experience!)

I’ve heard Nora Roberts say she told her two children during the summer not to interrupt unless there was blood or fire and, when they got older, it had to be arterial blood and an active fire.

If you have young ones around, Geek Mom offers Ten Allowable Reasons for Interrupting Mom Check it out. You’ll enjoy the creativity.

YOUR TURN: Which of these tips would you say is most important? Or what tip would you add?

23 09, 2013

Are you a Pogo Writer?

By judythemorgan|2022-09-11T16:14:26-05:00September 23rd, 2013|Make Me Think Monday, Monday Motivations|0 Comments

A writing career is different from other occupations. A writer has to make up their route to success. There’s no policy and procedure manual, no checklist for success. What to do and how to do it is solely up to the individual author.

Each day brings unchartered waters especially in the current, ever-changing face of publishing. There are good days and bad. Success and rejections. The emotional wave is like a roller coaster ride. Up one day. Downhill fast the next.

More than any other job, at least as far as jobs I’ve ever had go, writers control their destiny. At the same time writers can become their own worst enemy.

By that, I mean we tend to sabotage our success.

Or, in the immortal words of POGO, “We meet the enemy and it is us!”

Not familiar with Pogo Possum?

He’s the anthropomorphic comic strip animal created by Walt Kelly in 1948

The poster pictured on the left was created by Mr. Kelly for the first Earth Day in 1971. To read more about POGO and Walt Kelly, click here.

Why do I believe POGO writers can be their own worst enemies? I see signs, and I’ve seen writers who exhibit these characteristics and fail.

You’re a POGO writer if…

1. You spend too much time and energy focused on mimicking the writing and style of some other author.

We’re spinning our wheels and wasting our words when we do this. The publishing world already has Janet Evanovich, J.K. Rowling, Steven King, and Nora Roberts. Their success is their success. You can’t copy and get there! Every writer has his own path to carve.

2. You obsess with following THE RULES.

Don’t get me wrong. THE RULES are important.

Once you understand the basics—things like POV, dialogue, setting, character, plot, theme, etc., you have to trust your instincts and what works for your story.

Rules are very important guidelines. Writing, on the other hand, is an art form that entails experimentation, innovation, and expansion. Don’t be so hung up on THE RULES you lose your own sense of story.

3. You buy into every new way to write or plot that a writing expert suggests.

Learning the craft, and studying with writing experts is important. I’m not arguing it’s not necessary to study writing craft.

Heaven knows I’ve spent a fortune learning from some of the top teachers in writing craft, and I improved my writing skills by leaps and bounds.

I’ve also learned that all the classes and workshops in the world are wasted if I’m not producing.

More importantly, I realize that writing experts don’t always know what’s right for me or my writing process.

Once you find the process that works best with your personality and lifestyle, you need to stick with it.

Btw, if you’re interested, I’d be delighted to share the names of those experts I highly recommend, just email me.

4. You’re unable to take criticism or the flip side-believe everything anyone says about your story.

Either of these positions can be fatal. Critiques and reviews are an essential part of every writer’s life.

No denying bad critiques or reviews hurt. Surviving a brutal criticism or review of your work definitely isn’t for the fainthearted.

You have to develop an elephant hide and learn to weigh the opinions expressed for exactly what they’re worth then make up your own mind.

It is YOUR story, after all.

Strong writers survive…and often produce better stories from hard critiques or bad reviews.

5. You’re not writing.

This sign is the most telling of all.

Who doesn’t struggle with the procrastination parasite from time to time?

But a successful writing career requires disciple and focus. Whether moved by the muse or not, a professional goes to the keyboard or grabs a pencil every day.

I know what you’re thinking. Authors have to promote and develop reader relationships, which cuts into writing time.

Very true, but I would argue that the key to gaining recognition and readership (aka success) is writing the next story.

Do you recognize POGO writer signs in yourself? If so, now that you know, you can defeat the enemy.

Close this browse and get back to writing!

9 09, 2013

Dates Trigger Emotions So Should Your Writing: 5 Ways to Write for Emotional Impact

By judythemorgan|2013-09-09T06:07:50-05:00September 9th, 2013|Make Me Think Monday|2 Comments

Years after something happens, whether we were part of the event or not, we recall and react.

I sent out a questionnaire to friends and family asking them to recall dates that spark memories. The responses were surprising and predictable at the same time. Dates and events in the list below appeared multiple times.

December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor
November 25, 1963 Kennedy Assassination
August 22, 1966 Charles Whitman shooting from University of Texas Tower
April 04, 1968 MLK Assassination
January 28, 1986 Challenger Explosion
November 9, 1989 Fall of Berlin Wall
August 31, 1997 Princess Di dies in car accident
April 20, 1999 Columbine High School CO shootings

These two only appeared on one responder’s list and reading the dates jogged my memory.

October 14, 1987 Baby Jessica falling down the well in TX
February 1, 1991 Start of Iraq War and the protests

Another responder labeled their list: “Things not ingrained by exact date, but by what they were.”

The list included: Branch Davidian Complex Raid; Last Episode of MASH; Sandy Hook; Gabby Gifford’s’ shooting; the non-concession speech of Al Gore in 2000; the election of Obama (#1); the eventual concession of Gore in 2000; The Lewinski stuff with Clinton; The OJ Trial; The Ellen Show where her character ‘came out

A thought provoking list that brought back memories and some strong feelings for me.

Another responder offered strong memories triggered by thinking about certain dates.

“Nov 22 1963. Kennedy assassination. I was working in the music dept on UT campus. Someone had a radio on and we heard the news. I ran to student union to watch it on TV. Later I went home and worked on a theme (book report) that was due on the “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad. Mournful weekend.”

“9-11-01. Home drinking coffee in our sun room with news on TV. Watched second plane hit towers. Didn’t turn off TV for days.”

“August 22 1966. Charles Whitman shooting from tower. I was in Dallas on job interview, but hadn’t moved from Austin yet. Heard on radio. Not sure if it was Aug. 22 or 26. I didn’t know my husband then but he was on campus and took shelter in the student union. I recalled that at that time of day I would have been walking right across the mall for lunch, but I had taken that day off to go to Dallas.”

I’ve coined a phrase to define times that linger in our memories and by simple recall produce an emotional reaction.

TRIGGER DATES

As fiction writers, we must use trigger dates in our writing a way that our readers experience our characters’ fear and feel joy and become angry or excited and know grief. Readers should laugh and cry, shiver and rage. All from reading our story.

Why do we need to write for emotional impact?

Two BIG reasons: So readers will remember our characters and come back again and again. So readers recommend our stories or write positive reviews for our novels.

How does a writer write for emotional impact? I offer five ways:

Through Character action and response

No reporting a character is afraid or giddy or grieving. Show through the character’s actions.

Create a sympathetic character

As a story evolves, the reader must know and relate to the characters. If you put the reader in the character’s place, the reader will experience a physical response—laughter or tears or shivers—as if whatever happened to your character has actually happened to them.

Write conflict into every scene

Don’t be afraid of killing off someone close to your main characters or taking away something else dear to them. This is fiction; you’re not really hurting someone if you do mean things to your characters. When characters are agitated, readers will be too.

Choose words to evoke emotion.

Words are our trigger dates. Use harsh or sharp words for the harsher emotions, soft-sounding and soft-meaning words for gentle emotions.

Use sensory details to immerse readers in the reality of the scene.

What can your character hear and smell? What does a change in sight or sound mean? Using all the senses puts your reader there in the story.

YOUR TURN: Did reading the Trigger Date list stir emotions for you? If you’re a writer, how do you trigger your reader’s emotions?

10 07, 2013

ONE WORD WEDNESDAY – Finished!

By judythemorgan|2019-01-08T21:21:25-06:00July 10th, 2013|one word Wednesday|1 Comment

All I can add to Hemmingway’s quote is AHEM!

I finished the prequel to my debut novel, The Pendant’s Promise last spring. The sense of relief – wonderful. The shout of hallelujah probably heard round the world.

Then my publisher took over. I waited to see my FINISHED baby released to readers.

Somewhere in the midst of all the smoke and fire that has consumed our lives these last few weeks, that release happened.

Caught up in that living fire story, I didn’t get to promote the much anticipated release day.

Today I’m spreading the word…

LOVE IN THE MORNING CALM, Prequel to The Pendant’s Promise is now available.

Use these links to get your copy.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/186U8IG

Apple: http://bit.ly/188Ob1n

Nook: http://bit.ly/10MYQJC

Smashwords: http://bit.ly/14ITsaW

If you’re wondering why the prequel comes after the story, you’ll find the answer in a blog soon!

17 06, 2013

Primal Branding your Author Brand – Conclusions

By judythemorgan|2013-06-17T06:18:21-05:00June 17th, 2013|Make Me Think Monday|4 Comments

Brand is both a noun and a verb. The verb suggests you do something to be branded.

Once you publish a book, a writer is automatically branded, but branding is a fluid, ongoing process.

The techniques of primal branding that we’ve been discussing for the last few weeks offer a method to develop your author brand along with ways to stand out in a flooded market of book choices.

Primal branding uses what writers are best at—storytelling with certain added visual components. With branding, an author presents to the buyer, aka reader, what they can expect when they purchase your book.

Trouble is, writers equate branding with marketing and balk. Writers (me included) would rather be writing than spend time on marketing!

Unfortunately, marketing is a necessary task. But selling your book shouldn’t be about flooding the Twitter feed with book promo tweets.

When people believe in you through your author brand, they become part of a fan group that surrounds your book. They are willing to advocate their belief in you to others.

Think about the last time you moved. How did you find out about the best grocery store? The best church? The best doctor or dentist? The auto mechanic who wouldn’t rip you off?

Most likely, from someone willing to advocate for their preference.

In other words, they delivered the form of marketing that traditional wisdom tells you money can’t buy.

Word of mouth.

Author branding offers a means to provide resonance and meaning for what we believe in and what we write about. A way to develop a fan base willing to sell our book, which is our product.

The question to ask yourself is whether you want to be just another book on the shelf, or do you want to become a desired and popular product?

If your answer is the latter, then author branding is for you.

10 06, 2013

Primal Branding your Author Brand Part 2

By judythemorgan|2013-06-10T05:12:28-05:00June 10th, 2013|Make Me Think Monday|0 Comments

In Author Branding Part One, we discussed of how to cultivate your author brand using principles found in Primal Branding.

Readers have zillions of books to choose from these days. Author branding is important if you want readers to choose your books.

Primal Branding defines a code of seven elements needed to launch new products and services that people believe in – and it helps re-engineer existing products.

In Author Branding Part Two, we’ll discuss the final three codes Hanlon describes: rituals, anti-believers, and leader then identify ways to use with author brand development.

5) RITUALS

According to Hanlon, rituals involve a repeated experience associated with the brand, whether it’s positive or negative. The kind of engagements build up a certain expectation about your brand and future experiences they can expect to have.

Rituals are important to an author’s brand because they provide interaction and a bond of togetherness between author and reader.

Sharing experiences and events through blogs, FB, Twitter, and other social media is the means for developing author rituals.

With all social media, reader expectation is important. Regular posting is important. Posting often is important too.

Do you share pictures of your writing desk, your pet, or other life events for your readers? These are part of your story. (Remember Hanlon’s first component-STORY? If you don’t, check here.)

Posting excerpts from your WIP, celebrating a new release or revealing a cover makes readers a part of your writing process. How about sharing great reviews or fan comments?

Each of these, while we might not think of as rituals, add to your brand and offer a marketing tool for your books.

Step FIVE to develop your author brand: Share life events with your readers through social media.

6) ANTI-BELIEVERS

According to Hanlon, for every belief system there is a group of anti-believers (ie Mac users vs PC; Republicans vs Democrats). Anti-believers identify who and what the brand is or is not. Anti-believers are folks who don’t agree with us.

But without anti-believers, our standard is undefinable. We want to stand for something and our brand to mean something.

Anti-believers can also give you a good idea of the direction you want to take your brand or which directions to avoid.

Readers have preferences. Romance genre vs literary mainstream, e-reader vs hard cover vs paperback. Our author brand should reflect those preferences we want to attract and entice the “anti-believers,” the ones who aren’t buying our work.

Personally, I’ve discovered that my blog commenters more likely to share a contrary opinion than simply agreeing. Opposition can be a powerful connecting factor.

Step SIX in developing your author brand: Don’t limit yourself to only those who agree with you, but do make very sure your likes and dislikes are clear.

7) LEADER

According to Hanlon, there needs to be a brand leader. Someone who sets out against all odds to recreate something from their vision.

Think Bill Gates, Steven Jobs. For your writing, it’s you.

You have the power to shape your brand the same as you create your plot and characters, your theme and opening lines.

Step SEVEN in developing your author brand: Your brand is like your writer’s voice. Voice develops the more your write. Your brand develops as you learn to tell your story.

Next Monday, conclusions on author branding with Primal Branding code.

YOUR TURN: Do you use Hanlon’s seven components in defining your author brand?

5 06, 2013

One Word Wednesday – Ghostwriter

By judythemorgan|2013-06-05T06:35:22-05:00June 5th, 2013|one word Wednesday|0 Comments

A ghostwriter is a writer who writes books, articles, or stories that are officially credited to another person.

Celebrities, executives, and politicians often hire ghostwriters to draft or edit autobiographies.

The pay varies.

Interested?

Read this: http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/get-published-sell-my-work/how-to-be-a-ghostwriter

29 05, 2013

One Word Wednesday – Editing Secrets

By judythemorgan|2013-05-29T05:44:25-05:00May 29th, 2013|one word Wednesday|1 Comment

Okay so instead of one word I used two. Who wants to read a blog titled editing, but a blog about editing secrets? We’re all over it!

Truthfully, I think this editing secret works for writing the novel too. Writers need to keep the reader foremost in their thoughts.

After all, writing is all about the reader. Don’t you agree?

22 05, 2013

One Word Wednesday – Writer

By judythemorgan|2013-05-22T05:29:41-05:00May 22nd, 2013|one word Wednesday|2 Comments

Love this poster that describes a WRITER so perfectly…

This fabulous word art by Kathy R. Jeffords is available here.

20 05, 2013

Your Name’s on the Book Cover. What Does it Mean? Author Branding Part 1

By judythemorgan|2013-05-20T05:41:57-05:00May 20th, 2013|Make Me Think Monday|3 Comments

Nothing is more exciting than seeing your name on the cover of a book you’ve written. You’ve devoted hours and hours to the creation of your “baby.” Holding that book in your hand or seeing the listing on an ebook seller site validates your hard work.

I still get excited when I hold my debut novel in my hand.

But what can a reader expect to find inside when they see your name on the book cover?

Authors aren’t products like Pepsi or Coke, but readers do develop expectations about the content of novels based on author brand. For example, what do you expect from books by Mark Twain, or Stephen King, or J.K. Rowling?

Me, I expect a southern tale from Mark Twain, a horror tale from Stephen King, fantasy and magic from a J.K. Rowling book and find exactly that.

My TBR (to be read) pile is filled with all genres. On close examination, the highest stack is romance/women’s fiction books by authors like Debbie Macomber, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, or JoAnn Ross. These authors’ names on a cover promises a certain type of story and they deliver.

Their name is their brand.

Debbie Macomber will offer a story of relationships and enduring friendships. The reader will finish with a sense of love and hope.

Books by Susan Elizabeth Phillips are sure to be a romantic comedy adventure. I’ll grin and often laugh aloud as I follow SEP’s unique heroines to their HEA (happily ever after).

JoAnn Ross’ stories offer strong, yet flawed women who overcome adversity, to-die for men-either emotionally wounded alpha shell guys or bad boys, and occasionally both, a very strong sense of setting, and a satisfying ending.

Your name on your cover should signal YOUR author brand. Does it?

If you don’t have any ideas how to do that, let me offer some suggestions on ways to cultivate an author brand using Primal Branding.

Author Patrick Hanlon, a marketing guru who’s worked on famous brands like IBM, LEGO, and Disney, equates product branding with a belief system. He says a strong brand contains seven primal codes: story, creed, icons, language, rituals, non-believers, and leader.

In this blog series on author branding, I’m going to discuss Harlan’s codes and how those codes relate to building an author brand.

1) STORY

According to Hanlon, “Your brand needs to have a story or a background. It tells where your brand originated from and gives viewers or consumers something to connect with and something they can believe and trust in themselves.”

Readers especially love to know why and how an author got started writing.

That background story sets the whole idea of author brand in motion and is the chief reason all author websites and/or blogs should/must have about me pages.

The authors in my TBR pile all have their “story” somewhere on their blogs. Don’t believe me, click on the links and you’ll see.

Step ONE to develop your author brand. Share the story about how you started writing.

2) CREED

According to Hanlon, “This tells what you believe in and how you might be different or similar to other belief systems out there.”

Story is not the same for all of us, neither is our creed.

Creed is what makes us, as a writers, willing to struggle to nurse our stories into existence, to persevere against headwinds that conspire against us?

Creed goes deeper than “origin” story, into the inner drive that led us to pursue a writing career. It’s what drives us to write.

Creed might be belief in the power of love. The frailty of the human condition. Comedy. The beauty of fine literature. Your fictional story will reveal what you believe most strongly.

Writers don’t necessarily state a creed, but a reader will pick up on our core beliefs through our story’s theme and premise.

Step TWO in establishing your author brand: Understand your core beliefs and develop your stories using those as your framework.

3) ICONS

According to Hanlon,, “These are quick associations or flashes of meaning that are associated with your brand. They can be visual, a particular smell, sound – things like the taste of McDonald’s French fries, the sight of a Coca-Cola label or Mickey Mouse ears.”

Nora Roberts, bestselling author of more than 209 romance novels, brands her new release books with NR in a circle to clue readers the contains new content and is not a reissue. There may be other author icons, but Nora’s is the only author icon I know.

For most writers, author photos and consistent book cover design become logos.

These images stand for you and your work. It pays to have both your photo and your book cover done by professionals.

Step THREE for author branding: Use a professional photo for you book covers and on your website.

4) LANGUAGE

According to Hanlon, “All belief systems or brands have their own set of language and words with a special meaning for those who buy into the belief system. If someone wants to be “part of the group,” they need to learn the associated words.”

Hanlon is talking about specialized words that denote special meaning for a particular brand group. Think soccer fans, computer geeks, doctors, truck drivers, etc. If you want to be part of any of those groups, you have to know the language.

I believe readers already know some language of authors. Not the craft details like POV, scene and sequence, story structure, etc., but a general knowledge of fiction genres and have personal preferences.

That’s why language is an important component of an author’s brand and why I believe a writer’s language must remain true to genre. Doesn’t matter what genre you choose to write, but you’ll not add readers if your language is not true to the genre you chose.

PhilipMartin in his blog, Discover Your Author’s Brand, offers a different take on Hanlon’s core component language, calling it “sacred words.”

Martin believes language equals “key phrases that inspire you or the mantras that you chant or the slogans that you pin next to your computer” and directs you to Maya Angelou’s website.

He points out that Angelou uses iconic images of herself and the cover of her well-known book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in addition to a line from that book: “A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.” on the website for branding.

Angelou use the language code of primal branding. So should you.

Step FOUR to develop your author brand: Consider the language of the genre in which you write and use related words for your website/blog and promotions, then model Maya Angelou’s website with iconic images and slogans.

In Author Branding Part Two, we’ll discuss the final three codes Hanlon describes: rituals, non-believers, and leader.

Until then, YOUR TURN: Have you thought about using Primal Branding to build your author brand?