A day without excuses

As a writer sometimes writing simply comes down to nothing more elaborate than BIC [Butt in Chair]. At this time of the year excuses can become extremely easy. Graduation parties, sunny days and Kids become distractions that break even the most solid of habits.

Sometimes we need to overcome our realities with consistent effort.

Sometimes we simply need a "push".

So here is your push. This is an excuse free zone! It's accountability time. In the comments put down the ONE or TWO writing related goals you want to accomplish this weekend. Then Monday come back and let us know that you did them.

I know it's scary. And don't feel you need to be specific. It is fine to say "Add 5,000 to WIP" or "Contact woman about that speaking opportunity". The point is to let the world know what you're going to accomplish and get it done. Remember, post today and them post again Monday. Let everyone know what you'll do, do it and then let us know again.

For me, I am going to do the editing for my clients this weekend that I have written down.
Finish outlining the plot and characters for my WIP
Meeting on that speaking oppty coming in June
Finish PP for June's Webinars

Okay, your turn. Let the hundreds of daily Writing Career Coach readers know that you are serious about your writing goals.

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
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

And then you find success

With the down economy so prominent in the news it can be easy to assume that everything in the world is wrong. There is no sense of upward mobility. No expectations of progress.

However, there are things continuing to happen to those who work hard at their craft. I'm very pleased to announce that one of my clients, Jody Hedlund, was not only a double finalist in the ACFW Genesis competition [winners will be announced at the conference in September] but also was offered representation!

There are hundreds of you reading this every week and I wanted to pause for a minute to "toot our own horns". I want you to share in the comments section a victory you've recently had in your writing. Whether you pushed past the fear of rejection and sent off a manuscript or you have something being published, let us know.

I'll start: I was named the National Writing Examiner at Examiner.com and I've already received a large number of hits, and some subscribers, after only a week. Also, I spoke to the NWOCW group this past Friday [May 22] and they had a great turnout-especially considering it was the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. [A special welcome to NWOCW readers!!]

I hope that 50 or 60 [or more] of you will come over and let us see all the success that is actually going on out there. If the article is online, link to it. We want to celebrate together.

Understanding your gatekeeper

Last week I told you about my meeting at PVN and the great speaker we had. I wanted to get a link to tell you about but I didn't write down his last name.

He said something at the meeting that really struck me. He was talking about insurance sales and said "You need to understand the gatekeeper you need to work with."

Typically a gatekeeper is someone who screens calls or contacts to keep top executives from being constantly contacted by sales people. However, in publishing, there are other gatekeepers. These people are a door way in to the world of publication and if you want to be a professional writer it is imperative that you understand how to work with them.

What are you doing to learn more about these people? Do you know what they are looking for. Below I've listed a few blogs to help you begin to learn more of the inside of the industry. I would love it if you'd share some of your favorite blogs written by EDITORS and AGENTS. Here are my favorites:

Chip MacGregor, Agent
Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson
Rachelle Gardner, Agent

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
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Tiffany is speaking live

I will be speaking for the NWOCW on Friday, May 22, 2009 at 10am in Bowling Green, OH. Details and directions at www.nwocw.org There is no cost to attend this event.

I hope to see some of you there.

Making the Cut

Last night I was at a networking meeting of local business people and learned a wonderful lesson. The person sharing is about 2 years older than me and he was sharing the story of how he was able to build a strong insurance business. He said

Understand the gatekeeper you need to work with.

This was a great lesson-and one I'm going to blog on Friday-but I really learned came in the form of a book I got at the meeting. I was helping at the sign in table and was perusing the books that were laying there. I am an avid reader and try to keep up on as much as possible in business development and marketing. I am always watching for new books to help build my business and share nuggets of wisdom with my blog readers and my Examiner.com readers.

As I was driving to the meeting yesterday I was thinking through the recent growth of Writing Career Coach, my expansion to the national level with my Examiner.com Writing page, and the growth of my speaking. Despite the success I'm having, I knew there was something I wasn't quite getting. It teased at the edge of my consciousness, but it's full understanding alluded me.

I flipped open the book and read the analogy between success and trying out for a sports team:

"Let me illustrate what I am saying in another way: Every little child in your town gets to play in the 'recreational league.' This is the sports association where nobody cares who wins and everybody gets to participate in every inning. MOst of the ladies like that. They think that is the way it is supposed to be. 'Little Johnny' always gets to play, nobody's feelings get hurt, and all the mommies are happy...

"But then there is the traveling team...

"This is the team that plays in a league where they actually play the games to win...This is the level at which skill and ability become prerequisites for acceptance to the team. However, the mommies whose children did not make the traveling team might get upset that their kids cannot go. They might suddenly switich over into thinking that 'self-esteem issues' are more important than qualifications. But the truth of the matter is that the parent of one who did not make the traveling team needs to ask himself why his child was disqualified. Did he practice as much as the others? Is the child eating right? Is he getting enough sleep? Is the child actually gifted for the sport? You see, everybody can play on the recreational league, but a child needs to meet certain criteria in order to be able to play on the traveling team." [From Divine Provision By Dan Stratton with Rich Vermillion. Pg. 161, Emphasis the Authors]

So, it's tough love time. We all want to be published authors but are we really willing to take the steps necessary to make the Traveling Team [published]. Or do we want to have the feel-good comfort of the recreational team. Are you working at your craft until you are exhausted? Are you writing again and again until the sentence is right? Are you taking the rejections and pushing through anyway? Are you writing one book and then immediately starting another? Are you willing to accept that you don't know everything? Are you spending more time explaining why your craft is great than learning how to make it better?

It is time for writers to bring their craft up a level. Some things are subjective, and writing is one of them, however that does not mean there are no standards. Aspiring writers need to begin to accept harsh realities, and the hard work that comes with them. There is NO easy way to get published. It requires countless hours of study and hard work.

In high school I knew my parent had no money to send me to college and that they couldn't afford to take out parent loans. I knew the only way I could get my degree was hard work. From 10th grade on I took the hardest classes, I studied, I earned a Varsity letter in Gymnastics for two years, I worked 20 hours a week and graduated in the top 15% of my class. I scored in the 96th percentile on the ACT.

And I worked even harder in college.

I didn't earn a full ride so each year I had to prove myself again so that I could earn new scholarships and renew those I had. Every 10 week quarter I had to prove myself all over again. When I graduated college I had a 3.903 GPA. I had worked 20+ hrs all through college, 40hours in the summer. I had taken beyond full time so I could get out in 4 years. I had been in the honors college so I had to take honors courses. I was 1 course away from having a dual minor. My days began at 5:45am and ended at 11pm. On weekends I studied from 8-5 Saturday, 1-8pm on Sunday.

I was doggedly determined to reach my goal on my time frame.

What would happen if we attacked our writing dream with the ferocity we pursue other things?

Don't make kids, committments or jobs your excuse. If we're going to make the cut as writers our pursuit of that goal has to be our singular focus. We can't relax.

That is how you make the cut.

Whether you get there or not depends solely on you.

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
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Earn Money Writing-Paying Market

It is not often that I'm able to blog about a paying market that is currently looking for writers but I am thrilled to be able to tell you about one today. For aspiring writers one of the biggest steps on your path to publication is getting bylines. This is an important affirmation and gives you valuable experience working with editors and working under a deadline.

The first few years as a full-time writer I wrote many free articles. Blogs weren't all the rage at that point [although they were growing in popularity] but I did write for a local paper that had a readership of more than 50,000 people. I learned interview techniques as well as how to work with my editor on an assignment.

But now writers have opportunities to reach far more readers. Before I give the contact information for this paying market I want to again revisit the purpose of writing articles.

1. Articles help you reach your potential readership. If your stories center around interesting historical facts in your area [say, the history of Eastern Tennessee] then you'd do well to have articles written that will be read by others interested in that area or era. That way you gain credibility and when your novel is released you have an interested audience. Likewise, if your books center around dogs [rescue dogs, service dogs, or dogs with unusual personalities] then writing articles for dog lovers will give you a chance to build relationships with potential readers.

2. Articles help improve your craft. In an article you must write succinctly. You learn an economy of words. This is even more crucial when writing online where you want to maintain 500 words or less in most cases.

3. Articles give you a chance to share all of those interesting stories you have as a result of your research. You've spent so much time learning about this, share your knowledge with others passionate about the same topic.

So, where is this market? The Examiner. It is an online article database that PAYS for articles. I am the national writing examiner. You can read my most recent article here.

The great thing about this market it not only does it pay but they pay you based on your traffic. They teach you how to market your articles. So, what does that mean???

YOU GET PAID TO LEARN A SKILL YOU NEED ANYWAY!!

Yes, it is all coming together now. All that I've taught you about getting paid by someone else to learn a skill you need. All that I've said about articles to build your platform. It all happens here! I'm so excited about this, I wanted to be sure it was true before I told you about it. I am thrilled to say, it is!

So, I'd like to encourage you to sign up and begin to build your skills. [The link is below read the 3 important things below before you do.] Sign up for local spots if you'd prefer to build a local platform. Remember, you don't have to focus on writing. Keep in mind what I've taught you before about reaching out to your potential market.

There are a few important things to know before you apply:
1. There is an application process. This is not a blog. You must apply for the position which will take about 20-30 minutes. You need to provide a writing sample and fill out an application.

2. You need to have an article ready to go live. If you are accepted they will want you to put up an article fairly quickly. Be ready with something that is about 400 words so that you can begin earning immediately. I'm earning money already...it is VERY exciting.

3. Let them know that I referred you. There are 3 reasons I ask this. First, there is a referral bonus that they give people. I heard about this from another writer and put her name in [not realizing she got a bonus for it.] Once I started and realized that I'd given her a bonus I was glad I took the time to put in her name. Remember, my name is spelled Tiffany Colter. Second reason, if you put me down as the one who referred you they contact me that you went live. I want to follow your articles so once I see your page up I will click to follow you. That allows me to tweet, comment and otherwise help you with your new fame!! And third, I want to talk to all of you who become Examiners. I want to write an article on what you learned your first 4-6 weeks. The best way for me to keep track will be those Examiner emails.

Here is the link to the topics they currently want filled.

I know that many authors have been burned by article sites that say they will pay and then don't. So far I have been incredibly impressed by the professionalism and follow through of the Examiner staff. They have answered all my emails [and even called me to tell me they liked my article and to see if I had any questions]. It is rare that I've been treated with this much courtesy early on.

So, I hope that I'll see 20 or 30 of your names popping in my email this week to tell me that you are the newest Examiners!!

And even if you aren't ready to take the plunge and work as a regular writer, check out this article on building your readership.

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
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Tiffany is a National Examiner. Read her articles here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

The Collapse of Distinction Innovation on many levels

If you have following the publishing industry for any length of time you know that we are in a time of transition from the way it's always been done to the way it could be done.

The Collapse of Distinction by Scott McKain is valuable not only for the strong content and practical applications, but also because of the revolutionary manner of distribution used by its publisher, Thomas Nelson. The Nelson Free program was recently announced. Under this program when you purchase the book you also get access to a free ebook copy and free audio copy of that same book. This allowed me to read 2/3 of this book in a single afternoon. I couldn't be more impressed with this new system used by Thomas Nelson. This three-fold access to the same product makes this book so valuable that it has become a resource. I play the recording over and over. I pause the recording to open the book or ebook and read along or apply what is taught. I hope to see them do this with even more books-including Fiction titles.

In terms of the quality of the book, McKain has written a top notch book with absolutely no fluff. Each chapter is full with application principles BUT McKain gives additional action steps at the end of each chapter to really focus the effort. For people who want to innovate--and in today's publishing climate EVERY author should want to innovate--this book is an absolute must-read.

You can find out more about it at this Amazon link.

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
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Read Tiffany's National Writing Column at Examiner.com
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

A rare Wednesday post

You know that I usually don't post on Wednesdays here at Writing Career Coach, but I simply had to write.

I read a blog on the ChipMacGregor.com website today that had me almost cheering! Sandra Bishop, an agent at MacGregor Literary, wrote an analogy about the writer's life that I believe EVERY SINGLE WRITER--no matter their stage of writing--should read and share with others. Read the posting here.

[If the link doesn't work copy and paste here http://chipmacgregor.typepad.com/main/2009/05/a-twisty-little-story-from-sandra-about-the-writing-journey-.html]

After you've read it I would love to have you come over and tell me what you thought of the posting.

I'll see you on Friday for our normal end of the week blog.






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
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Where is your growth potential?

Yesterday I talked a bit about the research I'm doing for the new Writing Career Coach product. One thing I've had to ask myself is, as a writer, where is my greatest growth potential.

Like many of you I have a variety of legs to my platform. I write articles for E-zines and magazines. I write/contribute to 3 blogs as well as writing articles for online journals. I speak to writer's groups and business groups regularly and teach webinars. I also have newsletters that I distribute. This is in addition to my business which is coaching aspiring writers, writing fiction and writing non-fiction.

When you are a writer, especially one working to breakout in book length writing, you must always balance your need to write with your need to pay your bills. For most people that means you work, work, work for pay until you have something paid for, then you start working on your writing until you find you need money again...then the cycle repeats. Many people don't advance because they are not looking at where their real growth potential is. Furthermore, they aren't willing to invest the time to build up the weaker areas to reach their dreams. By that I mean people who want to write novels may not be strong at that YET but what are they doing to make that their strength?

Admittedly, this is quite a bit to juggle. Most of us have responsibilities beyond simply writing our stories. It can, at times, seem overwhelming. That is why it is so important to find where your current growth potential is, then build on your strength. Once you feel confident in that area you can work on the next. My writing career has been built almost entirely in 30 minute increments. I never had the time to sit down for hours and write. Therefore, I had to take advantage of 30 minutes of quiet, 30 minutes where I could read, 30 minute lessons.

Find where your growth potential is and build on it.

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
Tiffany is a speaker and teacher. Find out about available topics for your group's next event.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website. [www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Three things to do today to market your writing

I'm in the process of writing a whole new product from Writing Career Coach and that has led to a great deal of reading and research. I want to share a few things with you that I have learned this week. These are things that you can begin to do right now, today to help you market your writing [or any other business really]. I will go in to these in much more detail when I release my new project [more on that in coming weeks] but right now here are some of the broader concepts that we will cover in more detail.

1. View your marketing from the customer's perspective. In his book, Guerrilla Marketing for Free, Jay Conrad Levinson makes this point. It is one that I have shared in previous blogs as well. It is simply crucial that we recognize that every day, not just in a tough economy, people have choices about where to spend their money. They are more likely to purchase things that make them feel good about that purchase. All of us have had times where we bought something and then immediately felt taken advantage of. Don't ever do that to a reader or customer. If you offer, deliver! If your marketing is jazzier than your customer service, you won't last long. So today take a look at the marketing strategy you are using. Look at your customer service and reputation. If it isn't where you think it should be, find how to improve it.

2. Recognize your true competitor. One interesting point Harry Beckwith makes in his book "Selling the Invisible" is that our true competitor isn't always the other person selling a similar produce [other authors and freelancers]. You are trying to convince someone that they NEED your product or service at all. Why should they read YOUR book? Why should they hire YOU as a copywriter when they can write things themselves? Why does a church need your help? That is why they have a church secretary. Once you recognize that your true competition isn't the other provider, but rather the misconception that they don't need your product/service, you will shift your approach. You will no longer be adversarial or confrontational. You will no longer show why what you do is better than what the other guy is doing. You will instead show the customer the VALUE of your product or service [which includes the simply joy of a great novel]. Armed with that information you will be able to build relationships with clients. Not only does that make them long-term clients, but it will help you to be better equipped to service them better.

3. Distinguish yourself. As you will hear later this week on this blog, Scott McKain has written a wonderful new book called "The Collapse of Distinction: Stand out and move up while your competition fails." The premise of this book is essentially that capitalism leads to an incremental improvement AND/OR imitation of competition. Neither of which will distinguish you enough to have the real growth you'd like. So, today begin by defining who you really are. What is your business really? What is it you're aiming for and what are you willing to do to accomplish it? These questions will help you when we talk more about this book later, but begin to think about them now.

So have you done each of these things? If you haven't done them during the course of reading this blog stop now and take a few minutes to brainstorm. It may seem like a complete waste of time but what you will discover is that these questions are the rudder that moves your marketing ship. Just like we need to fully understand our characters to make our stories flow, we must fully understand our businesses to make our marketing flow.

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
Tiffany can speak to your group or organization details here.
Learn more about Tiffany's Marketing techniques on her main blog.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.[www.TheBalancedLife.com]
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog. [http://tiffanycolter.blogspot.com]
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.[http://writersrest.blogspot.com]

Craft: Stage Direction

When I'm editing I will occasionally throw out terms to clients. This weekend I was editing and I said they were using Stage Direction.

So what is Stage Direction?

In this posting I'll give a quick example of Stage Direction and an idea for how to correct it. Think about what this really is. It is infusing emotion in to your story. It is causing your character to interact with the scene.

It is simply where you tell where they're walking around or what they're doing on the stage. Like in a play. the Stage Direction tells us where the character will be on the set at any given moment.

Compare:


He walked to the table and picked up the phone. He dialed the phone. No one answered. He hung it up. He walked to the kitchen and got a glass of milk.

vs.

He walked to the table and clicked on the light. The room was suddenly thrown from complete darkness to murky light covered in shadows. They sent an eerie chill through him. As if at any moment one of the shadows could come alive to stop him from calling Sally. He gently lifted the phones receiver and brought it to his ear. The hum of the dial tone grew louder as he held it against his head. A sound behind him made him stop. He pulled the phone away and watched around the room. But no monster awaited. No shadow had morphed to reveal a ghoul. He held the phone away as he pushed in the seven numbers. The phone droned out a distant ring.

rrring. One. He watched. His back to the wall, eyes patrolling the darkness. Ears alert to unusual sounds.

rrring. Two.

The phone continued it's waiting but by the tenth ring he silenced it with a clang.

He walked from the room without cutting off the light. If someone were watching the house they'd assume he was up there. That would give him precious moments to make his escape.

He tiptoed from the room and down the steps. The thudding of his heart outpaced the ticking of the grandfather clock by two. tick--thud, thud--tock. He stepped in the kitchen and pulled down a glass. Suddenly he craved a glass of milk and the comfort it had always given him as a boy.

Okay, I'm sure you see a clear difference. One just tells you what he is doing. The other gives you a sense of his motivation and reaction to his environment. The first, we don't know what the person is thinking or feeling. Nor do we know why. In the second we experience the scene.

Hope that helps.




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.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.

Don't throw money at the problem

It is interesting to me the different approaches people take to the whole idea of marketing. Some think that it requires a large outlay of money. Others believe that it has to be an all consuming task with publicists, assistants and others scurrying to get you to events.

I'd like to suggest that effective marketing is possible with little or no money. In fact, I'm not the only one who believes this. Entire books are written on the topic. I've been reading many of these books for research on a new Writing Career Coach teaching I'll be releasing soon.

Here is the key to effective marketing, are you ready?

Consistently acting on the knowledge you already have.

Yep, that's right. If you would take the time to consistently do one thing you've learned at Writing Career Coach [look at the buttons down the right for topics] you would be marketing.

I think it seems easier to throw money at it. I've been guilty of this myself. We feel like the more money we throw at a problem, the more we're doing to solve it. Unfortunately, that isn't the solution in any area. It only leaves you with less money.

There ARE things that you have to pay for as PART of marketing, but take the time to research ways to market your writing at no cost [or little cost]. We will talk about these more next week but it is worth it for you to start thinking of it now.

I'd appreciate it if you'd retweet the Writing Career Coach blog by clicking the link below.




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.
Common-sense money management is free at The Balanced Life website.
Read Tiffany's award winning manuscript "A Face in the Shadow" on her fiction blog.
She writes a blog for the Christian writer Tuesdays at Writer's Rest.