Monthly Archives: July 2013

Jul 3 2013

Defining Moment in Writing

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That was asked on the writing forums and I think it’s different for each of us. Sometimes it can be an internal force that pushes you to do it or an external one. In my case it was external.

There’s a very wise woman on writingforums.org named Maiamamma. I won’t go into her background other than to say that she’s been in the business of books and scriptwriting for decades now. One day, I’d been posting away on the forums while piddling with a novel. She asked me a serious question:

“Do you want to be know as a person who posts on a forum or as a person who’s a serious writer?”

It was then that I realized you can’t do both. If you posting like made, then when do you have time to write? And conversely, when you’re writing (and editing) when do you have time to post? While I might cruise the forums before I start editing, or when I get off work, I don’t spend hours posting. I might leave the page open while I figure out what items on this blog I wish to mention on the one I have there.

What was the thing that made you choose to be a serious writer?

Jul 3 2013

RIP Ken Custalow

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May you rest in the arms of the Lord, Ken. I know he called you home this morning and you are walking the streets of gold, free from the pain our earthly bodies give us. A true and faithful servant to the Mattaponi tribe.

I will remember you and your deep voice and big laugh for the rest of my life. Enjoy the streets of gold, my friend.

Jul 3 2013

Depression and BiPolar

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I read a post on the forums today, and I have complete compassion for the poster. The question was how to write when depressed?

As someone who suffers from Bipolar, I’m not sure it’s possible to be able to effectively write when suffering from clinical depression. When I’m hypomanic, I might get more ‘work’ done but it’s sloppy and needs complete rewrites to get it to make sense. On the other hand, when depressed, I don’t get much work done and what does get accomplished is wordy, slow and twinged in sadness. It also ends up being a miserable time to work.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is worse then having Bipolar or Schizophrenia. For me my mood swings can sometimes be minute to minute but mainly day by day and it’s miserable to go through. When younger I used to a complete cycle in a matter of minutes. Someone or something would bother me, it would build then I’d rapidly shoot up into an explosion and then suddenly drop into a hole and feel like crying. It was miserable.

I’m not trying to help Big Drug with my next comments but I need to tell the truth. Nothing I’ve done in the past has ever helped until my Doctor found the right medicine combo. There’s no real way to self treat Bi-polar. It just doesn’t work…and the damndest thing is: it’s fairly common for Bipolar people to be great artists (and writers). However, if we don’t treat ourselves, the odds of killing ourselves and depriving the world of what we can do go up drastically.

I don’t have the stats at my fingertips but the rate of untreated Bipolar patients who commit suicide is higher than those who are. And that’s no guarantee that it won’t happen either…but it helps out a lot.

If anyone reading this blog feels like they might have Bipolar, than I suggest seeing a physician and let them check you. While it might cost a lot of money sometimes to get treated, you’ll feel so much better and happier that it’ll be worth it.

I hope everyone has a good day.

Jul 1 2013

Does Your Blog Have Personality? From Nelson Literary Agency Email Letter for July

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A Message from Kristin Nelson

Does Your Blog Have Personality?

Kristin NelsonJust this past week, I attended LitFest, an annual event hosted by Lighthouse Writers Workshop right here in Denver. During a one-on-one conference, a writer asked me a question about her blog. She mentioned that in order to ease the social-media burden, she was blog sharing with several other writers; each curated the blog a month at a time. She noticed the blog wasn’t getting much traffic and asked me why.

To answer her question, I first had to ask a few of my own.

I asked if she herself follows any blogs. She said yes. Then I asked why. Her answer? Because she likes the content or finds the information useful.

But is that all?

I’m nothing if not persistent. When she looked at me blankly, I said there are dozens of blogs about agents and publishing. Why did she prefer some blogs over others?

It’s not just about content. It’s also about personality.

Blogs have personalities, and readers like to follow bloggers who have a unique style or an appealing voice. A shared blog maintained by multiple writers might lack a distinguishing personality, style, or voice. If that’s the case, chances are good the blog won’t gain much traction.

Watching her “Eureka!” moment made me think that you might find this information helpful, too. So ask yourself: Does my blog have a distinct personality? If the answer is no, then maybe blogging isn’t the right social-media platform for you.

And that’s my agent public service moment for July.

Jul 1 2013

How to Keep Your Mind from Plagiarizing?

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Kind of an interesting question to ask. Last time I checked, our minds are the same as we are, which means the question should be: how do I keep from plagiarizing?

Well, that’s simple, do not use someone else’s work as your own. I try to link of use the share button for what I use here. It’s that’s not available..then I post the writer’s name along with the article. That lets everyone know that I’m not trying to pass off someone’s work as one of my own. Now, when writing fiction it tends to be a bit more difficult.

As a lot of people have said before, ideas aren’t protected. Now, how you go about expressing that idea..now that’s a different story. The best way around the issue is to not do it in the first place.