Christie Rut-Busting Book for Writers

Second Edition
1. Auflage 2023
ISBN: 979-8-3509-1103-9
Verlag: BookBaby
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 200 Seiten

Reihe: Rut-Busting Book for Writers

Rut-Busting Book for Writers, a 2018 Notable Indie by Shelf Unbound and a Best Book Awards finalist by American Book Fest, is for writers who are stuck in creative ruts and unable to move forward. It provides strategies to address some of the common problems that derail the creative process: procrastination, time challenges, and self-doubt. It also has concrete steps for those who want to pursue a freelance writing career. By following the tips in this book, writers will spend less time trapped in their particular writing rut and more time following their creative passion!

Nancy Christie is the author of six books, including two award-winning books for writers: Rut-Busting Book for Writers and Rut-Busting Book for Authors. Her other books include the novel, Reinventing Rita, the first in her Midlife Moxie Novel Series, two award-winning short story collections: Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories and Peripheral Visions and Other Stories, and the inspirational book, The Gifts of Change. Her next short story collection, Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales, will be released December 2023. The creator and host of the Living the Writing Life podcast and founder of the annual 'Celebrate Short Fiction' Day, Nancy is a popular presenter of writing workshops. She's a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Women's Fiction Writers Association, and the Florida Writers Association. To interview Nancy or book her for a speaking engagement, signing or other event, contact her via email at [e-mail] or at 330-793-3675. For more about Nancy and links to her social media profiles, visit her website at www.nancychristie.com.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Christie, Nancy

Leseproben

THE POWER OF PASSION “Writing for me is like a bridge between myself and the rest of the universe.” Tim Quigley By its very nature, writing is a solitary pursuit. Even if you belong to a writing group or take writing classes, spend your writing time in a café or library, the reality is that, wherever you are and whomever you are surrounded by, you are still alone in your head, writing. And that very aloneness can lead to a host of conflicting emotions about yourself and your writing ability. You love to write and can’t imagine doing anything else, but then… you learn that a writer friend got an agent and you wonder what’s wrong with you that you don’t have one. Another writer had his article accepted and you ask yourself why all you receive are rejections. Or after attending a workshop on freelance writing where everyone else talks about their six-figure incomes, you look at your last year’s profit-and-loss statement and see that it reflects just a five-figure one—in the low five figures, no less. When the writing isn’t going well—or isn’t going at all!—it’s so easy to wonder why you are doing it, if you’re being foolish or selfish to devote time to what could be considered a long shot instead of making a more practical and reasonable choice. And along the way, you lose sight of the motivation that drives you to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. The reality is that it’s not always so easy to feel good about writing—or about yourself as a writer. Your expectations about what being a writer should be (triggered by the comparison game) can often make you doubt yourself and your abilities. You imagine that all the other writers wake up each morning full of confidence and creative fire and go to bed each night satisfied with their literary accomplishments. And because you don’t always feel that way, you put yourself in a different class or on a lower level—or maybe not even in the “writer” category at all. When I hold my “Rut-Busting” Workshops for Writers, one of the very first activities I have the participants do is introduce themselves to all the other attendees. But this is no quick “Hi, I’m Mary” exercise. Instead, each one has to follow the same script: “Hi, I’m Mary, and I’m a successful writer,” or “Hi, I’m Joe, and I’m a successful writer.” While there’s always a certain amount of laughter during the exercise, it’s obvious that some people have trouble using the word “successful” while others balk at claiming the title “writer.” Their responses go something like this: • “I’m not really a writer. I mean, I write but I haven’t been published.” • “Successful? Not really. I’m working on something but I don’t know if I can finish it.” • “I’ve had a story [or a poem or an essay] published but I didn’t get paid, so I guess I’m not a real writer.” All those “buts” that need to be busted! The only requirement to claim the title of “successful writer” is that you write as often as you can, as much as you can and to the best of your ability. Isaac Asimov said it best in Gold when he defined writers as those who consistently work at their craft, even if they are unknown to the world or never earn any publishing credits or income from their work. You can’t look to external sources for your validation as a writer because that puts you at the mercy of readers and reviewers, people who measure your ability by the money you’ve been paid or the places you’ve been published. Then, when the responses are not what you hoped for—or fail to materialize at all—your confidence in your ability begins to drain away and your passion for writing starts to fade. Instead, you must feed the flame through the work itself— from the way it makes you feel to express your thoughts and emotions in a fixed fashion. Author Julie Anne Lindsey first experienced this when she was writing her debut novel. “I realized I’d found my passion and calling in a place I’d never expected. I felt it instinctively. I was meant to do this. I just had to figure out how,” she said, adding, “I get incredible joy and satisfaction from the writing process. I love being an author. I love the daily challenge, the research, the creation, all of it. I love the readers, fellow authors and the industry at large. This is right where I belong.” A key point in Lindsey’s response is that her sense of fulfillment isn’t grounded in book sales or royalty checks but in how the writing process makes her feel. And it’s that positive, self-affirming emotion that keeps her pursuing her craft. Remember: You are a writer as long as you write. How you identify yourself with regard to your writing can make all the difference. It can either ignite your passion or dampen it to the point where the flame flickers and finally dies out. The second rule is to think about your reasons for writing. Why do you want to write? What does the act of writing bring into your life? I’ve asked those two questions of the many writers that I’ve interviewed over the years, and the answers vary as much as the type of writing they do. For Catherine Wald, working on her book, The Resilient Writer: Tales of Rejection and Triumph by 23 Top Authors, led to some realizations about her reasons for writing. “I wrote The Resilient Writer because I was overwhelmed with frustration when my agented novel was rejected by a dozen or more publishers. One thing I learned about myself personally— and I think others share this—is that I had a Cinderella-like fantasy about being a published and of course successful writer. Fame was a stand-in for Prince Charming, who would fill my life with excitement and romance. I expected not only success but a life-changing experience.” But then Wald did some serious soul-searching about her definition of success. “I wanted to live a life connected to people who cared about writing and the arts,” she explained. “I wanted to continue to write what I wanted and to grow as a writer, an artist, and a citizen of the writing community. And I realized that I didn’t actually have to become famous to do that. It would have helped, but there is so much one can do without needing a stamp of approval from anyone.” Writing can also be a way of processing life events as in the case of author and freelance writer Maria Ciletti. She used journal writing to document her experiences during the four years she cared for her mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. “I wrote what I was feeling, what she was feeling, and all the challenges we faced during that difficult time,” she said, with her journal forming the basis of her book, I Have to Leave You Now: A Survival Guide for Caregivers of Loved Ones with Alzheimer’s Disease. Short-story writer Tim Quigley is driven by “a need to share what I see, what I think, and what I feel. If I don’t do it, then I have this other sense of incompletion and frustration that follows me around as well, like this cosmic and perpetual to-do list.” Author and world traveler Allan Karl said that he can’t help “creating stories in my mind of people I observe as I travel. I have an incredible passion to understand and learn the stories, background and motivations of most anyone I meet or who catches my mind.” Karl views writing as a way to be open to new ideas, to change, to different food, people and culture that ultimately leads to understanding and learning, a similar concept expressed by crime fiction writer Marie Sutro. “Creating credible characters requires empathy,” she noted. “Without opening your mind to other people’s circumstances and the factors that motivate or impede them, it is almost impossible to create an authentic human experience for the reader.” For author Jessica Soffer, writing “brings as much to my life (joy, understanding, challenge, ritual) as it is my life. Writing is the way that I process and communicate and organize my thoughts and my time.” While noting that “none of my work is autobiographical,” romance writer Jamie Beck said, “I need to write because the stories want to be told. I suppose it is cathartic, too. I’m sure I’m working out ‘new’ endings to some of my own old wounds in these books.” So many writers said that writing isn’t just something they choose to do, but also something they have to do—a creative expression that fulfills them like nothing else. As young-adult author Heidi Angell said, “Even if I could never have my work read by others, I don’t think I would stop writing.” Author Gillian Felix said, “Writing takes me into a world that I would never have the chance to be a part of. It is my escape. I love the whole creative process, the research...