Sometimes the path to publication feels like climbing one big mountain. You might start out as a single hiker, or with a group. Maybe you keep your hat and sunglasses on so no one knows about the climb you are attempting until you reveal yourself at the top. At any rate, there are lots of aspiring writers just like you standing around the base looking at the mountain, squinting up into the sun to see how high the climb is. Some are even making a test run up. Everyone is smiling, stretching fingers in preparation.

The air at the base of the mountain is fresh and you feel ready to go the distance. Have laptop, will climb the publishing mountain! You take your first step and it feels good. You are a lover of words and you enjoy building characters and story worlds.

You start off excited and eager to learn. Taking classes is fun; reading books on craft is enlightening. Conferences make you feel like finally there are people who understand you. You walk along with a confident stride.

Then suddenly the mountain tilts upwards. The going is not so easy anymore. The page is blank. Or the feedback isn’t what you expected or hoped for. The request for a partial came back empty. You land an agent but the book still doesn’t sell. You look around and wonder where some of your traveling companions have gone. The original crit group had 8 and now you are down to 4, or 2, or just you.

As you climb your muscles fatigue and you feel like you are losing ground. You begin to dread the words, “Not for me. Maybe someone else will think differently.” And you wonder if you’ve got what it takes.

I am making my second run up the big mountain. The first run was in my life-before-kids. I was a little naïve back then—sent out first drafts! *blush* Then I took a break from writing when life got busy (read: babies and sleep deprivation).

Now, with the proliferation of information on the Internet we aspiring writers can shorten our learning curve and hopefully climb that mountain a little faster or a little stronger. We can learn from other writers how they live the writer’s life, and from agents and editors, learn real-time what they are looking for.

We are all on the big mountain. Some people climb faster than others but we all climb step by step, learning and getting better along the way.

We talk a lot about routines on this website. Routines will help you stay disciplined when the mountain gets steep and you want to give up. Establish whatever system you need to in order to help yourself consistently get the work done. Remember, you can’t publish something you’ve never written, so get busy writing; it’s a long climb.

The school parking mom leans in the window and smiles at Michael Keaton as he delivers his kids through ~gasp~ the wrong driveway the first day of being Mr. Mom. “Hi,” she smiles, all swollen volunteer authority. “You’re doing it wrong.”

My husband and I still use this line. And just recently the epiphany of it hit me anew in relation to writing fiction. I’m doing it wrong.

I’ll ask you the same question: “Are you doing it wrong?”

If you’ve been reading Routines for Writers during their sophomore offering of Author Crush Month, you’ve been reading some of fiction’s best writers confess/reveal their writer routines. Or lack thereof. Which, if you think about, is a routine. Sorta like Harvey Cox’s quote, “Not to decide is to decide.”

In a serendipitous dovetail, I’ve been dipping a toe into logical fallacies with my essay students. We were discussing “part-to-whole” faulty reasoning as explained by The Fallacy Detective. This book, written by two twenty-something guys, products of homeschooling, stipulates that folks should reason better. The authors define part-to-whole thusly:

“When someone tries to say that what is true of part of something must also be true of the whole thing together.”

Hmm. In my earlier guest blog on RFW regarding productivity, I had unknowingly blundered into a partial understanding of my faulty reasoning with the two-parter, The WMB. That day in class, the crux of it burst upon me like a grand finale on July Fourth in the park.

Here we go.

• the WHOLE of what I want…to be published
• the PART – the magic bullet, the routine, the book, the conference, the blog, the online class

Example

Liz Curtis Higgs, Author Crush Month writer, is published (THE WHOLE of what I want)

She has two desks on two different floors, one lined with bookshelves where “no food, no phone calls, no kidding” (the PART of the WHOLE of being published)

Therefore, I need to work in two different places, stop eating M&Ms at my desk, and pull the plug on the phone by my elbow. Ah, that will give me the motivation/edge/entrée to agents to publishdom.

Don’t be laughing now. I know you’ve thought this. These wonderful writers, who spin tales that take us out of our day and into special worlds, have found and are still finding their routines. See my outstretched hand coming through your computer screen with a sympathetic expression. Are you doing it wrong? Are you trying to make someone else’s part be your part?

Let’s get ludicrous, ludicrous…

More part to whole. More “If they are published and I do what they do, then I will be published.”

• Fortinbras Fourbooks publishes four books a year because of his _________________ (insert any routine you’ve heard from a keynote speaker at a writing conference) schedule.

• Susie So-Published writes _____ words a day for ____ days a week without fail except for the days she’s already xxx’d out on her calendar.

• Bill Bestseller creates extensive personal histories for each of his characters before he writes word one of a new story.

• Fergie Focused never does anything else before she sits down and types out her ______ number of words a day on her current work in process (wip).

• Multipublished Fred Freespirit abhors an outline because he says they are agents of death for creativity.

• Nelly Notecard, NYT Bestseller, scribbles her plot points on note cards and tapes them on a white board that covers one wall in her office.

• Harry Hiker, always on the bestseller list, dictates all his novels on his digital recorder while hiking steep trails, then downloads them to a voice recognition software.

What if:

• You accept that “procrastination and avoidance are not the best routine for an aspiring author” (Donna Lott) and you pledge to dabble in many types of routines until you find the one that fits you…for that season, that book.
• You look at the whole you, your whole life which is so much more than simply your writing: “Choose according to your needs and self control.” (Lauraine Snelling)
• You go large. Large overcomes small, tight, and limiting. What might you try this year? This month? Tomorrow?
• Writing never does become a routine for you, but you still finish compelling stories with each one written a different way, in a different place. “It’s the feeling of the space, and the sanctity of what can happen here” (Lois Lowry) that makes your part the whole.

And when you do, come back to Routines for Writers and tell us all about it.

Kathleen Damp Wright caught, rather than sought, the moniker The What If Girl. She’s a fiction coach for beginning and multi-published writers, writes her own fiction, and blogs inconsistently on her website.  In addition, she gets to teach writing to fascinating junior and high school students in an educational co-op. Living in the Wasatch Mountains, she writes and plays and not always in that order. Catch her on Twitter.com also as TheWhatIfGirl and join her fan page on The What If Girl, A Fiction Coach on Facebook.

Author Crush month is so much fun. The authors we contact are all very gracious to give us a glimpse into their writing life. Truly, the authors we hosted last month were both entertaining and encouraging.

I get tickled when I think about our fascination with how writers work. What an odd profession when trainees, contemporaries, and even customers are interested in your day-to-day activities. Early morning or late at night? Dedicated office or coffee shop? Words per day or scenes per day?

Think about other professions. Are you interested in how your favorite hairdresser prepares her workstation for the day? Does she listen to music? Review the haircuts she crafted the day before? Is she simply satisfied that she color hair every day, or is she more concerned with the number of colors she does in a day? How about your mail carrier? Your plumber? I don’t see my husband staying up late reading blogs of his favorite engineers.

Yes, we are an odd bunch. And we love it. We love learning about our favorite authors and we crave any small tip that we can take and use for ourselves.

So, from the authors I invited to share, here are the gems I pulled from them:

Sarah Prineas—Binge writing. This is my kind of writing, especially when it comes to first drafts. First drafts are hard and they are nice to be over and done with. I am also fascinated with the writing workshop she attends (Blue Heaven). Would love to find one of these close to home.

Zilpha Keatley Snyder—Notebook Method. Although she no longer uses her two-column approach to outlining her chapters, I think it’s a great way to learn how to get all the info you planned into your chapter. For each chapter she divides a page and makes two columns: Action and Information. Action ensures that something happens in the chapter, and Information reminds you to move the story forward in bits and pieces.

Karen Cushman—I laugh with her at her procrastination routines. I like to call them preparation routines. I have my own as well and they help awaken my brain to the idea that it’s time to write. But most of all, from her I’ve learned to work on getting the voice right at the beginning. (Pick up a couple of her novels and read the first page. You’ll see what she means by getting the voice.) I think this will save a lot of reworking later on.

Lois Lowry—I loved hearing about her first (small) desk when she staked her claim indicating she was a writer. I similarly staked a claim and hope to one day look back with fond memories at my HP mini and my spot at the dining room table. I especially liked how she talked about how her current (large) desk is cluttered with a mix of work and reminders of her life. (We have to live, not just write!)

Liz Curtis Higgs—Wow, but does that woman do research! I like how she sets a scene for herself in her writing study with music, Earl Grey tea and all her Scottish mementos. But what struck me the most was this line:

…my goal is to climb inside my characters’ hearts and let them tell their story.–Liz Curtis Higgs

I need to print this out in a pretty script and stick it to my computer. What a wonderful way to describe the goal of a writer.

Ah, it has been a great month. Author Crush 2011 can’t get here fast enough for me.

I first met Pamela Britton at a Romance Writers of America meeting. When she said she wrote books with NASCAR heroes, I thought, “Whatever.” But as she gave her talk, I found her funnier and cooler and I finally decided I had to at least try one of her books. I loved them! I’ve read almost all of her NASCAR books now, and yesterday I started reading her newest book, THE WRANGLER. Ahh, cowboys and horses and secrets – oh my!  I hope you’ll check out some of Pam’s books, too. Meanwhile, she’s got some great advice on helping along your full-time writing career. Enjoy!

Writing full time.

It sounds like a dream job.  But the realities of obtaining a steady stream of income while working from home can be like wrestling a chicken to the ground.  The key word there is “steady”.  Here’s the thing: when you turn in that full-length novel, or proposal, or revised manuscript, it might take your editor a day, a week or even months to get to reading it.  Payment is always tied to editor approval, and so if it does take your editor awhile to approve your latest work, you’ll be waiting for payment.  Let me be perfectly candid here: you never know when you’re going to get a so-called “paycheck”.  That’s fine if your backlist is earning royalties.  You can count on checks at least twice a year, but here’s the kicker about that: you never know how much those checks will be.  I’ve decided that understanding reserves and returns is like trying to understand global warming.  Impossible.

So what’s a writer to do?

I have the answer.  Freelance.

Are you good at a particular hobby?  Are you an expert in your field of work?  Do you enjoy sharing your opinion?  If you answered “yes” to any of those questions you’d be a perfect freelance journalist.  Be forewarned, however, getting your work in a magazine can be every bit as daunting as getting a publishing contract.

Having grown up in the horse world, it has always a dream of mine to write for one of the big horse publications.  I mistakenly assumed that my publishing career would be the launching pad for this new vocation.  Boy, was I wrong.  It turns out that most magazines have a dedicated staff of writers–and freelancers–that contribute to their magazine on a regular basis.  It was like trying to get a book published all over again.  I kept hearing, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Desperate, I resorted to Google and found a terrific web site:  www.freelancewritinggigs.com

Here was the information that I was looking for–but didn’t know I was looking for.  One of the founders of the site compiles a weekly list of publications looking for freelance journalists.  It was here that I found NASCAR POLE POSITION MAGAZINE.  They were looking for someone to write short features for their FAN GEAR section.  Since I routinely visit NASCAR garages, I suspected they would be interested in talking to me.  I was right.  I have since published numerous pieces in their magazine.  That led to other freelance opportunities.  Currently, I’m a stringer and a regular columnist for THE QUARTER HORSE JQURNAL, and a freelance writer for HORSE & RIDER–the two magazines I most wanted to work for when I first started down this road.

A word to the wise:  it’s not uncommon to be asked to work for free.  Don’t be offended.  I worked for what amounted to be “free” for nearly two years before I was actually “hired” as a writer for one of the above magazines.  To be honest, I didn’t mind.  I knew that having my articles in print would lend me credibility with future magazine publishers.  Sometimes it’s about getting your foot in the door.  However, be careful.  Don’t sell yourself too short.

It’s taken me over a year to find solid ground in the world of freelance journalism, but becoming a stringer for one of the world’s largest breed organizations means a monthly income that will come in handy at times.  I have a friend who writes for a number of magazines.  She juggles articles like most of us juggle plot lines—but it’s a monthly income stream that helps to supplement her royalty checks.

Being a full-time writer can be scary at times, but there are ways to accomplish this goal.  It might take you awhile before you’re ready to quit that day job…but it’s a heck of a lot better than working in the salt mines.

Good luck!

Pam

Pamela Britton considers herself a veteran of the publishing industry with twenty-three books under her belt, but when she’s not writing, she’s riding…the two words so similar it’s quite confusing at times.  “She said RIDING, not WRITING!” is scheduled to be inscribed on her tombstone.

I met Donna Lott years ago when we attended the same church. Her website, www.DonnaLott.com says she is “insightfully, delightfully funny.” That was obvious from the first conversation I had with her. She is the epitome of Southern style and graciousness and I am honored to call her friend. One year, at the request of our pastor, we collaborated in writing a series of skits leading up to Easter. While she considers herself a speaker more than a writer, that collaboration revealed an ability and style that I admire and envy. That’s why I wanted to introduce her as my “Author Crush.”

          I am a Christian Speaker and Bible Teacher who has always dabbled with writing. In school, I enjoyed the rush of an A+ on anything I’d written. I remember pouring over the comments of beloved instructors. I cherished their red-lettered words and dreamily imagined becoming a professional writer someday. When I was in college, I wrote a monthly newsletter for a Christian organization on campus. Years later, I had a couple of articles published and then a children’s play and a worship sketch book. Still, I was a dabbler who never really developed a consistent writing routine.

          I didn’t need one until last year when audiences of women at retreats and special events began to ask me if my talks were available in written form. I was both humbled and shocked. Nonetheless, I began to think seriously about writing for publication. I knew right away that being a serious writer would require some real changes in my life.

          I wasted no time in setting up my writing space—a desk, computer, lots of pretty journals and notebooks. I even set a bouquet of sharpened pencils right beside my monitor. Never mind the fact that I never used pencils, I just thought they looked smart sitting there. These things done, I rolled an office chair my sons had given to me for Christmas into the room and viola! I was well on my way to becoming a real life writer.

          That night when I clicked the desk light off, I determined to get to the keyboard first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, when the alarm sounded, I guess I forgot to remember to write. I was headed to the office. Really, I was, when I got distracted with dirty laundry and housework. I’m sure the phone rang a few times, too. Then there was the cat to be fed, the dog to be walked and so the day passed without my sitting down to write. The story was the same day in and out for a couple of weeks. When I passed the office on my way to something else, I noticed the sharpened pencils looking smart and the swivel chair empty. I was becoming very good at forgetting my decision to do more than dabble with writing. I was a quick study of procrastination and avoidance.

          Still, my little inner voice reminded me that most writers write. That meant I should probably get some writing done every day. To do that would require time with my seat in the seat so I sat in the swivel chair. With some trepidation, I booted the computer. Then, I proceeded to stare at the blank screen which silently stared back at me. Suddenly, the speaker in me grew quiet. For the first time ever, I had nothing to say. I plucked a pencil from the bouquet and doodled in a pretty journal. I thought and thought. Still, nothing came to me.

          And so began my writing career. I typed a little here and there, but took many breaks to do other things I preferred like lunching with friends and shopping. I woke in the morning with every intention of getting pages and pages written, but routinely procrastinated and often avoided writing altogether.

          Things I’d never really enjoyed, like exercise and organizing closets became “have to’s.” Why was writing so hard, so tedious? Why did the computer screen seem like an enemy? And why did I suddenly prefer even exercise and organizing closets to writing? Oh, sure, I managed to write a little here and there, but what had I really accomplished in six months’ time?

          Looking back, I realize I’ve gone through a dramatic change since I started pulling my talks together in book form. While I’ve learned that procrastination and avoidance are not the best routine for an aspiring author, I have made progress. The book I’m writing is now half-finished. In addition, the exercise and housework have paid off, too. Not only have I lost almost twenty pounds, but I also have the cleanest closets in town. In the next few months I hope to finish writing my book. In the mean time, I’m thinking of taking up a new hobby – perhaps gardening.

          The moral of my story is: Take up writing if you really want to lose a few pounds or if you want the most organized closets in town!

Donna was propelled into the word of God when she was diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease that leads to blindness.  Now legally blind, she currently lives in Buford, Georgia, where she is building a speaking ministry. Since Light and Laughter Ministries was launched in 2005, Donna has been inspiring and entertaining audiences with her warmth, hope, and humor.  An insightfully delightfully funny gifted Christian Speaker and Bible study teacher, Donna is in her element when speaking at retreats, conferences, and women’s events. She artfully weaves life experiences and Bible truths into messages that encourage, enlighten, and entertain. A natural communicator, Donna is humor with a message personified. She accepts responsibility if your women walk away from a Light and Laughter ministry event having fallen totally in love with God and His word. She cannot, however, be held liable for injuries resulting from individuals falling out of their chairs laughing.

Lois Lowry is one of those rare authors who writes very well on a variety of interesting and unique subjects, from true events such as the evacuation of Jews from Nazi-held Denmark to the imaginary utopian world of the Giver, to the absolutely-true stories of Gooney Bird Greene (which my daughter just loves).

Best of all, for us writers, is her book of memories called Looking Back. Lots of pictures, lots of thoughts about those pictures, and mixed in between are glimpses into the mind of a writer.

It is about moments, memories, fragments, falsehoods, and fantasies. It is about things that happened, which caused other things to happen, so that eventually stories emerged.

And after reading her blog below, my author crush just got bigger.

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My kids—all middle-aged adults now!—remember that when they were teenagers, I carved out a little spot, a corner of the room that we had thought of as their lawyer father’s den. There was a wall of bookcases in that room, and their dad’s very large desk. Then—to everyone’s surprise—I bought a second-hand table, quite small, which fit into the corner. I set on it the portable electric typewriter that my father had given me for my 35^th birthday (to replace the manual typewriter he had given me for my 13th) and declared the space mine.

Many years later my older daughter told me that she, a budding feminist of 15 at the time, thought my carved-out corner was both poignant and pathetic.

I suppose it was, in a way. But it was so important to me. It was the first space I had ever claimed as my own. I had married at 19, was a mother at 20—and a mother of four by 25. Like all wives and mothers, I had put my own professional dreams on hold, had seen my husband through law school, had changed diapers and packed lunches and done laundry and made dinners and read bedtime stories (and had even gone back to finish college). Then, one day, I plugged in that typewriter, hung my sweater on the back of that uncomfortable wooden chair, and announced: “This is mine.”

That was thirty-eight years ago. The kids are grown, the husband is an ex, and I have lived in seven different apartments, condos and houses since then. In each of them I have set a typewriter—later a computer—on a desk and declared that space sacrosanct.

I am looking at that space as I write this. This desk—probably my terminal desk!—is very large. And cluttered! Spread out in front of me are the computer, the scanner, the printer, the phone. The tax files (business travel, cell phone, postage, secretarial, etc.) upright in their holder (making me feel efficient even if I am not). The coffee mugs filled with pens and markers and scissors: one mug is from a public elementary school, one from a private boys’ school, one from the New Hampshire Writing Project; and one from the USAF Fighter Weapons School has a golden picture of a sleek jet on it—and my son’s name, the son I lost in just such a plane.

I see on my desk an advanced readers’ copy of my yet-to-be released book The Birthday Ball, and the stack of research from Like the Willow Tree, set in rural Maine in 1919 and due to be published next year as part of the Dear America series; and some sample illustrations from a Gooney Bird in the works. A stack of letters from kids. There’s a glass jar of Atomic Fireballs given to me by my friend, writer Susan Goodman.

There are framed photographs of friends. Ashley Bryan (and there’s a not-yet-answered letter from Ashley on my desk, too); Trina Schart Hyman, with whom I was going to do a book, and then cancer swooped in and snatched her (but I’ve written her in as a character in a new, not-yet-published book called Bless This Mouse); Carol Otis Hurst, story-teller extraordinaire, also gone too soon, and her funny e-mails are still in my computer; and Annelise Platt, whose Danish childhood formed the basis for Number the Stars.

On a shelf nearby, part of a crammed-full floor-to-ceiling bookcase, are volumes of poetry. I begin my days by reading the poets I most love: Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, Ted Kooser, Jane Kenyon, others. I am not a poet myself. But reading their work reminds me of how language is best used: with cadence, nuance, mystery, and metaphor.

Not much of what I’ve described falls into the category of “writing tools.” But all of it does, really: the memories, the connections, the thousands and thousands of words that affect me, that I savor and wonder at and think about each day.

And I have a comfortable chair, now. It swivels and tilts and twirls. So different from the stiff ladderback that I placed in front of the little table in the corner once!  But it wasn’t the chair, or the corner, that mattered then, or that matters now, really. It’s the feeling of the space, and the sanctity of what can happen here.

Lois Lowry

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Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, author Lois Lowry has lived all over the world. She attended elementary school Pennsylvania, junior high school in Japan, high school in New York, and college in Rhode Island and Maine. Currently she divides her time between her residence in Cambridge, Massachusetts and an 18th-century farmhouse in rural Maine.

Twice the recipient of the Newbery Medal, given each year for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature by an American author, Lowry has also received countless other honors for her work.

Her 35 books have been translated into over twenty languages, and in 1996 her novel The Giver, called in translation Le Passeur, was chosen by the children of Belgium and France as their favorite.

In addition, several books have been adapted for film and stage.

She is a mother and grandmother and has worked as a photojournalist as well as a writer of fiction.

Programming Note: MONDAY IS THE START OF AUTHOR CRUSH MONTH. So very exciting. Who will our fav authors be? Come on back and find out some tips from our lineup of stellar authors.

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Wow, what a month we have had learning about revision from Margie Lawson. My brain hurts. How about yours? Did you catch this conversation in the comments?

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thewhatifgirl said in January 26th, 2010 at 7:44 pm

My head is whirling. I am at college-level thinking. I like it.

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Margie Lawson said in January 26th, 2010 at 8:17 pm

HELLO WHAT-IF GIRL!

It’s graduate and post-masters level.

I taught undergrad, masters level, and post-masters degree courses. My courses for writers are definitely at the masters and post-masters level.

Wish I could award college level credits to writers who completed my on-line courses and Immersion Master Class sessions.

Thank you! Glad your brain is happy.

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Yeah. College-level.

So today I’m wondering, after all this revision, how do you know when you are done with a WIP? When is it ready to submit, or how can you tell if it should get stashed in a drawer never to see the light of day?

Well, for one, if you have truly written the best book you can write at your current level, I think you should submit it somewhere. A contest, an agent, an editor. Somewhere. Don’t waste all that time and effort.

Why? Because submitting your work needs to be a routine. If all you do is write and leave your work on your computer you are as good as stalled in the water. You need to keep moving forward. Develop a tough skin for rejection. Chances are the first novel you send out will be rejected by everyone you send it to. May as well get it over with.

Then, keep track of the kinds of rejections you are getting. If all you are getting is form letters, you’ll know that your writing isn’t where it needs to be yet. But this is valuable information. It means you need to change something—about the story, maybe your work habits, maybe send it through another pass of Margie’s EDITS program.

What if you are getting some positive responses but no takers? It might be your writing level. It might be your idea. Again, you need to change something.

Check out the Writing and Illustrating blog where an Editor Tallies Reasons for Rejection. The most common problem was the work was not good enough. But how do you know you are submitting too early unless you get a feel for it?

Caveat: Really make sure this is your best effort. Do NOT send out your first draft. Or your second. Get your manuscript as polished as you can and then let your critique group see it. If they have been reading your WIP all along, you need to find a fresh reader. Preferably someone who is not your best friend. A stranger would be good.

Peer critique/edit:

How to find a stranger? Take an online class where you pair up with a critique partner. Or, if you’re made of sterner stuff, join an online critique group. For example, I’ve heard a lot of good things about the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror. It’s a paid membership where members critique each other’s posted work.

We’ve even got free places to get critiques  listed on our Contests page.

Paid critique/edit:

There may come a time when you have exhausted your friends, your family, and your online writing friends. Why not try hiring a professional? N.M. Kelby, author of the new book “The Constant Art of Being a Writer” talks about what to do if you’ve sent your work out to 20 agents and have received 20 form letters. She has this to say about hiring some help: “you really should take a moment and consider sending it to a professional editor to get some feedback.” When talking about the expense, she compares it to the cost of ordering out a few lunches: “You can always make a sandwich for lunch, but you can’t always figure out what’s wrong with your book, so it’s money well spent.”

Conferences have been the standard place to get a paid critique, but lately I’ve seen more and more editors or lit assistants opening up critique services.

Now, after getting a bunch of rejections you may want to set that particular book aside and start sending out the next one (because you did write another while you were querying on the first, right?) Maybe take that second book to a paid critique before you start the submission process all over.

Last thing, the title? Get On With It? Borrowed from the book Kitty mentioned a few weeks ago, Revision, by David Michael Kaplan. I’ve been saying this catch phrase to myself all day today while I’ve been revising. On page 66 he says, “The big reason you’re cutting what’s not essential, of course, is that your story has to move, has to Get On With It.” Great advice. I think it applies to our writing careers as well. You have to keep moving forward. You have to Get On With It.

http://twitter.com/ShonnaSlayton

My favorite part of James Scott Bell’s Revision & Self-Editing is the epilogue, “The Trick That Cannot Be Explained.” Here Jim shows us the parallel between magic tricks and fiction writing – the more tricks you know, the greater the sense of awe and magic in the audience. I love when I’m reading a book that feels magical, and more than anything I want to write a book others feel is magical. Jim really wants to help us with that. (Just as Margie Lawson was helping us all this month. Thanks, Margie!)

The hardest part about sharing what you’ve learned from someone else’s book is that as you’re flipping through it you start to read. Soon, instead of writing, you’re reading. (Insert another routine here: look up from your work every 15-20 minutes to ask yourself, am I doing what I meant to be doing right now?) As Jim says in the Introduction, this is a good book for beginning writers to get an overview of the essentials, and for more advanced writers to use as a giant checklist.

If you like writing exercises (Stephanie!), there are some at the end of each of the first 12 chapters, the self-editing section. If you like to flip through books looking at the sidebars and bullet points (me!), those are in nearly every chapter, too. But I like section two, the last 60 pages of the book, best. This is the revision section. Not only are there encouraging anecdotes and quotes to keep you going, there is “The Ultimate Revision Checklist.” Jim gives you questions to ask about your manuscript in areas like character, plot, openings, middles, endings, scenes, and more, and then shares ideas for how to fix the problems.

For instance, think you have problems with some of your scenes? Maybe you don’t have enough conflict or tension or the objective isn’t clear. Possible fixes include “Relive Your Scenes,” “Heat Up the Core,” “Adjust Your Pace,” “Stretch the Tension,” and “Cut or Strengthen Weak Scenes.”

I really love this book, partially because it’s organized so you can easily skim, looking for the part you need, and partially because Jim writes like he talks. He’s a smart guy, a lawyer, but he writes like he’s talking to you at a cafe eating ice cream. He’s really excited about his topic, and you’re pretty sure it’s not just the sugar.

This is a great book, one I know many of you love. If you haven’t looked at it, do so. Between your writing friends, the library and the bookstore, someone near you must have a copy. I don’t mind suggesting you just borrow it because it’s so chock-full of useful tips, you’ll have it on your to-buy list in no time.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I have two great books on revision (and I talked to you about the first one last week). Another look at my bookshelf reminded me that I have three. The third seemed so obvious to me because “everyone I know knows you should have this book” so it didn’t stick out when I pulled the other two off the shelf.

The third is Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. For a good ten years, every editor and agent that I heard speak at a conference suggested that all writers should buy and read this book. It’s written by two editors, and by page three I’m hooked. I feel like I’m in a class getting the inside scoop on how to make my writing not just publishable (the subtitle of the book is “How to Edit Yourself Into Print”), but magical. (I’m really on a “magical” kick today, aren’t I? Probably because I got to see Prince William from about ten feet away last week! )

The chapter titles give you an idea that this isn’t a carbon-copy book on writing. Instead of “Character” and “Plot,” we get “Show and Tell,” “Characterization and Exposition,” “See How It Sounds,” and nine more. The chapter on “Point of View” gave me put-into-action-now advice on how to get my characters’ voices to sound different, something I struggle with. The last chapter on “Voice” is one you’ll want to read if you struggle with your writer voice. All in all, this is one of those “keeper” books.

For all that I got rid of when I moved to Australia, I was more than willing to pay the freight for these three books on revision. I hope sharing them with you has helped you to feel less stressed about your own revisions, and believe that not only can the process be more fun than you thought, but there are also good people and books out there willing to help you.

Programming note: Before we get on to Margie’s last blog with us, I just wanted to announce our second annual Author Crush Month. In honor of Valentines Day in February we are taking the entire month to have our favorite authors blog with us about their writing routines. (Use our search tool to find our “author crush” authors from last year!) It’s going to be a fantastic month, you won’t want to miss it.

Now, onto Margie Lawson! We are so going to miss her after this fabulous month of revision. In our behind-the scenes correspondence I’ve been calling it our Margie Extravaganza! Margie has been a joy to host. She is one hard-working lady! I know you have all benefited from her blogs this month. Here she is with her final word:

More Secrets to Writing Irresistible Fiction

MARGIE’S KILLER 5Q!

The Five Question Scene Checklist

My Five Question Scene Checklist is tough, tough, tough. It’s lethal.

I developed my Five Question Scene Check list (5Q) for writers to use as a tool to assess all the facets of Margie-style deep editing. That’s psychologically anchored deep editing.

If you know me, you know I’m a Deep Edit guru. I analyze people, books, characters, plot, writing craft . . . Analysis is my world.

Most of what I teach in my editing courses is what I’ve created. It’s not your 10^th grade English teacher’s editing.

I dig deep into my 5Q in the Deep Editing course I teach on-line in May. The 5Q consists of five questions. It’s the subsets that are killers.

The multiple subset questions make you analyze, assess, probe, and justify each line, paragraph, page, and scene.

Margie’s Killer 5 Q:

The Five Question Scene Checklist

1—ANY MISSED OPPORTUNITIES?

Power Opening:

— Opening Hook?

— Anchored Reader in POV?

— Oriented Reader to Setting and Function?

— Used Cadence?

— Optional:  Used Rhetorical Device?

— Made Opening Compelling in Other Ways?  How?

Power Scene:

Fresh writing?

Nixed Clichés?

Specificity?

Characterization?

Character Description?

Cadence?

Pacing?

Flow?

Used Which Rhetorical Devices?

The EDITS System – Balance?

– Emotion?

– Dialogue?

– Internalizations?

– Tension?

– Setting?

– DABS:  — Dialogue Cues

— Action

— Body Language

— Senses

MISSED OTHER OPPORTUNITIES to Add Power or Clarity?

Is dialogue character-specific?  Tight?  Natural?  Sentence fragments?

Can you put NYT in the margin by a line or paragraph that is so stellar it will boost you toward the New York Times Bestseller list?

2— CAN YOU TIGHTEN THE PAGE, SCENE, CHAPTER?

Backstory?

Throw-away words?

Attributions?

Walking the Dog?

Could you delete a section and replace with a narrative line or paragraph, and still keep your reader hooked – and informed — and pick up the pace?

3— WHAT WOULD ENHANCE EMOTION?

Is the POV character’s emotional set shared with the reader. How?  Where?

Add Power Words?

Backload?

Add more Body Language and Dialogue Cues?   Specify:

Rewrite Body Language and Dialogue Cues to make them fresh?

Add more Visceral Responses?  Write them fresh?

Add more Emotional Hits?

— Take Basics to Complex?

— Complex to Empowered?

Add Power Internalizations?

Does a Turning Point need to be Empowered?

Hook at end of scene or chapter?

4— HOW CAN YOU UP THE STAKES?

On every page, ask yourself, WHO CARES?

How can you make the problem count more?

Can you add a complication?

Can you make the situation worse?

Can you empower the writing to immerse the reader in the sentence? Paragraph?  Page?  Scene?

5—HOW DOES IT RATE?

1)  Scrutinize each line. Do you need every word?  Does every word work?

2)  When each line passes inspection, place a red check mark in the right margin by the last word in that line.

Is every line checked?

3) RATE EACH PAGE:  Choose 1 – 10, 10 being your best work. Write the number at the top of each page. Circle it. Is it a 10?

If you can’t give that page a TEN – Why not?

What do you need to add?

What do you need to delete?

JUSTIFY HOW YOU RATED IT.

If it doesn’t rate a 10, tweak it. Rewrite. Get tough. Rewrite again. Apply the 5Q again.

When you get it to a 9.7 – 10, KNOW WHY.

Be prepared to defend your rating with your critique partners.

BLOG GUESTS – ARE YOU STILL BREATHING?

Let’s dig deep into three excerpts. I’ll analyze the first one.

Here’s an amplified example from Harlan Coben, LONG LOST.  My Deep Editing Analysis is below the example.

I was about to crack wise—something like “tell all your friends” or “sigh, another satisfied customer”—but something in her tone made me pull up. Something in her tone overwhelmed me and made me ache. I squeezed her hand and stayed silent and then I watched her walk away.

ANALYSIS:

1. Showed WHAT WASN’T HAPPENING, what he didn’t say

2. Uses DIALOGUE CUE  –  describes how the dialogue was delivered

3. SPECIFICITY – throughout the passage

4. Rhetorical Device – A DOUBLE.  I made up that term – DOUBLE.   SOMETHING IN HER TONE is an intentional echo.  It’s almost the rhetorical device, anaphora — repetition of first word or phrases of three phrases or sentences in a row.   Powerful.

5. Second part of the DOUBLE – goes DEEPER.  Taps emotion.

6. TONE is used as a STIMULUS – and the reader gets FIVE RESPONSES from her TONE:  pull up (stop), overwhelmed, ache, squeezed hand, stayed silent, watched her walk away (did not follow her)

7. POV character shared what he intended to do, but didn’t – because of her TONE.

8. Rhetorical Device:  AMPLIFICATION:  developed emotion and showed all those responses

9. COMMUNICATION with HAPTICS – touch

10. Rhetorical Device:  POLYSYNDETON – Last sentence uses multiple conjunctions and no commas.  Makes the read more imperative.

11. CADENCE – strong.

12.  Show EMOTIONAL SET of POV character changing from playful to angst

13. TAPS EMOTION in reader

14. FRESH WRITING

15.  HOOKED ME.  DRAWS ME INTO THE STORY – Makes me want to read more.

Tana French, THE LIKENESS:

My hand was on the door handle when for a split second out of nowhere I was terrified, blue-blazing terrified, fear dropping straight through me like a jagged black stone falling fast.  I’d felt this before, in the limbo instants before I moved out of my aunt’s house, lost my virginity, took my oath as a police officer: those instants when the irrevocable thing you wanted so much suddenly turns real and solid, inches away and speeding at you, a bottomless river rising and no way back once it’s crossed.  I had to catch myself from crying out like a little kid drowning in terror,         I don’t want to do this any more.

Robert Crais, THE TWO MINUTE RULE

Wally came over and touched Holman’s arm with fingers as light as a breath.

“He was killed last night. I’m sorry, man. I’m really, really sorry.”

Holman heard the words: he saw the pain in Wally’s eyes and felt the concern in Wally’s touch, but Wally and the room and the world left Holman behind like one car pulling away from another on a flat desert highway, Holman hitting the brakes, Wally hitting the gas, Holman watching the world race away.

That’s powerful writing.

It’s cotton-candy-on-your-tongue writing.  It makes you want more and more and more.

It’s the caliber of writing you find in some New York Times Bestsellers. It’s the caliber of writing you will find in books by Harlan Coben, Tana French, and Robert Crais.   ))

BLOG GUESTS:  It’s your turn!  I’m giving you options.

Option One:  Analyze the excerpt by Tana French or the one by Robert Crais.  Share something Tana or Robert did right.

Option Two:  Analyze the excerpt by Robert Crais.  Share something Robert did right.

Option Three: Apply one or more questions from the 5Q to a page or a scene in your Work In Progress. What did you learn?

REQUEST:

I’d love to hear from you!

I’ll respond as time allows during my work day. I’ll be on-line in the evening (Mountain Time).

POST A COMMENT – AND YOU MAY WIN A LECTURE PACKET!

I will draw a name for a Lecture Packet, a $22 value, at 9PM Mountain Time. Winners may choose a Lecture Packet from one of my six on-line courses. Lecture Packets are available for all my courses through Paypal from my website, www.MargieLawson.com.

1.  Empowering Characters’ Emotions

2.  Deep Editing:  The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More

3.  Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues Like a Psychologist

4.  Powering Up Body Language in Real Life:

Projecting a Professional Persona When Pitching and Presenting

5.  Digging Deep into the EDITS System

6.  Defeat Self-Defeating Behaviors

Margie Lawson —psychotherapist, writer, and international presenter—developed innovative editing systems and deep editing techniques for writers.

Her Deep Editing tools are used by all writers, from newbies to NYT Bestsellers.  She teaches writers how to edit for psychological power, how to hook the reader viscerally, how to create a page-turner.

Over four thousand writers have learned Margie’s psychologically-based deep editing material.  In the last five years, she presented fifty-four full day Master Classes for writers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Lectures from each of Margie’s on-line courses are offered as Lecture Packets through PayPal from her web site.  For more information on courses, lecture packets, master classes, and 3-day Immersion Master Class sessions, visit:  www.MargieLawson.com .

FYI:  BRENDA NOVAK’S DIABETES AUCTION!

NYT Bestseller, Brenda Novak, donates an amazing chunk of her life to fundraising for diabetes research.  She selflessly gives months of her energy, creativity, and what would have been writing time, family time, self-time to her DIABETES AUCTION.

For writers – it’s a warm-your-heart win-win.  Bid on one of the hundreds of items – support diabetes research and you may win an experience that changes your life. A plotting lunch with an agent or NYT bestseller at a national conference could contribute to a contract for you.

If you’re not familiar with this auction — it’s a gold mine for writers!
My husband and I love to support the Diabetes Auction.  With close to 1000 donations, if I don’t mention them . . . you might miss them.

Yikes – a Missed Opportunity!

Margie’s Donations:

1. A set of six Lecture Packets
2. A 50 page Triple Pass Deep Edit Critique

3. Registration for a Write At Sea Master Class by Marge Lawson on Deep Editing Power, April 4 -8, 2011; donation by Margie Lawson and Julia Hunter

4.  A FLYING GETAWAY FOR TWO

You select the destination – any place within 600 nautical miles from Denver.

A weekend, you and a friend, plus my pilot-husband flying our four-seater plane, me, and a two-hour deep editing consult. The consult is on the ground.

THE DIABETES AUCTION runs from MAY 1ST to MAY 31ST. You can tour the
Diabetes Auction site now.  http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com/

Brenda Novak is my hero.  What a way to give back.

Thank you for your time – and thank you for joining us today!

All smiles…………Margie

www.MargieLawson.com

Programming note: Today is number three out of four of Margie Lawson’s special guest blogs. Oh boy, but here is just a glimpse of what you can learn from her. Get out your highlighters because your manuscript is about to get a workout. (Notice the RWA ladies in the picture below? Their highlighters are at the ready as Margie walks them through her EDITS system.) If this system is exactly what you’ve been needing, sign up for one of her classes or purchase a lecture packet. I took a class last spring and I’m hooked.

More Secrets to Writing Irresistible Fiction

A TASTE OF THE EDITS SYSTEM

By Margie Lawson

TODAY – I’ll share some components of my EDITS System.

I’m taking a risk.

A HUMONGO RISK.

The Risk:  After you read this blog, some of you may think you know everything you need to know about analyzing your scenes with my EDITS System.

The truth is, you may know just enough to be dangerous.

Dangerous?  Ha!

I exaggerated. And I also used a cliché. Aack! Cliché alert!

The truth is, you may know enough to dissect your scenes and begin to analyze them, but not enough to dig deep into the analysis to add much psychological power.

I would need to blog for several hundred pages to share the full EDITS System here. Most of my courses have over 300 pages of lectures. I dig deep and use lots of examples to show hundreds of ways to add psychological power to your scenes.

Okay – Enough of my yammering. You all get it.

A TASTE OF THE EDITS SYSTEM

The EDITS System is a tool created for writers. A power tool.

The EDITS System shows writers where to add power. It shows writers how to analyze scene components. It shows writers what’s working, what’s not working, and what’s missing.

The EDITS System is the ultimate SHOW DON’T TELL power tool.

When writers use this highlighting system, patterns emerge for each scene. They may be surprised to see that in an emotionally-driven scene they wrote, they kept the POV character in their head, locked in internalizations. All thoughts, no visceral responses. If the writer slipped in a few visceral responses, they’d take the scene from the POV character’s head, and the reader’s head, to the reader’s heart.

The EDITS System helps writers find a compelling balance of emotion, dialogue, internalizations, tension, conflict, setting, description, action, senses, body language and more . . . that works for their specific scene dynamics.

A critical component of the EDITS System is highlighting EMOTION.

CAUTION!  CAUTION!  CAUTION!

Every component of a scene can carry emotion. Dialogue, thoughts, action, body language, dialogue cues, even setting can carry emotion.

Emotionally-connoted setting:  Show me a picture of a closed coffin surrounded by funereal flower arrangements, and I’ll have a visceral response. Guaranteed.

Writers have to know WHAT to highlight as EMOTION. If writers highlighted everything on every page that carried some emotion, their data would be diluted.

When I developed the EDITS System, I knew I had to be discriminating when highlighting emotion. To select only the strongest elements of emotion experienced by a Point of View character.

Readers identify with the POV character. Internally, readers rejoice when the POV character rejoices – and get anxious when the POV character gets anxious. If reading a well written novel, a reader’s heart rate increases when the POV character’s heart rate increases. That reader is so immersed in the story, they are viscerally engaged.

When creating the EDITS System, my goal was to determine what components of a scene set the strongest emotional hook. What made a book a page-turner.

Given that the story is compelling, the plot is strong, and the characters live in your heart or dreams or nightmares – what writing craft processes could make the difference between a skimmer and a winner?

What could writers do to keep the reader so committed to the read, that they’d rather finish your book, than sleep in, eat chocolate, or have sex?

The answer is the incontrovertible power of the VISCERAL RESPONSE – accelerated heart rate, sweaty palms, dry mouth, tight chest, clenched stomach, weak knees, blood rushing to chest, neck, and face, adrenaline pumping, heart pummeling rib cage . . . .

In the EDITS System, VISCERAL RESPONSES are the only things highlighted in PINK.

Got it?

Not a kick in the shins.

Not an expletive.

Not watching someone get shot.

If the writer neglects to have the POV character experience a visceral response after one of those emotionally-loaded stimuli -- NO PINK in that passage.

The EDITS System Consists of Six Parts:

1. Emotion – PINK Highlighter -  for Visceral Responses Only 

2. Dialogue – BLUE Highlighter 

3. Internalizations – YELLOW Highlighter   

4. Tension and Conflict  -- ORANGE Highlighter

5. Setting and Description – GREEN Highlighter  

6. Nonverbal Communication – RED Pen

BLOG GUESTS – If this is your first time reading about my EDITS System, you are probably experiencing a visceral response!

At first, it seems like a lot to learn – and a lot to do.

I PROMISE, if you study how to use one color at a time, it’s easy to learn.

AND – after you have learned the full system, and highlighted about five chapters, you have the highlighting system imprinted in your mind.

You see the colors in your mind while you write and edit. As you write, you add psychological power.

One of the coolest features of using the EDITS System — is that when a scene doesn’t work, you can figure out why.

Are you with me?

The EDITS System shows you what’s not working.  Cool!

When you analyze the components of your scene, determine why it’s not working, you know what to do to fix the scene, and make it stellar.

Way cool!

Let’s look at each color and what it covers.

DIALOGUE:  BLUE

Think – talked a blue streak – and you’ll remember BLUE is for DIALOGUE.

Always START with BLUE. Highlight what is between the quotes in blue.

Read the dialogue from one scene or chapter out loud. Read it straight through like it’s a script. You may catch twenty-plus critical dialogue-related flaws.

VISCERAL RESPONSES:  PINK

Use the pink highlighter for INVOLUNTARY PHYSICAL REACTIONS TO EMOTION, VISCERAL RESPONSES, including stomach lurching, heart pummelling chest, shallow respiration, tight throat, sweaty palms, shaky legs. Write it fresh, not tried and trite.

Writers need to embrace four points about visceral responses:

Placement in Scene

Placement in the Motivation Reaction Unit

Writing them Fresh

Level of Intensity of the Visceral Response

NOTE:  You won’t have as much PINK as you think. Use PINK when it counts.

SETTING & DESCRIPTION:  GREEN

GREEN – Think setting, green grass, then slide it over and cover character description too. Green covers every component of setting as well as physical features of characters and what they are wearing.

INTERNALIZATIONS & MORE:  YELLOW

YELLOW –Internalizations. Narrative, Exposition, Backstory, Flashbacks, Omniscient Narrator . . . It is ALL highlighted with YELLOW.

BEWARE:  If you have several lines or paragraphs of green or yellow, be sure they work. Readers have a tendency to skim sections of green and yellow. Agents and editors do too. Or worse, they quit reading.

TENSION & CONFLICT:  ORANGE.

USE ORANGE IN THE MARGIN. Use DOTS, SHORT DASHES, LONG DASHES, or SOLID LINES.

ORANGE WILL OVERLAP OTHER COLORS

Put dots of orange in the margin next to a few paragraphs where tension is picking up. You could put short then long dashes that become solid lines on the next page or pages as tension builds and builds.

When the orange drops off, you may notice that you pulled power with comic relief, or a character introduced another topic, or a distraction presented. Did you intentionally break the tension? Or did you inadvertently pull back on the power?

If you planned to break the tension there, good for you. If you didn’t realize the tension deflated, an unintended fizzle factor, you know what to do. Increase the tension.

UNDERLINE ALL NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION  with a RED PEN.

Nonverbal Communication covers several areas. Think DABS for dabs of nonverbal communication.

DABS:

D – Dialogue Cues  — how the dialogue is delivered

A – Action – choreography, movement

B – Body Language – facial expressions, posture, proximity

S – Senses – all six:  sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, intuition

Remember –  The RED Pen covers all DABS.

Overview of the EDITS System:

The EDITS System helps writers analyze patterns on the page as well as what’s missing. The overall read is enhanced, and the writer’s voice remains intact.

Applying the EDITS System to your Work In Progress breaks out the component parts of a scene and shows the writer what they need to do to improve that scene. Using the EDITS SYSTEM is one of the steps that can contribute to making your book a page turner.

YIKES!  I threw a lot at you . . . I hope some of it sticks.

I’m teaching Empowering Characters’ Emotions (ECE) on-line through PASIC in March.

You can read a course description for ECE on my web site under Lecture Packets. www.MargieLawson.com.

I’ll be back next Tuesday to share more secrets of writing irresistible fiction. Now it’s your turn.

PLEASE CHIME IN!

If you have used my EDITS System, please post one thing you learned that made a difference in a scene, or made a difference in your writing.

If you are not yet addicted to highlighters, have not yet used my EDITS System, please post how you think it could help you analyze your scenes. A general comment is fine. No deep analysis required.

If you post a comment to the loop by 9PM Mountain Time, you are entered in the drawing for a Lecture Packet ($22 value).

I will draw a name for a Lecture Packet at 9PM Mountain Time. Winners may choose a Lecture Packet from one of my six on-line courses. Lecture Packets are available for all my courses through Paypal from my website, www.MargieLawson.com.

1. Empowering Characters’ Emotions

2. Deep Editing:  The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More

3. Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues Like a Psychologist

4. Powering Up Body Language in Real Life:Projecting a Professional Persona When Pitching and Presenting

5. Digging Deep into the EDITS System

6. Defeat Self-Defeating Behaviors

Margie Lawson —psychotherapist, writer, and international presenter—developed innovative editing systems and deep editing techniques for writers.

Her Deep Editing tools are used by all writers, from newbies to NYT Bestsellers. She teaches writers how to edit for psychological power, how to hook the reader viscerally, how to create a page-turner.

Over four thousand writers have learned Margie’s psychologically-based deep editing material. In the last five years, she presented fifty-two full day Master Classes for writers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Lectures from each of Margie’s on-line courses are offered as Lecture Packets through PayPal from her web site. For more information on courses, lecture packets, master classes, and 3-day Immersion Master Class sessions, visit:  www.MargieLawson.com .

Thank you for joining us today!

All smiles…………Margie

www.MargieLawson.com