Is it really any wonder that writing takes such a long time? Short of dumping one’s family and responsibilities altogether, there is little time available for creative work, when you’re the sole provider and must work a draining job in a collapsing industry. Yes, I hear you: single moms, working spouses, caretakers, and more of you. However, writing in a vacuum would produce vacuous material. Writers need some substance, a kernel on which to build. Hah! An entire ear of corn is the usual result of any given week. Friends are waiting for my bushels to be turned into novels. “How do you survive all the crap, Shirley?” Well, it ain’t easy getting slammed every day, any more than it’s easy being green. But we get through it! They don’t call me a steel magnolia for nothing, but even steel has many graphs showing tolerance levels for each scenario.
Yes, I know I could get up at 4:30 a.m. instead of 5:30 a.m. and just write, but you wouldn’t want to be around me when I’ve only had 5 hours of sleep. I don’t do mornings in the first place, so you don’t want me snarly on top of that. Especially when you’re snooping around my private property. It won’t just be the brown stuff that hits the fan if a 78-year-old coot comes back a third time.
One very big advantage to the future joys of retirement will be that, even though I’ll still be working, I will have earned the right to decide what is important and what is not. From that, I will decide on my schedule. In fact, like most creative people, I’m pretty close to having already decided what parts of our insane lifestyle are positive and worthwhile. The rest I’m starting to flush, and I recommend you do the same, readers, even if you don’t consider yourself to be creative. Mistake #1, by the way. We are all creative in one way or another. But we can’t do it all and there’s no sane reason why we should even try. So much in life is worthless, just garbage. Let it go! Focus on family and friendships.
And for a great, uplifting read, try Discoveries: A Journey Through Life
Skipped right past August and September, that’s for sure, but editing books can keep a person very busy now and then. :-) Even so, things happen (or not) for a reason, and I’m not the one in charge of the world. Thank goodness, I might add! There’d probably be a lot fewer people in the bottom of the gene pool, if I were the decision maker on that. God has quite the sense of humor, as well as loads of patience, to put up with some of His offspring the way He does right now.
I wanted to let everyone know about two brand new websites for authors, writers and readers. The first is NothingBinding.com and the other is AuthorNation.com. Both present fantastic opportunities to find new books to buy, and to post your own writing. Please check them out and join both of them. There’s no fee and both sites are open to everyone who is trying to write well. (Do us all a favor and don’t try posting garbage. The wonderful folks who’ve spent thousands of hours setting up these sites deserve the best from all of us.)
When you visit NothingBinding.com and AuthorNation.com, you’ve got a real treat in store! You’ll see the direction that publishing is headed and be able to ride that wave instead of getting swamped by it. Go there now. I’m not being trite when I say “You’ll be glad you did!”
www.shirleyannparker.com/discoveries.htm
Women Writers of the Desert hold their annual conference – Write On! 2006 — on May 13 in Phoenix, Arizona. “Learn what it takes to put your book on store shelves, from selling what you know, to what you DON’T know about publishing.”
Write On! 2006 is for you!
Location is The Heard Museum, 2301 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona.
Cost is very reasonable. Great speakers, raffle prizes, and more!
Also, click to receive details and forms via e-mail: info@wwdonline.org.
You might want to visit Lori Prokop’s site at http://www.bookmillionaire.com/ to vote each week on which author should appear on the soon-to-be televised show. I have no preferences so far myself, so I’m not currently rooting for any particular author. Watch the video showcase for yourself and make up your mind! For ten weeks, five different applicants will be featured, so be sure to cast your vote each week for Book Millionaire.
www.shirleyannparker.com/discoveries.htm
As writers, we write, or we are not truly writers. Instead, we are wannabe’s, and I’ll bet most of you other writers reading this are sick of being accused of being a wannabe, or an also-ran, etcetera and so forth. The derision that’s directed your way by the supposedly solidly successful can really get on anyone’s nerves. Take a look at the program of certain writers’ conferences.
The snobs are not the professional writers who attend the “professionals only” sessions; most of them are wonderful people, from whom anyone can learn something useful. No, the snobs are the ones in charge of those sessions; they are those who label the sessions For published writers only. NO EXCEPTIONS. And by published writers, they mean authors, that is, writers who have had a book published by a mainstream publishing house. That is further to say, by a conglomerate that cares nothing about books in the first place. The fact that many professional writers have had short stories, articles, and children’s stories published in magazines for years seems to escape the planners. If you can’t wave a Random House or Scholastic book in front of them, one that has your name on it, then you are not legitimate and can’t attend their professional writers’ sessions. (One solution to their attitude is to find some colleagues with fire in the belly, and start your own publishing company.)
In between the seasons of glory, writers write whatever they have to write, in order to pay the bills and/or to stay sane in today’s world. A rose is a rose is a rose doesn’t always apply to writing. Much of it is material that is anything but fun to write. Writing complaint letters is a tiresome thing, but it has to be done from time to time. Writing about widgets for widget lovers and receiving 3 cents per published word would be fine, if we didn’t also have to research the subject first. By the time we figure in that time, we’re writing for 1 or 2 cents a word, sometimes 1/2 cent. Can you spell highway robbery? Enough quickly becomes enough in that arena.
Writing to politicians isn’t entertaining, although it can be cathartic. The object, however, is to have some influence on government, trying to prevent many inhumane, insane laws that would otherwise get passed by those who are out of touch with reality. This applies to all levels of government. It’s just about a requirement nowadays that you get involved and try to prevent this country’s accelerating slide into moral decay, into a “let them eat cake” lack of caring, and a spreading atmosphere of dictatorship. But above all, writers write. It is our job to chronicle and comment on the times and the society we live in.
This was the first time I’ve attended the San Diego Writers Conference, hosted by San Diego State University College of Extended Studies, although it is the 22nd time they have presented the program. I’m sure they’ve learned much and changed much over the years. Certainly, a whole host of people worked extremely hard behind the scenes and during the conference, to ensure that it was a success.
Having attended quite a number of writers’ conferences that have been hosted by writers’ organizations instead of universities, I know what to expect, and generally recognize a good conference from a mediocre one, as soon as I see the schedule. Of course, much depends on the purpose of the conference, and nothing is entirely seamless. The gremlins manage to insert themselves, since this is a planet of humans, not androids.
In this case, I was somewhat apprehensive that the speakers’ topics were not revealed ahead of time, nor was the program itself. Only the names of the highly qualified presenters and visiting literary agents were made public, subject to change at the last minute. As I discovered, a little too much had been crammed into too short a time period.
Just about all conferences have two or three concurrent classes, making it impossible to attend everything you’re interested in. However, SDSU’s writers’ conference had no less than seven 50-minute concurrent sessions at all times, which was pretty close to being annoying. The idea seemed to be that attendees would order tapes or CDs of all the sessions they could not attend, recordings that will have sometimes noticeable interruptions and missing comments from the instructors. A good four or five days’ worth of sessions had been telescoped into slightly less than two days.
While every session I attended could be rated good, very good, or excellent, attendees would have received greater value for their fees, if the conference had been spread out over, say four days, at no additional charge for the program itself. A different venue than the Doubletree on Hazard Center Drive might also be considered: meals might be less expensive; a longer stay would be more interesting and relaxing; optional side trips to one or two area attractions would be welcome, to break up the intensity. If national technical writers and notary public associations can do it, a local university should definitely be able to arrange such a program.
And no, I’m not voting for dorm rooms. Older writers (age 30 and upwards) have already served their time in the trenches, and most don’t care to repeat the experience. As long as there are more reasonable lodging options close by (within two or three miles), people will find their way to conference rooms. For myself, it is doubtful I would attend this particular conference again. There are so many others to investigate.
I heard more than one speaker refer to a journey through life, so I think my own subtitle is spot on. Check out Discoveries: A Journey Through Life for great reading about the joys and exasperations of family life and friendships.
While waiting for the developers to resolve the problem with displays on the blog, I have discovered for myself that it currently does not have the capacity to handle URLs correctly, at least not at the end of a table. I have therefore deleted the links from the December 8 posting. I hope the real solution will be forthcoming in short order, as I am in no mood for being made to look inept. And readers, you all recognize having been put in that position yourselves, right?
Next year I plan to attend at least two writers’ conferences to recharge my batteries, in the wake of an onslaught of spite, criticism, and negativism from most sides during 2005. If we do not believe in ourselves and take those steps needed to forge ahead with our own goals, the other side wins, and that is intolerable. I am one who does not put up with that very well, and neither should you. Those who receive no criticism are generally those who have not tried anything new, and have not spoken up for themselves. However, constant criticism is a drag; it destroys morale in any setting.
The first writers conference I’m planning to attend will be the San Diego State University 22nd Annual Writers Conference, to be held Jan 28-29 at the Doubletree Hotel, 7450 Hazard Center Drive. I’ve heard good things about this conference, although I have never attended it before. If anyone has any feedback from previous attendance, I’d be delighted to hear from you.
The second conference will be STC’s 53rd Annual Conference, to be held May 7-10 in Las Vegas. The event, held at Bally’s Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas, is considered the world’s largest gathering of technical communicators. I’m looking forward to learning new job skills, networking, and to seeing new product demos. With any luck, I’ll avoid a migraine while there, but with so many people in attendance and so much going on, it could get interesting. But many of you out there understand that already, far better than I.
An ethical dilemma for the majority of writers is being asked to write about a topic on which we cannot just state the facts and still sound neutral. This is particularly true when the subject of the article is doing something morally wrong. Unless the writer is a spin doctor by profession, i.e. a public relations officer, this is a work-for-hire project that will not be particularly successful in the eyes of the client. Even removing inflammatory words from the newspaper or magazine article, as journalism professors teach, cannot change the facts.
Many such potential assignments exist, including botched environmental issues, investment scams, tainted foodstuffs, children’s furniture and toys known to be unsafe, and so forth. They are full of pitfalls, to use a trite expression. You will find companies advertising that they buy your lottery winnings, so that you don’t have to wait through 25 years of annuity payments. Of course, there is a moderate to high fee involved. Another example is that of an advance to needy persons who have serious cash flow problems. These also return an unusually high interest rate to investors.
Unless the funding company has unusual integrity (and there are a few of those around), unconscionable rates up to 15% per month, are paid by the person who has been “loaned” the money. Since it is not a loan, rather an investment against expected inheritance, settlement, or arriving windfall sources of cash, government usury laws do not apply. The advance does not have to be repaid, if an inheritance case, for example, is lost; however, restrictive clauses in the agreement prevent the recipient from dropping the lawsuit, even after many weary years of litigation. Something is wrong with this picture.
The bottom line for most writers is that such an assignment will have you gritting your teeth at best. And if the pay is very low, compared to your normal market rates, it is better to pass on it. If your editor won’t take back the assignment, all you can do is finish it, and be prepared to defend your stand.
There are distinct financial advantages to paid overtime on one’s day job. However, it can play havoc with a writer’s creative time, particularly when publishers’ deadlines creep ever closer. And when the OT is declared mandatory and announced half an hour before quitting-time the day before, the internal reaction is less than joyful. Obviously, I can’t go into the reasons the employer has allowed itself to get into this situation, but an unwillingness to hire a sufficient number of employees bears more than a slight relationship.
As writers, we are faced with many roadblocks to achieving our goals. Other people stealing our time is just one of them. Another possibly huge obstacle is lack of moral and practical support from those who don’t think we have much talent to begin with. I could cheerfully slap the people who have asked, “Why you? Why were you invited? Are you a family member?” Or they have made other thoughtless, even spiteful comments, as I got ready to attend various conventions, conferences, book festivals, and even funerals. I have been told on good authority that my response should immediately be “Why not me?! I’m as good as anyone else out there.”
If we don’t really want to write, slings and arrows will stop us dead in our tracks every time. They will shred every piece of self-esteem we’ve ever cobbled together over the years. Very few people are born full of confidence. And the few that were so launched, tend to be so full of conceit that we can’t stand them. Normal self-confidence is a learned trait. We gain it one baby step at a time, even as adults.
To keep moving forward as writers, we may end up writing something for the interim that isn’t at all what our goals are all about. But exercising the muscles of the brain is critical, if we are to retain the flow. It can be e-mails, complaint letters, essays, or a daily journal. We can write short stories, while the novel marinates and our viewpoints mature.
Everything we do changes us. We are different now than we were an hour ago. Every book we read widens our outlook on the world. Hopefully, we are wiser and more compassionate, based on everything that happens in our lives. It is the small events, the turning aside to check the hedgerow and the streambed, that shape our eventual destiny. Do we care enough about life to write about it, to do something about what we see? Do we want to write, or do we just want to have written?
http://www.shirleyannparker.com/