Does information overload have you down?

Hello, there.

My week is a bit topsy turvy because the kids are on school break in my neck of the woods. It’s been lovely having some extra time with my nine year-old daughter, but it sure does throw my good intentions off track. I’m working on a piece for you on the topic of a writer’s voice, but it needs a little more baking before it’s ready to be served and I think it will be the weekend before I get another minute to work on it.

Until then, I’d like to invite you over to my place.

Yesterday, I published a post on my business blog called Content May Be King, But There’s an Uprising Afoot. I was inspired to write it because I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the influx of marketing content that hits my inbox on a daily basis. I am deeply grateful for (and often amazed by) how easy it is to access almost any kind of information via the Internet, but lately, it feels like there are too many voices in my head, and none of them are mine.

It occurred to me that we writers are perhaps more susceptible than most to the risk of over consumption. As writers we are also avid readers. We have an insatiable hunger for content about our craft, the publishing industry, the latest book promotion trends, new writers, old writers, grammar tips, and so much more. Though our intent to learn might be a good one, it’s a slippery slope.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the amount of information you’re consuming, this post is for you. I hope you’ll give it a read, or a listen (see the audio link at the bottom of the post). Thanks for coming by!

_________________________________________________________________________

Content May Be King, But There’s an Uprising Afoot

Do you ever want to run out into the middle of the street and scream, “SHUT UP!!!!!!” at the top of your lungs?

No. Maybe that’s just me.

Content is king! Long live the king!

I’ve been living in this marketing realm for the better part of a couple decades now. In the course of those years, I have – thanks in part to slight OCD tendencies – consumed more than my share of content on the topics of marketing, branding, and writing: dozens of traditional books, hundreds of ebooks, thousands of blog posts plus webinars, podcasts, special reports, manifestos, videos, interviews, exclusive research, online trainings, Facebook conversations, and only the gods know how many tweets.

Sound familiar?

Even the king can be deposed.

Read the rest on Suddenly Marketing.
 
 
 
Jamie Lee Wallace is a writer who also happens to be a marketer. She helps her Suddenly Marketing clients discover their voice, connect with their audience, and find their marketing groove. She is also a mom, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice and trapeze (not at the same time). Introduce yourself on facebook or twitter. She doesn’t bite … usually.

.

Image Credit: Flood G

Read Full Post »

The Thrill of the Challenge

There is nothing, and I mean, nothing like a challenge to make you write.

During the month of November I wrote (and wrote, and wrote) for nanowrimo. Had to hit my words and I did. It was a challenge that I wanted to win.

But now, I’m doing a bit of a different one. I’m doing the SNAP challenge that you might have heard about along with Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, where those who have signed up have challenged ourselves to live on what we would have been given as an allowance for Government food assistance (used to be called Food Stamps, now it’s called SNAP.)

For 7 days, I have to live on the food I’ve purchased with $30, which is the median amount of assistance given to an individual in New Hampshire. Note: others around the country are working with different amounts – it all depends upon your state although it appears that New Hampshire has one of the lowest amounts. Us Granite Staters are TOUGH.

I decided to do the challenge by myself and not include Marc and the kids because on a regular weekly shopping trip, I typically spend $25 or less per person and if I took the challenge for our entire family, I’d have to spend $40 dollars more than what I normally would.

But we all know that shopping and cooking for many is much easier than shopping and cooking for one.

Which is why I’m doing this, to show that while it’s not easy, it can still be done and it can be done well.

If you are a writer, (and I’m assuming that if you are reading this, you are a writer of some sort) then you want to write. To do a challenge like this without documenting what you are doing, without trying to teach from your experiences, would amount to nothing more than a waste of breath.

When writers learn and experience new things, we tend to sing about them from the rooftops.

Which is why I think that if you’re looking for some motivation to write you should consider taking a challenge – and then report back on your experiences – on a regular basis.

Many blogs where this was the starting premise have turned into books, some concepts have been: living on a budget, wearing the same black dress every day for one year, giving gifts away every day, and figuring out how to feed your child a gluten-free diet. The reason they have turned into books is that they have created a lot of information behind the idea. You need a certain amount of depth of material to get published.

And why is there typically so much material? Because people are interested in how you are doing, they want to learn from your experience. The more you give them, they more they want on the topic.

It’s a win/win situation, you get to write and people get to read your writing.

Whether it’s the SNAP Challenge or your own personal challenge, if you have trouble committing to your writing, try starting a challenge and then announce it to the world.

Trust me, the world is going to keep you on your writing toes.

***

Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)

If  you want to follow my challenge, check it out on my blog, better yet, create your own challenge and tell me where to find it.

Read Full Post »

What Do You Do With Your Journals?

I just finished The Unfinished work of Elizabeth D. by Nichole Bernier. In the book, Elizabeth and Kate met through a playgroup and stayed friends even when Kate and her husband moved to Washington D.C. When Elizabeth is killed unexpectedly in a plane crash, Kate learns Elizabeth bequeathed her journals to Kate. “I’m leaving them to her because she’s fair and sensitive and would know what should be done with them and ask that she start at the beginning. I’ll come soon to drop of a letter for that should go with it.” The letter never gets dropped off.

I enjoyed the book immensely, but a review is not the intention of this post. Elizabeth’s journals are a key element of the story. Kate is overwhelmed with the task of determining their fate. As you would expect of a journal, the content is brutally honest and not always the most complimentary of those Elizabeth writes about including herself. While not entirely negative, they reveal a much different person, a more complete person than Kate knew.

I journal, it is an activity started as an angsty teen, but only sporadically completed. Journaling didn’t become a habit until my mid-twenties when I read Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way and started writing morning pages. I still have most if not all of the journals I’ve finished.  Frankly most of it is rubbish. narcissistic drivel, a daily emptying of the garbage can in my brain. There are some entries worth keeping. Underneath the to-do lists and the free writing, there is a chronicle of my life, one telling of my story you will.  Like Elizabeth, I am not always complimentary of those in my life or myself.  Sometimes those pages are just an out and out bitch fest.

The Unfinished Works of Elizabeth D., resonated with me in many ways, it posed some interesting questions about relationships and friendships, but for me it brought up the age old question of what do to with my journals.

Should I die before my husband, I really don’t think he would have any interest in reading them.  Would my kids want them? Would they gain anything by reading them? I think I’m an open book, but but reading my journals they would learn the gritty details of my relationships with them, their father, my own parents and various acquaintances and dear friends.

I’ve never gone back and read them. Should I? I’m not the type of person who says “Gee, I wish I could be twenty again. There are specific events I wouldn’t mind living again and of course there are some I’d prefer to never remember.

Hmmm, perhaps a huge bond fire is in order.

Do you journal?  What do you do with the books once you’ve filled them? I don’t have a good solution to this. I’m very interested in hearing how other’s handle their journals.

Lee Laughlin is a writer, wife, and mom, frequently all of those things at once. She blogs at Livefearlesslee.com. Her words have appeared in a broad range of publications from community newspapers to the Boston Globe.

Read Full Post »

Becoming a better writer: the importance of silence

As a writer, you have voices in your head.

There’s your muse, inner critic, and story characters; your mentors, friends, and parents; other writers, agents, and literary pundits. It makes for a lot of noise in there. Add the barrage of external chatter and you have quite the cacophony. For most of us, it’s a ceaseless stream of incoming information, internal monologue, and the slippery and shadowy musings of the subconscious. It can easily become overwhelming, but we’ve adapted to the constant onslaught. We find a way to keep working.

But, to become a better a writer, you need to find a way to quiet all those voices.

There is a place inside you where stillness reigns. It’s not easy to get there, but there is creative magic in that haven of quiet and calm.

My friend Bernardo recently talked about this place, this “heart of the hurricane.” In this brief video, he talks about how we hold the whole and complete essence of our life’s experience at this core.

Episode-263 from Yourgreatlifetv.com on Vimeo.

I believe Bernardo is right. I believe we have the answers within us, if only we could get quiet enough to hear that small, still voice. In response to his post I wrote, “Finding the center and establishing a home there is so important to a life well lived. We each have to be able to hear the whisperings of our own heart if we are ever to know the secrets and dreams that are ours to hold and realize.”

As writers, we need that connection more than most.

We need it understand what drives us to create. We need it to unearth the stories that are ours to tell. We need it to become better at our craft.

A theme of silence has been twining through my days lately. Last week I was mostly absent from the web, abandoning Twitter, Facebook, and my beloved blogs for a week off with my beau. We spent a couple of afternoons at the beach – walking and talking, walking and not talking. I could almost feel the noise and rush of my hurricane edges settling and falling away – opening a wider and wider path to that quiet place in my heart. My head began to clear. Ideas emerged, shyly at first but then more boldly. Pieces of puzzles I’d been worrying at for months fell effortlessly into place.

As I came back to the Real World – the world of email and deadlines and the daily chaos and joy of my daughter – it’s wasn’t easy to hold onto the delicate thread that I was following through the forest of voices. As I sat to write, the voices began their usual clamoring. Having been neglected for a few days, each was eager to be heard – to imprint its opinions on my heart, direct my writing with critique, or divert me entirely from my task. But then I was reminded of the value of silence by a Twitter exchange with two friends – one old and one new – who were planning silent retreats. I’m not ready to go days without speaking, but the conversation reminded me that silence is, indeed, golden when it comes to connecting with my creative heart.

How often do you give yourself the gift of silence? What can you hear when you hush all the other voices in your head and listen to the one voice that really matters? How do those conversations affect your writing?
Jamie Lee Wallace is a writer who also happens to be a marketer. She helps her Suddenly Marketing clients discover their voice, connect with their audience, and find their marketing groove. She is also a mom, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice and trapeze (not at the same time). Introduce yourself on facebook or twitter. She doesn’t bite … usually.

Image Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Read Full Post »

Rejection Letter

Okay, so I got rejected.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I submitted my short story to be considered for an anthology, and I also submitted it to a contest (winner to be published in the anthology). I found out this past week that I didn’t win the contest and a few days later got an email stating my story didn’t make the anthology. This is what the editors said:

“Thanks so much for giving us the opportunity to consider… [your story.] It was a tough decision but, unfortunately, we will not be able to include your story in this year’s anthology.

It’s always so hard to say no to pieces that we have particularly enjoyed.  Yet, inevitably our space limitations combined with finding just the right “mix” for the anthology force us to pass on many strong submissions.

We wish you good fortune in finding a home for your story and very much hope to see a submission from you again next year.

Best Regards,”

Now, my first thought when I read this was: Wow, they enjoyed my story! My second thought was: No, it’s just a form letter. I bet they thought it sucked.

Which thought would motivate you to keep writing?

Thought #1? Me, too.

So, I choose to believe the thought: Wow, they enjoyed my story! When I do, I get a feeling of satisfaction and I immediately want to rewrite the story and send it out again. Or, hey, what about my novel? That’s not ready to be submitted yet, but maybe I can work on it this weekend.

But let’s say I went with thought #2. How would you feel if you believed the thought that the editors thought the story sucked? Pretty lousy, huh? What would you feel motivated to do? Lie on the couch and eat ice cream? Yeah, that’s about right.

Whatever thought we have, if we choose to believe it, triggers a feeling. Based on that feeling, we take action. Our result depends on our action, and it usually proves the original thought. So if I believe the thought that the editors think my story sucked, my action is to do nothing constructive with my writing (wallowing doesn’t tend to be very useful) and my result is that my writing doesn’t improve.

Since the editors said they enjoyed reading my story and I have no proof that they didn’t, I’m going to stick with thought #1. That way, the next time I send the (reworked, rewritten, re-edited) story out, I just might get an acceptance letter!

What do you do when you get a rejection letter?

Diane MacKinnon, MD, is currently a full-time mother, part-time life coach. She is a Master Certified Life Coach, trained by Martha Beck, among others. She is passionate about her son, her writing and using her mind to create a wonderful present moment.  Find her life coaching blog at http://www.dianemackinnon.com/blog.

Read Full Post »