Close the door

In my dogged ear copy of "On Writing" by Stephen King I have marked up countless nuggets of sheer genius. I have never forgotten where he says writing is telepathy [and then goes on to demonstrate it] nor where he tells readers they must master the basics.

Overall, I think I'd like Stephen King, if we were to meet. Not because he is a famous writer but his sense of humor resonates with me. It is more witty than howling funny. He also is "twisty" [like Ted Dekker] and I love trying to braid plot twists in to my stories whenever possible. Sometimes I even get knots.

But today I'm not talking about the genius of craft on deeper levels. I'm talking about those first drafts. While Stephen King's term "door shut writing" is fine I prefer to call it vomiting on paper.

Why would you vomit on paper?

When I vomit on paper I'm throwing the entire story as I see it. A sculptor mushes the clay in to a general shape before getting out the fine tools and pushing and mushing it in to a piece of art. The same is true with our writing.

For those of us finishing NaNo the brilliant piece you just completed is door shut writing. I always discourage ANYONE from showing their writing at that stage. Every single time I break this rule I am sorry. There are times where I think it is simply AWESOME and I have to share my genius or I'll burst.

The only thing that gets bursted is my bubble.

When you are free to simply write whatever falls in your brain [even though I'm a heavy outliner] you are able to crank out word count [throw mounds of clay on the table] and see some general shape.

Then set the MS aside. I usually try not to go back to it at all until I've completed another MS. That gives me time to fall in love with the genius of my writing in another novel [she said with a snicker] and then return to face MS one.

The problem with leaving the door open all the time is you'll constantly edit. Editing is critical. Editing-when done at the wrong time-stifles creativity.

As those of you who have completed the 50K of Nano can attest, when you put your head down and simply WRITE 50K is nothing.

So if a writer like Stephen King has to write a first draft out of the glare of spotlight-I think there's something in it for the rest of us.

Close the door-and see how much more productive you become.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I'll see you next week.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.

More ideas to reach people

Hello everyone,

Thank you for the questions you've already sent in about ways to make money in this economy. Keep them coming. I'm very excited about the product and want to make sure I'm giving information you can use immediately.

First, a little 'housekeeping'.
Since this week is Thanksgiving in the US I am only posting on Monday and Tuesday of this week on my main blog. I will still be posting Tuesday on Writer's Rest and I'll post Tuesday and Friday on my fiction blog. [To my Canadian readers: I'm sorry I forgot to wish happy thanksgiving to you last month. I try to keep on top of those things.]

Today I'd like to present more ideas on ways to network to build your platform and to learn from others. You will notice I now have my "Tweets" [which are twitter postings] running down the side of my blog. I'm finding that my initial assessment of using Twitter as an accountability tool didn't work as well as I had hoped HOWEVER it serves an even better purpose for me. I am able to immediately tell all of you when I read something that will immediately help your business. It would be like me calling you on your cell when I just learned a new nugget of information or something useful for your business. Think of the potential.

In the last few days I've read two really interesting articles about using Twitter to get jobs. Here are links to the articles.

http://www.twitip.com/leverage-twitter-for-your-job-search/

http://www.webinknow.com/2008/11/how-david-murray-found-a-new-job-via-twitter.html

By following me on twitter you would have learned about this the moment I read this awesome article [11:48am Friday, November 21, 2008] instead of now. How would this article have changed your learning last week? If this article wasn't particularly helpful there could be others. Imagine learning great tips moments after I find them.

And then by following other leaders in the industry you could draw on their wisdom as well. So while it may not always work the way you initially expect [accountability] learning about the benefits of new technology and marketing idea can keep you ahead of the rest.

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
Read her postings specifically targeted to Christian Writers at Writer's Rest.

Making money, now more than ever

You love to write but we all have bills to pay, tummies to feed and charities to support. That means that we can't simply write for the fun of it-unless we have a day job.

Eventually there comes a time where we want and need to earn a living.

I've been doing some reading on this topic and I am preparing a free resource for the readers of my blog. To make this the best it can be I need your help.

I need you to email me questions you have about how to earn money and keep your head above water during these uncomfortable economic times.

Step 1:
Email questions to me through my website no later than December 1. If you have friends who have questions have them submit questions through the website as well.


Step 2: Make sure that you are subscribed to my blog. I will give you the deadline soon but the ONLY way to receive this resource free is as a subscriber to the blog. Last year many of you know that I gave out a free surprise gift to people who were subscribed to the blog. I ended up giving the Writing Career Coach: Intro to the Writer's Life as a free gift [the retail value is $35]. This year I wanted to give you a similar gift which is why I will prepare this report based on my research and your questions. I will email it to EVERY subscriber free of charge, not strings attached, as a thank you for your loyalty. I will then offer it for sale for $15 some time in early 2009. [that will be for people who didn't subscribe].

All you have to do to make sure you get the free full-length report is to subscribe through feedblitz using the link on the right. Encourage your friends as well. I will not limit, I will not spam, I will not do a bait and switch.

If anyone who received the Christmas gift last year wants to attribute to the validity of my sincerity, you may do that in the comments section.

For the rest of you, I look forward to your questions and I hope you will encourage other writers to take advantage of this same offer. And those of you who get this full blog sent to your email box every day, you're already on the list. You'll get the full report, just email your questions.

I look forward to reading your questions!


Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.

Using what you're learning

The vast majority of writers I meet don't use 1/4 of what they learn. I know this because I'm human and until recently I fell in to this trap.

I read and learn a great deal so I always have information to share with all of you but, at times, I enter sensory overload and can't remember what I've read, what I've told you and what I've come up with on my own.

There is so much available information every day how can we possibly apply it?

Well, I came up with a REALLY simple solution. Here are the supplies you'll need:

Looseleaf paper
A three-ring binder
dividers [whether a sheet of colored paper or tabs]
A three-hole punch

I put the articles I have read in the three ring binder [or if I don't print them, I write the link on a sheet of paper]

I divide them by topic so if one is on marketing and another is on running a book signing they go in separate areas. I also name the section.

I hope it is obvious what the 3-hole punch is for.

NOW here is the important part. I take a piece of loose-leaf paper and I write ONE or TWO ideas from the articles that I will implement immediately and one or two for later. I keep that sheet of paper in the front of the binder.

SO Let's say I have an article I printed off the internet called "Marketing ideas that are great". I put it in my "marketing" section of my 3 ring binder. It is the 7th article in there so it it "Marketing 7". Here is what I'd write on that loose-leaf paper in the front:

Marketing 7- Tell three people about my upcoming blog and ask them what questions I've left unanswered.

Then, DO IT.

This helps because instead of being one of many great ideas that flutter away you have a specific course of action to take. Also, once you've done that you can re-read the articles [since they're not lost somewhere in your office] and see if there is a second or third action step to implement.

So try it. See if it helps you take meaningful action on the things you're learning.


Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.

Measuring your reach

As a writer it is important that you are able to assess the reach of your marketing. Hit counters on blogs may be able to give you a snapshot but it is only a partial picture of your actual level of influence. Today I'd like to suggest to you a few different resources that you can use to help determine your reach. These are only three of the things I am currently doing to determine my reach. Start by using these and see your level of influence.

Google Alerts
This service alerts you when word you specify are accessed. I have mine programmed to alert me for Tiffany Colter, Tiffany Coulter or Writing Career Coach.

How this helps: I have found a number of blogs that have mentioned me. I am able to go and personally thank them [which is simply polite] as well as find out the kinds of blogs/bloggers who find things helpful on my blog. Also, I am able to see whether it is an individual blog or my website in general that is most helpful. This allows me to adjust my blogs to be more helpful to my readers.

Google Analytics
We've looked at this a number of times but this bears repeating for those of you who have not heard of it yet. This free service offers many useful things to the owner of a blog or website. It is VERY user friendly and tells you what pages are most popular, daily hit count, source of those hits and a variety of other useful information.

How this helps: I am able to determine where my traffic is coming from [whether a link on someone's website or marketing I've personally done]. I am also able to assess the strength of blog tours and online e-zines by tracking hits following the release of those blogs/articles.

Search Engines
I go in to Yahoo, google, askjeeves and others to see where I am coming up. I also google things like "Writing Coach" or "Writing Career Coach" to check my ranking.

How this helps: I am able to see what people are first learning about me when they do a search. This varies by search engine so checking a few different places is helpful. You need to know what others are learning about you. You also need to know if your blog is ranking well in search engines on your topic. If not, what can you do to improve?

So, for Monday you have some work to do. Go out and determine your reach. [And write blogs with my name in them so I will come. Laugh. You know I'll be watching!]

Tomorrow we will talk about how to use the information you've learned at all of those writer's conferences, articles, blogs and coaches.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.

Half way through NaNo

You know what I like about NaNo [for the uninitiated that is NaNoWriMo which is short for National Novel Writing Month]? It is actually a pretest to the life of a writer.

Think about it. You send this idea that is ping-ponging in your head off to an editor. They say "Hey, this is cool. We want to buy it." Since you're a multi-pubbed author you are able to sell on an idea. Now you have less than 3 months to get this thing written and edited.

That is what Nano is all about. You have one month [arguably one of the busiest months of the year] to write an entire 50k novel. [Let's be honest, most novels are 80-100k], edit it and turn it in.

That is the writer's life.

Of course, this doesn't take in to account that as a multipublished author you'd likely be marketing other books during this time as well...but that's for another day. So for those of you who are trying at NaNo, whether or not you finish, be encouraged. You're practicing what it is to be a real writer and learning valuable skills in time management. Not to mention you now know Frosted Flakes make a great dinner and the Pizza guy knows your order by address. :-)

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.

It's about moderation

This past weekend when I was teaching in Zanesville the topic of my course was "Getting organized for Greater Efficiency". The purpose of this course was to try to change the way the participants thought of their to do lists, to organize their goals and targets and then-I hoped-they'd take steps to reach those goals.

As I've worked through my writer's path I've had to learn a great deal about moderation. I tend to dream big and hope big. While these are excellent traits to have-they can get a person in trouble. Back when I was a Unit Leader as part of a network marketing business I encountered a woman who'd gone nearly broke selling her products. I'd asked her how in the world that could happen.

"Well, I knew if I bought products at 50% I could resell them at full price. So I took my $1,000 tax return and bought products. That way when I sold them I'd have $2,000 instead of $1,000."

Well, if she'd had an established customer base that would make sense, but she didn't. What she did have was almost $2,000 worth of products in her cupboard a year later.

For writers this is important as well. Once you have this book contract [or leading up to it] make sure you're not spending unnecessarily. You can't assume if you buy 2,000 bookmarks instead of 1,000 you'll sell twice as many books. You must be deliberate in what you do and have a reason for each action you take.

As part of my Writing Career Coach: Intro to the Writer's Life I tell students to think through these marketing ideas before the excitement of the first contract clogs their thinking. While a first book deal has some additional expenses [like establishing a website] also keep in mind the long haul. Can you make things that focus on you or your "brand" that can be used in conjunction with ANY of your book releases? Can you create a product that says "Check out the new release by Tiffany Colter by visiting...." Then you can stick those in books past and present. You can hand them out when you speak [but don't have a book coming out or just released].

And when doing this, spend wisely. This last speaking season I paid $50 for my first set of Cds. I had a series of speaking engagements that would get progressively larger. Once I sold the first set I took out my initial $50 investment and put it back in checking. Then I purchased additional CDs with a bit of the profit. So, by the end of the season I had recouped my initial outlay, sold additional CDs for profit and only have 5 copies left over. If I'd assumed that more CDs=more customers I'd likely have been stuck with a debt and a case of CDs.

So when looking at your marketing budget, use moderation. Know how you're going to accomplish the goal you have and then get it done.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at www.WritingCareerCoach.com
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.

Maximizing your writing mood cycle

This past Saturday I was a workshop teacher at the Y-City Writer's Conference in Zanesville, Oh. The Y-City Writer's Group did a great job of putting together a very professional conference and I appreciate all the time and effort they obviously invested in such a great event.

While I was there I was able to sit in on a couple of classes and really learned a great deal that I'm applying to my business immediately. I was also able to meet a very sweet author, Linore Rose Burkard. Her next Regency book will be coming out soon. I thought it funny that in a recent blog I mentioned that I had NO clue what Regency was and then I met a Regency author. I knew her through a local writer's group already, but only by email.

Today I want to talk about attitudes.

Writing is an emotional investment. Whether you're writing fiction or non-fiction, articles or novels there are many different emotional components that must go in to every piece of writing you do.

That means our attitude will will affect what we write. Sometimes it's as simple as creating writer's block. I find that if I'm worried or really angry it is difficult to focus enough to write well. Maybe you have a similar experience?

As I told the group I was teaching at the conference, one of the easiest times for me to write is when I've just sent a project off. There is a sense of completing something great as well as a hopeful expectancy. I can imagine all the editors who will look on my words and wonder how such a great talent is still undiscovered. Smile. [I'm a writer, I think creatively]

The hardest times for me to write is when I'm on the last 30 pages of a novel or when I've just received a novel.

So take a look at your "writing moods" and see when it is that you are the most productive. Make sure when you organize your time that you are doing extra work during those periods when you're most productive. And if there are things that steal your creativity [stress, worry, anger, fear] take steps to eliminate them from your life and from your writing space.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Everything I forgot from college

This has been one busy week.

Between getting ready for the conference tomorrow, keeping up with my NaNoWriMo word count and my regular writing/mom/wife duties...I've done a LOT.

The other reason I've been abel to do so much is I remembered what it was I did in college to be successful.

I FOCUSED!!!

I am so thankful that I graduated in 1998, before the internet was full speed ahead! Back in the days when I could go 2-3 days [instead of 2-3 minutes] between logging on to the web.

I also took time to write out EXACTLY what I needed to do each day. I made sure it was something that could be REASONABLY accomplished. Then I did it.

I've been a big ball of stress throughout October because of edits that I needed to do on a book. It seemed that no matter how much I did on this silly book I didn't make progress. I'd move 3 pages a day but spend hours at my keyboard. So I went to the UPS store and printed the whole blasted MS out [like I did in college with term papers] and I scanned pages, deleted scenes, added thumbnails for new sections and subplots. I did in 3-4 hours what it took me a month to do on the first 1/2 of the book. Now I simply need to write in the new scenes, tighten the existing ones, and I'm done. I estimate 10-12 solid hours. That is 1/3 what it took me to do the first sections.

I have also stopped THINKING about what needs to be done. Wow, that is exhausting. When I am cooking supper-I cook supper. When I'm grocery shopping-I buy groceries. When I'm with the kids-I play.

That is so much better than doing all those things while thinking about all the other "stuff" that needs done. It was like a giant ax was over me every where I went, waiting to chop off my head.

So, now that you've read my blog [a very important thing to do-smile] turn off the internet and get to work!! When you've scratched everything off your to do list then take a well deserved break and read the next chapter of "A Face in the Shadow" that posted today.

Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter

Reaching Back

One things that is especially fulfilling for me as I move further down the writer's road is the opportunities I have to reach back and pull other writers ahead.

This can be a very lonely profession. We spend hundreds of hours huddled with our computers creating characters and plot lines. Then we tear them apart, rework them, put them back together and start it all over again. I find with each edit that I grow deeper as a person and I grow increasingly self-aware.

I love to teach writing groups because it gives me this opportunity over and over. A couple of weeks ago I taught at the Midwest Dreams Writer's Conference in Mansfield, Ohio. I enjoyed learning from other teachers and speakers but what most excited me when when I was teaching "You wanna be a gonna be?" and I suddenly saw one person after another have an "a-ha" moment. It isn't about ego; it's about adding value to another person's life. If, for only a moment, I did something to improve the life of the people there...WOW. What an opportunity.

Not everyone is cut out to speak, but all of us can give back. If you're new on the writer's path then pair up with another writer at the same place you are. The two of you can learn together. If you can get a writing mentor, find one. But as you start to see results be sure you remember what it was like starting out and always be willing to give back.

I have brochures on my speaking topics that I can mail to members of groups. I speak to writer's groups, churches, mom's groups, adoption groups, parents with special needs, homeschoolers and many others. If you'd like to distribute my brochures to the churches and groups you are a part of email me through my contact page. Give me your name, address[snail mail], type of group you're a part of and number of brochures you'd like [I limit it to 20 but if you need more I can send the file to print additional copies for your group/organization.]

Hope to see all of you at an upcoming conference. Saturday I'll be teaching in Zanesville. Email if you'd like details.

Click the delete button

I've been engrossed in edits at the same time I'm working on my NaNoWriMo novel. One thing I've learned as an author is that we cannot be afraid to click the delete button. One of my biggest time wasters has been me trying to get a scene to fit in a novel-when it REALLY needs to be deleted.

On this current novel I've deleted more than 20,000 words in the last month but the manuscript is within a few hundred words of where I started. That is because my liberal use of the delete button has allowed me the freedom to work in new scenes that strengthen my writing rather than trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

But I don't advocate simply dumping these scenes! For every novel [or other MS] that I write I have a "deleted scenes" file. So rather than delete I actually cut and paste the scene from one novel and paste it in the deleted scenes file. There have been 2 or 3 times in this current novel where I've realized that a 'deleted' scene could be used in the book with tweaking. These scenes actually strengthened my book by moving their location. Imagine if I'd insisted on making them work where they originally were!

On that same topic I keep books that just "don't work out". 2 years ago during NaNoWriMo I tried to write a piece of women's fiction based on a character from a suspense I'd written. I got 25,000 words in to the book before I realized that I simply was not gifted to write Women's Fiction.

Well, when I was deepening the characters in the MS I'm editing now I realized a scene from that "women's fiction" book would add to my current MS. Glad I didn't delete it.

So, look at your stories like a puzzle. When you pick up a piece that doesn't fit you don't throw it in the trash, you don't cut the edges to force it in to place and you don't give up. You put the pieces back in the box until you find the right fit!

The same can be said of your entire writing career. You can't keep working on the same MS trying to get it it fit. Work on something else and put the manuscript with 200 rejections on the shelf. The day MAY come when it is ready to dust off but, in the meantime, focus on other projects to build your writing career.

Your coach for the journey, Tiffany Colter

Read A Face in the Shadow on my other blog.