For some reason people have a view of writers sitting in their isolated mountain cabins or island bungalows, typing up their grand opus with only the bears or birds as company. Writers do need quiet times to work (although in my household, that is a rare commodity), but writers cannot stay isolated. They need to be able to make contacts and connections in order to find and promote their work.

The creative process is a major component of writing, but once you have finished your piece, you must determine (if you haven’t done so already) where it’s going to go. If you are trying to publish your work, you will need contacts.

Contacts can come from a variety of areas. Many of my contacts have come from friends in writers’ groups who have shared information and have even put in a good word for me with an editor or publisher. One contact came from answering a newspaper ad. Others have come from meeting people at a book fair. Even commenting on blogs and joining Yahoo! Groups can lead to an increase in connections.

Writing calls for an audience because a work is meant (in most cases) to be read by others. But if you never reach out to make contacts, your writing efforts will be wasted. I’m shy by nature, but my desire to share good quality stories and inspire others can only come if I put aside my shyness and make efforts to meet new people in order to share what I have to say.

Don’t be isolated. It’s a writer’s worse enemy.

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Do you write for income, outcome, or both? Are they even compatible with one another? I try to write for outcome, and when I get income out of it, I feel extra blessed. But income and outcome can go hand in hand. If you write a good product, your opportunities for income increase. If you aren’t concerned about outcome, then your chances become poor for any type of payment since editors will not pay for inferior work.

My primary purpose in writing is not about how much money I can make. When God called me to write a few years back, He didn’t promise a steady income or any remuneration at all. But, in my obedience to Him, I have been blessed with some payment along the way.

Do I make money for everything I write? No, and I’m glad I don’t. I want my goal to be getting a good message out, whether it’s inspirational, like many of the articles I write for my church’s newsletter, or encouraging for kids, like the early readers for a school’s reading program.

It’s no secret in the writing community that most writers don’t make tons of money. The old cliché says, “Don’t quit your day job.” Since I’m a stay-at-home mom, the money is not a huge aspect for me; but the few dollars I do make goes “right back into the business” so my writing expenses are not a burden on the family budget.

On the other hand, I am aware of many children’s writers who need their income to live on. They will take on work-for-hire projects since those are better sources of immediate income than royalty contracts. It’s icing on the cake if they can get both, since the royalty checks only come twice a year, and work-for-hire usually pays when the work is done.

Some Christians have a conflict when it comes to their reason for writing, especially since they know their gift comes from God. They feel they should be concentrating solely on inspirational instead of on secular projects. I used to have some issues with this, but then I realized that by using the gifts God gave me in all areas of my life I am blessing Him with my commitment to doing my best. I am getting out stories that give a positive Christian worldview (even if I never mention God in the story), and I am sharing God’s love through my attitude and professionalism. I now feel freer to write a good outcome in all areas that could bring in some income as well.

Income or outcome doesn’t have to be an issue for a writer. Try always do your best to get out a good product, and if a check comes with it, consider it an extra blessing.

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As a writer I feel it’s a necessity to have a blog. Our business is about words, and what better way to practice your calling than with your very own blog!

With this unique tool of cyberspace you can be as creative as you want. You can write in poetry or prose. You can create your own format. You could include stories for your audience of choice. You can write short short stories or include a chapter of your masterpiece every week. You can give writing tips or conduct surveys. There are no limits to how innovative you can be.

Blogs are a great marketing tool, too. I’m currently thinking of ways to utilize mine more effectively as my upcoming book gets closer to publication. Some of my friends have done blog tours and even blog interviews to get the word out about their latest opus.

What’s keeping you from creating your own blog? Give it a try. It’s easy and it’s fun!

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Well, my office organization has come to a temporary halt. I ordered my corner desk and waited with eager anticipation for its arrival. It came last Friday, but a busy morning schedule kept me from opening it up right away. When I finally did and pulled out all the pieces, I discovered that I was missing all the hardware! There was no way I could put it together.

Of course I was very disappointed. I had been looking forward to getting my new work corner set up. I already bought and assembled a small cabinet that I have used to clean up my desk area and a lot of the files that had managed to accumulate on the floor. Now I have to wait a full week before the furniture company can send me the parts from back East.

Setbacks are common in all areas of life, including writing. Maybe I won’t finish in my original timeframe, but I will get it done. At least I’m stepping in the right direction!

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I am really enjoying my laptop. I can take it anywhere: outside, the kitchen table, my room, the library, a restaurant, etc. It’s my alternate when the kids want to use my main computer (which seems to be occurring more often this summer), and it’s great when I’m not feeling my best and can still work with fluffed up pillows instead of my stiff computer chair.

It allows me to feel less constrained in my writing since I feel very comfortable tapping out my thoughts, reflections, ideas, and stories wherever I please. What also helps is my wireless connection to the internet. I don’t have to download my blog posts to a disk and run it over to my main computer in order to put it onto my blogs. I can sit, compose, and post all from my laptop. Of course, I’m only as good as the life of my battery, but that’s where the ac adapter comes in.

Yes, I’m really enjoying my laptop. It has become a very valuable tool in my writing pursuits.

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Writers are usually pictured in two different ways: very messy because they’re more interested in the creative process than keeping their work area clean; or, extremely neat and tidy where everything is organized and in its place.

I fall somewhere in the middle, leaning a little to the messy side. I prefer the neat and orderly, but with the little work space I have, and the increasing amounts of paperwork I go through and the research materials I accumulate, I find it difficult to keep myself as organized as I’d like. This summer, though, I need to make it a priority to GET ORGANIZED.

Here’s is the list of what I intend to do:

1) Go through, sort, and file paperwork at least twice a week. In fact, I need to mark it on my calendar so it gets locked into my schedule.

2) Make backup files of all my projects. I have followed the example of one of my writer friends to send a file copy of that particular project to another e-mail address. In case of a computer breakdown on my end, my data will be stored in another system. I need to be more consistent on doing this, particularly as I work on rewrites.

3) Buy a new desk. I have my eyes on a corner desk that I’ve been wanting to purchase that will keep my area (hopefully) a bit more organized. It comes with some storage space that will eliminate a few of my files. My old desk will go into the boys’ room to use for their computer.

4) Reorganize my bedroom. My “office”, which is really a very small corner of my living room, can’t handle a whole lot without making the rest of the room look messy; so my bedroom has become an overflow room for my research materials. I need to revamp that area, seriously go through books and get rid of the ones I don’t need (a sad affair as a book lover, but necessary), and figure out the best filing system for the items I will need to reuse for various projects.

5) Don’t procrastinate. Make time, even if its thirty minutes a day, to reorganize.

Will I become the super neat and organized writer with everything in its place? I doubt it, but most importantly I will feel better about how things look. Now where did I put that story idea I wanted to work on…?

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Take note of someone you see today, someone you don’t know. Create a character based on that person: give him/her a name, an occupation, a place to live. Does she/he have a pet? Is she/he married?

Now give this person a conflict: a lost driver’s license; a flat tire; a need to meet a sibling at the hospital, but your character has car trouble.

Write a 2 page story based on your character, his conflict, and the ultimate resolution.

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A writer friend of mine likes to give herself rewards when she finishes long writing projects. I had never considered that myself since I thought just being able to finish a project and send it off to the editor or publisher was reward enough. But as I thought about it, I started liking the idea.

I’ve bought myself address labels and new business cards and other writing related treats. This time I decided to splurge a bit and buy the newest Nancy Drew computer game.

I’m in my mid-forties, the mother of four, so why am I buying essentially a teenager’s game (well, technically, for 10 year olds and older)? Because I love mysteries. I love trying to solve strategic puzzles and searching for elusive clues. I especially love how this game challenges my mind and keeps me digging in the depths of my imagination for ways to figure out the answers.

I always work on the Senior Detective level since it’s more difficult than the Junior Detective level. I get less helps this way, forcing me to think and rethink the situations. What a fun way to keep my mind active!

It’s good to reward ourselves now and again for hard work and successful efforts. It can be something small like a colorful set of sticky notes, or something bigger like a computer game or even a laptop. The point is to acknowledge that our dedication to and our completion of projects are important and need to be validated, if even only to ourselves.

I’m working on a big book proposal right now. I wonder what I should do to reward myself this time?

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Deadlines are a crucial part of writing. Articles, proposals, rewrites, craft projects, short stories, etc. will need to be in the hands of your editor or publisher by certain dates. It’s rare for an editor to tell you, “Oh…take your time.” In the publishing industry, time is money. If you’re serious about writing, you will need to be on top of your deadlines.

As long as you constantly work on your piece, you don’t have to worry a lot about single projects. But it becomes challenging when you have two, three, or even four deadlines looming in the future.

The secret to meeting due dates is time management. You must plot out each project, making sure you give yourself enough time to tackle research, rough drafts, and rewrites. Say, for example, you have a book proposal that is due in three months. Print out monthly calendars for that time frame and calculate approximately how many days/weeks you need to find resources and research the information. Mark the calendar with those dates.

Next, figure out how many days/weeks you need to outline and then write up a rough draft, again allowing time for additional research. Also allow for editing the roughs and compiling a final draft. Mark everything onto the calendar. You can schedule other projects, too, like a magazine article or a chapter for a fiction novel, color-coding them so you can see at a glance if you’re on track.

Set up your weekly schedule to include research and writing time each day, allowing for appointments and other commitments. Give yourself breaks throughout so you won’t suffer from burnout.

Managing your time effectively is the key to dealing with deadlines. Make sure you plan appropriately so you can meet with success.

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This past Saturday three of my fellow critique group members and I visited the exhibit booths at the ALA Conference. Although none of us are librarians, we felt this would be a beneficial field trip from a writer’s perspective since we could see the books coming out in the fall for many big and little publishing houses. It was also an excellent way to meet valuable contacts that we may not otherwise have gotten to know.

This was my first time visiting such an event for this industry. The last time I went to anything even remotely similar was almost 20 years ago when I was involved in the film industry.

To be honest, I was a bit nervous. I didn’t know what to expect or how to approach any of the people in the booths. Thankfully we had our veteran author and friend, Nancy I. Sanders, with us. She skillfully and confidently walked up to people, introduced us as members of a local writer’s group, and then proceeded to ask about their line of books. This led to talks about their needs (or lack thereof), and about their submission policies. We met sales reps, editorial staff, and publishers. There are even a few houses who I will definitely contact with an idea in the next few weeks.

Conferences are a great way to see the needs of an industry. Even if you just visit the exhibits like we did, you will walk away with a better understanding of the market, and perhaps a few leads that you would never have gotten through e-mail or snail mail. That one-on-one contact makes a world of difference.

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