Friday, October 30, 2020

Increase Your Writing Production - Kill the Critic

 

What if murder could increase your writing production?

 How killing Miss Purdy helped me, and what it might do for you.

 

THERE YOU ARE - SETTLED IN TO REACH THAT 50,000 WORD GOAL.

YOU HAVE 30 DAYS FROM NOVEMBER 1  

HANG ON, BEFORE YOU START, YOU NEED TO COMMIT A MURDER

After writing from age eight, finally at thirty something, I figured out one huge problem with my writing process and progress. Miss Purdy was living in my head! My Grade Eight English teacher perched on top of my frontal lobe with her glasses on the end of her nose and her right, forefinger raised.

And she was bossy. “You must get it right,” she’d say, shoving up her glasses. “Miss Reid, how many times do I have to tell you to think before you write.” The finger would snap down, indicating one of my sentences. “No, no, that isn’t good enough. Do it again.”

Of course, she might have had unreasonable expectations. (Do you think?) And not just in writing. Apparently, I should spell perfectly because my father was a minister and had two degrees. (I still haven’t figured that one out. My dad couldn’t spell.)

Have you a critic in your life that sticks to you the way greens stick to grandmas dentures? messy, obvious and of no use? Does the voice echo in your head. Did you find red-pencil marks and snippy comments in your diary entry about your boyfriend? Did they throw a paper back on a desk with a big C- on it?

We all know the result of the Miss Purdys of the world. Far too many would-be writers, good writers, stall out because the voice in their heads tell them their writing isn’t perfect. It crippled my writing for years or at least seriously delayed my writing growth. Other writers confirmed this phenomena of an annoying Miss Purdy.

Eventually, thanks to workshops, how-to-books, and fellow writers, I realized what I must do. Murder Miss Purdy. If it’s a family member you actually like, lock them in solitary confinement during your creating phase. Once they’re locked up, you’re free to collect and write story ideas, to tweak them into a cohesive whole, and then edit them.

Oh darn, that edit thing. Maybe we shouldn’t murder our Miss Purdy. She has her place. But you can swear at her, tell her get lost, or point your finger and sent her to detention. Do anything to keep her behind the sound proof glass in your head.

Your creativity will thank you. You progress will be faster.

And without the hurdle of a nosy critic, you can reach the end of your 50,000-word Draft Zer0 in those 30 days of November.


 

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Create your Brand - what's YOUR tag line?




Identity - we all have one - who are you?

We present faces to the world that match our roles: mother, friend, sister, boss. But in truth, who are we? Behind all your faces, who are you? What do you care about? What do you want? What cheers you, what causes you harm, or drives you?

What tag line sums up who you are?

I've thought about those questions. I've searched for answers, direction, and inner peace. In the distant past, I thought I was the only one searching for these answers. Turns out I do not have a monopoly on the questions. Everyone I've met has asked these or similar questions more than once in their lives.

We start as babies with a clean slate. People we meet, the circumstances of our lives, and all the actions we take, inscribe indelibly on the slate that represents who we are. But do we let the writing of others define us? Or do we search out our own identity? Can we learn from our histories?

 Each of us is unique and our answers will be ours alone.

 I don't pretend to have answers for you. I have found a few for me. However, those answers shift with my mood, my circumstances, and my heart. I continue to redefine. At seventy years old, I know certain truths about myself and have tag lines to match.

In stories, I like a puzzle, struggling characters, and hopeful endings. In my writing, I strive to offer those ingredients to my readers.


For stories, my tag line is:


 Stories that set things right.... characters that find their way.

Here’s a life tag line my mother taught by example.


 Leave everyone and everything better than you find them.

  • When we ate at a campground on a road trip, she picked up trash left by others.
  • When we used a public washroom, she wiped down the sink she used and the others as well.
  • She picked up children who had fallen, held doors for seniors, and smiled at people she passed.



Small actions, that left things better than she found them. They may seem trivial, but like sands make a beach, small actions make a good life. Her life might have also had this tagline.

When you fall, get up and try again, and never turn down a good laugh.


For me, this line helps me stay focused and to make daily decisions.


Do you have a tag line for your books?
Do you have one for your personal life story?
  • Is your purpose to help? Teach? Create? Fix? Build?
  • Which of your actions leave you smiling and joy-filled?
  • What is your daily intent? Can you sum it up in one line?

 Using a tag line focuses your intent and purpose for your life (and your books).


Friday, March 27, 2020

How to organize a workshop presentation

Teaching to Learn

ARWA workshop, March 26, 2020 video  presentation


The very first attempt at a video workshop or presentation.
We are finally digital.

Basically, re workshop content, I listed multiple parts of a "book" (see list at end of article) and talked about learning the pieces and then combining them to write a book. That breaking it down, learning parts, and then combining into a whole is one of the most recommended ways to learn a complex subject.

Additionally, we looked at how ARWA members have done just that, and used teaching to learn over 30+ years.

In order to teach to learn, we looked at the following: 

The suggested process:

1) Pick a topic (specific and narrow)
2) Research the topic and collect points etc you find appropriate.
3) Write down how you would explain what you have learned.

 The format:

 Shape your material into a presentation covering these parameters.

Why is it important?
Who uses it?
What does it look like on the page?
When is it especially important?
Where do you use it? (narration, dialogue, description?)
What does it do for your writing? 
How can you use it on your current MS?
 


    OR in other words:
     

    T.I.S - TOPIC, IMPORTANCE, STRUCTURE

    •        What is it? state the topic
            e.g. show not tell ( as Pam put it - tell them what you are going to tell them.) Explain
    •       Why is it important?
           e.g. showing draws your reader into the story, engages the reader)
    •    Who Says so? (ie validity) 
    e.g. Multipublished authors, editros, readers
    •        What does it look like on the page?
     e.g. give an example of a telling sentence and turn it into a showing sentence * ( you tell them what you want to tell them) 
    •         Suggest exercises for practice - this might be:
    •          questions on a Power Point slide for the group to do orally 
    •          a hand-out with examples to work on followed by discussion
    •          a task to do at home - taking pages of their work in progress and testing the lesson
    •          all of the above
       Tell them what you have told them.

    FINAL WORDS

    •      There are times when reinventing the wheel is counter productive. There are hundreds of articles and videos with advide and instructions and tips for preparing, organizing and giving presentations in person or on video. 
    •        ARWA has had a workshop on Research and Teaching to Learn. If you combine the topics, you have the way to find out how to give a presentation. See links below to get you started..

    (Note some of the videos open with an advert - skip the ad - to get the real topic)

    Videos / Articles

    How to give a presentation:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7TcQPHW-Bw

    Learn to teach what you know.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxPoJhbJ2DM


    Templates for designing workshops
    https://tinyurl.com/t6h9ucn

    How to organize a presentation:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bwDr7WVBwo

     5 Quick ways to organize your presentation
    https://tinyurl.com/yx39z2wt

     Presentation Skills
    https://www.skillsyouneed.com/present/organise-material.html

    Possible topics - whatever you want to learn about writing and the book industry can probably be turned into a workshop because the rest of writers want to know as well.

    • - titles
    • - three acts (Content)
    • Introduction – 25%
    • Middle – 50%
    • Climax and resolution – 25%
    • Whose story?
    • What is it about?
    • First drafts
    •  Common words
    • Overused words
    • Verb structures
    • Qualifiers
    • Prepositions and their misuse
    • Specific nouns
    • Colloquial sayings
    • Dialect in dialogue
    • Participles etc
    • Narration
      Dialogue
      Description
      Length
      Openings and closings
       


    Tuesday, January 7, 2020

    Great news-Brains can change



    You can't teach an old dog new tricks. 

      How many times over the years have you heard that? If you're like me - plenty. Imagine my surprise and delight when I learned IT IS NOT TRUE. We have no reason to avoid learning new habits, methods, languages, or life-skills. You can teach an old dog new tricks.


      The research and proof

    Norman Doidge,M.D.'s first book is The Brain That Changes Itself. This book featured on PBS'S The Brain Fitness Program (Youtube Link here), offers amazing stories about, and strategies for, brain flexibility. A five-star book if there ever was one. If you, or someone you know, has had a stroke, brain injury, or motor difficulties, read this book. It offers hope for recovery.


    An astonishing new science called "neuroplasticity" is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. In this revolutionary look at the brain, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., provides an introduction to both the brilliant scientists championing neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've transformed. From stroke patients learning to speak again to the remarkable case of a woman born with half a brain that rewired itself to work as a whole, The Brain That Changes Itself will permanently alter the way we look at our brains, human nature, and human potential.

    Norman Doidge MD is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and the author of The Brain That Changes Itself and The Brain's Way of Healing.

    We can learn at any age. The stories in this book will make believers out of doubters. The hope offered to stroke patients, brain-injured, and others is remarkable.


    For the rest of us, we can learn about our brains and put them to even better use. Knowing HOW our brains work lets us figure out the ways we can maximize the ways to use our brains.

     For writers

    I like the possibility for writers to create characters with amazing skills. Extrapolate from Doidge's research and who knows how your next character will turn out. My 'what-if' brain is running rampant through the possibilities.


    One of the many positive reviews


    “The power of positive thinking finally gains scientific credibility. Mind-bending, miracle-making, reality-busting stuff...with implications for all human beings, not to mention human culture, human learning and human history.”
    -The New York Times


    Read it or watch on Youtube