Writer-In-Progress

Here’s a short little article I just published in Cheryl Wright’s Writer2Writer ezine in November on creating a writer’s mission statement.

I’m in the process of getting links together on goal setting, motivation and all that good stuff you need before you venture into writing (or can use a refresher on) to post here daily and thought the mission statement idea was a fab place to start. No use in writing goals if you don’t know why you’re writing…right?

Enjoy….more later, when I finish the 1500 words for the day (currently on 0…lol)

Need Motivation and Focus? The Art of Creating A Writer’s Mission Statement

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Today was all about getting a little bit done at a time on the book.

Planned to outline this AM but the lack of motivation got in the way as did a lunch invite from my brother & sister-in-law. Didn’t sit down until about 8pm, intended to outline half of the chapter but managed to get about 1/3 done, which resulted in an 8 page outline.

I’m liking this extended/deep outlining process as it gets all the stuff out and when I write I don’t have any excuse to stop–all my “stuff” is there waiting on me. I started the book this way but meandered down the path of bullet outlines, which slowed down the writing as I had to backtrack and fill in details.

Hey, I’m not complaining. I can probably get a good 20 pages out of those 8 tomorrow (ok, so that’s a lie…maybe just 15ish) and resume outlining tomorrow night. Could be a pattern…

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…or bloggerville, as is appropriate.

Haven’t done a lick of writing today (why dowe say “lick” of writing when we actually should say “stroke”…well, let’s leave that thought alone for a dirtier blog somewhere…)

I did read up on the research for chapter 8 but haven’t outlined (my goal for the day). Promised the kid I’d take him to the bookstore this evening so we can spend the giftcards burning holes in our pockets…but I’m starting to feel guilty for not at least nailing 1000 words.

The good news is that I’ve been having a *blast* updating my blog. Brought over lots of goodies from the FountainPenInc blog and will be adding more each day. Stay tuned…

Beth…who is off (to write, honest!)

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…the chapter from HELL….(I can curse, it’s my blog).

Chapter 6 would not end. Like that annoying song my son listened to as a kid…the song that never ends…chapter 6 was the chapter that wouldn’t say goodbye. Who knew “organizing your office space” and “establishing vendor relationships” would be so gut-wrenchingly agonizing?!

Well, good news is that it’s done. Tomorrow it’s the outline of chapter 8, HR issues. No, I didn’t forget chapter 7–it’s just been integrated into chapter 5 with taxes and all that….stuff. I’ve already sworn enough for one post…..

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Whether anyone cares or not, I’ve had a few thoughts about adding to this blog in the upcoming year…thoughts I hope will help writers.

Til May or so of last year, I had another blog solely for writer’s resources that I loved playing with but often found myself without time to update and add to. I’ve got lots of good ideas for helping writers…resources, interviews, etc., but not the time to manage two blogs.

What I’ve come up with is the idea to integrate that blog into this one. I have grand plans but think it will be slow-going at first. I’m in the process of getting some friends and published authors to interview and share their hard-won insights here, along with finding all types of resources to post.

Hopefully I’ll get my act together and start posting more helpful stuff soon…..

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That’s how I feel right now on this section of the book. Maybe the sparkle and fun of finishing the first 20K words has worn off, maybe I want time to sleep in on my Xmas break from teaching, maybe I want (want?!) to clean my house in anticipation of having friends over for New Years…whatever the reason, I’ve become a true writer over this last week and a half from the standpoint of forcing myself to sit and write (BICHOK as my friend Steph says…butt in chair, hands on keyboard).

I even skipped the chapter on tax laws and crap like that that I have no interest in writing (good test strategy: do the stuff you know & like first then come back and do the other stuff). I’m slogging through “setting up your office” and “establishing relationships with vendors” to get to something fun like “creating your service manual” and “hiring employees”…

But this *is* the life of a writer–the heart of the true writer’s career. It isn’t about the glitz and glamour of booksignings (though I did lament with the girls today at the Serious Writer lunch that no one will probably ask me to autograph my business book….) or radio interviews, but those days when you *don’t* want to write and you have a deadline to meet. Nonwriters don’t get that part…they only see the completed book and imagine the enchanted fairy’s magic wand that produced it, not the sense of dread in the pit of the writer’s gut when she approached her laptop with only two valid sentences to type for 4 hours of work.

Ah, well. It’s keeping me writing, which is the whole idea….

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….two to go….

Just emailed deadline one to the editor on the business book. It was due today, but since I’m calendar-challenged, I thought the deadline was yesterday. Sent it yesterday and got a note back from the editor that she’d like me to generate a table of contents (TOC) and resend it back so she could send it directly to editorial.

I did and learned something new! I didn’t know how to do the TOC via word, but it was actually very easy. Wish I’d had known that trick when putting the thesis together last year (at about this time!). Ah well!

So the first 85 pages are done, editorial should return that draft by Friday, so I’ll be editing over Xmas. Hey, I don’t mind. Just plug in the iPod and gimme a red pen…

Next deadline of 160ish pages (40K words) is due, I think, January 13th. What is that, like a Monday or something?

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…not my age, my page count….

Not bad for the week. Had hoped to get to 50, and I’ll be there tomorrow without a doubt. I’m halfway through chapter three and will finish sometime Sunday.

I have to admit I like my writing system with this book and wish it would easily transfer to fiction. Going on my TOC, I outline one chapter at a time, then write it. Finish that, outline next chapter, write it…yadda yadda. Unlike fiction, it takes the guesswork out of where to go next. No choices on what plot point to meander down, which character trait to develop, which scene to insert. If only fiction were so definable…

If anyone knows of a good way to transition this outlining exercise into fiction, I’m all ears…

Off to keep book at a basketball game where my mind can decompress and come back fresh tomorrow. Writers need to play, too.

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…or, roughly 5200 words, for those keeping track. That’s what I finished, not what I’m hoping to accomplish. I’m really amazed by myself!

Started chapter 2 tonight, and it has three major sections. Ambitious Beth figured she could do twenty NEW pages tonight and whip out the whole chapter. Realistic Beth had dinner ready to go when the boys wanted it (pasta…oh so easy), went to school an hour early so she could leave an hour early and come home to weight-lift before writing (to alliviate that “I don’t have time to workout because I’m on deadline” guilt) and did take a short break to make some tea three hours into the writing session to avoid burnout.

And now Happy Beth is done. Even though this is my bedtime (yeah, so what? I get up before you even THINK about it!) I feel like I could eke out another half-section, but why burn my brain out? Tomorrow is another free evening, four solid hours of writing, but Weds. is yoga night and Thurs is camp-meeting night, so those will give me reprieve. Probably can do a few pages Thursday but with any luck, tomorrow night I can bang out the rest of chapter two and spend Thursday outlining three.

So way very cool. I love writing.

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the bad news is that I did not make my page goals last night before the football game. I managed only about 3500 words total…or roughly 13 pages.

the good news is that I didn’t make the goal because I finished writing all of chapter 1. I’m chunking this bad boy into manageable pieces, and outlining a chapter at a time, writing it, then outlining the next.

even better news is that today I managed to outline all of chapter 2, right down to the sidebars and quizzes I’m including. I’ll get started on that tomorrow night. 20 pages…30…? We’ll see.

And the best news of all is that Oklahoma won and Pitt prevailed, which sent my Buckeyes shooting back up to #1 in the BCS. Sorry for the football spoiler but for a rebuilding year, Coach Tressel & the boys really made us proud.

Now to meet the next goal before New Orleans….

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