WritingSpirit Blog

As a writer, do you see yourself as an artist, an entrepreneur, or a bit of both? Writers on twitter speak out.

This morning I posted a question on twitter as I was getting ready to take a break for lunch. I got so many responses that lunch had to wait a while.

Here are some of the answers I got from my fellow writers on twitter:

PaintswithWords: A writer is an artist, an entrepreneur, a researcher, a student of life, a philosopher.

cswriter59:  Right now I'm an artist perfecting my craft.

AuthorofPatches: A dash of both is necessary nowadays, tho not especially compatible. Biz hustle can easily drain from creativity I think.

julichilliard: Both!

VariantVal: When I write it is strictly art... I've yet to write for money... well other than web copy at work, that doesn't count. lol

nestnestnest: Less about philosophy and more about how do I make money from this thing I like to do....?

marisabirns: Perhaps at one time a writer was solely an artist. Now a writer needs some entrepreneurial skills, too.

Sally_G: Great question! A bit of both, with Teacher, Philosopher, Dreamer and Historian thrown in for good measure. Oh, and poet too!

DetailsDivas: Definitely both! Creativity is the foundation, but being able to manage it all is the entrepreneurial side of the business.

ShadyMutton: Gonna have to say artist- cause I write to express and create. If it grows into something beyond that - icing on the cake.

TonyNoland: Both. Art is great, but it starves & dies w/out entrepreneurial hustling. And then you have to punch a clock. *shudder*

julichilliard: It also helps to have a very supportive spouse.

octoberrose: I'm willing to work to support my writing. If it sells, great! But I aim to serve my writing, rather than make it serve me.

JodiWhisenhunt: Artist, entrepreneur, or both? Artist who's passion forces her to be a reluctant entrepreneur ;)

AuthorWilliam: I'd say not just a bit of both a LOT of both. Being an entrepreneur is the gateway to giving more of your time to writing. :)

NorthPrince: Writer and entrepreneur. Without the second, nobody will ever hear of the first!

myafd: I think the days of a writer just being able to write are gone. Whether traditional or self published, must learn marketing.

AngelMenchan: I am both ~ an artistic entrepreneur.

If you want to write for a living, it seems that artist & entrepreneur must learn to co-exist. The challenge is in how to balance the two. Knowing when it's helpful to be solely one or the other, and when you need to wear both hats at once. It can be very confusing, as well as overwhelming.

One thing I've discovered is that being a "reluctant entrepreneur," as @JodiWhisenhunt described, doesn't serve my art. Only when you fling yourself fully into both, does the fullness of your gift come alive so that it can be shared with others. So I want to find a way to open up my entrepreneurial passion, that my art may flourish.

The happy medium I've found is adding a dash of entrepreneurial spirit to my art, and a large dose of creativity to my business.

Many use the term authorpreneur, to describe what it means to be a writer, today.

Are you an authorpreneur?

The Most Literate Cities in America for 2009

Yes, it's that time of year again. Literate Cities time!

The 2009 study was compiled by Dr. John W. Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University, in collaboration with the Center for Public Policy and Social Research at CCSU.

From the America's Most Literate Cities website:

"Drawing from a variety of available data resources, the America’s Most Literate Cities study ranks the largest cities (population 250,000 and above) in the United States. This study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources."

And the winners are...

1. Seattle, WA
2. Washington, DC
3. Minneapolis, MN
4. Pittsburgh, PA
5. Atlanta, GA
6. Portland, OR
7. St. Paul, MN
8. Boston, MA
9. Cincinnati, OH
10. Denver, CO

I live in Los Angeles, and (quite embarrassingly) we're #62. I'm going to have to do something about raising our rankings a bit before the 2010 list rolls around.

It's #WriterWednesday on Twitter. Here Are 5 of My Favorite Writers on Twitter.

#WriterWednesday is an opportunity for people to recommend their favorite writers on twitter. I don't know who started #WriterWednesday, but I thank you! (If anyone knows, please share.)

To participate, all you have to do is recommend your favorite writers in a tweet, and add the hashtag #WriterWednesday to your post.

If you want to find writers to follow on twitter, simply insert the hashtag #WriterWednesday in the search box on your twitter homepage, and start checking out the writers being recommended.

Here are some of my favorite writers on twitter:

1. @JaneFriedman  Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman is the editorial director and publisher of the Writer's Digest community of products and services: Writer's Digest Books, Writer's Digest Magazine, and the Writer's Market series. As busy as all that keeps her, she still makes time to blog and tweet. Her Writer's Digest blog, There Are No Rules, is amazingly helpful and should be bookmarked by every writer. It includes a weeky Best Tweets for Writers post that hightlights tweets that are linked to great articles of interest to writers. Her tweets are just as helpful. Follow Her!

(I recently interviewed Jane for the WritingSpirit Book Writer's Community and she very generously shared her knowledge and wisdom about the current state of book publishing--how the publishing industry has changed due to the economy and technological advances, and how it's continuing to evolve--and what to do to have the best chance to get your book published.)

2. @MarkDavidGerson  Mark David Gerson

Mark David Gerson is a dear friend of mine that I met on twitter! He wrote one of my all time favorite books on writing The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write. It is imbued with Mark David's wisdom and warmth, grew out of his own writing experience (his novel The MoonQuest, and The Voice of the Muse have won many book awards), and his years as a creativity coach. His blog The Voice of Your Muse carries on this wonderful abundance of riches, as does his tweets on twitter. Follow Him!

3. @DonnaKozik  Donna Kozik

Donna Kozik is the creator of the wonderful Write a Book in a Weekend Events. She's refined the book writing process into a system that helps people write a book (or at least a first draft) FAST! She generously shares writing tips on twitter, and tweets her support to those on the book writing journey. Follow Her!

4. @TheCreativePenn  Joanna Penn

Joanna Penn is an author, speaker and business consultant based in Australia (although she's British!). She is the author of How to Enjoy Your Job, and enjoyed the writing process so much that she wrote From Idea to Book, and From Book to Market. Her website, The Creative Penn, has great articles, lots of writing freebies, and is an excellent example of a well thought-out and executed writer's website. Follow Her!

5. @InkyElbows  Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Debbie Ridpath Ohi is a freelance writer and illustrator based in Toronto, and the author of The Writer’s Online Marketplace (Writer’s Digest Books, 2001). Her blog, InkyGirl.com: Daily Diversions for Writers, is a fabulous resource for writers filled with informative articles, twitter tips, and her wonderful "Will Write for Chocolate" cartoons! Her twitter stream is equally full of writerly delights. Follow Her!

And please follow me:

@WritingSpirit  Julie Isaac

I'm an award winning author and creativity coach, the creator and host of #writechat (a live weekly chat for writers on Twitter every Sunday from 12pm-3pm PST, attended by 200-300 writers weekly), and the founder of the WritingSpirit Book Writers Community. There are lots of great articles, writing resources, and twitter tips at my WritingSpirit Blog, and I'm currently writing Brainstorming Your Blog to help writers brainstorm their blog strategy, content, and promotion. Follow Me for writing and blogging tips, #writechat news, and a whole lot more!

Who are your favorite writers on twitter?

Four Authors Who Didn't Give Up Their Writing Dreams

As I was researching Dr. Richard Carlson (author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff) for the How to Write Fast, Right Now! call I'm doing for the WritingSpirit Book Writers Community, I found this on his website, DontSweat.com (now run by his wife):

At one point, [Richard] almost quit writing because he received such a low advance on a book. We were talking about how he might have to give up writing when the phone rang.  Oprah’s producer was on the line. She said she was just in their library looking for a book on stress management and “You Can Be Happy, No Matter What” popped off the top shelf and hit her in the head! She asked if there was any way Richard could fly out to Chicago the next day to be part of a guest panel on the Oprah Winfrey show? This event marked a shift in the energy of Richard’s career. Three years later, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff  became a #1 Best Seller all over the world [and has since sold over 25 million copies].

When you look closely at the lives, and careers, of famous authors, you find that they, too, faced doubt and fear, rejection and pitifully small book advances.  Authors such as:

• JK Rowling It took JK Rowling's agent a year, and 12 rejections, before Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (the book's British title) sold to a small publishing house. When Rowling received the book's £2,500 advance for the initial print run of 500 copies, Rowling was advised to find a day job and not rely on writing children's books for a living. It was only after the book started winning awards that interest in Harry Potter began to soar.

• Mary Higgins Clark Every one of Mary Higgins Clark's 42 novels have been a bestseller, but it took her 6 years and 40 rejection slips to sell her first short story. 18 years after that, in 1974, she sold her first mystery novel, Where Are the Children, for an advance of $3,000. It's now in it's 75th printing.

Of course there are also magical publishing stories, like that of:

• Patrice Karst On November 11, 1995, Patrice Karst woke up from a dream seeing the words, GOD MADE EASY in her mind's eye. Something within commanded her to sit down and write, and an hour later the small book was completed. Not knowing the publishing business, Karst simply picked up the phone and called three publishers. She signed a contract with DeVorss & Co. a month later. While gathering testimonials for God Made Easy, her little book fell into the hands of a big agent--who loved it. DeVorss & Co. stepped aside when Time-Warner expressed a desire to publish God Made Easy. Although the figure is not on her website, I seem to remember from hearing her speak years ago that she received a $50,000 advance. 

Whether your road to publication is long or short, and your advance big or small, the ups and downs of the writing life are common to all writers. Yet what is common only in successful authors, is that no matter what happens, they keep writing, writing, writing and submitting.

What if Mary Higgens Clark had given up after her first rejection letter? Or her 15th? Or her 35th?

What if JK Rowling had listened to the naysayers, and been satisfied with working 9 to 5.

What if Dr. Richard Carlson had quit writing because he believed it would never support him?

Wherever you are in your writing and publishing journey, keep going, keep writing, keep submitting.

What's your favorite (most inspiring) publishing story?

The 5 Cardinal Rules of Brainstorming

1.  Generate as many ideas as possible, as fast as you can.

Speed is the name of the game, with brainstorming, because you don’t want your logical mind to short-circuit the intuitive connections that are flying through your brain at a thousand miles an hour. For the same reason, when you’re writing your ideas down don’t worry about organizing them, or even taking the time to write the full idea down. You don't want to stop the flow, so use the least amount of words possible to convey the key points of your idea.

2.  Every idea is a good idea!

If an idea seems dull, unrelated to your project, or unrealistic, write it down, anyway. You never know where an idea will lead. Something that may not seem to make any sense for the project you’re working on may be the catalyst that breaks you through to a whole new level of creativity. Trust the brainstorming process. 

3. Decision making come LATER!

If you start debating the value of every idea you generate, you’re going to cut off the creative flow. You can weed out the weak ideas, later, when you’ve got your editor’s cap on. As long as you’re brainstorming, don’t judge or hold back even the craziest of ideas. Your job is simply to write down whatever comes.

4.   Be willing to be silly.

Brainstorming is fun, so have fun with it. Keep it light. The more relaxed, open, and playful you are, the more creative you'll be. When you're being silly, besides having fun, you're at that place of "anything goes," which is the essence of brainstorming. And the silly ideas, themselves, are golden and often go viral.

5.   Mix it up.

Use several different brainstorming tools and techniques: mind maps, fast-writing, clustering, lists, and card decks—with paper and pen, or on your computer. The more ways you can mix it up the better, for each will bring up different thoughts, feelings, memories, associations, words, ideas, and images. In addition to using language based brainstorming techniques, you can also brainstorm with audio or visual cues, such as music, photographs, or art.

You can also find a brainstorming partner, or join a mastermind group. Besides the wonderful ideas that others will generate specifically for you, brainstorming with others sparks ideas in you that you wouldn’t have come up with on your own. When two or more are brainstorming, it creates a powerful synergy.

Time is a Shape-Shifter

Time is a shape-shifter. A piece you think will only take an hour (or a week) to write takes five. Something you put off, and put off, and put off, because you think it will be a huge undertaking, goes quickly and easily once you get to it.

The number of hours per day may be set, but how you experience them, whether they fly by or drag on forever, whether you get a lot written or very little, can’t be predetermined. Time management is a living, moment-to-moment, interactive experience.

Whatever writing schedule you set, know that it’s merely an estimate and be ready to go with the creative flow.

Feeling Overwhelmed? Then It's Time to Get Organized.

If it feels like you have 1000 things to do and only 10 minutes to do them in, and you start to close down, take a deep breath and...

1. Pull out a piece of paper
   
   
2. Make a list of those 1000, no… 350, no… 14 things you think have to be done today (whatever's on your mind goes on the paper).
   
   
3. Write the most important three tasks on a separate piece of paper, and put your original list away—out of sight.
   
   
4. Do the first task on your list. Complete it.
   
   
5. Do the second task on your list. Complete it.
   
   
6. Do the third task on your list. Complete it.
   
   
7. When all three tasks are done, pull your big list out of it's hiding place, and decide which are the next three tasks you’re going to do.

Writing down and organizing ALL of your writing and book related tasks, makes it easier to get everything done, because it lessens your sense of overwhelm and confusion, helps you focus in on and get specific about what needs to be done for your current project (as well as for your long-term goals), and gives you a step-by-step action plan that helps you move steadily forward. But your TO DO Today list should only ever be 3 items long.

There will always be a lot, often too much, to do. Yet, in any given moment you can only do one thing at a time—what’s right in front of you.

Multitasking divides your focus, and dilutes your energy. It’s better to give whatever you’re working on your undivided attention, even when you’re juggling several writing projects, or are doing marketing as well as writing. When you're fully focused on the task at hand, it goes more quickly and easily, and you’re more likely to finish it. You will be more efficient and effective this way—and get a lot more done.  

In Good Company: One of the Things I Love About Twitter Lists

Twitter Lists allow users to create follow lists that are separate from their main account, and whose tweets won't appear on their twitter stream. Some writers lump all of their favorite literary folk together in one list, while others create separate lists for authors, literary agents, publishers, etc.

One of the fun things about these targeted lists is that if you're chosen to be in one, you could find yourself in some very good company. I was looking at Kathy Niece's twitter list of writers, and found myself "sitting next to" some very talented people. It's fun to imagine myself at an intimate dinner party with: 

Oh... JK, would you please pass the pepper. I have a phrase that's a little dull and need's some spicing up. 

Who are you partying with on twitter's lists?

Julie and Julia: What I Learned About Writing From Watching Julia Child Cook

Before I begin, I need to clarify that the Julie, in the "Julie and Julia" of this blog post's title, is not blogger Julie Powell, but writer Julie Isaac--c'est moi.

Last night, or very early this morning, depending on how you define 2:00 am, I stumbled upon a Julia Child documentary on PBS. It played clips from four decades of Julia's TV shows. Besides being amazed that Julia was slathering butter on both the inside and outside of a chicken, and then layering bacon on top of the butter, I was mesmerized by how passionate she was about cooking, and how much fun she had doing it.  

As I was watched clips of Julia cooking, and interviews with famous chefs speaking about their time with her, I realized that I was learning powerful writing lessons, in addition to how to roast a chicken.

Here are 3 things I learned about writing from watching Julia Child cook:

1. Be Yourself. When Julia was in the kitchen, she was at home, even when the TV cameras were rolling and millions were tuning in.  As "The French Chef," and author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, she could have adopted a more professorial tone as she taught America how to cook French cuisine, and no one would have questioned it. Yet she was just Julia. She loved what she did, shared it joyfully, laughed easily, and turned every mistake into an opportunity to learn something new. Her personality shone through everything she did on television, and we loved her for it.
   
   Beginning writers are constantly getting caught in-between the desire to come up with new and unique ideas, and the belief that they need to emulate successful authors in order to get published. What it takes them awhile to understand is that they can do both, simultaneously, by simply being themselves.
   
   Offer something new, by being absolutely YOU.
   
   
2. A Writer's "Voice" Is More Than Words.  At the end of the documentary, clips from Julia's cooking shows rolled underneath the credits, her words muted by the musical soundtrack. Even without being able to hear her distinctive voice, I was riveted to the screen by how powerfully her personality still came across. You could see the joy in her face as her arms swung widely, and she made some culinary point with a pot in one hand and a spoon in the other. 
   
   That got me thinking about the many ways an author's voice might come across in her writing other than through her words. An author's "voice" encompasses more than the use of language, it includes pacing, plotting, punctuation, and every choice that's made. One author's love scene could be torrid, while another's chaste, with a third sneaking past it without a word. Some authors love to dip their prose into minutia, while others write with rich broad strokes.
   
   Who you are will burst forth from your book in a myriad of ways. Some designed by you; others beyond conscious choice.
   
   
3. Commit to Your Vision. Julia Child did a television series with Jacques Pepin called Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. He was a famous chef, and liked to do things his way. Julia was the same. I loved watching the two of them together. Each was doing their piece of the recipe their own way, yet they were open enough to learn from each other.
   
   As a writer, you're going to get feedback and suggestions from many people: friends, loved ones, critique groups, editors, agents, and publishers (to name a few). It can be a struggle to hold your vision steady in the face of so much creative and critical input. So it helps to be like Julia, strong and self-confident, yet open to listening to and learning from others.
   
   Clarify your vision and voice, then commit to them. When you've steadied your vision within yourself, you can more easily weather the ups and downs of the writing life.

What lessons have you learned from Julia Child, or any other person you admire?

Using Music As An Inspiration & Productivity Tool

Music can support your writing in many different ways. Music can create a mood, can become a ritual that turns your mind towards writing, or can distract the mind so that inspiration is free to flow through. Many people create special writing soundtracks that either put them into the feeling place of their story, or helps them to relax, focus, and open.

You can also use music as a productivity tool. If you listen to music CDs when you write, don’t turn the repeat button on for continuous play. Even if you have a favorite CD that you could write to all day long, listen only on regular play. That way, every 45 to 55 minutes when the music stops, or you realize that it’s off, you’re reminded to get up from your computer and stretch, walk around, get water, and take a break. It’s too easy to write for hours on end without budging from the computer, but it’s better for your body to get up every hour or so and move. Your music coming to an end is a gentle reminder.

Do you listen to music when you write? What type of music do you listen to?