The Business of Writing: Keywords

Of all of the posts I'm writing for this A to Z Challenge, this one is the most relevant for bloggers. 

When I went to a one-day conference on Paths to Publication put on by Antioch Writer's Workshop, one of the presenters, Cathy Day, recommended that when we write blog posts, the title should never be oblique.  It should be whatever someone would enter for a Google search if they were interested in the topic we are writing about. 

And then we should add a plethora of keywords or labels to the post so the content will be more easily searchable.

Cathy Day demonstrated it in the session - and it worked.

So, if I want to attract people interested in coal towns or Appalachia or the 1930s to one of my posts about the research I'm doing for my novels, I need to put that in the title of my post and add lots of labels including Appalachian writing to every post like that.  Otherwise, my readers - the people interested in my writing - will never ever find me.

Who knew it was that simple? 

The Business of Writing: Individuality

Our individuality is expressed in the way we write - in the genre we choose to write in, the characters we develop, the tone and voice of our writing, and everything else that goes into our fiction. That's not to say our writing is at all about us, but the choices we make in choosing the words we put on the page and the way we choose to tell our stories is.  No two people would ever tell a story the same way. 

Similarly, when we create a business plan for ourselves (or choose not to), that also is an choice we have to make as an individual.  Like the writing of a novel or short story, there are innumerable choices to be made.  Just because one person goes in one direction with their choice doesn't mean that's the right decision for another person. 

I think we have to bring our individual talents to the table for the business side of writing and need to have the confidence that the choices we make for ourselves are the right choices even if someone else is saying to do something else - and that includes every word I've written here in this series of posts. 

The great thing about being a writer right now is you don't have to live by their rules anymore.  (I know Bill Murray said that somewhere - maybe Groundhog Day?)

The Business of Writing: Hone Your Skills

If you an aspiring writer like me, make it your business to hone your skills, improve your writing, do things that inspire you and feed your creativity.  Take classes if you can and get feedback from critique partners.  Local organizations in your area that offer writing classes might offer free samplers. Start a writing group of your own.  Take every opportunity to improve your writing skills. It's what you would do if you were working at a regular job - it's what your boss would expect of you.

Whatever you learn, whether it's a way to improve dialogue or a formatting detail, apply it to everything you've written.  Be excellent.

(Yes, this is another pep talk for myself!)

The Business of Writing: Grants for Individuals

In my grant-writing class, I was given the opportunity to do something I didn't expect: write a grant proposal to fund my own research.  The Foundation Center has a Grants for Individuals database.  I am pretty sure it's not available for free.  If you want to access it, you may need to find a university or public library that has a full subscription. 

I write historical fiction and have plans for at least three research trips over the next year. When I searched for funding sources specifically for individuals doing historical research, I didn't find many.  But there are plenty for authors.  And lots for writers like me - not yet published older mommies.  However, there are apparently a lot of us, so the competition is fierce.  Once you apply, you have to wait a while to reapply for most of grants. 

I compiled a list of the grants that I may apply for down the line once I actually get something impressive on my CV (besides my vast experience as a software developer/nerd, which doesn't help at all). 

If anyone is interested, I can do some posts about the specific opportunities later (not just the ones for middle-aged mommy types of people).  Have you ever thought about applying for a grant to fund your writing?

The Business of Writing: Freelance Grant Writing

Until now, I never considered doing freelance writing. Since I started taking my grant-writing class, I'm starting to think this is something I will pursue in addition to fiction writing.

Grant-writing is a little different than other types of writing (in more way than one but that's a topic for another day - maybe tomorrow, G day). If you want to write grant proposals and don't have experience doing that, the recommendation in the books I've read is to volunteer to write at least four grant proposals for non-profit organizations before charging a fee.

That's right - to make money at grant-writing eventually, you have to do it for free and do it well so you can get recommendations for paid work. You can ask for and get recommendations from these organizations even if they don't win the award - there are more factors at play than your persuasive writing skills.  

My experience is in the IT world, where you really never give away your time or expertise. Never . . . unless you include those overtime hours that aren't paid or the time spent explaining to your relatives how to get that virus off their computer.

For grant writing, it sounds like it's standard operating procedure to volunteer your skills first. 

One of the assignments for my class was to volunteer to write a grant proposal for one or two organizations. The work for this has included everything from searching for funding sources to developing a budget. I spent a good part of my day yesterday examining the organization's web site for any inconsistencies that might raise red flags to the funder. Then I examined the funder's tax forms searching for clues that might give my organization an advantage.  A lot of the work is not the writing. 

I have to say writing in this genre where peoples' lives may be dependent on how well you turn a phrase is difficult - and it's exhilarating when you get it right.  Tonight I think I got it right - at least with one section of the application.   

Overall, the experience has been wonderful, and I'm really happy to be doing some good in the world.

On the first day of class, my five-year-old asked me why I had to leave to go to class.  I explained to him that I am like a fairy - instead of granting wishes, I am helping to find the money to make the wish come true.  Now he calls it my wish-making class.

Have you done grant writing or other kinds of freelance writing?  Have you ever volunteered your writerly abilities to a good cause?

BTW, I have to get this grant application completed early this week so I can get on with the second, which is a grant for my own research and includes polishing 25 pages of manuscript in addition to writing essays about myself.  If you leave me a comment, I promise I will visit your blog by the end of the week.

The Business of Writing: Excuses

At a normal kind of job at work, you wouldn't make excuses for not doing your job. You might - people do - but it doesn't exonerate you from getting the work done. 

As writers, if we consider this to be our work, we shouldn't accept excuses from ourselves.  We should set reasonable plans and expectations given the number of hours we have to work.  And we should hold ourselves accountable.  (Yes, this is a pep talk to myself.)

The Business of Writing: Duplicity

Not that definition of duplicity!  I'm referring to the old school (perhaps archaic) definition - doubling.  Maybe duality is a better word.

What I mean by duplicity and duality in terms of the business of writing is that we as writers have to be two things and do them in equal proportions. We must be writers and business managers. We must use the creative side of our brain in the one endeavor and the logical side for the other. Although our inclination is to be creative, I'm convinced we must manage the business side to be financially successful in this business, regardless of what route we take to publication: traditional, small press, or self-publishing.

The Business of Writing: CV

One thing I've done recently is write a CV for myself.  I had to do it as an exercise in my grant writing class because I am writing a grant proposal to fund my own research.  The challenge I ran into in writing my CV was the blank page staring at me, which was absolutely terrifying. 

(CV stands for Curriculum Vitae. It's a detailed, multi-page résumé. Here's an academic link on how to write one: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/641/01/.)

I had a CV for the work I did as a software developer, but translating that into a CV for a creative writer was brutal.  I have not yet published any of my creative work, so I decided to include my works in progress with a blurb for each. As you probably know, writing a blurb can be more difficult than writing the whole novel.

Having a homework sort of deadline for writing my CV helped me write all of my blurbs - I set the anxiety aside and just did it. I ended up really liking what I came up with - and I get to look forward to a critique of them from my professor, which can only help.

For me, the glaring lack of publication credits on my CV is strangely motivating.  It makes me want to get busy and get something, anything, published. 

Do you have a CV as a writer?  If you do, have you ever had the opportunity to use it?

The Business of Writing: Business Plan

Today I have a dual post:  A to Z Challenge and Insecure Writer's Support Group.

 

 

 

 

I write historical fiction. In my experience, the writing of historical fiction costs money - I've bought books and have gone on trips.  My research involves travel to on-site locations, libraries, and archives. I never really kept track of the expenses or really planned out very far in advance where I would be going and when.

 

Right now, I am taking a grant writing class, and one of my projects is to get funding for my own research. So far, I've been surprisingly successful at getting a little bit funding (come back on G day for a discussion of grants for individuals). The process of applying for grants has forced me to come up with a detailed plan for each research trip, which puts in my face how much I've been spending on research and how important it is to be efficient about it. Coming up with a plan for my expenses has forced me to come up with a plan for my writing projects too. 

 

I think a business plan for a creative writer doesn't need to be complex and can be as simple as a spreadsheet or table. I would recommend breaking it into years, however you want to define that. For me, I work in school years since I'm in college and have school-aged children. My writing goals and research trips have to fit in with my academic plan.

 

To accomplish a goal (any goal), you have to complete a series of tasks - for me, the planning process helps me set realistic goals and timeframes for completing them. 

 

More importantly, having a written plan helps me make each task a priority for myself and also empowers me to insist that my family respects the time I need to devote to those tasks. If I have a solid plan, I'm going to get the work done. If you are a mom, you know your default job (even if you have another one) is to take care of everyone else's needs - even the needs they aren't aware of.  Without a plan for getting your own work done, it's too easy to get lost in taking care of everyone else.

 

If you had your own business, you would never do it without a plan.  Why should the business of writing be different?

 

 

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Do I have insecurities?  Absolutely.  My main insecurity over the last few months has been over losing the connections here that I worked for so long to develop.  I closed this blog because of a certain someone who I never should have shared the link with.  I started a new blog, but the effort to start over and reconnect was too time-consuming.  If you are considering switching blogs, don't. Seriously.

 

I joined A to Z this year at the last minute in an effort to reconnect. So far, it's working, and I'm glad I did it.

 

What are your insecurities?  Ever switch blogs or online personas and try to start over?



The Business of Writing: Accounting

I know Accounting isn't the most interesting topic to start off with for the A to Z Challenge. But if you are treating your creative work as a business (which I'm recently convinced we should be doing), keeping track of the money you spend is everything if you want to reduce the tax on the amount you earn as a writer. 

A few years ago, just before I injured my leg, had my last baby, and the economy took a hard dive, I started my own software consulting businesses. I used an accountant and learned from her the ins and outs of starting a small business.

The key to succeeding financially, besides getting work, was keeping track of receipts to be used as deductions, including household expenses since I worked at home.  Based on the square footage of dedicated work space in my home, I was able to write off a percentage of things you wouldn't think have anything to do with it, like homeowner association fees and the cost of salt for the water softener. 

One of the most important things I learned from my accountant is that I had to pay the employer portion of the tax for Medicare or Social Security (I don't remember which).  The bottom line is this: when self-employed,  I had to charge significantly more per hour to cover the cost of that tax. Otherwise, I would have made less in the end. 

As creative writers we can't set our fees in the same way, but it's definitely something to be aware of.  If you are on the verge of making money with your writing, make an appointment with an accountant right away so you don't spend the money you will need to pay in taxes. 

I'm no accountant, so don't take my word for it. Get a CPA or go to the small business association web site for your area and/or the IRS web site.

Relevance

I met with the director of my graduate program earlier this week.  I was really worried about my physical limitations, but everything seemed to be OK.  The nerve in my hip was pinched last night, which made sleeping a little difficult. I think if I had taken the time to stretch a few times, it wouldn't have been so bad.  I will definitely do that next time after I get home from class.

I got my admission date bumped up and start class in two Saturdays.  Yikes.

The director said one thing I want to share today:  I need to make all of the assignments relevant for me.

I'm writing historical fiction set in Appalachia between 1830 and 1941.  If I write a research paper, I should write about that time period.  Same with compositions or work for the creative non-fiction class. 

It is my responsibility to make all the work I do relevant for me.

This morning I read Matthew MacNish's perhaps premature post for the A-Z Challenge and had an epiphany.  I will A-Z about the time period I'm writing in.  (Yes, I just used A-Z as if it were a verb.)  My posts will be snippets about the history, the people, the coal mine towns, the culture, how they lived, what their limitations were. 

I wasn't going to do A-Z this year because I need to work on my novels.  But if I make the challenge relevant to my fiction writing and what I'm doing in class, it's definitely worth doing. 

Are you A-Zing this year?  Are you thinking about a theme already? 

My A to Z Reflections Post

The A to Z Challenge was very challenging for me.  In other aspects of my life, April 2012 will go down as one of the worst months ever.  I'm glad I had the daily posts to connect me with people and keep me writing when I otherwise wouldn't have written much. 

I was mostly was super-overwhelmed during the challenge, not from writing the posts, but from the volume of comments - no, I am definitely not complaining.  It was awesome!  I don't know how people (Alex) with 100+ comments a day can keep up.  It took a lot of effort for me, and I'm sure I missed some people, but what I was able to do was totally worth it. 

In 2011, a lot of the people I met during the challenge stayed with me for the next year and I with them.  I hope that's the case this year too.  Thanks to everyone that stopped to read my posts and for all the new followers.

Z is for Zero

My little guy got a lesson at preschool last week.  He learned about the number zero.  He proudly told me, "Zero means nothing!"

And that's all I have left for the last day of the A to Z challenge - nothing.  My kids were sick last week. My husband and I are sick today.  So I end this challenge with nothing.

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This post is part of the 2012 A to Z Challenge. 

Y is for Yesterday

I can't carry a tune, but my babies never minded.  My favorite mommy moments were when I held each of them in my arms and sang to them to stop their crying and calm them down or just send them off to sleep. 

Yesterday is the magical song that calmed my little ones the best.  It was like magic.

Whenever my kids hear this song, they remember it was their special baby song. 

Apparently a lot of kids don't know the words or lyrics to songs outside of their generation, but my kids do.  Mostly hippy music with some occasional select 70's and 80's rock plays in our house outside the confines of the teen's room, where screamo music and heavy metal live.

There's twelve years between my youngest and my oldest with one in the middle, so I've been singing Yesterday (out of tune and with no respect to the actual lyrics) on and off for about sixteen years.  My littlest is very close to that age where he's going to realize mommy can't sing.  He's about to put his hand over my mouth and ask me to stop. 

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This post is part of the 2012 A to Z Challenge.

W is for Wagons

I'm not sure what it is about wagons, but all of my kids loved them.  We have the kind with the side rails that come off.  My boys are very willing to help me in the garden if they can load up whatever supplies I need in the wagon. Usually my older boy pulls the wagon and my little guy rides on top of the bags of mulch or garden soil. 

If my little guy is upset outside, all my big kid needs to do is offer a wagon ride and it's all smiles.  Magic.

It's definitely going to be a gardening weekend this weekend (at first I wrote 'today' - it definitely seems like Friday).  I might just live dangerously and plant tomatoes a week too soon.  Today I'm going to get my little guy in gardening/little worker mode by letting him take a hose and some suds to the wagon and offer him a ride.

Have a great weekend!

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This post is part of the 2012 A-Z Challenge.

U is for Underdog

Do you remember Underdog?  I have the t-shirt.  When I wore it one day, my youngest asked who that was on my shirt.  I told him about Underdog and his motto:  "There's no need to fear, Underdog is here!"  For weeks after that, my little guy would yell his version of the Underdog motto: "USE YOUR FEAR!"

I remember Underdog as being a super lame super hero.  I didn't remember that he only speaks in rhymes; he's sort of a poet, a very awkward one.  He talks in a nasally voice and runs through walls even though a door is right there. 

As aspiring writers, we are the underdogs.  The odds against us are immeasurable.  "There's no need to fear!" is an appropriate motto for us since we need to be fearless, but I think "Use your fear!" is even better. 

It's terrifying to spend months, maybe years, committing words to paper, words no one may ever want to read or that readers may only criticize.  But it's scarier not to try, not to work hard enough to ensure success, not to give it our all.  So do everything in your power to make your novels, poems, or short stories outstanding.  Don't give up.  Use your fear!

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This post is part of the 2012 A to Z Challenge.  My apologizes for being behind reading other posts. 

Maybe this post would have been better for Insecure Writers' Support Group Day, but I needed something for U. 

T is for Terrible Twos

The Terrible Twos is a term everyone probably knows.  It's the proclivity for  two-year-olds to burst into a tantrum when they are upset, usually because they can't express what they want or how they feel - it makes them so frustrated it takes over their whole body.  It's not pretty.

I'm no child psychologist, but I can tell from experience that this doesn't end the day they turn three.  I also know it affects the most verbal of small people too.

My little guy is three and a half.  He's a very good talker.  One day, he told me I have "a good sense of humor."  When I asked him what that meant, he wasn't sure.  When my husband left last week for his third week-long business trip in five weeks, my little guy wasn't sure if his dad was going to come back.  So there was a lot of crying and emotion all week.  

You would think his dad's return would help, that my son's behavior would be all better, that he would be happy and calm again.  But his three-year-old mind is worried his dad might leave again if he lets him out of his sight, so he stuck on him like glue for the weekend and wasn't even a little bit happy. 

Actually, he was happy for the first hour after his dad returned.  He put a toy car in his dad's hand and explained to him in great detail how to play.  The cars were army cars, and he was supposed to make his car follow behind my son's car.  They had to stick together.

Today, his dad has to go to the office.   I think it's going to be a rough day.

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This post is part of the 2012 A to Z Challenge. 

S is for Sleep

Or maybe sleep deprivation. 

I have only gotten about four hours of sleep a night since Sunday night.  I am so done, I can't think of anything else for my S post.

We have a puppy.  She cries at 5:15 AM. 

We have a teen.  She's supposed to take the puppy out, but she's one of those people that's really hard to wake up.  Her alarm clock (and puppy) wake me up on the other side of the house before they wake her up. 

We have a preschooler.  He crawls in bed with me at 4:30 AM.  He kicks a lot.  And he doesn't nap in the afternoon.  So I don't nap.

My husband's been out of town, so I haven't had help with the laundry and everything else all week, but mostly the laundry, which is critical because all this week (and not last week) the puppy keeps peeing her bed, her little quacky toy, her purse (yes, she has a purse), and the towels in the plastic tote she sits in so she doesn't choke on a marble or a lego (or whatever other small thing was left on the floor) while I change my preschooler's clothes because he keeps spilling (or peeing) on his clothes.  *exhale* 

The kids are doing their best - the dog just seems to have an amazing ability to seek out that one thing on the ground that can kill her (she only weighs two pounds).  She has found all the previously unfound plastic Easter eggs.  It's all good - she prefers to be carried around anyway - luckily my preschooler doesn't.

So there's been a lot of laundry this week.  I've stayed up late into the night doing laundry and not sleeping. 

When I finally manage to lay down, I don't sleep.  Insomnia seems to kick in when I'm not working on my novel.  I'm not alone on that, am I?  But I'm too tired to write.

I'm writing this post ahead of time and scheduling it so I can sleep in the morning - hopefully - since my husband just returned from his trip.  What is he doing?  Sleeping.  It's only 10:00.

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This post is part of the 2012 A to Z Challenge.  Of course the schedule option didn't work this morning.  I did get some sleep.  Yay.

R is for Repetition

My favorite post from last year's challenge was my P post about Edgar Allen Poe and how awesome Vincent Price was in the Poe movies when I was a kid.  I meant to write about Poe again, but forgot about it and wrote about whatever was on my mind that day. 

Last year, I purchased several of the DVDs of those movies.  The Pit and the Pendulum was my favorite, still is.  My husband watched the movies with me with the same enthusiasm.  My older kids didn't know what to think. 

I definitely wouldn't be the same writer if I hadn't watched those movies and read so much Poe when I was younger.  I don't write horror stories, but I do like writing dark humor.  Maybe a little too much.

I am repeating the clip from last year's post here.  I could play this all day long and never stop enjoying it. 

I also want to thank Alex J Cavanaugh for the shout out on Quirky day yesterday and all of his very kind words.  I take the label of quirky as the compliment I am certain it was meant to be. 

One of my former co-workers once told me I should write because I had a "skewed perspective."  You could tell from the other people's faces that were standing around that I might just take that as an insult.  They looked a little scared.  But I knew what she meant.  I am a little quirky.  Honestly, I think most people are - some are just better at hiding it than others.

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This post is part of the 2012 A to Z Challenge.

Q is for Queen

Not the Queen of England.... 

I grew up listening to Queen.  By the age of seven, I was howling, "Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me," a little off key and without having a clue of what that meant.


Here's a great song for anyone struggling to overcome any adversity (like getting to the end of that WIP).

I always hear this song for sport events.  I don't think they meant champions in quite that way.  I think it's about celebrating daily victories over circumstances or people that threaten to hold us down, maybe even battles within ourselves.  For writers, it's about paying our dues, writing our chapters, editing them over and over again, accepting critiques and correcting our mistakes - "fighting 'til the end."

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This post is part of the 2012 A to Z Challenge.  I am quite behind visiting everyone.  I hope to be caught up soon....