Category Archives: Writing Advice

Writing Poetry

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This is not a how-to guide. If you want that, I recommend Stephen Fry’s excellent An Ode Less Travelled. This post is more selfish. I realised that since I intend to post a few of my poems on this blog (why yes, that is an easy way to think up a blog post topic! ;) ) I would quite like the chance to chat about these poems … or maybe, excuse them.

The thing is, I don’t think my poems are amazing must-read creations. Sometimes I don’t even think they’re finished creations. For me writing poetry has a two-fold purpose.

First, poetry is about playing with words. It’s my way of listening to how words sound when they’re put together and finding ways that put them together strongly and with emotional impact.

The second reason I write poetry is because sitting there with a pen and a scratched over page of paper is one way of breaking down a complicated idea or nailing an elusive one. Writing poetry is a way of exploring an idea from the inside out.

So there you go, that’s what I’m doing with the poems I’ll be sharing on this blog … you’ll be seeing how I think. You know it’s going to be messy, right?

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Soliloquising I’m Shakespeare

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I enjoy a good Shakespearean soliloquy. The play is romping along, the characters are interacting with varying degrees of wit and confusion, and suddenly one character steps forward, turns to the audience and addresses them directly under the pretence of speaking to him or herself. The soliloquy works because it doesn’t stand alone but is supported by all this preceding and subsequent activity — not to mention the framing of the stage, props, music and costumes.

An effective blog, I’ve decided, is a soliloquy. It can’t be a lone voice crying in the wilderness. It has to emerge from, and help create, a community. Making Light is an excellent example.

For the last couple of years I’ve been thinking about blogging — its role and why I’m so spectacularly unsuccessful at it. I started at the wrong end. I should have started by finding a community I’m at home in and building my blog from points I want to share, but which don’t find a place in current dialogue.

Because while a good blog creates content, a great blog creates content for a specific audience and nurtures that audience into a community.

There’s some discussion whether blogging is becoming passé. I’d argue that it may change form or publishing platform, but that the essential power of it will remain: independent, free publication of new content.

Content creation is the defining difference between the lions of the social media world and the rest of us ants. I scurry around, picking up crumbs and carrying them here, there and everywhere. A lion hunts down a juicy issue and gnaws on it, occasionally growling and snapping at vultures.

To blog or not to blog is not the question. Instead ask yourself: Who are you? Where do you belong? and what do you have to say?

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To Do Lists

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If someone banned me (and could enforce the ban) from using To Do Lists, I’d cease to be able to write and my life would fall apart. You think I’m kidding?

To Do Lists are how I break “overwhelming” into “achievable”. They’re also how I stop my mind from spinning with things “I must not forget“.

I am addicted to the satisfaction rush of crossing out an item. Done! and I love the sweet, sweet sound of paper crumpling as a whole list becomes history — though sometimes I cheat and scrawl some of the old To Do List tasks onto a new page.

Is there anything nicer than starting a new page? Each new To Do List is rich in possibilities (sometimes scary ones, I admit).

Also, seeing all the things I need to do listed out lets my bulldog mind release an impossible task and take up a smaller but still necessary one on days when I know I’m not superwoman.

To Do Lists are how I balance time, energy and competing demands…and sleep at night.

Whew. And now that this post is done, I can cross off “Tues. post” :)

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Ideas for Blog Posts

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Last week, I couldn’t think of a blog post and fell back on exploiting Toby … what the heck! He doesn’t mind having his photo taken :) But the fact I had to resort to pet photos to make up a blog post made me think about both topics for blogs and especially those ideas that can generate a fast post on busy days.

For my sort of blog, which is just me being me and sharing what I’m interested in (and I have a magpie curiosity) a neat trick is to use some spare time to build a list of interesting websites, articles and images that can support a blog post. Then when inspiration is low, you call up the list and voila!

Another option is to think about things you know and write them up to share: recipes, gardening know how, car maintenance (ha! like I know anything about that), theatre, whatever. Embrace your inner guru and shine :)

I try not to be rant-y online. But other people make fun and informative, thoughtful posts on current events. Opinions draw people in and spark conversations.

It doesn’t hurt to lure in unsuspecting guest bloggers, either.

If you collect, you can share highlights from that passion. Maybe you collect inspiring quotations or teapots. Photos of teapots would work. Images catch people’s attention.

On the subject of images…take photos of the world around you. People have made great blogs photographing their meals.

And that’s me idea’d out. Do you have any tips for generating posts?

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I’ve been interviewed!

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I’m over at Romance Writers of Australia talking about my writing day. It’s nice sometimes to have someone ask you questions about your craft — when I stop to think about it, I’ve learned a lot over the last few years: Editors are human, ideas are endless, the writing/reading community is awesomely supportive, and sitting in front of a computer writing is hard work!

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Brand Promise Jargon

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Maybe those three words, “brand, promise, jargon” don’t jangle your nerves, but they do mine. I think it’s because slick jargon is hiding some important stuff I want to talk about. Stuff like, expectations, conversations, identity, reality, work, friendship and why the heck am I, Ms Hermit, spending so much time on social media?

The first thing I want to say is, You are NOT your brand.

It’s kind of complicated.

Any time you venture online you are creating people’s perception of you — and how they perceive you is your brand.

But, did you read the word I used? You are creating people’s perception of you. Whether you’re conscious of it or not, whether you believe you’re being completely unfiltered or not, what and how you share information about yourself (and that information includes how you behave) creates a version of you online. That version of you is your brand. It’s what services like Klout purport to measure.

This version of you deserves to be called your brand when you look at it and see that it is the value proposition you’re putting to people. This brand tells people it is worth their time, their attention, heck, maybe even their money, because it offers them … Well, what are you offering them? This is where brand morphs into promise.

And this is the point where I think it’s important to remember that you are not your brand. You are so much more than your brand. But there is only so much of you that you want to give away — promise — to others. This is why being conscious of the version of you that you’re putting out there is vital. People will (mostly) respect your boundaries, but you need to define those boundaries.

On the flipside, people will build expectations around your brand. They will believe your promises. So you need to make promises you can keep.

Brand You … oh jargon, how I hate thee … Brand You is not a false identity. Well, I guess it could be, but this is my take on it. Brand You is genuine. It is you, but it’s also you knowing that you’re creating yourself. It is you self-aware and acting with purpose. It is you wanting something: friendships, conversations, to share knowledge, to sell your music, books or paintings, to take a journey (literal or figurative), to amuse and be amused.

The reason why people talk so much about brand is because it’s an effective tool in the “look at me! look at me!” world of social media. There is a lot of babble, a lot of confusion, a lot of competition in social media. If you want to make genuine connections with people it really helps to offer them a coherent you. People like stories. Brand You is your story.

 

 

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Writing Advice

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Explore the world of tech options and find ones that support how you want to live your writing life.

By this I mean, take the time to set up your writing place so you’re comfortable and protected against things like RSI and whatever other health nasties you’re prone to…back ache, eyestrain, hayfever, whatever. Make the place you write a healthy one.

I also mean, face up to your tech jinxes (if you’re tech-challenged like me) and test out software/apps that will save you time. This might include learning keyboard shortcuts or how best to use MS Word or … I don’t know. But it ought to also include choosing something like Tweetdeck to help you manage your social media. Social media can chew up hours in your day. Anything, anything at all that helps you master it and not the other way round, is worth exploring. Me, I love Chromedeck (Tweetdeck that runs on the Chrome browser).

Are there any other tech things that you, as a writer, wouldn’t be without?

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Writing Advice

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Yes, but…

I don’t know about you, but I’m a reluctant adopter of good advice. This is a bad trait in anyone learning a craft. There has been a ton of advice, very good advice, that I’ve read, reread and had hit me with a hammer, but which I’ve refused for years to adopt. The only person who suffered for this stupid, stubborn behaviour is me. My writing could have improved much faster.

So, I’ve introduced my stubborn brain to a new concept. A flashing neon sign that alerts it to its own stupidity. And that sign is “Yes, but…”.

When I read, hear or otherwise encounter some good writing advice and my response is “yes” because it makes a lot of sense or is said by someone I’ve learned to trust, but then followed up with “but” I’m going to take a long hard look at my response because “but” is a signal that I’m arguing with good sense.

Want an example?

I spent years (in my head) arguing against the removal of adverbs, particularly those that coloured “said”. They’re useful, I whined. I like them. They’re great words, those adverbs, and I don’t want them to feel unused and unloved. And look I’ve spotted one in this book and that book, and, and, and…

“she said stubbornly”

Yes, my rational mind knew the use of those adverbs attached to said meant my dialogue wasn’t strong enough to stand on its own, but instead of committing to rewriting and strengthening that dialogue, I hung onto those adverbs.

If I had any tech skills to speak of, I’d end this post with a flashing neon graphic:

Yes, but…

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Goal, Motivation and Conflict

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Deb Nemeth, my Carina Press editor, recommended “Goal, Motivation and Conflict. The Building Blocks of Good Fiction” by Debra Dixon. All I can say is, good karma to the two Debs :)

“Goal, Motivation and Conflict” gives you a framework to deal with your story’s conflict, making it coherent and tight.

On the other hand, the GMC framework isn’t rigid or prescriptive. When you stop to consider it, your characters do have internal and external goals, motivations and conflicts. Explicitly studying them and checking that they’re robust is just commonsense — sadly, commonsense sometimes takes a holiday in my life ;)

If you can grab a copy of GMC, I thoroughly recommend it. But don’t trust me, trust Deb!

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