I thought I would be more accountable for not finding time to write, if I shared this honesty with the world. As luck would have it, I am no further along than I was a year ago, when I had this great idea.

I am excited to go to a writing class this Saturday. It has been a long time….I know you’ve listened to me whine about my writing groups. However, I think this one will be different. Although the instructor doesn’t write in the same genre, the elements in storytelling are all the same.

Well, wish me good luck. I need to stop horsing around and just sit down and write. Till next time…

According to the Herman Trend, reading is making a comeback. Let’s hope so!

In January 2009 we wrote, “We expect this reading trend (Reading on the Rise) to continue to increase, in a small way supporting the United States in its drive for competitiveness”. When we look at the fact that Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Amazon are all still in business and Kindle (the machine that provides books electronically) sales are thriving, it is easy to confirm this forecast. (The Herman Trend)

I like the Sun Magazine.  Yesterday, I was saddened by the fact that The Sun Magazine needs donations to keep publishing.  While this comes as no surprise because the magazine is supported by subscriptions, donations and grants.  Sy Safransky, editor and publisher, produces a composite ofwho believed he could bring to the (Click on this link http://www.thesunmagazine.org/ to familiarize yourself with the online content.)

Read Sy Safransky’s story and if the preservation of a magazine that is honest in its writing because it doesn’t have the pressure of advertisers, please donate what you can.  Thank you.

http://www.thesunmagazine.org/get_involved/help_support_the_sun

I’m not MIA.  I found another distraction from my writing.  And the one thing that irks me is that I let it pull me  away from the things that matter.  I started messing around with the social media networks and like most people, it sucked me in.  I spent hours discovering how I could maximize its features to either promote Moore Wealth, where I work or eventually promote my work.

This distraction, albeit pleasurable, nevertheless took valuable time from other perhaps more important projects on my eternal list of things to do.  Even though I’m great at making lists, I never prioritized.   Big MISTAKE.  I would just pick out the project that was most expedient and felt great that I could cross it off.

The need to prioritize suddenly has new clarity.  My to-do list is unrealistic and disorganized.  I realize how I shamefully squander my time and I don’t even get enough sleep.  And yet the projects that are most important to me never bubble up to the top of the list.  Okay, that said.  I’m not going to do the social media networking today.  I’m going to hold down the phone calls and email and take that time to figure out what I can do to make my life work better for me.

What help propel me into this hard work of reshaping how I do things…and believe me, this is hard work to consciously refuse to do what comes so naturally is the Harmonic Wealth by James Arthur Ray.  It painfully pointed out my weaknesses.  Like going to your shrink, this review, re-evaluate, and rework of my behavior and the why of how things turn out requires much mental gymnastics because examining and critiquing your inner self is always difficult.  (And if you are finding this process easy, you aren’t digging deep enough.)  One strategy is to write 3 things down that you can reasonably can accomplish today that fits in your overall goals. 

If you are mother, no doubt the list is as long as your arm, but circle three things that you would like to see done today.  Focusing in a world full of distractions is hard.  My three things today are exercise, finish reading Harmonic Wealth and writing the first draft of a short story. 

To kick start this new plan, I need to go now.  You won’t want to miss my review of Harmonic Wealth, because unlike all the other self help books, this one has moved me enough to buy copies for my co-workers even before I even finished the book!

Wishing all of you a safe and happy holiday! ~~~Cori

Every November hundreds of writers pump out 50,000 words in their computer.  They participate in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNo).  Obviously, participants think this is a great idea.  However, if you examine this more closely, the program is very limiting in its return on investment.

It reminds me of the young student who failed his spelling test.  He was only able to answer one correctly out of ten; yet, his teacher and his parents praise him for the one word he spelled correctly –all in the name of giving the young student self-esteem.

It seems to me that the enabling teacher/parents only prolonged the inevitable.  In fact, they may have robbed him of the very self-esteem they were trying to promote.  Kids are not stupid.  They know that if they missed 9 out of 10 words that that was not good.   They sense that the praise they received from teacher and parents rang hollow.  How does this feeling of false compliments and encouragement bolster self-esteem?

Participation in NaNo is no different.  NaNo applauds the person who generates 50,000 words of mostly ill conceived thoughts and poor use of grammar.  At the end of November the program acknowledges the participating person by sending a certificate of completion.  The participant prints it out and the display is a symbol of his/her achievement.

However, the writer has to know that the novel is most likely not publishable.  Flawed with plot inconsistencies, character development issues, and pacing problems, this rough novel draft is just that…raw notes.  Spending hours cranking out 50,000 words to earn only a self generated certificate of achievement seems pretty meager for the time and energy spent.   What if the writer invested some pre-planning time?  Might that give the writer a greater sense of accomplishment and give a real boost to self-esteem? 

I’m all for freewriting.  It kind of releases the creative juices.  This is only an exercise. Call me crazy, but the end reward as the program is currently set up does not offset the things you had to sacrifice to write 50,000 words in the space of a month.

If you happen to participate in NaNo. good job in executing self-discipline.  Now what are you going to do with your 50,000 words? 

I have been blogging for a few months now and realizing that successful blogging is not successful without equal attention to all its parts.  Writing well and offering substantive content are certainly plusses.  However, there are other components…marketing related. 

A successsful blog includes reading other blogs and leaving messages.  Surfing the web to see what others wrote and their online presentation.  You are in a quasi competitive position.  You want people to read what you’ve written (otherwise why bother writing it in cyberspace), yet you never dreamed you would be competing for eyes.

To draw attention to your blog, you leave messages and add your blog address on other blogs.  Be sure to email all your friends, family and colleagues announcing that you have launched the best blog ever.  If they like it, they will pass your blog onto their friends. You offer contests. You link to other blogs.  You carefully select metatags and sign up with other search engines.  You join social networks and describe your blog on each of them.  Some examples of social networks are facebook and my space.  Others might be jigsaw.com, linked in, classmates, reunion, you get the idea?  You could run down the directory from your college or group membership.

One other thing that attracts readers.  That is if you have an edge to your writing. Maybe you write with humor?  Or maybe cynicism?  Your writing has to have bite.  You need to engage or incite people, so that it gets readers to think and revisit.  Or if you aren’t prepared to critique or write humor, try supplying straight fact or information. 

If you give a reason for people to visit, they will come and come back. 

If you are a writer and have not been to www.redroom.com, then you are truly missing something.  There are lots of talented writers blogging and putting up sites about their thoughts and new books.  It is where we writers can hang out when we want some moral support…or want to procrastinate because the blank computer screen is just too daunting.

If you are published writer, you too can take out a page in redroom too.  You will have to answer some questions before getting the nod to create your own cyberpage beauty.  Nevertheless, the blogs are pretty good.  I found bloggers on this site  good and every once awhile, like panning for gold, you find a nugget to remind you why you stopped pursuing your writing.        ~~~Cori                              

When I first thought about writing a novel, I immediately thought not of character or plot, but how I was going to organize 300 or more pages and move through the scenes and chapters deftly.

My first thought is to use notecards.  This simple, old-fashioned way of tracking and moving scenes has been updated by computer notecards, but nevertheless, every bit as effective.  My next thought was using Adobe Pagemaker.  It is an excellent software package that enables the writer to see how the words will lay on the finished page.  It anchors images and can format the pages so the layout will stay consistent.  I had an old copy of Pagemaker and remembered that the extensions on the saved documents didn’t easily lend itself with sharing documents on other word processing software.  Realistically, buying the updated version was not cost effective.

So, I found the second best thing to notecards. Chapter-by-Chapter (CbC)is free.  Here’s the link: http://pagesperso-orange.fr/sebastien.berthet/cbc/

CbC mimics the outlining style of Pagemaker.  It isn’t as robust, but who really uses all those features?
This is a simple but powerful program whose goal is to make writing your novel easier to write. You write the pages in a Word document and then tie it to a outline format, so you can visibily see how your story line unfolds.  It allows you to move sections of text to other pages and reformats changes.

I just discovered this tool, so I haven’t had a chance to use it myself. Check it out and let me know how this works for you.

Are you a writer that seeks the company of other writers?  Can’t find a group nearby?

I came across a great site for people who want to connect with others with similar interests.  Try www.meetup.com.  Although I have not joined it yet (my cup runneth over), I did surf through the site and read comments.  Since it is a self-directed site, you can be in control.  You either join an existing club or form your own.  You can search by topic or geography. 

Group members often leave their comments about the group.  It seems whether you are there to make new friends in the area or joined to talk about a specific topic, almost all the comments were a strong endorsement. 

Here’s a review from Bryan-Carey on http://www.viewpoints.com/Meetup-com-review-3b7f

So if you are interested in spreading your wings, try something different.  Wouldn’t this make a great venue for a mystery novel?