Writer's Boot Camp

I seldom make extreme statements, but here’s one I can make without fear of contradiction: I never keep New Year’s resolutions.

I’ve made them, of course—lots of them—with good intentions and firm resolve, but I’ve never kept at them very long. Yes, I’ve tried starting over. And over. And over. Yet none of those brave restarts have resulted in a permanent change of my life. If you’ve had better success with your resolutions, more power to you (as if you need it), but I confess that I haven’t. Never have.

This is why writing coach Rachel Federman believes we’re not likely to become productive writers through resolutions. It's too easy to be distracted by other important things. Instead we need to go full-bore into writing every day, day after day, like Army recruits in boot camp.

Soldiers in boot camp don’t expect to begin their training when conditions are just right. Conditions in boot camp are far from “just right.” The weather is hot and wet, the mosquitoes and deer flies bite voraciously, and the latrines are better left to your imagination!

These soldiers learn combat skills by engaging in combat all day long. ­­They have no higher priority, though they certainly have plenty of distractions, and we can count on the same. Federman says:

Count on writing when someone’s asking what’s for dinner and jackhammers are pounding away out your window. Count on writing on the back of a stained notepad with a pencil that really needs to be sharpened and is barely showing up. Count on writing when you have company. Counting on writing when you desperately want to crawl under the covers. Count on writing when you are getting nauseous on a bus to Boston. Writing is the way you keep yourself on the path. And that path is more writing…[1]

You may be tempted to say, I’ll buy a copy of Federman’s book and learn more about this“boot camp” idea. Beware: Federman’s book is nearly impossible to find in the USA because it was published in England. 

That’s OK. It’s not the book you need, but the experience of writing. Every day. Every night. For a month. And when you reach the end of that month, you’ll wake the next day hankering to write more. That’s why you go to boot camp.

---

[1]Rachel Federman, Writer’s Boot Camp (London: HarperCollins, 2016), 19.

Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth and daughter Heather.

Want to get more done? Get a plant!

A study from Texas A & M University found that plants increase productivity and creativity by up to 30 percent!

I'm pretty bad with plants. Mainly because I forget they're there. But the study also shows that plants also help reduce headaches and fatigue so maybe I should give this a try!

Some other things I've learned to be more productive are posted in my blog post: "Write Like You're Hair's On Fire!"  They include things like using the planner I designed to keep my writing life organized. You can get your own copy here: Karla's Writer's Planner.

In addition to my planner, I keep a desk calendar dedicated only to my writing. It includes my deadlines, blog topics, and word counts in addition to my planner. Because I have a touch of ADD, I need to double up on my reminders.

My goals for 2014 are:

• Stand more. If I'm on the phone, I'm going to stand and walk. 
• Say "no" more. This is a hard one for me. 
• Have more fun. Another hard one for me. But I'm determined!
• Watch more movies. 
• My two words for 2014: Courage and Grace.

Head on over to my blog post and glean more ideas on how to be more productive in 2014. Then come back here and let me know what your goals are or what helps YOU write like your hair's on fire. With the Lord's help and encouragement from one another, we can get more done!

No. 1 Priority for the New Year

Hello Fellow Hoosier Ink Followers. The past few years I urged you to set goals, (The Story of You , Goal Setting for Dream Getting Part 1, Part II) and gave pointers on how to make them achievable. After all, nobody wants to fail. Review and evaluation of old goals is important before establishing new.

In reviewing my goals I’ve become more aware of my priorities. There was even one goal that I did nothing about all year long. I recognize now that I set that goal because I thought I should, not because it was what I needed to do. This year, I’m letting that go. It was important at one point in my life, but not for who I am now. God is doing a new thing.

Don’t you just love God? He’s always up to something fresh and extraordinary:

* His mercies are new every morning! (Lamentations 3:22, 23)
* He is a very present help in time of need! (Psalm 46:1-3)
* He is faithful to complete the work he has begun. (Philippians 1:6)
* He instructs us. (Isaiah 28:26)
* He makes a way through difficulties, trials, and terrors. (Isaiah 43:16)
* He provides for us. (Psalm 65:9)
* He removes our sin when we ask him and reshapes those sinister places of need that compel us to repeat our errors. (Hosea 14:4)
* He heals us. (Exodus 15:26)
* He guides us. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
* He plans good things for us that will bring us joy and fulfillment. (Jeremiah 29:11)
* He never leaves us. (Hebrews 13:4-6)
* He sings over us. (Zephaniah 3:17)
* He loves us. (John 14:23)
* He stirs gifts up within us, including our creativity. (Romans 12:6)

This year, as you set writing and personal goals, make God your top priority. If you set no goals, still make God your top priority. Let praise be your first conscious thought. Let him permeate each moment and every decision. Let love toward him be your final good night. He deserves this place of honor for the Lord is your full portion. (Lamentations 3:24)

Thank you, God for 2012’s gains and losses, gifts and lessons. I let it go, because I can do nothing to change the past. I turn my eyes to 2013 and seek your plan and purpose. Help me embrace every moment as a God-moment. I ask the same for my writer brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

Happy New Year! May God live big in you!

Mary Allen is a lifelong Hoosier. She loves words and wordplay. Her favorite Bible verse from childhood is " In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelled among us."

She's grateful for the words God has given her in 2012, for the warm welcome of Journey to Christmas, and anticipates new, bolder  words in 2013.

Two Constants

Two constants exist. One is change. People. Politics. Circumstances. Geography. Writing conventions. Word meanings. They all change like the clouds in an Indiana sky.

At my age, I should be used to change, I suppose. I should take it in stride. I've certainly seen enough of it. "Of such is life," I should say. Fact is I don't accept change easily.

Therefore, when the email arrived announcing that our ACFW Scribes small critique group had been disbanded, I was sad. It didn't come as a surprise. Some members now have agents and/or contracts, and their critique needs have changed. While I celebrate the victories in the lives of my fellow Scribes, I will miss the camaraderie, the tough critiques, the prayers and encouragement we shared. 

This year brought other changes, also. I attended two Writer's Digest webinars and the Indianapolis Christian Writers Conference. I also finished the first draft of my second middle-grade novel. Even as I revise that work, I'm writing a third MG and researching for a historical novel set in southern Indiana (using a pseudonym).

What changes will 2012 bring? That's not for us to know.

Which brings me to the second constant: God, our immutable Sovereign. Isn't it a comfort to know that whatever the new year holds, He Who said, "I Am that I Am," already is there. What security! What peace!

New Year's Resolutions--
Resolved: I will write, as the Lord enables and leads.
Resolved: I will submit to select agents and publishing houses.
Resolved: I will wait upon the Lord to work His will in my life and career, acknowledging Him as my Supreme Agent.

Your Turn!
What changes occurred in your life this year that affected your writing? What do you anticipate for 2012? What resolutions have you made relating to your writing? Please leave a comment.

Saga of the Clean Desk Resolution er, Maybe

It's a new year: time to embrace new habits, turn over new leaves, determine to write without cliches--and vow to keep a clean desk. Out of all the new year's resolutions I make, keeping my desk clean on a daily basis is the most challenging.

But from what I've discovered via self-help blogs this morning, keeping this resolution will be a lot easier than I thought.

Tip #1: Organize the paper on your desk. Acquire an in-box, an incubate box, a tickler file, current projects rack, file cabinet, recycling bin, garbage bin and shredder. That sounds like an awful lot of things for me to keep track of. At my age I'm doing well to find my desk. My method of using post-it notes to keep track of my piles serves me pretty well, so I'm sticking with it.

Tip #2: Banish post-it notes because they're ugly. That's a rather subjective opinion, don't you think?  You might have ugly post-it notes, but I have pretty purple ones, butterfly shaped ones, some that look like apples, flowers and ice cream cones. Besides, if I don't leave notes pointing me to my glasses every morning I won't be able to see them anyway. And once I find my glasses, I need my post-its to remind me what my protag is doing next and that I have a doctor's appointment. Nope. The post-it notes stay. Otherwise I could end up being kidnapped by a biker gang and searching for my epiphany while my male protag ends up going to my gynecologist.

Tip #3: Trash those printouts. This is a great idea except that, I can't always find the document on my computer because I'm old school. Sure, it might look like the printer threw up on my desk, but I know exactly where I put that page of research I did on giant squids for my turn of the century naval adventure. I'm pretty sure it's filed under that cupcake post-it note attached to the ice cream post-it ...no wait, that's a real cupcake...strawberry sprinkles! My favorite!

Tip #4: Keep blank file folders and a label marker near your desk. Like how near? And how do you expect me to add this to my current array of papers and post-its? Which box do these go in? The tickle one or the incubator one?

Tip #5: Throw away pens. Are you kidding me? I'm a writer. We can never find a pen when we need one.


Tip #6: Say no to schwag. You know, all that free stuff you get at conventions like pens, stickers, free magazines, brochures, bookmarks and books. Hello? I'm a self-employed writer. I need all the free junk I can get.(Especially pens.) I can always try to sell the other stuff if my contracts don't come through or burn it for fuel when they turn off the utilities.

Tip #7: Get rid of any books you don't use on a regular basis. Uhm, I'm in the book writing business, and while I might not read every book I own every single day, they are my friends, my buds, my posse. Who else is going to listen to my plotting strategies without talking back? I depend on them to surround me with literary affection and love. My books are staying thankyouverymuch.

Tip #8: Eat away from your desk. Like that's going to happen when often the only writing time in my day is carved out during lunch. Now where'd I see that cupcake?

Tip #9: Limit photo frames on your desk. Photo frames? I have photo frames? There might be some filed underneath that ebook on organization I printed out the other day.

Tip #10: To get started organizing your desk, take everything out of the drawers and pile it on top of your desk and sort. Hey! I've got the first part of this tip licked already! But I'm too tired to sort today. I'll start on that tomorrow.

I better leave myself a note.

Look Both Ways

Janus, the Roman mythological god for gates, doors, endings, and new beginnings, lends his name to January. The bleak midwinter provides a perfect time to reflect backward and forward.

This year has been one of much growth for me as a writer. No, I didn't manage to sign with a leading agent, nor did I land a seven-book contract with a major publishing house. But God graciously lead me to take several giant steps forward in my career.

Giant Step #1:  I hit 2010 at a run. It was one year ago this week, the last week of 2009, when a fellow ACFW member called together a small cluster of historical writers to form a Scribes critique group. I was thrilled when he accepted me to be a part of that select few because my wip is a middle-grade fantasy set in the twenty-first century and the nineteenth. It was an important step toward professionalizing my calling as a writer.

As we've grown from being a cluster of strangers--albeit, sisters and a brother in Christ--we've become a cohesive unit that not only critiques one another's work but also prays for and encourages one another. I praise God for our critters.

Giant Step #2:  When it came time to renew ACFW membership, I didn't hesitate, largely because of the critique group, the specialized loops I had joined, and the camaraderie among Christian writers. Also, I joined ACFW-Indiana.

Giant Step #3:  Upon hearing that the annual conference was to be held in my backyard, I determined to attend, though it was a financial stretch. Fellow ACFW members helped me navigate a crash course in crafting one-sheets, elevator pitches, one-paragraphs, and synopses of various lengths. Finally September arrived, and I was able to match up faces, voices, and personalities with names from the main loop; meet writers whose work I had critiqued or reviewed and who had dissected my scribbles, chat with agents and editors as if they were ordinary people, share a room with writer and friend Ramona K. Cecil, and see Chip MacGregor's kilt. Of course, the high point was a request from one of America's most respected literary agents to see the full manuscript of my nearly-complete wip. (Unfortunately, she retired before I could get the ms to her. Lesson learned? Don't pitch an incomplete. Have that puppy all coiffed and groomed before you march it around the ring.)

Giant Step #4: God intervened with my plans. Because He had plans of His own. After a fourteen-year hiatus from classroom teaching to concentrate on my work as a writer and raconteur, I was offered an English teaching position at a Christian school. Five days a week--and sometimes more--I'm surrounded by middle-graders. Get the irony? I write for that age group. He plopped me smack-dab in the middle of the middlers! Every day I hear their interactions and laugh at their humor.

Now it's time to look forward to 2011.

Goal #1:  I'll let Christ lead, revealing His plans, whether they be giant or baby steps. I pray He will guide my mind in the creative process, my fingers on the keyboard, and my heart to Him, that all I write will reflect Him, because if it doesn't, it's just a bunch of empty, vain symbols on a page.

Goal #2:  When I read that the agent who had asked for the full ms. was retiring, I went through a brief period of mourning. After all, this was the third time such has happened. (The first two were editors who, based upon conference interviews and their reading of partials and synopses, requested fulls. In both cases, they left their positions shortly after that conference.) As the Lord has done so many times throughout my life, He promptly reminded me that He is sovereign and omniscient; nothing comes as a surprise to Him. (See Jeremiah 29:11.) The agent had agreed that mid-March was a reasonable target date to submit my completed manuscript to her, saying, "The publishing houses won't be acquiring until after the first of the year, anyway." I am keeping with that original goal, finishing the final chapter as 2010 winds down and beginning revisions with the new year. Lord willing, I'll have the first revision accomplished by the Ides of March.

Goal #3:  I'll begin plotting and writing the sequel to The Second Cellar.

Goal #4  I'll continue to hone my craft by participating in the Scribes critique group and studying various resources.

Now, it's your turn. What steps did God lead you through in 2010 to improve you as a writer? Where do you hope to go in 2011? What are your goals? I can hardly wait to read your responses.

A Prayer for the New Year

I pray you have support as a writer this year.
Whatever stage you are at and at whatever crossroads you may encounter,
I pray those around you will be Holy Spirit inspired to speak hope and love and encouragement into your life.

I pray for time to write, energy to write and the anointing to write.
If God has called you to this ministry, I pray an Aaron for you. Someone to lift up your arms when you are tired and to stand by your side murmuring words of constant encouragement into your ear. I pray you will find intercessory prayer warriors to break through supernatural boundaries so that you can do more than humanly possible. I pray you walk in your calling, doing eternal work, and that you are able to accomplish much despite the enemy’s constant onslaught against you.

I pray you reap the rewards of investing your talents instead of burying them, and feel moments where you hear Him say, “well done, good and faithful servant.”
I pray that at your lowest low you can rest and let go and feel His peace,
and at your highest high you can give thanks and feel His glory shine through you, rejoicing!

They say life is short, like a flower. We could burn under the hot summer sun. We could freeze under snowflakes so deep. We could wither or just simply grow old – and we will - this flesh, anyway. But life after this life is long – forever. I pray the scales fall from our eyes and we see as He sees (the beginning of wisdom) so that this next year we keep more than New Year’s Resolutions. We will become one year closer to what He created us to be.

Happy New Year, my dears. And may God bless us (with undeserving grace and mercy), every one!