Apologies for the late post here. I had a busy family weekend and wasn’t able to take much of a minute to work something out.
Last time I talked about why I think that involving yourself in a group or classes that are geared toward improvement is important. It’s tempting to shrug this off and think you can do it alone, but it just doesn’t work that way because the fact is that if you take this seriously, then you are writing for an audience. And you can’t know what an audience wants to read unless they are actually reading it.
Whether you are training yourself formally or informally, there are three things that you have to do no matter what. The first is to listen. You have to listen. People will say things you don’t want to hear. Things that will make you more defensive than you knew you could be. They will be hard to listen to. But they are probably right, or at least onto something, because readers know when they are dissatisfied. And you can’t defend your writing against dissatisfaction. You just can’t. Examining dissatisfaction is hard, but it will teach you what works, what doesn’t work, what needs to change, and sometimes, rarely, when you need to find a new reader.
The second thing is to read. It shows you what a finished product looks like. Reading is studying. The most direct way this works is if you read books on writing (which you should be doing, and I’ll see about adding a new section with recommendations in the next few days). The less direct way this works is if you simply pay attention to the other things you read. Plot has structure. Dialogue has structure. Paragraphs have structure. If you pay attention to how a book is written as you read it, you’re studying.
The third thing is to write. Well, duh.
From my personal position, I would highly recommend at least entertaining the thought of taking formal classes. I took classes for two years at the college level, and I’m 1000x the writer I was when I started. I learned how to listen. I learned how to edit. I learned how to read. And I learned from writers, which is about the coolest way to learn how to write.
The other thing about formal education is that it further broadens what you can do with your life. I want to go back to school and get my Masters in Creative Writing. From there it’s a few short steps to teaching at a college level. And that’s a writing profession in an entirely different ballpark than the ones I’ve discussed before.
But even if taking classes will not benefit you (because of age, work, family, disinterest, money, etc.), you have to follow some course of education that will actively push your skills and strengthen your knowledge. Any reason that you can think of not to is more than likely just an excuse to get yourself out of it.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
From Work to the Workshop
In the last entry I laid out a pretty specific “practical” path to writing, but I don’t want you to get caught up thinking “I don’t want to be in publishing,” because that’s just my own version of a more important idea. I know that publishing can be dull anybody. Or that freelancing can be too fickle for anybody. There are a thousand reasons why these might not fit.
But the idea is that if you're like me this way, then you just need to find something involved in or around writing that fits your practical needs and interests as a writer, and then do it. There are tons of options. Journalist, copywriter, script-writer, literary agent, slush pile reader, advertiser, and that’s just off the top of my head. The important thing is being able to identify your own needs as a writer and then move your life in that direction piece by piece.
If you’re not like me this way, well I don’t know how you do it. But I love that you do.
But it's not all about that, either. Working in writing environments and learning to be a good writer are two different things. The first can keep you sharp, current, involved, and on schedule, but it isn’t there to teach you to be any of these things. The best thing you can do for this is to write, study, and share on your own time. And the most practical way to get that done is to involve yourself in creative programs among your peers or friends.
For me, over the last four years, this meant taking creative writing classes. These classes have a lot of the same benefits of the work I've mentioned. They force you to write, they help you develop a schedule, and they keep you sharp and in tune with your peers. But there is a difference. See, in the work world there is an expectation that you can and will produce a certain quality of work. In a class, or a similar program, there is instead the expectation that you are trying to improve on a certain quality of work. And that makes all the difference.
The thing is, there is nothing more important for a writer than having a group of trustworthy readers who are not only trying to look out for the quality of your writing, but to help you improve it. Because they will always, and I cannot stress the word always enough, always see necessary things that you couldn't possibly see by yourself. And classes, groups, or programs simulate this support system for you in all of the best ways. This is why classes worked for me, why the friendships I made in those classes will keep me in the right direction, and why they should be important to you.
Next time I'll talk more specifically about the education (formal and informal) of becoming an author, because there is a lot more to it.
But the idea is that if you're like me this way, then you just need to find something involved in or around writing that fits your practical needs and interests as a writer, and then do it. There are tons of options. Journalist, copywriter, script-writer, literary agent, slush pile reader, advertiser, and that’s just off the top of my head. The important thing is being able to identify your own needs as a writer and then move your life in that direction piece by piece.
If you’re not like me this way, well I don’t know how you do it. But I love that you do.
But it's not all about that, either. Working in writing environments and learning to be a good writer are two different things. The first can keep you sharp, current, involved, and on schedule, but it isn’t there to teach you to be any of these things. The best thing you can do for this is to write, study, and share on your own time. And the most practical way to get that done is to involve yourself in creative programs among your peers or friends.
For me, over the last four years, this meant taking creative writing classes. These classes have a lot of the same benefits of the work I've mentioned. They force you to write, they help you develop a schedule, and they keep you sharp and in tune with your peers. But there is a difference. See, in the work world there is an expectation that you can and will produce a certain quality of work. In a class, or a similar program, there is instead the expectation that you are trying to improve on a certain quality of work. And that makes all the difference.
The thing is, there is nothing more important for a writer than having a group of trustworthy readers who are not only trying to look out for the quality of your writing, but to help you improve it. Because they will always, and I cannot stress the word always enough, always see necessary things that you couldn't possibly see by yourself. And classes, groups, or programs simulate this support system for you in all of the best ways. This is why classes worked for me, why the friendships I made in those classes will keep me in the right direction, and why they should be important to you.
Next time I'll talk more specifically about the education (formal and informal) of becoming an author, because there is a lot more to it.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Today's Theme: Slowness
See, the thing is that even most established authors need day jobs to support the quality of living that writing usually can’t. I suppose there are two types of people when it comes to this: 1) the person who needs to be around writing to keep themselves connected to that world, and 2) the person who needs to be away from writing to keep from burning out by the time they get to the coveted night job.
So let me tell you a little bit about what I’m doing as far as putting together a day to day career.
I’m the first kind of person, and I’m trying to find a way to shape my future around it even if I never do succeed as an author (terrifying). And the first thing that I’m doing is just plain getting work. The best way for me to do this is to do temporary work. It brings in a steady income. It’s local. It builds necessary office skills. And I can stop doing it when I land the job or internship I want. These are all important things for me. I’m making money and resume building, but I’m not under obligation for any long-term employment in an industry that I don’t enjoy - which is the main danger in “taking the first job that says yes.”
While I’m temping I’m looking for permanent work or an internship in publishing. This is slow. I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area, and we all know that New York is publishing central. There is only so much that is available at the entry level that you can find online or in classifieds. So aside from job listings, the very best thing that you can do is network. This is also slow, and I’m just getting comfortable with the idea. To do it, schedule informational interviews and get referrals. For me, this is the hardest part, and I’m not doing a very good job of it, but I am improving. An opportunity will present itself. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but it might be developing as we speak.
There’s more you can do, and there is more that I am trying to do, as well. For a writer, one of the most accessible ways to keep writing and to get paid for it is to do freelance work. I only became aware of the importance of this recently. It keeps you sharp and builds experience while leaving you with a real portfolio of samples. Thing is, good freelancers also need to be good networkers or they won’t get jobs. See the catch?
If you are the kind of person who is like me, who has to be around writing to be satisfied, this is a good way to structure your path. Don’t let yourself get trapped in something unrelated. It’s not the fastest way to work, but it may be the most rewarding. Just do what you have to do, and the rest will follow.
So let me tell you a little bit about what I’m doing as far as putting together a day to day career.
I’m the first kind of person, and I’m trying to find a way to shape my future around it even if I never do succeed as an author (terrifying). And the first thing that I’m doing is just plain getting work. The best way for me to do this is to do temporary work. It brings in a steady income. It’s local. It builds necessary office skills. And I can stop doing it when I land the job or internship I want. These are all important things for me. I’m making money and resume building, but I’m not under obligation for any long-term employment in an industry that I don’t enjoy - which is the main danger in “taking the first job that says yes.”
While I’m temping I’m looking for permanent work or an internship in publishing. This is slow. I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area, and we all know that New York is publishing central. There is only so much that is available at the entry level that you can find online or in classifieds. So aside from job listings, the very best thing that you can do is network. This is also slow, and I’m just getting comfortable with the idea. To do it, schedule informational interviews and get referrals. For me, this is the hardest part, and I’m not doing a very good job of it, but I am improving. An opportunity will present itself. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but it might be developing as we speak.
There’s more you can do, and there is more that I am trying to do, as well. For a writer, one of the most accessible ways to keep writing and to get paid for it is to do freelance work. I only became aware of the importance of this recently. It keeps you sharp and builds experience while leaving you with a real portfolio of samples. Thing is, good freelancers also need to be good networkers or they won’t get jobs. See the catch?
If you are the kind of person who is like me, who has to be around writing to be satisfied, this is a good way to structure your path. Don’t let yourself get trapped in something unrelated. It’s not the fastest way to work, but it may be the most rewarding. Just do what you have to do, and the rest will follow.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
My Mistake
Shorter post today, but I think it’s important.
See, caught up in my excitement last time, I made a grievous mistake. I got so caught up in telling everybody to put themselves out there that I forgot to talk about the conditions. In a lot of ways, I was actually giving bad advice. And that's because I was talking to everybody, but not about something that everybody should do. It all depends on where you are. What stage of the process you're in.
And I'm saying this because making your work available to the public for free is reckless if you take it as blanket advice. It would be wrong to start posting your novel or all of your favorite, most promising stories. You know, the things you want to get paid for. You have to be careful with those things because they are the most valuable things for your career. Those are the things you submit to magazines, The things that get their first few chapters submitted to the publishing house when they're ready.
And if you're at the point where you have the stories or the novels or the poems and the confidence to get them published, then what I was telling you last time just does not apply to you very well.
But if you don't have those stories/novels/poems, or you just don't have the confidence to take the next step with them, finding something new, something that you don't mind giving away for free can be a very good thing. And it can because it can help you gain confidence in your talents to believe that people want to read your other work. Or, at the very least, it can just help you practice writing. In the end you just have to find something that will keep you writing consistently and build your confidence. There is nothing more important than those two things when it comes what we do.
It's about conquering the fear of being an author. About getting to the point where you can be an author. If you're already there, you're ahead of the game and I really look up to you. Because it's hard, and I know that I have a long way to go.
See, caught up in my excitement last time, I made a grievous mistake. I got so caught up in telling everybody to put themselves out there that I forgot to talk about the conditions. In a lot of ways, I was actually giving bad advice. And that's because I was talking to everybody, but not about something that everybody should do. It all depends on where you are. What stage of the process you're in.
And I'm saying this because making your work available to the public for free is reckless if you take it as blanket advice. It would be wrong to start posting your novel or all of your favorite, most promising stories. You know, the things you want to get paid for. You have to be careful with those things because they are the most valuable things for your career. Those are the things you submit to magazines, The things that get their first few chapters submitted to the publishing house when they're ready.
And if you're at the point where you have the stories or the novels or the poems and the confidence to get them published, then what I was telling you last time just does not apply to you very well.
But if you don't have those stories/novels/poems, or you just don't have the confidence to take the next step with them, finding something new, something that you don't mind giving away for free can be a very good thing. And it can because it can help you gain confidence in your talents to believe that people want to read your other work. Or, at the very least, it can just help you practice writing. In the end you just have to find something that will keep you writing consistently and build your confidence. There is nothing more important than those two things when it comes what we do.
It's about conquering the fear of being an author. About getting to the point where you can be an author. If you're already there, you're ahead of the game and I really look up to you. Because it's hard, and I know that I have a long way to go.
Monday, September 10, 2007
You Do It For You
I walked out of my last entry with a few idea of what I wanted to write about next, but it turns out that all of them will have to wait at least a few more days. Something happened over the weekend that energized me, and once it did I realized that it didn't make sense to write about anything else.
And this was a really nice thing that happened to me. Jill (a very clever code name, but I'm sure she can decipher it) wrote me a very nice message to let me know that she’s my first regular reader! And because she's my first official Friend of the Blog, I want to thank her.
The most amazing thing about this is that when I got her message the first thing I wanted to do was sit down and write my next entry as fast as I could. At that moment it felt really, really good to be writing something, to be a writer. The fears of being a writer and all of the difficulties of starting, they were all gone. And it was all because I knew that I was writing something that somebody else wanted to read.
It's almost unbelievable that I didn't realize this before.
See, the first fear that any writer learns how to express is that nobody will like what they write. But I think the hardest thing to deal with is actually the idea that nobody will want read it anyway. I think this is the first thing that we have to deal with. It's easier even to write for classes or for a writing group because the agreement there is that the other people have to read your words, whether they like it or not. The hard part is believing that any of them actually want to.
It's terrifying, I know, and it’s almost impossible to break through it without a strategy. After thinking about it, I believe that strategy has to be to write away from the fear. See, I was enjoying writing this blog when I believed I was just writing into a black hole, and that made the risk worthwhile for me. Now that I know that people want to read it, I want to write it even more. And that's a pretty great feeling.
So find something to write that you can enjoy writing for yourself regardless of who sees it, and then do it publically. Anything is good whether it’s a blog, a web-comic, poetry, erotica, love letters, anything as long as it gets you writing. Then advertise it. Tell your friends to tell their friends. The incentive to write will be there because you're doing it for yourself. The incentive to go public will be there because it won’t matter as much if nobody reads it. And the fear will be smaller for the same reasons.
But, as always, you have to take it seriously. Because if you don't take it seriously, then you're not writing. You're screwing around. And we're writers, not screw-arounders.
And this was a really nice thing that happened to me. Jill (a very clever code name, but I'm sure she can decipher it) wrote me a very nice message to let me know that she’s my first regular reader! And because she's my first official Friend of the Blog, I want to thank her.
The most amazing thing about this is that when I got her message the first thing I wanted to do was sit down and write my next entry as fast as I could. At that moment it felt really, really good to be writing something, to be a writer. The fears of being a writer and all of the difficulties of starting, they were all gone. And it was all because I knew that I was writing something that somebody else wanted to read.
It's almost unbelievable that I didn't realize this before.
See, the first fear that any writer learns how to express is that nobody will like what they write. But I think the hardest thing to deal with is actually the idea that nobody will want read it anyway. I think this is the first thing that we have to deal with. It's easier even to write for classes or for a writing group because the agreement there is that the other people have to read your words, whether they like it or not. The hard part is believing that any of them actually want to.
It's terrifying, I know, and it’s almost impossible to break through it without a strategy. After thinking about it, I believe that strategy has to be to write away from the fear. See, I was enjoying writing this blog when I believed I was just writing into a black hole, and that made the risk worthwhile for me. Now that I know that people want to read it, I want to write it even more. And that's a pretty great feeling.
So find something to write that you can enjoy writing for yourself regardless of who sees it, and then do it publically. Anything is good whether it’s a blog, a web-comic, poetry, erotica, love letters, anything as long as it gets you writing. Then advertise it. Tell your friends to tell their friends. The incentive to write will be there because you're doing it for yourself. The incentive to go public will be there because it won’t matter as much if nobody reads it. And the fear will be smaller for the same reasons.
But, as always, you have to take it seriously. Because if you don't take it seriously, then you're not writing. You're screwing around. And we're writers, not screw-arounders.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Tell You a Little About Myself
First off, you might notice that the blog as two new sections! I've added an e-mail where I can accept any questions and comments, which I will take care in responding to, and I have added a list of some of my favorite blogs on the web for your convenience. You can always comment directly to the blog, too, though I'm less likely to respond to these.
Second off, my blog is officially rolling. It was important that I laid down my mission statement clearly in my first post, for all of the obvious reasons. Now that you know what I want to do here, though, you still don't know anything about me. You don't know what I've done or what I'm working on.
You barely even know my name.
So let me introduce myself.
I just got out of college. I don't have a real job. I've never been published. I've barely submitted my work for publication. I have almost no connections. The longest story I've ever written is 27 pages long, double spaced, and I haven't revised it yet. And I have almost no idea of how to turn my skill into success - though I'm learning more every day. I am, right now, starting my writing career from scratch.
Here's what I do have. Three days ago I got my diploma in the mail, so I have a B. A. in English (officially!). I have a lot of classroom experience with creative writing, and a fair number of short stories in early drafts because of it. I have a small network of friends who also write, mostly from those classes. I have a folder on my computer dedicated specifically to my short stories. I have ideas.
And I have a blog. My important first step. A chronicle of my progress. I'm excited. I used to wonder if I was going to do the work to be an author, or just always say that I wanted to be one and never bother. Writing this blog, and maintaining it faithfully is one of the early steps that I am taking to get the work done. It's pushing me to do what I want to do. And it is finally pushing me into a writing routine, which is always one of the hardest parts.
The bad, then: I have a LONG way to go.
The good: I have a small, solid foundation of work and friends to build on.
Oh, and my name actually is Garrett. File that under "good." It's very nice to meet everybody. Next time you see me, we'll be done with these formalities and getting down to business. I hope you're as excited as I am!
Second off, my blog is officially rolling. It was important that I laid down my mission statement clearly in my first post, for all of the obvious reasons. Now that you know what I want to do here, though, you still don't know anything about me. You don't know what I've done or what I'm working on.
You barely even know my name.
So let me introduce myself.
I just got out of college. I don't have a real job. I've never been published. I've barely submitted my work for publication. I have almost no connections. The longest story I've ever written is 27 pages long, double spaced, and I haven't revised it yet. And I have almost no idea of how to turn my skill into success - though I'm learning more every day. I am, right now, starting my writing career from scratch.
Here's what I do have. Three days ago I got my diploma in the mail, so I have a B. A. in English (officially!). I have a lot of classroom experience with creative writing, and a fair number of short stories in early drafts because of it. I have a small network of friends who also write, mostly from those classes. I have a folder on my computer dedicated specifically to my short stories. I have ideas.
And I have a blog. My important first step. A chronicle of my progress. I'm excited. I used to wonder if I was going to do the work to be an author, or just always say that I wanted to be one and never bother. Writing this blog, and maintaining it faithfully is one of the early steps that I am taking to get the work done. It's pushing me to do what I want to do. And it is finally pushing me into a writing routine, which is always one of the hardest parts.
The bad, then: I have a LONG way to go.
The good: I have a small, solid foundation of work and friends to build on.
Oh, and my name actually is Garrett. File that under "good." It's very nice to meet everybody. Next time you see me, we'll be done with these formalities and getting down to business. I hope you're as excited as I am!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Starting Out
When I say "starting out" we all know that I mean more than one thing. On the one hand this is my inaugural blog post for my inaugural blog. Beginnings, and all that. On the other hand, starting out is everything this blog is supposed to stand for. I'm writing for the people here who want to become authors, but aren't. For all of those people who want to be published regularly, who want respectable advances for their stories and novels; those people who want agents and novels and film adaptations, who want name recognition, but who don't have any of it. Or for those of us who have our heads a little bit closer to our shoulders and just want to write, to be published, and to do it without getting laughed at (unless, you know, you're writing for laughs).
So I'm writing it for all of those people. And I am one of those people. I am desperately one of those people. So I'm writing it for myself as well.
One of the hardest things about finding my way to being the kind of author that we want to be is that I have only ever had the examples of people who had already done it. Whether these were authors whose blogs I read or whose interviews I watch, or professors who were teaching me to write, or even family friends, these were all people who could only ever tell me things like "well, when I was starting out." And no matter how hard it was for them to get there, it always seems like it was too easy. And it seems that way because they did make it, and I haven't, and there is an infinite gap between the two.
Even if it's not quite as infinite as all that in real life.
What I needed, though, was somebody who was going through the process, and who I could see going through the process. Somebody who was doing what I was doing, who I could match a pace with and see that I wasn't just floating off in my own strange direction.
Now, that is the person that I am going to be for anybody reading this. And I can take solace in the fact that anybody reading this will be that kind of person for me. And I think this way, riding each other's backs, we can get somewhere.
I will be careful to update this blog for you no less than once every three days, letting you know where I've come from and what I'm doing. When I get better with html, I will customize the layout so things look nicer around here. I will also make e-mail available and do my best to respond when and if they do come in. I hope that everybody enjoys what I'm doing, because I take this seriously. And that's also the point, isn't it? We're getting serious about what we're doing, however long it takes, because we don't want to be "starting out" forever.
So I'm writing it for all of those people. And I am one of those people. I am desperately one of those people. So I'm writing it for myself as well.
One of the hardest things about finding my way to being the kind of author that we want to be is that I have only ever had the examples of people who had already done it. Whether these were authors whose blogs I read or whose interviews I watch, or professors who were teaching me to write, or even family friends, these were all people who could only ever tell me things like "well, when I was starting out." And no matter how hard it was for them to get there, it always seems like it was too easy. And it seems that way because they did make it, and I haven't, and there is an infinite gap between the two.
Even if it's not quite as infinite as all that in real life.
What I needed, though, was somebody who was going through the process, and who I could see going through the process. Somebody who was doing what I was doing, who I could match a pace with and see that I wasn't just floating off in my own strange direction.
Now, that is the person that I am going to be for anybody reading this. And I can take solace in the fact that anybody reading this will be that kind of person for me. And I think this way, riding each other's backs, we can get somewhere.
I will be careful to update this blog for you no less than once every three days, letting you know where I've come from and what I'm doing. When I get better with html, I will customize the layout so things look nicer around here. I will also make e-mail available and do my best to respond when and if they do come in. I hope that everybody enjoys what I'm doing, because I take this seriously. And that's also the point, isn't it? We're getting serious about what we're doing, however long it takes, because we don't want to be "starting out" forever.
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