Questions

What do you do when you have writers block? And how do you get rid of it??I’ve been trying to finish the first chapter for a few days now.

And if anyone could tell me some sites that have greek mythology and other related things that’d be great.

Happy Swimming <3
- Fishyy

Question:

What was it like as new authors in the publishing world?

Answer:

As free-lance writers of informative articles, we had no prior experience with book publishers. We did a lot of research and were aware of some basic contract and publishing procedures, yet there were many things we were not prepared for. For instance, there was the book cover design to conceive of - which our good friend Brian McAndrew created. The back cover text had to be developed, an author’s bio written, photos to have taken and lists of nearly 2 hundred contacts to sort out. The marketing research took weeks to do, but it resulted in a 12-page plan to ease our way. Then there were formal things like dealing with the Library of Congress and Copyrighting. For instance, copies of the book had to be sent to the Library of Congress at our expense. There are rules to be aware of as well. The rights for free use (using quotes from other people) is so gray that we opted out of including this kind of text. Unfortunately, that meant more editing. We were disappointed because there were some very good quotes that would have added a great deal to the book.

Question:

What were some publishing experiences or unexpected turn of events?

Answer:

While Lillian was browsing the Internet looking up information on other publishers, she came upon Publish America’s website. It inspired her to send a query in on the spot. Within 3-days we received a request for a sample manuscript. Now, these publishers only accept 20% of the thousands of queries that cross their desks, so we were excited to have such a good response in a very short time. Unfortunately, we were also relocating our home from one part of town to another, finishing a garden year and working as well. Time was short and stress was high. We got that sample manuscript off in a timely fashion, however, and we received an acceptance within a few days. The heady sensation of signing the 7-year contract flew by us in a blur.

Question:

What time and resources do we put in for promoting the book?

Answer:

Every day we put in 2-6 hours into some aspect of the book. The Internet has proven to be a powerful tool where an immense amount of information can be found from newsletters, publishers, forums and authors. Every on-line communication we have is an opportunity to plug our book by simply attaching an auto signature. We developed promotional materials (flyers, mini-posters, large posters, bookmarks, labels) and, of course, galleys and sample packages for editors and booksellers. Most importantly, we had a great website built for us by Brian McAndrew of Beyond Graphix.

Question:

What did you learn in researching the book?

Answer:

We thought we were committed to the concept of the book in our lives, but when researching and writing this book we found we became much more motivated, more committed and more informed about waste reduction.

Question:

As a writer, what have you learned about staying organized or motivated?

Answer:

Having a plan of action for every project is vital. Every project should have an outline starting from the title through to the end. There should also be a market plan laid out. Who are you marketing to? How you are going about it? What will you do first? These are the most important tools of a writer. Most people think of a writing career being one where you have lots of leisure time and creating with words. On the contrary, most of the time is spent marketing and organizing projects. For instance, we might write an article and query it to a market. That market may take a few days to get back to us, but it may also be as long as a year before we hear from them. That article is idle and we do not get paid until after it is published. A writer may have hundreds of pieces of their work at various stages of writing and marketing at one time. They need to know where it is and its status, at a glance. We use the Excel program to take care of this. For the book, plans were indispensable. The market plan alone is a book in itself and will take us years to complete. That is normal, actually. A writer must spend much of their time promoting the book for years after publication in order to keep sales happening. Unfortunately, promotion and writing time are unpaid hours in the meantime.

Question:

When do you write?

Answer:

We have to do a bit of juggling to manage our business, day job and writing career with some kind of balance. Usually, We work as a team, though we write separately and then conglomerate and edit the work together. Because we share one computer, this can be a bit of a juggle. Dave works shift work so when he is at work or sleeping Lillian will use the computer to research and promote.

Question:

What is your professional background?

Answer:

Dave and Lillian began their (paid) writing career working as staff writers at Openminder Newsletter where they experienced the harried pace of getting several articles and even feature or interview articles ready for a by-weekly deadline. It was our start in the writing world and plunged us head-first into the community, interviewing unique and enterprising people. The concept of Trash Talk was already developed and this market snatched up the column immediately. When Openminder closed shop, we started a free-lance career. Our articles have since appeared in a variety of magazines including Seeds of Diversity, Country Connection and ISKRA.

Question:

Have you won any awards or contests?

Answer:

Yes, Dave has recently won first prize in the Nature category of BC Cottage Magazine’s 2004 Photo contest. Lillian has won several editorial awards for her poetry and has had her work published in 5 hardcover anthology books of poetry through contests.

Question:

What is the most important lesson in your writing career?

Answer:

Research. If you know something is coming up, research it and make a plan of action well ahead of time. If we did not start the market plan and develop a plan of action and estimated schedule soon after finding out the manuscript was accepted, we would have never been ready for the myriad of work ahead of us, much of which is time-sensitive. Doing it right is essential - there is but little chance to make an impression with a reviewer, reader or publication. Even with the best of preparation you will be caught off guard or unprepared. Don’t sweat it too much if you make a mistake. Think of it as a lesson.

Question:

Have you any advice for new writers?

Answer:

We hate to sound redundant, but again, do your research. Join forums and research the previous messages for several months ago. You will find many novice questions are thoroughly answered with many different people contributing ideas and opinions. Always research your market and query them in a professional manner before sending a finished product.


- Dave Brummet And Lillian Brummet

I just heard a few days ago that the military has been infiltertrated by “gangs” … is this in all branch’s of the military?
Thank you to all that took part in my question, what a shame to learn this.. And to just think 40 years ago plus 4 days I was laying on the battle field with a third of my brains blown away..
- allen2462001

I gave a name to my relation.

, Dalip Singh Wasan, Advocate.

His name was Vishaal and when he was with me I used to call by the name of Vish. And all the staff members also started calling him by the name of Vish because it was so lovely and so sweet that all liked this name. I could calculate that Vishaal too was happy that his name had been fixed by me and all have started calling him by that name.

Vishaal was just of my age when he joined our team as a colleague with me. I was holding the position of an officer in the office and he joined here as office superintendent. He was so senior and he was expecting his promotion as an officer and it is on record that he actually got that position within one year of his stay with me. I was so close to him that whatever he had been doing, I had been signing those papers without any comments and without any question and it is also on record that he never misled me. I had been getting appreciations from my head office because our office was very punctual and all the papers were being disposed of in a most efficient manner and all papers were disposed of within the time schedule prescribed by the state.

Vishaal was postgraduate and he was having command in all the three languages. He could draft letters in English, in Punjabi and also in Hindi and similarly he was very efficient while dealing with outside public and with other officers under the administration at the district headquarters. It is on record that I had been sending him to attend local district level meetings and I got always satisfactory reports.

Vishaal was expert in creating relations and within a few days he could develop good relations with my mother and with my father. He often visited our house and as and when my husband met him, he could have talks with him for hours. My mother liked Vishaal because he was helping me a lot. I turned only a signing machine and similarly all serious matters were dealt with by Vishaal.

In spite of my own office room, I was often found sitting in the office room of Vishaal and even my peon had been directing people to the room of Vishaal when they came to contact me. Vishaal and me both were facing the people coming to the office and it is on record that final decisions were always taken by Vishaal and I never objected or commented upon those decisions.

It was my good luck that when Vishaal was given promotion to the rank of officer, he was given the same station and thus I got an opportunity to stay with Vishaal. Vishaal was not belonging to rich family. He had informed me that he lost his father and whatever he is all had been done by his mother. He informed me that he had got one sister who is married and he himself is also married and having one son. This was all about him. He informed me that he is running his family administration with his pay because I had noticed that he was not taking bribe or indulging in corruption. All the people contacting him were of the view that Vishaal is the most sincere, faithful,. Efficient and competent person and everyone was satisfied with his work and conduct and that had been the reason, I had been giving him outstanding reports and all good words available in dictionaries had been utilized by me while writing his annual confidential report.

I had a love marriage and in spite of all this, I started developing relations with this vishaal which were not brotherly. On each morning when I went to him or he came to my room, he took me from my shoulders and pressed me and then we had a pleasant meeting. We had been taking tea and our lunch together and were entertaining our guests in the same room. I had been visiting his house and his wife had been entertaining me well and also giving me a good welcome. She was happy that her husband could get a companion like me and often they both had been coming to our house and we also had been reciprocating these visits.

We had been together for four years and then this Vishaal had been some transfers. But since he had got his house at my city, he was often visiting this station and as and when he came to this station, he never failed to visit my house. We had been having warm and close meetings, but it is on record that we never talked on subjects beyond our normal relations nor we ever utilized words and dialogs which were beyond normal relations. But in my heart of heart I was liking this Vishaal and often I desired that I go with him to some hill-station and remain there for two or three days. But I could not open my mouth on this subject. What was in his mind, I never desired that he should open his mouth. We had been having normal relations and that had been the reason that none from the side of my house, from the side of my parents, from the side of Vishaal ever raised objections and passed adverse comments on our relations. He never called me as a Sister nor I ever called him brother. He was calling me as ‘Madam’ and I was calling him by the name of ‘Vish’. The staff members and others who were visiting our office might be having some comments in their mind, but we were lucky that none passed on adverse comments against our relations.

Now years have passed on. I have my sons and they are young. As and when this Vishaal comes to our house, I refer Vishaal as their ‘Mamaji’ which means my brother and they have accepted these relations and they call him ‘Mamaji’ as and when Vishaal comes to our house. We are still meeting each other and is still putting his right arm on my shoulder and has a press. The relations which were in my mind remained my property and I never disclosed those relations to Vishaal and to any of my friends because relations beyond marriage bonds are not accepted here in India. But I am sorry to note that up-till now I am not in a position to call Vishaal as my brother. He is still ‘Vish’ for me and I am still ‘Madamji’ for Vishaal.

—————————


- Dalip Singh Wasan

Does this sound familiar? You have a newsletter that needs to go out in a few days, but you just can’t come up with a good article to write. You have a serious case of writer’s block. Or, you know you should be adding more content to your site on a regular basis to keep the search engines (and of course your visitors) happy, but you just can’t find the time to sit down and write articles every week. There’s an easy solution to both problems. Hire a ghostwriter to write the articles for you.

Basically, a ghostwriter is someone that writes articles for you that you get to claim as your own and publish under your own name. No one other than yourself and the ghostwriter has to know that you didn’t write the article yourself. Once you pay for the article, you hold all rights to it and can publish it wherever and however you see fit.

Now let’s talk about the hard part. How do you find a good ghostwriter? You can start by posting a small project on elance or guru.com. Anyone interested in writing for you can bid on the project and you will get to choose your writer from the bidders. I mentioned posting a small project because you just don’t know exactly what you are going to get until you receive the finished articles. A small project in elance or guru terms would be about 15 to 20 short articles on a subject that’s either common knowledge, or easily researched. You want to make it worth the bidders (to attract good writers) without having to spend too much per article.

Other great ways to find a ghostwriter is to network with others in your field, ask friends and post on message boards related to the topic you want the articles written about. Just ask if there is someone interested in writing for you. There are also quite a few freelance writers that offer ghostwriting as well. Search for ghost writing in your favorite search engine to find sites like momva.com .

Pricing for ghostwritten articles can range anywhere from $2.00 to $65 per article. Most writers will charge about $5.00 to $12.00. Keep in mind that you will pay less for shorter articles than long ones. The average article size is from 300 - 1200 words. Shop around, but don’t shop by price along. Like anywhere else you will get what you pay for. Articles in the $2 to $6 range tend to be pretty simple and to be honest quite boring. To get any decent hourly rate, the writer has to crank out 4 - 5 articles per hour and it will show in the quality of the article. You can however find some great articles in the $8 to $12 price range.

When choosing a writer, start by asking for sample articles. Find a few writers who’s style you like and ask them to write a few articles each. You should be able to tell who will work out and who doesn’t. If you have done a good bit of writing yourself, you may want to provide the writers with some of your own articles before they start, so they can get a feel for your style and personality. Pick one or two writers to write for you on a regular basis. It may also be worth staying in touch with the runner-ups in case a writer doesn’t work out, or doesn’t have time for additional projects down the road.

So, will it be worth paying someone to write your articles? It sure does for me. Submitting article and adding them to your own site is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to get traffic to your site. When you add the articles written by your ghostwriter to your site, optimize them by a particular keyword, or key phrase to get more search engine traffic. Then submit the un-optimized version to the various article directories. As your article is used on other sites and in newsletter the traffic will start coming in.

How much are you paying right now to advertise on various websites and in newsletters? $25 per ad or more? For $25 you can easily get 2 to 5 quality articles from a ghostwriter. These articles can then appear in countless publications and websites over and over again. Don’t forget, your resource box, with a link to your site will be included each time the article is published. Your articles may appear in larger newsletters or even print papers and magazines that you could never afford to place an ad in. If you ask me, hiring a ghostwriter and getting more articles with my resource box out there is a great investment.


- Nell Taliercio

A few days ago i started reading Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson. After I finish the book i have to write a paper about it. “Write a paper about the techniques of juvenile fiction”. I’m not really sure what i have to write and i would be happy to get some help with this.
In other words what are some techniques of juvenile fiction in Kidnapped by R.L. Stevenson?
If you know any sites that would help please let me know.
- venus

I’ve got 2, 2 thousand word essays due in a few days and I am suffering from writer’s block and procastination, any tips to pull me out of the hole I’ve dug for myself? lol, oh and roughly how long do you think 2 thousand word essays take to write if you work hard for a good 2 days….
- Jackattack411

Okay, I LOVE my creative writing class. I honestly do. But, I’m so stressed with last few days of senior year I think I’m having writers block.
I’m doing a food / memory piece.
I’m using jello & the memory of my grandfather who passed away when i was in 5th grade.
I just not seem ideas how to start. Maybe some concrete words about jello?
What ever help you can give me will be amazing.
Thank you in advance!
-Robyn <3
I didn't know its made with bones. gross. but whateverr. lol

& my grandfather & i used to make jello together.
so i'm writing one piece on how they both are one to me.
then i have to make jello & bring it in to my CRW class.

thanks for the help so far.
- Robyn Dana

a dream of a creative writing career. You may dream of writing the great American novel, or becoming the next Poe. If you are serious about becoming a writer, there are several things you should do and keep in mind.

Write everyday as much as you can.

Writing is not like riding a bike. If you stop writing and go back to it 5 years later, you probably won’t be nearly as good, let alone better. If you want to become a great writer you have to practice all the time. That means everyday. That means setting a certain amount of time to write everyday. Stop right now, check your calendar, and right in a time for everyday that you will write.

Write creatively, not like a high school essay.

You probably hated writing essays in school. They told you to have an introduction paragraph, the body, and the conclusion. Then they said to do the same with each paragraph. Don’t use I and sound really boring. Okay, they might not have said that, but generally, most essays sounded very formal. If you enjoyed writing unique, creative essays, then you are on the right track. I’m not saying to forget everything you’ve learned about writing, I’m just saying that creative writing is much less formal. You want to engage your writer and keep them interested. Don’t let boring monotony kill your story!

Edit your work over and over.

I have come across some people’s writing that was just awful. It was a good story and may have had potential, but it was very poorly written and seemed as though they wrote it once and never looked at it again. If you are writing a piece that you are serious about, especially if you want to publish it, you need to make sure that it is perfect. Print it up, if possible, and read through it a few days after you wrote it. Analyze it and make sure it’s perfect. Then have someone else that you trust go through it as well.

Don’t give up!

For me, writing has always been my dream. I write all the time and I’ve always wanted to be a successful writer. People are always telling me that I am a great writer. If you want to succeed, you can’t give up. Just keep writing and trying to accomplish what you want to accomplish. If you want to publish a novel, do whatever you can to do it.

Write your novel and edit it until you feel it’s perfect. Have a few trusted friends read it and give you some constructive criticism. Send out some query letters to agents and do everything you can to get it published. If you get some poor reactions and you feel like the novel won’t work decide if you feel like it really is good enough to publish and self-publish it, if not, move onto the next novel.

Don’t stop doing what you love. If you really want to succeed, giving up is the worst way to do it. Keep writing and editing, writing and editing, and you just may accomplish your dreams!
- Samantha Asher

If you have been constantly writing for the last few days or weeks, you may suddenly start feeling like your ideas have completely dried up! It happens to all of us writers at some time or the other. This nasty syndrome is commonly referred to as the Writers Block!

The writers block can get the best writers inactive and anxious for long periods of time. It is like the brain just locks up and refuses to cooperate with you. If you are a writer, you know that nothing can get scarier than that!

So how does one go about cracking this non-cooperation code the brain generates? What is the way to debug the Central Processing Unit of the brain? This being such a common problem, we researched it a bit and thought of giving you some nice trip to work around this common yet nuisance of an issue!





If you have been feeling over burdened with the writing, just take it easy and do something different. Cook up a nice dish, go for a movie, treat yourself to some retail therapy, do whatever it takes to get your mind off the tension.





Come back home, sit in front of your PC and type something into your word processor. Never mind what you are writing about – just keep at it and do not edit your work.





Then take a deep breath and go through the article. Pick up the nice portions and keep these particular paragraphs in mind.





Use the same style of writing in your next article and watch your style of writing now. It would have been far improved than ever!





With this, your creative juices will get free rein and you will do much better from now on.





Always use the same technique when this mental block strikes again. This works wonders each and every time!





Remember to take a nice break every once in a while. Get up from your chair and move around every one and half hours or so. Stretch a little, so that you can get rid of the stiffness. Even the slightest discomfort could end up distracting you.





Only a relaxed mind can function properly. So never cause physical or mental strain to yourself. Writing takes a lot of mental energy, so see to it that you are fresh enough when you start a new days work.





It helps immensely to plan out how much you want to work each day. Set a deadline for yourself and see that you fulfill it each day. This keeps you motivated and doing your best always!





Keep writing as many articles as possible. This will help hone your writing talents and also make you more confident about your own capabilities. The more you write, the better you will get at your job! 





Writers Block is really no big deal. Though it may appear an insurmountable problem at first, it really can be sorted out quite easily. Make a note of the above points and keep applying the said techniques each time you feel yourself getting pulled down by your work.

  


- Aspasia