Category: Becoming a writer
Can You Chop Wood And Write At The Same Time?
| January 23, 2011 | Posted by JerriCook under Becoming a writer, The Writing Process |
Everyone’s busy. For some of us, it’s all we can do to keep up with our everyday schedule, let alone find time to write. The good news is that you can write while you do other things, like split wood or weed the garden. As it happens, mundane tasks allow our minds to wander, and let’s face it—it’s wandering minds that return to reality with ideas fresh from the astral territories. The only problem is remembering them. Fetching a drop of inspiration from the ethereal and remembering it are two different processes. You might think you’ll recall the idea when you have a moment to sit down and write, but ask any writer who has let the brilliance of their subconscious slip away before they could write it down, and they’ll tell you how wrong you are. (more…)
Writing Measurements: How Do You Measure Up?
| January 11, 2011 | Posted by JerriCook under Becoming a writer, Punctuation, Structure |
Would you describe your slice using numbers or numerals?
Learning The Ropes: Surviving On The Freelance Writing Market
| December 20, 2010 | Posted by JerriCook under Becoming a writer |
Most magazines pay for FNSAR.
Always tell editors when submitting a second-run piece. Some smaller publishers are willing to take second-run pieces, but they pay substantially less, if anything, for the rights. Failure to disclose that something has appeared in another publication will injure your reputation in a hurry, not to mention the damage it could cause to your bank account should the publisher decide to sue you. (more…)
The First Step To Becoming A Writer: Getting Your Head Examined
| December 15, 2010 | Posted by JerriCook under Becoming a writer |
You don't have to be a famous shrink to love what you do.
The Center for Psychology Workforce Analysis and Research estimates there are 93,000 clinically trained psychologists in the United States. Name three. When faced with this question I came up with Dr. Phil, Dr. Wayne Dyer of PBS fame and Dr. Frasier Crane. Okay, Frasier was a fictional psychiatrist, but I couldn’t think of anyone else. So, out of 93,000 trained mental health professionals, could you name three? Probably not, because most mental health professionals aren’t famous, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t love what they do.
What about writers? The U.S. Department of Labor claims there were 306,000 people working as writers in 2006. Name three. Even though I have no idea which writers popped into your mind, I’m willing to bet the farm all three of them had something in common: they wrote a book. When people think “writer” they think book, but the fact is, most writers have never published a book, just like most mental health professionals have never hosted their own television show. (more…)
The Worst Writing Advice Ever
| December 14, 2010 | Posted by JerriCook under Becoming a writer, Know Your Audience, The Writing Process |
Don't let bad advice come between you and your writing.
You’ve heard it. We’ve all heard it—write what you know. The oldest writing maxim known to Man is also the worst. It keeps would-be writers at bay like an angry police dog, hungry for the chase. Beginning writers are so terrified of it that they cower in fear with their eyes covered. If, however, they took a moment to look at the snarling beast that is keeping them from mastering their craft, they would see that the leash restraining it is held by an incompetent writer. The snarling beast isn’t trying to devour you, dear would-be writer. It’s trying desperately to escape the reigns that bind it to the writing elite, who want you to believe that writing what you know is good advice. Trust me when I tell you it’s not good advice, and the people who have told you it is are either incompetent or afraid of a little competition.
Here’s a better piece of advice—write what you’ve experienced. This is the essence of what writers do. We write about what we’ve done, what we’ve seen, and the people that have caused us great pain and great joy. It is our experiences that make us unique, and as country writers, we have all sorts of experiences. To illustrate my point, here’s an article I wrote for my column in The Country Today. It’s about an experience I had with a couple of kids in the garden. (more…)
Getting To The Point: An Example Of Ineffective Writing
| December 11, 2010 | Posted by JerriCook under Becoming a writer, Know Your Audience, Structure, The Writing Process |
When someone tells me that they can’t write, I cringe. Of course you can write. Barring illiteracy, anyone can write. What people really mean to say is that they don’t believe they write well enough to get published. To this, my answer is simple: just because someone is published, it doesn’t mean they can write. I’m not the only writer to make this observation: Continue Reading
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