Bang your Head

Have you ever had one of those times where you want to sit down to write, but nothing will happen when you do?

I am going through a dry spell, I guess.

I have planned on sitting down to write for three days now, and every time I head to the computer, something stops me. I just cannot bring myself to sit in that chair. If I get to the chair, I can't open the laptop, and if I get the laptop booted up, I just slump and decide to play on the Internet rather than write.

It's like I am blocked. I know I know, there is no such thing as writer's block, but truly, I am not able to get into it at this time.

I am doing a lot of blogging though!

I blog at Writingspace, and Be Mindful, and here, and on my website which is also a blog type, and of course, I am on Facebook, and Twitter, and I just signed up for Shelfari, and revisited my Amazon author page, and...

Okay, wait a minute.

Maybe I am all typed out?

I think I just figured out why I don't want to write. I am writing, in a sense, but not on a piece of work. This is like a Eureka! moment to me. Happy Thursday, Murderers. I hope you have a very productive weekend.

A Writer's Resolution

A Writer’s Resolutions

It’s that time of year again. Time to take stock of accomplishments, of progress on your goals for the year, and to look forward with great expectations to the new year ahead. First and foremost, my wish for all my friends, family, and readers is for enough of everything, and lack of nothing. I am so grateful for my wife, my son and daughter, my extended family, all my friends and you, the readers. I am truly blessed.

So I sat down to write out my goals for the coming year, and tried to be realistic about them. I thought I would share them with you all for two main reasons. First, nothing happens without a plan. It helps to set out a map if you want to get somewhere, and goals can work like that. They clarify your intent, and give you a place to work toward as you progress in your writing. Goals can be interval, marking progress over 3 months, 6 months, whatever you choose. They can also be longer term, but they need to be concrete and measureable in order to be truly effective.

Second, I have realized over time if you set a goal, and make it public, you are engaging a whole lot of people in the act of helping you stick to it. Don’t believe me? Try announcing your new weight loss goals toyour friends and family, and count the number of times they ask how your diet is going. So here is my list of literary goals for the new year:

1. Read more. I know that sounds a little contradictory, but that is how I learn the rhythm, the pacing and the overall feel I want toput in my stories. And it isn’t that I want to read just mysteries. I learnedover time that any well written story will do, because there is always
something to be learned.

2. Write 2-5 pages a day, every day. Sounds like a lot? Well, it is the same pace my daughter set for herself as she participated in the local middle school’s NaNoWriMo exercise and at the end she had a 10,000 word story. If my 13 year old daughter can show that much discipline, so can I. Also, at this point, I have three works in progress, including a new Joe Banks novel. I’m sure I can find something to write about.

3. Regularly contribute to Murder by 4. Self serving, maybe. But my day job has been so demanding that I have not been able to hold up my regularly scheduled day for participation with some of the most talented writers I know. It is another simple way to hone the blade, as it were, and continue to write for an audience. Also, in researching some of the articles I’ve written, I’ve learned more about the craft and business of writing. I am happy to share that with you.

4. Save the hard edits to the end. Nothing slows my progress like re-editing in the middle of the first draft. I know from all the really successful writers I’ve read that you do the major edits at the end, and you sort the wheat from the chaff and fine tune your work. But I can’t help it, I still do it. So this year I promise to save the clean-up to the end, and will use that period to send a more complete story to my publisher.

It’s a short list, but manageable. I hope this helps you set some goals for your writing, and I wish you all the success, love and luck to make you happy in the next twelve months. Now if I can only do something about losing those extra pounds...

Helpful Hints for Writers Needing Exposure

There are a few things that you should not do to advertise for your book. The most obvious is to spam everyone and everything related to the Internet to get people to buy your work. Think like a consumer. Do those LOUD obnoxious advertisements on television irritate you or spur you to go out and buy the product?

Don’t be one of THOSE people.

Also, don’t let other people convince you to buy into their idea of what will help YOU sell your work. Listen, if taking out an ad in your local newspaper is what you believe will make a sale for you, do it. But don’t listen to Mr. Whositwhatsit tell you that ads in the local paper for six months every Sunday issue will net you untold billions of sale. What it may do instead is net you a lot of unwanted debt.

BE smart!

Now, how about a few things that might work? Here’s a short list:

1. Build a fantastic website and/or blogsite. People come out to find you once they hear about you. They do not always pick up the local paper to find out about you, but if you have a website, they will usually surf by.

2. Go to conferences. You will make connections with people who can help you and yes, even meet readers! Imagine that! There is no book review in the world that can sell your book like you can over a cup of hot tea at a table for five.

3. Write a few articles. Find three markets where you can post an article about something timely and informational and also blurb your book. There are a lot of people out there seeking information about something you know about. Capitalize on it!

4. Try a short story. There is a growing love of the short work. Many people are downloading short stories to their eReader just to be able to get some good fiction in before they have to move on to another thing in their busy life. I could read a short story while waiting at the doctor’s, dentist’s, or on another appointment. Don’t discount the opportunity of using the short form to introduce a potential reader to your longer work.

Okay, so there you have it. Things to do and things not to do. Not that I know anything at all about it. I am still just dangling one toe in the book writing business.
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Kim Smith is the author of the zany Shannon Wallace mysteries, several contemporary romances, and a new YA time travel, A Mirror in Time, available now.