While researching for my novella, one of my favorite books was The Ant and the Elephant by Vincent Poscente © 2004. This fable is about an ant (Adir) learning skills to lead the elephant (Elgo) to a place of Oasis. The wise old owl teaches Adir to look within himself for answers and to change his negative thinking to positive. As Adir begins his journey, he takes notes on how to become the best leader possible (Adir’s Notes to Self, Lesson No. 1, page 47):

• Make fear your friend, not you master;
• You don’t know what you don’t know. Open your mind to discover possibilities that may not be obvious at the time;
• Zero in on a goal that has a depth of meaning. The journey has to be worth taking:
• Action Step No. 1: Find the elephant buzz, i.e. the emotion that ignites the vision. Inspire your team through emotion. Never underestimate the power of emotion.

I believe that the above principles can be applied to our writing journey. For example, at some point or another, most writers fear rejection. Who wants to spend hours writing a short story or article or novel only to receive a rejection slip? However, rejection is probably the one thing that any writer can count on. Even the best writers receive rejections simply because there are fewer markets than there are writers.

I am certain that fear of rejection centers around a basic belief that once rejected, always rejected. Perhaps we feel our writing is not good enough, or that we do not have what it takes to succeed. However, my belief on fear: False Evidence Appearing Real. Do not give into it.

In writing, it is always important to open our minds to the many changes in the writing world. While devising your plan for publication, whether you choose the traditional or self-publishing avenue, never close your mind to other possibilities. Listen to other writers. Learn from what works and what does not. Always keep an open mind.

While keeping an open mind, find out what your goals are for publication. Create a plan. Build a network of writers—join a writer’s club, hook up with other writers online. Make it a point to learn from those who are more experienced, and share what you learn with other writers. Do whatever it takes to make your journey worthwhile!

Finally, I really love taking the action of using emotion to inspire. When working with a team, shared emotion is important in reaching a goal. However, as writers know, the actual act of creating a written work is a lonely job. Even if you form a group and write together, you must put the words onto paper. However, I think that igniting that emotion within oneself is what drives us as writers. If we do not feel that drive to write, treat our creation as if we are already succeeding, then we are selling ourselves short. I believe success means sitting down and writing whether we feel like it or not.

Happy writing all!

I have written six pages and 1531 words on my story since last night- and it is not coming out at all the way I planned. My synopsis and character profiles are specific enough to where I thought I had a pretty good plot: arrogant associate attorney comes on the scene and doesn’t want to be a team player but Ms. Spirituality-at-work-paralegal teaches him about looking within for work validation instead of grasping outside of himself. Ha! As I wrote, the story began to take on a life of its own, as if I, the writer, were not in control! How can this be? Well, it is what it is, and my protagonist is still Lana the paralegal but she is the corporate money hungry monger who does not realize she is walking into a spiritual environment. We will experience through her eyes what it is like to come from a corporate mindset to just the opposite. Thus, my title Left (corporate left-brain thinker) Meets Right (spiritual right brain thinker). Does this make sense? Yes Left Meets Right.

Meanwhile, I continue to work very hard on writing my novel. I have reached the 17,000 mile mark, which means I am approximately a quarter of the way into my story. My protagonist is acting and reacting in ways I never imagined. The story truly seems to have taken on a life of its own. Who is in control—my characters or me?

Over the next several weeks, or however long it takes, I plan to post journal entries on my creative process while writing my novella. Next time, I may share some insights about The Ant and the Elephant by Vincent Poscente, and how to apply those principles to writing!

Happy writing!

I have heard it said that a writer should never include chapters of their novel on the web, especially at their website. I have also heard that self-publishing is the kiss of death for a novel. Many old school editors and writers profess that agents and editors will not consider that which has been published online or is self-published. Worse yet, self-published novels do not sell. Perhaps sometimes these things are true, but I am sure they are not true in all situations.

Seth Harwood recently spoke at the Redwood Writer’s Club on how to podcast your novel before it had reached publication. In other words, produce a chapter each week for others to download and listen to on their MP3 players. This way, your writing gets out there and you get an idea on how well your work is received. Mr. Harwood said that he actually sold his book by giving it away. You can read all about Seth here: http://sethharwood.com

J.A. Joshi is a self-published writer who I greatly admire. She participates in the Writer’s Digest online forum. Ms. Joshi also self-published Follow the Cowherd Boy through Trafford. In her mid twenties, she followed her own intuition about how to publish her book, went on a marketing spree across the country, and has shared many of her adventures with the writing forum. She now has a wonderful blog: http://jaijoshiz.blogspot.com/

As a writer, I think many of the rules to selling your work are timeless. Spelling and grammar should be impeccable, story should be well crafted and in line with what sells today. Read writer’s guidelines and follow them to a tee. Read the type of stories we like to write. However, I think that the acceptable manner of publication is changing as the internet becomes more predominant in our lives. Change is important, and it is even more important to move with the changing times.

In my own writing life, I am proud to say I am working hard on my novel. I am on chapter 11 (no, it is not about bankruptcy). While I was on vacation a few weeks back, I wrote anywhere from two to four hours a day. My goals are to write one to two hours a day on my novel, as well as write and sell more short stories.

What are your writing goals?

Happy writing to all!

Writing is my life right now. Meeting with the critique group every two weeks helps me to establish a deadline. We made an agreement to submit the work at the current meeting to be critiqued at the next meeting. For example, while we talk about our critiques on Chapter 2 at the group (because we have all taken them home and critiqued them), we also have Chapter 3 for the group to take home and do their critiques. This all gives us plenty of time to critique and do our own writing. For the most part, this has been working well. However, we are all open and flexible to this rule for when a member cannot provide their piece at the meeting.

Sometimes I write like crazy, other times I make excuses about low motivation. The truth is that I like this system of writing a lot and then taking a day or two off. It seems to work for me, especially since I am revising right now. I have draft one completed of my novel, but it feels very disconnected and weak when it comes to characterization. This revision, along with the help of my critique cohorts, is bringing some depth to my characters and the story itself.

In my last entry, I touched upon my thirty-year class reunion. It is only a week away on September 5. I am excited, but also a little nervous. While I have gotten in touch with some classmates via Facebook, the truth is that I do not remember a whole lot from high school. I remember many of my classmates, especially those I went to grade school and high school with, but others I would not recognize if I passed them on the street. Thirty years is a long time! However, I find the class reunion to be a great opportunity to make some new friends and catch up on what others have been doing, and to share myself as well!

Well, time to write on my novel. Happy writing all!

Last week was the first time in my life that I have been home sick for an entire five days. In fact, I rarely get sick other than a cold or flu. Monday morning, I woke, fed the cats and dressed to go on my usual run. I pushed myself out the door, just as I had been doing for the last couple of weeks. Well, about halfway through my run, I started getting nauseated and ran out of energy. I ended up walking the rest of the way home. By 8:30, I was still feeling nauseated and not very well and called in ill to work. To make a long story short, I had a fever and nausea for most of the week, had no appetite whatsoever and slept a lot. On Tuesday, the doctor told me to try to fight off whatever it was with my own resources, but to pick up antibiotics if I was not remarkably better toward the end of the week. About six hours after taking my first dose of antibiotics on Thursday, I finally began to feel better. Now, I am not 100%, but I am on the mend.

During the week, writing was the last thing on my mind. I seriously thought I was going to die. Well, on Friday night, I could not get to sleep- I tossed and turned, read, had a small bowl of cereal. Nothing would lead me into that sweet slumber. Finally, I brought my laptop into my room and wrote on my novel. Once I let my characters come out and live their lives, I was finally able to get to sleep.

Now that I have made changed in the plot of my story, it is moving along quite well. My critique group likes it thus far. I no longer feel like I am trying to force the story, but that the story is now coming together on its own. My job is to make sure I sit down and write, and to write to the best of my ability. All I can say is that it is coming along.

The other thing on my plate is my upcoming class reunion. Thirty years. I told the reunion head that I would love to help find missing students. To be honest, I could not recall how many kids I graduated with and expected there might be 15 or 20 missing students. Well, there was around one hundred! (I now know our graduating class must have been over 200!) I did not know how I was going to do this, but I truly believe where there is a will, there is a way. The glass is always half full in any given circumstance. Finally, I discovered USSearch, an extensive public records database, was offering a seven-day free trial. I found addresses for 88 missing kids! Some addresses I’m sure of, others are as sure as I can get right now.

I feel well and blessed today. Happy writing all!