Is Writing a Calling or a Hobby?

Which is it for you?

When writing is a calling, it is like art with an almost spiritual.

When writing is a calling, you are willing to dedicate the time, effort, and dedication to honing the art in your hands as any artist does.

When writing is a calling, you spend time improving, learning, taking classes, and reading to become a better writer.

When writing is a calling, you have to spend time writing, because when you are away from writing you feel lost.

When writing is a calling, you always have a notebook and something to write with everyday and you take notes for possible stories.

When writing is a calling, you write something every day.

I feel that writing is a calling that you have to answer. It is something that when you are away too long something from within pulls you back and you have to stare at a blank page until you come up with something. It could be something you saw, a clipping you saved, a note, or something from within that crowds your mind forcing you to put something down be it an article, short story, novel, memoir or whatever is within.

It calls and you answer because you have no choice. It is writing that is front and center, not being a bestselling author, or seeing your name in print.
When writing is a calling, it is all about the writing, and nothing else.

Robert J Medak
Freelance writer/Editor/Reviewer

Writing is Exercise

Writing is Exercise

By Debra Eckerling, www.WriteOnOnline.com

Writing is exercise! The more you practice, the better you become. Spend too much time away from a project – or from writing in general – and it will be difficult to get back in the zone. It’s just like skipping a week or two at the gym; the longer you wait between workouts, the more painful it is to get back in the game.

It’s also essential to work out all of your writing muscles. Not just the ones in the type or genre you prefer. We tend to play favorites when it comes to formats and genres. We write what we like to read and watch (or at least we should) as a way of studying the craft. While it’s essential to like what you write and “write what you know,” there’s value in testing out less familiar territory.

Most writers work in more than one format as it is. And, if you don’t already, consider trying something new to shake up your writing regimen. That means, fiction writers can try blogging, screenwriters attempt a book review, article writers can give poetry a try … maybe, maybe not. But the point is the more writing you do, in as many areas as you can, will make you a stronger writer.

Here are some tips to jump-start or keep up your writing regimen:

- Write consistently on a daily or mostly daily basis … at least 15 minutes a day. Think you don’t have anything to write about? Look around. You’ll find plenty of material when you are people-watching, overhearing conversations, and just being aware of your surroundings in general.

- Don’t just make goals, post them. You are more likely to accomplish them when you are accountable to more than just yourself. You can post weekly goals on the Write On! Facebook page – www.Facebook.com/WriteOnOnline and monthly goals on www.WriteOnOnline.com/Goals

- Write out of your comfort zone. Enter contests, try collaboration, write badly. Mix things up. You may discover a love for writing personal essays in the adventure genre. Also, practicing a less-familiar type may give you fresh perspective on an old standby.

Remember, first and foremost, writing is supposed to be fun! So, enjoy the adventure, When you put pen to paper – or fingers to keyboard – you never know what magic may come of it!

Debra Eckerling is the creator of Write On! Online – www.WriteOnOnline.com – a website and community for writers. Debra has written for national, local, trade, and online publications. A communications specialist and “personal trainer for writers,” Debra trains individuals, experts, and entrepreneurs, so they can organize, articulate, and complete their writing projects. www.WriteOnTrackLA.com.

Where to Find Creativity

First, I want to ask you, where do you find creativity?

Is creativity within you, around you, or some other source?

For writers, it is all about you in forms that most people don’t recognize. Creativity is in nature, in places writers visit, the people they encounter, and much more.

Creativity, find it in reading a book. Writers should be reading everyday as well as writing something every day.

What should writers be reading?

Writers should be reading the classics, if writers choose to write in a specific genre, they should be reading books in that genre. You are probably asking; why should I read books.

The simple answer is to see how others do it. This is especially true for new writers. By reading what you want to write, you can learn a good deal from distinguished authors of the genre you want to write.

It is not about writing like them, but to see how they use words, construct sentences, create tension, and handle point-of-view. These are the things writers need to handle correctly so they don’t bore the reader.

Why not read an authors that sells books and see how they write, then emulate they way they handle a story.

This is where creativity lies, within the pages of books, and in life.
As writers, you should be keeping your eyes and ears open to everything around you, and write down observations in a notebook, for future reference in a story. What a way to create your next character, a composite of people, places, and settings you’ve seen and written down in your notebook.

Try it and see if something comes from it. You never know where your next creative idea will come from.

Robert Medak
Freelance writer/Editor/Reviewer

Competition

As a writer, do you compete against yourself?

Every time you set pen to paper you should be competing with yourself; this is the only way to eliminate stagnation in your writing.

By competing with yourself, each new piece should be better than your last.

Readers expect to read a story that resonates with them on some visceral level. They want their emotions to ride along with the roller coaster ride of the characters in the story.

This is what writes do. By writing and competing against your last piece, the writing should improve.

For example, when you were younger did you ride a bike like an expert the first time you sat on the seat, and used peddles for the first time? Most of us would say no. it takes practice to improve.

As you learn more, write more, you are practicing writing. We all improve by doing, not just going through the motions.

Your readers will let you know how you’re doing by either purchasing your books or not.

If you are a writer, you want people to read what you have written unless your writing is a hobby and you just write for yourself.

Most writers write so others will read them.

Nathaniel Hawthorne said, “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” This is very true.

Writers work hard so that readers will have an easy time reading our work and escape the outside world during the time we take them on a journey through our words.

Work hard to make your reading easy.

Robert Medak

Freelance writer, editor, proofreader, book reviewer, marketer

StormyWriter.com

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What I have seen

This may sound like a rant, but this is not my meaning.

As of late, I have been doing some editing and manuscript evaluations.
I must say that I am appalled at some of the stuff that authors deem fit for publication.

Where to begin, I am not going to tell you that I am a grammarian, and am perfect. No one is perfect all of the time. I do however, know that grammar and punctuation are important when it comes to writing and not turn the reader off but things a blind person could find.

Recently having read two different manuscripts, the overuse of ellipses incorrectly, which only shows the author as being either lazy, ignorant, or an amateur; perhaps a combination of all three. As someone who considers themselves a professional, this is unacceptable and the manuscript is doomed to the round file for posterity.
Over the years of reading, there have been wrong word choice, typos, spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors in books that are the responsibility of the authors to correct as much as possible. It is not the task of the publisher to correct manuscript errors in today’s publishing environment.

Now we come to another phase of publishing, that is self-published, or creating a manuscript for the Kindle and other E-readers.

Authors need to edit their work, hire an editor, or at least have someone they trust to read the work and see if there are the basic concepts of consistency, cohesion, believability, POV, flow, and a good hook that makes the reader want to read on.

Any author that wants to sell more books should work hard not to bore their reader.

As Nathaniel Hawthorne said, “Easy reading is damn hard writing.” Also quoting Mark Twain, “The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

These are two principles of writing that I feel writers need to adhere to; just my opinion for what it is worth.

Ok, off the soapbox now.

Robert Medak

Freelance writer, editor, proofreader, book reviewer, marketer

StormyWriter.com

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What not to market

If you choose to self publish your book, before you send it out, proof the book as a reader reads your book.

As a professional book reviewer, I hate seeing books that have formatting errors, typos, the wrong word choice, and more.

If the only reason you are publishing is to see your name on a book and stroke your ego, than forget about errors and look like an amateur, that’s up to you. If you take writing and your book seriously, than you need to make sure that what you make available for readers is as error fee as possible.

How to make you best book the best book possible:

• Have an error free manuscript
• Before you print the book en masse, get a copy to proof
• Have a second person read the book
• If you notice any errors, have the printer fix them
• If the book is reprinted, check it again for any errors
• Repeat steps to ensure that you book is as error free as possible

If you follow these steps, your readers will enjoy your book more than if you don’t. Most authors want to have readers for subsequent books; you won’t if you turn them off by errors and wrong word choice.

Mark Twain said about articles, which is also true for book authors, "The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say." Just substitute book for article.

The idea of a story is for the reading pleasure of the person who spends money on your book.

Do you have a marketing plan?

Once you’ve written your book, how do you plan on marketing it? Today’s publishers will be asking about your following, various platforms that you use for promotion and sales. This is part of the process that will be part of your advance from publishers. The better your marketing plan the more money, it’s that simple.
An author must wear several hats in today’s publishing environment. The author is marketer, PR person, promoter, and book seller. It is up to the author to do all of this today. The publishing houses won’t. In fact, they may not work with you at all if you don’t have some platform in place.

You will also have to begin establishing a following before your book is completed. The time to begin promotion and marketing is before you begin writing your book. There are social media sites where you can begin, but consider creating a website for the book and promote the website everywhere you can. Network with people; establish relationships, and market, market, market without being pushy of salesy.
Welcome to the publishing world. Bet you didn’t know that you need to be a salesperson as well as an author, did you?

You must also ask yourself if you want to go the route of a publishing house of self-publish. This is the author’s decision. There are numerous places to self-publish or POD to get your book on the market.

Amazon has be playing hardball with printing houses as far as having a buy button for your book if the particular house doesn’t want to follow Amazon’s rules; Amazon also has their own publishing brand.

One of the problems with self-publishing is how much the author is willing to spend for an editing package. Also, some of the publishing houses for self-publishing create books that are sub-par in design, illustration, formatting, and printing. The books are easily recognizable as self-published and that will make them hard to sell in bookstores.

Whoever you chose to publish your book, make sure you have a marketing plan and followers to entice the publishing house if you choose to traditional route to publication, and if you choose to self-publish be wary of who owns the ISBN when publishing via this route. The person that owns the ISBN technically owns the printing and how/when the book is published.

Good luck with your book.